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   WALKING into his room, Stiles's face was slightly pale and snagged my attention as I lowered my phone away from my face

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   WALKING into his room, Stiles's face was slightly pale and snagged my attention as I lowered my phone away from my face.

"You okay?" I carefully asked him, watching as he sat at the end of his bed near my feet, with his back to me. "Did something happen?"

"I think we should talk," he said quietly, his voice full of worry and uncertainty.

That alone made me uneasy as I slowly sat up, turning my phone off before dropping it in my lap. "Okay..." I trailed off, moving to the end of the bed next to him. "What's up?" I asked, noticing that he was still avoiding my eye contact as he stared at his hands. "You're starting to worry me, Stiles."

He sighed, sounding like he was in pain. Not physically. But emotionally.

Wait, did I do something wrong? Was he upset with everything my dad did? I wouldn't blame him at all, but I had hoped he wouldn't blame me for what happened.

"You told me you liked me," he broke the silence and said with a quiet tone. "You told me at the dance that you love me, Riah."

Freezing, I stared down at the floor with my heart racing.

Oh God, I thought he forgot, and that was why he hadn't spoken to me about it.

But obviously, he had been thinking about it these past two days.

"Uh, yeah," I mumbled, feeling an uncomfortable tension fill the too small of a room. Seriously, this room was starting to feel way too small for the both of us. "Look," I started, regaining control of my thoughts that were crashing with my anxiety, "we can talk about it another time if you want? I was just upset at the time and shouldn't have told you the way I did. The last thing I want is for this to bother you in any—"

"No," he cut me off, finally looking up at me, but I couldn't meet his eyes. I kept my own still trained to the floor. "I wasn't expecting the sudden confession, I'll admit. Which is why I just...froze."

I finally looked at him then, at the bags under his eyes and the heaviness to his eyelids.

Had he not slept over this?

Shit. What had I done?

"These last few days I've been confused," he admitted lightly, still looking at me. "We've been friends for years, and yeah, I've always liked Lydia." There it was. The horrible pain in my chest at his rejection. Such a sharp pain that I wouldn't be surprised if a blood vessel just popped in my heart. He must've noticed my sudden pain, because he grabbed my hand gently. "But then something changed, and it's confusing the hell out of me."

Some part of me bloomed with hope, but the rest of me couldn't see through the dread my body was swimming in.

I truly had no idea where this conversation was going.

"What changed?" I croaked, but quickly cleared my throat. "Did I do something?"

"No, no." Shaking his head, he squeezed my hand tighter. "I-It's not you. It's me."

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