Phoenix || Malia Tate

15

Malia is on cloud nine the following day. She tries to hide it, tries to play it off, but there are times in the day, when she's in the middle of a task or she's just walking to her next class and her mind takes her somewhere else. To a dreamland, where the human life doesn't suck so much and strangers can really become something more.

This doesn't go by unnoticed by her friends. They notice the way she sometimes stares into space and this dopey grin just suddenly appears, completely out of character and completely weird. When she snaps back, she'll fake a cough or a yawn, and try to go about like she was there the whole time. Of course, none of them believe her. But none of them question her either.

So the day goes on exactly like this. Malia's mind takes over her body and she remembers the kiss and it is all her heart can do to not smile, and then she snaps back and tries to come up with a shit excuse for the raised eyebrows and questioning expressions.

And it's all fine until her fingers ghost over her lips during her fourth space out and Lydia can't take it anymore. "Alright, who'd you fuck?"

Scott chokes on his water. Stiles' mouth is on the floor. Kira looks downright uncomfortable.

Malia's snaps back into reality with a startled expression. "W-What?"

Lydia leans forward on the table. "You're smiling like a thirteen-year-old girl who's just been kissed for the first time. So, who is he?"

By now, Malia is burning with embarrassment. Her mouth is opening and closing with no words coming out, and she finds herself incapable of looking Lydia in the eye. She's almost too shocked to respond. Beside her, Stiles breathes out an, "oh my god" and that is enough to get her to snap out of it.

"No one," she says really quickly. "He's no one. There's no one."

"You can tell us if there is, Malia," Scott, who's finally managed to calm down from his choking fit, tells her.

Malia doesn't say anything. She thinks, for a moment, that maybe she can tell them about Phoenix. He's not the bad guy, not the enemy, and she's sure if she explained it properly the pack would understand that she's just a little homesick. But then the bell rings, and she's been waiting all day to be let out to go see him.

Scott and Stiles look at her with this look like they just know that that's the end of it. Malia slowly stands and shrugs her bag on. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Scott's the only one who nods in a reply.

Malia turns around to walk away, but there's something, some loyalty, something she knows she owes the pack that's preventing her from leaving. Whether or not she wanted to be human, they saved her life. They've been saving her life ever since, and they deserve to know.

She turns around. "His name is Phoenix."

They all look a bit startled. They're taken by surprise as they did not expect her to tell them there was a guy, let alone his actual name. A little uncomfortable with feeling so vulnerable and out there, Malia shifts her weight.

Lydia clears her throat. "Is he good to you?"

She doesn't expect the question, and for a moment she has to stop and think about it. She smiles a little when she nods. "Yeah, he is."

Lydia and Scott's smile is enough for her to know they are all okay now.

*

She has to stop herself from running to the den. Malia is not one of those girls who loses their mind over a boy and Phoenix will not make her one of those girls. She will not suddenly forget who she is and what's she been through that's made her the person she is just because a pretty boy seems to like her attention. She refuses to let her fierce independence be compromised by him.

But damn, is he a good kisser.

She's all thoughts and emotions, knowing she's damn well independent but also liking the way Phoenix makes her feel when she finally reaches the cave and it is as if reality itself comes shattering down when she enters and Phoenix is nowhere to be seen.