Broken Family Tree

6 - Phone Call

"Hello?" Derek's familiar voice sounded from the speaker.

"Derek?" Malia said, standing a little straighter. Thomas was nearby, listening to the deeper voice of his cousin. The phone had fascinated him when Malia showed it to him, especially when she explained how one could talk to other people even when they were so far away. Seeing it in action, though, was a completely different thing to witness.

"Hey Malia! How've you been? Scott's been worried sick about you by the way, constantly saying how you're overreacting and he's in the right, but also that he hopes you'll come back to Beacon Hills. Seriously, what happened between you two?" He sounded exasperated, like he was tired of listening to Scott's ramblings and arguments.

"Did he tell you what happened? What really happened?" Malia asked, tightening her grip on the phone in anger and ignoring his previous question.

"He told everyone his version, and no one agrees with him—not even Melissa. You'd think that'd give him a clue, but guess there's still a bit of 'idiot' in him left." This made Malia laugh a bit, hearing Derek thought the same as her. "Now, are you alright?"

"Yeah," she answered, sighing before continuing, "I'm really angry at Scott, but I feel better knowing that no one's taking his side. That means I'm not crazy..."

"If your version of the story matches with his, then you were never crazy. Although...you sure driving off was the best way to go? It sounded like you could've benefited from giving each other space, but that much?" Derek wondered.

Malia hesitated in answering. After nearly two-and-a-half weeks on the road, she had come to realize that the impromptu road trip was a little much for a simple argument, and had regretted her extreme course of action afterwards.

"You're not wrong, but...the way he phrased his reasoning for doing what he did—he made it sound like I wasn't strong enough to take care of myself, that the one bothering me would do something that I wouldn't be able to protect myself from. He basically called me weak. And I am many things, but weak is not one of them!" By the end, she was half-yelling into the receiver, her grip tightening ever so slightly on the phone, the metal straining a bit from the pressure.

"Ohh...got it. Yeah, that was probably annoying for you. It'd be for me too. Infuriating even... Do you feel better after the trip?"

"I did until I read all the messages he sent me. He doesn't even realize why what he said was wrong! Is still wrong! I'm not even sure what I'm gonna say to him. I wanna have a real conversation with him, but I'm not sure he'll listen."

"Well, talk to him and find out."

"Thanks for the advice, oh Wise One."

Derek scoffed while Malia chuckled.

"And I'm coming back to Beacon Hills. As a matter of fact, I'm an hour away from town. I had to rest for a bit, though; in this last stretch, we'd been driving for 16 hours straight, so I was exhausted."

"'We?' Who's 'we?'" Derek questioned. Malia closed her eyes and mentally facepalmed. She hadn't meant to ruin the...what exactly was Thomas supposed to be? A surprise? Bad news? A burden? She immediately dismissed the thoughts. If that was the truth, then I'd be the same as him.

"Are you with someone?" Derek wondered, pacing around a bit in his old loft. He had moved back in with Braeden after coming back to Beacon Hills at the beginning of the summer.

"Yyyesss..." She dragged out.

"I thought you were going to talk things through with him. Scott's not going to like that, Malia—" Derek warned, but Malia was quick to clear up the misunderstanding.