LOVER BOY | I.L

4.11 𝖣𝖮𝖠

It was the third part of the dead pool and right on it, the fourth name on the list, printed out in black ink read Malia Hale.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Stiles stared at the ceiling, arm slung over the empty side of his bed. Malia hadn't come over that night, which was to be expected after the events of the vault, after he lied to her. Scott was right, Scott's always right, he should've told her sooner. He huffed, reaching over to his side table and grabbing his phone, scrolling through his contacts until he reached the "M" section, thumb hovering over Malia's name as a million thoughts raced through his head. What would he say? Is she even awake right now? If she was awake would she even answer? He let out a long sigh before his thumb moved from "M" to "O." He raised an eyebrow, thinking about if she'd even answer either. She was definitely awake. She still wasn't getting much sleep. She said it was because Derek keeps the loft too cold but he knew she was still having bad dreams. He pressed her name in his contacts and the line began to ring...

...Olive turned to the other side of her bed, reaching for her phone on the nightstand and looking at the caller ID. She furrowed her eyebrows, tossed her legs over the side of the bed, and made her way to the bathroom, flipping on the light and closing the door before she answered the phone. 

"Stiles? Do you know what time it is? Are you okay?" She asks, tone shifting with each part of her sentence: confused, irritated, concerned. 

Stiles chuckled to himself, hearing how she answered, also relieved that she did, and he propped himself up on one arm, placing the phone on speaker and letting it rest next to him.

"Couldn't sleep," He mumbled, chin resting on his hand causing his head to bounce with every word. 

Olive nodded, immediately knowing his reasoning for calling (or so she thought). 

"Malia still hasn't called, has she?" She sits on the bathroom floor, phone nestled between her ear and her shoulder as she hugs her knees to her chest, resting her back against the door.

"Hasn't called...texted...or shown up unannounced in the middle of the night," He sighed, flopping onto his back and looking back up at the ceiling. 

"Have you tried calling her?" She raises an eyebrow, optimism dripping from her tone. Stiles smiles to himself at her attempts to make him feel better. 

"Tried once, after the school. She didn't answer," He shook his head, still looking upward. 

"She'll come around. She loves you," Olive's voice comes through his speaker and he feels bittersweet about the comment. He wants Malia to come around, he loves her. But part of him can't shake the fact that he also wishes he had Olive next to him. That he could feel her warmth at night and kiss her whenever he wanted. 

"Hey, is everything okay in there?" Another voice and two knocks come from the other end of the line, this one male. He knew who it was, he knew exactly who it was. Why was he there? Derek kicked him out of the loft. Unless she wasn't at the loft. She was staying with him now? What happened to friends first?

"Yeah, I'm fine, just finishing up," He heard her call back to him, he could practically hear the smile on her face, the cheerful tone in her voice was like a knife driving into his back. "Hey, are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," A lie. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Another lie, but she was looking for a reason to hang up and he didn't want to hear Scarfy interrupt them again. "You go back to sleep."

"You get some rest too. There's nothing you can do about it until tomorrow, so just try and get some rest. Goodnight, I love you," She says it so casually, so heartbreakingly platonic. Stiles nods, even though he knows she can't see him nodding, and he mumbles a goodnight back into the phone before hanging up and facing the ceiling again. He wasn't sleeping.