THE FORMAL
ASPEN got ready for the dance with Allison, the two of them did each other's hair and pampered one another with makeup.
They had taken a trip to Macy's the previous day, both of them picking out gorgeous satin dresses. They had bumped into the strawberry blonde there, Allison traded niceties with her, while Aspen kept her distance.
It wasn't that she felt guilty for hooking up with Jackson, but she also wasn't too sure how to talk to the Martin girl now. Not that she did before.
The dress she had picked out was a wine-red one, it was the first one she put on and instantly discarded of the rest of her pile. If it was possible to marry a dress, she would've done it right then and there.
"I swear to God, Asp, Jackson and Stiles are going to be ripping each other's throats out over you tonight." Aspen whistled teasingly.
"Well... Stiles had his chance." the brunette replied as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.
She had had time to wrap her head around Stiles' confession. It was something she'd been wanting to hear for years, for as long as she could remember, but now that she had?
She couldn't stop thinking about the fact that it took him seeing her with someone else to finally notice her. Was that supposed to be romantic in his own Stiles-like way? Because the more she pondered on it, the more it almost lost it's sentiment.
He had to see her happy with someone else for him to finally notice.
How was that fair to her? Did that mean that if it wasn't for Jackson, he never would've seen his feelings for her?
The raven-haired girl walked across Aspen's bedroom to the brunette, looking at her in the reflection in front of them.
"I see the way you look at him, Aspen." she said, "it's the same way I look at Scott."
Aspen let out a pent up sigh.
"But..." Allison continued, "You deserve to be someone's first choice."
Aspen smiled at her in the mirror,
"Not to sound like that corny chic in every coming of age move ever made, but... follow your heart." said the Argent girl, twirling one of Aspen's perfect curls around her finger and giving her a supportive smile.
"If I'm following my heart, I'm pretty sure I know where it'll take me," Aspen sighed again. "I just don't know if that's where I want to go anymore, at least not right now."
"You don't feel like your time is right?" Allison replied, knowing which boy she was talking about.
"He's been playing with my feelings for years..." she said, "I love him, I think I always will... but when the time is right, I need to know that I'm not just his backup."
"I told him to save me a dance." Aspen added. "I'll get everything off my chest that I need to at the end of the dance. Just in case it goes horribly wrong, I don't want it ruining my night."
The conversation was cut short by the sound of a car pulling up outside the Carter house.
Jackson was there to pick up both of them, because Allison was going solo, seeing as Scott was on probation and wasn't allowed to go to the dance.
"You ready to do this thing?" said Allison.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
...
"Woah..." Jackson gasped as his eyes laid upon the brunette, his gaze landing on the gorgeous red dress she was wearing.
Aspen's cheeks turned slightly rosy as she felt his gaze. Allison took it as her queue to squeeze herself into the backseat of Jackson's Porsche, wanting to avoid third-wheel moments.
"You clean up nice, Whittemore." Aspen spoke, smiling at him.
"Not so bad yourself, Carter." he said back, trying desperately to keep his cool, but he couldn't stop looking at how well that dress flattered her body, as well as how perfectly curled her hair was, and her crimson red lips.
She walked over to the passenger seat of the Porsche, keeping herself stable on her high heels, and Jackson being Jackson, stole himself a peek as he watched her walk from behind.
Once they were strapped into their seats, Jackson looked in the rear-view mirror and noticed the Argent girl wearing an odd expression.
"What's the face for?" he asked her as he started driving.
"There's no face." Allison replied, unconvincing. There was definitely a face, she couldn't help herself but hold raised brows and a sneaky smile, being in the same car as these two.
Jackson caught onto an idea.
"Does she..." he whispered to the brunette in the front seat. Aspen played dumb and looked at him confused. "Does she know about..." his voice trailed off.
Aspen nodded reluctantly. She expected an irritated reaction from him, seeing as they had agreed not to tell anyone, but he just smirked.
"So, you guys talk about me?" he said at a normal volume, holding a cocky grin.
"Get over yourself and drive." Aspen retorted, but couldn't help herself but smile as she said it.
...
The infamous Porsche pulled up at the high school at the same time as the infamous blue jeep, causing a very awkward encounter.
Very awkward.
Stiles helped Lydia out of his jeep, only then did Aspen even realise that the two were coming together. Allison squeezed herself out of the back of the Porsche, but she headed straight into the dance.
Which left Jackson, Aspen, Stiles and Lydia.
Stiles' eyes were immediately drawn to the brunette in the red dress, rather than the the redhead in pink.
If he had been blown away by Aspen's beauty when she wore her daily attire, seeing her like this made his heart skip a couple beats. She was a brunette beauty, looking like her own Disney princess. Her dress showed off her gorgeous tanned legs, flattered her perfect skin, and showed off just the tiniest bit of her chest that was enough to tease.
His eyes must have lingered for a little too long because Jackson's eyes were glaring right through him.
"Jackson," Lydia spoke, strangely enthusiastically, "You look handsome."
"Obviously, it's Hugo Boss." he replied, offering an arm out for Aspen to grab on to. "May I?"
Aspen's eyes locked with Stiles' for a short moment, and she noticed he appeared hurt.
But he had no right to, she thought.
"You may." she smiled at the Whittemore boy, linking their arms together.
They walked past the other two, and Jackson lightly budged Stiles' shoulder out of sheer pettiness.
"Don't look too glum, bro." he whispered sarcastically to him at a volume Aspen couldn't hear. "It's not like you didn't have your chance."
...
"Do you... wanna dance?" Stiles asked Lydia nervously. He was still a giddy, crushing teenager around her. Old habits do die hard, after all.
Lydia's glare was beaming into the back of Aspen's head, watching as Jackson had his hands on her waist and her arms wrapped around his neck. The pair of them blended in with all the other couples a little too well for her liking.
"Pass." Lydia deadpanned, not taking her eyes off of Aspen and Jackson.
Stiles noticed her attention was else where, and turned around in his seat to see what was so interesting.
His heart sunk, noticing the same thing.
Aspen and Jackson were smiling, laughing, talking, dancing. They looked like the perfect couple.
But even if they did get together officially, they couldn't last forever, right?
"Can I ask you something?" Stiles muttered to Lydia.
"Okay." she complied, aggressively stirring her punch as she continued to shoot lasers into Aspen's back with her eyes.
"What do you see in him?" Stiles asked, letting himself be vulnerable for a second.
His question took her by surprise as she finally pryed her eyes away and looked at the buzzcut boy next to her.
"That's not really your question, is it?" she asked. Lydia, despite the act she put on, was smart as hell, and could see straight through Stiles' cryptic question.
Stiles turned around to face her, looking surprised at Lydia's remark.
"You wanna know what she sees in him." Lydia continued, nodding her head in the direction of the brunette.
Stiles hesitated for a moment before nodding in defeat.
God, he was finally holding a real conversation with his life-long crush, a moment he had wanted for so long, and he was asking about Aspen Carter.
"I overheard her the other night," Lydia started, suddenly changing her posture in an incredibly flirtatious way. "I heard her talking to Allison about you and him."
'Y-you... what?" Stiles' voice came out as merely a squeak. He noticed the way her mannerisms had changed, and the way he could practically see all of her cleavage.
"Yeah," she spoke, "I heard her talking about how good he was in bed..." she was teasing him, "how being around him was easy."
"Why are you telling me all of this?" said Stiles.
"Because you're jealous of him." she answered. "But don't you wanna make... her jealous?"
Before he could choke words out, the redhead grabbed his wrist and dragged him out to the dance floor.
...
Meanwhile, the music was blaring loudly, and Aspen and Jackson found themselves experiencing some slight deja vu as they danced together.
His hands were on her waist, again, and her hands wrapped around the back of his neck, again.
"You look really beautiful tonight." Jackson smiled down at her. He wanted to do better than his 'not so bad yourself' comment.
Heat rose to her cheeks as she grinned, genuinely having fun in his company.
"Thank you." she said softly.
"I don't want to be that guy that ruins a perfectly good moment or anything, but... should we talk about the other night?" said Jackson.
"Yeah, we probably should." she answered, flicking her curled locks behind her shoulders, exposing more skin that was now driving him crazy.
"I'll go first." he said, his hands still firmly on her waist as they danced to the slow rhythm. "What are we, Asp?"
The two of them have avoided the 'what are we' conversation for days, because in reality, neither of them knew.
"What do you... want to be?" she replied with a question, not wanting to go first.
"I like you, Aspen." he said honestly. "I like you a lot."
"I like you too." she said back, but suddenly their intimate moment was disrupted when Aspen's eyes caught sight of something else.
Lydia and Stiles, only a couple meters away, dancing together.
Back to the subject of old habits dying hard, a small pang of jealousy hit Aspen's stomach.
But was it strange that she also felt happy for him? She knew Stiles felt something for her now, but he had been raving about his undying love for Lydia Martin for years, and he's finally dancing with her. The brunette's eyes lingered on the pair with a lot of mixed emotions.
A part of her was jealous, the part of her that had spent so long pining for him.
Another part was happy for him, because as his best friend, she was happy that he finally had been noticed by Lydia Martin, despite how much Aspen disliked her.
And then another part of her felt incredibly guilty. Guilty for the jealous part. She had a guy in front of her who was showing her that she was his first choice, a guy who wanted her, and clearly has for a while now.
She pryed her eyes off of Lydia and Stiles, and tried to push it to the back of her mind so she could enjoy her dance with the Whittemore boy.
"Earth to Aspen?" she heard him say, and realised she had been looking at the other two for a little too long.
"Sorry." she sighed. "You were saying?"
"I was just asking if Stiles was still in the picture." Jackson replied. He tried to hide the discomfort he was feeling.
"I..." she hesitated. "I don't know, is the answer."
Jackson nodded definitely, but understandingly.
"I knew what I was walking into when we kissed the other night." he said. "I know your feelings for him can't just disappear into thin air."
"Jackson-"
"But I can wait."
"What?"
"I can wait for you."
"No... no you don't need to." she objected. "Do you think we could continue this conversation after tonight?"
"Yeah, of course, yeah." he shook his head. "I get it, let's not put a downer on a good night."
The two let go of the conversation and continued to dance to the music, and enjoyed the rest of the formal without talking about the Stilinski boy.
...
"So, you're dancing with me to make Jackson jealous, so that I can make Aspen jealous?" Stiles said, very confused about Lydia's idea.
"Would you shut up? It'll work."
"They're not even looking over here." Stiles sighed.
"She was." Lydia informed him, making his eyes open wider.
"She was?" he squeaked.
"Oh, yeah." the strawberry blonde teased. "Trust me, this will totally work. You and her would make a much cuter couple, anyway."
"You really think?"
Suddenly Stiles realised exactly what he was doing.
His hands were on Lydia Martin's waist, her perfectly manicured hands were wrapped around his neck, and their chests were so close together she could probably feel his heartbeat.
This was supposed to be his dream.
But there he was, dancing with Lydia Martin, wishing it was Aspen Carter.
He just prayed to God that she was serious when she asked him to save her a dance.
...
Aspen had stepped out of the gym to freshen up in the ladies room, but when she returned she couldn't find Jackson anywhere. Maybe he had gone to the bathroom? Stepped out for some fresh air?
She did however, find Stiles, standing in the middle of the dance floor by himself, twitching his leg up and down nervously.
He caught a glimpse of her by the door, and looked at her longingly. He didn't know if this was the right moment or not, but he couldn't wait it out any longer. His legs quickly carried him over to the brunette in red, smiling instantly as he looked at her, even from a distance.
As he approached her, he collected all his nerves and tried to keep his cool.
"Can I, umm... have this dance now?" he said nervously.
Wherever Jackson was, she didn't think he'd be in danger, and if he did just step outside for a second, maybe she could get this dance with Stiles done before Jackson saw.
Because she didn't want to hurt Jackson, but she also needed this talk with Stiles more than anything.
"You may." she nodded, taking his hand as the two wondered over to the dance floor.
She felt an all too familiar sense of butterflies when his hands found her waist, and she reluctantly put hers on his shoulders. She didn't loop them around her neck like she had with Jackson.
"If it wasn't completely obvious, you look beautiful tonight." said Stiles, making her blush again.
"Thank you, Stiles." she said softly.
They danced without exchanging words for a whole song, both of them wanting to savour the moment before this conversation had the potential to go incredibly wrong.
"We need to talk." she said bluntly over the loud music.
"Yeah, I figured." he replied with nerves. "Can I go first?"
She just nodded.
"I'm so sorry." he started. "I'm sorry I was a foolish idiot who couldn't see what was right in front of him. I'm sorry I seem to have a habit of being too late."
His voice stopped as he cleared his throat.
"I want to prove to you that I'm worthy of you, even though I'm seriously not." he chuckled awkwardly. "I just... seeing you with him is killing me."
"That's not fair." Aspen was quick to say.
"What?" his voice was merely a whisper.
"I spent years being in love with you, Stiles." she sighed, "You found out, and I accepted that you weren't going to feel the same, so I tried moving on."
"With Jackson?"
"Yes, with Jackson." she said, a little more spark to her tone. "He may not be perfect, but he sees me as a first choice, I'm not his backup or his plan B. I finally thought that maybe, just maybe, I could let myself grow feelings for someone that wasn't you, and that's when you decide to see me different?"
She slowly retracted her hands from his shoulders.
"You're not my backup!" Stiles countered. "I swear, you're not-"
"Whether you realise it or not, I am." she cut him off. "The two of us won't ever work until I feel like your first choice."
Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat, this conversation hadn't gone the way he hoped.
Hell, what had he hoped?
Did he think she was going to run off into the sunset with him?
Without saying anything else, Aspen let go of him completely and walked away. She headed for the door so she could see if Jackson had stepped out for fresh air like she had assumed.
"I'm sorry, buddy." Scott's voice suddenly came out of nowhere, startling Stiles as he turned around.
"You were listening?" he asked, his voice was quiet and his expression was solemn.
"Yeah...." Scott winced, thinking he had overstepped by listening. In his defence, it wasn't on purpose, he didn't have full control over his supernatural hearing just yet.
"We'll have our time eventually." Stiles sighed, trying to stay optimistic. "Just not yet."
...
"Jackson?" Aspen's voice called out into the car park. She had found no luck in finding him yet and was growing slightly worried.
Then her eyes caught a glimpse of a champagne-pink dress in the far distance, and she recognised it to be Lydia. She was walking out into the lacrosse field, and for some reason, Aspen found herself following her.
It was freezing outside, being the middle of winter after all, Lydia shouldn't be out here alone.
"Lydia?" Aspen called out, making her way to the field. "Lydia!"
That's when she saw it.
Him.
Peter Hale.
"Lydia, run!" Aspen yelled, trying to run as quickly as she could in her heels.
The strawberry blonde heard Aspen's yells and snapped her head in her direction, to find her running toward her, screaming at her to run.
"Lydia, I mean it, run!" the brunette continued to yell.
But it was too late.
Aspen winced and let out a cry as she watched the alpha bite a chuck out of Lydia's side.
She didn't have to like the girl to know that she didn't deserve that.
"Why on earth would you do that?" she screamed at Peter as she fell to her knees over Lydia's limp, unconscious body.
She should've been scared of him, she should've been scared that he would grant her with the same fate, but he had had so many chances to do so and hadn't.
If Peter wanted to bite Aspen, he would've done it by now.
"Aspen... Aspen... Aspen..." the Hale alpha sighed. "Save the false waterworks."
"Screw you." she seethed, checking Lydia's body for a pulse. She would've immediately called an ambulance, or Scott, Jackson, even Stiles, but she left her phone inside.
"Why are you crying?" he taunted, hovering a single claw over Lydia's neck. "You hate her."
"No I don't." she spat.
"Sure you do." Peter argued. "Your little loverboy's second choice to her."
Aspen should've been freaked out as to why Peter Hale knows so much about her teenage drama, but it barely phased her.
You know, bigger fish to fry.
"Does it run in the family?" Peter added, making the brunette snap her neck up to look Peter in the eye with her teary ones.
"What?" she whispered.
"Your brother had a knack for being second choice as well, didn't he." Peter chuckled. "Poor Ace..."
"What do you know about my brother?" she said with spite.
"A lot." he deadpanned. "Did he ever tell you about Paige?"
Aspen swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.
"Did he ever tell you how she loved someone else?"
She nodded again.
"Did he ever tell you... who?"
She shook her head this time.
"Well... that is a shame, isn't it."
...
I worked on this chapter for hours making sure it was as good and as juicy and drama-filled as I could so I hope it was worth all the anticipation!
ps: let me know if you like the new title or if you preferred "the way you look at her"