CULMINATION 🪐 STILES STILINSKI {3}

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

     "Hey, this is Vee! Sorry I missed your call, I'm probably busy, but leave a message and I'll call you back!" her voice echoes through the dorm room for the fourth time that night, sending a larger wave of worry through Stiles' body.

He hadn't been able to reach her or Scott since they abruptly ended the call last night. The only thing he had gotten was a half-assed apology text from Venus saying she was sick and that she'd call him when she can. Which again, only made him worry even more.

The dorms door swings open, revealing Mitch walking in with a bag of snacks in hand. The smile on his face quickly drops as he spots the deflated boy sat on his bed with his head in his hands.

"She still hasn't called you back, huh?" he asks sadly, perching himself on his own bed across the room. Stiles shakes his head. "Well, you said yourself she's still moving in and signing up for her classes and all that. Maybe she's just a little busy."

"I don't know, man." Stiles sighs, rubbing a hand down his face before lifting it to look at his roommate. "It's just not like her, that's why I'm worried."

Mitch tosses a pack of Reese's peanut butter cups at him, knowing they were his favorite. "She'll call you back. I'm sure you're overreacting."

"I hope you're right."

•••

Isaac and Venus were walking up their driveway, the girl still feeling a slight daze as she walked along beside him. They had almost reached their porch when someone called out to her from across the street. A sense of deja-vu washes over her for a second, remembering the countless times that Stiles had communicated with her like that.

Turning, she spots the Sheriff crossing the street and moving towards them, worrying them slightly. Venus gestures at the house, a signal for Isaac to go and that she'd be in shortly.

"Are you feeling okay? You don't look too well." the man asks, his eyebrows furrowing as he takes in her pale state.

Venus musters up her best smile. "I'm fine, don't worry. It's just the usual supernatural stuff."

"Right." the man nods, clearly unconvinced but not wanting to push her. "Well, I just had an interesting call with Stiles."

The girl takes a deep breath, knowing fully well where this conversation was going. She hasn't responded to any of her boyfriends calls since the night Brett and Lori died. The guilt had been eating her up over the past twenty-four hours for not speaking to him, but she knew that if she contacted him in her fragile state, she would break.

"He said you've been ignoring his calls and you haven't texted him back. He's really worried, asked me to ask your dad about you."

She lets out a sigh, unable to meet his eyes. "I feel terrible about it. I just...with everything going on right now, with me...I'm worried I'm gonna tell him the truth. And the less I talk to him, the less I lie to him. I hate lying to him, Noah."

"So do I." the older man confesses, giving her a sad smile. "I know how you feel, okay? But not speaking to him isn't the right thing to do, Venus, and I think you know that."

Venus nods, making a silent agreement with herself to call Stiles the moment she's back in her house.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Noah asks again, worry lacing his every word.

"I will be. Thanks. For knocking some sense into me."

"No problem. I love interfering with my sons relationship."

The pair laugh, bidding each other a quick goodnight and going their separate ways. Venus joins her dad and Isaac in his dad as they fill him in on everything new that had happened in the past day or so. Then she finally retreats to her room for the night.