Arms Of A Stranger , Stiles Stilinski ³ ✓

[ 8 ] he's the ex, right?

HE'S THE EX, RIGHT?

       AFTER the events of the previous night, Aspen woke up with a foreign sense of contentment. Derek was back to his normal self, Peter got robbed— but Aspen didn't see that as anything to worry about right now, and her and Stiles functioned in a way that reminded her a lot of what their old friendship used to feel like. Things weren't so bad.

Or so she thought. For now.

"Of course you're still the team captain." Stiles said with a hand on Scott's shoulder, the two boys gearing up for try outs while Aspen tagged along to watch, "You got your grades up, just like Coach told you to, right?"

"Yeah, but he never told me I was back on the team—" Scott replied, "he just told me to show up at try-outs today."

"We got bigger things to deal with, anyway." said Stiles, "Did you tell Argent yet?"

"Uh, I texted him," said Scott, "but he didn't get back to me..."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Aspen chipped in, shaking her head, "You're telling us you told Chris that his sister resurrected from the pits of hell—over a text?"

"I... didn't have the money to call France..." Scott replied sheepishly in defence.

"Yeah, you think you got money problems?" Stiles sighed, "Try paying for an MRI and a visit to Eichen House..."

Aspen's face softened with pity. She didn't exactly have any parents which were alive or present in her life so she didn't relate to some of the things that Stiles and Scott went through. Aspen felt guilty a lot of the time, she was just another body living under the McCall's roof, more meals to put around the table.

"Another notice?" Scott said to Stiles.

"Yeah. This one said 'final'." Stiles said solemnly in defeat, worrying about his father and their money situation.

He accidentally then locked eyes with Aspen, seeing his ex girlfriend looking at him empathetically, like she wanted to do something to help, but he then quickly wanted to change the conversation to avoid that.

"Now, what the hell are we doing here, anyway?" the Stilinski boy deflected, "We got like, one hundred and seventeen million problems, and worrying about our status on the lacrosse team is not one of them."

All three of them diverted their attention to the lacrosse field, observing one of the players they failed to recognise in the goal, catching every ball that was launched at him. Aspen looked impressed, while Stiles frowned and Scott just looked surprised.

"...It is now." Scott murmured as they all watched the new player on the team.

"Who the hell is that?" Stiles narrowed his eyes as he asked in annoyance.

"That, boys..." came another voice, laced in the familiar British accent, and Scott and Stiles both felt a hand plant on their shoulders, "Is Liam Dunbar. Word on the street is he's the best player your little high-school has had in a long time."

Both Scott and Stiles, and Aspen all turned to see none other than River Chasseuse who had approached the trio. He wore an amused smile as he towered over Scott and Stiles with his extra inches in height. Aspen took in his appearance, all geared up in his lacrosse kit—his hair dishevelled. He was looking as attractive as ever.

Stiles immediately felt threatened by the guy, this being the first time they'd actually interacted, and considering what he knows about who this guy was to Aspen—or more likely, what he would become. River was rebound material—from him.