invisible string ━━ stiles stilinski ²

9| dire disease

    LOVE IS A HEARTLESS BASTARD. It picks and chooses, regardless of the time or convenience, and pulls you into it's rabbit hole. And to Juliette's luck, it picked her and hasn't let go of her since.

Here's what Juliette knew; she was in love with Stiles. The feelings she's suppressed have been bubbling up to the surface for a while, and since that night in Eichen House when they visited Meredith, everything came rushing to her all at once. When once she would manage to speak to Stiles without it being weird or uncomfortable, now she couldn't manage to speak to him without her eyes flickering to his lips; wondering if it's still as soft as they once were.

There was another thing Juliette knew for certain, and she was positive Stiles was aware of this as well, and it was that Malia was a part of their pack, and they would never do anything to hurt her. "Jules, you'll do fine, I promise. You studied from my notes, right?"

"Yeah, it's just that..." Juliette turned to the strawberry blonde, her hands rubbing her eyes. "You know I need a scholarship, and if I don't do well at the SAT's, i'm screwed." She let go out the notebook she was clutching in her hands. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you took the SAT's early?"

Lydia stomped on her high heels as she let out a sharp exhale, glancing behind her to make sure the two were alone in the hallways. "It's just that..." Her voice trailed on. "Ever since Meredith's death a few days ago, I can't be alone. It's too... quiet when i'm alone. I never thought i'd hate the quiet."

This leads us into the next thing; death, like love, is also a heartless bastard that picks and chooses it's victims regardless of timely circumstances. And it chose Meredith— or, more accurately, Meredith chose it.

Juliette blamed herself for Meredith's death the same way she blamed herself for everyone else's parting. She couldn't let go of the memory of pushing the banshee into a meltdown, and her committing suicide hours afterwards. It couldn't be a coincidence, and Juliette had to carry around her guilt soundlessly. "The only other banshee I knew..." Lydia pursed her lips. "And she's just gone."

"Did Scott and Stiles give you the tapes they found?" She asked, desperate to change the subject to avoid falling into a loophole of guilt again. "Here. They found it in Garrett's gym bag along with the money. It says all the rules you need to know for the money transfer; photo proof, the code you use to send the confirmation, all of it." She handed the banshee the tape. "Who knows, you might hear something we didn't."

Lydia let out a ragged sigh, like she hadn't meant for it to escape. "Thanks, but I doubt i'll help. I've spent this entire week in the lake house, trying to something, anything, about why Meredith killed herself. And... nothing."

"Have you tried not trying?" Juliette suggested. "It'll come to you, I promise."

Her eyes wandered to Stiles at the other end of the hallway, chuckling at something Scott said, and her eyes softened at the sight of his laughter. Lydia caught her friend's gaze, and turned to catch the source of Juliette's stray mind.

    "You still like him, don't you?"