

And he promised himself he wouldn't cry when his father didn't apologize for standing him up and leaving him to wait for three hours in an empty booth for the fifth Friday in a row. Stiles promised himself he wouldn't take it hard if his dad called to cancel their Friday night dinner at Octavia's Diner again because Mrs Martin got off work early and called him to come over. He promised himself it was okay that the only person that truly loved him was across the country and he didn't call because he was finally picking himself back up and taking care of his health. He told himself that Scott hadn't meant to lie to him. He told himself to be happy that his best friends were happy.

And he promised himself he wouldn't cry when he saw Scott twenty minutes later across the street from his favorite take out place with Isaac hanging from his neck, wide smiles etched on their faces. He promised himself he wouldn't be sad when Scott told him he couldn't come over and play that new video game because his mom had him on lock down, studying for the rest of the night. 'Yes Jackson it does bother me that most people think I'm a useless, 5 foot 8 bag of bones, it also bothers me that your mom keeps calling me at midnight telling me to come over, would you mind telling her to keep it in her pants? Thanks' He promised himself he would hold his head high and give the best, snarkiest comeback when Jackson stood beside his locker and started being rude and invasive. He promised himself he wouldn't snap and scream that at least Scott had a mom and there were worse things than that mom saying no to her teenage son's boyfriend spending the night or a boyfriend to spend the night with and at least he didn't get a D on that chemistry test that stiles had spent 6 hours each day studying for. He promised himself he'd sit and listen to scott incessantly whine about everything wrong with his life how annoying his mom was being this day how Isaac couldn't spend the night that day how he got a goddamn b- on that chemistry test he swore he spent more than thirty minutes studying for on Tuesday night before his 'much needed' study break Isaac. Closed off from love, I didn't need the pain Once or twice was enough, but it was all in vain
