Inspiration from don't bring tomorrow by thequeenofokay

one

She spills her drink on him at the bar and sends him an apologetic smile and that's all there is to it.

two

It's a somewhere between Friday night and Saturday morning and he's surrounded by textbooks and coffee. He's tired and he just wants to sleep, but he's got an anatomy test in three hours and he absolutely, under no circumstances, can afford to fail. His scholarship depends on it. So he forces his eyes to stay open and goes back to underlining everything he deems important.

And then his pencil snaps in half.

He groans and rubs his temples because this is just great. Then there's a tapping on his shoulder and a wide-eyed girl is standing next to him, looking timid and unsure. She tucks a piece of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear and hands him a pencil.

"Thank you," he starts to say.

But she's already gone.

three

Her eyes are green and that's all he really knows because she pulls the trigger a second later.

four

This time he's the one with the gun. He's been chasing her all over the country, yet she always manages to escape before he can can catch her. Not this time, though. He clicks the handcuffs around her wrists tight enough to keep her trapped, but not tight enough to hurt, and leads her to the nearest police station. She's pretty, but she's also a thief, and people like him get paid to catch people like her. So he watches her get locked away in a cell and accepts his fee in cash.

And he never gives the pretty thief another thought.

five

It's negative something degrees and he's freezing. He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket and slips through the door to the coffee shop. There's a girl in line in front of him and he can hear her teeth chattering, so he touches her shoulder.

"Um, are you okay?"

She's pale with big eyes and dainty features and her earrings make a chiming noise when she nods. "Yes, thank you. Sorry, I'm just a little cold."

And normally that would be the end of it, but he can see the shivers racking her small body and he's pretty sure her lips are tinted blue, so he shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over her shoulders. "Here, this should help."

She tries to hand it back, but he shakes his head. "Take it. I'm already warmed up."

It's a lie, but the smile she gives him in response makes it worth it. They talk for two hours at a tiny table in the corner and her laugh is contagious and then she's looking at her watch with wide eyes and an apology. She's out the door a second later, mumbling that she's late and dang it, Allison is gonna kill me.

And that's the first and the last time he sees her.

six

In one universe, she holds his hand and tells him stories about a whisky-eyed boy and a clever girl. She tells him how the boy saved the girl and fell into a deep sleep.

In this universe, he never wakes up.

seven

Her face flashes across his television screen with the word missing underneath and he prays for the first time in years that night with her name on his lips.

Five days later her face is on the news again, this time with the caption "tragedy rocks small town" and he never prays again.

eight

It's raining and he can feel the water soaking through his clothes as soon as he steps out of his dorm, but he's already going to be late for class, so running back in to get an umbrella is out of the question. So he shoves his textbook inside his shirt and sprints down the stairs, trying to avoid the puddles.

There's a shout and he turns around to find a girl that he's 90% sure is in his statistics class staring at him. She reaches out and yanks him closer to her, so they're both standing under her bright green umbrella.

"Uh, thanks."

She smiles and nods and they walk the rest of the way in silence. When they're safely inside the building and away from the storm, she disappears before he has a chance to thank her again.

And as he walks to class, he thinks that her umbrella matched her eyes.

nine

He runs into her, literally, and the collision sends them both crashing to the floor. She glares and ignores his offered hand and storms off, muttering about clumsy idiots and stupid heels.

He rolls his eyes because he really hates girls like her.

ten

He's visiting his best friend in the hospital, flowers in his hands and a worried look in his eyes when he sees her.

She's sitting in the waiting room, her hands red and her body shaking. She looks like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders and he tells himself that as soon as he checks on Scott, he'll come back ask her if she needs to talk.

By the time he gets back, the chair is empty.

eleven

The coffee shop he works at is small and packed in between two jewelry stores, but it helps pay tuition, so he puts up with the newly-engaged couples that come in every two hours with shiny diamonds and proud smiles.

Or maybe he puts up with it because of the girl who comes every day at promptly three in the afternoon and leaves exactly forty-five minutes later. She brings her laptop and types away, sipping at her soy latte. She smiles at him when he places her drink on the table two minutes after she orders and he blushes every single time.

He thinks today might be the the day he finally talks to her.

She never shows up.

twelve

He doesn't usually go to clubs, but his roommate says he needs to live a little, so he lets himself be dragged along and pulled into The Jungle. It's loud and the flashing lights are giving him a headache and he hates it.

And then there's a redhead sliding into the seat next to him at the bar and he offers her a wain smile when she meets his eyes.

"Not your scene?"

"Not even a little bit."

She tosses her head back and laughs and her silver dress sparkles when the light catches it right and he thinks she's the kind of girl people write songs about. "Maybe I can change your mind."

She says it with a sultry smile and then she's grabbing his hand and leading him to the dance floor and okay, maybe clubs aren't so bad.

(he wakes up in a crappy motel with a hangover and a missing wallet)

thirteen

In some universes, it ends before it can really begin. This is one of them.

He is diagnosed with a kind of dementia that can hit teenagers on his fourteenth birthday.

He never makes it to his fifteenth.

fourteen

They meet on the subway and he lets her take his seat when the rest of the car is full.

fifteen

He brings her roses on their first date.

It's perfect and he thinks he might be able to love this girl when there's a scream and a screech of tires and it all goes black.

He brings her roses again, but this time, she doesn't grab them and smile and kiss him on the cheek.

This time, he leaves them on her tombstone and cries.

sixteen

He has a slight obsession with comic books. And maybe a slight obsession with the girl behind the counter at his favorite store.

He thinks it might be mutual because he always gets a ten percent discount.

It's not until he's in line, the new Marvel edition in his hands, that he decides to take a chance. She gives him his receipt and a smile and he gives her his phone number scrawled on a napkin he found in his pocket.

His phone starts ringing just as he's walking into his apartment and he answers it with a grin.

This universe is a happy one.

seventeen

He gets the call on a Tuesday. Someone has hacked into his bank accounts and completely cleaned him out. He puts his head in his hands and sighs because this is just perfect.

Luckily insurance will cover the majority of the loss, as he finds out later, but the entire event still sends him into a tailspin of confusion and frustration and paperwork.

He gets the email on a Wednesday.

Thanks for the cash. Love, Lydia.

He vaguely recognizes the name and remembers that he dated a girl named Lydia a few months ago. And then he shakes his head because it can't possibly be the same girl, can it?

(It is.)

eighteen

It's not the first time he gets caught.

But it is the first time he gets caught by a girl wearing designer heels.

"That's pretty good. It could use some shading though."

Her presence makes him jump and his sketchpad goes flying, landing in the grass a few feet away. She saunters over and picks it up, flipping through the pages before she gives it back. "You've got talent."

"Uh, thank you?"

She smirks at the redness creeping up his neck and sits down beside him, leaning over his shoulder to watch as he darkens the edges of the drawing.

"Do you ever draw people?"

He shrugs. "Sometimes."

"Will you draw me?"

That makes him start, his eyes widening as he finally looks at her. "I, uh, yeah. Sure. If you want me to."

She beams at him and holds out her hand. "Hi. I'm Lydia."

"Stiles."

nineteen

He's in line at the bank when someone pulls out a gun and starts shooting. The girl in front of him screams when it's pointed at her and he doesn't think. He just shoves her behind him and closes his eyes.

He may not be able to see the bullet, but he certainly feels it when it rips through his chest.

And then he's on the ground and the girl is pressing down on his ribs, telling him to keep breathing. Something wet is falling on his neck and he realizes that she's crying. He wants to tell her that it's going to be okay, but his mouth isn't working, so he reaches up to touch her cheek instead. It makes her freeze and then she's crying harder and he can still hear gunshots. He wants to stay awake and make sure the girl is okay, but everything is weighing down on him and darkness is creeping into his vision and he doesn't think he can keep his eyes open for much longer.

And it all goes black.

twenty

He's on his way home from school when he sees her walking a few feet in front of him.

He recognizes her as the girl who sits behind him in history, so he walks a little faster to catch up to her and asks if she's okay. She looks up with a wary expression that vanishes when she sees him.

"I'm fine." She rubs her arms when the wind picks up and then sighs. "My ride forgot about me."

"Oh. Do you live far from here?"

She rattles off an address and he knows that it's at least a mile away, so he quickly makes a decision. "Come on, you can come back to my house and I'll drop you at your place when my dad gets home with the car."

"Are you sure?" She looks small and insecure all of the sudden, so he tosses an arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah! You can help me with my history homework."

She smiles and he thinks she's beautiful.

(he tells her so a few weeks later when he finally asks her out)