Honestly, she probably should've known that Murphy's Law would go into effect sooner than later. This was the apocalypse; it was no place to fall in love. She hadn't yet, she didn't think, but she'd been stupid enough to think that maybe she could given some time and that was Joey's mistake. She knew that now and she wouldn't make it again.
It wasn't Stile's fault. It wasn't even Malia's. Joey didn't think she had any right to be upset with him for wanting to break off what they had before it had a chance to really get started if it meant fixing things with Malia, because Stiles loved her. Joey had always known that.
And it was fair for him to want to slam on the brakes and back up the train, but what wasn't fair was that Joey had a sinking suspicion that he was upset because things were weird with Malia and that he expected Joey to be the one to pick up the pieces for him, because that was just what Joey did. She picked up the pieces for Stiles before half of his freaking hometown showed up and she continued to do it after. This was one thing, though, that she really thought would be asking too much of her. Joey could tolerate the awkwardness of sharing a bed with her crush when she thought he didn't like her. She could be his crutch and take care of him all this time, pushing down her own feelings and ignoring them for Stiles's benefit. Joey could do that.
...she couldn't console him because another girl didn't want him. That was asking too much.
Joey turned off the sound on her phone and pushed it into her back pocket, excusing herself from the med bay with an "I'll be back soon," to the other women working and she felt like screaming or crying or falling apart, but Joey held her head high and walked purposefully back to the townhouses. Stiles could say what he had to say and, if she had to, she'd tell him to make it fast, but she wasn't going to let anyone, especially Stiles, see that she was upset.
She pulled open the front door and Stiles was already there. Her stomach dropped; she'd kind of been hoping for a few minutes to get herself together but she supposed she'd had a few minutes on her way there. That was going to have to be good enough. "Hey," she greeted, keeping her tone as close to the positive side of neutrality as she could manage and that was about as good as she was going to get. She didn't want to have this conversation. At all.