"No," Stiles repeated. He felt like he was going about this all wrong, but he didn't know what he was supposed to do. How was he supposed to handle this situation?
It as a huge testament to his mental stability, which he owed to Joey more than anything else, that he wasn't writhing on the floor in complete and utter panic. He felt it, in his racing pulse, in the jumbled thoughts, in his sweating palms, his twitching nerves, but he was keeping himself together. For the moment, anyway.
"I'm...A lot has happened since I was with Malia. And now that she's here, she doesn't really even know me. She hates me, right now. I'm not going to force my history on her, just because I remember it and she doesn't." HIs voice pitched and hitched awkwardly, fading in and out on seemingly random syllables.
The panic was threatening to over ride everything else. It would, if she rejected him. Because while he couldn't say he was in love with her, he had very strong feelings, and an inclination that he could be in love with her in time. He certainly did love her, she was his best friend in this place, and had been for some time. She was special, and he wanted to spend time with her, he wanted to be with her, and Malia's arrival didn't change that.