When Stiles responded, Joey realized that it didn't matter what he said, she was always going to wonder if he felt like he was settling for her. It might not have been fair to Stiles, but there it was, all the same. I don't know, while honest, made her feel nauseous. She hadn't realized she'd been worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth again until she tasted blood; she'd broken the skin. Sucking her bottom lip both in an attempt to keep Stiles from seeing it and to quell the bleeding, Joey just looked back at him for a second.
Nobody told her that there was negativity to be felt when she wasn't on the outside looking in, anymore. Joey just sort of assumed that she'd stop feeling awkward and insecure when she managed to get into her first relationship. Clearly, she had overestimated the power of being in a relationship, because this hurt.
Admittedly, it helped when he said that he didn't want to pick up with Malia, but Joey wondered how much stock she would ever let herself put into that. "You really mean that?" she challenged uncertainly.