They hadn’t all gone their separate ways after high school, necessarily, but they’d all had things to do that took them elsewhere. Scott to school and then he eventually became a veterinarian, Lydia to school and then as some kind of --- well, to be honest, Malia can’t remember the name of what kind of job she has. It’s complicated and scientific of some sort. Stiles, of course, went to the FBI academy and then eventually became an agent in San Francisco. Most of them, though they had ties to people who still lived in Beacon Hills, did their best to not settle in that town and made lives for themselves.
One of the people who made a point to not settle down really anywhere, was Malia. The moment she’d been able to go to France after high school? She’d taken the chance and run with it. There’d been a brief romance with Scott that she’d always cherish, but that didn’t mean she was going to stay in town with him, and because of that they cooled off a little bit. Still pack, of course, but it’s hard to maintain a relationship when your girlfriend wants to travel around the world and you’re stuck in school.
Needless to say, college wasn’t really Malia’s thing.
It had been probably months since the last time she spoke with Stiles face to face. They’d texted one another occasionally, and she’d sent him pictures of cool stuff she’d seen on her travels, but they both had busy lives.
Her sudden arrival in San Francisco wouldn’t necessarily be alarming right off the bat, because she popped into everyone’s lives fairly randomly, but the fact that she showed up at Stiles’ door with a little blood on her shirt and a disheveled look about her probably didn’t help, even though she looked very . . . casual, and nonchalant about it. She adjusted the bag over her shoulder and gave his door a knock, before pulling her jacket a little closer around her body and waiting.
If he asks immediately, she’ll tell him the blood is hers and that everything’s fine while shouldering herself into his apartment.