After they've done, Allison will walk with her.

"That was pretty good out there. Have you joined any teams yet?" 

"Lacrosse, in my male alter ego."

"Try one for each ego, you obviously have plenty."

"That I do. And speaking of ego..." She looks around just to make sure no one (Scott, in particular) can hear it, and says, "I win."

"...Yeah, you do. Wow, that was- really?" 

"Yep."

"You work fast. Any tips?"

"Well I'm not sure there are any that are generally applicable, but in my case I mentioned my lack of care for the socially approved of time evolution of this sort of thing and said that as far as I was concerned we could either wait until our date on Friday or make out behind the bleachers. He chose the latter. And then after lacrosse we went to my place."

"That probably won't work on Scott, and I do kind of care. Oh well. Good for you, anyway. Are you, uh, sampling the whole population?" 

"Hmm, I haven't had the conversation with Stiles yet, I don't know what his expectations are. I'd say I'm naturally polyamorous but don't have a particularly strong need for any specific relationship mode."

"Polyamorous? Many loving? Useful word for you, I guess." 

"It's a murder of the Greek and Latin languages is what it is, but what it means is not... well, monogamous, really. Like, I don't really have a 'jealousy' setting anywhere in my brain."

"Oh, that's nice. Can you share that around?" 

"Maybe? I could explain how I do it."

"Sure, go ahead." 

The girls make their way back to the locker room to change.

"Well, first, I don't really have any mental architecture for wanting to be 'enough' for whoever I'm with. Like, if I have a friend maybe we're the go-jogging-together type of friends, and maybe they like music I hate so they gave a go-to-shows-together friend, and I don't feel like it's an insult or a slight on my character that there is a certain need they have that I can't fulfill. Same thing goes for romantic attachments, I could be the kinky partner and then they have one go-out-on-dates-with partner."

"So try caring less that you can do everything for someone?" 

"More or less? People need different things, and it's generally unrealistic to want to be everything for someone, we're not—built that way, to be perfect matches like that, so I take that to the extreme, more or less. That's one part of it."

"I know I can't be perfect, but I can try. If he needs to see someone else, we can talk about it, but I don't really want him to."

"It's not about being perfect, it's about being everything. Soulmates don't exist, personalities develop in completely arbitrary ways, it is a statistical impossibility that every need of his will be met by you and vice-versa—relationships always involve compromises, he'll always have, say, Stiles, or bowling night, or lacrosse, or whatever else that are things you won't be able—or willing—to give. And that's normal and healthy and exactly how relationships are supposed to work."

"That makes sense, but isn't it a question of priorities? He has Stiles, and Stiles has been his friend for a while, but aren't romantic relationships supposed to be special?"

She shrugs. "I don't think so? And I mean, he has been Stiles' friend for a good, long while, if any relationship is the more special one it'd be that one, no offense meant. I guess that might sum it up—I don't really see romantic relationships as being more special, by default. Just—different, fulfilling other needs, fueled by other emotions."

"I've never really thought about it like that."

"Hello, ladies. Are we walking together?"

"Apparently," she grins. And back to Allison: "So, thing the first, what we just discussed. Thing the second, I probably just can't feel jealousy, because... Way I see it, the person who's with me is with me because they want to be with me, specifically, not because everyone else is worse in some way. So just because they're with someone else doesn't mean I'm worth less or they want me less."