So, I know I said I was leaving the world of FanFiction, I really wasn't planning on comming back but then I was listening to a song and this idea came to my mind, I knew I had to write it and since I'm in a serious need of Delena I decided to do it. I want to thank Lorena for being the beta for this and for being so damn amazing! And if you decide to read this and give it a shot I would be so grateful.

Please, let me know what you think,

Love, Sam.

STRAWBERRY WINE

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Strawberry wine and seventeen

The hot July moon saw everything

My first taste of love, oh bittersweet

The green on the vine

Like strawberry wine

-Deana Carter-

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Elena absently tapped her hand against the steering wheel; the air conditioning of the rental car was not strong enough for such a hot morning, she could already feel her silk blouse dampening and clinging to her sweaty body. Why did Jeremy insist on a wedding in June? She really had no idea. And why did he demand for a wedding here of all places? For all she knew he had never returned either and Anna was from Seattle, so why did he choose this place? Damn him, she cursed. She couldn't believe she was this nervous, she had spent the entire flight on edge, ten years, it had been ten years since she last set foot in this little town. She could still remember that hot morning in July, so filled with sadness and nostalgia…the morning she said goodbye to the town that had watched her grow, to her friends…the day she said goodbye to him. On that sad morning of July she had had every intention of returning but then… then there was nothing to come back to anymore.

She moved her long straight hair over one of her shoulders so her neck could breathe a little bit, her body was so damp with perspiration, how she craved a shower! Summers in Mystic Falls were something else entirely, she wasn't used to it anymore. She let out a huff and turned on the radio, there were still a good thirty minutes to go and she had no intentions of spending that time alone with her thoughts. But when she turned up the volume and recognized the song playing she realized what a bad idea that had been… to her I'm prince charming but to him I'm just some fella riding in and stealing Cinderella… that was the first song they danced to together, the song coming out from a jukebox in his momma's bar, she had been fifteen and ridiculously happy. It had been their song ever since. Once she left Mystic Falls she never listened to it ever again…until now.

She cursed Jeremy once again, why did he have to get married? And in Mystic Falls of all places, it wasn't enough that he was getting married before her but he also had to drag her to this godforsaken town to relieve all the ghosts from her past.

She had been perfectly fine with her life in San Francisco, her big job and friends, and parties and boyfriend. Oh wait, she didn't have a boyfriend anymore. Her blood boiled with just the memory of her ex, master of the universe, Elijah, hadn't been happy when she said she yet didn't feel ready for marriage so he dumped her and found another girl to serve him as his trophy wife. She still couldn't believe she wasted an entire year on that idiot. But even without her ex-boyfriend her life in San Francisco was great, she didn't need to come here and open old wounds… she was happy, right?

"Fuck" She cursed loudly and gripped the steering wheel. She was not happy, not all. She couldn't understand it. She was one of the most talented event planners in San Francisco, at twenty-eight years old she was already part of one of the most important firms, she had money, friends, a brother she loved, parents who she didn't fight with all the time anymore, her life was a good one, why couldn't that be enough?... and they would know, people from Mystic Falls were going to be able to see through her and would realize how sad she really was. And she couldn't stand the idea of being a failure again.

Elena felt her chest tightening and her eyes were stinging with unshed tears, she took a deep breath and abruptly spun the wheel in another direction, she pulled over on the side of the road and closed her eyes. From the bottom of my broken heart started to sound on the radio and she couldn't control the tears anymore "Are you fucking kidding me!" She screamed inside the car. Even the godman radio was against her today. She cried, let out real awful cries for what felt like hours, until her nose was stuffed and her eyes were puffy and red. "I can't do this" She said to herself. Why was this affecting her so much? It had been ten years; she should be over it already.

She vividly remembered the day she realized it was over, no more letters or emails, no more late night calls or text messages. He was letting her go and nothing had ever hurt as much as that realization. She took a couple of deep breaths and cleaned her eyes and nose with a few tissues "It's going to be okay, you can do this Elena" She looked at her reflection in the mirror and put on her brave face "You're twenty eight years old for crying out loud, grow up" She turned off the radio and with that re-started the engine and drove towards her little small town.

"What do you mean you're not coming until tomorrow?!" Elena shouted into the phone "Jeremy, I dragged my ass to this town to plan your wedding in two weeks, you have no idea how hard that's going to be and you're not even arriving the day you told me you were!"

"Calm down, sis, it's not a big deal. The flight got canceled and we won't be able to take another until early tomorrow but we'll be there at noon, I promise" Her brother said softly on the other side of the phone, as if he was talking to a lion and needed to remain calm.

Elena huffed and then put the phone aside before submerging herself onto the small tub she was in, she was so grateful for the only five star hotel she could find in Mystic Falls. There was nothing better than a bath when she was in a bad mood. When she reemerged she could hear Jeremy's voice from the phone.

"Elena? Elena, damn it, are you listening?!"

"What?" She answered, taking the phone and putting it in speaker.

"What's wrong with you?" He said in a concerned tone. Great, now he chooses to be concerned. He should have thought about her before deciding to get married in Mystic Falls.

"Nothing"

"Have you seen… anybody" He asked slowly

"No, Jeremy. This isn't exactly a social visit you know" She said, rolling her eyes at the wall in front of her

"Okay, okay, calm down." He said "But you know it won't hurt to visit some old friends" Elena knew from the tone in her brother's voice that he was referring to him. "It would be a good opportunity to patch things up"

"Jeremy I really don't want to talk about it, please" She almost pleaded. Jeremy had been very young when they moved, but he was always very smart and she knew he realized how hard it had been for her to leave Mystic Falls. "Just let me be"

"Okay then" He let out a breath "Did you receive Ana's email?"

"Yeah, I'll just take a nap for a little bit and then I'll go check out the place, don't worry." She said while rubbing her temple with her hands.

"Thanks sis, you're the best" Jeremy said "It means a lot to me, Elena that you agreed to do this just for my wedding. I know how hard it is for you" Right at this moment she didn't want to think about how hard it was for her "See you tomorrow" He said when he realized he wasn't getting an answer and with that he hung up.

"Fuck you, Jeremy" Elena muttered before submerging herself in the tub again.

The town was exactly like she remembered, she didn't know what she was expecting but it seemed like time had stood still, nothing changed, the same church, the same town square, and the same school. The only place she didn't venture through was the bar… she wanted to, she felt the pull dragging her there but she fought against it with all her power.

She climbed out of the tub and wrapped herself in a big fluffy robe that the hotel provided, it felt so good to be clean and fresh again, and with an air conditioner that actually worked. Without all that heat she could finally think again, nothing bad was going to happen, they were going to be here for two weeks and then boom! Gone again, like it never happened. In fact, she was so sure of it that she wasn't leaving this hotel unless it was to see something specifically wedding related. She was not here on a social or touristic visit, she was going to hide in the hotel for the whole two weeks and then everything would be over. "God you're so pathetic, Elena" She rolled her eyes "Where's all that girl power you were mustering a few minutes ago?" The silence in the room startled her and she suddenly remembered how much Elijah hated when she talked to herself, but it had always felt like a therapy to her.

She let herself fall onto the big king sized bed and settled on the fluffy pillows. The grown up part of her still didn't understand why she was making a big deal out of this, it's not like they ended on bad terms, no one had cheated or lied…they just ended. "Come on, Elena, what's the worst that can happen? You see him, he barely recognizes you because he forgot all about you so easily…" Her heart dropped and fear took hold of her "No, of course not. He would never completely forget about you. So you see him, he remembers you, feels happy to see you and introduces you to his beautiful wife and two cute children" Her stomach started to feel queasy at the thought. God, she wasn't sure which idea was worse.

"Just leave it all to fate Gilbert, let's see what happens"

She closed her eyes but couldn't sleep; her body was full of dread. Of finding someone familiar once she was out of this room, seeing places that reminded her of her teenage years, old friends. She realized she wasn't only afraid of seeinghim but she was afraid of seeing all of them, the people she left behind. Stefan, Matt…Caroline. There's nothing she regrets more than losing contact with her, she had been her best friend and Elena had been so unfair to her.

She started remembering all of the adventures she had while growing up here, days at Caroline's house and nights at the bar, weekends in her grandparents' farm and starry nights lying next to him, slowly and without realizing it she drifted off to sleep.

Dreaming about that blue eyed boy who had stolen her heart.

Elena was still contemplating the existential crisis of her life while she drove to "La vie", an apple orchard Ana saw on the internet. Apparently people celebrated a lot of events here, she couldn't remember ever seeing it before but when Anna showed her the pictures she had agreed that it was the perfect place for a wedding.

Elena parked on the side of the road and walked to a little rusty office she saw in the entrance, if the rest of the place was like this office then they would have officially been cheated on by the magic of the internet. "Hello?" Elena called out but received no answer, she knocked on the dusty door three times but no one came.

She huffed and pulled out her phone to make sure she had the right address. When she confirmed it she started to walk to a path that seemed to lead to inside the property; she hadn't come here for nothing so she was determined to find the owner of the place. She could see a sort of barn far away so maybe someone was there.

After a few minutes of walking, the beautiful orchard she had seen on the internet opened before her, and it was as beautiful as the pictures showed "Amazing" She murmured while looking around her, her mind already painting ideas for everything she was going to do to this place for the wedding. The place was simply magical and her eyes even became a little bit misty while imagining Jeremy and Anna saying "I do" here. She was so distracted by her admiration of the place that she didn't hear the footsteps approaching her.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" A voice she easily recognized said behind her

She froze for a moment and then a smile started to form on her lips "Matt? Matty?" She questioned before turning around and coming face to face with the blonde man who used to be one of her best friends back in the day.

"Elena Gilbert?" He said, his blue eyes were so wide that it was almost comical "Is it really you?"

"In the flesh" She said with a big smile

"I cannot believe this!" He shouted and ran towards her "It's really you" He lifted her up in a big bear hug and twirled her around the room, she laughed and her heart felt a lot lighter than what it did that morning.

"Look at you" She said once he released her "All grown up and so handsome"

He let out a small laugh and then looked at her with a big goofy smile on his face "And what about you? You're gorgeous! And all fancy and elegant" He gestured to her outfit, a pale pink pencil skirt, a white silk blouse and killer heels, an outfit she was feeling regretful of choosing, since she could already feel the sweat forming on her skin and her feet starting to ache "And what are you doing here, after so many years?"

"My brother…Jeremy is getting married" She said with a smile "Here, in two weeks so I came to arrange everything"

"Really, oh my God" Matt said with an expression of surprise on his face "He must be, what, 25 now?"

"Yeap, 26 this September"

"Wow, time does fly by fast" He said, shaking his head "I still remember when he was a fourteen year old kid running around the town square"

"Yeah, I know what you mean" She said. And she did. Ten years had flown by and she felt like she wasted every single minute of that time. God, being in this place was turning her into such a negative bitch.

"And what about you? You married?"

"Nah, my brother beat me so now I'll stay single for the rest of my life" She answered jokingly, even though sometimes she did wonder if maybe her destiny was to be forever alone.

"Nonsense" He smiled at her, "God I can't believe you're here, everyone's going to be so shocked once they find out you're back!"

"Yeah, I know" And then she wanted to add but I'm not back, I'll just be here for two weeks, and then she also wanted to say but please don't say anything to anyone. But that seemed like the cowardly thing to do so she said nothing. Besides, in a small town like Mystic Falls it was almost impossible to keep a secret. "So, do you own this place?" She askedd, directing the conversation to the topic she came here to deal with.

"Yeah, crazy right" He said, scratching his head "We never knew about this place until the town started to grow west and then when my grandmother passed away this place became ours, Vicky's and mine" He shrugged and smiled down at her. Matt was always smiling and that hadn't changed in the last ten years.

"How's Vicky by the way?"

"She's great, currently working in Chicago" Matt told her with a proud look on his face. Elena recognized it because it was the same look she had every time she talked about Jeremy. Vicky Donovan was the only one of them who always dreamed of getting out of Mystic Falls, it made Elena happy to know she had reached her dream. "But she visits very often"

"Good, that's good Matt" She said absently "So, can we have Jeremy's wedding here?" She smiled hopefully and he smiled back at her

"Of course, come here, I'll tell you how it works"

He took her to his office; thankfully it wasn't the one she saw when she first arrived. Matt was a grown up now, with a property and a fiancé she had learned, a steady job and a small house with a picket fence. But when she looked at him she could still see the young boy with big heart who used to bus tables in the town restaurant. She wondered if the same would happen when she saw him.

Once they arranged everything for her to rent the place he walked her back to her car "It's been so great to see you again, Elena." He said before giving her a hug so strong that she thought he would crush her "I know everyone will be happy to see you. In fact, we're all getting together in the bar in a few minutes, you should come" A hopeful smile appeared on his face

Elena's heart stopped beating in her chest. Could she do that? No, she couldn't. Not yet, it was just too soon. "Sorry but there's some things I need to do in town" She gave him a regretful look

"Nah it's okay, some other time" He said slowly "You'll be here for two weeks right?"

"Yeah, you're right. Another time it will be" She agreed before giving him one final hug and entering her car. Her hands were shaking and it cost her more than it should to start the engine of the car. Seeing Matt had woken up so many things inside her, memories she didn't want back, her heart was beating wildly in her chest and before she had time to regret it she made the turn that would take her to the place she refused to think about in the last ten years.

She parked in the front but didn't dare leave the car. The place was packed, like it was every night during the years she used to live here. This place had been like a second home to her, she used to spend a lot of time behind that bar or playing in the kitchen, her first kiss had been in the little office in the back. Hope Salvatore's bar, the place who saw her dance with the love of her life for the first time.

She didn't realize she was crying until she tasted the saltiness of her tears on her lips. "Oh God, Damon" She murmured while reading the neon sign that read Salvatore, she guessed the place was still theirs, that if she walked in at this very moment she would find him behind that bar or in that tiny office. She was the closest to him as she ever was in the last decade and the longing inside her grew, she wanted to see his blue eyes again, to feel his hair against her hands and his lips against her mouth. To feel the steady rise and fall of his chest and hear him say her name.

But she was so scared. So very scared that her memory was more than reality, that the love they shared so many years ago wasn't as strong as it was back then. She was afraid that he didn't love her anymore. When he stopped writing and answering back, when he cut all communication with her… she knew it was over, that there was no way of changing his mind but she didn't even think for a second that he had stopped loving her and now she was afraid of finding out that she might be wrong…that he didn't love her anymore.

She took a deep breath and with shaky hands drove away from the place that saw her grow up.

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We drifted away like the leaves in the fall

But year after year I come back to this place

Just to remember the taste

Of Strawberry wine and seventeen.

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