"To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten."

Three Years Later

It had been years since I have thought of the Salvatore brothers. I finally got on with my life and moved across the country to go to UCLA for my journalism degree. I could have gone to a college closer to home but I thought the farther away from Mystic Falls the better. I found that the moment I left, I was able to breath again. I was able to fake something that I wasn't able to with the constant reminders of reality. Out in California I was able to pretend that everything that happened to me in my teens was just a bad dream. I could be delusional with the thoughts that there was still family waiting for me somewhere out there in the world. Instead of how it was in Virginia that every corner I turned I was reminded of my pain with pitiful glances and memorials all over town. I was able to forget about my parents. I was even able to forget about Damon and Stefan, well at least I was before today.

Everywhere I looked I was brought back with a memory of my eighteenth birthday. Whether it was from my box of birthday cards I had since I was six or my contacts in phone that evidently Damon was still in. Even a bracelet Stefan had given me that day made an appearance in my over filled jewelry box. It was almost as if someone was trying to tell me something.

It was my twenty first birthday and my best friend Caroline insisted that we celebrate. She was the first person I met while moving here to this brand new world and luckily she was one of the good ones. The personalities I met out here were insane and you wouldn't find anyone like them in Mystic Falls. Caroline would have been the talk of the town if she lived there. Her outfits and outgoing personality would stand out but here she was just one of a million. I guess that was kind of why I liked her. And the fact she has been nothing but amazing to me. We were dorming together our first few years of college and we were now apartment hunting. We wanted a place before summer started which was coming up.

"I don't understand why you don't want to celebrate!" Caroline went on for the umpteenth time as we waited for the owner of the apartment complex we were thinking about renting from.

"Age is just a number." I sighed again, getting hit with a blast of deja vu.

"It is not just a number!" She insisted. "Last year we had a huge blow out party. We have to somehow top that."

"No Caroline. Last year we didn't have a huge blow out party, you did. I only knew some of those people who came. And everyone was drunk and obnoxious. I really don't want to deal with that again."

"It was your twentieth birthday, what did you expect? A clown and balloons?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I expected." I said sarcastically. "It is also what I expect for this birthday. I don't want anything drastic Caroline. Birthday's aren't really a thing I celebrate anymore." I was suddenly hit with flashbacks of the accident and felt myself start to freak out as a lump started to form in my throat, threatening to make it hard to breath. "Ever since..."

"I know, I know. Ever since the accident, but that is why I think we need a distraction. If I can't throw you a party then fine, but at least let me do something."

"If you find something reasonable I will agree." I finally gave in once I saw the owner walking our way with the keys in her hands. I immediately did my best to control myself as I didn't want to make a scene.

We were shown around the first apartment but it was way too small for us. It turns out that the women also owned bigger apartments down the street that was supposed to be more spaced out. It didn't take long for Caroline to fall in love with the place the moment she walked in.

"So there are three bedrooms and one bathroom..." The women went on explaining all the details of the place and I think I was starting to fall in love with it as well. Our hopeful thoughts of staying here vanished the moment the price came out of her mouth.

"Caroline we cannot afford that!" I said while picking my jaw off the floor. The only money I had coming in was from waitressing a few days a week and that only got me by so far. I still had to dip into money from my savings account that I promised myself I wouldn't. I had a good amount of money from when my parents died but I was determined not to waste it. I wouldn't want to disappoint them with throwing away money I shouldn't even have. But at the same I knew if they were still alive they wouldn't let me go hungry.

"I know." Caroline said with an expression on her face as if she just smelled bad garbage. "Is there anyway we could maybe get a lower price?" She asked which we received a 'what do you think?' expression from the women. "Wait! There are three rooms! What if we got another roommate? Sure it would still be hard but we could actually afford this place then."

"Who would we room with?"

"Bonnie! I'll call her!" She looked at me for approval and I just rolled my eyes and I signaled for her to call her up. Bonnie was Caroline's best friend for almost all her life. We clicked but I never developed a personal relationship with her yet. I watched as Caroline eagerly talked to Bonnie while I zoned out through the conversation and started walking around the apartment. It was really nice. It was up on the second floor so we had a nice balcony with an even better view. There was a bedroom on the other end of the living room and the other two rooms were connected by a bathroom over by the kitchen. It was idealistically perfect.

"So what is the verdict?" I asked as I heard her hang the phone up. I couldn't tell by her face because she looked halfway let down and excited at the same time.

"So what do you want first, good news or bad news?"

"Bad news." It was always easier for the good news to soften the blow afterward.

"Bonnie can't move in with us." She said with a pout. "She said she really can't afford it right now and her place is closer to school and work. I couldn't really guilt trip her into it because I understand what it's like." Suddenly her sad exterior was filled with joy when she started jumping up and down. "Can I tell you the good news now?" She was bursting with excitement and it would probably be cruel to have her keep it in.

"Tell me the good news!"

"Bonnie got us free tickets for the dodgers game tonight!"

"What? How?" Surprisingly I was actually excited. I didn't mind spending my birthday this way. It was more calm and didn't involve binge drinking, plus I loved sports.

"Her dad was going to take his girlfriend but he got called into work."

"Bonnie didn't want them?"

"She said she has a final to study for. Aren't you excited?" She asked with the biggest smile on her face.

"Yeah, it is going to be fun! But why are you so happy? Last time I checked, baseball wasn't your thing."

"Are you kidding me? Do you know how many hot guys will be there? I'm going to have my pick of thousands!" I laughed as she rambled on and was taken by surprise when the owner came back into the room. I didn't even realized she left.

"So have you two made a decision?"

"Actually we are going to need a few days to think it over." Or to just find a roommate.

"Okay, we have to go because the game starts in a few hours!" Caroline ushered me out of the place while she bantered on and on about what she as going to wear.

At the end of all Caroline's protests she finally gave up when I stood my ground and didn't change. I thought a simple pair of shorts and a dodger t-shirt was exactly what to wear to the game, not high heels, a dress, or anything fancy. It took me a while to convince Caroline of that.

We stopped by at Bonnie's to pick up the tickets and then headed straight for the stadium. It was slightly a long drive but I didn't mind. Parking was a nightmare though and it took us a while to walk all the way to the doors.

"Regretting wearing those shoes?" I asked as she had a painful scowl on her face.

"Shut up!"

"I guess beauty is pain." I mumbled when we finally reached the stadium. After getting through and having Caroline's bag searched I was looking for the number of where our seats were. And of course Caroline was busy scoping out guys buying food at the concessions.

"We aren't in the nosebleed seats, are we?" She asked while leaning over and looking at my ticket.

"Actually no, I think we have decent seats. " We went up a floor and I ended up finding our section almost right away. I looked up at all the seats and started to navigate my way between the people coming down the aisles while I pulled Caroline with me.

"Oh great." Caroline mumbled as we found our spot. Our seats were amazing, the players didn't even seem like ants. The only problem was who we were sitting by. Right next to us were you most typical die-hard fans with paint covering there body while they hollered and yelled obnoxiously even though the game hasn't even started yet. "This is going to be fun." She said sarcastically and she wasn't even the one sitting directly next to them.

"Don't be so negative." I said while focusing my thoughts on the good stuff. "It's awesome we got to be here anyway."

"You are right." She said while digging through her purse and pulling out binoculars.

"Caroline we are like right in front of the field, you don't need those." I said while chuckling a little.

"Like I really am going to be watching the game." She said while rolling her eyes then using them to look at the crowd.

"Seriously?" She started roaming and I already knew I wasn't going to get anywhere. I started looking around and watching the big screen.

"Oh... " I heard her whisper and I turned my attention back to her. "There is the hottest guy I think I've ever seen sitting directly in front of us." Her eyes were wide and she looked like she was put under a spell.

"Really? The hottest?" I looked down in front of me to only see the back of his head. He had pitch black hair that was tousled and that is really all I could tell. "Whatever you say."

Caroline always brightened my mood but I almost wished I had someone else to go to the game with. For the first couple innings I had to explain most of the rules and basics. It only got worse when she started to complain. As much as I loved having Caroline as my best friend, times like this is when I missed having a guy to share this with.

"Why don't you go get us some beers or something?" I asked while slightly annoyed but it seemed that having something to do excited her.

"Okay!" She rushed off and I finally was able to take a breath and actually enjoy the game.

It was a pretty close game since the very beginning and the inning was almost over. Caroline came back and handed me a cup right when I heard the smack of the ball and the whole crowd shot up onto their feet and the cheering began. I was trying to see where the ball went and wasn't paying much attention when I felt one of the super fans knock into me pretty hard and I almost stumbled on top of the seat below me with only Caroline to catch me just in time.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I heard someone yell right by me and I looked up to see the faceless super hottie cringing as the beer that was in my hands not only seconds ago was dripping down the back of his white t-shirt. "You seriously need to watch-" His words were caught in his throat as he turned around and got a look of me. I was mortified as the crowd around us settled down and started staring. I was so overwhelmed and humiliated I instantly started apologizing and grabbing my sweatshirt to try to help dry it when I froze.

"Elena?" I finally got a good look at the man in front of me and I felt my stomach drop. No way, this could not be happening. My knees grew weak as the man who had been haunting my thoughts all day was right in front of me.

"Damon..."

AN: Thanks for all of the reviews! I know the summary kind of gave this a basic plot but I feel like there is going to be so much more going on. So keep an open mind:)

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