Chapter Two
Elena groaned in protest as she opened her eyes, noting that the sun was streaming in through the slits of the curtains. She glanced over at the clock on her bedside table, blinking twice as she registered the time blinking back at her. 'Shit, it's 12:30, how could I have slept that late?' Elena thought as she scrambled out of bed, wishing she had set the alarm, or at least gone to bed earlier than 3am. Stumbling to her dresser, Elena pulled out a pair of blue jeans, a black tank top and a matching set of black underwear. Even if she knew no-one was going to see them, it still made Elena feel good to put some thought in her under garments.
Carrying the clothing with her, Elena slipped into the bathroom and placed them carefully on the vanity, making sure she didn't put them in a stray puddle of water. Pulling off her pyjamas, Elena stepped into the shower, turning the taps and waiting for the water to heat up before she stepped in to the cascading water. As the water hit her back, it felt almost like a massage, she loved this sensation; it was more relaxing than listening to good music or a nice cup of coffee. After Elena had washed her hair and body, she sighed, turning off the taps and stepped reluctantly out of the shower. Grabbing her towel from the rack, she dried herself quickly, savouring the warm glow dancing across her skin from the hot water. She quickly put on the clothes she had chosen earlier and dumped her towel and pyjamas in the laundry hamper.
Racing down the stairs Elena went into the TV room in search of her phone, not remembering where she had left it the night before. Looking around the room frantically, she became stressed when it wasn't on the coffee table or under the couch. In a last ditch attempt, she lifted up the cushions on the couch and finally found it wedged into the furniture. Clicking the on button, Elena noticed that she had three messages and a missed phone call. Sitting down on the couch she opened the first message from Matt.
'That sounds great! Let's say 2pm? I'm really glad you can make it.'
Elena felt a wave of sadness as she opened the second message, could Matt really think that she was that bad a friend?
'I haven't heard back from you. Still hoping we are ok to meet up.'
Looking at the time, Elena calculated she had about 45 minutes before she would have to leave to meet Matt at the Mystic Grill for a 2pm coffee. Clicking the reply button, Elena quickly typed out a message.
'Sorry Matt, I overslept this morning! 2pm sounds great, I'll see you then.'
Hoping that would ease Matt's concern, she opened the third message, this one was from Caroline. Elena was surprised that Caroline had texted her out of the blue, they hadn't seen each other in about 6 weeks, ever since Caroline had come back from her trip to India, in order to find her spirituality.
'Hey Girl! Haven't seen you in ages! We should catch up! Let's hit the town tonight, I feel like I need a good dance!'
Elena giggled as she read this message, hopefully Caroline was coming off her spiritual high horse and reverting back to the fun loving girl Elena secretly admired. She felt like she had hit the jackpot, she was going to be more social than she had been in a very long time this weekend. With a small smile playing on her lips, Elena typed out a reply to Caroline.
'That sounds great! A good dance is exactly what the doctor ordered! Where do you want to meet? And when?'
'How about Mystic Grill at 8:30? They always have a great DJ on a Saturday night!'
'See you then! :)'
Elena smiled as she got up off the couch, putting her phone in her pocket and went into the kitchen to find a late breakfast. Settling on toast, she ate it in silence with a glass of orange juice before heading upstairs to brush her teeth. Glancing one last time in the mirror to check her appearance, Elena rushed down stairs, picked up her bag and keys and left the house. As Elena pulled into a parking space just in front of Mystic Grill, she checked the time and smiled in relief as she realised she was 5 minutes early.
Scanning the crowd inside, Elena decided to get a seat out the front while she waited for Matt; the weather would hold up long enough for coffee. She picked out a small table and sat in the seat facing the entrance to Mystic Grill, hoping this would increase her chances of finding Matt. Picking up her phone Elena shot him a text.
'At one of the tables outside, see you soon.'
Taking a quick look at her phone, she realised that she still had a missed call that she had not checked. Elena did not recognise the number and with a slight frown on her face she dialled her voicemail. Her heart sank when she recognised the voice; it was her boss.
'Elena, it's me Stefan, I was unable to get a hold of you last night before you left the office. I need to speak to you urgently, please…'
Elena saw Matt walking towards the Mystic Gill's entrance and waved him over, mouthing 'sorry' before returning her attention back to her phone. This was not the right way to great a friend you haven't seen in 6 months, she cringed inwardly.
'… call me back as soon as you get this. Call this number, it's my personal phone.'
Putting her phone back in her bag, she could deal with her boss later, she turned to Matt with what she hoped was a sincere smile.
"Hey Matt, I haven't seen you in ages. How are you?" Elena asked as she got out of her seat to give Matt a quick hug.
"Hey Elena, thank you so much for catching up with me, it's been a hell of a week. It is really good to see a familiar face." Matt replied as they sat down and motioned for a waiter to take their order. "Two Latte's please", Matt ordered as he gave Elena a questioning look. Elena just nodded in agreement, someone ordering for her was one of her pet peeves, but she wasn't going to let it affect their catch up. At least he had ordered her favourite coffee. "So, how have you been?" Matt asked, redirecting his attention towards Elena.
"I can't complain, still working at Mystic Accounting as a PA. How is college going?"
"Yeah, it's better than I ever thought it would be. College football is intense though! I've never trained so hard or so much in my entire life."
"How did you manage to get away from it for a weekend?" Elena teased, feeling that the conversation was weirdly strained.
"Oh, I thought you knew, Vicki's funeral was yesterday. She died of an overdose."
"I'm so sorry Matt, I had no idea, I haven't read the newspaper in so long and Jeremy hasn't been in contact with her since he was caught by the police."
"Yeah, well it meant that I got to skip classes on Thursday and Friday, as well as practice, to come and sort the whole thing out. The funeral was so empty, our mom didn't even show up."
"Oh my god Matt, I wish I had known so I could have been there for you. I am so sorry. Is there anything I can do for you now?"
"No, that's fine… You know what? I actually can't do this. I'll see you around Elena. Goodbye."
With that, Matt got up and walked away, not even looking back. Elena just sat at her seat, dumbfounded, it felt like Matt had just said goodbye for the last time. She was still staring into space, trying to hold back tears as the waiter placed the two Lattes on the table. Guilt washed over her, how could this have happened? How could she have become so disengaged with the rest of the world? To not even realise that one of her best friend's sisters had passed away…
'Jeremy!' the thought snapped her back into reality. Elena hoped that Jeremy didn't know, this sort of thing could set him off again. She pulled out her phone, and called the rehab centre, silently praying as she waited for someone to pick up the phone.
"Mystic Falls Rehabilitation Centre, how can I help you?"
"Hi, this is Elena Gilbert, I was wondering if I could check up on a patient, he is my brother."
"I'm sorry miss, we are unable to give out information over the phone, you will have to come into the centre, so we can verify your identity."
"Of course, thank you, I'll be there in 10 minutes."
Dropping money on the table next to the two untouched coffees, Elena rushed over to her car, desperate to know Jeremy was alright. Turning on the radio, Elena tried to calm herself down as she anxiously drove to the rehab centre, her nerves almost getting the better of her. She got to the centre in record time, parking as close as she could to the front entrance. Grabbing her bag she raced to the reception desk and pinged the bell loudly.
A middle aged woman frowned as she came out of her office space to answer the bell. It looked to Elena like she may have disturbed this woman's lunch break.
"How may I help you?"
"Hi, I called a few minutes ago, I just wanted to check on my brothers wellbeing."
"Your name?"
"Elena Gilbert"
"Your brother's name?"
"Jeremy Gilbert"
The receptionist paused slightly to read the computer screen once she had brought up Jeremy's information. Her frown deepened as she turned back to Elena.
"I'm sorry miss…"
Elena's heart stopped momentarily.
"… you are not allowed to see your brother at this moment. He is at a crucial stage of his rehabilitation."
Elena breathed a sigh of relief, "yes, I understand that, I just want to know if he is ok."
"He is fine, his treatment is going well. At this stage you should be able to visit him next Saturday. He should be ready for visitors at that stage. We will notify you to let you know."
"Thank you"
Feeling much lighter, Elena left the centre and headed home. After the initial feeling of relief, she started to feel a bit silly. Of course they would have notified her if anything had happened to Jeremy. She really shouldn't have let her emotions get the better of her.
Sitting down on the couch, Elena opened her phone to check how long she had before she needed to get ready to go and meet Caroline. Staring at her phone, she suddenly remembered the voicemail her boss had left her. Groaning inwardly, Elena hit the recall button. Why couldn't work just stay in the office?
"Hi Stefan, it's Elena, sorry I missed your call earlier."
"That's alright, thank you for getting back to me before tonight. I just wanted to request something from you, this is personal, so I'm sorry if I overstep the line."
Ummmm…
"Sure, what is it you wanted?"
"My brother has recently returned to Mystic Falls and he doesn't really know anybody here anymore except for me…"
Elena started to get cross, surely Stefan was not going to ask her to take his brother out, this was not in her job description! As she started to gather the courage to say no to her boss, she realised that he hadn't finished talking.
"… which means he will probably be out on the town looking for a good time. You are exactly the sort of girl he goes for Elena, which is why I wanted to warn you. Please stay away from him, he is trouble with a capitol T. You don't want to get caught up in his life."
"Um, thanks for the waning Stefan, but I'm not going out at all this weekend, so there is no need to worry. I'll see you at the office on Monday."
Elena quickly hung up her phone. 'How dare Stefan think that he can dictate my personal life,' she seethed. It really was none of his business who she hung out with. She put her phone down on the table and went up to her room to start planning what she was going to wear out tonight with Caroline. Maybe she would keep an eye out for this brother that her boss had warned her against. Not that it really mattered… She hadn't gone out with a guy since Matt 6 months ago.