Elena was standing in the cinema lobby, regretting the moment she had promised her cousin she will chaperon her to her first date. She was supposed to pick her cousin up at 7pm, but luckily, she showed up 15 minutes earlier. April was having a clothes crisis, and aunt Jenna did not know what to do. Elena found April sitting in the middle of her room, on a pile of clothes, crying about how she has nothing to wear. Elena offered her services to her, and after April insulted her and her fashion sense, she realized Elena is the only person who can help her at the moment, since her mom has been on a date thousand of years ago, according to April. Aunt Jenna threw her hands in the air out of desperation and walked away, and Elena showed April she does know something about fashion. After 20 minutes, April finally decided on one of the combinations Elena picked out for her.
During the whole ride over she kept thinking out loud about how she should have picked out some other combination, and how she looks like a potato bag in her current clothes. At first, Elena found her panic cute, but after some time, it started annoying her. Especially when they got stuck in traffic an April called her an incapable idiot. She kept whining about how they're going to be late, and then continued whining about how her tears will mess up her make up, and all Elena could think about is why does a 12 year old girl wears make up in the first place.
In the end, they came to the cinema 10 minutes earlier than they were supposed to, and Elena realized the only good thing about this night is Aprils date choice of movies. She wanted to see this one herself since it started playing in the cinemas, but neither Caroline or Bonnie could catch enough time to go to watch it with her. April was sitting on a round, red sofa, nervously glancing at her phone literally every second. And when she wasn't checking it, she was bouncing it from one hand to another. Elena laughed at how nervous she was, because she was the same on her first date. Unlike April, who doesn't want her mom present, Elena did not have a choice, her mom was no longer with her. Plus, she was a little bit older than April is now, and her dad was gone, so she really did not need a chaperon. No one even knew she's going on her first date, the guy she was going with included.
Elena kept looking enviously happy couples who were passing them by. She also kept gazing at little kids coming in and out with their parents, envious of them too, because they hold that kind of innocence that is long lost to her.
"Elena," April says silently before she swallows hard. Elena turns her look down to her cousin who was now slowly getting up from the sofa she was sitting on. "He's coming," April says before pulling a smile across her face. Elena can see her cherry lip gloss glimmer on her lips under the bright light.
Elena raises her look and looks in the direction April is smiling, and when she sees the sight in front of her, she pops her eyes out so much that she has a feeling they will fall out of her eye sockets. Her look becomes wide, and she exhales a hot stream of air in disbelief.
How is it even possible she has such a bad luck?
He notices her too, but he does not show his confusion or displease. He pulls that cocky smirk across his face, and Elena gets a strong urge to punch him in the face.
"Gilbert," he greets her, spitting out her name, "What a surprise to see you here," and the tone of his voice gives him out, he really does sound surprised.
"You!" she points her finger at him, pushing it against his chest, surprised how strong his chest is, but then again, not surprised at all. Of course he's super masculine, it comes with the territory. She pushes her finger so deep into his chest that he stumbles as she hisses through her teeth, "What are you doing here?"
He keeps a smirk on his face, like he's proud of himself for being able to annoy her and push her out of the tact. Elena Gilbert, the best student in their class, always so calm and reserved, sometimes even cold, and he can make a ticking time bomb out of her just by appearing before her eyes. How could he not take it as a compliment?
"Chaperoning my little cousin on a date," he points to the confused boy standing next to April.
Elena turns around and looks at two confused children standing behind them, and she frowns at April, "Why did you not tell me you're going on a date with a Salvatore?" she hisses at her.
It's a funny thing, hate. It can be born out of nothing, and it can become your everything. Hate can cripple you as well as it can consume you to the point of no return. Consume you with fire you pray you will never, ever in your life, have to feel again. It's a funny thing how it takes a lot for people to love someone, but it takes basically nothing for them to hate someone.
Hate is an obsession. It's a drug. It's everything that can turn your life into a nightmare, and turn a person into a living, breathing shadow of who they once were. It eats you alive, because when you learn how to hate, you slowly start forgetting how to love, because you start to see hate all around you. It can mud your eyesight and make you see things that are not really there.
Little children stop being afraid of the dark when they stop believing in monsters under the bed. Same is with hate. Love is only stronger when you choose not to believe in the opposite.
It doesn't mean it's not there, it means you chose not to see it. You chose not to believe in it, you chose to not let it run your life.
Evil can be beaten just like bullies on the playground can - by ignoring it.
"I did not know they're related," April says with a defensive tone of voice. She had never seen Elena acting like this.
Elena furrows her brows before she looks back at Stefan. "Dylan is the kid of my moms sister," Stefan explains, "Therefor, we do not have the same last name," he smiles at her, amused by how irritated she is.
Elena notices the look in his eyes, and she refuses to let him have so much fun, while she's the one fuming. So she smirks back at him, and it confuses him for a moment. She moves away from him.
"Still, you are blood related," Elena looks from him to her cousin, "Run, April. Run and never look back," she says, clearly making fun of him.
Dylan chuckles, which makes April a little bit more relaxed. She was worried Elena's crazy behavior will have a negative effect on her date.
"I knew it was only a matter of time before your love life starts affecting mine," Dylan rolls his eyes at Stefan.
"Love life?" Elena holds in a bundle of laughter.
"With her?" Stefan does the same.
Dylan and April continue eyeing them confused, asking themselves who is chaperoning who here.
"I would not touch her with a broken stick wrapped into a plastic bag," he huffs, offended his cousin would even assume such a thing.
Elena rolls her eyes. "Firstly, really Salvatore? You couldn't come up with something better to say?" she says a little bit disappointed in his choice of words before she turns her look back to the youngsters, "Secondly, I would not let him touch me, not even if he was the last man on this planet."
"Witch."
"Pretentious asshole."
"I think we should go and buy the tickets," Dylan intertwines before either Stefan or Elena get to say another word.
"Yes!" April exhales in relief he said something so she doesn't have to.
Stefan rolls his eyes as he starts walking towards the tickets counter and requests for four tickets, popcorn and drinks. Elena, Dylan and April follow right behind him.
"Which seats would you like?" the lady behind the counter asks.
Stefan turns to Dylan and April, since it's their date, so they should choose. Dylan and April exchange meaningful looks.
"Last row," Dylan answers with an innocent face expression.
Stefan smirks at him. "You're not getting the last row," he says, knowing very well what people on dates do in the last rows of a cinema. He turns his look back to the smiling lady and says, "Two tickets for the last row, and two tickets for the two rows under."
"Are you insane?" Elena raises her voice at him, "Two rows under?"
"We should give them some privacy," Stefan says, turning his head to her, "But if you want to sit between two hormone fueled ticking time bombs, be my guest."
Elena glares at him before she huffs and crosses her arms on her chest. She hates when he has a point. He pulls a satisfactory smile across his face before he turns his look back to the lady.
The lady is smiling at Stefan. When Elena looks at her better, she realizes she's not that much of a lady. She's a girl, only few years older than them. Probably still in college. And she's smiling at him with the smile all the girls give him.
"Uhm," she hums, "Would you like love seats maybe?" she asks expressionless, eyeing Stefan.
Stefan keeps smiling at her like he hasn't heard the word she said. Elena rolls her eyes.
"No," she says, "These two are way too young, and we're not a couple." Are they ever going to stop eyefucking each other?
"Oh," the girl releases in fake disappointment, "Are you sure?" she asks.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm not in a relationship with this jackass," Elena replies.
Why is he looking at her so much? Is her clothes transparent?
"You sure do act like a couple," the girl comments, nevertheless.
"More like a married couple," Stefan finally says, "We annoy each other every chance we get, and no sex" he winks at the girl, and she giggles with a desperate girl giggle.
She's basically in his pants already.
Dylan and April look at each other.
"Would that be all?" the girl asks.
"Yes," Stefan says as he throws the cash on the counter and gestures Dylan to come to help him with popcorn and drinks.
When they turn to leave the ticket selling lady yells after them, "Wait, you forgot something!" Stefan turns around confused. "My number," she smirks at him before she writes her number down on a piece of paper and hurries in their direction to hand it to him. She puts it in his jacket pocket by herself, and Stefan winks at her once again.
Elena makes a gagging sound. It looks like tickets are not the only thing she's selling.
When they enter the cinema, Stefan reaches for the piece of paper of his jacket and throws it in the trash bin.
"What are you doing?" Elena raises her eyebrow at him.
Stefan shrugs. "Not interested."
"You're an ass."
April and Dylan get settled down in their seats, and Stefan and Elena walk to the last row to get settled in theirs.
"Would you rather see me take advantage of her?" he asks when they get comfortable in their seats.
"Why not give it a try?" Elena asks him, kind of curious herself.
"Not interested," he says simply.
"Why?" she asks. She rolls the film inside of her head and concludes she had never seen Stefan in a relationship. She had seen him with girls, she had heard stories, but she had never seen him in an actual relationship. She had never even heard he has a friends with benefits contract with someone, which means he can't even dedicate himself to fucking one girl at the time.
He laughs. "You ask awfully lot of questions," he keeps looking forward at the screen.
Elena decides it's better not to ask anymore questions, despite her curiosity.
"I would rather see you stop treating girls like trash," Elena answers his previous question.
"Girls like to be treated like trash."
Elena opens her mouth in disbelief. "You're a bigger idiot than I've taught. How can you say such a thing? No girl likes to be treated like she's unworthy," Elena says through her teeth, quietly. She does not want to ruin this for April more than she has.
"Why do they allow themselves to be treated like that, then?"
Elena opens her mouth to speak, but no words come out. Because she has no answer to his question. Really, why do girls allow themselves to be treated like trash? Do they really believe they're unworthy? Is there some sort of pleasure in it?
They keep watching movie previews in silence. They're the only people there, and all they can hear is April's laughter. No, a desperate girl giggle.
Maybe it's not a desperate girl giggle after all. Maybe it's a giggle all the girls use while flirting.
Or maybe those two are the same thing.
"I don't do relationships," Stefan says after few minutes.
Elena looks at him surprised. "Why?" she asks, and she realizes she sounds like a broken record.
"Because I have a tendency to fuck things up."
Elena keeps looking at him, but he does not look at her. He remains calm.
"Oh," is all Elena manages to say. "So," she says, trying to make this situation seem less awkward, "How come you're here?"
"It was either me or Damon," Stefan says his brothers name like Elena is supposed to know it, which she does, which means he remembers, "And Damon had some other plans," he rolls his eyes, "Those other plans being my friend, which left me without things to do."
"I know, your brother dating your best friend is a bummer."
Bummer. Really Elena? Really?
"I know!" he exhales excitedly, happy someone finally understands him, "The things you see, the things you hear," he shakes it off.
"No one should know that much about their sibling," Elena says.
"Or about a person who you love like a sibling," Stefan continues.
"Exactly!"
When they realize they found a common ground, when they realize they exited their safe zone of arguments and bickering, they look at each other.
It's so unnatural.
And they spend the rest of the movie in silence.
But then again, so natural.
"You're home!" Jenna exclaims excitedly as she runs out of the living room into the hall in her pajamas, "How was it?" she asks with a smile on her face, hoping everything went well, because otherwise she will have to deal with an extremely unhappy 12 year old, and she has to get up early tomorrow.
Luckily for her, there's a wide smile across Aprils face. "Amazing!" she jumps in her mothers direction, "Mom, it was amazing," she puts her arms around her mothers waist, hugging her," Thank you for letting me go. Thank you, thank you, thank you," she gets on her toes and kisses her mothers cheeks.
Jenna exhales in relief.
April furrows her brows. "Although," she lets go of her mothers waist and turns to Elena, "I don't think we were the ones who needed chaperoning," she raises her eyebrow at her big cousin.
Jenna looks at blushing Elena. "Oh? Something went wrong?"
"My life," Elena spits out, looking at April. Jenna looks at her meaningfully. "The boy who was her date," Elena looks at her aunt, "Is related to the Salvatore's. And Stefan was chaperoning him."
Jenna turns pale. Of course she remembers Stefan Salvatore, the little boy hanging in the Gilbert house every minute of every day. Doing Elena's homework when she had chicken pox and reading her books because she refused to wear glasses.
She also very well remembers how he disappeared from her nieces life in the worst moment possible, and how Elena reacts upon hearing his name.
"You could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife," April comments.
Elena looks at her angrily. April catches her look and swallows because it is the same look she had at the cinema, and it's a little bit psychotic.
"I would love to stay here and chat," April says sarcastically, "But I have to go and call everyone I know," she smiles happily as she remembers how well her date went and she runs upstairs.
Jenna hopes it did not go as good as her daughters smile makes it out to be.
"Elena, sweetie," Jenna says, turning her look to her niece, "Why do you hate him so much?"
Elena huffs. "Are you sure you have time? The list is too long, aunt Jenna."
Jenna shakes her head, "I know you better than that," she tells her.
The two of them keep looking at each other, and for the first time after so many years she says the truth out loud, "Because he had left me when I needed him the most."
"I have the worst luck ever," Elena whines while taking a big spoon of ice cream and putting it into her mouth.
Bonnie and Caroline finally found some free time for girl bonding, and after Elena listened to their problems and tried to help them, as much as she did not want to know about Bonnie's problems including her brother, when girls asked what's new with her, for the first time after a long time she started her sentence differently than "My favorite character.."
And it felt good. It felt good to have problems, no matter how silly it sounds. Even if those problems are Stefan Salvatore.
It's funny, most people are tired of heartbreaks and drama and gossip. They're tired of feeling everything, of feeling too much, of going through too much, and they always advise everyone how lucky they are since they do not have to go through the same thing.
But Elena did not know the feeling, and she was curious about it. She was curious how it feels to have normal, everyday teenage problems. And as stupid as it sounds, she wanted to know how it feels like to have your heart broken by someone.
She wants to feel it, to feel something.
"Wait, let me get this straight," Caroline said, making Elena raise her head from the kitchen counter it fell on, "You were in the last row of a cinema with Stefan Salvatore?" she chuckled a little at her sentence, because it was something Caroline believed she will never, ever say.
"Yes," Elena said a little bit ashamed, because it was one of those "it's not how it sounds like" situations.
"And he payed for everything?" Caroline raised her eyebrow in her best friends direction.
"Yes," Elena prolonged that answer, trying to get what Caroline's getting at.
Caroline and Bonnie exchange meaningful looks before a smirk appeared on Caroline's face. "So, it was a date," she says amused.
Elena furrows her brows. "It was not a date," she replies, like going on a date with Stefan is the worst possible kind of torture imaginable.
"You saw a movie?" Caroline asks, and Elena simply nods. "You talked?" this time, Elena blushes and nods. "He payed for everything?" Elena nods again, hoping Caroline asks a question she will have a negative answer for.
Caroline eyes her carefully. "You had fun?"
Tricky question.
Elena ponders on it for a little bit.
"It's not like I had a time of my life," she finally replies, "Let's just say I did not want to slash my wrists at the spot," she finds the best way to say Stefan is not the worst company in the world.
Caroline smirks again. "It's an official description of a date."
Elena huffs angrily. "It was not a date."
"Elena, it was a date," Bonnie finally voices her opinion.
Elena looks at Bonnie with her "Et tu, Brute" expression before she cries out loudly and takes another spoon of ice cream. Her friends were right. Maybe neither of them were aware of it, and maybe neither of them wants to admit it, but what they had was a date. In some weird way.
"Maybe it's fate," Caroline says excitedly.
Elena frowns. "Well, fate has a really bad sense of humor."
Bonnie chuckles.
"Oh come on, how much possibly can you hate the guy?" Caroline asks, still not quite sure why does Elena hate Stefan so much. She's afraid she will never understand, not even if Elena tells her openly.
"Do not test her," Bonnie jokes, but then again, not really.
Elena stifles her laugh in another spoon of ice cream.
"There's a thin line between love and hate," Caroline says, "Or so they say."
"Well they say wrong," Elena answers angrily, and both Bonnie and Caroline shot their looks at her, "There's a country sized place between love and hate, not one lousy, thin line," she raises her voice. "I know the difference between love and hate. I know I love my dad, my aunt, my brother, you guys, and God even April. And I know how I feel about Stefan. And those feelings are way too different to be separated only with one measly line," she explains, clearly aggravated by Caroline's statement.
"But you loved him once," Bonnie says, and her words hit her hard, leaving a rock sized bruise inside of her.
She did, she loved him once. She loved him very much.
But he was also a very different person back then.
By the expression on her face, both Bonnie and Caroline know her answer is affirmative.
"So maybe you could love him again," Bonnie says daringly, and by the tone of her voice Elena can tell it took her a lot of strength to say it out loud.
"I think I couldn't even like him again, let alone love him," Elena replies, and she wonders was there a hint of sadness in her voice as she said that.
Their time together became too depressing for Caroline's taste, so she decided to put a stop to it. "Nevermind that, we should be talking about Prom and our class trip and things like that," Caroline says excitedly.
"Rome is approaching," Bonnie claps her hands.
Elena smiles at her friends excitement, even though she has to admit she's pretty excited for their class trip to Rome as well. It's going to be a terrific experience.
"There's a 'Hello Rome' party in the Grill this week," Caroline announces.
"Are we going?" Bonnie asks.
"Of course!"
Both of them look at Elena who looks too comfy with her bowl of ice cream. All she needs is a cat.
"'Lena, are you going too?" Bonnie asks hopefully, even though Elena never goes anywhere with them.
"Nah," Elena shakes her head, "I don't think so."
Caroline pouts. "And why not?"
Elena raises her look at her friends. "Because I don't want to be a third wheel," she says, "Or in this case, fifth one," she refers to both of her friends having a boyfriend.
Bonnie rolls her eyes. "You're not any kind of a wheel."
"And you're going," Caroline continues.
Elena exhales tiredly, because she knows this is one battle she's going to lose.
AN: I love those small moments when two people who hate each other stop and think "Hey, maybe he/she is not so bad after all," even if those moments are fleeting.
