Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.


"The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you."

Ritu Ghatourey

Chapter 8: Dress shopping

The warm sunlight coming through Melanie's bedroom window had awoken her up a few hours later the following morning, after her late night texting with Rebekah. She yawned and lifted her arms over her head to stretch, with a shudder she released the tension she had in her muscles and sighed in content. Rubbing her eyes she took away the sleepiness they still had and then looked to her right, as her gaze landed to her alarm clock. It was barely 10 o'clock. She contemplated whether she should wake up now or go back to sleep, the sound of her phone vibrating though caught her attention. She picked it up from her dresser and noticed it was another message from Rebekah, with a smile she opened the text message and read it.

Hey Mel, I hope you're up already and if you're not then wake up silly! Anyways meet me at the boutique near the grill in an hour alright :) - Rebekah.

Melanie sent a message replying back to her saying she would meet her there. She quickly got of her bed seeing as she only had an hour to get ready and she wanted to make sure she didn't look like a complete mess. She looked at herself using her bedroom mirror and let out a gasp, she always did have terrible bed hair. It always ended up sticking up or just tangled in a huge clutter disaster. She grabbed her brush and tried brushing her hair out, after a minute of her doing that the results did not come out like she wantedin fact her hair came out looking worse. How is that even possible? She thought to herself before letting out an irritated sigh, she decided the next best option was for her to take a shower. Hoping that the shampoo and conditioner will control the tangled monster on her head known as her 'hair'. It was moments like these that she wished she had her older sister's naturally straight hair, since it made everything so much easier for her. But no Melanie had gotten stuck with wavy hair, which wasn't so badexcept for when getting ready in the mornings.

After taking a fast hot shower, Melanie blow dried her hair and combed it and thankfully got rid of the tangles she had and managed to calm down the hair from the cluster mess it had been before. She walked to her closest and looked over her clothes having a hard time deciding on what to wear.

Why does it even matter what I wear? It's not a date or anything...were just two friends hanging out...

Melanie mentally scolded herself and made a hurry on choosing her outfit for the day. She picked out a pair of washed denim jeans, a flannel short sleeved shirt, and lastly her black colored converse. Once she threw on her clothes she went to the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth before she looked into the mirror and stared at her own reflection. She sighed and ran a hand over her face, she rarely wore makeup unless it was for a special occasionlike say a dance. But even then she still had a hard time putting it on herself, of course she could always ask for Elena's help but she felt to embarrassed to ask...I mean a sixteen year old girl should be able to put on makeup on her own right? But she didn't... and that made her even more upset. This was another moment when she really needed her mom or her aunt Jenna to help her out, they were always there for her whenever Melanie needed advice like say makeup or just girl stuff in general. She really did miss them...

Swallowing the lump in her throat she composed herself and took a look at the mirror one last time, taking in her appearance making sure everything was alright. Once she made sure that everything was in order she grabbed her bag, wallet, and phone before she made her way downstairs.

Just as she was about to head out the front door the sound of her older brother made her come to a stop.

"Hey, Mel." Jeremy said from the kitchen. He was sitting down eating his breakfast along with Alaric and Elena. "You want some pancakes?" He asked his younger sister.

"You guys made pancakes?" Melanie asked in disbelief as she stared at the pancakes in wonderment.

"Well we tried." Elena said with a smile. "Ric, kept watch making sure we didn't burn down the house."

"Yeah which you guys came pretty close too." Alaric said with a joking smile before turning to look at Melanie. "But seriously come take a seat. They're actually pretty good."

Melanie bit her lip, contemplating the idea of staying. She really wanted pancakes...but she promised Rebekah she would meet her at the boutique and she didn't want to cancel on her much less stand her up. She turned to look at her family and shook her head.

"Thanks guys, but no thanks." Melanie said rejecting their offer politely.

"You're not hungry?" Alaric said with raised eyebrows, he found it strange that Melanie out of all people would turn down food, especially pancakes.

"Not really, anyways I have to go to the library." Melanie said nonchalantly, hoping they would believe her lie.

"This early?" Jeremy asked in between bites from the pancake he was currently eating.

"Well you know what they say, early bird gets the worm." Melanie said with a smile making her lie seem more real.

Elena though looked at her questionably. "What for?"

"French." Melanie answered her immediately with no hesitation in her voice. "We have to do a research paper about a historical French object and I chose the Eiffel tower. So I'm going to need as much research as I can get."

"Well that sounds interesting." Alaric said smiling while Jeremy nodded in agreement.

"Well are you sure you don't want to eat before you leave?" Elena asked her motioning towards her plate.

"No I'm good. I'll eat at the grill." Melanie lied smoothly again to her sister before making her way towards the front door.

"Wait Mel!" Elena's voice made her turn around. "Call if you need anything alright? And I mean anything." She said giving her younger sister a pointed look.

Melanie had the urge to roll her eyes but stopped before she could and instead gave her sister a forced smile. "Alright Elena." She said to her knowing that if she said no they would have another conversation much like the one they had last night and Melanie really didn't want that.

With that being said Melanie left her house leaving the Gilbert's and Alaric to enjoy their breakfast. Elena though let out a sigh and slumped back down on her seat, Jeremy and Alaric noticed this and gave her concerned expressions.

"You okay?" Alaric was the first one to ask.

"I'm fine it's just that..." Elena drawled on looking towards the door way.

"What?" Jeremy asked following her gaze.

"I don't know...I've just been worried for, Mel. I mean she's been getting really close to Rebekah lately and last night she didn't come home until one o'clock from the boarding house, and now she's leaving early to go to the library?" Elena said dubiously. "Don't you find that weird?"

"Well I'm not to keen on the idea of her spending time with Rebekah, but she hasn't done anything to hurt Mel. As far as I know I think she's really trying to befriend her." Alaric responded back to her.

"Okay well what about going to the library this early?" Elena said exasperatedly.

"Like she said, she needed to do research for an assignment." Jeremy said shrugging his shoulders.

Elena stared at her brother dumbfounded. "Are you not worried that our sister has befriended an original vampire." She said raising her voice at him.

"Of course I'm worried, Elena! I'm just not like you, who's constantly breathing down on her neck." Jeremy snapped back to his older sister. He knew how Melanie didn't like how Elena smothered her sometimes, and quite frankly he didn't either. He huffed before calming down his voice. "Anyways I've come to learn how to handle it from when you got Stefan and Damon involved into our lives."

Elena quieted down upon hearing this, not knowing what to say and instead focused on staring at her plate.

Alaric sensed the awkwardness and spoke up trying to ease the tension.

"Look, I know you're concerned Elenain fact we all are, but maybe you should give Melanie some space, let her know you do trust her. She's a smart girl and we all know she wouldn't make bad decisions regarding her safety."

Elena just nodded her head stiffly, still having that feeling of uncertainty in her stomach.


Melanie walked down the street crossing the road getting to the other side. She looked down at her watch and saw that it was already 11:00 o'clock right on the dot, which meant Rebekah was probably already on her way or was inside the boutique shop. She walked in the shop, making the door ring when she entered. The sales person behind the counter gave her a friendly smile. Melanie returned the smile and glanced around the room trying to find Rebekah, but noticed no one else was here, which meant she hadn't arrived yet. She sighed and made her way to look at all the dresses that were in display.

She had no idea how in the world she was going to pick one. Whenever she went dress shopping usually it was with Elena, Caroline, or Bonnie and they always were able to help her choose one. Especially if she went with Caroline since she always told her opinions on the dresses she would put on. But now as she was standing around all these different kinds of dresses she started feeling overwhelmed. She thought this was going to be an easy task but clearly she had been wrong.

"Their just dresses, it's not like their goin to bite." A sudden familiar British voice caught her off guard. Melanie turned to her right side and saw Rebekah standing there with an amused grin. Melanie began to ponder when the blonde had arrived without hearing her but then remembered how she's a vampire and that their known to sneak up on people. So instead of reacting surprised, Melanie just gave Rebekah a simple smile.

"Hello Rebekah." She said before looking back at the variety of dresses. "And I know that it's just...I didn't think there would be so many to choose from."

Rebekah gave the brunette a smirk. "All the better." She said grabbing onto her hand and made her way to a rake that had several dresses hanging on it. The original vampire then began going through them looking back and fourth between the dresses.

Melanie stood next to Rebekah patiently waiting, as she was still holding onto Rebekah's hand. For some reason the blonde girl didn't let go of her hand but she wasn't complaining at all...

"Ahh here we go!" Rebekah's cheerful voice made Melanie drop her hand as she saw how Rebekah was holding onto a pink beige dress. She glanced at Melanie and held out the dress towards her. "Here, I think this one will look wonderful on you. Go try it on."

Melanie eyed the dress before taking it and turned around to face a mirror. The dress was beautiful, it was strapless with a sweetheart neckline, and it had flower design on the top. The dress was simple but elegant, something that Melanie liked. She wasn't much for dresses that stood out with the crazy designs so this dress was perfect. But the problem was that she didn't think she would look pretty in it. She shook her head, looking defeated, Rebekah though noticed this quickly and frowned.

"What's wrong, you don't like it?" Rebekah asked bemused as to why she hadn't gone into the dressing room to try on the dress.

"No I like the dress. I think it's beautiful." She answered Rebekah and then looked towards the floor sheepishly."I just don't think it'll look nice on me..."

Rebekah scoffed when hearing this. "You're kidding right?" She asked her but was met with complete silence. She stared at Melanie and noticed the serious face she had on, letting her know the youngest Gilbert wasn't joking. Leaving Rebekah completely stunned, she couldn't believe that Melanie thought she wasn't pretty enough to wear the dress. In Rebekah's opinion she thought Melanie was indeed beautiful and that she shouldn't feel less of herself.

"Melanie." She said using her full name, letting her know she was being serious. "Of course it'll look nice on you."

Melanie glanced back up and looked into her blue eyes. "How can you be so sure?"

"Call it an instinct." Rebekah said grinning before leading her into one of the dressing room."Now go try it on, I'll be outside waiting okay?" The original said before taking a seat in one of the benches.

Melanie nodded her head and closed the dressing room door and started changing out of her clothes to put on the dress. Once she had her clothes off she stepped into the dress and pulled it up so it covered her chest. Luckily she was able to zip up the dress herselfthanking God or whatever was out there in the universe that she didn't need to ask Rebekah for help, cause that would of been embarrassing.

She adjusted the dress and flattened both sides with her hands, thankfully the dress wasn't to short either as it went up just above her knees a little. Still though she was growing with nerves knowing now she had to get out and show Rebekah the dress. She started pacing around the dressing room trying to avoid going outside for as long as possible, but came to a stop when she heard Rebekah's voice.

"Melanie I can hear you pacing in there." Rebekah said and Melanie could practically see the amused smile on her face. "Just come on out."

Melanie let out a breath, knowing there was no other way to get out of this. Mustering all the courage that she could get she opened the dressing room door and walked out allowing Rebekah to see her in the dress.

Rebekah became silent when she saw her come out of the dressing room wearing the dress she had chosen for her. She looked...marvelous the dress fit her perfectly, the color of it complimented her skin tone not to mention the dress allowed her to show off her curves.

Melanie started to get anxious from the silence and spoke up. "Well?" She asked Rebekah who was staring intently at her.

Rebekah blinked a couple of times and stood up from her seat making her way until she was in front of her.

"Well, I was wrong." Rebekah said causing Melanie to give her a sad frown, before she continued to talk. "You don't look pretty...you look beautiful." She turned Melanie around to face the mirror again, and the brunette let out a gasp once she saw her own reflection.

"See I told you." Rebekah said beaming when she saw Melanie's surprised face.

Melanie gave her a smile. "Yeah, you did." She said turning back around to face her. "So I guess I found my homecoming dress."

"I would be highly disappointed if you didn't get it." Rebekah said with a smile and then looked down to her feet. "Ohh I almost forgot when you were changing I picked out some shoes for you." She went back to her seat and picked up a pair of black high heels, she walked over back towards Melanie and handed her to them. "Here try them on, I guessed your size so I hope they fit."

"You guessed?" Melanie said incredulously with raised eyebrows.

Rebekah rolled her eyes playfully. "Yes, once again I trusted my gut instinct, now stop jabbering and try the shoes on."

"Alright, alright." Melanie said chuckling putting on the shoes, which fit perfectly on her.

Rebekah stepped back to admire the her. "There! Now that's perfection."

Melanie scoffed and blushed. "I wouldn't call it perfection Rebekah."

"I would." Rebekah said to sincerely, giving her a warm genuine smile.

Melanie was now the one to become silent taking in the words she had just said. No one in her entire life has her called her or thought of her as 'perfect'. She bit the inside of her cheek as she tried cooling down her blush, which wasn't doing any help at all.

The sound of someone else opening the boutique's door made them gaze away from each other.

"Iuh—should go change." Melanie muttered making her way back towards the dressing room.

Rebekah just nodded her head and allowed her to pass by her, the original blonde vampire had no idea why every time she was with Melanie they would always ended up staring each other, but for whatever reason she didn't mind it at all. Maybe it was because for once in a hundred years she now had a real friend, one that she would be able to talk to, shop with, and most importantly count on to be there for her. All Rebekah ever wanted in her entire life was a friend, which unfortunately for her, she hadn't been able to have one. Running from her father didn't allow her to get close with anyone and the fact that her older brother daggered and left her in a box for nearly ninety years didn't help as well. But now that she was out she finally was able to find that one person who she had the privilege to call friendMelanie, and she wasn't going to let anyone ruin this growing friendship.

After a few minutes Melanie got out of the dressing room and was now dressed back to her normal clothes. She grabbed the dress and shoes and made her way to pay for them before Rebekah put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it's already paid for." Rebekah told her.

"What do mean?" Melanie asked creasing her eyebrows.

"I already paid for it when you were trying the dress on." Rebekah clarified.

"You what?" Melanie said shocked. "Rebekah you didn't need to do that."

"Of course I did. You're my friend." Rebekah replied back to her in an obvious tone.

Melanie shook her head. "No you didn't, you shouldn't have wasted your money on me."

Rebekah laughed dryly. "Don't worry it wasn't my money but my darling older brothers." She said taking out the credit card in her hand.

Melanie stared at the plastic card Rebekah was holding, having a feeling this was payback for what her brother kept from her. Although it was nowhere near as bad as what Klaus did, Melanie knew she shouldn't question her. So she instead gave Rebekah a mischievous smile playing along with her. "Did your darling older brother also happen to pay for my shoes."

"But of course." Rebekah said to her with the same mischievous smile and glint in her eyes.

The two girls then left the boutique laughing together, with Melanie carrying her dress and the shoes, that Rebekah's older brother had 'generously' bought for her. Their arms brushed against each the whole time they were walking, with neither wanting to put distance between them, as they both each had a smile on their faces.


A/N: Hey guys so here's another chapter! As you can tell this is another filler chapter with more Melanie and Rebekah scenes this time :) I hoped you guys liked it, since the next chapter will be the Homecoming episode which means guess whose coming back? Hmmm ;) I have a feeling you guys already know who ( a certain original hybrid ;P). Also for the next chapter you think I should add a scene with Melanie confronting Mikael about the way he treated Rebekah? What do you guys think? Until next time my lovely readers!