The next day at school was about as normal as usual for Stefan. He had gotten barely any sleep the night before, mostly due to the same dreams that always keep him up at night. More like nightmares. All he could think about was Dylan, and it made him sick to his stomach. But who could he talk to? He didn't want to burden his family with his thoughts, especially since everyone has been in such a good place. That's why he writes in his journal; the only place where he could be truly honest with himself. He ended up writing for hours and fell asleep right as his alarm went off. Stefan tried his best to stay awake in his classes, but he eventually did fall asleep, and in the worst place possible- Mr. Tanner's history class. Stefan jolts up when he feels his desk being kicked by none other than Mr. Tanner himself. His teacher smiles widely, happy that he finally got Stefan's attention. "Class, this is what will happen when you fall asleep during one of my many important lectures. Stay awake, Mr. Salvatore, or I'm sending you to Principal Steven's office." Stefan wipes some of the drool that was on his cheek as he nods. "My apologies, Mr. Tanner. Won't happen again." He then looks over at his classmate's desk and opens his textbook to the correct page. He looks out the window and sees Elena staring at him. She mouths, "Is everything okay?" Stefan nods at her in reply, not wanting to get either of them in trouble.
Once history ends, Elena and Stefan walk to their lockers, ready to take on their next class. She's surprised when she sees Matt standing in front of her, not letting her get out of his way. "Hey. Can we, uh, talk?" He looks back and forth at Elena and Stefan, trying to figure out what their relationship is. He starts to feel uncomfortable when Stefan stares at him in anger, so he focuses back on Elena instead. She isn't sure why Stefan seems so upset, but just decides to ignore it. "Yeah, sure." Elena and Matt walk closer to her locker so that she can get her books while they talk. Stefan moves away from them, not wanting to interfere. "I'll see you at lunch, Elena." She nods, trying to focus her attention on Matt. Stefan looks at Matt one last time before leaving them to talk. It's been so long since they last spoke, and Elena was really starting to miss him. She turns her lock to different numbers, trying to figure out her combination. "Ugh!" Elena slams her fist into the locker, making Matt laugh. "You can't remember, huh?" She scrunches her nose at him saying, "Don't act like you haven't forgotten your's before." He nods, not wanting to talk back at her. "It's 25-13-26." She tilts her head to the side, unsure of his answer, but she tries it anyway. Sure enough, it actually worked. "How did you remember that, Matt?" She looks inside to find her French book, replacing the ones that she doesn't need for the rest of the day. "You asked me to remember it for you the first day of school, so you wouldn't forget." Of course I did. "Well, I'm glad you were here then." She smiles at him while closing her locker, repeating the numbers in her head. 25-13-26, 25-13-26. She'd probably go on forever if Matt didn't interrupt her. "I wanted to say sorry for how I treated you. The way we left things… I didn't like it. I wasn't in a good place. I know it's a lousy excuse, but it's the truth. You breaking up with me kind of rocked my world, you know? And when I saw you with him, I just kind of lost it. How could I not get jealous seeing you with another guy?" Elena is about to reply when Matt lifts his finger, "Wait! Please let me finish. I miss you, Elena, and I just want us to be okay again. So, are we?" He gives her a stupid half grin, one that he used on her whenever he was in trouble. And lucky for him, it worked just like it did all the other times. "I miss you too, Matt." She leans in and hugs him, making him smile as he hugs her back. "And I forgive you. I'm sorry for the things I said to you. I was out of line."
"Let's just forget that day ever happened." Elena nods in agreement, "Alright. Deal." They start to walk in the hallway, making sure to stay close so they can hear each other throughout all the noise of the other students. "Would you like to hang out later? Football practice ends early today." She thinks about what she has to do today, but nothing comes to mind. "I'd like that. I'll come by your house?" This makes Matt's smile vanish. "If it's okay with you I think it'd be better to go to your house." Elena didn't seem to understand why it mattered since Matt usually never cared, but she wasn't going to question it. "Oh, yeah. That's fine. Just come by when you're done." He nods with a light smile while saying, "Sounds good." The bell rings, making Elena flinch in surprise. "I better get going. I'll see you later, Matt." She gives him one last hug before she heads to her next class.
When it's finally time for lunch, Elena searches for her friends in the cafeteria. She spots Caroline talking with Tyler Lockwood, Matt's best friend. He's the mayor's son, which pretty much means that he can do whatever he wants and there aren't any consequences. It bugs Elena, but that's just how things worked around Mystic Falls. She walks over to them both and sits at the table. "Hey, guys." Caroline says hello while Tyler gives her a curt nod, focusing back on Caroline. He leans in close and whispers, "Would you like to go out Friday night?" Caroline, please say no. She could do so much better than some dumb jock. Elena starts to furiously eat her lunch, hoping that Caroline will make the right choice. "Yes, I would." He tilts his head back as he smirks to himself. "Great. I'll call you later." Before he leaves he looks at Elena and says, "Hope you're having fun with pretty boy." Elena feels like she is going to explode, but doesn't want him to see her upset. "I am, thank you." She takes her fork and looks at her plate, frowning when she realizes she ate all her lunch already. Once he is out of Caroline's sight, she turns to Elena and covers her mouth, hiding her squeals. "Oh my god! I have a date!" Elena tries to pretend that she is excited by giving Caroline a wide grin, but it eventually fades when Bonnie sits at the table. Caroline starts to daydream, imagining what their date will be like. Bonnie laughs at her state of euphoria and asks, "What's with you?"
"You will never believe what just happened to me." In that moment, everything click for Elena. Oh God. Her whole body tenses once she remembers that Bonnie and Tyler used to date. Sure they only lasted 3 months, but who knows how Bonnie will react. Elena interrupts before Bonnie can even get a word in. "How about this lunch today? Gross, right?" Bonnie's eyebrows squished together when she looked at Elena's plate in confusion. "If it was gross then why did you eat it-" At this point Caroline has had enough, so she lifts up her arm as she yells, "Elena! I'm trying to tell Bonnie my good news." Elena takes her hand and shakes it back and forth under her head, signaling Caroline to stop talking. She even mouths, SHUT UP, CAROLINE, but it's too late. "I have a date with Tyler Lockwood Friday night." Elena places her face in her hands, feeling as if she has failed Bonnie and herself. She does open one of her fingers to see Bonnie's reaction though, and she is completely shocked. Bonnie doesn't seem mad at all. She doesn't seem to be anything, really. Instead she responds with a smile, saying, "Wow! That's great. He's cute." Caroline nods in appreciation. "I'm glad someone else thinks so. Elena acts like she can't stand him." If you were here long enough you'd understand why. Stefan steps in and sits next to his sister, across from Bonnie and Elena. "What's going on, everybody?"
Bonnie sits there and stares at Stefan, making him feel slightly on the spot. She then looks at Caroline and says, "Your sister has a date." Bonnie laughs when she sees Caroline's reaction- red as a tomato, avoiding Stefan's gaze. Seeing this was enough for Bonnie to get over Caroline dating her ex, so she crosses her arms in victory. "Don't worry, Caroline. Tyler's pretty low maintenance. My guess is that he'll pick you up in his car, take you to his favorite drive in, and who knows what else will happen." This makes Stefan's protective instincts kick in. "You're going out with Tyler Lockwood? He's a total dick, Caroline!" The fact that Caroline actually gets offended by this makes Elena roll her eyes. Caroline sighs as she asks, "And how would you know that, Stefan?" He looks at Elena apprehensively. She just became friends with Matt again. Don't make any trouble. But Elena saw the look on his face. There was a reason. Stefan wouldn't try to make a big deal out of nothing. "Stefan, what is it?" She looked at him intently with her big brown eyes. I can't lie to her now. "I was thinking about trying out for the football team, you know, cause I started to miss it. So I went to the team's practice and Matt saw me talking to the coach. He whispered something to Tyler, and then he came up to me to talk about some plays. Bonnie stops him from talking by saying, "What's your point, Salvatore?"
"Bonnie!" Elena swats her best friend's shoulder. "My point is that Tyler was messing with me because he thinks I'm dating Elena." Elena leaned in curiously as she asked, "Messing with you? How?" She could feel her blood starting to boil the more Stefan spoke. "He'd trip me when we'd work on our plays, trash talk me, stuff like that. When I pretty much told him to fuck off, pardon my French, Tyler said that it was payback for Matt. After it was over I told Coach Ric that I couldn't play afterall. But it probably worked out for the best anyway since I have a new job. I'm not sure that I'd be able to juggle it all." Elena shakes her head, asking, "Is that why you were so mad at Matt earlier?" He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't need to. She knows it's true. Elena stands up and is about to head towards Matt's table when Stefan gets up touches her wrist, stopping her. The electricity that she felt the first day she met him moved up her forearm. "Elena, please don't say anything. I didn't mean to make you upset. I just thought I should tell the truth." His voice starts to break at the end of his sentence, making all the girls at the table feel awful. Elena looks "Stefan, you didn't make me upset, and you have nothing to be sorry for. It's Matt and Tyler that I'm mad at. I won't say anything, but only for you." He lets go of her wrist and sighs in relief as she sits back in her seat. "Thank you, Elena." There is awkward silence afterwards since no one knows what to say. Caroline lifts up her hands in surrender as she tells them, "Fine. I won't go out with him. Especially since he treated you that way, Stefan. I wish you told me." She takes her hand and rubs his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "It's a thing of the past. I'm not feeling too well, Care. I think I'm gonna head by Damon's for a little while. I'll see you guys later." Caroline frowned as he walked away, wishing that he wouldn't go to Damon for help with his problems. Bonnie leans in closer as she asks, "Who's Damon?" Caroline rolls her eyes, not wanting to think about him at all. "Our brother. He-" The bell rings, letting the girls know it's time to head back to class. As they walk to their lockers, all Elena can think about how angry she is at how the boys treated Stefan. All he did was show Elena kindness, and in a way this made her feel like she was also to blame. Tyler wouldn't have said anything to Stefan if it weren't for his friendship with Elena. She decided then and there that when she'd see Matt tonight, she'd tell him how disappointed in him she was for not defending Stefan- for not acting like that Matt she knew and loved.
Stefan walks into MYSTIC FALLS CAR REPAIR, happy to be away from school. Usually, he would never leave early unless it was an emergency. But the past 24 hours haven't been too great, so he considers this to be an exception. After telling Elena how Tyler treated him, Stefan felt horrible. And the way she looked at him… He didn't want her pity. Not that he didn't appreciate how she cared for him, it was just that ever since Dylan died, he didn't like others feeling bad for him. Why did I have to bring her into my problems? "Shouldn't you be at school, brother?" Stefan scratched the back of his neck when he noticed his brother walk in. "Yeah." Damon smirks to himself as he remembers being his brother's age. He skipped almost everyday, and his father wanted to kill him for it. "Just make sure you don't play hooky too much. Or you'll end up like me."
"Who says I don't want to end up like you?"
"Me." Damon retorts. They both laugh lightly, enjoying the peace and quiet. Damon notices that Stefan seems to be a bit uneasy. "What's goin' on, Stef? Is it that girl you were talking about the last time?" Stefan didn't say anything, but his silence was a pretty good answer to the question. "What happened now?" Stefan shakes his head, wondering if he should even bring this up. First Elena, now Damon. How many more people can I bother? "Her ex-boyfriend and his friend were trying to get under my skin, it's nothing."
"Nothing?!" Stefan nods. "Stefan, if they try to do this again, you can't let them. Stand up for yourself. Show them what you're made of. You didn't forget how to fight, right?" How could I? Damon used to have Stefan and Dylan practice sparring in their garage. Stefan always thought it was just a source of entertainment for their older brother, but as he got older, all the things he learned came in handy; especially when it came to Katherine. If any creeps tried to hit on her, Stefan put them in their place- and a lot of times, in the hospital. "I didn't forget, Damon. I just fight when it's necessary. She's good friends with one of them- the one she dated." Damon tils his head to the side. "Why won't you say her name?" It's stupid, Stefan knows it. But he feels like once he tells his brother her name, Damon won't leave him alone about it. And what if Elena met him? Damon would make sure to embarrass Stefan any chance he got. It would also make his feelings seem even more real. By telling his brother this secret, it'd mean more to him than Damon would know. That was Stefan for you, overthinking everything. But it made him, who he is, he supposed. "Because I don't want you to terrorize her with questions. Like you said, it's a small town." Damon furrows his brows and then releases them. He knows that Stefan will tell eventually, so he doesn't question it again. "Look, brother, if you don't want to fight them, then you shouldn't. But if one of them starts it, then you're just defending yourself. Nothing wrong with that." Although Stefan appreciated his brother trying to help, he didn't exactly give the advice he was looking for. "Gotcha. Thanks, Damon." Stefan gives his brother a half smile to let him know that he's okay. "Of course. Hey, come by tomorrow after school, and I'll give you some work to do." Damon gives his brother a hug, and ends it with a noogie. Stefan pulls away quickly, fixing his hair in the process.
As Elena waits for Matt on her front steps, she stares out into the sky. Cloudy. Let's hope it rains. She looks down at her feet when she hears a car door close. Once Matt starts calling out her name, she knows that it's now or never. Stefan may not think it's a big deal, but it was a different story for Elena. She'd known Matt all her life, and couldn't believe what she heard. She almost didn't, until she tried thinking of all the reasons Stefan would lie about something like this. It didn't seem like something he would do. "Hey! Sorry I'm a bit late. Tyler started talking back to Coach Ric, so he had us do 3 extra laps around the field." When she lifts up her head, Matt is surprised to see that she is upset. "Tyler seems to be causing a lot of problems lately." He walks over and sits next to her, trying to understand." What's that supposed to mean?" Matt puts his hand on her leg, but she moves it away quickly, hurting his feelings. "You told me today that you wanted us to be okay again." He nods in agreement, still not getting her point. "Matt, when were you going to tell me that Tyler was messing with Stefan?" His chin dips to his chest in guilt. But seeing how bad he feels about it isn't enough for Elena. "Why did you let it happen?" Matt shakes his head, trying to figure out what to say. "Tell me what happened. I want your side of the story." He clenches his jaw in agitation. "My side? What did he say to you?" She speaks up to let him know that she isn't playing around. "Just tell me what happened." Matt takes a moment to pause, choosing his words carefully. "I saw Stefan at practice, and I recognized him from the day I saw you two together in town square. So I mentioned to Tyler how you'd been hanging around with Stefan a lot lately, and Tyler said that Stefan needed to know his place. That he couldn't take… He couldn't take what's mine." If Matt could take back what he said, he would do it in a heartbeat. Elena's face made him wish he never showed up in the first place. He knew that he had to tell her the truth, or else he couldn't live with himself. "I didn't wanna believe Tyler. I just wanted someone to blame for everything that's happened. So I blamed it on Stefan. Tyler told me I had nothing to worry about, to just tell Stefan about our plays and that I could leave the rest to him. I knew he'd probably make that practice harder on Stefan more than everyone else, but I didn't think he would be that much of an ass." Matt closes his eyes and takes a deep breath again. "I know that you're mad at me, Elena-"
"You're damn right I'm mad at you! The Matt I know wouldn't do that." He snorts dismissively, wondering how she could say something so ridiculous. "And the Elena I know wouldn't just leave me for some other guy!" Elena stands, towering over him with her arms crossed. "Me breaking up with you had nothing to do with Stefan and you know that." Matt stands up too, ready to prove his argument. "You can't tell me the reason you won't get back together has nothing to do with Stefan. I see how he looks at you, Elena. Don't you get what he's doing? Or are you too blind to see it? How he's getting closer to you, just so you'll fall for him. And when you finally do, he's gonna break your heart, whether you want to admit it or not. I bet that doesn't even matter to you, especially since you've done it to me already. At least you'll know how I felt when he does." Elena feels her hand starting to shake, and slaps Matt across the face, shocking them both. Tears well in her eyes. "Don't you ever talk about him that way! We are not dating. We are friends! You know, something you and I used to be? Stefan is kind, and thoughtful, and- and someone nice to be around. He makes me feel good, and makes other people around him feel good too. Maybe if you actually gave him a chance you'd see that. Or you can keep trying to tear him down with your idiot best friend. At this point, I really don't care what you do, because karma will set you straight. Or maybe Stefan will if he decides to stop being the good guy." She heads straight to her front door and slams it, leaving Matt alone outside. Matt races to his car and gets in the driver's seat, punching the steering wheel.
Later on that night, Stefan is at his desk doing homework. He hears a knock on his door and yells, "Come in!" When he sees Elena enter his room, he's shocked to say the least. She didn't text him that she'd be coming over. He gestures for her to sit on his bed. "Hey. What are you doing here?" She starts to laugh at herself for a moment, confusing him. "I know it's weird how I stopped by out of nowhere. I just wanted to know if you feel any better." He furrows his brows in confusion, which leads her to say, "You left school today because you felt sick?" Stefan's eyes widen as he realizes that she's right. "Oh! I do feel better. Thank you for asking." He looks down at his hands, but lifts his gaze when she says, "You know I don't bite, right?" She pats a spot next to her on the bed. He starts to laugh nervously as he moves out of his chair onto the bed. "Of course!" When he finally gets comfortable, the two look away from each other at times, but when they catch one of them starting, they smile. "How was the rest of your night?" She shakes her head as she tells him, "Honestly, it wasn't too great." Elena takes a moment to glance outside and noticed that it has started to rain. She smiles to herself, happy to see raindrops landing on his window. "Do you want to step outside for a little?" Stefan leans forward, making Elena a bit nervous. "Have you seen outside?" She shrugs her shoulders and smiles. "I have. That's why I want to go out there." He gives her an apprehensive look, unsure of what to say. "Do you want to watch the rain with me or not?" He stands up and offers her his hand. "I'd love to watch the rain with you, Gilbert." She takes it and he helps her off his bed. They then walk down his stairs and out onto his porch, where there is a large swing similar to Elena's own at home. They sit in silence for a few minutes until the sound of thunder roars in the sky, making Elena and Stefan flinch. When they both see each other do so, they laugh. He turns slightly to get a better look at her. "Can I ask you something?" She turns towards him too. "Sure."
"Why do you like storms so much?"
Why do I like storms so much? I don't think anyone has ever asked me that before. Not even Bonnie. "I like them because... they're strong, and powerful, you know? Sometimes they can be calm, and other times they're a force to be reckoned with… and I admire that." She looks away from him, slightly embarrassed. "I also I think the sound of rain is one of the most beautiful things in the whole world." She runs her hand through her hair and leans back on the swing, admiring the view of the cute houses on Stefan's block. "I never really thought of it that way. Rainy days always seem melancholy to me." Elena tilts her head while listening to his opinion. "I watch the rain with my mom whenever I can. It's something that we love to do together. For me, the rain reminds me of all the good in my life." Stefan smiles, happy to learn more about her. "Like?" Elena closes her eyes to help her answer his question. When she opens them, she says, "Like... my family. Even though we're going through some hard times, I don't know what I'd do without them. And my friends. Bonnie has always been in my life, and I can't imagine her out of it. It's been nice getting to know Caroline more too." Stefan leans back as he says, "She's quite the character, isn't she?" She laughs, knowing that he means that in a good way. "And I can't forget to mention you." He looks at her and hopes that his cheeks aren't flushing. "Me?" Elena swats his shoulder playfully. "Why do you find that so hard to believe?" He shakes his head, not sure if he should go into detail. "It's nothing. I believe you!" She laughs as she tells him, "You better!" They both smile to themselves, happy with how well their night is turning out. "I'm really glad I met you, Stefan." He can't believe the words he's hearing. It makes him so happy that he can't help but smile even more. "I'm really glad I met you too, Elena." He leans in to give her a hug, and it almost feels as if they're a perfect fit.
