Soooo, the tenth chapter, that´s so cool! I really enjoy writing this. But note that since I wanted to celebrate 10 chapters, I decided to put Stefan and his background information on hold and focus on that next chapter and this time do some happy stuff. So this is nice and really just much for enjoyment. The next 5 Chapters are already roughly planned out and I know more and more how I want this story to continue. The plot is far from over, actually we´re pretty much only getting started – I hope you´ll stay with me and a big thank you to everyone who supports me, I absolutely love hearing from you readers…
Chapter 10. Road Trip
Virginia, normally a state with really nice weather on a daily bases. No snow, not that much rain, not too cold and mostly there were no bad storms all through the entire year. Well. When Elena left the campus to run towards the parking space, it was raining cats and dogs in the worst ways possible. At only 3pm in the afternoon it was already almost completely dark outside and she had big trouble finding her car.
She already knew that a really bad thunderstorm would be starting any time soon, the weather announcement had already said so but she had a place to be so she couldn´t just turn around and go back inside now.
After resting for almost two days and spending way too much time in bed, she had decided to call Bonnie and meet with her at the Starbucks that was located not very far from their university. She wanted to say a proper thank you and also had desperately needed a good reason for Caroline to let her leave the room.
At times her control freaky friend morphed into some kind of mad German Shepard dog, running around nervously and barking loud whenever anyone decided not to obey her every word. She wanted to protect her and even though Elena appreciated her friend´s nice gestures a lot, her head barely hurt anymore.
And also she really needed to do something else than spending her days with the cool pack and without seeing anything else than the thousand and one post it notes that Caroline had covered all the four room walls with as she was studying for her first major test.
So the bad weather couldn´t stop her today. She finally reached her car, frantically opened the door and let herself fall onto the driver´s seat with a loud sigh.
Tomorrow she sure would be having a bad cold on top of everything else! The streets were dark, the only audible noises were the rain droplets loudly hitting the metal roof of her car and everything outside was just grey and miserable.
But Elena didn´t even pay any attention to the bad weather, all she felt was the hundreds of butterflies inside of her belly, making the world look like a colorful fairy tale!
She knew exactly why the butterflies were there, why she felt so good. The reason was dark haired and had incredible beautiful blue eyes. And Damon was amazing. Their time together was amazing. Life was amazing!
And Elena doubted that she had ever felt this happy content and joyful ever before in her entire life. She felt absolutely unbeatable and simply on top of the world. No boy had ever been able to make her feel this way and she wasn´t sure how exactly Damon managed to do this but all she honestly cared about right now was how damn good it felt to be with him.
In fact – even when he wasn´t in the same room she still felt great simply because she knew she would soon see him again.
Before she could start drooling on the steering wheel, the brightly blinking Starbucks sign showed up on top of a building at the end of the street.
She stopped the car, pared it and got out, mentally preparing herself for the ocean of water that was going to drip onto her the moment she´d exit the car.
After running to the Starbuck´s entry she felt as if the rain had started to practically soak into her skin, her clothes were all dripping onto the floor and her hair was so wet by now that she had a hard time suppressing the immediate urge to just wring it out here and now to get rid of all of the cold, unwanted water.
Luckily, she was not the only one who had been surprised by the rain. Some of the other costumers looked like they were in quiet an equal state as herm but that made it only more obvious to her that the reason why most people were pitifully string at her was not her dripping figure but her face that still not entirely recovered from Stefan´s assault.
She tried to ignore them the best she could, but was really glad when she potted Bonnie at a table at the end of the room, waving her to come and join her. Elena smiled thankful and quickly walked over to her, leaving a wet trail of rain water behind her.
Bonnie – not bothered by all of the wetness – gave her a quick hug and then pulled onto the seat next to her.
"Hi, how are you? Does your face still hurt?"
Elena shook her head, grateful that the other girl didn´t stare or look disgusted by her colorful face at all. "Nope, I barely even notice it any more. And thank you. I know I´ve said it before but I really don´t know in what state I´d be right now if you hadn´t stepped in that moment so I can´t tell you enough how glad I am you were there to help me!"
"Oh, sure! You know, when I was still living in Chicago there were street fights and a lot of violence on a daily bases. I would see women or even young teens getting beaten up and no one could do anything because the people who did that were often big, bulky guys who came in a group and were undefeatable. So I was glad that in your case I could actually do something about it and not just standing there, not being able to help."
Elena´s eyes widened at hearing that, she couldn´t even image how it must feel to live in an environment like that, seeing such violence without the possibility to step in and do anything about it.
"That sound´s absolutely horrible, but I visited Chicago once with my family and I didn´t see anything like that!"
Bonnie nodded, a sad smile spread on her lips. "Well, of course it´s not the entire city that is like that and I guess you and your family only visited the more wealthy parts of Chicago, but where I lived things got pretty ugly from time to time. After my Grandma died, I was first placed into a foster care home for Teenagers. I lived there for one and a half years until finally the judges agreed and let me live with my dad. That time was the worst in my live, I got into all the trouble that I had stayed out of all my life."
"Oh Bonnie! How awful! But what do you mean by "trouble"?"
Bonnie sighed and swallowed, scared that Elena would judge her after learning about her past. "When I got there, I was still really depressed because of my grandma´s death and for weeks I just ignored all the other people there. But then there was that boy, he was a little older than me. He was really nice, took care of me and soon we were good friends. But then I noticed that he was doing drugs. I don´t exactly know how bad it was but after some time I started taking drugs, too.
The drugs somehow helped me cope with everything and then I got addicted. It was really bad but not long after that I was sent to a clinic to get drug free again. I spend two and a half months there and when I came back the boy was gone. I doubt that he was ever addicted to the drugs like I was but still – he should have helped me, call or at least write me a letter to the clinic. I was all alone there and he was my friend so he was supposed to care about me. But he didn´t. The social workers told me went to live with his real family again and I never heard of him again."
Elena felt close to tears and she realized that the things she had been going through in her life were really not the worst that it could have been. If Jenna hadn´t offered to take care of her and Jeremy they would have been placed in foster care too and who knew how that would have ended!
Unsure of how to react to her friends life story, she tried to comfort her by gently hugging her, seeing that Bonnie was crying a little. "Hey, that´s nothing to be ashamed of. You made the wrong decisions and then dealt with them. And now you´re not addicted anymore and have a normal life so everything is alright! That only means that you are really strong because you managed to get past all of that!"
"Thank you elena, it means a lot that you´re not judging me. You know, I know all of the things that happened were my own fault but I can´t help blaming that boy a little, too. I just think if he only had helped me than it wouldn´t have been so hard for me!"
She said, wiping away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. Elena nodded and answered: "Of course! He let you down, it´s completely understandable that you feel that way. And what did you father say about you and your drug history?"
"Well, he wasn´t glad about it at all but he was also very loving and provided me a good home. And even though he was monitoring me a lot at first, after some time he started to trust me and now we have a really good relationship and he and I, we both now that I will never even look at a drug again in my entire life."
"That´s really nice to hear. You know, my brother was taking some drugs for a while when we had a difficult time after really bad stuff happened in our family, but I think now he has gotten over it. But I know how hard it is and how much it takes to get to that point, so be proud!"
"Now enough of that, people are staring at us already! Tell me more about yourself, but please only the nice things, I don´t think my make-up can cope with any more crying!" Bonnie laughed and Elena agreed, also in need of a subject change.
"There is not so much amazing stuff in my life but I just got together with a guy that I really like and he´s super cute and nice and he makes me incredibly happy!"
"Wow, ok, I didn´t expect that for sure! But wasn´t it just two days ago that your ex-boyfriend started punching you all out of the blue? You´re really quick at things, aren´t you!"
Elena blushed but nodded. "Yes, I know that that´s kind of crazy but he was the reason that Stefan and I broke up in the first place so when I saw him again afterwards I just couldn´t help but tell him the truth and then it just – it just happened! And what about you, any boyfriend or crush or else?"
"Nope! I´ve kind of quiet boyfriends for this year because it wasn´t too long ago that my life was an absolute mess and for now I just really want to concentrate on my life and not having to deal with any drama or pain because even though I think I´m much stronger now than I was two years ago, I still don´t want to risk getting really upset or hurt by someone and then maybe start doing stupid stuff again!"
The two girls kept chatting and talking about their lives and friends for a while but then, when the storm stopped and it wasn´t raining that bad anymore, they both paid for their coffees and headed back to the campus.
When she arrived back, she checked her phone and found five new messages from Damon, telling her that she was beautiful, that he missed her and that he couldn´t wait to see her again.
It made her smile instantly and she immediately felt her own, personal Damon-butterflies being back in her belly all over again!
With flying fingers she dialed his number and excitedly waited for him to pick it up.
"Hi, how are you sweetie?"
"I´m fine, I just got back and thought about you. I missed you, too"
"That´s good to know! And I wanted to ask you how you would like it if I picked you up after you spend your weekend with your family. I´ve just talked to Caroline and she told me that she would drive to your home town with you so that she can take the car back and use it while you´re there. So that means you would have to take the train to get here and I figured that you might like my car a lot better than a noisy, uncomfortable train ride. Am I right?"
"That´s so nice of you, Damon! And it would be great, yes. Will I see you before I leave?"
"Of course, I´ll stop by tomorrow morning before I have to go to class."
"Great, see you then."
"Yes, see you"
They both hang up and Elena went to the big closet that she shared with Caroline. Using all of her strength, she tried pulling her big, old suitcase that was lying on top of it down. She ended up on the floor, cursing and rubbing her right leg that had been hit by the edge of the suitcase as she fell to the ground.
It was her dad´s suitcase, brown and bulky but at least there was enough space to stuff everything she needed for the three days in there.
While she was grabbing stuff from her closet, packing her toothbrush and toothpaste and at the same time planning out in her head how much gas they would be needing for the ride, she thought about what to tell Jenna. And of course Jeremy!
Jenna had always liked Stefan, and more than once she had told Elena how she loved the two of them as a couple. Stefan could literally convince her to do or let them do anything. Maybe it was because Jenna had a crush on him herself, but she often treated him a lot more nice and casual than Matt or any of Elena´s other male friends.
And now she would have to break down to her that the guy she had always defined as nice and sweet was nothing but a two faced jackass!
Jeremy on the other hand had mostly ignored her boyfriend, had often told her that he was too boring for her and how she should go out and on some adventures more often. So he would probably not be feeling guilty for liking Stefan but Elena was worried of how he would react to the bruises that were still covering her face. They were large and Jeremy had always been really protective of her.
He and Stefan lived in the same town after all and they would surely still meet from time to time. So how would he deal with that? Would he go after Stefan and try to get revenge or start a fight? She would have to talk to him about all of that to make sure he didn´t put himself in any danger.
Elena sighed loudly as she thought about all the trouble that was still to come. But at least her family cared about her and loved her. So she knew that she couldn´t really complain about the rest of it.
The next day she was woken up differently than normally. Usually the first thing she heard in the morning was the loud and annoying ringing of her alarm clock. But today it was Damon´s face that hovered above her and his lips that peppered her face with thousands of light kisses.
"Morning, princess. Caroline is already in the bathroom so I thought why not take advantage of some alone time with you."
Elena quickly reached up and put her arms around his neck, pulling him closer towards her and sighed contently. "I liked that waking up! Can´t we do that every day?"
Damon chuckled and kissed her nose once more before pulling back.
"Well, I´d sure agree on that but I really have to go to class right now so I can´t stay any longer!"
He apologized and stood up, smiling when he saw her pouting like a little child.
"When should I pick you up on Sunday? And where?"
He handed her a piece of paper and she wrote down place and time.
When he took it back he raised his eyebrows and asked her curious: "The cemetery? Why don´t you want me to pick you up at your family´s house? Are you afraid of them meeting me? Because if my own father wouldn´t be such a selfish idiot I would want you to meet him I a heartbeat!"
He looked hurt and Elena quickly assured him: "No, no, no! That´s not the reason at all. I just want to stop by at my parent´s grave yards once more before I leave so that´s why I want you to pick me up at the cemetery. But you´re right. I don´t want you to meet them quiet yet. You know, telling them about Stefan and me and all the shit that has happened will shock them enough. And I think that for now it´s better and also easier for them to first get used to him not being my boyfriend anymore. But the next time I´ll visit home, I would love you to come with me so that I can introduce you to my aunt and my brother. I´m sure you´ll love them!"
Damon looked more relaxed now and was smiling again. "Ok then, have fun and good luck with your family. I hope they´ll take it as good as possible!"
She nodded, jumped out of them bed and quickly pulled him down to kiss him with all she had to offer once more. "I miss you already!" she whispered and then playfully pushed him out of the room. That guy was worse than any drug to her and she knew if she had allowed him to stay any longer she would have probably never been able to let him leave.
Only a few minutes later Caroline came back from the bathroom, her long hair pulled up in a messy bun and with an awfully bad mood clearly visible on her face.
"What´s wrong with you? Has the shower run out of warm water again?"
The last time that that had happened Caroline had been moody and miserable all day and Elena really had no longing to spend hours on end with her in the same car when she was like that.
"No, the shower was fine. My only problem is you leaving and going to Mystic Falls where the asshole aka the violent monster aka you ex-boyfriend Stefan lives and could hide behind every corner! Don´t you think it´s stupid to practically run back to where he´s probably only waiting for you?!"
Elena sighed and grabbed her shower stuff. "Caroline, don´t be silly now. I´ll probably will barely be out of the house. After all we have an entire nursery room to paint and decorate. There will not be much time for Stefan to do anything bad to me. And after all – how is he even supposed to know that I´m in town? There´s really nothing to worry about Care!"
But that made her friend look even more grumpy so Elena decided to leave it at that and headed for the warm shower stall.
After Caroline had finally finished applying her daily make-up on her face while Elena waited at the door making teasing comments about how unnecessary it was for her to spend that much time on her beauty routine when all they were going to do was go on a road trip without any other person seeing her face anyway.
But her friend just grabbed the closest pillow and threw it at her, immediately cursing when she accidently smeared her eye-liner upwards due to her sudden movement. "Damn it! Elena this is all your fault! Now Everyone will see me looking like the outcome of a five year old´s first attempt at make-up!" she snapped histerically but it only earned her a few giggles from her Elena.
Caroline scrubbed off the ruined eye liner line and they made their way out of their room. After then discovering that the elevator wasn´t working this very day her mood got only worse if that was even possible.
Together the two girls carried the heavy suitcase all the way down the stairs, both panting when they reached the exit door.
But the hard, physical workeout seemed to have calmed Caroline down and as a drop of sweat ran down her fore head she smiled for the first time and cheerily said: "Well, that sure makes it easier to stay in the car for a couple of hours. At least now all my energy is gone."
Now their little trip could finally start. Elena didn´t even bother turning on the radio since she knew all too well that her best friend was a far better entertainer than any lame ass, bored out radio moderator could ever manage to be, even if he tried!
And indeed, as soon as the doors were shut and they were all buckled up Caroline started gossiping about their fellow college students , whoms names sounded familiar but Elena couldn´t really keep up with remembering their faces.
So she simply looked out of the window, watching the cars and trees that grew next to the not so busy street passing by.
Her minded wandered off to one very special peron only seconds later. Never before had she felt so drawn to another person in all aspects of live from day one. Elena didn´t even fully know what specific thing had made her notice him and only him no matter how full the room might be.
Was it his good looks? His charm and that teasing humor that annoyed her beyond belief but never failed to make her smile. Or maybe his ability to make arrogance seem so sweet and everything but a bad character trait?"
Naah Elena thought, it´s his eyes, for sure! Those icy blue eyes that probably every girl on the entire campus had dreamed of once or twice in her life.
But she knew that if only one of those character traits, or his smirk and eyes would be missing, Dmaon wouldn´t be the Damon she wanted and fell for and that it was the whole package that really made the deal for her.
After a few more drool-worthy thoughts of her boyfriend she forced herself to stop with it. She was on her way to visit her family after all. Her mind should be all wrapped around Jenna, Jeremy and of course the baby. The cousin she was going to get.
Thinking of being a sort of big Auntie made her smile. She would totally spoil that child rotten, and even though she wasn´t the biological Aunt or cousine or really anything, she and Jenna had already discussed that for this baby Jeremy and her would be officially Aunt and Uncle due to the huge age difference between them. It would be weird to have a cousin who is twenty years older so all blood relation would be left out of the game.
And Jenna would be an amazing mom, for sure! After all she had a ton of involuntary experience with not only parenting in general but also raising two two at that time highly emotional unstable teens. And since she did fairly well at that, the rest would most likely be a quite easy task for her compared to the past 3 years.
Suddenly Elena´s day dreaming was interrupted by Caroline who chuckled next to her: "So, you love drunk crazy person. Are you missing you hottie boyfriend Mr. Smoldering Salvatore already, no?"
Elena smiled, sweetly at her friend, noticing that Caroline looked like she was a little bit offended by her not listening to her stories of "Who´s dating whom" umber xxx.
"No" she sighed, shaking her head wit a dreamy smile plastered to her lips. "I was just thinking about my family but now that you happen to ask – how come we´re always talking about my boyfriend 24/7 ? Cause, I remember that as long as we were still living in Mystic falls together, the only subject of interest you really had when it came to boys was your latest boyfriend or crush or whatever!"
She was only joking but one side glance at her friend showed her, this had not been the time nor place for such kinds of comments, since Caroline really didn´t seem to be in the mood for it.
"Great, now you make me sound like a selfish little bitch! Not everyone is able to make it through college with only two guys on their hit list! Honestly, there are not many who would even want it to be like that! I was a little more adventurous, what´s the problem? And it´s not like I´ve been sleeping around or anything!"
She glared at Elena and forcefully tightened her hands around the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles almost turned white. Elena quickly nodded and hurried to cover Caroline´s right hand with her own one, gently squeezing it.
"I know Care, and it was absolutely not what I meant! I´m sorry, I had no right to insult you like that and it really wasn´t my intention to do so at all! You are a great friend Caroline, the best and I´m the last person to tell you you´re selfish after everything you´ve done for me lately. All I wanted was to ask how your own love life is going right now, but I know that it came out all wrong!"
She tried to apologize, inwardly cursing herself under her breath for not thinking before she had opened that big stupid mouth of hers!
Full of remorse she pleadingly looked at her friend who was still refusing to make eye contact with her or just any contact. But at least she did not try to push Elena´s hand away that was still lying on top of hers.
Caroline just let out a long, drawn out and dramatic sigh. She raised her eyebrows until her forehead was covered with layers of wrinkles.
"Please" Elena playfully added once more, knowing that when Caroline was already able to let out one of her "drama-queen-sighs" she had been kind of famous for back in high school, that she couldn´t be that angry at her anymore. But also she knew that her friend still needed some begging and pleading to feel fully loved again.
"Well, Alriiight!" Caroline nodded very slowly, making sure to sound very generous. "I´ll forgive you this one time!"
"Great!" Elena cheerfully giggled, glad that her friend hadn´t taken her unthoughtful outburst too personal.
"And also" she cheekily added, "being made at me doesn´t suit you very much. So if you are for too long those wrinkles on your pretty forehead are going to be permanent much sooner than you´d like them to be!" she laughed.
Caroline just playfully punched her shoulder and shook her head. "Unbelievable Elena! You´d be better off not pushing it too much, otherwise I´ll might very well reconsider my gesture of mercy!"
"Alright" Elena immediately agreed "but can you please finally tell me about whom you´re interest in right now? Cause I know you Care and there isn´t a chance in the world that there isn´t already an entire queue of hot boys practically begging you to go on a date with them. But since we haven´t had any steady male visitors in our dorm room yet, you must have some higher goals, no?"
Caroline´s dark red blush that suddenly crept up on her face told her that she had been absolutely right with her suspicion.
"Well yes, you´re right there are a few in the so called "queue" but I´m just so very tired of being with some random boy who´se been crushing on me since day one! I´m so used to the "quick success" type that all I want right now is a guy who´se not pining after me. I want someone who is a little harder to get. Someone who does not want me for my looks but for who I really am."
Elena was puzzled for a second but then she excitedly smiled: "Wow, that sounds like he´s absolutely awesome! I´ve never heard you talk about any guy like that. But it also means that you already must have tried to get him interested, am I right?"
"Yes, yes you are but I don´t think he really likes me. He is a little quiet and he didn´t say anything negative but still – I know how boys are like when they are interested and he never did anything that would lead me to think he is, too."
Caroline sounded sad, and a little helpless which surprised Elena, since her friend usually was the one with a plan, a strong, confident women and this was certainly new.
"Oh Care, but how could he possibly not like you? You´re gorgeous, inside and outside! I´m sure if you´ll give him more time and a chance to truly get to know you he will not be able to resist you and your charm!"
"Well, let´s hope so!" Caroline sighed, but she seemed to be a little more on ease now. Elena knew her friend very well after all those years of extremely close friendship and it made her smile to think of Caroline, the girl who had everyone wrapped around her finger withing a second had now insecurities about a guy not liking her. It was certainly kind of cute!
Soon they surpassed the sign of "Welcome to Mystic Falls" and were driving down the empty road to their hometown.
"Are you visiting your mom? Or are you going to drive right back?" Elena asked.
"No, I think I´ll stop by the next time, my mum has much work to do with council and stuff anyway so I don´t think she´s missing me too much right now. I´ll be heading right back after I drop you off at hour home."
"But It´s a 3 hour drive, you might want to take a short break from the car or simply stay overnight here. You can just stay at my place if you don´t want to go home, you know?"
Elena asked, concerned about her friend and also she felt kind of guilty for making her drive all those hours down to Mystic Falls when Caroline didn´t even want to see her own family.
"No, thanks but it´s fine, really. You can just spend some time with Jenna and your brother, I want you to have fun and also I want you to already find out what exactly Jenna´s having so that we can do extensive baby shopping once you´re back!"
"You´re the best Care, and thanks again!" Elena said when they pulled into the driveway of her house. After they quickly hugged and said good bye, Elena exited the car and walked towards the front door. Suitcase in hand.
Once she got closer she suddenly heard yelling and screaming from inside and something heavy falling to the ground. Oh no Elena thought and quickly ran towards the door.
So this was what I consider a nice chapter. Some Delena, some nice Caroline and Elena (Is there a (friend)ship name, I know Damon and Alaric have one so why shouldn´t these two have one as well? Any ideas?) bonding and a little cliffhanger just for fun. Please leave me some love and hit that review button! And I´m starting to realize I need a beta because I do struggle with the Grammar from time to time and also I had a massive writer´s block which is why this update took me so long!