It was Jeremy's 4th day here and Elena was ready for him to leave. She loved being around her brother but for the past 4 days he woke her up as early as possible and made her do some crazy camp activity she would never dream of doing.
Today he asked Elena if they could go into town, just the two of them. They had spent a lot of time together as a group but barely any on their own. Stefan and Jeremy had become friends, which Elena really liked. Matt had been spending all of his time with Rebekah and she wondered if he was going to be hurt when he had to leave her.
Stefan had drove them into town and refused to let Elena out of the car until she gave him a kiss, but she didn't mind. Every day her feelings for him grew even stronger, making it harder to think about leaving. She didn't know how she was going to get by without seeing him everyday. Maybe it was her own fault for spending too much time with him, but she couldn't imagine life without him.
"Do you love him?" Jeremy asked as Stefan drove away. She snapped her head towards his direction and wondered why everyone had been asking her this. Even Caroline questioned her about it, which made her say the same answer she had said to Matt.
"It's too early." Elena replied.
"Well, are you falling in love with him?" He asked.
"Yes." Elena whispered. She was falling, and she knew she was falling hard.
"I'm happy for you Lena, but I don't want you to get hurt." Jeremy replied and Elena rolled her eyes.
"I know Jeremy, but I know what I'm doing. I knew the risk when I chose to date him, I don't need any more people reminding me about our impending doom." Elena snapped.
"I know, I just worry about you. Come on, I wanna go shopping." Jeremy sighs and Elena laughed, he could be such a girl sometimes.
They spent the full day shopping, Elena barely thought about leaving Stefan and it was nice not to think about it for once. Stefan texted Elena telling her that Damon was using his car, meaning they had to walk back. Elena complained every minute of the way which made Jeremy shout at her and walk ahead of her, telling her that he wouldn't listen to her complains anymore.
As they were walking back into camp Elena saw Caroline and Klaus in a pretty heated argument. Elena wanted to go over there and make sure her friend was okay but she decided to wait until Klaus left.
"Hey, what's going on?" Elena asked Caroline as Klaus walked away.
"Klaus told me he wants to move to England to be with me." Caroline told her and Elena gasped. She didn't even know they were official, she really needs to pay more attention to her friend.
"That's a really big thing, what did you say?" She asked.
"I told him no. I need some time to be me and he has family here, he can't just leave them behind for me." Caroline put her head into her hands and sighed.
"I'm guessing he didn't take it well?" Elena assumed.
"No. I asked him to give me a few months and I'd text him my answer, but he told me he wanted to move now. It's all such a mess Elena." Caroline cried and Elena pulled her into a hug. She understood why Caroline said no, she couldn't remember the last time Caroline was single and Caroline needed time to find herself without worrying about men. Elena wondered what she would say if she were in Caroline's position. If Stefan wanted to move. There was a voice in the back of her mind screaming at her, saying she would say yes, but she would never know.
"Come on, we'll order pizza and watch the notebook." Elena told her. Elena text Stefan asking if there was anyone who delivered pizza to the camp. He told her no but said he would ask Damon to bring some back with him.
They were halfway into the movie when Stefan knocked on their door, holding a pizza. Elena mentally cheered and quickly took the pizza out of his hand.
"Pizza is good, I know, but is there any reason why you wanted it so bad?" Stefan asked, not being able to control his curiosity.
"Caroline and Klaus are having a disagreement right now so I promised her a movie night with pizza." Elena smiled.
"Okay, have fun. I'll miss you." Stefan leaned in and kissed her.
"You'll see me tomorrow." Elena rolled her eyes.
"I'll be counting down the seconds." He told her, making her blush from happiness.
"You're adorably cheesy, you know that?" Elena teased.
"I've been told once or twice." Stefan smiled and then kissed her one last time before heading to his own cabin.
Caroline cheered when she saw the pizza and Elena rolled her eyes at her friends dramatics. They fell asleep before the movie even ended, both tired from the days events.
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"Call me if you need anything. Anything at all." Jeremy spoke. It was 8am and it was time for Jeremy to leave. He and Matt had been here for the week, but now it was time for them to go home. Jeremy had made sure to take part in every camp activity possible and Matt spent all his time with Rebekah. Elena noticed he looked extremely sad and she felt bad for him.
"I will. I'll see you in 3 weeks." Elena replied. Elena couldn't believe that she had been at camp for 5 weeks already, it seriously felt like only 2 weeks.
"Bye Elena." Jeremy waved to her as he got in the car. Elena gave Matt a quick hug and then he got in the car too, she watched them leave and then headed to the stables. That's the only place she wanted to be today.
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"Hey, is Elena here?" Stefan asked Caroline as he entered her cabin.
"Nah, I think she's at the stables." Caroline replied.
"Okay, I'll go find her." Stefan turned to leave but Caroline grabbed his arm.
"Elena's not feeling too good today." Caroline told him.
"What's wrong? Is she upset about her brother leaving?" He asked, growing worried. Caroline looked down sadly.
"It's the anniversary of her aunt's death." Caroline told him. "Normally she likes space, but I don't know if that rule applies to you." Caroline added on.
"Okay, thanks." Stefan smiled at Caroline and then left, feeling sad for Elena. He knows she would probably want to spend this day with her family, and her family were half the world away.
Stefan gave Elena space for a few hours until he decided to bring her some food. He saw her sat with the horses, aimlessly brushing them. He sat down next to her and she didn't even blink, she knew he was there though.
"Jenna is the one who got me into horses. She took me for a horse riding lesson one day and I loved it, she bought me my horse and was always there to watch me." Elena told him. She felt a tear slip down her cheek and she turned so Stefan couldn't see it.
"Hey." Stefan lightly grabbed her chin and turned it so she was looking at him. "Don't hide from me." He whispered. Elena gently kissed him and then threw her arms around him, crying into his chest.
"I don't want to leave you." Elena cried, saying her fear out loud.
"Hey, we have 3 weeks to worry about that. Let's just enjoy each day." Stefan kissed the top of her head, smelling her strawberry shampoo whilst doing so.
"How did I get so lucky?" Elena wondered out loud.
"I could ask the same thing." Stefan replied. They spent the afternoon talking about everything, but mainly about Jenna. Elena had shared some of her fond memories with him, and Stefan had listened to every word she said and Elena loved that about him.
"We're going waterskiing tomorrow." Stefan informed Elena.
"No! No way!" Elena shouted. She was fine with jumping into water, but she was not fine with being thrown into the water whilst moving extremely fast. She would 100% drown.
"It'll be fun! I thought Elena Gilbert wasn't scared of anything." Stefan teased.
"I'm scared of a few things." Elena mumbled.
"Oh yeah, like what?" Stefan asked. They had never really discussed their fears before. Elena thought about not telling him, she felt stupid, but she wanted him to know everything about her.
"I'm scared of happiness." She admitted, making Stefan look at her curiously. "I want to be happy obviously, I love being happy, but I know how easily that happiness can get taken away. Once you've felt crippling pain and emptiness, you know how easy it is to feel like that again. I just fear getting my happiness taken away because one day I won't be strong enough to survive it." Elena admitted.
"Oh Elena Gilbert, you beautiful girl. I'll be there for you, no matter where I am, to make you happy. And if you don't feel strong enough to fight it, I'll fight it for you. I would walk with you until the end of time Elena." Stefan replied and Elena felt herself becoming emotional again.
She wanted to tell him she loved him, she wanted to scream the words out loud, but she was scared. What if he thought it wasn't enough time, what if he didn't love her. She hadn't even accepted it herself, it wasn't that she didn't want to love him, it was that she was afraid too. She's going to leave him and it's going to break her heart, she didn't want to break his too.
"When I'm with you, it feels like no one else exists. Do you feel that too?" Elena asked, putting her heart on the line.
"Yes." Stefan replied without hesitation.
"Stefan Salvatore, you're going to be the death of me." Elena whispered and kissed him, passionately. In that moment, Elena wanted to be with him in every way possible. But she didn't want to have her first time with Stefan in a stable with horses watching her.
"Are you ready to face reality?" Stefan asked, standing up and offering Elena his hand.
"Only if you face it with me." Elena replied and grabbed his hand. When they walked back into camp Elena saw Rebekah sat by the campfire, looking extremely sad.
"I'll be a minute." Elena told Stefan and then sat down next to her. She needed to do this, not just for her sake but for Rebekah and Stefan too.
"I know things are really awkward between us, but I want us to be able to stand together without one of us feeling uncomfortable." Elena spoke.
"I know, I'm sorry." Rebekah replied.
"Don't be sorry, do you wanna tell me what's wrong?" Elena asked, she had a guess of what was up with her.
"It's Matt, I know I only knew him for a week but he really left his mark on me." Rebekah sighed. Elena nodded, waiting for her to continue. "You know, at first I didn't understand you and Stefan. I didn't know why he would want to throw away for his relationship for a girl who was leaving in 2 months. But then I met Matt, and I understood everything because if it was Matt coming to this summer camp and not you I would have done everything Stefan did. I was still hurt though, I always knew me and Stefan were missing something but it didn't mean I didn't love him. I was angry and hurt, but now I understand. I'm ready to move on, I just wish it could be with Matt." Rebekah sighed, it felt good for her to talk about this with someone.
"I'm glad you feel ready to move on, and I'm sorry about Matt. He's a good guy, you'd be amazing together. Matt is taking a gap year to travel, I think he would love for you to join him. Just think about it, I'll be around if you need me." Elena told her and then walked back towards Stefan.
"What was that?" Stefan asked, knowing that Elena didn't particularly like Rebekah.
"That was Rebekah getting her much needed Stefan closure." Elena smiled as Stefan wrapped his arm around her.
"Good, I'm happy for her." Stefan replied. He was glad she was finally moving on from him, he was happy and he wanted her to be too. "What do you wanna do for the rest of the night?" He asked her.
"Well first, I want to eat. And then I wanna have a girly sleepover with you and Caroline." Elena giggled.
"Do you wanna sit in our pink pyjamas and talk about boys." Stefan teased.
"You're so funny Stefan. You should open a comedy school." Elena replied sarcastically.
"I'll just save my good jokes for you." Stefan grinned and Elena couldn't help but smile at him.
They decided to bring their food back to the cabin since Elena was tired, Caroline almost screamed when Elena told them they were all having a sleepover.
"I'm so excited!" Caroline laughed. Elena didn't know why Caroline was so happy, they had done this before.
"Caroline, we're just gonna watch a movie and then go to sleep." Elena told her.
"Okay!" Caroline giggled. Something had definitely happened to make her this happy and Elena planned on finding out, but she could find out tomorrow. Stefan chose a horror movie to watch, just so Elena could snuggle into his side. He loved being close with her in every way.
Elena tried fighting her sleep, wanting to be finish the movie, but Stefan turned it off and snuggled her closer to him considering Caroline had fallen asleep.
"Go to sleep baby, we have a busy day tomorrow." Stefan told her.
"I'm not going water skiing." Elena mumbled.
"We'll see about that." Stefan replied and before Elena had a chance to disagree, she was asleep.
A/N: They're so adorable! I need my own Stefan. I seriously think I've fallen in love with the version of the characters in this story, meaning this story is probably going to have tons of chapters!