Elena had gotten herself up out of bed around 1:30 in the afternoon. She stood rigidly in the blasting shower for about a half hour.
Then it took an hour and a half to get her hair finished. She walked around in her robe. Her mind was still thinking about the various dreams she had last night throughout her restless sleep.
She was pretty sure about her decision now. She knew it would be the best for her, and she wouldn't regret it…..Hopefully.
"Hey there," Jenna said, knocking slightly before she spoke. Elena's eyes left the scrawl across her diary's page and looked at her aunt. She closed her journal and smiled shortly. "Hi," Elena said. Jenna came to sit across from Elena on the bed.
"I noticed lately it seems you've been acting weird. Are you ok?" she asked worriedly. Elena huffed and nodded. "Yeah. I'm just going through a lot of stuff. But I'm dealing with it. I'm fine," she assured her aunt. "Good. I just don't want you to have a mental breakdown if you don't deal with well. You know," she shrugged.
Elena nodded in understanding. "So you're going to the masquerade tonight?" Jenna asked, noticing the mask sitting on her dresser. Elena whipped around and stared at the mask. That wasn't there before she went in the shower…..
She quickly composed herself, remembering Jenna was still there. "Yeah, I guess so," Elena shrugged with a lazy smile. "Well hope you and Stefan have fun," Jenna immediately assumed it would be Stefan that she was going with.
Her smile faded and her head instinctively bowed. "Um. I'm not going with Stefan," Elena deadpanned. "Aww honey. Are you and him fighting?" she asked. "We're going through some hardships. So we're on a break, I guess. So um, a friend and I are going to go together," Elena finished awkwardly.
She really didn't know where to classify Katherine, so she stuck with friend…..after tonight, she wouldn't know what Katherine would be to her. That caused her inner turmoil to deepen a tenfold from the paranoia and worry of tonight.
"Well have fun. I'll leave you to get ready. The party starts at 5 I think," Elena nodded, and watched as Jenna left the room, closing the door behind her.
Elena immediately shot up and went to inspect the mask. She looked and saw the delicate design of it. All shiny and perfect. She looked around her dresser and saw a piece of paper was there.
She opened it and saw what it said.
Elena,
I hope to see you in this mask tonight along with your dress. You'll outshine all of the others. I know that's for sure no matter what. See you at the masquerade
~Katherine
Her eyes widened in surprise. Katherine had gone to all the trouble to get her a matching mask to go with her dress. That was probably the most sweetest thing someone had done for her.
She unconsciously smiled softly. She definitely knew she wouldn't regret her decision now.
She finished her journal entry and knew it was about time to start putting everything together.
Her hair was nice and the way she wanted it. Her make-up was fine. Now the dress was the last part…..
She took the dress out of the bag she had kept it protected in for the few days she had it.
She slipped it on with ease, but the hard part was the buttons in the back of the bodice. She saw Jeremy was looking in from the bathroom.
"Help me out please," she whined. He seemed a bit uncomfortable, but came up behind her.
His clumsy fingers fumbled with the buttons and eventually got them all up, keeping the dress together. "Thank you," she breathed out.
There was a tight restriction of the corset. But she didn't mind….surprisingly.
"You look great 'Lena. Hope you enjoy the party," he smiled innocently. "Aren't you going?" she asked, arching a brow. "Yeah, wanna ride together?" he asked. "Sounds easier," she nodded.
"I'm going to go get ready," he took off and left her alone in her room. She stood in front of her mirror and put the mask on. She stared at her reflection and realized it was all perfect.
Jeremy and her left off to the masquerade. They got there quicker than they thought.
As they went their separate ways through the party, Elena felt her eyes roaming around the room for a familiar face that she was searching for. There was a dainty tap on her bare shoulder and she turned to see a pair of mirroring dark eyes staring Elena right down to her soul. Causing her to shiver, with goosebumps erupting on the surface of her skin.
She smiled unconsciously. "Katherine," she greeted breathily.
Katherine grinned back. "You look simply ravishing my dear," she breathed out seductively in her ear.
Elena felt her mouth go dry and she gulp for breath. "Th-Thank you," she stuttered in reply. "You don't look so bad yourself," Elena's eyes unconsciously traveled down the length of Katherine's lean body…so similar to hers.
Elena blinked vigorously and snapped herself out of her temporary daydream. "Would you like to dance?" she asked playfully. Elena nodded, and grasped Katherine's hand in hers.
Katherine lead them outside to where the dancing was taking place. They found their own private spot and started swaying together to the almost inaudible beat of the music. "So I see you're wearing the mask I got for you," Katherine said lamely, trying to say something to break the silence.
Elena unconsciously scoffed and nodded, traces of a grin across her face. "Of course, I had nothing better to pull the whole outfit off," she replied simply.
"It looks amazing on you. Just like I assumed it would," Katherine said proudly. "Thank you, it was very sweet of you," Elena said modestly. "No problem," she gently twirled Elena around.
"So…." Katherine started. "I made my decision," Elena deadpanned, answering the unsaid question. "When will it be revealed?" Katherine asked nervously.
"I to find Damon and Stefan and then I'll tell the three of you," Elena answered calmly. Katherine knew very well where the brothers were. They were keeping a close eye on her and Elena ever since they started to dance with eachother.
"Well I'm anxious to know Elena. So let's go find them together," Katherine said brightly, stopping in the middle of the dance. Causing Elena to stare at her confused.
Katherine just smirked and led Elena in the direction of the brothers. Which was close by. They stopped in front of the brothers and they looked in between the two stupidly.
"Elena," Stefan pointed to her knowingly, easily recognizing the pitter patter of her heartbeat. "And Katherine," Damon finished, pointing to Katherine, seeming not amused at all.
"Correct," Katherine smirked.
"We need to all talk somewhere in private," Elena said. "Ok," they nodded simply. They all eventually found a room to use for the conversation.
Elena paced back and forth, nails digging roughly into her palm. It was too close to drawing blood. Katherine's hand wrapped delicately around Elena's wrist. She pried her nails away from the palm. "You're hurting yourself," Katherine said chastising her. Elena shrugged. "Sorry."
Katherine just grinned and backed away giving Elena her personal space. The three vampires stood in front of Elena. Waiting impatiently. "Well?" Damon quipped irritably.
She whipped her head up and gave him an intense look, silently telling him to shut up.
He took the warning and shut up, just standing there next to his brother. "I thought about it a lot. And I made my decision. It wasn't easy, my brain was ready to explode with how much I was thinking about it. Then I realized my decision was already made before all of this. Because throughout all of my different thoughts, I couldn't stop thinking about one of you. So I knew then I had to choose that person." Elena finished off her rant and stared at them, her mask now removed the reveal her full, heart shaped face.
"I choose… Katherine. She makes me happy, and I've seen the worst and best of her. We know eachother and bonded so much in the last week or so. She's helped me through everything and we have a connection. I can't deny it-" she trailed off modestly, bowing her head.
Damon and Stefan were staring at her incredulous. Katherine had a surprised, yet victorious gleam in her eye. She didn't know what to really do, so she just stood in her spot.
"It's off Damon," Stefan deadpanned to his brother. His brother glared. "Why? That's all more of a reason to kill her," he spat, clearly angry.
Damon had expected Elena to choose his brother over him. But he never expected her to choose Katherine! The woman he was in love with now, is in love with the woman he loved back in 1864.
A definite downgrade for his ego.
"Goodbye to both of you," she whispered, quickly turning to run out of the room. "Told you," Katherine stated smirking widely. She walked out of the room, following hot on Elena's heels before the brothers could reply to Katherine's statement.
Katherine found Elena hiding herself in a lone corridor. She had her forehead leant against the wall, her eyes closed in agony from the looks of it.
Katherine's lips caressed the nape of her neck. Elena shivered in recognition. "Katherine," she whispered, turning to face her. She fell into Katherine's arms. Katherine hugged her tightly.
"They hate me," Elena sobbed. Katherine sighed and quickly pulled Elena away to make her look her in the eye. "Elena stop. One you're going to fuck up you're make-up and I can tell you worked really hard on it. And if they don't like your choice so what, would you rather suffer and not be happy?" she asked rhetorically.
"Come on. Let's enjoy tonight: Just tonight?" she asked, grinning convincingly to her doppelganger. Elena stared at Katherine with jeweled dark eyes. Thank god her make-up was still intact or she would really look like the true hot mess she was on the inside.
"We don't have to stay here? We could go somewhere else," Katherine offered. Elena nodded meekly and they walked out together, masks on and all.
As they drove off, Elena felt she was finally happy. Once it all sunk in…..her and Katherine were together now. Katherine was just right for her.
She knew she wouldn't regret this.
Her hand slipped around Katherine's and gave it an affectionate squeeze. Katherine peeked over to Elena from the corner of her eye, the mask now off and her face shining freely.
"At last. I have my girl," Katherine bought their entwined hands up to her lips and kissed Elena's knuckles. Elena couldn't help but grin stupidly.
She was in love.
Could you really blame her?
Song: You and me by Lifehouse