He sat in his red Porsche and started driving into her direction. She called him yesterday, requesting to see him. She sounded stressed, and sad, and like something is on her mind, but she would not admit it. She said she simply wants to see him, to talk to him, that she misses him. But he could tell something is wrong, especially because next week is Christmas, and both of them are going home, so they would see each other then. He left everything behind. He had his finals, but he did not care about them, because her cracking voice would not leave his mind. He could not concentrate on doing anything else. So he drove for four hours, only to see her. He did not mind. The driving, the fact he was tired as hell or that he did not eat a nice, cooked meal in days, or the fact he has an exam in Chemistry in two days. He did not mind leaving everything behind because of her, because she was his number one priority. Everything else could wait, but she should not have to. He picked her up. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. He kissed her on the lips, and she gave him a nice hug. It was cold. It was rarely this cold in Mystic Falls. There was snow on her campus. She was wearing a long, red coat, white gloves, and white fluffy hat. Snowflakes were falling on her long, straight hair. She looked beautiful, and although he was freezing because he was under dressed, he could stand there for hours, watching her figure in the snow, even if the cost was pneumonia. They went to her favorite coffee shop. She seemed quiet, although her trembling lips were giving her away - she wanted to say something. She kept smiling awkwardly. Then she started to seem sad to him. He could see her heart breaking in her eyes, and there were tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Elena, is something wrong?" - he tried to reach for her hand, but she pulled it back.
Fear and sadness washed over his whole body.
"No, nothing is wrong" - she smiled lightly in order to cover her act, and her cheeks blushed. He hasn't seen her blush in ages.
"Well, something is clearly on your mind" - he said with a hallow voice. Part of him was afraid to find out what exactly is on her mind. But other part of him knew he has to know, that is why she asked him to come.
"There is something I have to tell you" - she said, looking down at the cup of coffee in front of her. Vanilla cappuccino. He could see traces of her strawberry lip gloss on the cup. He almost forgot the taste of it, and that made him sad.
He hated that sentence. We have to talk, there is something I have to tell you, and can I ask you something are literally three worst sentences in the existence.
"Okay" - he kept looking at her, although for some reason, she refused to look him in the eyes.
"I don't think this is going to work out" - she said, her hands squeezing around the cup.
He had put his hands on the table, but he did not say anything. He kept looking at her with a blank stare in his eyes. When she could not handle it anymore, she raised her head and looked him directly in the eyes. He looked confused.
"What you don't think is not going to work out?" - he asked calmly, although there was a loud voice in his head, screaming at him, telling him what is this all about. But he refused to listen to reason. He refused to believe in what his mind was telling him, and decided to listen to his heart.
"Us" - she said with a husky voice.
His body stiffened. He kept looking at her, waiting to see will her face expression change, but it didn't. She was calm, although he could see fear and sadness and heartbreak behind her eyes.
"You probably thought about it too" - she said with a lingering stare, only to break this ground shattering silence between them. He leaned into his chair, but his body still looked stiff. He crossed his arms on his chest.
"Elena, not being with you was never an option for me" - he said with a soothing voice, although she could see a lump in his throat, keeping the words from coming out of his mouth without trouble. She had a feeling every word he spoke was like a razor blade cutting his throat.
She steadied her look on his.
"But you're not with me" - she said.
"Is there someone else?" - he interrupted her in the middle of her sentence.
She swallowed hard. "Of course not" - she said a little offended. And she was, she could not believe he would even ask her that question. There has never been anyone else, not for her. And for him, there never will be anyone else.
"I love you. I love you so much it hurts me. Doesn't it hurt you? Don't you ever wake up and wish I was there next to you? Or do you ever want to kiss me, or hug me, but you're not able to?" - she asked him with a teary voice. She had a feeling something is strangling her.
"Every single day" - he said truthfully. He understood her, he knew how she feels. Because he felt the same. Sometimes he would wake up and want to reach for her, but then he remembered she's not there. He would remember she's miles away, and it would hurt him, both physically and emotionally.
"Then you know how is it. How your heart sinks. And how moody you are for the whole day. Feeling like something is missing, day after day. I used to have you every day, and now I need you every day. You're mine, but you're not with me. It hurts me, having you, but not being able to.. have you. I feel like I'm stuck somewhere, and I can't breath. I want to scream, but there's no sound coming out. I have a feeling like someone has turned the lights off, and I'm scared. And I'm tired. I'm tired of feeling like this, Stefan" - tears started rolling down her cheeks while she kept squeezing a half empty cup in her hands. He wanted to clear her face of tears, to tell her it's okay, that he understands her, but he could not move. He had a feeling someone is ripping her away from him. Worse, she was doing it by herself.
"Elena, are you breaking up with me?" - he asked. She looked at him and could see tears in the corners of his eyes. He was shaking. She was shaking too, even though it was extremely warm in the little coffee shop they were in.
"Yes" - she said silently, so silently she was not even sure did he hear her or not. But he did. A tear that fell down his cheek confirmed it.
He cleared the tear from his face and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. He took out his wallet and put ten bucks on the table. Then he stood up and put his jacket on. And he did all of that without looking at her. Then he turned around and started walking towards the door.
"Stefan" - she yelled after him, but he acted like he did not hear her. And before she knew it, he was out of the door.
That year, Stefan Salvatore did not go home to celebrate Christmas. Or the next year. Or the year after that. Or the year after that.
xxxx
"Elena?" - she heard a well know voice calling her name.
"Uhm?" - she turned around with her mouth full of cookies. Elena always had a well developed sweet tooth.
Caroline cocked her eyebrow at the sight in front of her. "God, you're eating like a pregnant lady" - she made a comment which made Elena chuckle. She had to stop herself so the remaining cookies do not fall out of her mouth. But Caroline's face adapted a serious face expression. "You're not pregnant, are you?" - she asked silently so no one else hears them.
Elena almost chocked on the cookies in her mouth, but she managed to swallow them before the disaster happened. "God no!" - she said. She wanted kids, one day. But not now. She was being extra careful.
"Good" - Caroline exhaled - "because the dresses are not made to fit a pregnant woman" - she seemed to be genuinely relieved by the fact Elena is not pregnant. Elena chuckled again before reaching for another cookie. "What I wanted to ask.. are you nervous about seeing Stefan again?" - she asked through a whisper.
The next day, Caroline has summoned them all at her and Nik's place. Everyone were there. Caroline and Nik, obviously, Rebekah, Elena herself, who brought Tyler with her, and then there were Damon and Katherine with their four year old son Logan. Damon and Katherine have made it, who would have thought? It would be sad if they hadn't, was what Elena thought, after everything they have put Stefan through, even though he forgave both of them long time ago.
After Stefan stood up to their father about studying medicine, Damon did the same. He told him he doesn't want to work for him his whole life, that he wants to succeed by himself, so with Katherine's full support, he started his own business. The truth was Giuseppe Salvatore was damn proud of his boys, but he was too proud of a man himself to show it. But after both of them left him, he decided to step on his pride and offer his son his help, whatever he needs. Luckily, Damon was not as stubborn as his father was, so he accepted it. When Damon's business took off, he started working closely with his father's company, bringing them together, so one day when Giuseppe is gone, someone with full right will be able to take care of his inheritance. So instead of working for his father, Damon started working shoulder to shoulder with him. And Katherine never left his side. She loved him. Elena judged her for so long that she failed to realize Damon was exactly what she needed. Someone who did not care about what she was, but who she was. And she found that person in Damon. In her second year of college, she stayed pregnant with Logan, but with the little help of her mother in law around the baby, Katherine managed to finish college with the rest of them. Elena could have never imagined Katherine as a mother, but motherhood looked well on her, and it did wonders to her, as well to her personality. Somehow, she seemed warmer. Even as a child, she had a cold face expression, but whenever she looked at her son, she looked like the happiest person in the world. And you could see Logan was mama's boy by miles away. Bonnie could not be here so quickly, she was in Los Angeles, working. Bonnie went to the community college, and she started working on the college papers there. There she found her love for reporting, and as soon as she was done with college, she moved to Los Angeles, the city of dreams. And there she found her dream. Dream that took some time and a lot of hard work, but her dream nevertheless. Caroline was not mad at Bonnie for not being here, because she was glad for her, as well as Elena was.
"No" - Elena said calmly while chewing on a cookie.
Caroline was surprised by her cool attitude. "Really?" - she asked, doubting her.
Elena sighed, but before she was about to answer, there was a knock on the door.
"That must be Stefan" - Nik said as he hurried towards the front door. Few seconds later Elena recognized Stefan's voice. Nik walked into the living room, followed by Stefan and some woman under his arm.
She started hating her the moment she saw her. She could smell her perfume from the other side of the room. She was wearing a purple, designer dress that barely reached her knees. Elena was not very good with designer brands, but you could practically smell the quality of the dress. She had long legs, and the beige heels she was wearing only made them look longer. Stefan always had a thing for long legs. He used to squeeze her thighs and kiss them before he.. yeah, Elena had to cross her legs. The woman was beautiful. She barely had any make up, but she looked like a model. She had a sunshine blonde hair and big, green eyes, ones that fitted Stefan's very well. Her skin was milky white.
Wait, Elena thought. She did not only look like a model, she was a model. She could recognize her from that add for underwear she had seen in Vogue. She remembered because she wished to have the same flat stomach. Now she hated her even more.
Was she jealous? Of course she was not jealous. She had Tyler, why would she be jealous of some woman Stefan was with? She was glad Stefan has someone in his life, that will make things between them less awkward.
When he stepped into the room, his look fell instantly on Elena. Damn, she was more gorgeous than he remembered her to be. And here he hoped she looks ugly. That backfired on him.
Her hair was a little shorter, but still about the same length it was before. Her big chestnut eyes were locked on his date. Was she jealous? Stop being childish Stefan, he thought to himself. The corners of his lips curved into a barely visible smile after he saw her little perky nose, and her red lips. He wondered does she still wear her strawberry lip gloss. Are those.. are those Oreos in her mouth?
He almost creamed his pants.
"Uncle Stefan!" - he could hear a tiny, childish voice coming closer to him. It made him turn his look from Elena to the little boy that was running into his direction.
"Hey Superman?" - he said as he bent down to pick the boy in his arms.
"I'm not Superman" - he crossed his arms on his chest and pouted. Stefan glanced at Katherine who was giggling silently. No? Guess he's not into his Superman phase anymore. That was so last week, apparently.
"Spiderman?" - Stefan asked the pouting boy in his arms. Logan shook his head. "Help me out a little?" - he asked his nephew.
"May the force be with you" - Logan said with a deep, husky voice.
Stefan cocked his eyebrow at him. "Yoda?"
Logan nodded in satisfaction.
"He discovered my Star Wars collection" - Stefan heard Damon's voice. He turned his head around and saw his brother standing next to him. "Welcome home, little brother. Aren't you going to introduce us to your date?" - Damon smirked at him.
Stefan glanced at the woman who was awkwardly standing next to him. He almost forgot she's there.
"Sure" - he said while putting Logan down on the floor - "Guys, this is H - " - he stopped. Damn, he forgot her name again.
Damon coughed while walking in Katherine's direction, followed by his son. Rebekah chuckled a little.
"Hilary" - the woman said with a smile on her face.
He will have to write her name somewhere.
He looked at Nik who held his hand over his face, but he could see a smile behind his fingers.
"Right, Hilary" - he smiled. His look fell on Elena who was now looking at him in surprise.
Him and Hilary kept standing in front of them, and the silence in the room became awkward, and unbearable.
"For fuck's sake" - Rebekah finally said, rolling your eyes - "Stef, you remember Elena?"
Stefan looked at Rebekah who had an annoyed face expression. Stefan smirked. "Of course I do" - he looked at Elena who was looking at the floor - "But I do not know does she remember me, since the last thing she had seen was my back" - he walked past her and sat on the sofa next to Caroline.
Rebekah sighed loudly.
"Stefan" - Nik said with a warning tone of voice, which Stefan completely ignored.
"Then again, she always loved my back, especially when we - "
"Stefan!" - this time Elena yelled his name, but not in warning, in surprise. She could not believe the words coming out of his mouth. What the hell happened to him?
"And she speaks" - Stefan raised his eyebrow at her and smirked.
But before she was able to reply he shifted his look at Caroline who was sitting next to him, biting her lip.
"Now, my favorite bride to be" - he had put his hand on Caroline's knee and smiled at her. That smile, caring and adorable, was the only thing of Stefan Elena once knew, left on him - "tell me, why are all of us here?"
Caroline clapped with the palms of her hands and jumped on her feet, happy someone is finally interested in why she asked them all to meet here.
"The reason why I asked all of you to meet here, the reason why I asked you to come back to Mystic Falls two weeks before the wedding is because we're going to have one last party before some of us are legally bound" - she said happily.
"What are you talking about?" - Elena asked confused.
"My mother has a house on the lake, few miles outside of the city" - Nik tried to explain.
"And we're going to spend a week there" - Caroline continued, still enthusiastic.
"But that's not in the protocol" - Elena cocked her eyebrow at her.
"Screw the protocol" - Caroline winked.
xxxx
A/N: No, Tyler is not Bonnie's brother.
I do not know exactly how many more chapters this story will have. Sometimes I plan to write something, but somewhere along the way I think of something else so I put it in the middle. Not more than 10 chapters for sure, though.
I'm glad you did not expect this twist, 6 years in the future fast forwards, because I know how some stories know to be predictable, so I'm glad I'm still surprising you with these events. I wrote a flashback to what exactly happened between Stefan and Elena to give you a better insight in why Elena exactly broke up with him. I know most of you are completely on Stefan's side, but I would also like you to understand Elena. In the end of the day, they were only 19 years old.
I decided to keep the rest of this fan fiction more laid back, thought it would be more fun that way. Of course, there will be good, old, sweet fluff, but since they're little older, let them be little bolder. There's also a change in Stefan's character.. he has to cope with his problems somehow, plus it will be fun to see how she reacts to the change she sees in him, and will she feel any guilt?
Stefan, Elena, in the same house for a week, hmm.
I'm also very thankful for your reviews and I hope you like the second part of this story too.