Sunday 28th November - MMF
Hairspray, perfume and powder infused the busy air of the girls' changing room, along with laughter, excitement and nerves, as the Miss Mystic contestants made their finishing touches. The room buzzed with their rising chatter, and Elena couldn't help but smile as she helped a girl with her hair, remembering how her mother would be here every year to do the same. There was always something magic in the air at town and high school events, that got dimmed after her sophomore year but was slowly reluminating. Still, she was glad to just be a helping hand this year and not a contestant.
"Perfect." Elena smiled as she tucked back the last curl of the girl's hair, who beamed up at her in excitement. Her own hair was styled in a braid, and she'd settled for a black lace dress that sat pretty against her tanned skin.
"Good luck." Elena said, setting down the curler and moving away. Her well wishes were in vain because the crown already had Rebekah's name on it but of course these girls didn't know that.
Rebekah sat on the other side of the room, getting herself ready. She wore a sleek blue dress that made her hair look like gold and her eyes stun like diamonds. She was applying a light shadow to her eyes, and she looked stunning as usual. She'd smiled at Elena when she'd walked in, and looking at her, Elena had lost it in her to even resent her, she was tired. Rebekah looked just like the other girls, sparkling with that same magic.
Elena made her way through the room when she bumped into a familiar body. Her boyfriend smiled down at her warmly. Stefan had on a tux and his hair was gelled meticulously, and he didn't look miserable. He looked happy to be there actually, to Elena's content. She was glad, although the guilty shadows of what had happened in the next room yesterday, or almost happened, still scaled her skin, as she looked at him.
Stefan's eyes smoothed around her appreciatively, and he reached out to take her hand. "You look beautiful," he said.
Elena thinned her lips into a small smile, a shaky sigh coming out of them on its own. "Thanks." she replied lightly.
Stefan then caught Caroline's unapproving stare, she'd been clear about no boys in the changing room, and hurriedly turned back to Elena. His words were pointed and heavy, "I'll see you on the dance floor Elena. I owe you a dance." His eyes twinkled and he meant it ardently, last year he wasn't somewhere good and today was their chance, they would get it perfect.
She only nodded and with a last squeeze of her fingers, he slipped out the door. Elena released a breath and went over into the heart of the room. The girls were just done and there seemed nothing left to do.
Just then the door opened again, and Elena's breath stopped. He entered the room, a small smirk marking his lips as he played with something small in his hand. Damon was dressed up in a tux too, with a pale blue tie that matched Rebekah's dress. The colour lifted his eyes right off his face and his skin looked cool as ice.
Damon's eyes flickered across the room until they landed on her, drawn like a magnet as usual. His chest tightened at the sight of her, eyes trailing up her slender bronzed legs, along the black lace that hugged her hips, to the bare flesh of her neck. Her face was done simply, just a soft flush to her cheeks and sheen to her lips. All the girls in that room in their gowns and adornments, they could have wings on their backs, and none could be as beautiful as her. She was an angel, and he'd never seen anything more beautiful.
His eyes were glass and reflected all his thoughts, and Elena felt the hold of his stare. She squirmed, a deep pressure building in her belly and heat flushing across her skin. Her heart began to race as her body perked to his gaze, an excitement she couldn't withhold, one aroused only by him. He licked his lips and straightened slightly, and Elena felt something distinctive in the way he'd just looked at her. She cared if he thought she was beautiful.
"Wow great job, Director Forbes. You've outdone yourself." Damon remarked to Caroline.
"Get out." His favourite frenemy snapped in return.
"I'm here to see my partner." he said.
"No, you can't be in the room with my girls."
He looked around the room with a hum, then back to her and said calmly, "Leave then."
Caroline's eyes all but twitched, anger bubbling hotly inside her, but she was ultimately defeated. She wasn't going to cause a scene with Damon, and though she didn't fear him like before, she still didn't plan on pissing him off. He got that glint in his eye when he wanted something. She sighed irritably and called out, "Girls!"
There was a shuffle as the girls followed Caroline out the room with Elena last in tow, peering back at Damon's back as she slowly walked. The door was left open a crack behind them and Elena couldn't stop herself from lingering at her step whilst everyone else walked on. She was quiet as she peeked inside at Damon and Rebekah. They stood in the centre of the room and through the gap she had a clear view of Rebekah's face as she stood before him.
"I told you we were going to do the whole thing. So, one…" his voice trailed out to Elena's heeding ears.
He proudly brandished the item in his hand, revealing a small corsage with light white petals, pretty and fair.
"Corsage boom." he grinned.
Rebekah's lips twitched slightly in amusement as she stared down at the bouquet in his hand. She cleared her throat. "Corsages are for prom, not pageants, genius."
"Oh." His hands fell to his side and Elena could picture his face falling too. "Chick flicks ought to be more specific about these things."
Rebekah rolled her eyes but her arm came up and she held out her wrist all the same. The tenderness in her eyes revealed her true endearment as she stared at him expectantly and he quickly tied it to her wrist with a small grin. It was an obnoxious accessory, it looked silly and out-of-place, and disrupted the elegance of her look, but her smile was magnificent; like she really loved it.
"Two," he leaned down and kissed her hand and drawled theatrically. "You look beautiful."
"Tha-ank you." She tilted her head with a smile.
"And three." Damon held out his elbow to which Rebekah slipped her hand around and turned to lead her out the room.
Elena's eye softened as she watched them, something warm spilling all over her chest and out. It was something familiar she'd fought against many times but always won its way in her heart and this time wasn't different, in fact her emotional restraints were worn and lousy now because it swept over her like waves. Damon had a way with these gestures for his loved ones, he loved just upwards and outwards and endless, his actions so wrapped in it and his love made Elena love him; It was those moments, when she loved him most. That was his goodness, Elena had seen it immediately, and in that regard, he was the best person she knew. She retreated from the door before they came out and would see her and slowly made her way outside to the stage where the ceremony was due to start.
Elena was empty as she stood there, her movements light like a ghost and her eyes faraway. She watched as Caroline called out the names of the contestants and they made their way down the steps to their escorts. Then, the first notes of the ballroom song hummed around the garden and it was time to dance. Stefan stood off to the side, his uncertain eyes on Elena, his body twitching as he watched her. She was supposed to dance with him but she made no motion towards the dance floor or even look in his direction. His fingers tapped against his palm and he didn't know how to go and remind her. She didn't want to dance.
With him.
Her eyes were on someone else. A dark-haired, blue-eyed, intoxicating someone else, who haunted her through her days and dreams. He stood on the dance floor in position across from his partner, but his eyes fell right through her, onto the one woman amongst the crowd his heart beat for. The dreamy piano, that belonged to them, drew them to each other. The memories were overwhelming and engulfed them both, sweeping them away to a faraway place of only them. Stefan disappeared, Rebekah disappeared, the crowds melting away and leaving them in their intimate affair like the first time. Nobody could see them and they could see nobody.
He bowed, he lifted his palm, he drew back, all the time their locked gaze didn't falter. It was his hand on her hip, her arm wrapped around his shoulder, her warmth surrounded him as they danced together, metres apart. Their bodies didn't dance together, but their eyes did, their minds did, their hearts beating the same song, in time together as always. They drifted with the music, into each other and out again. And in that moment again, he was human and she was his.
He moved smoothly and Elena felt herself sway, her skin tingled where his touch had been, flaring with goosebumps and she released a trembling breath as she recalled. She'd stared into those glorious eyes and fallen right into them like the ocean, and she'd been falling, falling, ever since. The man who had stared back, was shattering. He was vibrant, and brave, and loyal, and loving, and honest, and passionate, and terrifying. That same man stared at her now, and she was still terrified, at what ignited in herself for him. It burned strong and it was bigger than her. She couldn't contain it, let alone snuff it out. It's fumes were making her hazy, and all she could see was flashes of him.
Damon's throat burned as the memories seized him. He glided to the music but it was those memories that pulled him. He couldn't think straight, all his senses were consumed with her. How easily they'd moved together, like it was supposed to be the two of them all along. That dance had changed his life: he'd fallen in love. His bleak greyscale life had come into colour, starting with indigo.
Now, his heart was heavy in his chest, loaded with more than it was built to bear, just the weight of it crushing his ribs. It was too hard. He sucked in a breath and willed silently for it to be over.
She trembled, the rising heat of her skin making her eyes sting. The tightening of her bones was excruciating now, and the knots all inside her twisted tight and tight. And then finally... she let go.
Months and months of fighting, and she let it all rush in and wash over her: Him, it was him, he was everything. He was what she'd been missing, what her heart had grappled with in a fight to bare, to scream from the rooftops. Her nerves were alive and crackled with emotion. She was alive, it's all she'd ever wanted to feel.
Overwhelmed and finally surrendered, she tore her eyes away and ran. Her small figure disappeared from the crowded courtyard into the house.
Stefan watched her go. He'd been watching her the whole time; watching her watching him. It wasn't the first time, not that she knew this, but it stung the same. He felt dizzy and lost, and his feet started veering their own way to the house, he could barely see in front of him. His body seared with pain as he found himself inside the mansion and he sank down into the bottom stair and pulled his face into his hands. He stayed like that, in the darkness of his hands blocking the light, where nothing outside could get him, for who knows how long, but his fingers were powerless in blocking the thoughts on the inside pervading. His mouth tasted bitter and he felt tiny, all the worst of the past few weeks looming over him now and he was defeated. Nothing could heal this, not time, not more chances, Hell not even magic. Nothing.
His vampire senses picked up another presence in the room, a familiar one, but he didn't even look up to greet Caroline. She stared at the youngest Salvatore for a long time, her mouth in a strained frown, and for once she didn't know what to say. Only the loud grandfather clock ticking in the ballroom made its way through their silence until finally, Stefan's head lifted slowly from his hands and he turned in anguish to Care.
"She loves Damon, doesn't she?" he whispered painfully.
Caroline's heart ached as she stared at her friend, the sorrow and defeat pulsing in his eyes, and he was pummelled. Her own frown quivered with her sympathy, she wanted desperately to reassure him, but she couldn't give the answer he begged to hear and they both knew it.
Instead her head fell sadly and that was all Stefan needed to see. He pressed his lips together and nodded, his shoulders dropping with his gaze. Care walked over and sat beside him on the step, and reached over to gently squeeze his knee. She hoped he could see in her face how sorry she was, how much she resented the situation just as he did, and that she was there for him always.
The grandfather clock ticked some more in the long moments that passed, until Stefan's fingers came on top of hers and squeezed back.
Stefan was still in the same seat when Elena emerged some time later, leaning against the wall now and looking up at the ceiling. Caroline was gone now, beckoned by her hosting duties, leaving Stefan alone again. Elena looked as tired as he did, though calmer now, she wasn't yet soothed from her earlier outburst. She stepped over slowly and dropped timidly into the step beside him.
"Elena," Stefan was the first to speak and his voice was strangled. He took in a deep breath to compose himself and continued evenly, "We're back to where we were weeks ago."
She was silent, trembling. Guit scratched at her and she didn't want to look at him.
"And I asked you. I asked you to look me in the eye and say it." He paused.
"Say it Elena." he demanded, his voice was suddenly much harsher.
The truth hung there between them and there was nowhere to hide. Not anymore.
Elena burst into tears, "I'm sorry Stefan. I wanted this. I wanted you, I did."
He brown heavied from the pain into a frown as she spoke through her sobs. And it was done. There was no going back for either of them.
He believed her, he believed that she didn't want to hurt him, that she had no intention of falling for his brother, but it didn't make him feel the slightest better. His eyes burned with his own hot, wretched, spiteful tears and he could only shake his head in defeat.
"Just... do what you need to do Elena, okay? You have my blessing." he rasped. And with a rough swallow, he got up and walked away.
A/N: I find it very funny Elena doesnt give a shite when Stefan compliments but gets all flustered and pleased when Damon sees her. Damon wants to give his loved ones the things they want hence trying to give Rebekah her perfect MMF experience. There's a theme of defeat in this chapter, Elena defeated by her feelings, Damon by his, and Stefan by the fact. Defeat is the climax of mutual pining so here it is. The only thing left is for Elena to tell him now, hopefully it goes smoothly ;)
"And in that moment again, he was human and she was his." → When they're dancing their truths come out!
"His bleak greyscale life had come into colour, starting with indigo." → The colour of her dress! Best line I've EVER written.
