Author's Note:
Same TW's from the last chapter apply to this one: mentions of self harm, suicidal behaviors and abuse. Elowen tells Stefan her version of past events. Also, Stefan says some cheesy shit during this scene, but I figured it was in character for him so I left it in lmao. There's also talks about teen pregnancy. Idk if that counts as a trigger, but I know some people are uncomfortable with it, so I thought it was worth mentioning.
There's a part where Elowen recites a spell in Spanish, but since I'm not fluent (no one in my family taught me or my cousins,) I had to use a translator. If it's wrong, I'm sorry. Also idk anything about Puerto Rican dishes since I'm Mexican, but it's relevant to this chapter so I really hope I described the dish right. Uhhh I think that's it folks. Enjoy!
Sunlight poured into the window early that morning, shining onto Jenna's face. She started to stir around for a moment before she awoke. She grunted, her eyes still closed as she attempted to lull herself back to sleep. Carelessly, she threw an arm over her eyes to block the sun out. A dull pain shot through her neck at the sudden movement and Jenna grimaced in discomfort. However, before she could investigate it, she became vaguely aware of her phone buzzing somewhere on the floor. Sighing, she reached down with her other hand and blindly felt around the ground for a moment, found her phone, and was in the middle of moving her arm away to check who was calling when it finally clicked that she wasn't home in her bed.
She shot up abruptly, wincing as more pain ran down the side of her neck, and suddenly she became very hyper aware of Damon sleeping soundly on the couch across from her. With a shaky hand, Jenna touched the left side of her neck as memories of last night came flooding back to her head. Her anxiety spiked when she withdrew her hand and found it covered in blood. Her blood. Looking down at the couch she was sitting on, she found the pillow and cushion to also be drenched in blood.
Swallowing thickly, Jenna tried to take a few uneven deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down, watching as Damon slept. Then, she went over her options. She could run, but that would probably wake him up and considering he wasn't human, it was likely he'd catch her. She could call for help, but what could the cops do? He was some kind of animal and he could kill them in an instant. But she could call Elena, drop hints that she was in trouble and maybe she could find some kind of help. Yeah, that might work.
Jenna quickly unlocked her phone and dialed Elena's number. She glanced back up to make sure Damon was still asleep, but she felt her blood run cold as she realized he was gone. Her eyes darted around, trying to find him when a voice spoke up from behind her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Jenna's heartbeat increased and her breath picked up as Damon reached over and plucked the phone from her hand. He ended the call with a press of a button. "Good girl," he mock praised, slipping the phone into his back pocket.
"What do you want?" Jenna bit out, watching as Damon circled around the couch to stand in front of her. Instead, he cocked an eyebrow, his eyes amused.
"How come you didn't try to run? Or at least attack me?"
"I'm not stupid, Damon. Running or attacking always gets the girl in deep shit in movies."
Damon contemplated this for a moment before shrugging. "Guess you're right." He walked over and started pouring himself a drink. "So, what's your tactic, then?"
"What?"
"Y'know, to escape," Damon told her in a 'duh' tone, raising the glass to his lips to take a sip. Jenna inched closer to the edge of the couch, her hands gripping the ends so hard her knuckles turned white. Maybe running was the smarter thing to do. Damon, sensing the change in her behavior, set down his drink and walked back over to her as if reading her mind. Jenna didn't dare look up into his eyes. "Running isn't smart. It'll just make me angry and you don't want to see me angry, trust me. If I get angry, it'll be your fault and then I'll have to hurt you. You don't want me to hurt you, right?" He spoke to her as if she was a little kid, squatting down so he could make her look at him. Jenna gulped, realizing that no matter what route she took, there was no escaping.
"Can't we talk through this like adults?" She weakly tried to ask anyway, tears beginning to fill her eyes as the fear overtook her. She was sure she was going to die here and all she could think about were the kids. Elena and Jeremy. God, who would take care of them when she died? They were barely coping with the death of her parents, but then adding hers to the pile? She felt sick to her stomach, like she was about the throw up.
Damon tsked, feigning sympathy as he shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not." He stared at her for a few more seconds before the veins popped out, his eyes darkening and the fangs extending from his lips. Jenna sobbed. Her entire body was frozen in terror as she watched the monster come out. He lunged forward and sunk his teeth into her flesh. Jenna released a bloodcurdling scream into the empty house.
Little did she know, the help that went by the name Zach Salvatore, laid unconscious on the floor upstairs. He'd been hit over the head by Damon the night before. It would be a while until he woke up, but by then he would be too late.
Elowen turned over to shut off the alarm blaring from her phone, her eyes opening into slits so she could see what she was doing. When she was finally able to hit 'dismiss' and her room went quiet, her mind went back to the events of last night. She smiled, thinking about her and Stefan's kiss on the rooftop and then their long talk about nothing in particular and various subjects all at once. She remembers snuggling up to him when the temperature started to drop, but after that…. She supposed she fell asleep. Realization hit her upon seeing she was in her bed. Stefan must've brought her in after she was out. Her heart warmed at the thought.
"Morning, sleepy head," a deep from said from behind her, causing Elowen to roll over in surprise. She came face to face with Stefan, who was laying on his side with his head resting in the palm of his hand. He had a lopsided grin on his face as he watched Elowen scoff in disbelief and hit him square in his chest. "Ow," he mumbled, pouting as he brought his other hand to rub the pain away. "What was that for?"
"Well for starters, you scared me!" She responded, beginning to sit up, Stefan following suit. "Second, I can't believe you stayed this time. Don't you have to get your school stuff and change?" Without missing a beat, Stefan reached under Elowen's bed and pulled out his backpack, tossing it on her bed. Elowen stared at the bag for a second before she looked up and found Stefan smiling cheekily back at her. "You planned on spending the night," she stated, rolling her eyes. "Wow, am I really that predictable to you?"
"Pretty much."
Elowen picked up her pillow and threw it at Stefan as he laughed at her. "Whatever," she quipped back, getting up to pick out clothes for the day. "You better behave while I'm gone," she pointed at him, squinting her eyes as she left the room to go shower.
Once the door closed, Stefan stood up and unzipped his backpack, taking out the clothes he'd hastily stuffed in there the night before. Using his superhuman speed, he changed rather quickly and shoved his used clothes back into the bag. Only a few minutes had passed when Stefan heard the shower turn on and out of curiosity, he listened in on the rest of the house. Josiah's alarm was sounding off obnoxiously loud and continued for a few seconds before the young teen rolled over and snoozed it. Stefan heard no movement of him getting out of bed so he assumed he went back to sleep. Chuckling, he moved to Esmeralda's room. He could hear shuffling around, indicating she was out of bed and getting dressed.
Since her job allowed her to work from home, she could probably get away without showering for one extra day. Deciding to move on, Stefan wandered around Elowen's room, looking at the pictures around her room. There was one on her nightstand of her and Josiah when they were little, roughly 4 and 5, with Esmeralda and a man who he figured was her dad. They were standing in front of the big Sleeping Beauty castle at Disney World. Josiah was in Esmeralda's arms while Elowen was on her dad's shoulders and they were all smiling at the camera. They looked happy.
However, he couldn't help but notice that was the only picture featuring her father. When exactly did her parents split? Or did he pass away? Stefan snooped around a bit more, finding another picture that seemed to be from a few years ago. It was of Elowen and another boy (Tobias, maybe?). They were standing in front of a mirror as the boy held a phone in his hand, his arm around Elowen as she leaned her head against his. The boy was smiling, but Elowen wasn't. Her lips were slightly quirked up, as if she was trying to force herself to smile and she just couldn't do it. Her eyes seemed worn down and tired, though at first glance nobody would see anything wrong with the picture. Stefan picked up the frame, examining the photo for any other things that might've been out of place, but he couldn't find anything. He set it back down and came to the conclusion that she must've just been exhausted at the time, but something in her face still didn't sit right with him. He'd ask her about it later.
He heard the shower shut off so he walked away from the nightstand and plopped himself back onto the bed. A few minutes later, Elowen entered the room, fully clothed, of course. Stefan smiled at her tiny form, watching as she ran a hand through her shoulder length hair. She sighed and looked at Stefan through the mirror. "Curly or straight?"
"I don't know, the natural wavy thing is a cute look for you." Stefan smirked. Elowen turned around to playfully throw her brush at him. He caught it effortlessly, amusement filling his eyes as he stood to return the brush to her. "If you must have an answer, curly."
"Thank you." She took the brush from him and set it back on her dresser before moving to plug her curling iron in. Stefan, taking this as an opportunity, walked back over to the picture from earlier and picked it up.
"So, is this Tobias?"
Elowen was in the middle of plugging her blow dryer in when he asked, so she looked up and into the mirror to see what he was talking about. Seeing the picture in question, her face softened considerably, a fond smile on her lips. "Yeah, that's him. That's the first photo we ever took together as 'boyfriend and girlfriend.' I kinda miss him."
"You aren't in contact with him anymore?"
Elowen sadly shook her head. "No. He moved out of the area shortly after we broke up. We tried to stay in contact, but, y'know….. life got in the way and we slowly stopped talking. I hope he's doing okay, though," she explained. Stefan could tell there was something she was dancing around (it was pretty easy to tell, if he were being honest), but now wasn't the time to worry about it. They needed to get to school.
"I should get going before I get caught. I doubt your mom would think it's a coincidence if I showed up for breakfast two days in a row."
"Good point, see you at school!"
Stefan heard her turn the blow dryer on as he hopped out of the window. He couldn't help but smile as he thought about what her hair would look like curled. He'd have to wait until he saw her at school. For now, he needed to get something to eat.
"Hey, you haven't happened to have seen my aunt Jenna anywhere this morning, have you?"
Elowen turned around, stopping in the middle of the campus when she realized the voice was talking to her. Jeremy stood behind her, worry etched across his face as he looked at her hopefully.
"She never came home last night and she's not answering mine or Elena's calls. I'm starting to get really scared," he explained, his voice dropping down lowly at the last sentence so nobody would hear him. "It's not like her to not call."
Elowen gave him a look of sympathy, shaking her head. Jeremy's face immediately dropped. "I'm sorry, Jeremy. I haven't seen her. If I do, you'll be the first one I call. Promise."
"Okay…. Thanks, Elowen." Jeremy gave her a tight lipped smile, pat her on the shoulder, and walked off. The older girl sighed, watching as he left. She didn't have a good feeling about this. As she turned to start walking again, Bonnie bounded up to her and jumped on her back.
"Whoa!" Elowen yelped in surprise, falling forward and crashing to the ground. "Ow," she whined a moment later, lifting her head to look at Bonnie in the corner of her eye. "What the hell was that for? And get off of me!" Bonnie rolled over in response, laying beside her on the grass.
"Grams showed me her grimoire last night. Started talking about teaching me basic spells." She turned her head, watching as Elowen pushed herself onto her knees. She was dusting off the grass and dirt that got onto her clothes. "Although, she did seem a little upset that I listened to you and not her. She almost called your mom up last night to tell her to keep you out of "family matters," but I stopped her by saying that we are family. She then proceeded to grumble about the Bennett/Ramirez bond."
"And you had to knock me onto the ground just to tell me that because…?"
Bonnie made a wincing sound, giving her an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I'm in a good mood and I was really excited to tell you."
A hand shot down in front of Elowen, and she looked up to meet eyes with Stefan.
"Need a hand?"
She accepted his help gratefully, hopping up as Stefan pulled her to her feet. Once Elowen was standing, he turned to Bonnie and offered her a helping hand as well. Bonnie raised an eyebrow, but took his hand anyway. Once her hand met his, she felt a sudden jolt. A cold, uneasy shiver ran up her spine, the feeling of dread filling the pit of her stomach. Stefan noticed something was wrong when she went limp in his grip. He had to grab onto her with both hands to steady her. When she was on her feet, Stefan looked at her in concern.
"Are you okay?"
Instead of answering, Bonnie looked at him like he was some kind of monster, her eyes wide and filled with fear. "What happened to you?" She blurted, tearing her hand away from his as if he had burned her. She blinked, snapping out of it. "Sorry," she hastily apologized, taking a step back. "I have to go." She turned on her heel, quickly scampering off in the direction of the school.
"Bonnie-" Elowen reached out, attempting to stop her but she was too far away. She tsked, muttering, "Dang it!" under her breath.
"What was that all about?"
Elowen turned to Stefan, sighing loudly. "It's a witch thing. We can sense the unnatural magic of vampirism. Bonnie's never encountered it before, so of course she'd freak out and flee the scene," she explained, watching the younger witch's retreating form.
"Bonnie's a witch?" Stefan asked, his voice laced with surprise. Elowen nodded. "A Bennett witch, on top of that."
"Huh…." he mused, also watching Bonnie as she disappeared into the school doors.
"Is something wrong with Bonnie?" The two turned around to find Elena approaching them, stopping in front of them.
"Uhh, she doesn't like me very much," Stefan vaguely elaborated, which must've been enough because Elena just nodded.
"Oh. That's weird. You seem like a great guy, Stefan. I don't see why she wouldn't like you."
"I think she's just being protective," Elowen commented, shrugging. "You know how Bonnie is when it comes to friendship."
"Oh, do I," Elena chuckled, before her face got serious. "Listen, have you-"
"Jeremy already asked me this morning. No, I haven't seen your aunt Jenna. Sorry." Elowen cut her off, already having a feeling that she knew what the brunette was going to ask. Judging by Elena's crestfallen face, she must've been right.
"Oh… okay. Thanks anyway, I guess."
"What's going on with your aunt Jenna?" Stefan asked curiously, his eyes darting between the two girls.
"She's missing. She didn't come home last night and she isn't returning my calls. I'm worried," Elena told him, her doe eyes filled with anxiety. "I just hope she's okay."
Stefan glanced at Elowen, telling her he had the same thoughts as her. Damon. Before either of them could say anything, Elena changed the subject. "So, what are you going to do to get Bonnie to like you?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
Meanwhile, Matt and Tyler stood nearby. Matt was throwing a football around with another teammate. He kept stealing glances at the trio, watching Elena in particular.
"Chill out, man," Tyler tried to reassure his best friend. "The new kid is too busy trying to get into Elowen's pants to even focus on Elena."
"You're a dick." Matt rolled his eyes, continuing to throw the football around.
"While you just stand there looking like one of those little yard trolls," Tyler retorted.
"Gnomes," Matt corrected.
"I have an idea," Elena spoke out loud before either two could respond. "You're both free tonight, right?"
"Yeah."
"Yes."
"Perfect. Dinner. 8:00. Elowen, Bonnie, Stefan and me. You two will spend some quality time and she'll get to see what a great guy you are. Elowen and I will be a buffer in case there's tension. Mission accomplished."
"Y'know, when Elowen first moved here I attempted to ask her out," Tyler told Matt, the latter looked over at his friend in surprise.
"Elowen? She doesn't seem like your type."
Tyler scoffed, shaking his head. "I don't have a type."
"Yes you do. Hot, dumb and an easy lay. Which is why I was a bit offended when you started dating my sister. But Elowen? She's gorgeous, smart, has her priorities straight and way out of your league, man."
Tyler scowled in reply. "You wanna know what she said when I asked her out? 'I don't date Lockwoods.' She didn't even know who I was at the time!" He looked back at the girl in question, watching her look at Stefan with a smile on her face. Anger flared up in his chest, and in a split second impulsive decision, he jumped in front of Matt and stole the football.
"What are you doing?" Matt asked, his face wary as Tyler started to bring his hand back.
"Telling her she made the wrong choice by rejecting me."
Realization dawned on the blonde jock, his eyes widening as he immediately tried to steal the ball back, but Tyler backed up and away from his hands.
"Ty, don't! Ty, don't! Ty!" Matt yelled protests, falling on deaf ears as Tyler threw the football straight at Stefan. Due to his vampire abilities, Stefan had been listening to them this whole time. When the football was about to hit him, he turned and caught it with lightning speed. Elena laughed in disbelief. Tyler and Matt were taken off guard, mouths open in shock. The other people around them had even turned and watched in awe at Stefan's abrupt, but amazing catch. Stefan lifted the ball in Tyler's direction and nodded at him before bringing his hand back. He threw the football with so much strength that when Tyler caught it, he staggered back from the force of the throw. He still had a starstruck look on his face, looking towards Matt before the two left.
"Show off," Elowen mumbled under her breath. Stefan smiled smugly at her as if he proved a point. She scoffed, hitting his shoulder as her, Elena and him walked towards the school building.
"World war II ended in….. Anyone got anything? Miss Juan? 1945," Tanner lectured, although nobody was paying attention, as usual. Elena was jotting down something on a piece of paper. She folded it up and then quickly scribbled something on the front and passed it to the girl sitting in the seat behind her. The people in her row kept passing the note back until it got to Stefan. Elowen, who was in the seat next to him, curiously leaned over to read it.
FYI, our team sucks. They could use you.
She must've been referring to his throw earlier. Elena was looking back at Stefan, waiting for his answer. He looked up from the note and shook his head. Matt watched on as Elena pouted, her doe eyes growing in size as she tried to convince him to do whatever it was she wrote on the note. He remembered when she used to give him that look. However, Tyler's words rang through his head as Stefan showed the note to Elowen, his eyes asking for her opinion. She shrugged at him. Matt squinted in an attempt to read what it said on the piece of paper.
"Pearl Harbor." Tanner sought out his next answer, looking around the class for someone who wasn't paying attention. He caught Elena turned around in her seat, so he zeroed in on her. "Miss Gilbert?"
The girl in question whipped around in her seat, blinking. "Hmm?"
"Pearl Harbor?"
"Umm…."
"December 7th, 1941," Elowen answered for her, once again trying to get the heat off of Elena. If she heard him take another jab at her parents death, Elowen might do something she regretted.
"Thank you, Miss Gilbert," Tanner sarcastically remarked, sending the rest of the class into a fit of giggles. However, Elowen was used to this, being the class know-it-all, so she just sent him her biggest fake smile and said, "Anytime, Tanner."
His lips twitched a bit in irritation, but he continued his lesson nevertheless. "Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall."
"1989," Stefan answered this time. "I'm good with dates, sir."
Oh great, Tanner thought. Now I have to deal with two obnoxious smart asses in my class. "Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act." He decided that for once he was going to prove the student wrong, his pride getting in the way. He felt more irritation flow through him as Elowen snorted. Little did he know, she was laughing because he didn't realize he just started a losing battle with a 100 something year old vampire.
"1964."
"John F. Kennedy assassination."
"1963."
"Martin Luther King."
"'68."
"Lincoln."
"1865."
"Roe vs Wade."
"1973."
"Brown vs Board."
"1954."
"The Battle of Gettysburg."
"1863."
"Korean war."
"1950 to 1953."
"Ha!" Tanner yelled in triumph, thinking Stefan finally got an answer wrong. "It ended in '52."
"Actually," Elowen cut in, a feeling of satisfaction washing through her as Tanner's nose flared in fury. "It ended in '53, sir."
The victorious smile slid off of his face as she backed up Stefan's answer, a scowl replacing it. "Look it up, somebody. Quickly," he barked. Half of the class took out their phones, trying to take advantage of being able to use them in class. After a few seconds, a student sitting a few seats in front of Elowen provided the answer.
"It was 19… 53."
"How did you know all of that?" Elena asked in amazement after class was over.
"The same way I know everything. Crossword puzzles," Elowen answered, the three of them laughing.
"About that, I'm getting the impression Tanner doesn't like you. Why's that?" Stefan questioned. Elowen and Elena looked at each other, laughing again.
"Oh boy, you should've seen her last year. She was constantly correcting him on his lectures and took jabs at him whenever she could. Saying Tanner doesn't like her is an understatement," Elena elaborated before Elowen could say anything. "Since nobody likes him, nobody stops her. It's the highlight of my day."
"You're welcome, then." Elowen turned to Stefan. "By the way, if you hang out with me, it's a first class ticket to the Tanner Hates Me club."
"I think I'm already there."
After school, Stefan sat in the bleachers, watching as the football team practiced. The cheerleaders were on the other side of the field doing stretches and warming up. Just a few feet away from them was the pep band, where Elowen and the other band members were playing scales and bits and pieces of other songs they knew by heart in order to also warm up. Surprisingly, Elena showed up to practice.
"Oh my god! You're here!" Bonnie squealed in excitement, drawing Caroline's attention, who joined in on the squeal fest. The two ran forward and hugged their best friend.
"Yep. I can't be sad girl forever. The only way to get things back to the way they were are to do things that were. Oh, and you're coming to dinner tonight," Elena directed the last sentence at Bonnie, who looked at her in confusion.
"I am?"
"Mmhmm. You, me, Elowen and Stefan. You have to give him a chance."
At the mention of Stefan, Bonnie stiffened and changed the subject. "Tonight's no good. Have you heard from your aunt Jenna yet?"
"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett! You're going to be there."
"Fine. I'll go," she admitted defeat.
"Good."
"Wait, I'm confused. Explain." Caroline looked at the two of them, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. Bonnie rolled her eyes and Elena clicked her tongue at her, but turned to the blonde to explain anyway.
"Bonnie doesn't like Stefan so we're having dinner tonight as a way for her to get to know him."
"But you're not even friends with Elowen," Caroline accused, crossing her arms. "You're not gonna try and take Stefan from her, are you? Because I think they're cute together."
At this, Elena visibly got a bit uncomfortable. Her eyes darted to Elowen briefly. "No," she bit out, before taking a deep breath to calm down. "I'd like to get to know her and I figured this would be a nice way to kill two birds with one stone. Bonnie bonds with Stefan and I form a friendship with Elowen. It's a win-win situation."
"Besides, technically you're not friends with her either. I am," Bonnie pointed out. "You just want to get into Josiah's pants," she playfully nudged Caroline, whose cheeks flushed a bright red as she became flustered.
"I am not trying to get into his pants, Bonnie!"
"Talking about me?" Josiah popped out of nowhere, slinging an arm around Bonnie's shoulder. Caroline just blushed harder. Elena and Bonnie burst into laughter. Josiah knitted his brows together, confused. "What? What's so funny? Is it something I said?"
"Don't worry about it," Caroline answered quickly, moving onto a different topic. "What are you doing here?"
Josiah jabbed his thumb behind him, turning to look at the pep band as they started rehearsing their first song.
"My mom apparently still thinks I'm a little kid so I'm not allowed to walk home by myself. Therefore, I have to wait until Elowen's band practice is over."
"Oh. Well that sucks."
"Nah, it's okay. This way I get to practice drawing for my next art assignment. Anyway, I better let you guys start practice. Seeya later," with a wave of his hand, Josiah turned and walked towards the bleachers, but not before sending one last smile towards Caroline.
"Aww, he's so sweet, in his own childish way," Elena teased, causing Caroline to hit her arm.
"Shut up, Elena!" She quickly turned towards the rest of the girls on the cheerleading team, starting practice before anyone could say anything else. "All right, let's start with the double pike herkie hurdler, what do you say? And 5, 6, 7, 8! 1, 2, 3 ,4, 5, 6, 7, 8!" She turned towards Elena, who was still just awkwardly standing there. "Maybe you should just observe for today?" She suggested, and Elena nodded, moving a step back and taking a seat on the grass.
As Josiah made it to the bleachers to take a seat. Stefan was coming down. "Oh, hey, man," Josiah greeted, setting his bag down. "You here to watch Elowen practice?"
"No, I'm actually gonna ask Tanner if I could maybe try out for the team. Elena suggested it earlier this morning."
"Aah, good luck. Tanner's kind of an ass."
"I know."
Stefan continued his way towards Tanner as Josiah sat down and pulled his sketchbook out. Before Stefan could say anything, Tanner spoke up. "Varsity trials were last spring, Mr. Salvatore," he spared a glance at him. "Overheard your conversation."
"I wasn't here then, sir."
"And you're not here now, as far as I'm concerned."
"Mr. Tanner, I realize that you and I didn't get off to the best start, and I want to apologize for that. I've played football before. Wide receiver, mostly, and I'm pretty good."
"Well, I won't be asking you who won the super bowl in '71."
"'71 was the….." Stefan started to speak, but Tanner threw him a look and his voice trailed off. "Sorry. I….. I um, understand, sir."
Tanner looked over at Stefan and sighed.
"Just to see you get knocked on your ass. Borrow some gear. Go! Before I change my mind." He looked back towards the team. "Let's run it again!"
Stefan came running back onto the field a few minutes later, pulling his helmet on and getting into position. Josiah looked up and nodded at him, glad he was able to convince Tanner to let him practice with the team. The pep band was taking a break, so Elowen walked over to check on Josiah. He noticed her coming over so he moved his backpack so she could sit down. He took notice of the bari sax in her hand and shook his head.
"Not enough bass players again?"
"No," Elowen wrinkled her nose. "Nobody ever wants to play the 'boring rhythm parts' even though it's probably the most important part of the band. If there's no bass then there's nobody setting the rhythm and then everyone is offbeat," she complained, setting the instrument on its side so it could rest on her lap.
"I know, you whine about it every year when you're stuck playing the bari instead of the flute. Last time you said, and I quote, 'If everyone just learned how to count and sight read properly, the lower instruments would probably be useless'." Josiah laughed and Elowen pouted at him for making fun of her. Then she remembered something and started laughing along with him.
"God, remember freshman year when I was put on the trumpet in jazz band because nobody could get the dolce or espressivo styles correctly?"
"Oh, do I. Didn't that one chick hate you for like, the rest of the year because of that?"
Upon being reminded of that, Elowen buried her face in her hands. "Oh, please don't remind me of her. She's the one who told everyone in school about dad."
Josiah looked at her, disbelief written all over his face. "You're kidding."
"No."
"So she told everyone our business just because she was upset Mr. Dickinson told her she couldn't play her instrument correctly? How did she even find out?"
"It wasn't exactly a secret. People with eyes noticed the marks. She just made it worse."
Unbeknown to them, Stefan was listening in during practice break. He didn't mean to, but he was still wondering about her dad and didn't know how to bring it up. Though, because he was focused on Elowen and Josiah, he didn't hear Tyler tell Matt to set up a throw on purpose. Practice resumed and Stefan got into position. Matt threw the ball and Stefan jumped up to catch it. Tyler ran over and tackled Stefan to the ground. Hard.
"Whoo!" He removed his mouth piece, leaning down towards Stefan. "Welcome to the team, buddy."
Elowen and Josiah had been talking about their old school still, but were abruptly jolted from it when they heard the crash. They had looked over just in time to see Stefan get knocked over.
"Ooh!" Josiah winced while Elowen looked on worriedly.
"You gonna live, Salvatore?" Tanner asked as Stefan sat up on his elbows.
"Yeah."
"Walk it off, son."
"Hey. That was my bad," Matt apologized, putting out a hand to help him up.
"It's all right," Stefan dismissed it, but still took Matt's hand and stood back up on his feet. As Matt walked away, Stefan removed one of his gloves, revealing a broken finger. Quickly, he popped it back into place before continuing practice. Elowen, knowing he was injured, got his attention.
"Stefan," she waited until he looked over at her. "You okay?"
Stefan smiled and nodded, giving her an okay sign with his hand, reassuring her that he was fine. Elowen sighed and nodded back, turning to Josiah. "Well, I have to get back to practice. We'll be done soon, promise."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
After all of the practices were over, Bonnie and Elena came over as Elowen was putting her instrument back in its case.
"So, dinner at my house or yours?"
Elowen looked up at Elena, eyeing her uncertainly. "You are sure you still want to do this dinner thing while your aunt Jenna is missing?"
Caroline was making her way over at this point. Elena was getting ready to open her mouth to respond, but as if on cue, a car pulled up. Damon was driving and Jenna in the passenger's seat. When the car stopped, Jenna leaned over and kissed Damon, causing Elena, Bonnie and Caroline to look on in shock. Elowen, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and shook her head. She went back to putting her instrument away. She was in the middle of taking the reed off of the mouthpiece when Caroline piped up.
"That's the mystery guy who tried to hit on me the other night!"
"That's not a mystery guy, that's Damon Salvatore." Elowen provided a name, watching as the three girls looked down at her, incredulous expressions on all of them.
"Salvatore, as in Stefan?!" Bonnie exclaimed.
They all looked in the direction of Jenna when they heard a car door slam. They watched as she walked over towards them. "Hey guys! Is practice over?"
"What the hell, Jenna? Where have you been?" Elena crossed her arms, standing her ground and asking the obvious. Jenna just turned, sending a flirty look in Damon's direction.
"I was uh, busy. Sorry."
"Sorry? Jenna, you've been m.i.a all day, you haven't been responding to me or Jeremy when we tried contacting you and all you have to say is sorry? The least you could've done was text one of us saying that you were okay." Elena slightly raised her voice, causing Jenna to flinch back slightly. Her face softened.
"Listen, Elena, I am sorry okay? I should've texted you or something. Now, do any of you need a ride home?" Jenna quickly changed the subject, brushing off Elena's concerns. Elena scoffed, shaking her head.
"No thanks, I'll catch a ride with Bonnie. At least let Jeremy know you're alright. He's been worried sick. C'mon, Bon." Elena turned away, leaving. Both Caroline and Bonnie were behind her.
"Nice scarf," Elowen commented, closing her instrument case and locking it. Jenna looked down, her hand coming up to absentmindedly touch the piece of cloth around her neck.
"Oh. Thanks."
"Where'd you get it?"
Jenna froze for a moment, laughing uneasily, waving her hand around as if attempting to seem nonchalant. "Oh, y'know. It was just something I had lying around."
"Huh." Elowen's eyes wandered over to Damon, who was still sitting in the car. She raised an eyebrow at him. Damon looked at her from over the top of his sunglasses.
"Excuse me for a minute." Elowen stood up, her instrument case in her hand as she walked over to Damon. "Did you really go through all of this trouble just to get invited into Elena's house?"
"Not exactly. Not that it's any of your business."
"It became my business when you asked for my help."
"Now, correct me if I'm wrong but, I don't think I ever verbally said, 'I need your help.'"
"Alright then, good luck finding another witch who was willing to give you a chance to hear you out, because the rest of my family doesn't trust you." Elowen turned around and walked away, despite Damon's protests.
"What? Elowen! Elowen, wait!"
She patted Jenna on the shoulder when she got back to her. "You should probably get going since Elena left," she told her, though she kept walking until she was back at the bleachers, finding Josiah already ready to go. Stefan had just come from the locker room, meeting up with them.
"C'mon, let's get home. I'm exhausted."
It was decided that the dinner was to be held at Elowen's house. Elena was still upset at Jenna and didn't want to be around her at the moment. Stefan had walked Elowen and Josiah home, but he excused himself and said he'd be back later. They assumed he was either going to shower or get something to eat. Either way, they went inside and dropped the bomb that 3, possibly 4 (because knowing Caroline, she might want to suddenly come if it meant spending time with Josiah), friends were coming over for dinner that night. Esmeralda had stopped what she was doing and looked up at her kids as if they'd murdered somebody, before she rushed into the kitchen to start figuring out what the hell she was going to make. The two siblings looked at each other, Josiah mumbling, "That could've gone a lot worse," as he made his way upstairs.
By the time both of them had cleaned up, Esmeralda was busy chopping up chicken. She didn't look up when the two set their homework on the table. "At least clean the table up, will you? And set it up while you're at it."
Elowen and Josiah shared a look of amusement before moving their homework to the coffee table in the living room. Josiah had the job of setting utensils down while Elowen moved their mom's things into her office. Since their dining table only fit 6 people, someone would have to eat at the island if Caroline showed up, which, she probably would. Once the table was all done, the doorbell rang and Elowen ran to answer it. Bonnie stood on the other side, a bottle of Hawaiian punch in her hands.
"Grams wouldn't let me come empty handed. She said it was rude," she sheepishly explained as she came in. "I kept telling her you guys wouldn't care, but she wasn't having it."
"Eh, it's fine," Elowen took the bottle from her and walked into the kitchen to stick it in the fridge.
"Oh, honey, can you set out some chips or something? I don't know if this'll be done by 8," Esmeralda asked as she continued cooking, putting a cup of rice into the pot.
"Calm down. It's only 6:30, of course it'll be done by 8," Bonnie reassured her, coming over to smell what she was making. "It smells amazing, by the way."
"Kiss up," Elowen said in a sing song voice as she moved towards the pantry to get snacks out anyway.
"Oh, shut up." Bonnie playfully rolled her eyes. Ever since they met Bonnie, she clicked with all three of them immediately and they welcomed her into the family without a second thought.
As Elowen poured the chips into a bowl, Bonnie spoke up.
"Since the whole witch thing is out in the open, I need to ask you guys something." As if they practiced, all three of them looked over at her in perfect unison. It kind of creeped her out. "Um, yesterday, Elowen explained how both Traditionals and Elementals get premonitions, and I just, uh, I think I might've had one?"
"How so?" Esmeralda questioned, stirring the soup around in its pot.
"Well, today I've been obsessed with numbers. 3 numbers. I keep seeing 8, 14, and 22, over and over again. Is that weird?" Bonnie looked at Elowen, figuring she must've been the most experienced with premonitions.
"No, that's not weird, Bon. That actually sounds pretty serious. But like I said yesterday, I've been told Traditionals get premonitions differently and that they're very cryptic. I don't mean to worry you, but you need to keep an eye on those 3 numbers because it could be anything." Elowen shook her head a bit, trying to think of an example. "Uh, like, something could happen at 8:14 on the 22nd, but you don't know if it's am or pm, which is the tricky part. I wish I could help more but, just, be on guard, okay?"
Bonnie nodded, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. In order to distract herself, she looked to Esmeralda. "Anything I can do to help?"
"Well, since you're offering, why don't you make a salad?"
"Got it."
About half an hour or so went by when Bonnie decided she couldn't keep quiet anymore and blurted, "Before Stefan gets here, what the hell was that I felt earlier?"
They were sitting in the living room now. Josiah was working on math homework while Elowen was reading material from her science class. She looked up from her assignment, glancing at Josiah as he sighed, also looking up.
"She touched him, didn't she?"
Elowen nodded. Josiah set his work down to give Bonnie both of their attention.
"Wait, how does he know? Can someone explain this to me?"
"Remember yesterday, when you asked if there were other supernatural beings and I said vampires and werewolves existed?"
"Yeah….." Bonnie looked between the two siblings, not liking where this was going.
"Well, Stefan's a vampire."
"He's a what?!"
"Calm down, Bonnie," Josiah soothed. "He's one of the good ones, trust us."
"And Damon? Is he….?"
"Yes, he's a vampire, too. But we don't know what his intentions are, so be careful around him," Elowen supplied, watching as Bonnie went quiet for a minute, taking everything in.
"Okay, so….. What was that feeling, then? When I touched him? Because it was horrible. It was what I envision death being like."
"Everything a witch goes by is the law of nature. Vampires are an imbalance in nature because they're undead beings. What you felt when you touched him was exactly that, death, because vampirism is an abnormal form of magic that brings people back to life. So technically, Stefan is dead and that's what you were sensing," Josiah explained, picking his homework back up and continuing like this was a normal everyday thing to talk about.
"But, you're absolutely sure we can trust him?" Bonnie asked, looking to Elowen as she wasn't fully convinced yet. She didn't like to feeling she got when she touched him. Elowen placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her a bit.
"Bonnie, I know we can trust him. And with mom's empath power, she didn't sense any distrusting emotions coming from him. It's okay."
Bonnie visibly relaxed a bit, nodding her head, caving. "Okay."
It was nearing 8 when the doorbell rang again. This time, it was Stefan. He smiled when he saw Elowen, who smiled back and stepped aside so he could come inside. He headed towards the kitchen and took the seat at the island.
"God, that smells wonderful," he complimented, watching as Esmeralda put the lid on the pot to let the soup simmer.
"Thank you. I'm not sure how great it'll taste since somebody, I won't say who, just walked in and said people were coming over so I didn't have a whole lot of time to plan it." Esmeralda came over and sat next to Stefan. Elowen sat on the other side of him.
"Mom, please, you're the best cook in Mystic Falls. It'll taste fine."
"Besides," Josiah walked in, slinging an arm around Esmeralda. "When has asopao ever tasted bad?"
Bonnie had joined them, unable to help herself from warily eyeing Stefan. "So, how come you can walk in the sunlight? Or is that just a myth vampires created to fool us?"
Stefan turned in his chair to face Bonnie. He lifted his hand to point to his ring. "Daylight ring. It's been spelled to allow me to walk during the day."
"Oh! That reminds me." Esmeralda stepped out of her chair and ran into her office. She reemerged a moment later with two pieces of jewelry, both necklaces. As she neared the table again, Stefan caught a whiff of the herb inside and recoiled on instinct.
"Vervain."
"Vervain? What's that?" Bonnie asked, once again feeling clueless and out of place.
"It's one of vampire's many weaknesses," Stefan explained, watching as Esmeralda set the jewelry on the island in front of them. "One vampire ability that's not a myth is that we can control someone's mind: it's called compulsion. Don't worry, we can't compel other supernatural beings," Stefan added at the end when Bonnie took a step back. "However, if you have vervain on you, compulsion doesn't work. Vervain also severely weakens us." As if to prove a point, Stefan reached over and picked up the locket, popped it open and touched the herb inside. Immediately, he hissed in pain and drew his hand back, shaking it a few times to shake the pain away. He probably didn't need to do a demonstration, but he wanted Bonnie to trust him. Elowen couldn't help but laugh at him as she leaned over to close the necklace.
"I'd still advise you ingest vervain, so that way a vampire can't feed on you. Or, at least, stun him enough so you can escape."
"Anyway, back on subject," Esmeralda cut in, gesturing to the jewelry. "These are for Elena and Caroline. Hiding the vervain in plain sight like this is an easy way to make sure your loved ones don't get compelled without telling them a thing." She picked up one of the necklaces and handed it to Josiah. "I'm sure you won't have trouble gifting this to Caroline without raising too much suspicion."
His cheeks flushed slightly, but he still took the necklace without another word. Esmeralda then picked up the other necklace and turned to hand it to Elowen. Bonnie, who was next to Elowen, thought she was handing the necklace to her and made a move to grab it. Esmeralda drew her hand back, shaking her head.
"What?" Bonnie asked, confused. "But, Elena's my best friend. Wouldn't it be most suited if I gave it to her?"
"Yes," Esmeralda agreed. "However, you don't know the compulsion spell."
"Compulsion spell?" Bonnie asked.
"It's a spell that mimics vampire compulsion, though it's more like a hypnosis spell instead. We need to make sure neither girl takes the jewelry off, because if they do, they're left vulnerable. It's just a precaution."
"Oh." Bonnie awkwardly withdrew her hand away, leaving room for Elowen to take the necklace.
"I'll just act like I'm giving her a thank you gift for thinking of the whole dinner thing. Easy."
"I didn't realize there was a spell for that…." Stefan spoke aloud, gaining a chuckle from Elowen.
"Of course you wouldn't. You're not a witch."
There was a knock on the door, indicating that Elena was here. Josiah walked over to get it and, sure enough, Caroline was with her.
"Hey!" She greeted enthusiastically. "I hope I'm not crashing the party."
"Nope, the more the merrier," Josiah smiled. Caroline was practically beaming back at him as the two came inside.
They were all eating now. Caroline was next to Josiah, Bonnie next to Elena, Esmeralda at one end and Elowen at the other. Stefan chose to sit at the island to be nice and let everyone else have a spot at the dining table.
"If I had known Puerto Rican food was this good, I'd have tried it a long time ago!" Caroline gushed. A smile on creeped onto Esmeralda's face.
"See, mom, I told you it'd taste fine," Elowen once again reassured her mother. Esmeralda rolled her eyes.
"So, did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked, looking up at Stefan.
"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right."
"Even though Tyler totally smashed him at practice," Josiah laughed. Elowen reached over to hit him.
"Shut up! That wasn't funny."
"I'm okay, though." There was an amused smile on Stefan's face, as he usually had when watching Elowen and Josiah interact.
Elena looked down at Bonnie. "You should've seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and-"
"Yeah, I heard," Bonnie cut her off, playing around with her salad. Despite knowing why she had a bad feeling about Stefan, she still couldn't help but feel some sort of hostility towards him. Maybe it was the witch in her talking, since he was, after all, unnatural magic that went against nature. Caroline, sensing the tension beginning to settle in the room, attempted changing the subject.
"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?"
"Um, parents are divorced. No mom. Live with my dad."
"No, about the witch thing." Caroline turned in her seat to face Stefan. "Recently, her Grams has been going on and on about how Bonnie is a psychic or whatever. It sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me, but I guess it's kinda cool."
Bonnie shared a look with Elowen, then Esmeralda, who both nodded, indicating it was okay to talk about. Stefan already knew about her being a witch, but it wouldn't hurt to humor them. Catching on, Stefan said something before the silence got too bad. "Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s."
"My family came by way of Salem."
"Really? Salem witches?" Stefan looked intrigued, which took Bonnie a bit off guard.
"Um, yeah."
"I would say that's pretty cool."
"Really? Why?"
"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity."
"Yeah, they are." Bonnie smiled for the first time since she'd been there. Elowen and Elena stole a glance at each other, glad they finally found something to talk about. Stefan seemed more at ease, too, as if he sensed Bonnie still didn't trust him (which, he probably did). He was about to say something else when the doorbell rang once again. Everyone at the table all shared a look, confusion on their faces as they hadn't been expecting anyone else.
"I wonder who that could be…." Elowen trailed off, getting up to answer the door. She pulled it open to reveal Jenna and Damon standing outside.
"Surprise! Elena mentioned you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert." Jenna lifted a container that looked like it held pie, before stepping inside without another word.
"Jenna? What are you doing here?" She heard Elena question faintly from inside the house, but right now she was focused on Damon. Leaning against the doorway, Elowen squinted at him.
"Did you really think you could come to a house full of witches and expect to get invited in?"
"No, but it was worth a try, right?"
When Elowen didn't move an inch, the nice guy act instantly fell from his face. "Alright, so I came with an ulterior motive. So what?"
"How the hell did you know where I lived?" She questioned instead. A look of annoyance crossed Damon's face.
"I have eyes around town."
"Yeah, or you're a grade A stalker."
"What are you doing here?" Stefan had heard Damon's voice and came to Elowen's rescue. He didn't trust him after the stunt he pulled the other day. Who knows what else he could do to her, other than luring her into a trap?
"Waiting for Elowen to invite me in." Damon smiled at her once again, somehow hoping his charm could change her mind.
"Nice try, not gonna happen," Elowen shot back. Damon sighed dramatically, his arms falling to his side. There was a tense silence between the three, before Elowen turned towards Stefan. "Go, I can handle him."
"But-"
"Go."
"You heard her, Stefan. She can handle me," Damon smirked, sending a wink towards Elowen. She rolled her eyes, and with one last look, Stefan walked back into the dining room. Once he was gone, Elowen stepped outside and shut the door behind herself. She crossed her arms.
"This is about the tomb, isn't it?" She asked lowly, trying to make sure Stefan couldn't hear her. Damon leaned forward, his hand coming to rest on the door behind her. His face inches away from hers.
"Maybe."
Elowen made a face of disinterest, turning her head away. "You're not my type."
"Obviously, considering you want to bone my brother."
She whipped her head back to stare at him and push him away. "What the hell?"
"Gotcha." His eyebrows wiggled up once, in either a teasing or mocking way. It made Elowen's nose flare in irritation, but she tried to not let him get to her. She knew that's what he was trying to do.
"You're a dick."
"So I've been told."
Done with the conversation, Elowen scoffed and turned the doorknob to the front door. She was halfway through the threshold when he caught her wrist.
"Wait."
Elowen looked down at Damon's hand on hers and sighed. She could've easily just pulled herself back in the house and be done with him, but she found herself stepping outside once more instead. The door closed with a small click.
"Talk fast before I scream and wake the neighborhood."
Damon wet his lips. "You said you were willing to give me a chance to hear me out."
"And?"
"Then hear me out. Later. Promise?"
"Will you leave me alone and accept that you aren't going to get invited in if I do?"
"For now, yes."
There was a moment of the two just staring at each other. Elowen crossed her arms as she felt herself give in. "Fine. Now get out of here."
Damon smiled a bit sadistically at her, a satisfied look on his face. He raised his hand and wiggled his fingers at her in a wave. "Toodles," and in a blink of an eye, he was gone. At that same moment, the door opened and Caroline's voice filled her ears.
"God, what is taking you so long? Where's Damon?"
"He had to go." Elowen turned and entered the house again. "Don't worry about it."
"Oh. Well, c'mon. Dinner's getting cold." Caroline left, heading for the dining room once again, where indistinct chatter and multiple conversations could be heard. Elowen began closing the door, but stole once more glance outside as the wind picked up. God, she hoped she wasn't getting herself into anything too horrible. Only time would tell.
Hours had gone by. Everyone in the household had collectively lost track of time. They'd shared embarrassing stories (including the time Josiah got into the baby powder and dumped it all over himself when he was 3, and when Elowen jumped into a water fountain because, "Look, mommy! Free money!" when she was 5), talked about school, and gotten into a deep conversation about how important family was. By now, everyone had broken off into their own little groups of different conversations. Esmeralda and Jenna were in the living room (if she had known Jenna was going to come, she would've prepared another vervain necklace to get her out of Damon's clutches. Oh well, next time), Josiah, Caroline and Bonnie were out on the porch in the backyard (because Bonnie would've been third wheeling no matter which sibling she hung out with) and Elowen, Stefan and Elena were upstairs, hanging out in the former girl's room.
There were empty plates, discarded and forgotten on her nightstand that had had pie on them. Elena and Elowen were on the bed, both sitting with their legs crossed, facing one another. Stefan was sitting on a beanbag in the corner of the room, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping. He wasn't, but Elena didn't seem to notice. She had taken an interest to the picture on her nightstand. She leaned over to pick it up. After examining for a few moments, she turned it towards Elowen to show her. "Is this your dad?"
"Uh, yeah." Elowen's voice had gotten a bit small and she awkwardly shifted around on her bed. Elena, however, was either oblivious to her discomfort or just didn't care. She seemed to be contemplating something before she looked down at the picture again.
"If you don't mind me asking… why did they divorce? Your parents, I mean."
Elowen cleared her throat, hoping her voice sounded stable as talking about her dad was difficult for her to do. Wetting her lips, she opened her mouth and attempted to find the right words. "Dad was uh…. He just….. Um, they fought a lot," she decided to say at last, figuring that telling someone she barely considered a friend the full truth wasn't a good idea. She didn't want Elena's pity. "He kicked us out, changed the locks and everything. It was my mom who filed, though."
"Oh…." Elena looked up from the photo, finally noticing how fidgety Elowen had gotten. Slowly, she placed the frame back onto the nightstand and caught the time on the clock. "Is it that late already? God, I better get going. I still have to practice the cheer routine for tomorrow's game." Elena made a move to get off the bed, but Elowen quickly followed her as the necklace in her pocket suddenly felt heavy.
"Wait. I wanted to give you something." Elowen pulled the necklace out, holding it up for Elena to see. It resembled a pocket watch, but smaller and gold all around. On the left side, there was a yellow hibiscus flower carved into it, the leaves and vines flowing out and wrapping around the edges of the locket. They stopped when it reached the halfway point. Elena gasped in surprise, not expecting Elowen to give her anything.
"Oh my goodness, it's so pretty," she breathed, her hand lifting the charm up a little more into the light. "And is that rose I smell?"
"Ah, no. It's an herb. I just wanted to give you something as a thanks to even bothering to help with the whole Bonnie situation."
"That's what friends are for, right?"
Elowen lifted her hand with the necklace, indicating that she wanted to put it on. Elena got the message and turned around. She pulled her hair to one side so she could put it on easier. Once the necklace was around her neck, Elena turned back around to thank Elowen, when she suddenly grabbed her shoulders. Elena was about to ask what was wrong when Elowen cast the hypnosis spell.
"Harás lo que digo. No tienes ninguna opción," she enchanted, watching as Elena's eyes glossed over, a mystified look on her face. Elena would be under her control until she let go. "You won't ever take this necklace off, under any circumstances. You will not take the herb out or replace it and you absolutely won't let anyone try to take it off of or from you. All you're aware of is that I gave it to you and that's what you'll tell people if somebody asks. Understood?"
Elena nodded robotically, her face expressionless. Elowen let go of her shoulders and almost immediately, Elena broke out of her trance. She blinked a few times before a smile made its way to her lips, continuing where she left off as if nothing happened. "Thank you so much, Elowen! You really didn't have to get me anything."
"I know, but I felt like it."
"Well, I better get going. I'll see you and Stefan at the game tomorrow, okay? Tell him I said bye when he wakes up." Elena waved,.Elowen waved back, watching as the brunette left the room and went downstairs. She could faintly hear her telling Jenna they needed to get going, before the backdoor opened and closed. Elena had scooped Caroline up to take her home. They exchanged goodbyes once more before the three of them left, leaving Bonnie, Esmeralda, Elowen, Stefan and Josiah as the only ones left in the house.
Elowen had gotten up from her spot on the bed and walked out towards the railing, leaning over a little before yelling, "Jo!"
"What!"
"You remembered to give Caroline the necklace, right?"
"Yeah!"
"Good!"
The quick conversation ended. The only noises were the voices faintly talking downstairs, the ceiling fan and the crickets chirping through the open window. The weather had actually been cooling down lately, but Elowen liked the cold, so she didn't mind. She plopped back down on her bed with a long sigh. Her eyes were closed, an arm draped over her face to block the light out. She had been beginning to relax when…
"You do spells in Spanish?"
Elowen dramatically flung her arm off of her face, turning her head to look at Stefan upside down. He was looking at her with wide, innocent eyes, as if that would help him from getting hurt because he interrupted her "I'm almost asleep" mood. Unfortunately, that was not the case for him. In one swift movement, she had her shoe off and in her hand, already throwing it in Stefan's direction. He dodged it, laughing, as Elowen twisted around to lay on her stomach.
"You expected witches from Puerto Rico, where the common language is Spanish, to recite spells in Latin? Does that make sense to you?"
There was a slight pause as Stefan thought this over. "When you put it that way….. I guess not."
Elowen chuckled, shaking her head at him as she once again flopped back onto the bed. Stefan observed her for a moment. He was struggling on whether or not he should ask her about her dad. From the lack of pictures, to what he heard her and Josiah talk about at practice (he really didn't mean to eavesdrop, but with vampire hearing it's hard to not to give into the temptation), and how she reacted when Elena asked, the curiosity was really started to get to him. He didn't want to say anything to upset her, especially now that they were getting closer, both romantically and platonically. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out as he was suddenly plagued with nervousness. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to ask. Maybe he should just let it go and let her tell him when she's ready.
"What is it?" Elowen asked, her voice muffled as her face was buried into her bedsheets. She broke him out of his thoughts. Anxiety ran through him as if he had just gotten caught. Which, he kind of did since she sensed he had something he wanted to ask. She'd actually been getting vibes like that from him all day, but it was more prominent right now than it was before.
(Somewhere downstairs, Esmeralda was glaring at the ceiling as Stefan's high strung emotions hit her like a ton of bricks. She could only hope that they weren't trying any funny business up there. Then again, she would know if they were. That was one perk of being an empath.)
Stefan hesitated for a moment longer before he finally gained the courage to blurt, "What happened with your father?" A second later, he started rambling on, not wanting her to get mad at him for asking. "It's just, I haven't seen very many photos of him around and nobody really mentions him, and in the picture of you and Tobias you looked really emotionally drained, so I wondered if he had anything to do with it. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but-"
"Stefan." Elowen's soft voice stopped him from continuing. "It's okay. I figured you were going to ask eventually. Everyone does, but I usually dodge questions and act like it didn't happen. But you're not everyone, and I trust you enough to tell you about him." Elowen rolled over, onto her back again, and patted the empty spot next to her. Stefan immediately got up from the beanbag and came to lay down next to her. Her head rested on his chest and his arms wrapped around her on instinct.
"Luis Ortiz," Elowen began. "He was born in Mexico and his parents came to the states when he was still a baby. I know he briefly lived California, but he moved to Georgia when his mom died. Him and mom were high school sweethearts, I guess. She became pregnant with me in her junior year when she was 16. She was obviously shunned and made fun of at school, but they got through it and she had me towards the end of the school year. Then, sometime in her senior year, she got pregnant with Josiah. Mom said that at this point, people started calling her names I won't repeat behind her back. Sometimes I wonder how she got through it…." Elowen's voice trailed off as if she were going into thought, but quickly shook it off and continued with her story. "Anyway, both her parents and his dad were disappointed their children had children out of wedlock, so they got together and basically arranged the two to be married once they graduated, because it was the "right, traditional thing to do". My grandparents didn't leave any room for arguments. It was final. So that was what happened. And they were happy. In the beginning, at least. Dad wanted to be a neurosurgeon, which took a lot of money from us.
"Soon they started fighting about finances, so mom took up two jobs, plus taking care of Josiah and I while dad went to school. Then they fought about how much mom was gone and never home, and she used to retaliate by saying he was never home either. Then he accused her of cheating on him because she was always off somewhere. Stress from school and money and work eventually got to them. My dad had always been a perfectionist and wanted things to go his way or no way. When he was about halfway through med school, he needed to start making good impressions in order to secure a job as a resident. He began to boss mom around, trying to get her to dress a certain way and act like the perfect, stereotypical housewife in front of his doctor friends. When she didn't meet his expectations at a business party… he hit her for the first time that night when they came home. Mom thought we were asleep, but I had stayed up to wait for them, so when I heard the door open I ran out of my room to greet them, only to see daddy backhand mommy as if he were scolding her." Elowen's voice cracked a little on the word 'backhand,' the memory still vividly burned into her brain. Stefan looked down at her. He brushed some hair out of her face and held her tighter, comforting her.
"Things just got worse from there. He got angrier and angrier and started hitting mom more often. Josiah and I had been conditioned to hide every time he raised his voice, because she was afraid he'd touch us if we got too close. When I was 12 and Josiah was 11, Jo had grown fed up with watching dad constantly hurt mom, so he tried to intervene one day. It only resulted in him beginning to abuse us, too. If we didn't act like his perfect little kids, we were hit. If we acted up at school, or got a bad grade, or talked back, anything like that, we were punished. I made sure I got the brunt of it, because Jo was just a kid and I was afraid of what he would do to him sometimes."
"You mentioned that he kicked you guys out?"
"Oh. Um, yeah, he did. Josiah got really drunk one night and climbed onto the roof. He kept saying things like, 'The only way I can escape is if I jump,' and, 'It'll be easier if I'm gone.'" Elowen swallowed, her eyes beginning to tear up.
"You don't have to continue if you don't want to….."
Ignoring him, Elowen pushed the sleeves of her shirt up and examined the horizontal lines on her wrists. Retelling this caused them to feel tingly, as if they were fresh wounds again. She wanted to make sure it was just her imagination. She felt Stefan take one of her wrists in his hands as he looked over the faint marks. "Long story short, I couldn't talk him down and Josiah jumped. He only broke a few bones, but dad said he couldn't deal with "overreacting teenagers who only wanted attention," so he kicked us out. We moved in with my aunt Eliana in her little two bedroom apartment across town, where mom filed for divorce. We moved here about a year ago and we've been happy ever since."
"Do you miss it?"
"What, Atlanta?" Elowen stared up at the ceiling fan, finding comfort in Stefan running his fingers over her scars. "Sometimes. I mean, I grew up there, after all. I think the thing I miss most is my dog. We couldn't afford to bring him with us, so my aunt is taking care of him back home."
"What was her name?"
"His name is Binx. He's a retriever/husky mix that I got as an 8th birthday present. He's has the body of a retriever but he's got blue eyes like a husky. And he's super fluffy."
"... Did you name him after the cat from Hocus Pocus?" Stefan asked after a moment of thought, laughing amusedly at her. Elowen hit him in the chest, pouting.
"I wanted to name him Aladdin but Josiah wanted him to be called Simba. So we mutually decided on Binx."
They sat there in a comfortable silence. Elowen was still laying against Stefan's chest with his arms around her. He was still absentmindedly running his fingers across her skin, unsure if he should bring the topic back up. In the end, he decided that it might be something she needed to hear.
"They're like battle scars, you know," he spoke softly, turning his head to stare down at her. "They might have painful memories attached to them, but they're a reminder that you were at a bad part in your life and that you got passed it. You made it to the other side of the tunnel after wandering around in the dark, lost and confused. You got out, and that's all that matters. If you ever feel like you're having a hard time again, or if you want to give up, look at them and remember that you've done it before and that you can do it once more. I need you to always remember that you were one of the lucky ones."
Elowen perked up a bit at his words, tears stinging her eyes again but for different reasons this time. She looked up at him, her vision blurring as her eyes watered even more. She attempted to blink them away, not wanting to cry in front of him, but a tear spilled over and trailed down her cheek. Stefan reached over and gently wiped it away, caressing her jawline. She sniffled, clearing her throat as a means to steady her voice, laughing embarrassedly at herself.
"Thank you, that means a lot. Nobody has ever told me anything like that before."
"You're welcome," he whispered, pushing her hair behind her ear. His hand came to rest behind her neck. With a burst of confidence, Elowen felt herself moving on her own, leaning up to lock lips with Stefan. They shared a very emotional, passionate kiss, before pulling away and snuggling closer to one another. Quietness fell over the two of them again, like a blanket, but it was comforting to them both. They laid there for a while before Elowen finally fell asleep, the exhaustion from earlier consuming her body.
About 20 or 30 minutes later, Esmeralda, Josiah and Bonnie all came upstairs. Josiah was heading to bed, Bonnie was gonna crash with Elowen and Esmeralda to tell Stefan it was time for him to leave. However, the trio was (not so) surprised to find the two of them already asleep.
"Are you going to wake him?" Bonnie asked, watching as Elowen moved around to get in a more comfortable position.
"Eh," Esmeralda shrugged. "I'll let it slide. It's not like it's the first time Stefan has spent the night. They think they've been slick, but, mama knows all." She turned and walked off, heading to the master bedroom at the end of the hall. Bonnie stood in the doorway for a little bit longer. While they looked absolutely adorable, she knew this meant that she couldn't sleep here tonight. Sighing, she eventually turned and headed farther down the hall.
"Guest room it is, then."