Seize the Day

September 9, 2009

Dear Diary,

This is Nuelle reporting back to you to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you! I was just going through a bit of a dry spell. I'm back for good now, and for good reason. This Morning is different. A good type of different. I can sense it, I can feel it. For the first time in a long time, I feel completely and undeniably awake. For once, I don't hate the day before it begins. I take the day in stride because I know will see him.

I feel like myself.

"Knock, knock. Nuelle breakfast is ready." Her mother announced from the other side of the door.

"Coming." The raven-haired girl replied back to her mother.

Let's just hope it stays that way.

Love, Nuelle

"GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!" A happy Nuelle, dressed impeccably in a black matching set with a lace top, adorned with a white collar, and a plain black skirt, entered the kitchen. She kissed her mother on the cheek.

The chestnut brunette, in a black robe, laughed, "Good morning, mí corazon. It's just me."

Nuelle looked around to see that it was only her and her mother.

"Where's dad?"

"Work. Here's your coffee." Carmen handed her daughter a capped mug of black coffee.

"Thank you." She sat down on a stool, across the island.

"Shouldn't you be at work, then too, mom?"

"Well, when your the district attorney work waits for you." Nuelle stared skeptically at her mom, as she was one of the most punctual people she knew.

"Plus, I wanted to spend some time with my girl."

"Really?" The raven-haired latina raised an eyebrow.

"Really." She hesitated, "Well, what's going on with you and that broody gringo?"

"Stefan? We're just friends."

"Really?"

"Really. Well, at least for now." Nuelle began to pack up, "And he's not the only reason for my sudden burst of happiness. I've made a new friend, Caroline. You actually know her mom, Sheriff Forbes."

"Liz's daughter?" Her mom asked in excitement, as Liz and her where quite close themselves.

"Yup, and we're going to hang out after school. Then tomorrow's the comet, which I'll be volunteering for."

"Look at you getting involved." They shared a laugh.

"Yeah, well. Oh, shoot," The girl checked the time on her iPhone, "I'm gonna be late. I'll see you later. Don't wait up." She grabbed her keys for her Jeep Cherokee and headed out the door.

"Love you," Nuelle yelled.

"Love you too, drive safely." The attorney sighed. What am I going to do with that girl?

For a while now, Garcia had been going on about the composition of the moon, and how a meteor could cause a comet or collision.

Normally, Caroline wouldn't mind because she would have someone, like Nuelle, to gossip with. But since said someone was busy making googly eyes at Stefan, she was forced to listen to the lesson.

"Excuse, Mrs. Garcia."

"Yes, Caroline." Everyone looked confused at the blonde because when was the last time Caroline Forbes participated?

"What does a rock in space have to do with chemistry?" The class snickered.

The middle-aged latina smiled, "Good question Caroline. As you all know, tomorrow is the town's comet celebration. The comet was originally discovered nearly 5 centuries ago. It hasn't been in Mystic Falls in over 145 years. The faculty is forced with the task of explaining the relevance of the comet in each subject," She paused, "I hope I'm not boring you, Stefan, Nuelle."

The dirty blond-haired and the raven-haired couple dropped their gazes from each other and mouthed "no".

"Great," The bell rang, "Well there will be no homework for tomorrow."

"Yes!" A chorus of students cheered.

"Enjoy it, because there will be a benchmark on Friday. Enjoy your day."

"Can you guys like not have eye sex for 10 minutes?" Caroline and Nuelle were heading to the other side of the hall as they spotted Bonnie and Elena.

"Ummm."

"Don't answer that." They laughed.

"In my defense, he starts it," Nuelle claimed.

"Who starts what?" Stefan appeared behind them.

"Nothing." The blonde and raven-haired brunette shared a mischievous look. The pair of friends continued to walk in silence, looking away from the hero-haired male.

"Oh, okay. I see. You obviously don't want your book." The boy threatened.

"You brought it!" Nuelle exclaimed, breaking her silence.

"Hmm," He handed the book to Nulle, "Told ya."

"Wuthering Heights by Ellis Bell." Nuelle read. "You know, I can't believe she didn't use her real name."

"All the Bronte sisters used pseudonyms. It was the time. Female writers weren't very accepted then." Stefan informed.

"I know, I know. Sexism and misogyny, all the great limitations of the past. Where did you get it?" She wondered how he could get an original copy of the novel as not she could get a hold of one.

"Uh, it was passed down. Through the family."

"Ah." That made sense.

"I have lots of books. Go ahead. Keep it."

"Oh, no. I...but I would like to read it again. I promise I'll give it back."

"Ugh, can you two be any more romantic?" The forgotten blonde mocked. The couple blushed. "Oh, I see Bonnie and Elena. Let's go." Caroline rushed off to their friends without waiting.

"Caroline, wait!" She began to chase after her friend until she remembered the forest green-eyed boy, "Uh. Bye Stef."

Chuckling, the boy waved at the latina's retreating figure.

"Hey, guys." Nuelle eventually reached her other friends.

"Hey." Bonnie greeted.

"What are you girls talking about?"

"How Bonnie's a witch," Elena revealed.

"Seriously? I just thought you were joking." Caroline admitted.

"I'm confused. Are you psychic or clairvoyant?" Elena continued, interestedly.

"Technically..." The undiscovered witch didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, well, feel free to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night." Caroline interrupted.

"Wait. What?" Nuelle looked to the rest of her friends in disbelief, "There was a guy? What guy?"

"I didn't see him, you did. Why didn't you just talk to him?" Bonnie defended herself.

"Stranger danger." The two other brunettes joked, earning a look from Caroline.

"I don't know. I was drunk." Which earned a laugh from Nuelle and Elena, and a nudge from Bonnie.

As the foursome continued walking, they saw Matt outside.

"Wait, there's Matt." Elena pointed out as she went to talk to him.

"Isn't he your ex?" Nuelle raised an accusatory eyebrow.

"It's only about Vicki." Elena tried to defend her misleading actions.

"Tell him that." Caroline sassed.

"Leave her alone, you guys." The shorter girl protested.

"Whatever, see you at the grill. Later, Lena." With that, the friends had left the eldest Gilbert to comfort her ex-boyfriend.

"He's so in love with her," Nuelle noted from the parking lot.

"I know." Bonnie sighed.

"It's pathetic," Caroline said in spite, which caused Bonnie and Nulle to share a knowing look.

"Maybe he needs someone to help him forget about Elena." Nuelle hinted.

"Yeah, well, whatever," Caroline brushed off their insinuations, "Ready for the Grill?"

"Yeah," Bonnie responded.

"Umm, I'll catch you guys later." Nuelle spotted the seated hero-haired boy.

"Hmm, okay." Caroline said suspiciously, "Don't keep us waiting."

"I'll try not to." Nuelle trailed off, walking closer to Stefan. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

"Umm, okay," Nuelle looked around and cleared her throat. "Guess I'm off to The Grill."

The group of friends were now sitting outside of The Grill, catching up on what happened over the span of 24 hours.

"Well, I was talking to Grams, and she said the comet is a sign of impending doom. The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage, it created a bed of paranormal activity." Bonnie was explaining until Caroline cut her off.

"Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens. So then what?" The blonde turned to the raven-haired girl.

She gave Caroline a pointed look, "Caroline don't be rude." She let out a breath, "But then nothing."

"You and Stefan talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy-feely of any kind?"

"Wait, Stefan spent the entire night at yours?" Elena was shocked.

"Not the entire night." Nuelle corrected.

"Well there goes my chances," Elena tried to joke.

"Omg, you guys nothing happened!"

"Not even a handshake? Nuelle, we are your friends. Ok? You are supposed to share the smut."

"We just talked for hours." Nuelle insisted, and Elena and Bonnie just sipped their tea. But the determined blonde was having none of it.

"OK, what is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already! Ok, it's easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, sex!

"Profound." But she's right. The thought got the raven-haired girl to think a bit. If she and Stefan kept at the rate that they were going, who was to say that someone else wouldn't try and take him? Someone needed to make a move now.

"You know what. You're right." Nuelle got up and gathered her belongings.

"I know I am," The only blonde at the table crossed her arms in content.

"Where are you going?" Bonnie asked.

"Care is right. It's simple. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up talking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day saying what I was gonna do."

"But you what's your excuse?" Elena asked skeptically.

In response, Nuelle held up a school book and smirked, "We have Chemistry."

"Okay, so here I am, at the Salvatore Boarding House. Easy enough. Now let's just get this over with, what's the worse that can happen?" The raven-haired girl prepped herself as she got out of her matte black Jeep Cherokee and walked up to the Salvatore door.

She knocked a couple of times and nothing happened. Before she knocked again, the door crept opened.

"Hello?" She stepped through the door. "Stefan? Stefan? Is this even the right house?" She wondered. All of a sudden a crow flew into the house.

"WHAT THE HELL!" She screamed and jumped around, only to be met with a strange blue-eyed, raven-haired man.

Holding up her book she calmly asked, "No offense but who the hell are you and where the hell did you come from?"

Instead of answering, the raven-haired man took the book from her hands and read the cover, "Chemistry, A Molecular Approach to Science," Looking up he handed the book back to the cautious girl, "Weird, I thought Stefan was more of a History guy."

"Thanks," She smiled tightly, "And we have Chemistry together."

"You must be Nuelle. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother." The man finally introduced himself.

Hmmm, I don't see it. "He did say anything about a brother."

"Well, Stefan's not one to brag. Please, come. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second." He led her into the parlor.

"Is this your living room?" Nuelle was amazed but still too shaken to let her guard down.

"Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste. I see why my brother's so smitten. It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him."

Nuelle turned, confused, "The last one?

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend? Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet."

"I mean we've only known each other for 3 days." The raven-haired girl wasn't really fazed.

"Well, I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end."

What an asshole. The raven-haired girl frowned, "You say it like every relationship is doomed to end."

"I'm a fatalist. Hello, Stefan." The eldest Salvatore turned to entryway where the younger brother had magically appeared.

"Nuelle, I didn't know you were coming over." The younger Salvatore said formally.

"I know. I should have called, I just, thought we could start on the Chem project." The young Silva weakly stated.

"Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome any time. Isn't she, Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies. But...I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker." Damon teased, but there was something way off with their relationship.

Stefan wasn't having it, "Thank you for stopping by, Nuelle. Nice you."

How? Wait, what? What just happened? Am I getting kicked out? Nuelle could feel her face getting heated and a tear beginning to form. This was so embarrassing. "Yeah, I should probably go," she put the book in her black Hermes tote, "I can tell when I'm not wanted. It was nice to meet you, Damon."

"Great meeting you, too, Nelly." The raven-haired Salvatore called out as the raven-haired Silva stormed off. Not waiting for Stefan to move out of the way, she bumped into his shoulder and slammed the door, causing the blond-haired Salvatore to flinch. He instantly regretted the way he treated the girl who he wanted to give all his attention to.

"Great gal. Whoo. She's got pizzazz. You, on the other hand, look pooped. Did you over-exert yourself today? Let me guess...hospital." Damon couldn't help but mock his stressed brother.

"Someone had to clean up your mess," was all Stefan said.

"Well, were you successful? Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right."

"How long was Nuelle here?" The younger brother worried.

"Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past?"

"How can we repeat the past with someone who's not even your type?" Stefan quipped.

"Girl is my type." The elder Salvatore claimed.

"Nuelle's not Katherine." Stefan reminded Damon.

"But Elena is. So why aren't you playing your little game of, "I'm a high school human," with her?"

"I'm not playing any game."

"Of course you are. We both know the closest you'll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it."

"What kind of game are you playing, Damon?" The concerned brother questioned.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"

Nuelle Silva was feeling a lot of emotions right now, especially anger and embarrassment. She didn't even know how she got home in one piece. But the minute she did get home she called the people who basically sent on her disastrous mission, even if it was mainly Caroline. She was not going to dwell in sadness alone.

"Hello." Elena and Bonnie picked up.

"Hey, you guys," Nuelle lamely greeted.

"How'd it go?" Caroline went right in.

"Horribly. He's basically on the rebound and has raging family issues."

"Oh no." Bonnie and Elena lamented.

"It's always the hot ones," Caroline whispered, which had her friends rolling their eyes to.

"But that's still doesn't give him the right to treat you like an asshole." Bonnie supported.

"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend. Wait till you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues. Or amphetamine issues."

"Umm, okay," The girls laughed, "Who's that?"

"Jenna. I'm Elena's Aunt Jenna. But call me Jenna."

"Thank you for the encouragement." Nuelle thanked the experienced woman.

"Jeremy? Jeremy, where were you?" Jenna suddenly yelled.

"You guys I gotta go." The Gilbert hung up.

"You know what, I need to crash and binge. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Bye, feel better." Bonnie kindly wished.

"Bye." Caroline echoed and hung up.

"Would you like a program?"

"Here you go. Here you are." At the townsquare, the blonde and raven-haired pair of friends offered the townspeople "The Night of the Comet" pamphlets.

"So he didn't even call, huh?" Caroline asked.

"Or text," The raven-haired teen revealed, wearing her pearl necklace, a plum-colored bodycon, high-waisted plaid pencil skirt, and over-toed heels, "But waiting around I also realized that we never exchanged that information." Nuelle sighed.

"That's a very important milestone in any relationship," Caroline added.

"Isn't it?" The timing is wrong, anyway." The raven-haired beauty excused.

"When is it ever right?" Bonnie and Elena joined in, giving Caroline the opportunity to leave as she spotted a raven-haired man.

"I'm ready, but what if he's not ready Bonnie?"

"Who is?" Elena wondered.

"I was literally throwing myself at him. I'm putting myself out there." Nuelle defended.

"Is that what you're calling it?" The Bennet scoffed.

"What are you saying?" The Silva asked a bit offended.

"All I'm hearing is reasons why you can't." Bonnie left her with that.

Nuelle looked to the Gilbert, "What else am I supposed to do?"

Elena put a sympathetic hand on the helpless girl's shoulder, "You'll figure it out."

"What is Damon doing here? Why did he come home?" Back at the Salvatore Boarding House, while Stefan was getting ready for the comet, his antsy nephew couldn't help but question his other ancestor's motives.

"Cause I came home. He wants to make my life miserable. That's how he enjoys his." Stefan remarked.

"Well, he's putting us all at risk. This girl in the hospital could talk." Zack pointed out.

"She won't. I took care of her." The green-eyed brother assured.

"You're sure?"

Stefan sighed, "I'm not sure, Zach. I don't know how well it worked. I'm not as strong as Damon."

"So what happens if it doesn't work?"

"I don't know. I'll deal with it." Stefan tried to end the topic.

"Is she worth it? Uncle Stefan, this girl you came back for?"

The forest-eyed vampire paused for a moment, "The girl I'm staying for is." He knew she was.

Since it was dark, it was time to light the candles. Now in a black trench coat, Nuelle was just waiting for Caroline to get her one.

"Hey, I got your candle." Caroline sang.

"Thank you," Nuelle tilted her candle toward her friend's lighted one, "This is so exciting," she couldn't help but get all excited, causing her to stumble into someone and lit their candle as well.

"Whoops, sorry."

"It's okay. Thank you." A deep voice replied. It was Stefan. "Hi."

"Hi." The raven-haired girl awkwardly looked to the sky.

"You know, that comet...it's been traveling across space for thousands of years. All alone." Stefan started, but he received no response from the raven-haired beauty. "I think it's just a ball of...snow and ice, trapped on a path that it can't escape. And once every 145 years, it gets to come home."

"Fascinating." was all the golden blond haired boy got.

He sighed, "I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't myself."

"You apologize a lot." Nuelle merely stated.

"Well, I have a lot to apologize for."

"That's depressing." Nuelle tried to make light of the situation.

Stefan smiled, "Yesterday, that wasn't about you, ok?"

Nuelle looked softly up at Stefan, "You don't talk a lot about your brother."

"We're not close. It's, uh...it's complicated."

"Always. He told me about your ex. Katherine." Nuelle revealed.

"What did he say?"

"That she broke your heart."

"That was a long time ago."

The latina's face fell, "Stefan, we're only 17. How long can a long time be?"

"Nuelle..." Stefan groaned.

"It's fine, Stefan. I don't get it, but it's fine. I would love to understand how it is to have a complicated brother and a complicated ex. But if you're not willing to help me understand, then why should I even try?" Nuelle exhaled, "We met, and we talked, and it was amazing, but...then the sun came up and reality set in. So...I'm just gonna go." The raven-haired girl blew out her candle and headed toward The Grill.

Already at The Grill was Jeremy Gilbert, Elena's little brother, and sophomore, Tyler, Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, and now Matt.

"Hey, has anyone seen Vicki?" The worried younger Donavan asked his friends.

Tyler turned to the younger Gilbert, "You're her stalker. You tell us."

"I can't find her." Jeremy simply replied.

"She probably found somebody else to party with. Sorry, pill pusher, I guess you've been replaced."

"What's with the pill pusher?" The older Gilbert sibling stepped in.

"Ask him." Tyler motioned.

"You wanna do this right now?" Jeremy threatened.

"Hey you guys," Nuelle walked into the Grill.

"Are you dealing?" Elena persisted.

"She's never gonna go for you," Tyler argued.

"She already did. Over and over and over again." Jeremy bragged.

"Yeah, right."

A very confused Nuelle moved to Bonnie and asked, "What's going on?"

"They're basically fighting over Vicki," Bonnie explained.

"Ohhh."

"You slept with Vicki Donovan? I mean, Vicki Donovan slept with you?" Caroline exclaimed in disbelief.

"There's no way."

"Why can't Vicki Donovan have slept with Jeremy? He's cute." Nuelle defended

The younger Gilbert blushed, but he turned to the Lockwood, "And I didn't even have to force her into it."

Matt was angry, "What the hell is he talking about, Ty?"

"Nothing, man, just ignore him, he's a punk." Tyler glared at his accuser.

"You know what, how about all of you shut up and help me find my sister?" Matt had snapped.

"We'll check the back." Bonnie and Nuelle said.

"I'll check the square," Matt claimed.

"I'll come with you." Jeremy offered.

"Oh, no, no, no. You are coming with me. So that's your game now, dealing?" His older sister stopped him.

"I'm not dealing."

"Look, I'm sick of the tough love speech, Jer. It's clearly having no impact."

"You and Jenna, between the two of you. Enough already!"

"We can stop if you want. Send you to a therapist where you'll be forced to deal with it or to rehab where you'll sit in a group and tell some stranger how you let your life fall apart. Or you could talk to me."

"I vote for none of the above."

After a while of searching for Vicki, Matt had eventually found his sister. Eventually, everyone went home, but Nuelle was still feeling unsatisfied. Which is why she at the Salvatore's front door.

The raven-haired girl felt like she either needed to end or begin whatever was going on with Stefan before the situation became more of a mess than it already was.

Nuelle rang the bell and waited.

"Hi," Lucky for her, Stefan opened the door.

"Hey."

"Would you like to come?"

"I'm not planning on staying for long."

"Oh."

Nuelle walked to and settled on the stone bench, under the stone arch. Stefan stood on her left.

"Stefan I'm sorry for coming in without a warning." She apologized.

"No, no. I'm glad you're here. The way we left things...I didn't like it." He admitted.

Nuelle smiled slightly, "See, the thing is, I got home tonight planning on doing what I've been doing for the past few nights, which consists of putting on clay face mask and eating ice cream while watching the "Real Housewives of New York". Sulking about things that I should be telling you. Stefan, I've never been in a relationship, because the minute there's a problem, I run away. I don't fight. I like you, Stefan, a lot, and that scares me because I cannot control my feelings around you."

"Do you want to know what I would write in my journal? "I met a girl. We talked. It was incredible. But then the sun came up and reality set in." The raven-haired beauty suppressed a grin and Stefan continued, "Well, this is reality. Right here."

His forest green eyes met her soft charcoal eyes and they subconsciously leaned into one another. Once their noses were brushing, Stefan gently pressed his lips to hers. When Nuelle didn't pull away, the Salvatore put his hands on both sides of her face and kissed her deeply.

As Nuelle pulled back for a breath she asked, "What are we?"

"What do you want us to be?" Stefan joked.

"Stefan," Nuelle whined.

"Okay," He placed his arms around her waist, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

The raven-haired latina place one hand around the forest eyed Salvatore's and another in his hair and looked intently in his eyes, "Yes."

Stefan pushed their lips together, and they proceeded to make out passionately.

At least the night ended well for one girl.

not edited

word count: 4, 010 words

italics for thoughts

Hey you guys! So it's been a while. I'm sorry about that. I wasn't planning for that to take so long. I'm in school now, and I'm out of state. I drafted chapters before I left for school, but I left my notebook at home. Expect more.

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