It's been three weeks, and Elena still hasn't talked to Stefan. Yeah, she said she was going to but she just didn't feel like it was a good time. Her store opened and that was going very well, so she wasn't stressed in any way about that. But, she just really didn't know what to say to him.
One Saturday, she was sitting at her breakfast bar when her elevator door opened. She looked over and saw Stefan dressed in casual jeans and a long sleeve shirt with about four buttons at the top that were unbuttoned down to the second to last one and his sleeves rolled up revealing his fore-arms again. "Stefan." She said his name a little surprised.
He smiled. "Hey," He said. She shut her laptop that she was doing some work on and slid off the stool.
"What's up?" She asked, crossing her over her chest.
He laughed lightly and looked down at his feet for a moment. "A few weeks ago, when I kissed you," He started. Elena took a small breath in and waited for him to continue. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out or something I didn't mean to, I just wanted to do something I was always afraid of doing." He told her.
"Why would you be afraid to kiss me?" She asked softly.
"Because I-," He started. "Because I didn't want to ruin our friendship just incase you didn't want to kiss me too, and since you haven't talked to me for a few weeks, I want to know if I did," He said. "If I did ruin our friendship."
She looked away for a moment, deciding on whether or not to tell him about her feelings for him. "I can't believe I'm doing this," She quietly said. "But I need to tell you," She told him a little louder. "I've had feelings for you since seventh grade, Stefan. And the worst thing about that is, I never let those feelings go. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't shake you." She told him. "Did I like the kiss? Of course I did, I loved it, but then I thought to myself, what if he's only doing this because of how I changed? Maybe he just wants to sleep together and ignore any friendship or relationship with me." She kept rambling on. She looked into Stefan's bright green eyes, boring into hers. "I've been in love with you for ten years. But, I never told you because I was afraid it would ruin our friendship, that you wouldn't feel the same for me and then things would get awkward between us and I would lose one of my best friends in the whole world." She finished. Elena searched his eyes, looking for some kind of answer.
Stefan looked straight into Elena's eyes that looked like tears were about to spill out of any second. "Elena," He said. "I didn't kiss you because I wanted to get you in bed with me, I kissed you because I wanted to show you how I really feel about you." He told her. He walked closer to her and put a hand on her cheek. She leaned into it right away and kept her eyes on his. "I love you too, Elena. And you know what? I never stopped since the first time I've met you." Kindergarten class, 1998. She remembered. The little boy who helped her clean up her water that spilled during snack time. That's where all of them met. They had all been in the same class and on the first day just clicked instantly. She smiled and moved her head to look down at her feet, but she wasn't looking down for long. A second later, she felt Stefan's other hand on her other cheek, bringing her face up and soon she felt his lips on hers.
The kiss lasted a good two minutes before both of them broke apart. "What now?" Elena asked him quietly.
"Now," He smiled. "I'm going to ask you out on a date tonight." He told her with a sly smirk.
"Is that so?" Elena asked, returning the same smirk. He nodded down at her and winked. "When?" She said, asking for the time.
"Pick you up here at 7." He told her. Elena nodded. "Good." He sighed. Stefan kissed her lips again but this time it didn't last as long. He pulled away and smiled again. "See you tonight, Lena-bear." He walked away back over to the elevator, leaving Elena there smiling like an idiot. An idiot completely in love that is.
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As Elena was looking through her big closet to find something to wear tonight, she heard a voice from the living room. She knew it was Katherine so she let her come in. "Hey, what are you doing?" Katherine asked as she came into Elena's closet.
"Trying to find something to wear for tonight." She said.
"What are you doing tonight?" Katherine asked her as she ran her hand over some of Elena's clothes hanging.
Elena stayed quiet for a second. "I uh, I have a date." She told her without facing her.
"Oh?" She asked. "With who?"
"Uh," She said. "Stefan." She said quickly. Elena felt Katherine's eyes staring at her.
"Stefan Salvatore?" She asked to clarify. Elena nodded while turning towards her slowly. Elena couldn't read Katherine's expression. It looked like she was trying to decide whether or not to be happy or mad. "I knew it! You guys did have feelings for each other!" She yelled.
"How did you know?" Elena asked loudly.
"Are you kidding me?" She nearly shouted again. "You don't think I'll know when my closest friends are into each other?" She asked.
Elena shrugged. "I only found out he really had feelings for me today. How did you know before me?" She asked.
Katherine rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest before answering. "I could tell. It was either you and him always loved each other or you were going to end up falling in love at some point. Either way, you were going to end up together." She told Elena.
Elena shook her head with a small smile. "Just help me find something to wear." Katherine clapped her hands and started going through Elena's clothes.
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Katherine ended up finding a navy blue Larelle lace dress. Elena approved and put it on. She straightened her hair and put some make up on. Her heels were black and five-inches. Stefan was still going to be taller than her because the first day she was back here, she was in five-inch heels and Stefan was still about two inches taller. "Elena! Get out here! He will be here soon!" Katherine called from the living room. She looked at herself one more time in the mirror before walking out to the living room.
"Do I look okay?" Elena asked worriedly.
Katherine raised an eyebrow at her. "He won't even be able to speak because of how hot you look, E." She said.
"Okay," Elena sighed and smoothed out her dress before walking over to the kitchen table where she left her clutch. "Okay, it's 6:55," She said, checking her phone. "He's going to be here soon, go." Elena moved her arms, shooing Katherine away.
Katherine started backing up and walking over to the elevator. "Have fun!" She yelled over her shoulder before she got into the elevator. Katherine walked off and entered the lobby just as Stefan was waiting for the elevator. "She looks amazing, by the way." Katherine told him, scaring him. He jumped when he felt her hand pat his shoulder. "Make sure to compliment her." She said before she walked towards the front doors. Stefan stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to go up to Elena's apartment.
Elena looked over at the elevator when Stefan walked out in a grey blazer with just a white button down shirt underneath. He had dark blue jeans on that perfectly matched everything. "You look," Stefan started as he walked towards her. His eyes went up and down her body running over her smooth legs and back up to meet her eyes. "Very beautiful." He finished.
Elena smiled at him. "Thank you." She said. "You don't look bad yourself." She winked.
"I try," He said with a smile. "Ready to go?" He asked her. She nodded and they both walked to the elevator together.
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They sat down once they got to the restaurant. "Is there anything knew I don't know about you?" Elena asked Stefan.
"Nope, I'm pretty much the same." He told her, folding his hands in front of him.
She gave him an 'I'm not convinced' face. "There has to be something new about you that I don't already know," She said.
Stefan shrugged and leaned back in his seat as his whiskey was placed in front of him and her white was placed in front of her. They both took a sip right away, needing a drink. "How was LA?" Stefan asked her.
Elena set her drink down and folded her arms on the table in front of her. "It was good. Warm." She laughed. "It was good. There was a lot of people that I met there, and it's a fun city." She told him. He nodded as he listened to her.
They were about an hour into their date and they were laughing and talking and having a great time. Then a girl came over to their table. She was blonde and insanely skinny Elena cringed a little as she saw her arms. "Stefan," The girl said, pursing her lips.
"Uh, hi." Stefan said, almost nervously.
She put her hand on the table turning her back towards Elena and moving as close as she could to Stefan. "I was wondering if we were still on for Tuesday?" She asked him. Her hand was on his shoulder and she was looking at him seductively. Elena widened her eyes and took another sip of her drink. She wouldn't be able to handle this sober.
"Angie. I don't think-," Stefan started to say, taking her hand off of his shoulder. She smirked down at him as her hand was still on the table.
"You know, I've missed you, Stefan." The blonde said. Elena didn't want to remember her name. She was too disgusted and hurt right now by Stefan to care about it. "It's been a while since we last hooked up." She winked at him.
Stefan was very uncomfortable. "Angie, we can't anymore. Just stop." He tried to tell her.
Angie rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, you know you miss me too," Angie smirked. "We've been doing it too long for you to suddenly not like it," She bent down and kissed his cheek. Elena downed her wine and stood up.
"I would say thanks for tonight Stefan, but I'm really not appreciating anything that's happening right now," She said as she started walking away.
Stefan pushed Angie off and stood up abruptly. "Elena," He said, getting her to turn for a second.
She held her hand up at him and looked between him and Angie. "Save it." She said and then left the restaurant. She wasn't going to cry, because there wasn't really anything to cry about. She just took out her phone and called Caroline so that she would come pick her up. After she hung up, Elena stood at the sidewalk, leaning against a pole.
A few minutes later, Stefan came out. "Elena." He said. "I'm so sorry about her, I mean yeah, she and I hooked up a few times, but it meant nothing, I promise." He said.
Elena turned around to face him. "That's the problem, Stefan. It meant nothing." Elena said. He looked at her confused. "You had sex just for fun and all you said when we were freshmen and started talking about all that, was how you wanted to find the perfect girl to have sex. That's what made me love you so much." She told him. "You were so kind and just cared about others all the time. The fact that you just sleep around with twig bitches like that girl, shows me how much you've changed from the sweet, selfless, responsible guy I knew, to whoever you are now." She told him. Before Stefan could say anything, Caroline's car drove up in front of them. "Goodnight, Stefan." Elena said before getting in the car.
Stefan stood there alone on the sidewalk, watching the car drive away. He couldn't believe what just happened. He soon rubbed his jaw with his hands then covered his eyes. What the hell had he done?
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Caroline pulled up in front of Elena's building so Elena could just walk in through the lobby and not the parking garage elevator. "Thanks, Caroline." Elena said quickly before opening the door.
"Stop." She said grabbing Elena's wrist. "What is going on?" She asked.
Elena looked at Caroline with a small smile. "Caroline, can I just tell you tomorrow, not really in the mood right now." Elena said to her. Caroline looked at her to see if she was sure. "Please, Care." Elena asked.
Caroline sighed. "Fine. But, lunch, tomorrow, 12:45. You have to tell me." Caroline ordered. Elena nodded and then finally got out of the car. She leaned against the elevator wall as she was going up to her apartment. All she thought about was how before the date, she thought this was going to end in kisses and getting closer to each other, but it drove her away him just a little. Elena thought that Stefan could hurt her even more for some reason. And that scared her shitless.
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