Elena stomped down the stairs refusing to look at Stefan as she walked out the front door and got into Caroline's car. She drove to town her hand clenched around the steering wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. She found the one grocery store in the small town and went inside grabbing a basket. She grabbed a few snacks automatically grabbing Caroline's favorites but puts them back. After buying food for herself and grabbing a magazine from the rack at the front of the store she headed back to the car.
She was in no rush to get back to the house where she'd have to avoid Stefan's increasingly aggressive advances and plastering on more fake smiles for Caroline. She was tempted to just sit in her car by the side of the road and red her magazine in peace but she knew Caroline would be expecting her. She would just go back to the house tell her to enjoy her time with Stefan while she waited for Damon. She pulled up to the house and gathered up her groceries before heading inside.
Before she had even stared to unload her groceries Stefan was behind her. She had turned around to open the fridge and had stepped into him instead. "Stefan." she said clenching her jaw. "Stop it."
"Stop what?" he said backing her into the counter bracing his hands on either side of her effectively trapping her against him.
"Get off me." she said not bothering to push against him. "I love Damon and you assaulting me isn't going to change that."
"Assaulting you?" he said leaning down into her. "Aren't you being a bit dramatic?"
"Aren't you being a bit predatory?" she said turning away from him. "Please just let me put the food away."
"Fine." he said pulling away from her and heading back out into the living room. She threw the groceries in haphazardly then retreated to her room before Stefan could corner her again. She shut her bedroom door behind her grabbing her phone and dialing Damon.
"I'm on my way back." he said.
"Drive faster." she said.
"What did he do?" said Damon sounding concerned.
"He just won't leave me alone." she said. "I can't step outside my room without him cornering me."
"Then just stay in your room." he said. "And I'll take care of him once I get there."
"Don't." she said. "The four of us have to stay here through at least tonight together. Just come back and the two of us can hole up in my bed until the sun comes up."
"Sounds like a plan." he said and she heard the engine growl as he accelerated.
"Don't crash." she said laughing. "I need you hear in one piece."
"I should be there in an hour." he said. "Stay in your room."
"Love you Damon." she said.
"I love you too Elena." he said. "Now I've gotta hang up so I can break the speed limit and not flip the car over."
"Yeah." she said. "Flipping cars is my thing. Bye." She heard him laugh before he hung up. She pulled her magazine open and flipped through the pages listlessly trying to pretend she was interested in what celebrity was pregnant or the new face of a perfume line. She heard Stefan and Caroline moving around downstairs, her voice floating up the stairs. She tried to tune them out but at the same time she strained to try to hear their conversation. She heard what must have been discussions of their earlier hunt because words like 'chase' and 'catch' were repeated often. She wished she could call Damon and just talk to him until he was at the door but she knew if she distracted him it would take him longer to get there. She finally started reading one of the articles but stopped when she read the first line. Lotsofpeoplethinkit'simpossibletodatetwoguysatoncebutourquickandeasytipsmakeitpossible!Why would the article even exist? She flipped to a less irritating article on how to make your skin glow in 30 days and perused it instead.
She read a few more less inflammatory articles as the sun set and she flicked on a bedside lamp. She was reminded of the summers when she'd stay up late reading her books under the covers with a flashlight until her father would come in and scold her and tell her to go to sleep. She hadn't been back to this cabin since her parents had died and due to the rushed circumstances that had her rushing though the doors she hadn't had time to really think about it.
Now as she looked around in the dimming light she was flooded with memories of the countless days she and Jeremy had spent here with her parents. She thought about Jeremy building forts with couch cushions and blankets and having indoor campouts when it rained. She remembered her father teaching her how to swim in the lake and her mother showing her how to make burgers on the grill.
She inhaled slowly and she realized how much the smell of wood and pine and cool air made her think of her family and she started tearing up. She wiped at her eyes setting down her magazine and pulling the warm plaid blanket up around her leaning against her pillow and squeezed her eyes closed. When she was like this all wrapped up in her old bed it was so easy to pretend she was thirteen years old, taking a nap after a long swim and her mom would call upstairs that dinner was ready any second and for one brief second she wished it was years ago and everything was so much simpler.
"You look like you're about to fall asleep." came a voice from the doorway. She opened her eyes slowly some tired part of her mind expecting to see her father in the doorway. But the dark-haired boy in the tight t-shirt looked nothing like her father.
"Dad?" she said still sleepy.
"Elena it's me." said Damon his eyebrow creasing.
"When did you get here?" she said sitting up.
"A couple minutes ago." he said sitting at the foot of her bed. "Did you say Dad?"
"I was just thinking about the last time I was here and being with my mom and dad and how easy things were and-" she sat up wiping her eyes.
"Hey it's ok." he said moving up the bed to hold her against him stroking her back. "I know you miss them."
"It's not just that, I miss how easy things were back then. I mean I love you, I love this, I love being with you but sometimes... Sometimes I wish the only thing I had to worry about was if we were going to the movies or dinner and not if my I had to wonder who was going to harass me tonight, my exboyfriend who's my current boyfriends brother who's dating my best friend or their ex who might try to take my place at any second." She dropped her head to his shoulder. "And that's without throwing vampires into the mix." He kept running his hands up and down her back as she inhales the smell of his skin.
"Are you sure you don't want to just drive through the night back to Mystic Falls?" he said. "Get away from here?"
"You've been driving all day." she said. "Just grab some food from the kitchen, lock the door and we can hide from Stefan and Caroline until morning."
"I don't care about the drive." he said. "If you want to go-"
"I want you." she said pulling back to look at him. "I just want to lay in bed all night with you."
"Sounds good." he said. "And no need to venture downstairs for food I got it already." he said nodding towards the door where there was a brown paper bag.
"Do Stefan and Caroline even know you're here?" she said.
"I didn't talk to them but my car is outside." he said. "They can figure it out. But you looked like you were about to fall asleep. Just take a nap."
"No," she said. "You just got here and-"
"And I could use a nap too." he said. "Lay down, I'll be here when you wake up." He kicked his shoes off and moved under the plaid blanket with her. She turned to face him kissing him softly, wrapping her arms around him. "Missed you."
"I missed you too." she said. "Oh god we're one of those couples."
"What kind of couple?" he said.
"The kind that after being apart for a couple hours can't let go of each other." she said.
"And I'm kind of ok with that." he said. "Now sleep so we can be annoyingly loud when we wake up and piss off my brother."
"Have I mentioned how much I love you?" she said grinning into his neck.
"Nope." he said. "Go ahead."
"I love you so much I'm going to be extra loud when we wake up as payback for catching him with Caroline in my old house." she said. He squeezed her tight kissing her again.
"I love you too." he said. "Now rest up."
I know it's a short chapter but I wanted to give you all something because I was in a Delena mood.