AN: Let me take my first sentence of this author's note and make it a sincere apology. I had NO idea that I'd let this wonderful story go un-updated for SO LONG! I've been working on it as I can, and I supposed that made my mind think I had it updated. Well, I won't do that again. I've devised this storyline, and I'm EXCITED about it! So hold tight with me! :D
Sending out an SOS.
Sending out an SOS.
Sending out an SOS.
Stefan cringed slightly. Lexi's music was definitely not his flavor. Repetitive lyrics blared across a hidden sound system as he mingled amongst a great many people that found it dance-worthy. He, obviously, did not. He just stuck to his drink.
The impromptu invite had landed on his phone about 230 this afternoon, just after he'd finished submitting an article for the Mystic Falls Gazette. The party started at 8, BYOB. Though someone else had ended up being generous and bringing extras. A make-shift mini bar had popped up on patio outside and people were breezing through in a continuous line.
"Is that Stefan I see?" a voice questioned from some space away. Stefan spun on his heel, seeing the birthday girl herself on the other side of a rose bush, another blonde hung over her arm that was looking a sickly shade of green. She began to haul her across the lawn.
"Lexi!" Stefan grinned. "Happy birthday!"
"Where's my kiss?" she beamed, tapping her cheek as she came closer. "Oh wait. Or spankings. Those sound more fun, don't you think?" Stefan chuckled and gave her that kiss on the cheek.
"You want me to get in trouble?"
"Awe. C'mon. People are giving me belly shots on the bar."
"You mean on the patio table?" She snorted.
"That, for once, was totally not my idea. Just saying. But, this party is rockin'. No denial." Lexi grinned again. A miserable-sounding moan came from the almost-forgotten girl beside her. She wobbled a little in her high-heeled shoes.
"Lex..."
"Oh! Stefan, this is Andy. Andy, Stefan." Stefan nodded in acknowledgment, but Andy barely got a smile out. "She's had a few too many. And then some." Lexi laughed a little.
"Lexi, get me out of here. Please."
"Right, babe. I'm working on it." She looked up to Stefan. "I'm glad you came! Have fun. Mingle. Don't be the stick in the mud I know you are." She winked, hoisting her girl a little more onto her shoulder. "See you later, maybe. And if not, later." Lexi cocked a "you get me?" brow at him and laughed as she toted a very sick Andy towards the house.
"There's hardly a party I've ever been at with her that she doesn't get wasted," trilled a voice. Just to the side stood Elena- Marie -with an amused look upon her face.
"I think I know you," Stefan prodded. "No work?"
"I do. I just swung by here before I went. Glad. I love seeing Andy plastered," she smirked.
"You want a drink?" Stefan hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the somewhat empty table now. Elena shook her head.
"I better not."
"Awe, come on. You owe me. Remember?" Elena pursed her lips, obviously tempted. "You're always working. Have some fun," he pressed. She eyed him, debating on it. Stefan just wanted a drink. Not her blood type. She let out a defeated sigh.
"Okay, fine. One drink."
Stefan found a tub of bottled beer near the back door of the house and saved two for himself and Elena. She'd found a place to sit on the grass, away from the trio that had decided on turning the bar into a beer pong table.
"So, how old is Lexi, might I ask?" Stefan said as he found a spot beside her, offering her one of the bottles in his hands.
"You didn't hear it from me, but she's 27."
"I feel like I"m in college all over again." Elena laughed, easily able to see that.
"Lexi's parties are not to be missed. Last year Tyler Lockwood had to be taken to the ER after he fell off the balcony." Elena snickered at the memory, almost reveling in the idea of him in pain. Maybe it made her bad, but she really didn't care.
"That was here? It was all over town."
"Yep. And Tyler spat out gravel for a month." She laughed a little more, but quickly closed her mouth before she sounded too thrilled.
"That totally sounds related to Lexi," Stefan chuckled.
"So," Elena started after wetting her mouth with her beer, "Are you coming to the club later? Special show tonight." Stefan turned the bottle he held, shaking his head.
"Nah. I've got too much work to do." Elena glanced over to him, curious.
"What are you writing about, anyways? To spend all that time you did last Sunday, it must be good." Stefan shrugged almost nonchalant. He was at the point that he was about to give up with it. He just couldn't get words on pages anymore. Not when they made sense.
"It doesn't matter. I can't get a decent line of events going for it to make sense." He laughed, dry, but Elena still pressed.
"On c'mon, Stefan. Tell me."
"Don't you know that curiosity killed the cat?"
"Mhm. I'm nosey, too. I guess I'm just a full package." Elena smiled playfully at him, and he stared for a moment.
"Tell you what," he threw his empty bottle at the garbage can beside him. It landed precariously on the top, wobbling but there. "When I get some of it put together I'll let you read it. Deal?"
"Deal," she nodded, obviously pleased with his barter. "And when it's a bestseller, I want my copy signed. Got that?" Stefan chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. Like that'd ever happen.
"Sure. One step at a time, though." Beside him, Elena upturned her bottle in search of one last drop and huffed when there was indeed no more. He held out his hand, taking it and skillfully landing it with his on the top of the growing trash pile.
"Another?" he asked. Elena shook her head, weaving gruffly manicured fingers through her curls to fluff them out. She'd kill for another. But priorities.
"One was enough. I can't go in klutzy. Klutzy's not sexy."
"Depends on who you ask," Stefan smirked. Elena rose a brow at him.
"You're one of those with the weird tastes. I see." He rose his hands in mock surrender.
"I'm just stating a fact. That's all. Nothing with me being weird." Elena watched him for a moment as he leaned back on his elbows in the grass. What was it with him?
"I have to go," she spoke as she saw her watch. The hand was nearing ten-thirty and she had to be at work and ready for the stage by eleven. "Joys of being a showrunner." Stefan got to his feet and reached back down, kindly offering his hand for her to take.
"Let me walk you to your car," he offered as her feet planted back onto the ground.
"Oh, no, Stefan. I'm fine," she smiled, surprised at the gesture. "Thank you, though."
"Alright." He nodded, watching as she brushed grass from her jeans. "And by the way, you still owe me that drink."
"We just /had/ a drink." She pointed at the two bottles he'd just thrown, a smart smirk on her lips. "Bye, Stefan." Stefan, silently applauding her snark, laughed lowly and reached out. He took her hand in the most gentle grab just as she started to walk away. She turned back to him, rolling her eyes just a little.
"That doesn't hardly count. C'mon. Give me a chance. Just one." Elena pursed her lips, thinking, before meeting that mossy, hopeful gaze.
"Donovan's, tomorrow night at six." She smiled coyly at him and then pulled her hand out of his, running later already, and disappeared into the crowd.
"C'mon! Tell me, stud. Did you get her? Did you break the bitch wall that /is/ Marie of the Turve?" Lexi hung on the edge of her seat, just now getting wobbly from all the booze she'd drank the past few hours. People were beginning to dwindle, some leaving in cars and cabs, others passed out on on the lawn or couches inside. The place was wrecked, and Lexi wasn't caring a single bit. This was what she loved. And what she loved even more were the details she was trying to pry out of Stefan Salvatore.
"She can be a bitch, but I don't know about a wall." He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "She's a nice girl. I wouldn't mind getting to know her." Lexi huffed, patting Stefan's hand in an understanding, soothing way.
"Okay, sweetie. That's fine. But you still haven't answered. /Did you get a date with her?/" Stefan sighed, Lexi's patience- and boozy attitude –cutting into his.
"I'm meeting her at Donovan's tonight. Just drinks and getting to know each other. That's all." Lexi snorted, knocking a red solo cup over with a flick of her finger.
"You must be something special. Do you /know/ how many people have vied for her?"
"She's a stripper, Lex," Stefan pointed out dryly, looking to the watch on his arm. It was almost two in the morning. "But that doesn't make her any less of a person." Lexi propped her chin against her palm, blue eyes sagging with a mixture of exhaustion and intoxication.
"It's guys like you that make lesbians like me wish I were straight." Stefan laughed and rose from his seat.
"Don't let Andy hear you say that." He pecked Lexi's flushed cheek, the Southern Comfort she'd downed starting to get to her. "Happy birthday." Lexi smiled.
"Thanks, stud. And hey, if you get anywhere on this with her, you owe me cash. I know you're gonna." She weakly punched his arm.
"I'll keep a stack of bills with your name on it," he chuckled.