Reminder that this fanfic got deleted, and I'm not allowed to post it all up again. If you want to read more, please check it out here: archiveofourown(.org)/users/Saralena/works
Chapter 13 is now posted up! :)
Thanks for all the support, guys. Much love~
After school the next day, Bonnie and I were making our way down to the football field for cheer practice. I hadn't so much as stretched all summer, so it felt weird to be in the uniform again. I paused at the top of the hill, watching the lines of girls already starting to warm up on the field.
"Are you going to be okay?" Bonnie wrapped an arm around my waist and I leaned over to rest my head on her shoulder. Even though it had been months since the death of my parents, everything I did, everyone I saw, and everywhere I went still reminded me of them, and of course it would be wrong to forget. But I had to start moving on, or rather moving back to my old life. Old Elena was fun. She liked parties and cheerleading and making out with Matt in the locker rooms between practice.
"Me and Stefan kissed last night." The words came out suddenly, surprising myself as well as Bonnie, who immediately pulled away from the hug and presented me with one of her biggest smiles.
"Me and Care have totally been calling this since that party last week! You two make, like, the hottest couple."
"He gave this to me too." Even though I was in uniform, I still had Stefan's silver necklace laced lightly around my throat. Bonnie leaned forward and picked it off the front of my shirt, letting the pendant roll around in the palm of her hand.
"Wow, it's gorgeous. And it looks really old—like some family heirloom or something. Guess you guys are definitely official now."
I nodded in response, something at the pit of my stomach wondering how Matt would take the blow. We'd been broken up for a few months, but he was still one of my oldest friends and it was quite apparent that he still possessed feelings for me. I let out a breath and forced myself to shove any negative or anxiety-inducing thoughts down my throat, and let them settle in a dark corner of my core where I wouldn't be able to revisit them until later. There was only time for positivity in cheer practice, after all.
"I'll race you down the hill, Bon!" I took a head start as soon as the words escaped my mouth, and started to spring down the steep little hill, soon feeling the ground level out beneath my feet as I joined the rest of the cheer squad. Bonnie came in panting beside me but a moment later, jokingly mumbling something about me being a dirty rotten cheater.
The two of us sat on a clean-cut patch of grass to start our stretches, and Bonnie attempted to check her text messages and she reached to touch her toes.
"No word from Caroline yet?" Bonnie shook her head at my question, and worried creases appeared on her forehead as she typed out yet another text message to send to the girl. Caroline Forbes had never missed a day of school in her life, so by second period today, Bonnie and I had decided that she had to be either dying or already dead.
"Whoa." As Bonnie twisted around to put her phone back in her bag, her mouth fell open in shock. I followed her line of sight down to the nearby parking lot, where the purr of an engine accompanied a slick black convertible. It came to a smooth stop at the curb, and out jumped, who else, but Miss Caroline Forbes herself from the passenger seat.
"Oh my god… That must be the mystery guy she disappeared with last night." Up until that very moment, I had heard no mention of the so-called mystery guy, let alone that she'd gone home with him. As Caroline sashayed from the vehicle, I craned my neck to get a better look at the driver. Even from the short distance away I could see that he was muscular, with a thick head of black hair. He turned back towards the field, and seemed to be staring right at me. The man slowly, yet purposefully removed his sunglasses, never breaking my gaze, and my stomach did a nervous little flip.
"That's not a mystery guy, Bon. That's Damon Salvatore." I kept my eyes on him, partially from fear and partially from curiosity, as I watched Caroline start to head towards us.
"Salvatore!?" Bonnie jumped to her feet, pulling me up with her and grabbing me by the shoulders so that I faced her. "As in Stefan?"
Caroline made it to our sides, and approached us, a wild smirk on her face. She was one of my best friends, and had been since I was just a kid, but in that moment she made sure to catch my narrowed eyes and shoot back a prissy little glare of her own.
"I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind." The blond-haired vixen brushed past us after the comment had left her lips, and disappeared into the crowd of girls, immediately starting to call out commands. Bonnie was laughing, and shaking her head at the hilarity of the whole situation. What were the chances after all, that two best friends started dating two brothers, right? Bonnie gave one last stretch to the sky before she started to make her way over to formation, shooting me a Caroline will be Caroline look over her shoulder. Before I fell in place with the group myself, I waited for a moment, swiveled back to see the convertible again.
Damon acknowledged my attention towards him with a wink, and this sultry little smirk that left my cheeks burning bright red against my will. He propped his sunglasses back onto his face before revving the engine, and disappearing around the corner.
Thanks to the combination of not practicing for a few months, along with the surprise of Caroline dating Stefan's older brother, my concentration had been thrown for the rest of practice. After a few miserable attempts at my trying to keep up with the routines, Caroline had put me in the back of the group, and eventually moved me straight to the bench.
I slumped against the wooden seat, and craned my neck up concentrate on the clear sky. Old Elena wouldn't have been distracted so easily. She would've been able to get through practice no problem.
I stood up and started to walk across the expanse of grass, towards the others side of the field. I stole a glance over one shoulder to make sure none of my teammates were watching me escape. Even if Caroline did notice me, which probably wasn't likely as she was so wrapped up in practice, she definitely wouldn't have missed me,
On the other side of the field, football practice was just ending, and I spotted Stefan making his way back to the school locker rooms. With the memory of last night's kiss freshly resurfacing in my mind, I let myself become a flurry of warm, happy feelings, and jog up to him.
"Hey." My call was enough to get him to turn around, and he smiled. By the time we'd reached each other, the other football players were gone inside, and we were alone on the field. I reached up to touch a hand to the side of his face, and he made a move to take it away.
"I'm all sweaty."
"I don't care." I reached up on my tiptoes to meet his lips, wanting more of a deeper, hungrier kiss, but all I got was a little peck on the lips, despite the fact that I hung onto the back of his neck for a few moments after that. I felt a bit dejected, but instead of letting it get to me, I decided to flip the situation around.
"You haven't been able to meet my friends yet. You should come over for dinner tonight! We can all hang out."
He seemed to roll the idea around in his mind for a long moment, before finally giving in and agreeing.
"Great! I'll see you tonight! Around 7:00?" In a much better mood, I turned to skip back to cheer practice to tell Bonnie, but Stefan's gentle arm held me back.
"Elena, you'd look absolutely stunning with curly hair." It was a weird comment, completely out of the blue, even a little off-putting. Either way, I decided to take it as a compliment nonetheless. I waved to Stefan and blew him a kiss as I twirled back through the bleachers.
That night, after several attempts at cooking something edible, even with Aunt Jenna's help, Bonnie and I caved and ordered takeout. Without needing to cook a big meal before Stefan arrived, we had a bit of extra time, so I ended up dragging my friend upstairs and begging her to curl my hair.
After much convincing on my part, I had myself seated in front of the small vanity in my bedroom, with Bonnie working away at my hair from behind. As she shaped the thick ringlets around my face, I worked on my makeup. I filled in my eyebrows, put on black eyeliner, and a deep colored eye shadow that swooped across my lids like a bird's wing. I finished off the look with a dark lipstick as Bonnie continued to shape my hair.
"Why couldn't Caroline come again?" I bent close to the mirror, painting on some last minute mascara.
"Something about already having dinner plans with Damon. You know how Caroline gets with new boyfriends…" Bonnie's words trailed off as she let the last curl fall against my back, and leaned down to unplug the curling iron from the wall. "Wow."
"What? Is it too much?" I fussed with myself in front of the mirror, and before Bonnie could answer there was a polite, yet loud knock at the door. We both stood and made our way downstairs to answer it.
"You look great."
Dinner went way better than expected. Stefan had his eyes on me all night, and he complimented both my hair and makeup multiple times, making me ask myself why I didn't make myself look that good all the time. After we'd finished supper, I volunteered to take everyone's dirty plates to the kitchen, and stood to start collecting them. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
My eyes connected with Jenna, silently asking if she was expecting anyone, but she only shrugged. I left the small pile of plates of the edge of the table to make my way over to the front door.
"Surprise!" Caroline was all sunshine and smiles, and pushed herself past me and inside the house. "We brought dessert." She stuffed a slightly disheveled pie into my arms on her way by, and skipped the rest of the way inside to greet Bonnie.
"I hope you don't mind, Elena." Damon stood on the doorstep, his eyes all innocent and his smile nothing but welcoming. I felt Stefan come up behind me, and maneuver his way around so that he stood positioned in some sort of protective stance against Damon.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan's voice was low and emotionless, and I saw the muscles in his back tense up and ripple beneath his shirt.
Damon, on the other hand, seemed to just brush off his brother's disdain towards him, and kept his eyes glued to me.
"I'm just waiting for Elena to invite me in." I shrugged, and tried to poke my head around Stefan's shield of a body.
"Oh yeah, you can—"
"No, no. He can't… he can't stay." Stefan cut me off and put up his hands on either side of the doorway to further block me and Damon from interacting. "We're just finishing up anyways."
"Damon, it's fine, just come in." I turned my back on the feuding brothers to make my way back to the kitchen, this time not forcing myself to hold back as I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to get in the middle of whatever was going on between them. So, if Caroline was dating Damon, then he was welcome in my house as far as I was concerned.
"You have a beautiful home, Elena." Damon had somehow pushed past his sibling and come up beside me. His shadow was long enough and perfectly positioned to fall across me, and cover my view in a dark shade. Stefan had frozen in the open doorway, obviously angry.
"Thank you."
While Bonnie served the pie, I left Stefan to cool off by the door as I took the dinner plates into the kitchen. I set them on the counter, then moved to fill the sink with warm, soapy water.
"I got one more." Damon's husky voice caused me to turn around, and he tossed a mug at me. I panicked, and missed the throw, but he was faster and ducked down to grab it before it could even come close to the ground. I laughed as he returned it safely to my hands, and gave it a little pat.
"Thank you. Nice save." We were both smiling.
"I like you, Elena. You know how to laugh. And you make Stefan smile, which is something I haven't seen in a very long time."
"Are you talking about… Katherine?"
Damon rolled his shoulders back a little, and tilted his head to one side. He eyes narrowed a little, not in a threatening way, but curiously.
"Why did they break up?" I knew I was being nosey, but I couldn't help but ask.
"She died. In a fire. Tragic fire." My heart sank a little, and I felt a flash of pity towards Stefan.
"What was she like?" The questions kept rolling off my tongue, but my voice was quiet, not quite a whisper, with my words rising and falling in genuine curiosity.
"She was beautiful. A lot like you in that department." I felt myself go red instinctively, and hoped he hadn't noticed. "She was very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but she was sexy, and seductive."
I wanted to bite my tongue, but against better judgement, I tipped my chin up to look at him and spoke one last question.
"So which one of you dated her first?"
"Nicely deduced." A tight smile stretched across his mouth. "Ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine." I turned back towards the dishes and brought them into the hot water to soak. I felt Damon approach me from behind, and I saw him lean against the counter top beside me.
"And Elena," I turned my attention back to him for a moment and his eyes glanced over my face. He stretched out a hand and took one of my ringlets to wrap around his finger. "you don't need to change yourself for anyone. Know that."
"I'm sorry about Katherine, Damon. You lost her too."