DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

June 24th, Forbes & Gilbert residence

Indistinct singing could be heard from the bathroom. Caroline always sang in the shower, it didn't matter if it was in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep. If it wasn't for her pretty voice, Elena certainly would have cut out her vocal cords a long time ago.

It had been exactly a week since the night they met Stefan and Damon, and they hadn't heard from them since. Granted, they didn't exchange phone numbers, they never told them where they stayed, neither did they arrange to meet again, leaving no reason to be surprised.

After applying the last few coats of mascara on her eyelashes, Elena ran her fingers through her wavy hair and stood up from her chair, which was placed in front of her new desk, to walk to her closet to pick out her outfit for today.
Feeling a little edgy, she went for her semi high waisted black shorts, a plain white top, and a black leather jacket paired with her black, high cut Chuck Taylors.

The rest of the exchange students arrived yesterday and they had to meet up with the entire group this afternoon as part of their introduction. Luckily, they weren't the only people who had arrived before the rest of the group, when the girls went out for lunch two days earlier, they had met two guys who happened to be on the same exchange program.

Tyler and Mason Lockwood, cousins, who were both from Virginia as well. At first glance they seemed like nice guys. Caroline particularly took an interest in Tyler, ever since they met she couldn't stop blabbing about him. He's just so gorgeous! She'd say, and Elena couldn't deny that, he was good looking, and so was Mason, though she got the feeling she shouldn't trust him.
Her friend would keep suggesting how they should totally hang out together, but Elena was just glad they didn't have to go to the group meeting by themselves.

"So, I was thinking," Caroline hastened to say, "before we go meet up with Tyler and Mason, we should rent a scooter!"

Elena's confusion led to her narrowing her eyes and giving her friend a half smile, "A scooter?"

"Oh come on! We need some sort of transportation and this just seems a lot more convenient than a car," the blonde started explaining herself, "and besides, it would be so much fun!"

Caroline detected a wide smile starting to form on her friend's face as she considered it for a moment. Seeing eye to eye with Care, Elena walked up to the blonde, who was clapping her hands from excitement paired with the biggest smile she had ever seen on her face, and threw an arm around her shoulder.

"Well then, lets go rent ourselves a scooter."

As Caroline was looking at the model Vespas placed in the store and Elena was discussing the details with the manager, they heard a bell ring as someone entered the shop.

"Fancy seeing you here."

Instantly recognizing who's voice it was, Elena turned around.

"Damon, hey," she said smilingly, tucking her hair behind her ear, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm interested in renting a Vespa," Damon smirked as he looked around the shop, "didn't know they came with a beautiful lady." He playfully cocked an eyebrow as he locked eyes with Elena.

Skeptical about his words, but somewhat flattered, she tilted her head slightly to the side while raising an eyebrow and letting the corner of her mouth curl upwards.

"I saw you walk in here and figured I'd ask for your phone number, I didn't quite catch it last time."

"What makes you so sure you'll catch it this time?" Elena teased.

"Have you seen me?" Damon's hands motioned to his chest as he took a step closer towards Elena.

"Cocky much?" Caroline shouted upon overhearing Damon's overly confident statement, causing Elena to chuckle under her breath.

"Very much." Damon said, putting emphasis on the word 'very', his trademark smirk still marked on his face, never breaking eyecontact with Elena. "You and I are going out tonight. Text me your address, I'm picking you up at nine."

She hesitated a second before grabbing her phone out of her pocket, giving Damon a confused stare as he gently took the device out of her hands and added himself to her contact list, winking at her as he handed it back over.
She raised her eyebrows at the screen as she noticed under what name he added himself. 'Handsome'. She laughingly shook her head, he really was too cocky for his own good.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a brother I have to go see. Nine o'clock, be ready."

Stefan Salvatore's Apartment

"Haven't you heard of knocking?" Stefan let out a deep sigh out of irritation upon hearing Damon enter his apartment.

"If you wanted me to knock, you shouldn't have given me a key to your apartment." Damon smirked, catching the key in mid-air as he playfully threw it upwards.

"Hello, Damon."

Recognizing the voice, Damon frowned before forming an insincere smile on his face.

"Katerina."

Ever since Stefan first introduced her, he hated her guts. The vibe she gave off was simply unpleasant. When he actually got to know her, it became clear why she always brought his mood down. The sheer arrogance of this girl made you want to set yourself on fire.

He made his way to the mini bar and poured himself a bourbon as he watched how Katerina clung to Stefan as if she was a small child who was desperately craving attention. It was the most pathetic thing he had ever seen. No, she was the most pathetic person he had ever met.

"I hate to interrupt whatever it is you're doing here, but I need to talk to Stefan." Damon said, his eyes glazing over to meet hers, "Alone."

The look resting on Katerina's face was disapproving. She hesitated for a second before getting up, deciding dealing with Damon wasn't something she was in the mood for.
"Call me when you're done." She quickly pecked Stefan on the lips and grabbed her stuff, narrowing her eyes to show Damon her annoyance as she walked past him to the front door.

"Well she's always little miss sunshine, isn't she?" Damon smirked after hearing Stefan's girlfriend slam the door shut a little too hard.

"What is it, Damon?" his brother asked.

"We've got a problem," he began, slowly walking towards the couch Stefan was sitting on, "guess who's back and not too happy about your decision to leave."

Stefan tilted his head down slightly, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if to ease a terrible headache, "Father." he said in a hushed tone.

When Giuseppe Salvatore left for Sicily for business, Stefan knew that once they got involved with the Sicilian mafia, he had to walk away from it. The Salvatore's had a reputation, but they were nowhere near as frightening as those guys.

"He wants you to join the business again. And by that he means, you either come back, or you pay the price for leaving." Damon said, staring blankly at his brother, "I suggest you get the hell out of dodge."

Trevi Fountain, Rome

After having met up with the Lockwoods, they arrived at the famous Trevi Fountain, where the group meeting would take place.
Going through her bag, Elena took out her wallet and grabbed two coins, one for her, and one for Caroline.

She took her friend's hand and placed the coin in it, "Here, make a wish."

"You do know that it's not coming true, right?" Mason remarked, laughing at the two girls as they turned their back to the fountain, closed their eyes, and threw the coins over their shoulder.

"Don't be a dick, man." his nephew said.

"Yeah, Mason, don't be a dick!" Caroline repeated, taking a sip from her water bottle.

Elena sat down on the edge of the fountain and started writing in her journal which she always carried around with her. She'd mainly write about her day, and occasionally she'd write poetry, often ripping out the page and throwing it away because she thought it was horribly written. At least, that's what she told herself. She knew it was because it made her feel terrible about her past, that being the topic of most of her poetry, however she didn't want to admit that to herself.

"What are you writing there?" Mason asked as he sat down next to Elena.

"Stuff." she answered him, her eyes fixated on the sentence she was writing before she got interrupted.

Not liking her vague answer, he moved closer towards her and tried to peek at the journal. Detecting what he was doing from the corner of her eye, she nervously started clicking her pen and held the cover of the book up with the purpose of hiding it from him.

"What kind of stuff?"

"Just stuff. It's kind of personal, okay?" Elena averted, trying her best to conceal her annoyance with a half smile as she looked at him.

Her writing was something she did not like to discuss, it made her feel uncomfortable whenever someone noticed her as she was writing and started asking questions about it. Finding herself once again in this situation, she decided to close her journal and put it back into her bag.

Taking notice of her annoyance, Mason took her chin in his hand and told her it was all right and that she could tell him, looking her straight in the eye. Elena flinched back as he came closer, her rejection leaving Mason offended.

"Why be so nice to me at first if you're going to reject me later?"

The shocked expression on Elena's face quickly turned into disgust, she couldn't believe she just heard those words coming out of his mouth. Squinting her eyes and raising her hand at him defensively, she raised her voice to him.
"Just because I'm being nice to you doesn't mean I owe you anything, jerk."

"Okay, look," Mason said, letting out a deep sigh, "you're hot, and I like you. So, go out with me tonight."

Becoming more fed up by his words, Elena rolled her eyes and got up, grabbing her bag and hasting back to Caroline and Tyler, who were laughing and appearing to have a good time together. Determined to go out with this girl, Mason followed behind her. He tried grabbing her arm, causing Elena to fasten her pace.

"Hey, Elena!" Caroline called out, motioning her friend to come sit next to her.

"So," she began as she detected her friend's discomfort, "since you're leaving me for Damon tonight, Tyler and I decided to make plans as well!"

Elena's face lit up with a soft smile when her friend winked at her as a sign of letting her know that she knew Elena wasn't too pleased about Mason making his move. Caroline was excellent at picking up when exactly someone felt uncomfortable, and she always knew exactly what to say. It never failed to work, the blonde proved herself yet again as Elena caught a glimpse of Mason's flusteredness. Thank you, she mouthed.

"Hey guys," Tyler said upon noticing a large group of people, "I think the rest of the group's here."

Forbes & Gilbert residence, 8 hours later

Shit, shit shit! Elena thought as she heard the doorbell ring. Damon was early, it was only half past eight and she was nowhere near ready.

"Care!" she shouted as she quickly put on her black lace dress she had laid out on the bed.

Cursing him under her breath for being so early, she grabbed her shoes and went to look into the mirror to do some quick touch ups. It felt as if her heart could explode out of her chest, she hadn't felt this nervous in a long time. Is this a date? She asked herself. Of course it is, what else would it be?

"Damon! Come in."

"Evening, Blondie," he said as he stepped across the threshold, looking around at their apartment before looking back at Caroline, "are you joining us tonight?"

"Oh god no! I have a date myself," Caroline stated upon noticing him checking out her perfectly dressed up self, "she'll be done in a minute."

Damon smiled at the girl and patiently waited for his date, or whatever he was supposed to call her, to come out and play. He wanted her. Simple as that. No attachments, he reminded himself. His brother, even though a pain in the ass, was the only person worthy of his emotions right now.

It didn't help that Elena looked absolutely breathtaking as she entered the hallway to greet him, leaving his body frozen as he stared at her while she looked up through her lashes, smiling at an awed Damon.

Snap out of it.

"Ciao, bellezza," Damon's mouth curled into its trademark smirk, "are you ready to go?"

AN: I originally promised myself to make this chapter into a long chapter, but I felt like this was a good way to end it, hopefully it'll leave you guys wondering how the date went :)
So, the second half of this chapter will be chapter 4 and hopefully I'll get to finish and upload it by the end of next week!
Thank you so much for the reviews, I really appreciate them. Reading them makes me want to get everything up faster for you guys!
Also, I used Katerina/Katherine as Stefan's girlfriend because I have a few plans for this storyline, and her original name would sound more believable for an Italian lady than Katherine. She also is not Elena's doppelganger!

(Also can we all agree on what a dick Mason is?)