By now, the whole school knew the two of them are dating. Everyone were talking about it, murmuring behind their backs as they walked down the school hallways, acting very childish about it all together.
Everyone were surprised upon hearing Stefan is in a relationship. In a relationship with Elena, who's basically a definition of nobody. Why should that matter? Why does it matter? If she matters to him enough to call her his girlfriend, shouldn't that be the only thing that matters? Since when did real life turn into a cheesy teenage chick flick?
She tried not to let things get the best of her. She tried to ignore the rumors and talks and just enjoy her time with Stefan. He had no problems with what people are whispering behind their back since he's used to it. He's used to all the ugly rumors and made up facts, so he had advised her to just let it go. To become deaf to their words, because they will stop as soon as something else comes along. They're a fresh topic now, and people don't have anything better to do.
Elena realized how better it is to be irrelevant in high school. People just leave you alone. They don't care about what you do and who you're with.
The only people who weren't surprised by their relationship are Rebekah and Caroline. Rebekah said she had seen it coming long before either of them did, and Caroline simply squealed out of joy. Bonnie smiled wearily, but had no clear reaction or opinion when it comes to their relationship. It made Elena extremely sad, the fact her friend can't be happy for her, even if she thinks she's taking the wrong turn. She wished Bonnie could at least pretend she's happy, because the truth is, during her relationship with Stefan, even before they became an item, is the happiest she's been in a very long time.
Sure, she's been frustrated and angry and those emotions often lead to tears, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been happy. Every bit of frustration and anger she felt were only for a moment, because the fact she was happy was stronger than any other feeling. She was only sad it took her so long to realize it, she could have had this much sooner.
This beautiful thing the two of them have.
It's been only a week since they became an item, but to her, it seems like it's been much longer. Maybe a month, or more. Sometimes she has a feeling they were like this since forever.
Kisses feel so natural, like they've been kissing each other for a very long time. It became a routine as much as it is a pleasure. Kissing him is like walking into an ocean. When their lips come close, when her lips are lingering above his, it's like keeping your foot above the shallow part of the water. Where the water is clear and light blue, like the sky. Where you can see how the spot you're going to step on looks like. You can feel the coldness of the water tickling the sole of your foot. And then, you step in, and you shiver. Your whole body is cold, and the change in your body temperature is shocking. That's like when their lips collide. When they start kissing, it's like when you keep stepping deeper into the water. You want to run out of there because your feet are sinking into the sand under you and you feel so cold, you're freezing. That's how the beginning of their kiss feels, like they're going to drown in each other. Every instinct of survival is telling them to stop whatever they're doing because their bodies can't handle that kind of a shock, even if it is pleasurable. Aren't the most pleasurable vices harmful? Every fiber of their being is telling them to continue, because once you're in the water, you only keep looking forward. Because the shore seems so far away, and the ocean is so wide, so everything seems so close. That's when you dive in. You just give up and dive into the water, and once you do, you don't feel cold anymore. You feel warm. You feel like you never want to leave. That's how they feel while kissing. So comfortable, so natural, it feels so right. Like kissing each other is what they've supposed to be doing all along. Once they start, they don't want to stop. Even when the lack of air becomes a problem.
Their hugs are comforting, and he loves to tease her with the tips of his fingers. He likes dragging her to the edge, so close, and then pulling her back. He knows how to do it perfectly, and sometimes she thinks he has more control over her body than she does.
To her surprise, he slipped into the boyfriend role pretty easily. He has no problems with expressing his feelings to her anymore. He kisses her every time he sees her, he also kisses her goodbye. He always reaches for her hand while they're walking together, or puts his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. Her head falls perfectly into the depth between his neck and shoulder, like it's made for her head to fit. He carries her books and compliments her whenever he gets the chance. He makes her laugh and giggle. She never used to giggle. He still makes her blush. He teases her, and she teases him back.
"Hey there beautiful," he puts his open palms on her cheeks, pulling her face closer to his, before he plants a small, delicious peck on her lips. He finds her next to her locker, talking to Caroline, who squeaks when Stefan calls her by a nickname he has saved only for her.
"Hello boyfriend," Elena bites her lower lip, still testing the word. He smiles at her, like he's proud of being called her boyfriend.
"You two are adorable," Elena notices Rebekah standing behind Stefan, looking at her nails, "I'm going to puke," she rolls her eyes.
Stefan remembers hers and Damon's honeymoon phase. It was a little bit different than his and Elena's. It involved more.. physical activity. To his surprise, sex with Elena was the last thing on his mind. Not that he didn't want it, of course he did. But what he had with her was new and different. He knew what sex is like. He doesn't know what every other aspect of the relationship is like.
"You're going to puke?" Stefan puts his arm around Elena's shoulders, pulling her closer to him, cocking his eyebrow at Rebekah, "Shall I remind you that I'm the one who has to put up with your and Damon's sex noises?" he shakes his head in disgust at the memory fresh in his mind. Like it was yesterday.
Oh wait. It was yesterday.
Shock appears on Rebekah's face.
"Yes Damon, right there, harder Damon, oh my you're so good," he mimics her voice, teasing her, before she grunts and starts kicking his free arm.
Elena covers her mouth with her hand, laughing silently. Stefan and Rebekah bicker for few minutes before Rebekah makes him admit she doesn't sound like that at all.
"What are you up to now?" Stefan concentrates on Elena again.
"I'm having lunch with Caroline and Bonnie," she replies.
"Oh," he says, disappointed. "We still on for today?"
She nods in confirmation. She's supposed to help him study for their final Chemistry exam. "I'll be at your place at 5pm sharp," she gets on her toes and kisses him on the lips before she walks away with Caroline.
That ass, he thinks to himself.
"Are you guys free this afternoon?" Bonnie asks while popping a french fry into her mouth, "I thought we could catch a movie."
"I'm free as a bird," Caroline smiles brightly.
Elena frowns. "I told Stefan I would help him with Chemistry today," Elena looks at her friends sympathetically.
"Can't he study by his own?" Bonnie frowns angrily, bringing her eyebrows closer together.
Caroline laughs. "The whole point of having a girlfriend is that you don't have to," Caroline makes quotation marks with her fingers, "study alone anymore."
Elena rolls her eyes. "When I say study, I really am referring to studying," she smiles at Caroline.
"Everyone can learn Chemistry on their own," Bonnie snaps.
Elena tries to stay calm. "Some people can't, they need extra help," she shrugs it off, "I like helping others. Plus, it will do me good as well, the exam is in few days time and I haven't even started."
Bonnie acts like she hasn't heard a thing Elena said. "So, are you going to be one of those girls who choose their boyfriend over their friends?"
Elena slowly starts to lose her cool. "Bonnie, how many times you blew me off for Jeremy?" Elena asks, "We can watch a movie some other day," she says, not seeing where the big deal is.
Bonnie shakes her head frustrated. "It's not about the movie!"
"Do you have something against Stefan?" she asks.
"No!" Bonnie exclaims, "Yes!" she corrects herself, "I mean no, I have a problem with how he treated you!"
"Bonnie.." Caroline says her name as a warning.
"No," Elena hisses through her teeth, "Let her finish."
"Did you forget how you felt the first time he left you? Because you act like you did."
"Of course I haven't," Elena replies honestly.
"You were a freaking mess. You lost your mom, and then you lost him, and he had no fucks to give," Bonnie lowers her voice so no one can hear her.
"I remember, Bonnie," she hisses again, Bonnie's words inflicting her pain. Caroline puts her hand on Elena's knee, for support.
"How can you be with him then?"
"I want to be with him," Elena says determined, "What am I supposed to do?"
"You are supposed not to have feelings for him!"
Elena's eyes widen in shock. "He makes me feel better than anything else in this world. He makes me glad I'm alive. He makes me want to live. How do you propose I give up on that?" she asks surprisingly calm.
Bonnie shakes her head. "He's only going to hurt you again."
"You're hurting me!" Elena says through tears.
"Stop!" Caroline says desperately.
"Remember when you told me about you and Jeremy?" Elena swallows, "Remember how scared you were I will overreact, that I won't accept what the two of you have?"
Bonnie nods at the memory, lowering her look.
"Do you remember what I told you?"
"You can't help who you fall for," Bonnie's voice is dry.
"I was happy for you."
"Yes, you were."
"So, do you think you can be happy for me? Do you think you can at least try?"
Bonnie raises her look, locking her eyes on Elena's.
After few seconds she replies, "Yes."
He kisses her cheek. The lines of her face stiff into a smile, and he can feel it under his lips. He kisses the left corner of her lip, and her smile becomes wider. He smiles as well. He plants a peck on her jaw, and then goes down her neck.
"Stefan," she warns him, "You're not going to learn Chemistry like this," she barely finds strength to object to his actions, since they're much more pleasurable than studying.
He groans.
"Stef," she calls him, the rest of his name getting lost with her breath as he finds that one spot on her neck which sends pleasurable shivers down her whole body, "We have to study," she makes a murmur of words.
"Words on paper make no sense to me," he complains, his lips still on her neck, "This makes more sense," he puts his arms around her, falling down and pulling her with himself, "This is chemistry," he wraps his arms around her waist and presses his lips harder on her neck.
"Mhmmm," she moans, losing all of the strength to object to his words.
She spreads her legs and puts each of them around his body, which allows her to sit on him. He puts his hands on her hips, folding them gently, and she moans into his mouth. Her hands rest on his shoulders, making her chest linger above his.
His hands go down her ass, and once they settle in, she can feel him smiling.
Her whole body becomes hot. All she wants to do is to get out of her clothes. And at the same time, that's the last thing she wants to do.
Their kisses become deeper, wetter, making it harder to breathe.
His hands move under her shirt, tracing the line of her bra.
Her upper body becomes tingly, like she's pressing onto sharp point of a torn.
She also feels pain, like edges of a paper are cutting into her skin.
She never knew pain can be pleasurable.
She never knew the hard feeling in her chest could only make her feel like she doesn't want any weight lifted off it.
She never wanted to lose her breath before.
Her arms give up on her, and she falls on him, his hands still under her shirt. She pulls her fingers through his hair at the moment he cups her chest.
She gasps a little, since the feeling is unknown.
Matt has never done it. No one else has ever done it.
She decides it feels good so she lets him continue.
Her body starts grinning with his. She can feel his solid stomach under hers. He squeezes her chest, but it doesn't feel the same like when he squeezes her ass. When he squeezes her ass, he does it roughly, so she can feel his fingers in her flesh. This feels more like he's massaging her.
"I think we should stop," she says as she detaches her lips from his.
He exhales. "Yeah."
She rolls off of him, and puts her head on his chest.
She knew where this would lead. She didn't want it to. Not now, not like this.
"Is everything okay?" he asks while playing with her hair.
"Yes," she answers.
"Just something Bonnie said," she continues after few minutes of silence.
"Oh?" he swallows.
"She said you will hurt me again."
"I would never hurt you."
"Doesn't mean you won't."
Silence.
"She said you will leave me again."
"Elena, if I ever leave you again, you have my permission to set me on fire," he says seriously, "Better yet, I'm going to set myself on fire."
She chuckles. "I know you're going to one day."
"Never."
"We're 18. This is the beginning of our lives, not the end."
"I said never."
She sighs. She doesn't want to argue with him. She feels too comfortable to argue.
"Unless I find a way to detach you from your ass."
"What?" she asks confused.
"I would never leave your ass."
Elena hits him on the chest, and when he yelps, she chuckles.
They lie in there in silence. Elena almost falls asleep on his chest, but the racket coming from downstairs shakes her up. She can feel Stefan's chest stiffen when they hear voices coming from downstairs. His breathing becomes faster and harder, and he squeezes her closer to him. His fingertips fall into her skin.
She doesn't know if he's trying to keep her safe, or is she making him feel safe. Or both.
The voices become louder. Elena tries to recognize them. She can tell it's not Damon. She remembers Damon can be loud, but his voice is not as rough.
"I thought your parents are not home," it must be his parents, but she wants his confirmation nevertheless.
"Th - they weren't supposed to b - be," he stutters. She can hear him swallow.
She tries to recognize what they're talking about, yelling about, but she can't. They talk far too fast and far too loud for her to recognize any of the words.
"Are they often like this?" she asks.
"Yes," he admits, and then the silence continues. At the room at least.
There's screaming and shattering downstairs. Stefan trembles, and as he does, so does Elena.
"They weren't always like this, you know?" he starts without her having to ask anything. Guess that's what people do in a relationship. They share, because they want the other person to know. They don't want to keep secrets. "It started a little after my dad got his promotion, I think. I was 10 or so when I heard them fighting for the first time. I woke up, thirsty, so I decided to go downstairs to get myself a glass of water. When I came to the hallway, I heard them yelling. When I approached the stairs, the voices became louder. I can't ever remember what they were saying, I wasn't there for too long. The next thing I knew Damon was dragging me back to my bed. He wasn't angry, he was worried more than anything else. He told me it's okay, that sometimes parents fight, and that it won't happen again."
Elena imagines a ten year old Stefan sitting on the top of the stairs in his blue race car pajamas, listening to his parents scream at each other.
"It happened again, though. The fights became more frequent, more louder, more aggressive. I often heard my mom tell my dad to stop yelling, that he'll wake up the kids, but as we grew older, they stopped caring about us hearing what they have to say to each other," a painful laugh escapes his throat, "My dad was saying this family is holding him back, and my mom was asking him time after time why doesn't he leave then, that she never wanted this in the first place. Once I asked her why doesn't she just leave him and she told me 'Love Stefan, love makes you do stupid things, like makes you stay when you want to run'."
Elena swallows a sob. "Is that why you were so skeptical about relationships?"
His fingers get tangled in her hair. "No," he shakes his head, "Well, it probably had some influence on me, but it didn't make me stop wanting things. I didn't give up on love or relationships all together, I just thought if two adults can't make it work, how could two kids ever possibly make it?"
"Oh."
She said. She could understand that.
"I don't think that anymore, obviously."
She smiles and raises her head to look at him.
"Obviously," she says before her lips fall on his.
AN: I do not know how many chapters this story is going to have. All depends on how many ideas I get :)