"The color is hideous!" Rebekah shrieks when her look falls on the dress in the magazine. The girls gathered around to look at some dresses, since none of them still had their Prom dress. They sprawled the magazines over the table in front of the school to decide on the dress each of them wants, since they had a free period. Elena decided it's time for Bonnie and Caroline to meet Rebekah, and to get to know her better.
She did it despite Stefan begging her not to. As much as he agreed that every person needs an annoying, mouthy, opinionated, 'put-my-nose-where-it-doesn't-belong', perky, blonde best friend, he thought it's a bad idea for those two people to meet. They might rock the balance of the universe or something, he said. It's unnatural.
Of course, Elena thought Rebekah and Caroline will get together just fine, without rocking the universal balance, allowing them all to hang out without awkwardness of the first meeting.
"Totally," Caroline agreed while slurping on her strawberry slushie, "Also, look at the shape of it," her brows furrow, "Looks like a turned up cake gone wrong," she giggles at her own comment, making everyone at the table giggle as well.
"Oh wow," Rebekah exhales after she turns the page, "Elena, this dress would look amazing on you!" she exclaims excitedly, turning the magazine around for Elena to see.
Elena's look falls on a beautiful, long, white dress. It is strapless, the top looking like a corset, just without those nasty strings on the back, which are replaced by the zipper, and there are some decorative crystals on the each side of the top. The dress blends with the top perfectly, lightly falling over the legs of a model in the magazine, covering them whole. It looks so light that Elena thinks you probably can't even feel the material covering your skin.
"Only girls with a completely flat stomach can wear this kind of a dress," Bonnie says.
"And curves. Slightly curved hips and popped out bottom," Caroline adds while studying the dress.
"Like I said, it would look perfect on Elena," Rebekah grins in Elena's direction when she notices the glimmer in her eyes. She's sure Elena loves the dress, and can see herself in it.
"Thank you," Elena responds shyly, still not used to getting compliments when it comes to her appearance. "The price, though," she gasps, "My dad would never give me so much money for a dress," she sighs disappointed.
Rebekah looks at the price circled in a blue bubble, and notices it's a little bit too much for a Prom dress.
"Doesn't matter," Rebekah shrugs it off, "I'm sure we can find something similar in the mall," she winks at Elena.
She never actually thought she will be attending Prom. Caroline would go with Tyler and Bonnie with Jeremy and she didn't want to feel like a third wheel. She was fine with staying at home and watching movies or baking or drowning her sadness in some other way. But now, everything is different. She never actually thought she will have a boyfriend during this part of her life. The thought of attending Prom in a romantic sense of words never even crossed her mind.
But now, when she realized this really is happening, and that she really is going, she got excited over it. Maybe even too excited. Much more excited than she had let other people know.
The dress, the shoes, the hair, everything girls usually care about was on the top of her mind.
Caroline was on the Prom committee so she had let them know, before everyone else, that this years theme is Wonderland on ice.
And the dress Rebekah pointed out would look good on her was perfect for the occasion.
Stefan's arms around her waist and his wet torso pressing onto her back pulled her away from her Prom fantasies. They had a football practice for the game tonight.
"Stefan," she says his name through a whine when his sweaty jersey collides with her clothes, "You're all sweaty!" she complains as he plants a wet kiss on her cheek.
Elena notices Tyler does the same to Caroline, but she doesn't complain. She's probably used to it by now.
"Do you want me to take my shirt off?" his arms tighten around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
"No, no, no," she says in a hurry, her eyes widening.
She has this problem. Every time she sees him shirtless, she can't keep her hands, or any other part of her body, away from him. Stefan very well knew that, and he was exploiting that knowledge to the maximum.
He grins, his arms still around her. Then, he raises one of his hands in the air and brings a flower into her view. A daisy. She exhales a silent aww as she takes hold of the flower with her fingers.
"He likes me," she plucks one of the white petals from the flower, "He likes me not," she plucks another one with a smile on her face.
"No, no," she can feel him shaking his head against her back which is when she realizes how wet his hair is, "You're doing it all wrong," he lets go of her waist, and she grunts silently in displeasure because she misses his arms around her, and he gets a hold on the flower.
"Oh?" she asks curiously.
"It should go like this," he whispers into her ear, "He loves me," he plucks one of the petals off the flower, "He loves me a lot," he makes her smile as he plucks the second petal off.
Wine red blush attacks Elena's cheeks as he says those words, before his lips meet the skin of her cheek. She blushes because this is the first time he publicly announced his love for her, and she's not even sure he is aware of it. She's not sure guys pay attention to this kind of stuff, and maybe saying it came naturally to him.
And maybe it's all in her head, since she likes to plan for every moment in order for it to be perfect. Like life is so willing to allow you that. Like life is willing to let you take the control.
"Stefan," Rebekah calls for him, "Before all of us drown in our own puke," she rolls her eyes at how cute they're actually being, "Tell us," she pushes the magazine in front of him, "How do you think this dress would look like on Elena?" she points to the white dress.
Stefan looks at the dress, then at Elena, before a smirk appears on his face. "I think naked would look best on Elena."
Rebekah rolls her eyes, Tyler laughs at his comment, and Elena smacks him on the arm with a threatening look. Maybe she's not ready for this kind of jokes yet. Maybe she will never be.
She turns around and nestles herself in his hug again, indicating that she's not angry. He kisses her cheek to apologize, if there's something to apologize for.
"I think the dress is beautiful," he says after glancing down at it again. "And it would look magnificent on Elena," he looks at her only to catch her furrowing towards her phone again. She sighs and pushes it back into her pocket. "No luck yet?" he asks.
She shakes her head no disappointingly.
"Is there something wrong?" Caroline asks worried.
"No," Elena shrugs her question off, "My acceptance letter just hasn't come yet," she replies silently, lowering her look down.
Stefan was going to Princeton, both Caroline and Tyler to UCLA, Bonnie to Brown. She knew where all of the people she cares about are going to, but she still didn't know where she will be in only few months from now. It was driving her insane, how completely out of her control this was.
"I'm sure it will come soon," Stefan squeezes her closer to him and whispers in her ear.
Elena plants a small kiss on his lips, thanking him for his support. She feels like she would have gone crazy if he hasn't been there for her these past few days.
"Where are you going to?" she asks Rebekah once she realizes she has no idea where Rebekah is going.
"RISD," Rebekah says happily, a wide smile appearing on her face.
"RISD?" Elena asks confused. She doesn't think she ever heard about it.
"Rhode Island School of Design," Stefan fills her in.
Elena's eyes widen. She never thought Rebekah has such sort of a talent.
"I got during the early admissions," she shrugs like it's no big deal, but at the same time she blushes.
"Congratulations," Elena says cheerfully, and truthfully. She really is happy for Rebekah, no matter how annoyed she is with her own problems in that department.
"Did you ask Damon yet?" Stefan directs his question to Rebekah.
She wiggles her lips. "No," she replies silently with a husky voice.
"Bekah, just ask him, I'm sure he won't say no," he uses his supportive voice, one Elena knows very well.
She loves how he is with Rebekah. Sometimes she teases him Rebekah is his substitute girlfriend, minus the sex part.
Her answer makes Elena realize she still hasn't asked Damon to the Prom. Stefan is pretty sure he will say yes. She's not sure is that because he's really sure, or because he's only playing the role of a best friend.
"Man," Tyler finally catches his attention, "We have to reserve the hotel for Florida!"
What the..? Florida? Elena is confused, although she tries to look like she's not. She tries to keep a straight face and her body relaxed.
"Nothing bellow three stars," Caroline warns them, her finger up in the air.
Caroline knows about it too? How come she hasn't mentioned it to her? How come Stefan hasn't?
"Or hostels," Rebekah shivers, "I refuse to share a bathroom with bunch of other people," she huffs.
"We have time," Stefan shrugs off their requests and turns to Elena, "You coming to the game tonight?"
She's too afraid her voice is going to shake if she tries to answer him, so she just slightly nods her head.
"Victory party at my house," Tyler announces before giving Caroline a kiss on the lips.
"You're so sure you're going to win," Caroline cocks her eyebrow in Tyler's direction.
"Of course we are going to win," Stefan secretly taps Elena on the ass before him and Tyler run away towards the locker rooms.
Elena allows her look to linger on Stefan as he moves away from her. Maybe they're not in such a good place she thought they were. Since he's keeping things from her. Well, not as much, since he's talking openly about it, he's simply not filling her in. Maybe he's not making long run plans with her because he doesn't think they will make it. Or maybe he doesn't want his girlfriend lingering around when he's supposed to be with his friends.
She takes her look off of him once she realizes Rebekah had caught her hold on him.
They won. They freaking won.
Not to mention this was Elena's first football game ever. She never had a reason to be at one until now. She was never much into sports, and Matt never asked her to come. Maybe football isn't as big part of his life as it is of Stefan's. Or maybe he never felt the need to share it with her.
Stefan was a really good player, much better than she initially thought. No wonder he already closed his deal with the scouts, they were probably fighting for him like wild animals. They would be crazy not to.
Caroline warned her to come there ready for the party since they will leave for Tyler's house as soon as the boys leave the locker room. Even though Tyler hurried before everyone else and asked Caroline to come with him.
Elena and Rebekah stayed to wait for Stefan and her brother.
Elena decided to wear a tight, dark, sea blue dress and high heels which weren't as high as most of the girls around the school wore. She popped a black leather jacket on the top of her dress since the afternoon was chilly, and once she felt how cold it is on the bleachers she knew she made the right choice.
When she came to wish Stefan good luck before the game she noticed him licking his lips while looking at her walking towards him, so she considered her outfit as little extra motivation for him to.. score.
"Hey there beautiful," he smiles at her as he walks out of the locker room, with some of the guys right behind him, one of them being Rebekah's brother.
He was wearing dark jeans and gray shirt. Even dressed simple like that he still looked incredibly hot.
He had put his hands on her back and pulled her closer to him. Her open palms landed on his chest and she felt his heart still pounding wildly beneath his skin. His lips reached for her, and once their lips locked she felt him smiling, so she smiled back.
He detaches his lips from hers and brings them closer to her ear. "I want you," he whispers to her, "Now," his hands travel from her back to her ass, and he squeezes her lightly.
"You guys ready?" Rebekah says through a cough.
"How badly do you want me?" Elena whispers back to him, her hands traveling over his chest.
"More than anything," he squeezes her ass again, this time more roughly.
Elena smiles. She reaches for his pocket and takes out his car keys out of it.
"You guys go," Elena tosses the keys to Rebekah, "We'll catch up with you later."
"Are you serious?" Rebekah asks astonished, "You're letting me drive your car?"
Stefan never lets anyone drive his car, especially not someone who's as careless as Rebekah.
The car. Elena.
The car. Naked Elena.
Naked Elena.
"Yes," he swallows.
Rebekah squeaks. "I knew your relationship will benefit me!" she exclaims while walking towards the exit.
When he makes sure she's gone, alongside with everyone he promised he will give them a ride - poor fuckers - he whines, "I can't believe I let Rebekah Mikaelson drive my car! She's fucking British!"
Elena laughs as her hands travel from his chest to his crotch. His eyes lock on hers as her hand becomes still on the bulge on his jeans. "I'll make you forget all about Rebekah and the car," she takes his hand into hers and pulls him with her towards the exit.
"Where are we going?" he asks confused.
"To my car."
He furrows his brows. "I thought we are - "
"Oh, we are," she interrupts him in the middle of the sentence while opening the school door.
Is she saying what he thinks she's saying?
Once they get outside both of them notice it's dark. The night fell sooner than both of them expected. Elena's car is alone in the school parking lot. They basically run towards it. Elena opens the back door and scoots on the back seat, making room for him. He follows her, closing the door. Before he has a chance to look at her, she's already putting her leg on his other side, overstepping him, so she can sit into his lap. She has to duck her head a little since the top of her head is touching the rooftop of the car. She doesn't seem to mind, though, since that doesn't stop her intentions.
She peels her leather jacket off of her arms and he notices that the dress she's wearing is strapless. He loves strapless dresses, especially on her, because her shoulders are one of his favorite places to kiss.
Her fingers travel to the hem of his shirt and she pulls it up. He raises his arms in the air to help her.
Once he's shirtless, her lips fall on his chest, and she starts planting kisses all the way down his chest.
He removes her hair, exposing her neck, so he can kiss her there, but he has some problems with reaching the spot he wants to kiss.
"How come you're so flexible?" he asks astonished.
"I danced ballet, remember?" she asks through a murmur, while climbing up his chest with her lips. "I danced it until I was fifteen."
"Why did you stop?"
"They told me I have to lose weight."
Lose weight? Her? Nonsense. She's perfect as she is.
"And that I'm not allowed to eat candy," there's anger in her voice, "I'm not giving up my candy for no one," she tells him as she detaches her lips from his chest.
"That's my girl," he smiles at her.
She smiles back as her fingers work on his zipper. Once she unzips his jeans, she raises herself a little from his lap to pull his pants down.
Once she sits herself back on his lap, his hands fly to her back and he pulls the zipper of her dress down. She takes the dress and throws it on the front seat, exposing her body to him.
His lips fly to her chest, but she pushes him back, pining him to the seat.
"We have no time for that."
He smirks. "Where's it burning?"
"You're not amusing," she rolls her eyes at him. He knows very well where it's burning.
He does as she pleases, though. He grabs the hem of her panties with his fingers and pulls them down. Somehow she kicks them off her ankles.
He pulls his boxers just enough, and before he knows it, she positions herself on top of him.
The first thing she thought is how she got used to him. In the beginning there was no chance in hell for her to position herself on top of him so quickly. It took her some time to get used to him. And now, she did it so quickly, so naturally, and she didn't know is it because they fit so well together, or is it because she's in such a hurry.
She's almost ashamed to admit how much she needs him. How hungry she is for him.
She puts her hands on his shoulder and her face falls into the crook of his neck. He smells like apple and moss and musk, almost reminding her of forest, if it weren't for that aqua scent as well.
She moves her face to his head and inhales the scent of his freshly washed hair. Rosemary. Or at least she thinks it is.
She begins to buck her hips faster with each passing second, and he has to put his hands on her hips to ease her rhythm.
"I," she tries to catch her breath, "Wanted to do this," her eyes lock with his, "For such a long time," a pleasurable smile appears on her face.
He has such beautiful green eyes, she notices. She also realizes how much she loves the way he's looking at her while they're having sex. Like nothing but her exists. He shuts the rest of the world completely off. Sometimes he shuts himself off as well and worries only about her pleasure.
"Lena, slow down," he tries to control her movements, because by this speed she will be sending him over the edge soon, and he's afraid it will only leave her hanging, "You're too fast," he makes her grin as her fingertips travel to the nape of his neck, playing with the ends of his hair.
"I can't," she admits, "Seeing you out there, on the field," she tries to make complete sentences even though her mind is a bungle of words and thoughts, "It did something to me," she bites her lower lip, because it's true. She hasn't even realized it before. She always thought a guy quoting a book is a panty dropper for her. But no, seeing him on the field, all sweaty, wild, that's what gets her all riled up. Or maybe the thing is in him.
Matt was a football player too and he never evoke such feelings in her. Stefan sure as hell does.
"Fuck Elena," he can feel her squeezing around him more often than in the beginning, "You're so.."
Playing football always leaves him horny and hungry. He always understood the hunger, but the drive for sex left him baffled, since football was supposed to take all of his energy.
"I'm so what?" she tries to push her hair away from her face.
"So.." he tries to find the words. All of a sudden he grabs her by the hips so strongly she felt a sharp pain on her skin. "So fucking hot. Hold still," he orders her, taking in consideration the authority of his voice, she listens.
He held her by her hips, strongly, like he doesn't want her to slip away, and then he started pounding into her, making her brain shut down. Her eyes flew to the back of her head, and she felt like there's electricity going through her body.
"Stef," she screams his name, "So close," she starts panting loudly, "Uhm," a wave of pleasure goes through her body.
Her whole body tensed, especially her muscles, which tightened, and then, before she fell onto his chest, they relaxed like nothing happened, leaving her breathing heavily on his chest.
She could feel his heart beating wildly against hers.
"Did you.." were all of the words she managed to say through her strong and frequent inhales.
But he knew exactly what she wanted to ask. "Yeah," he confirmed, "I did."
They stayed in that position for couple of minutes until they regained at least a little of their strength.
"That was amazing," he kisses her neck.
"Mhm. Ruined my hair, though."
"I'm hungry."
"Me too. We should grab something to eat on our way to the party. Burger maybe."
"You're the best girlfriend ever."
"I try."
When they entered Tyler's house, which looked more like a mansion, every person they passed by congratulated Stefan on the victory. All of them greeted Elena, even the people whose faces she couldn't even remember from the school. All of a sudden everyone knew who she is and what her name is.
"I'm going to the bathroom," she whispered into his ear before detaching her hand from his and fighting her way through the sea of people towards the bathroom.
That ass, he smiled as she walked away.
"Stefan!" Rebekah pulled him by the arm, "Did you ask her?" she asked cheerfully.
By the half empty cup in her hand and a huge smile on her face Stefan concluded she already had enough of those.
"First thing first," he took her by the shoulders, "How's the Porsche?" he asked worriedly.
"Oh the car is fine!" she furrowed her brows.
He exhaled in relief. At least she decided to attack the vodka after she left the car in a safe place.
He frowned. "Asked who what?" he went back to her initial question.
"Elena, about the Florida."
"Nope," he shook his head.
He never thought the conversation will be started in front of her before he actually asks her.
"Then what were the two of you doing? I thought you were talking about it," she says, almost too innocently.
He smirks at her. "Something that doesn't require talking."
Wrong. With Elena it requires a surprisingly huge amount of talking.
"Oh," Rebekah makes a disgusted face, "Well, do it soon then," she smacks him on the arm and leaves without saying another word.
He shakes his head. Drunk Rebekah was creepy. Half drunk Rebekah was even creepier.
He decides to go to get drinks for him and Elena. When he reaches the table and takes the two cups in his hands, Katherine jumps him.
"Hey there handsome," she giggles.
Drunk as well. Lovely.
He looks at her. She's wearing a black leather dress and high heels which make her as high as he is so they're at the eye level.
He remembers the time when this look on her used to drive him wild.
Sure, he can admit she looks good. Amazing even. Attractive as hell.
But she's not driving him wild anymore, or evoking hunger in him.
He's perfectly content.
"Katherine," he greets her.
"Where's your little distraction?"
He gives her an eye. "If you're referring to my girlfriend," he pronounces the word proudly, making Katherine cringe, "She's in the bathroom."
Silence. Long, awkward silence.
He has nothing to say to her. He never had anything to say to her.
Her words stay lingering in the air.
She doesn't want them to.
"Why did you never ask me out?"
He looks at her confused, baffled even.
"I never thought you wanted me to ask you out."
"Neither did I."
He frowns. "Katherine, our deal was sex, no emotions. You were fine with it. With not having a relationship."
"I know," her voice is husky, "I was fine with it. In the beginning," she lowers her look, "Why does she deserve it and I don't?" she asks quietly.
He's so not having this conversation with her right now. Or ever. "You deserve it. I simply never knew you want it."
Her eyes brighten up. "If you did, do you think things would have been different now?"
"That's the thing, I don't know."
He really couldn't say. With Elena, he broke so many of his so called rules.
Deep down he knew he wouldn't do it for any other girl but he didn't want to hurt Katherine. It was completely unnecessary.
She looks at him seductively, and he swallows. He knows that look all too well. "Maybe we can try now.." she makes a step closer to him.
"I love her, Katherine."
Katherine looks up at him with a shock on her face. Her eyes widen at the still and serious expression at his face. For a moment there he thinks she will burst into laughter and ask him is he serious, but she doesn't. She just swallows before her look falls down.
And then, she turns around and leaves. Just like that. Without a word.
He shakes his head, grabs two cups from the table and decides to find Elena. First he checks the bathroom, but she's not there. He spends good ten minutes looking for her around the house, and he finally finds her on the back porch, sitting alone.
"Hey," he sits next to her on the stairs, "I've been looking for you," he hands her a cup.
She takes it from him without looking at him. "I've seen you talking to Katherine."
At first, he thinks she's jealous, or threatened, but then she turns her look to him and smiles. "I did not want to intrude, considering what happened the last time," she laughs lightly.
He chuckles. He takes a sip from the cup. Vodka. He hates vodka.
But he needs it.
"So," he stars talking, "When we were freshman's, the bunch of us came us with this crazy idea," he looks at her and notices she's already looking at him, "We agreed, once we finish with school, and before we get ready for college, we will pack our bags, jump into a car and drive to Florida."
Oh, Florida.
"Of course, Rebekah complained, why drive when we have planes."
Good point.
"We had to make her see how that would be the last time all of us will be together for a long time," uneasiness washes over his face.
It's weird, when you watch those popular kids, you have a feeling they're together in that gang just because they have to keep together. Because they're more powerful as a force.
You never think about them as being friends.
At least Elena hasn't. Until now.
"We have to take as much time as we can," Stefan swallows hard. "I have to admit, I disregarded the idea, until Tyler brought it up few months ago."
"Stefan, you don't need my permission to go," she wiggles her lips.
He frowns. "I'm not asking for your permission," he says, almost offended, "I wanted to ask you can I book us a room or will I have to share mine with Rebekah?"
Surprise washes over her face. He's asking her to come along.
"What?" she plays dumb.
"Come with me?" he asks hopefully, "With us, I mean," a faint smile appears on his lips.
"To Florida?"
"To Florida."
"This summer?"
"This summer."
Silence. She's thinking, even though there's nothing to think about.
"I wanted to ask you sooner," he adds, "I just didn't know how."
She laughs internally.
Isn't that always the problem with Stefan? Him not knowing how to say what he wants even when he's sure he wants it.
"Yes."
"You'll come?"
"I'll come."
AN: It seems they have their summer planned :)