Summer passed too quickly. Ever since they came back home from Florida, time started flying by. Days seemed shorter, minutes turned into hours, but they say that's what happens in good company. The hardest time, which seemed the longest to both of them, is when Stefan and Rebekah went to visit Damon in Providence for a week and Elena stayed in Mystic Falls to keep Jeremy company. Even though they talked every day, sometimes even more than once, departure fell hard on both on them, and their meeting was more than intense. Which is when both of them realized they're too dependent on each other, but too in love to care.
And then time to leave for college came. Bonnie came home only once, to pack the rest of her things, but she didn't want to see Jeremy. Even though he seemed sad about it, Elena thought how he doesn't want to see her either. Rebekah left almost a month before the rest of them and Stefan missed her more than words could express, so he didn't talk about it, but he knew Elena can tell when he's thinking about his best friend just by the look in his eyes and the silence the memories provided. She wasn't jealous, she was sad, because she missed Rebekah as well. Caroline and Tyler left few days before them, to the other side of the country. She knew she won't see Caroline until the next big holiday when they all go back home to Mystic Falls. There's a bigger chance of seeing Bonnie or Rebekah since they're closer to her.
Jenna cried as she watched her pack her things. She kept saying how fast she grew up, and how she remembers her first steps and words. In the end she hugged her and told her that her mom would be so proud of her and how she became everything her mom hoped she would be. Unfortunately her dad didn't manage to be there but Elena wasn't mad, not this time. Because this time she knew he at least tried.
They have put their luggage in Stefan's Porsche, said goodbye to their families and drove off to New Jersey. Once they arrived to campus they sat in the car for few minutes, watching what's before them. A row of huge buildings, each assigned for something. Even bigger lawn in front of the buildings crowded by students. Everyone are in their own groups, and it reminds both of them of high school. Apparently some things never change.
"So, here we are," he breaks the silence, pulling her away from the view in front of them.
"Here we are," she repeats his words, nodding slightly.
"What's the plan?" he asks with a fearful look in his eyes.
"We have to find a table for freshmen" she puts her hand on his, intertwining their fingers, "I think that's where they give us the plan of the campus, our room number, basically everything we need," she tells him gently once she notices how much this scares him. Much more than it does her. He doesn't like change, nor is he used to it.
He nods at her before smiling in her direction. She leans in and gives him a peck on the lips.
"I love you," she reminds him after detaching her lips from his.
Her voice vibrates on his lips, and he can feel her hot breath on his face.
He nods slightly, their lips scraping against each other.
"I love you too," he whispers to her.
They get out of the car, pick up their luggage and go to find the table for freshmen with further directions. Once they do, a cheerful girl gives them a pile of papers with instructions to follow. They are in different dormitories, he's in the building C, and she's in the building A. They share one more kiss and make plans of seeing each other once they settle in, which will most likely be tonight, and each go their own way.
Once Stefan finds his dorm building, and more importantly his room number, his roommate is already in there, sprawled across the bed on the left side of the room, tossing a football in the air. The left side of the bed is already decorated, almost feels like home. There are covers on the bed, the table is full of books, and there are personal things on the shelves. The right side of the room is naked, untouched, waiting for him.
When he opens the room door, a tall, buff guy with a sandy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, a guy that reminds him of Matt Donovan, gets up from the bed and sits on the edge. There's a smile on his face as he points at Stefan, the ball still in his hand.
"Stefan Salvatore, quarterback from Mystic Falls," he says proudly, a dopey smile on his face.
Stefan's bag falls from his shoulder on the floor. "Correct," he smiles, walking to the guy and stretching out his hand to him, "Unfortunately, I haven't done my homework as well as you did," the guy grabs his hand and shakes it strongly.
"Seth, linebacker from Carson City," he introduces himself, "I hear we're the first two ones the scouts found," there's a certain amount of pride in his voice.
"Out of five? How very impressive from us," Stefan smirks, making Seth smile.
"I have to admit, I was worried you will be some big headed guy who is used to the star status in his city," he voices his concerns, and Stefan thinks how he never thought of himself as a star, "But I think we will get along pretty well," he says through a laughter.
Stefan nods in agreement, Seth actually seems like a cool and laid back guy.
"I think I'll love it here," he hums, leaning back onto the bed, "Football, easy curriculum," he gets Stefan's attention, "College girls," he wiggles his eyebrows in Stefan's direction.
Stefan laughs, pulling his fingers through his hair, "Yeah, the football part is amazing," he says, pleasure evident in his voice, "But the other two," he bites his lower lip.
"Oh?" Seth frowns.
"No college girls, I have a girlfriend," he says with a smile on his face, thinking how he doesn't need any college girls as long as he has Elena, "And no easy curriculum, she wants me to have a full college experience and stuff," he rolls his eyes when he remembers Elena saying she knows how much he loves playing football, and that he should do what he loves, but that he should listen to as many lectures as he manages.
"Oh man," Seth chuckles, "You must really love her."
"I do," Stefan says instantly, a wide smile on his face. Loving Elena was like a reflex, like stretching out after a good night sleep, and sharing that with other people felt relieving.
"You have a picture?" Seth cocks his eyebrow in Stefan's direction.
Stefan laughs, but pulls the phone out of his pocket and throws it to Seth. Seth catches it in mid air and looks at the screen.
His lips part slightly. "She's hot."
"Man, you have no idea," Stefan says as he catches his phone that Seth throws back to him.
"So," Seth rubs his palms together, "Did you put any thought in joining a fraternity?"
Stefan shakes his head no. He knows Damon tried to get into one, but failed to do so.
"I was just about to check them out," he jumps on his leg from the bed, "They're all hosting parties to lure the initiatives in this weekend. Wanna come with me?"
Stefan ponders on it a little bit, but nods in confirmation after some time, "Sure. Just let me unpack."
Elena barely gets her luggage to the fourth floor, dragging it behind herself through the hallways crowded with freshman's. People are rushing in and out of their rooms, curious to see what's going on outside, ready to explore their newest place of living for the years coming. She is not that eager to do so. All she wants to do is settle in her own room and reunite with Stefan. This change of environment fell harder on her than she cares to admit. She's too scared things will change now, once they settle into their new lives, find new friends. They're so different, they will barely move in the same circles. They probably won't even have the same classes. They will start seeing each other less and less until..
When she pushes the door of her room open, the first thing she sees is a tiny girl standing on the bed on her toes, trying to put some poster on the wall beside her bed. Everything is so colorful. From the purple cover on her bed, to the clothes she's wearing. Colors are having a fight on her body, especially that orange shirt and light pink skirt. She has a pretty strawberry blonde hair with few grass green streaks on it. Her shelf is full of books, and from what Elena managed to see, most of them are about art. Makes sense.
The girl turns around and Elena notices a bunch of orange freckles on her pale skin which go in tone with her strawberry blonde hair. Those are probably the only things in tone on her body. She's wearing thick black glasses which are too big for her head, but look surprisingly good on her.
The girl drops the poster and jumps from the bed, walking towards Elena with a wide smile on her face.
She stands on her toes and throws her arms around Elena's shoulders, pulling her in for a hug.
Oh, new Caroline. How lovely.
"Welcome," the girl says while releasing Elena from a tight grip, "I'm Anna," she fixes her glasses which fell on the tip of her nose, "I took the left side of the room, I hope you don't mind."
Elena smiles warmly. "Not at all," she starts pulling her luggage in the direction of her bed, "Elena, by the way," she introduces herself.
"Pleasure," she smiles, "My, my," Anna says amused, "That's a lot of luggage," she follows Elena.
She sounds just like Stefan, but Elena laughs lightly anyway.
"Clothes," she shrugs.
Anna huffs disappointingly. "Don't tell me you're one of those sorority girls," she whines.
Elena laughs out loud while shaking her head no. "I just happen to like clothes," she smiles at Anna, "Besides," she taps one of her suitcases, "This baby is all books."
Anna's eyes widen at the size of the suitcase, "You have so many books?" she asks in disbelief.
Elena smirks. "These are the ones I can't live without, I left the rest at home," she unzips the suitcase and starts placing the books on the shelf.
"Wowza," Anna says while looking in her suitcase, and Elena laughs at her expression, "So, where are you from?" she asks curiously.
"Mystic Falls," Elena replies, but notices a confused look on Anna's face, "Small town near Atlanta," Elena provides her with more information.
"Nice," Anna comments, "I'm from Jacksonville, Florida."
Florida. A wave of pleasant memories comes rushing down Elena's mind.
"I've been to Florida this summer," she says with a huge smile on her face.
"Oh?" Anna asks curiously, going over her books.
"I went with my boyfriend and couple of friends to Miami."
"Oh," Anna exhales, "You have a boyfriend?"
Elena nods in confirmation.
"It must be hard, being away from him," Anna wiggles her lips.
"He's here with me," Elena announces happily, "We got into the same college."
"How sweet," Anna exhales through her nostrils. "Listen, my brother, who is two years older than me, goes here as well and he promised he would show me around. I'm supposed to meet him in few minutes, wanna come?"
Elena ponders on her offer for a moment until she realizes there's nothing to think about. She doesn't have anything better to do anyway. She can unpack later and then meet with Stefan.
"Sure," Elena accepts, thanking her for the invitation.
"Let's go then," Anna grabs her bag from the table and starts walking towards the door.
They walk towards the exit in silence, fighting their way through the sea of students.
"There he is!" Anna exclaims once they make it out, pointing towards the guy sitting on the bench, "Come on!" she grabs Elena by her wrist and starts walking with a running step towards the bench.
When they approach closer Elena gets a better chance of seeing Anna's brother, which is when she concludes she would never tell those two are related. His hair reminds her of Stefan's, everything except the color, which is coal black, much like Damon's. He also owns Damon's piercing blue eyes, so when he looks at her, at the girl his sister is dragging behind, she has a feeling he's looking through her, not at her. He has a wide jaw, and a set of shiny white teeth Elena notices once he smiles at his sister. When he stands up from the bench Elena is surprised by how tall he is, much taller than Anna. Anna could step on her own shoulders and would be barely as tall as he is.
"Anna," he greets her by giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi brother," she greets him back, slowly letting go of Elena's wrist, "This is my roommate, I told her she can come with."
He looks at Elena who is clutching awkwardly to the string of her purse.
"Lucas," he stretches his hand out to Elena.
Elena takes his hand and shakes it. "Elena," she introduces herself.
"So, we should get going," Anna clings to her brothers arm as he says so, and Elena strolls behind them.
Stefan calls her around 6 in the evening to let her know he's free, so she agrees to meet him. He proposes they go to dinner which she gladly accepts since she's starving. She didn't have anything except a sandwich for lunch.
"How is your roommate?" she asks curiously as they sit down by the table by the window.
"Awesome," Stefan nods, "He plays football as well. He says you're hot," he smiles in her direction.
"Well, I like him already," she grins at him, making him squint at her. "How is your roommate?"
"She's okay," Elena wiggles her lips while going over through the menu. She can hear her stomach growling. "Artistic. Touchy."
Stefan nods in understanding. "What did you do for the whole day?" he stretches his hand across the table and places it on top of hers, slightly caressing her. She smiles upon feeling the touch of his skin on hers.
"My roommates brother is studying here as well so he gave us a tour over the campus," she intertwines their fingers.
"Brother?" Stefan knits his brows together.
"Mhm," Elena wiggles her lips since she can feel jealousy pouring out through every pore of his body, "He's two years older, majoring in Sociology."
"Is he hot?"
Elena looks at him before chuckling. "He's pretty," she shrugs, "Pretty in a way you wouldn't be surprised if you saw him leaving the house with eyeliner," and she's not into that sort of guys. When she comes to think about it, she doesn't really have a type. Her type is Stefan and she's pretty sure he's one of a kind. "What did you do?"
He relaxes upon hearing those words. He's only jealous because he's afraid someone might steal her away from him, they would be crazy not to try. And it's not that he doesn't trust her, he doesn't trust other people.
"Me and my roommate went to check out some fraternities. I'm thinking about joining one," he admits.
"Fraternity?" she eyes him wearily.
"Yeah, there's one almost all football players join, I forgot how it's called. Some Greek letters," he shrugs, catching her look with his, "You don't think it's a good idea?" he asks.
"No, no," she shakes her head, "I think it's a great idea," a smile appears on her face, "You should do whatever you want to do and whatever makes you happy," she squeezes his hand with hers. "Wait," she frowns, "This doesn't mean I have to join the sorority, right?" she asks in panic.
He laughs out loud. Elena in sorority. Now, that's something he would pay good money to see. "No," he says, and she exhales in relief.
"Good, because I was thinking about joining a book club," she smiles at the though of it, "And Lucas said English lit professor hosts literature nights at his house," she nods excitedly, already planning going to those, and Stefan smiles at that excitement.
"Wow," he exhales, kinda sadly, "We really are nothing alike."
Elena notices the streak of sadness in his voice. "That doesn't have to mean anything bad, Stefan," she tries to console him, "We have different interests, so what?" she shrugs lightly, "I love you and you love me and I believe that's all that matters."
The fear of her moving on from him never left him, despite her best efforts to make him let it go. He's afraid she will meet new people who will charm her with their thoughts and words and opinions and she will realize how dumb he actually is. One day his ability to make her smile won't be enough. One day he won't be enough.
"Nothing has to change," she says warmly, "Nothing will change," she states convincingly. "I know we promised we're never going to leave each other. I also know both of us are well aware that promise doesn't depend on just us."
He furrows his brows. He's aware of that. "So what can we do then?"
She smiles warmly. "We can try."
Try. Yes, that's the only thing they can do. And somehow it doesn't seem good enough.