A/N The Vampire Diaries Settings and Characters all belong to LJ Smith and the CW. Any original characters and this story are copyright © 2011-2018 to Hopelessromanticgurl, all rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

Over at the house Lexi was in her room getting ready. She sat at her make-up table applying some eye safety in the corner of her mirror was a picture of two older people. One man and one woman. Lexi looked at it and smiled sadly. Tears filled her eyes as they slipped down her had been trying to apply her make-up for almost an hour now. Her tears continued to ruin it.

Lee opened the door with a smile. "Hey Babe, you ready." When he saw Lexi in tears. He rushed over to her. "What's wrong. If you don't want to go call Stefan and cancel. I can think of something else a lot more fun we can do." He suggested kissing her neck.

Lexi shrugged him off. "I do want to go. I'm just having trouble getting ready. It's a hard day for me."

Lee sighed. "Is this about your parents?"

Lexi nodded. "It's the anniversary of their death."

"Look Babe, I love you...but I need to be honest with you. Get over it! Their death was more than 200 years ago."

Lexi growled. "Excuse me? Have you flipped that humanity switch because if you have this relationship is over!"

"No my humanity is just fine. I'm being honest. I know it hurts but get over it already."

"I know this is hard for you to understand because you choice to leave your parents after you were changed, which I'll never understand but you seem to be forgetting I didn't choose to leave them. They were murdered right in front of me! They were killed and I was turned!"

"I know that, Lex, really I understand how upsetting that must have been for you. I'm sure it must have been so scary. But you also have to understand it was more than a decade ago. It's time to just move on and get over it. Stop letting it run your life and stop crying over it."

"I am not letting it run my life. I have made a great life for myself here. Most of the time I am 100% fine. But there is this one day out of the whole year that I choose to grieve and cry. That day is today. I'll never get over it, Lee. You don't get over something like that."

"Ok fine. But how about instead of crying we have a little fun to cheer you up."

"We are, that's why we are going out tonight."

"No, no, I meant like just you and I fun. Maybe in my bedroom."

Lexi scoffed. "Seriously?"

"What? There is nothing wrong with a little grief sex right?"

"I can't believe you just said that."

"Come on Babe, please. I will make it worth it." Lee said kissing her neck slowly sliding his hand down her arm.

Lexi growled and shoved him away so hard he flew and hit the wall. "I said NO! Don't touch me like that ever again!" In a flash she was gone. Lee stood up and shook it off. "I'm hungry. I wonder where Elena is?" With that he left in search of Elena.

Lexi was running as tears streamed down her cheeks. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and crashed into someone sending them both to the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" She said "I should have been paying more attention. Are you all right?"

"No harm done. I'll be fine." They both stood up and Lexi realized who she had smacked into.

"Matt, what are you doing, aren't you suppose to be in school?"

"I've got a free period. I was on my way to the Grill to grab some lunch." Matt told her.

"Oh. I'm sorry that was rude. It's none of my business."

Matt laughed. "It's ok. Mystic Falls is a small town, your business is pretty much everyone's business around her."

"Yeah I guess."

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Just having a bad day."

"Well I've got an hour and a half. Why don't you join me for lunch and I can see if I can make it just a little bit better?"

"Oh no, I don't want to intrude. You go have lunch. I'll be fine."

"Oh come on, It will be a lot more fun than having lunch by myself."

Lexi sighed. She knew she shouldn't, Caroline was with him, She was with Lee. She mentally growled. She only got like this once every year and once every year he turned into a jerk. Inhaling a deep breath Lexi said "Ok, I'll join you."

"Great come on."

As they headed to the Grill they laughed and talked. Lexi was surprised at how easy it was to talk to them, and at how easy it was for him to make her laugh. Stefan was usually the only other person that she had this kind of connection with, but she had known him for a long time. She really just met Matt and already she felt close to him.

They continued to laugh and talk all through lunch.

"I can't believe you and your Dad actually did that!" Lexi laughed.

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy, but it was so much fun." Matt laughed with her. "Plus that bully never picked at me again after that."

"That's amazing. I remember this one time when I was younger my father took me to a father daughter dance. I had no idea how to dance so he put me on his toes and just did all the dancing for me. This other girl who used to bully me came over to me and just laughed at me, told me I looked so weird and stupid. So my Dad tells her that we may look weird and stupid but at least we were having fun. She was so worried about people thinking she was weird that she wasn't having any fun. She got so mad she stormed off. I found out later her father didn't even show up. She just kept making excuses as to where he was. I had the best night of my life that night. My Dad was my hero, because she never bothered me again." Lexi said

Matt smiled but frowned when he saw tears in her eyes. "Are you ok?"

Lexi nodded. "It's just hard. Today is their anniversary."

Matt sighed. "You're not talking about a wedding anniversary are you?"

Lexi sighed and shook her head. "No."

"I'm sorry. I lost my Dad when I was young too. Till this day on his anniversary I lock myself in my room and just cry. It doesn't matter how much time passes it's always going to hurt."

Lexi nodded tearfully. Finally someone who understood her feelings. "You get it."

"You really can't understand it until you lose a parent."

Lexi nodded. Matt reached out and touched her hand. Lexi got scared when she felt a spark. This felt so right, and yet…so wrong. Lee would be so heartbroken and what about poor Caroline?

"I hate to leave you but I need to get back to class."

"Of course, go. I'll see you later tonight."

Matt nodded and threw some cash on the table and ran off. Lexi smiled and then frowned. She felt something funny in her stomach. A feeling she hadn't had since she met Lee. She knew what was it. She had a no crush and his name was Matt Donavan.

Later on that evening Elena was getting ready for her date when the doorbell rang. She smiled and ran to the door and opened it. Stefan was standing there with flowers.

"You got me flowers!" She smiled and put them to her nose to smell. Together they walked into the kitchen.

"I figured it's a date, I wanted to do things right. I would have driven too but you're the one with the car." Stefan told her.

"You know, you'd think that for someone who was around when the car was invented you should have one." Elena teased lightly.

"Oh, I have one. I just never drive it."

Elena grabbed a vase and filled it with water and put the flowers inside it and then stopped and sighed. "You know, it's not too late to cancel."

"Why would we do that?" Stefan asked seeing her frown.

"I don't know, it just seems surreal; like we weren't meant to get to the normal part."

"That's exactly why we're going to do it. We're going to go out, have some fun and try to remember that we don't have to be so serious. Listen, when I decided to stay here and get to know you, it so that I could do things like this. Bring my girlfriend flowers, to go out on a date, and try to be normal."

Elena smiled knowing he was right. "Have you even ever been on a double date before?"

"Oh yeah!" Stefan smirked. "Tons. I used to have to fight the girls off with a stick."

Elena giggled and shook her head.

"I was such a hottie back then." He teased.

"Yeah, too bad you're not anymore." She teased back.

He gave her a playful glare and she took off running. He laughed and met her at the front door. He grabbed her and pulled her into him, tickling her making her laugh and squirm.

He let her go and they shared a kiss before heading out to their date.

Everything was pretty causal at first. There was no big conversation going on. Stefan couldn't help but notice something was up with Lee and Lexi. They didn't seem as close as they usually did. But he didn't ask about it knowing Lexi would just deny it.

"So, Matt, How do you like working here?" Elena asked.

"It's not that bad. Wait staff is pretty good and they can't keep a bartender to save their lives. I actually put my mom up for the job." Matt answered.

"How it has been? Having Kelly back?" Elena asked knowing how Matt felt about his mom.

"You know, same old Kelly. She's trying, sort of."

"Kelly and my mom were best friends growing up. That's how Matt and I first met, we shared a crib together." Elena told Stefan.

"You're kidding?" Stefan smiled.

"Nope, we've known each other our whole lives."

Caroline got a look of jealousy on her face. But Stefan didn't mind. He knew Elena loved him, plus he had the same relationship with Lexi.

"You and Stefan didn't share a crib together, cause that would be soo gross!" Lee laughed.

Lexi rolled her eyes. She shook her head at him. He was acting so weird. "No, we didn't meet till we were older but we've been friends since then."

"Where is our waitress I'm hungry." Lee said.

Elena flinched. Did he mean that the way she thought he did? Stefan rubbed her back and kissing her head.

"Plus I want a drink." Lee said. "Look at those guys over at the bar. They look like they're having fun."

Everyone looked and saw Jenna, Kelly, and Damon all at the bar drinking.

"You've got to be kidding me." Matt sighed.

Elena tensed as she watched her Aunt drink. Stefan kissed her head and whispered in her ear. "Don't worry, Jenna is smart. She'll either walk or take a cab." He knew how she felt about the people she loved drinking. He also knew Jenna wouldn't do anything crazy. Elena smiled and nodded at him. He always knew how to make her feel better.

"So who's up for a game of pool?" Lee asked seeing the pool table.

"I don't know, Lee I'm not really that good." Elena said shyly.

"Oh no!" Matt laughed and shook his head. "Don't even try it." He looked to Stefan. "She's amazing at pool. Her father used to take her here and train her."

Stefan laughed. "Already figure that out the hard way. But thanks."

Elena giggled innocently. "I don't know what you guys are talking about. I don't know how to play pool."

Stefan pinched her sides making her giggle and squeal. To his surprise Lexi spoke "Don't listen to then Lee. Elena's really bad at pool. You can beat her easy." She was still mad at him from earlier and thought he deserved a little payback.

"Awesome, let's do it."

Everyone got up and headed to the pool table. Stefan grabbed Lexi and held her back for a minute. "What are you doing? You and I both know Elena can beat Lee with her eyes closed."

"Trust me. He deserves this."

"So I'm right? Something is going on between you two?"

Lexi sighed and nodded. "But we're not talking about it here. I want to have fun."

"I know what today is Lex, I'm not stupid. If you need me for anything at any time you let me know ok?"

"Thanks. I'll be ok. Just keep my mind off it."

"Ok, let's go watch Elena win."

Lexi laughed and nodded. They two of the headed over to the pool table.

The balls were all racked up and everyone had a pool stick.

"So are we doing teams?" Caroline asked.

"Actually…how would you guys feel if just Elena and Lee played first?" Lexi asked.

Confused Elena looked to Stefan. He smiled at her and nodded. He mouth "do it"

"I don't know. I'm not very good. I'm going to lose."

"Awww wittle human girl is scared of losing to the big bad vampire." Lee mocked.

Elena was shocked that he had just said that but knew it was too loud in there for strangers to hear and Matt and Caroline would think of it as an expression.

She growled at him and grabbed the cue ball and lined it up. She took her stick and smacked it into the white ball. She got 4 solid balls into the same pocket. She looked to Lee. "Opps, was I supposed to do that?" she asked innocently.

"Lucky shot." Lee grabbed his stick and did the same thing only this time the ball hit the wall and rolled right back to it's original spot.

"Um…I think you're supposed to get it into one of these pockets…right Stefan?" Elena asked Stefan.

"Yep."

Lee growled. "I get a re-do!"

Elena shrugged. "Fine by me."

Lee tried again and this time he hit one ball into another but neither of them went into the pocket. He growled.

Elena went again and got 2 solid balls into the pocket. "Hey, I'm pretty good at this."

"Lucky shot. I'll win in the end. Just you wait and see."

"If you say so."

The game went on and Elena continued to get balls into pockets as Lee just moved the balls around the table. Finally all Elena had to do was get the black 8 ball into one of the corner pockets. She lined everything up and lifted her stick. "8 ball right corner pocket."

"Good luck. Don't mess up."

"I won't." Elena smiled.

"What do you think will happen if you miss this shot?"

"Then you'll get a turn."

"No I mean, what if you lose the game? Won't your father be mad?"

Elena shook her head. She knew what he was trying to do. "Nope, because we always had a rule when we played, it didn't matter who won or lost as long as we had fun doing it." With that shot the ball and it went right into pocket. Then she looked at Lee with a smirk. "And I'm having tons of fun kicking your butt."

Everyone laughed. Lee growled. "You tricked me."

"Matt and Stefan tried to warn you. You just didn't listen to them. It's your own fault."

"Watch it Elena, you don't want to anger a vampire!" he growled.

"Dude, you have some serious anger issues." Caroline said. "Relax it's just a game."

"Let's play again." Lexi said. She didn't want Caroline or Matt, or even worse Elena getting hurt. "Couple against couple."

"Fine but you're going down Elena!"

"If you say so."

"I do! You'll be so far down you'll be right next to your parent's car at the bottom of the lake."

Elena froze. Did he really just say that? She couldn't stop the tears that filled her eyes. She threw her stick onto the table and quickly rushed off.

"You idiot! Why on earth would you say something like that!" Caroline yelled.

"How dare you! Do you have a heart!" Matt growled.

Stefan just growled angrily. "You're a disgusting monster."

The three of then went after Elena.

Lexi smacked Lee on the arm. "You are horrible!"

"What's it's just a little trash talking."

Lexi shook her head. There is trash talking and then there is bullying and what you just did it bullying."

"Fine I'm sorry."

"Don't tell me. When Elena gets back tell her."

"Fine. I'm hungry. I'll be back."

With that he left. Lexi sighed and shook his head. "Jerk!"

Matt, Caroline, and Stefan had caught up with Elena outside.

"Hey, Baby, you're ok?" Stefan asked taking her into his arms.

"That was a stupid thing to say." Matt said. "He's an idiot don't let him get to you."

"Want me to beat him up? You know I will." Caroline said.

Elena nodded and wiped a few tears from her eyes. "It was the flashbacks that upset me."

"Do you want to go home?" Stefan asked.

"No. Let's stay. I'm ok. Just having a moment."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to run to the bathroom and wash my face. I'll meet you guys back over by the pool table."

They all turned around and went back inside. Elena and Caroline went into the bathroom. Caroline helped Elena wash her face and re-do some of her make-up.

As they were headed out of the bathroom they passed a young man and woman. The man grabbed Elena by the arm. "Katherine"

Her heart sped up but she stayed calm. "I'm sorry you have the wrong person."

"Elena, are you coming?" Caroline asked.

"I'm sorry, my mistake." The man said. He let go of her. Elena quickly walked away from him and over to her friends. She walked over to Stefan and he wrapped his arms around her. He could feel how tense she was.

Caroline went back over to Matt.

Elena quickly took out her phone and started to type a message.

"You ok?" he asked.

"I'm great." She answered but then motioned with her eyes for him to look at her phone. Stefan read her message. "That man over there just called me Katherine." Stefan looked up for any strange looking man but there was none.

"Everything ok?" Lexi asked walking over to them.

"I think it's time we went home. Elena isn't feeling well." Stefan said.

"Is this because of what Lee said?" Lexi asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." She said but at the same time on her phone typed "No, but I think there is another vampire here watching us. He grabbed me and called me Katherine."

Lexi nodded. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Elena. Let's get home."

"We can all go back to my house and hang out there." Stefan said.

Everyone headed out.

With Lee he was behind the Grill talking to the same man that had grabbed Elena.

"Yeah, I know Stefan and Damon Salvatore. But I wouldn't recommend going after Damon. Stefan's weak though he only has animal blood. If you attack tonight and weaken him, you can get him alone tomorrow while he's out hunting."

"Thanks for the information. Don't tell anyone we had this meeting."

"What meeting?"

The man smirked and in a flash he was gone. "With Stefan gone one less person to protect Elena. I'll finally be able to get a taste of her." Lee said to himself. Then he smirked and ran to catch up with the others.

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