[3x01; The Birthday]

June 22, 2010

Broody,

I'm writing because I know today's going to be hard for you. It's Elena's 18th birthday. A few of us are getting together tonight to celebrate for her. It's gonna be tough without you and I'm sure Damon will be drunk by sunset. We'll see though.

Not much has happened since I last wrote you. I finished a painting, I hung out with Caroline, I've started to work out with Jeremy and Joel, and I went to cheer camp. Caroline is captain again this year—yay! —and I was once again picked for choreographer. Hopefully this year our season won't be cancelled because of a dead football coach. Matt would appreciate that, I'm sure.

How are things going? I'm concerned about you because I've overheard Ric and Damon talking. I'm not gonna scold you—I know you do that to yourself too much already—but I'm worried, Stefan. Don't lose yourself, okay?

This letter is gonna have to be a little bit shorter than the others. There's a lot to do today and that includes working out with Joel and setting up for our get-together. I miss you and so does everyone else.

Keep fighting, Stefan.

Sincerely yours,

Goofy

Lucy set down her pen, satisfied with what she wrote, and carefully tore the piece of paper out of her notebook. Crumpling it up, she cupped it with her hands and bowed her head, casting a spell with the magic she siphoned just before writing the letter. With a burst of fire, the paper was gone, sent to Stefan wherever he was.

The spell to send notes to someone was genius, really. She had copied it from Bonnie's grimoire and started practicing only days after Stefan left with Klaus. It took a few practice runs with Caroline before she managed to ace it. And then she took a week or so to actually gain the courage to send a letter to Stefan.

She made sure the letters weren't too sad—other than the one she wrote the week of the anniversary of her parents' death—and she never mentioned what she confessed just before he left. Right now, she pretended that it never happened. She didn't want to make Stefan feel bad and she definitely didn't want to ruin their friendship more than she already had.

Rolling off her bed, Lucy ambled over to her closet and got dressed in some gym shorts and a tank-top. As she brushed her hair, she stared at the pictures that were placed on her dresser—a new picture of her and Damon at their concert was added, along with an older one of her and Jenna that was a couple years old.

Her phone rang as she was tying up her Nikes and when she saw that it was Caroline, she answered it without a fuss.

"Hey, Care," she finished tying her last sneaker. "Whatcha doing?"

"I just finished shopping for Elena's party. Did you know she's trying to bail?" Caroline sighed, aggravated.

"Lena's not one for parties, you know that."

"Well, I planned it so she's going," Caroline declared. "My mom wants you or Elena to call her."

Lucy perked up at the news; if Liz wanted to talk to her, it meant that she had more information. She, Elena, Damon, Joel, and Alaric had been searching for clues on Stefan's whereabouts since he left and Liz pointed them in the direction of gruesome murders that could only be vampires. They had their theories about where he was, but she never mentioned that they were trailing him in her letters in case Klaus read them.

"Did she find something?" she asked eagerly.

"An animal attack in Memphis. It's the third one this week in Tennessee."

"Vampires?"

"Yes but that doesn't mean that it's Klaus or Stefan."

"Eh," Lucy shrugged. "One of us will call her."

"On her cell," Caroline clarified. "I've got to go, Luce. I'm meeting with Tyler for breakfast at the Grill."

"Don't sit in Matt's section," Lucy warned her. "You know he doesn't like seeing you two."

"Yeah, yeah," Caroline sighed. "Wear something cute tonight, okay? Love ya, bye."

Lucy hung up with a hopeful smile and slid her phone into her armband before making her way downstairs. Alaric and Elena were already in the kitchen when she entered, messing with the coffee maker.

"Happy birthday, Elena!" she exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Elena's shoulders. "You're officially an adult. How do you feel?"

"I feel the same as yesterday," Elena rolled her eyes with a smile and hugged her back. "Thanks, Lulu."

After Alaric joined in on the hug and wished Elena a happy birthday, Lucy told them about Caroline's call.

"So, I have news," she said as she grabbed a cold water bottle from the fridge.

Alaric gave her a curious look. "Stefan news?"

"Yep," Lucy nodded and looked at Elena. "Liz wants us to call her. There could be more Klaus victims."

Elena's eyes sparkled hopefully while Alaric hummed and walked over to the couch, which was currently his bed.

"And you're certain Stefan's with him?" he asked, folding up his blanket.

Elena shrugged and poured some coffee into a mug. "It's easy to be certain when the alternative is that he's dead," she grimaced at the possibility. "Are you sure you're still okay with the couch?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

"Ric, you spent half the summer on that thing," Lucy pointed out. "You're always talking about your back hurting."

"I'm an old man, Luce."

Elena gave him a pointed look. "If you need your own bedroom…"

"And sleep in your dead parents' room or my dead girlfriend's room?"

Elena walked over to him and handed him his coffee. "Right. Got it," she turned back to Lucy. "Going for a run?"

"Yeah," Lucy confirmed. "Going to the Boarding House?"

Elena nodded. "I'll call Liz on the way."

"Have fun with Damon!" Lucy waved at her, laughing as Elena rolled her eyes in annoyance.

As Elena left the house, Lucy turned to Alaric with raised eyebrows. "You up for a run?"

Alaric sighed but shook his head, smiling.

Lucy took two stacks of pink paper plates from Caroline and started sorting them, neatly setting them down next to the pile of matching napkins that Elena was straightening. The three of them, plus Tyler, had arrived to the Boarding House and started to set up for the massive party Caroline had planned for Elena.

The cake, ice, alcohol, and snacks had already been picked up, all that was left to do was put everything where they belonged.

"I feel like I have to fight Damon every single time we get a lead on Stefan," Elena complained.

"Maybe he doesn't want to find him," Tyler suggested as he walked into the room with a case of beer, setting it down on the table.

"Tyler!" Caroline hissed warningly as Elena paused her napkin-sorting, shocked.

"What?" he shrugged. "He's into you, isn't he?"

"The only reason Stefan left with Klaus was so that he could save Damon's life," Elena shook her head. "I mean, trust me, Damon wants you to find him."

"But you kissed him," Tyler reminded her; Elena looked at him, shocked that he knew that particular secret, and sent Caroline a glare. "You probably screwed with his head."

"Tyler!" Caroline scolded him, turning back to Elena. "I'm sorry…"

Lucy winced and spared a glance at Elena, who sighed. It was only a few days after Stefan left that Elena told her, Caroline, and Bonnie about kissing Damon on his death bed. Lucy was shocked but not necessarily surprised. It was kind of obvious—to her, anyway—that Elena felt something for Damon. It was there in her eyes every time she looked at him.

"Don't worry about it," Elena waved her off. "Look, yes, I kissed him but it was a—it was a goodbye kiss. I thought he was going to die."

Tyler shrugged and made an innocent face like he didn't believe her. Lucy had to smile at the look he gave Caroline.

Elena's phone beeped, distracting her. "Oh, I just missed a call from Bonnie," she informed them before walking out of the room. "I'll be right back."

As soon as Elena was out of sight, Caroline whipped around to face Tyler. "Just because I tell you things doesn't mean you're allowed to know them!"

"Sorry," Tyler apologized, though he didn't look too worried. "I've got to run if I'm going to change and pick up Sophie in time."

Lucy raised her eyebrows in surprise; Caroline had feelings for Tyler and he clearly had them for her, too. She didn't understand why they were skirting around their relationship. It was only a matter of time before they jumped each other's bones.

"Wait, you're bringing a date?" Caroline asked sharply. "Slutty-Sophie is your date?"

"Caroline, we don't slut-shame, remember?" Lucy chided her; Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Hey, it's been kind of slow in that department," Tyler defended himself. "And…I'm horny all the time now."

Caroline scoffed in agreement. "Yeah, tell me about it. Sometimes I feel like I'm gonna explode," she sheepishly explained, "It's, um, a vampire thing. You know, our emotions are heightened and we're on overdrive, so…"

Tyler slowly stepped toward Caroline and Lucy swore she could cut the sexual tension with a knife. Was there a reason they were doing this in the same room that she was in?

"It's a werewolf thing, too," Tyler nodded. "It's like I can't turn it off."

Lucy cleared her throat and Caroline jumped, like she forgot she was even there.

"Well, I hope you get lucky tonight!" she exclaimed, smiling at Tyler to hide her jealousy.

Tyler chuckled. "I'll see you later. Bye, Lucy."

"Bye!" Lucy waved as Caroline chirped, "Yeah, see you later!"

Lucy waited until the front door closed before giving Caroline a knowing look. "Are we going to acknowledge how spicy that was?"

"Spicy?" Caroline scoffed and turned back to the refreshment table, picking up a bag of chips. "There's nothing going on between me and Tyler. Nothing."

"Mmhm, sure," Lucy hummed sarcastically, looking at the time on her phone. "Come on, we have to get dressed. We can finish up later."

"Fine," Caroline sighed and set down the solo cups she had picked up. "Wait until you see the sundress I got you. It's so cute."

Two hours later, the Boarding House was full of their classmates listening to popular dance music while they sipped on cheap beer from a keg that Joel brought. Lucy was already on her second beer of the night, Caroline was on her fourth, and they were dancing happily with a few of their teammates.

"Ooh, there's Elena!" Caroline called over the music, catching Lucy's attention. "Let's go say hi!"

Lucy nodded and gulped down the rest of her beer before following Caroline over to her sister. Elena looked beautiful in her white dress and there was a happy smile on her face as she stood next to Damon.

"Elena!" Lucy cheered over the shouts a few feet away from a successful keg stand. "You look great!"

"You look drunk!" Elena grinned at her.

"Tipsy!"

"So, you like?" Caroline coyly asked the birthday girl; Elena furrowed her eyebrows. "Don't answer that."

Elena chuckled. "You told me you were keeping it small," she reminded Caroline before rolling her eyes. "What are we drinking?"

Lucy squealed in excitement and held out her arm for Elena to take, following Caroline over to the drink table. There were dozens of different bottles of alcohol that Joel had gotten for the party and not even half of them were empty.

"I'm partial to the whipped cream vodka," Caroline told Elena, picking up a bottle to show Elena.

"I want one of these," Lucy grabbed bottle of strawberry margarita. "Ooh, Lena, there's Coronas!"

Elena's eyes lit up as she took a bottle of her favorite beer. "Okay, let's get this party started."

Alcohol was consumed at a much faster rate once Elena started drinking with them. Soon Lucy went from tipsy to full-blown drunk while she, Caroline, and Elena danced the time away.

She had no worries in that moment. She wasn't worried about her upcoming year at school, she wasn't worried about Jeremy's almost-shy behavior since he was brought back from the dead, and she definitely didn't worry about Stefan and Klaus. Really, all she cared about was the fact that one of her favorite songs had started playing and Elena was doing a cheesy, robotic dance move.

The girls laughed as they twirled each other around, bounced, shimmied, and swayed. They were having a great time and that was all that mattered at the moment.

"Another drink?" Caroline asked as 'Tik Tok' by Kesha ended.

"Yes!" Elena exclaimed.

The three of them each picked up another drink before heading to the library to see what was going on in there. They were still a couple feet away from the entrance when they smelt a familiar aroma coming from the people leaving the room.

"Oh, the stoner den," Caroline groaned, taking a sip of her drink. "Buzz kill."

Lucy laughed and shook her head before gasping excitedly. "Look, there's Matt!"

Matt was walking toward them with blood-shot eyes and an easy grin on his face. Lucy thought he looked amazing in the plaid shirt he was wearing—it really brought out his blue eyes.

"Hey, guys!"

"Matt, you look hot," Lucy told him bluntly, her filter pretty much gone from her use of alcohol. "You're eyes are so blue."

"Thanks, Luce," Matt leaned forward and pressed a hot kiss to her cheek. "You look absolutely amazing."

Lucy shrugged, grinning sheepishly, and looked down at her blue sundress. She had to admit that she did look pretty good.

"Happy birthday, Elena," Matt sent a smile Elena's way.

"Thanks, Matt."

Matt grinned once more at Elena and Lucy—totally ignoring Caroline—and walked away.

Caroline sighed. "He hates me," she grumbled. "His hatred of me has driven him to drugs."

"He doesn't hate you," Elena placated her. "He hates that he's not with you."

Lucy nodded in agreement. "True," she squinted when she saw a familiar head sitting by the fire. "Is that Jeremy?"

Elena narrowed her eyes and nodded. "God, not this again."

Lucy and Caroline exchanged wide-eyed looks as Elena stomped off, mad about Jeremy's pot-smoking habits.

"Come on," Lucy grabbed her arm. "I want some chips."

Half a bag of chips later, Lucy leaned against the door to the living room, taking a long sip of beer. She was getting a kick out of watching Caroline watch Tyler and Sophie dirty dance with each other. Her best friend was glowering at the werewolf while gulping down a bottle of tequila.

"If you take a picture, it'll last longer," Lucy snickered. "Why don't you just tell him how you feel?"

"There are no feelings."

"Uh, yeah, there are."

"Nope."

"Mmhm, sure," Lucy shook her head and took another sip of beer. "You like him and he likes you so why is he over there grinding on Sophie? Man up, Caroline Forbes."

Caroline shook her head and took another angry drink from her bottle.

"Since when are they a thing?" Matt asked as he walked up to them.

Caroline pursed her lips. "I thought you were ignoring me."

"I'm not ignoring you."

"Well, you've only said five words to me all summer and those were four of them."

"Actually, he said ten words," Lucy corrected her, making Caroline roll her eyes.

"Maybe because every time I've seen you, you've been with him," Matt went on like Lucy hadn't spoken, nodding over to Tyler.

"Because he's my friend," Caroline sighed, exasperated. "Which is what I thought you were."

"Aren't you guys supposed to be, like, mortal enemies?" Matt asked her. "I mean, isn't that how it works in the vampire-werewolf universe?"

Lucy winced and looked around to see if anyone heard what Matt said while Caroline glared at him.

"Matt, shh!" she hissed. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

A regretful look crossed over Matt's face. "I don't know," he shook his head. "I'm out of it, I guess. Sorry."

"Guys, let's just cool it, okay?" Lucy spoke up soothingly, stepping between the blondes. "I wanna dance. Matt, do you want to dance with me?"

"Uh, sure, Luce," Matt agreed with a small smile, coming out of his funk.

"Great!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hand. "Let's go!"

Lucy led Matt out onto the dance floor as a fast song kicked on. Twirling her around, Matt placed his hands on her hips as they swayed to the beat. They got closer and closer as they lost themselves in the music, Lucy reaching up to loop her arms around his shoulders.

Lucy's heart began to race as they continued to dance and Matt's hand slipped to her lower back. A weird feeling started in her lower belly, her muscles clenching deliciously. A flush started in her cheeks and she could feel her neck heating up.

Since when did Matt get attractive? She had always known that he was gorgeous, of course, but he never really made her take a second look. Now, he was kind of sexy and it was affecting her more than it should have.

Lucy abruptly pulled away from Matt, her cheeks turning red.

"Lucy, what…?"

"Do you wanna go to my house?" she asked him quickly. "I have ice cream."

"Cookie dough?"

Lucy grinned. "Like you even have to ask, Matty."

"Yeah, let's go," Matt agreed. "I'm not a big fan of cake, anyway."

Matt grabbed her hand and tugged her through the crowded living room, passing many of their drunk classmates. She grabbed her purse at the door and as they left the house, Lucy waved at Joel and Ric where they sat, waiting for the party to be over, giggling when they gave her confused looks.

"Did you bring your car?" Matt asked as they walked further down the driveway.

"Yeah," Lucy nodded, digging into her purse to pull out her keys. "Here ya go."

Matt chuckled and took the keys, looking around for Lucy's car. There were twenty different black cars, so he was having a hard time. Lucy wasn't much help, either.

"What are you guys doing?"

Lucy and Matt turned around to see an amused Jeremy walking toward them.

"Hey there, Jerebear," Lucy waved. "We can't find my car."

Jeremy quirked an eyebrow. "That's probably a sign you shouldn't be driving, Lou," he shook his head and held out his hand for the keys. "Here, I'll drive. I came with Joel."

"You're more stoned than I am," Matt reminded Jeremy as he led them further down the driveway where Lucy's car was parked crookedly. "Nice parking, Luce."

"Thanks," Lucy beamed. "And, you know, there are studies where they figured out that driving while high on marijuana is significantly less dangerous than driving drunk."

While Jeremy unlocked the car and slid into the driver's seat, Matt gave Lucy a confused look. "Who's they?"

"Scientists and stuff," Lucy shrugged. "I dunno."

Matt copied her shrug and then furrowed his eyebrows, looking over at Jeremy as he opened the passenger door. "Hey, what'd you just say?"

"Nothing," Jeremy quickly denied as Lucy slipped into the backseat.

"Did you just say Vicki, as in my sister Vicki?" Matt prodded further.

"What?" Jeremy's eyes widened. "No, no. I didn't—I didn't say anything."

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows as she clicked her seatbelt into place. Jeremy had answered Matt's question a little too nervously. It was suspicious but that also could be paranoia from drinking too much.

Jeremy turned on the car and, as the headlights lit up, he gasped, jumping a little.

Lucy leaned forward in her seat, concerned. "What's wrong, Jere?"

"You know what, maybe we should just walk."

"Maybe we shouldn't," Lucy disagreed. "I can't walk ten miles in these heels."

Jeremy shook his head with a sigh and put the car in reverse.

As soon as they got home, Jeremy went right up to his bedroom after a quiet goodnight in Matt's direction. Lucy gave him a curious look but continued on into the kitchen; she had promised Matt cookie dough ice cream, after all.

She opened the freezer and pulled out a tub of ice cream. "Cookie dough for you," she slid it over to Matt, who opened it happily. "and mint for me."

"Are the spoons in the same place?"

Lucy hummed in confirmation, popping the lid of the tub. She graciously took the spoon that Matt held out to her and dug it into the ice cream, moaning happily when she ate the cold treat.

Neither of them bothered with a bowl but that didn't seem to bother them. They chatted idly while eating their fill, laughing when one of them told a funny anecdote.

"Do you think Jeremy's okay?" Lucy asked as she finished up, her hunger satiated.

"I don't know," Matt ate another spoonful of ice cream. "I'll talk to him at work tomorrow, if you want."

She gave him a grateful smile and put her spoon in the sink to wash later. "Thanks, Matt."

"No problem. Jeremy's a good kid."

"Yeah," Lucy nodded in agreement. "So, how are you doing?"

After he broke up with Caroline, Matt had been a little bitter—and apparently, he still was about Caroline's relationship with Tyler. He was distant because of it but when they went to Busch Gardens, Lucy and Matt were paired up to ride together and it was nice. He had fun and he forgot about his problems for a few hours. His bitterness wasn't helped by the fact that he was the last of his friends to find out about vampires and the fact that Vicki was one before she was killed.

"Honestly, I've been bored," Matt admitted. "I pretty much go from home to work to home again. It's not the most exciting summer."

"We can hang out, if you want?" she suggested. "I mean, I know I'm not your first choice to hang out with, but—"

"Hey," Matt interrupted her with a small smile. "don't sell yourself short, Luce. I'd love to hang out with you."

"Really?"

"Of course," Matt nodded and stood up from his stool. "I should get going for now, though."

"Oh, yeah," Lucy tried not to feel disappointed that he was leaving. "You can take the ice cream, if you want."

"Thanks."

As Lucy followed Matt to the door, he pulled her into a hug. His shirt smelt like weed and vodka but there was a hint of his cologne sneaking through that Lucy liked. She hugged him back and smiled when he pulled away.

"Thanks for tonight, Luce," Matt kept his empty hand on her shoulder. "You really helped me out."

"I didn't do much," she shrugged. "I just couldn't stand to see your pretty eyes so sad."

"Well, they're not so sad when you're around…" Matt murmured as goosebumps erupted on Lucy's skin when he rubbed her bare shoulder with his thumb. "Uh, Lucy?"

"Hmm?"

Something was happening; Lucy knew that. That feeling from earlier was back and she couldn't keep her eyes from slipping from Matt's eyes to his lips. Matt's eyes were darting back and forth on her face, too, and Lucy swore his eyes were darkening.

"Can I kiss you?"

"…yeah."

Matt didn't waste much time, softly pressing his lips against her. Previously, Lucy thought that it would be weird kissing one of her male friends but she didn't find that this was the case at all. Matt's lips were soft and warm and he was a really good kisser.

…A fantastic kisser, really.

Lucy hummed into the kiss and slowly reached up, wrapping her arms around Matt's neck. She gasped, pleased when his tongue brushed against her bottom lip and entered her mouth. He tasted like vanilla ice cream and chocolate chip cookie dough and his tongue was cool as it massaged hers.

She moaned softly when Matt pulled away, her heart racing. "Do you want to stay?"

He smiled against her cheek. "Yes."

Matt hardly had time to set his ice cream down before Lucy pulled him upstairs.

Lucy's phone woke her up two hours later, buzzing on her nightstand. She groaned softly and sat up, ignoring the ache between her legs. Matt was still sleeping on the other side of the bed, the vibration not bothering him.

She grabbed her phone and slipped on Matt's shirt, buttoning up only two buttons before going into her bathroom to answer the phone. It was an unknown number but she didn't care.

"Hello?"

No one answered; it was silent on the other end.

"Hello?"

Lucy perked up hopefully when she heard shaky breathing coming through. No random person would just call her from an unknown number and not speak. It had to be Stefan. It had to be.

"Broody, is that you?" she whispered.

A long exhale answered her question.

"Broody, if this is you, everything will be okay," she promised softly, listening raptly to Stefan's breathing. "You're strong. You're so strong and you'll survive this. Whatever you do, wherever you go, just know that I believe in you, okay? You're a good man, Stefan. One of the best I know. Never let that go."

Stefan inhaled sharply and the line went dead.