After that rather foreboding prediction from Bonnie, I set off with new determination to find Jeremy. Which was proving very difficult. Jeremy was, unfortunately, not the only angst riddled teen currently living in Mystic Falls.

Scowling as I gave the area one last scan, I pulled out my phone. Navigating my way to my messages, I select the text thread I had going with him and typed up a simple message.

-Where r u?-

I got a response almost immediately back.

-look 2 ur R-

(R? What did R mean?)

I squinted around at the surrounding people hoping to spot someone familiar, my brows furrowed in my confusion, before my phone gave another buzz.

-Right-

I looked to my right and found him there leaning against one of the trees at the tree line. in the shadows like an angsty creep. Making my way over to him, I had to dodge a couple people trying to leave themselves. The arrival of the cops had officially ended the party. Now everyone was trying to get out of here without making it too obvious.

Even with all the people I had to weave around, it only took me a few minutes to reach Jeremy's side. He was leaned up against a tree with his arms tightly crossed, staring down at his feet.

"Hey…" I greeted softly, trying to catch his gaze but it remained stubbornly down.

"…is Vicki going to be okay?"

"Well…" I started hesitantly. Trying to remember that just because I didn't like her or her treatment of Jeremy, didn't mean that Jeremy was completely over their friendship. "I'm not family, so of course they're not really going to tell me any details, but they didn't seem too worried."

Instead of looking relieved or even happy about this, Jeremy looked even more upset. I watched him for a few moments, unsure of how to make him feel better. I tried for a bit more upbeat attitude as I leaned into his side. "I'm sure she'll be okay!"

He became surprisingly tense at my attempt at being reassuring. "I don't care."

[Then why did you ask?]

(Because he's a decent human being!)

"Of course you care, she was your friend and you're only human." I said instead, trying to ignore the internal argument.

"Not anymore," he grumbled. "Not for a long time now."

"Jeremy… just because you had a falling out, doesn't mean that you can't be concerned when a former friend, hell when a person is hurt." I reached up a hand to rub his shoulder in what I hope was soothing. Despite the fact that I never approved of their friendship, specially when Vicki tried to move passed just being friends, didn't mean that I wanted her seriously hurt or worse dead.

"I don't see why you care all of a sudden. Didn't you hate Vicki?" He finally lifted his head to give me a look.

I winced at his words. "Hate is too strong of a word, I don't hate anyone."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "She hurt you, tried to spread nasty rumors about you for no reason what so ever and you're telling me that you don't hate her for it?"

"I don't," I insisted. "Look, I'll admit that I didn't like Vicki and I really didn't like how she tried to take advantage of you."

"She didn't…" He ducked his head back down, nudging at the tree roots with his foot, unable to finish his sentence.

"Jeremy, if your roles were reversed, if you were the girl and Vicki was the guy." I took his hand, trying to comfort him after all I wasn't saying these things to hurt him. "She would have already been arrested for trying to sleep with a minor."

I waited for him to respond but he didn't, just gave the tree he was leaning against another kick.

"Come on, Bonnie and Caroline were going to get coffee and wait for news." I bump his shoulder with mine to try and get him to look up again. "I told them that we would go too, so that way we're all together if there is any news."

For a moment he didn't react, but finally he lifted his head and straighten up from where he had been leaning on the tree. "Okay."

"That's more like it." I beamed up at him as I grabbed his hand again and started to all but drag him to where Bonnie had parked earlier. Hopefully he'll lighten up a bit once I got coffee into him.

《》

It was decided that since I was the only one completely sober, I would be the one to drive us to the coffee shop. With Bonnie in the passenger seat, giving me the direction, and Jeremy and Caroline in the back, quietly snipping at each other. It thankfully didn't take long to reach Mainline Coffee. And, with it being so late already, there was hardly any cars parked in front, so it was easy-peasy to nab a parking spot and a table inside.

Jeremy (the little shit) was too cool to sit with his sister and her friends, so he found a table in the back for himself. As for Bonnie and Caroline, I dropped them off at a table more towards the front and, with their drink orders, proceeded to the counter to place them.

Since it was pretty slow, our drinks were done in no time. Three mugs of something hot and highly caffeinated for Bonnie, Caroline, and Jeremy, to help sober them up. And for myself, I asked what they had that was good for stress relief. The barista was kind enough to read out the best teas for stress to me. After considering for a moment, I settled on the verbena blend. Something about the name tickled the back of my mind with familiarity.

I had hoped that maybe the smell or the taste of it would trigger something. But… while it did smell really good, almost like roses, my mind remained stubbornly blank. I fiddled with one of my necklace's pendants, a heavy glass heart that was pitch black that contrasted nicely with the silver Figaro chain it was on.

I couldn't help but let out a disappointed sigh as I set down my cup, finally looking up to my table companions who were carefully nursing their coffees.

Bonnie was at least trying to look civilized, sitting up properly in her chair, drinking her coffee like a normal person. Caroline, on the other hand, had completely given up on any attempt at even looking like a normal human being. With her own chair pushed almost a full foot away from the table so she could more comfortably slump on the tabletop and bury her face into her folded arms. Only lifting her head occasionally to take a sip of the coffee I got her, before burying her face once more.

It was maybe around her tenth sip of coffee that Caroline seemed to finally feel well enough to properly sit up, adjusting her seat forward to that she could still lean against the table instead.

Bonnie took another gulp of her coffee before she looked up at Caroline, raising an eyebrow at her. "Are you sober yet?"

Caroline sat up a bit straighter, drawing in a deep breath as she did, before letting it out as a groan. "No…"

"Well, keep drinking, I gotta get you and Elena home. I gotta get me home." Bonnie finished with a slight chuckle.

"If worst comes to worst, I can just drive us back to my place and you guys can just spend the night." I offered after taking another sip of my tea. "It'll be like a sleepover!"

Bonnie seemed to think about it briefly before nodding her head, "That's probably best. Your Aunt won't mind will she?"

"I wouldn't think so, but I'll send her a quick text just to be sure." I pulled out my phone, turning to Caroline to get her thoughts on the matter as I found Aunt Jenna's contact and began typing up the message.

With her hands now in her hair, pushing her fringe away from her face, she stared down at the tabletop thoughtfully. "Why didn't he go for me?"

I blinked in surprise at her question, confused for a moment on who she was talking about before realizing that she had to mean Stefan. Looking back over to Bonnie, I found that her smile had become quite strained before it fell away completely in response to Caroline's question.

"You know, how come the guys I want never want me?" She finally looked up at us to see if maybe we had the answer.

"oh, Caroline…" I started, not knowing how to even begin comforting my friend.

"I'm not touching that." Bonnie stated matter of factly, shaking her head lightly as she did.

I couldn't help but frown at her for that comment, frustration bubbling up in my chest. This wasn't the first time I had witnessed Bonnie casually brush aside Caroline's feelings like they didn't exist. Bonnie caught the look I sent her way and just gave a helpless shrug in response.

"I'm inappropriate, I always seemed to say the wrong thing." Caroline focused her attention on me as she continued on. "And it was like every thing you said to him was the right thing. You weren't even trying and he still picked you, when I was trying so hard and… why am I never the one?"

I didn't know what to say to that, didn't even know where to start in trying to reassure her. I opened my mouth to at least offer something but before I could utter a word Bonnie beat me to it.

"It's not a competition, Caroline."

Caroline didn't say anything out loud to refute Bonnie's statement, but I could see it on her face that she did disagree. And seeing just how hurt Caroline was with Stefan's apathy was truly heart wrenching.

I had thought, with how unruffled she had been at the party, that Caroline was truly as unaffected as she was portraying. And I… I didn't know what I could possibly do to help. Maybe before the accident I would of known the right words to comfort her. Maybe some memory from our past together that I could use to lift her from this dark mood.

It wasn't fair, I felt like we were finally becoming the trio that everyone had told me we were. That we were finally clicking together and like I wasn't the odd one out anymore. Now it felt like that first gathering all over again, with Bonnie and Caroline so used to each other that half the time they didn't even need to speak out loud to communicate. While I was left stumbling in confusion at their silent queues.

"Hey… I'm gonna call my grams real quick to let her know I'll be spending the night at your place." Bonnie remarked as she pulled out her own phone. "I'll be right back."

And just like that she was gone, leaving me with a depressed Caroline and the frustration I had felt earlier was back. I turned back to Caroline, who looked about ready to fold in on herself, and realized that saying nothing was simply not an option.

"Ya know what? F-fuck Stefan Salvatore!" I blurted out, stuttering over the swear word as I drew her attention back to me. I didn't know who looked more startled, me or her, but at least now she didn't look so sad. "If he can't see how beautiful and smart and amazing you are, then… then egg on his face!"

Caroline let out a snort at my last statement, briefly amused at my attempt at an insult. But unfortunately her amusement didn't last as long as I had hoped.

Wrapping her arms around herself, looking back down at the table top, before she finally murmured. "You really think that I'm amazing?"

"Oh Caroline," I murmured back, wondering how no one else had informed her. "I think that you're incredible and half of the time I really don't know how you do it. You're practically Captain of, well everything, and you chose to be my friend?"

I didn't know how to really put it into words how bewildered I was that we were friends. Some of the stuff I had heard from others and even Caroline herself made it seem almost like we could have been bitter rivals instead of best friends. With Bonnie it was a bit easier to see, she wasn't as much of a social butterfly. She had her tight circle of friends and that was all she needed. But with Caroline it was completely different, she always seemed to be surrounded by people.

I don't know where she found the time let alone the motivation to do all she does in a single day.

"If it will make you feel better," I began slyly, shifting my chair a bit closer to hers. "We could go find Stefan later and run him over with my car."

That had the desired effect, I couldn't help but beam as Caroline threw her head back in laughter. Her whole body seemed to uncurl as she did. "Why do you want to run Stefan over with your car so badly?"

I tilted my head in thought, it was curious, now that I was thinking about it. "Maybe I subconsciously knew he was a jerk?"

Caroline laughed again, tilting towards me in her seat as she did. I immediately leaned over, giggling myself as I mirrored her, causing our shoulders to bump together. There we sat, giggling away, causing such a scene that even Jeremy looked up from his phone to give us a suspicious glare.

I let out a content sigh, feeling an almost overwhelming warmth in my chest at succeeding in lifting Caroline's mood. Seeing her so down, over a boy no less, was like being slapped in the face. She always just seem so bright and confident in herself, like the sun, a source of constant warmth and light.

Caroline and I both jumped in surprise as a loud buzz broke our moment, my phone that I had set down on the table gave one last buzz to announce that I had received a text before going still. I finally straighten up from my slump position and reached out for it, pressing the button to light up the screen, to see the message was Aunt Jenna's response to my ask of permission for our sleep over.

-FBM-

I frowned down at the screen, confused on whether this was an okay or not. I turn to Caroline, tilting the screen towards her so that she could see it.

"I don't know what this means…" I murmured, looking up to Caroline, hoping she would offer up a translation.

She gave my phone screen a quick glance before letting out another giggle. "'Fine by me.'"

"Oh…" Texting was another thing I was finding difficult since the accident, navigating my phone in general was quite hard. Some of the time I could puzzle out what some of the abbreviations meant, like R for 'are' or 2 for to, too, etc. But when it came to acronyms, the meanings went completely over my head.

"We really need to make you a texting dictionary." Caroline remarked fondly.

I sent a quick thanks back to Aunt Jenna before looking up again, giving her a grin. "I would definitely use it."

Caroline let out another giggle as she put her head back on my shoulder, I let out another content sigh, happy that all was right in the world again.

Unfortunately the moment didn't last very long as something a cross the way caught Caroline's attention, causing her to sit up.

"Is he checking you out?" She questioned, scooting her chair away from mine as she stared at whoever it was intently.

"Huh?" I questioned myself, turning my head to look at who she was talking about. My eyes immediately met a pair of light blue eyes belonging to a guy sat a few tables away.

"Don't look!" Caroline hissed out sharply.

I swung back around to face her, my shoulders coming up to my ears. Beyond the blue eyes I had managed to glimpse that he had dark hair and I think he was wearing a leather jacket.

"Who is that?" I asked softly, trying to keep my voice down. Now that I realized someone was watching me, I felt like I had ants crawling on my skin. The childish desire to hide underneath the table also rose up in me but I know that would only draw more attention to myself.

"I don't know, but he is so checking you out!" She gushed.

"I don't know about that," I denied while shaking my head, the idea of someone looking at me in that way seemed inconceivable to my own mind. "For all we know, he could be checking you out."

"Well, I guess we're going to find out, because he's coming over!"

"What?!"

《》

Damon couldn't help but grin even wider as the object of he and his brother's latest argument finally looked his way. He hadn't been looking for her when he had decided to come into town, he had only been out looking for a good place to get a drink or, better yet, a bite to eat. But when he had caught sight of her entering the café with witchy and blondey, oh how could he resist such an opportunity. Honestly he hadn't even intended to approach her so soon.

The original plan was to get with one of her friends, maybe the blonde, and use them as a blood bag for awhile. Just to really show off all the darker sides to vampirism. Really make sure that he rubbed it into Stefan's face on what a vampire was supposed to be. All so that when Katherine's double found out about the whole undead thing it would be just another wedge between them. Damon like to think that he knew his brother quite well, and one thing he knows is that whenever Stefan was on his bunny diet there was nothing he was more ashamed of than being a vampire. It was the one secret about himself that he heavily guarded like it was fort Knox.

But would you look at that, looks like dear Saint Stefan hadn't endeared himself to this Katherine lookalike nearly as much as he should have.

Now the only question was, how was he going to play this in his favor.

He could simply go over and play the new guy card, mention how he had seen them glancing over and ask for her number. All normal and boring if you asked Damon, but he was perfectly willing to play any part needed to annoy his baby brother.

Or he could go with the far more fun option, go over and play on the fact that they had met already. And the best part was , with her amnesia, he had the perfect excuse as to why she didn't remember it.

Damon couldn't help but spare a brief moment of thought towards said amnesia, wondering if maybe he had been the cause of it. He had never heard of that happening before with compulsion victims, but then again, Damon had never really stuck around after compelling someone to forget him. Who knows, maybe he's been leaving a trail of them behind all along and never noticed.

"I don't know about that, for all we know, he could be checking you out." That brought Damon back to the present, reminding him that he still had a choice to make on how he was going to play this.

It also again reminded him starkly on the fact that this was not Katherine, that while this girl had her face, that was all they seemed to share. Katherine never could have resisted the temptation of being the center of attention. This girl however had an innocence about her that Katherine would have never been able to recreate. Though that was easy enough to see from just the few observations that he had made sense meeting her that night in May.

Passively mind you, not the obsessive stalking he had seen his brother doing. It was almost funny, his little brother was so far on the bunny diet wagon that his dull senses couldn't even tell when another vampire was nearby. Honestly, Damon had been sure the 'animal attacks' would have given Stefan some hint of his presence, but he seem positively oblivious.

Damon gave himself a mental shake, focusing again on the matter at hand. It would be hilarious if he went with option two, just thinking about the look on his brother's stupid face made Damon want to crack up.

With his mind finally made up on the course of action he wanted to take, Damon pushed away from the table and made his way over to the duo.

The blonde, Caroline, a Forbes if Damon was remembering correctly, was seated facing him and was watching his approach avidly. Elena on the other hand was facing away so that Damon could only see a hint of her side profile. He watched as her shoulders came up slightly and her hand stopped fiddling with one of the pendants she was wearing and instead began pulling at the sleeve of her jacket. Pulling one sleeve down over her hand before doing the same to the other, so that only her fingers poked out.

"Well, I guess we're going to find out, because he's coming over!" The blonde exclaimed, still staring at him.

"What?!" She all but yelped as she spun back around to look, only to actually yelp out as she found him standing right there.

"Hey," Damon greeted with as much charm and friendliness as he could muster. "Elena, right? It so good to see you again."

"Oh! I…" The poor brunette looked completely out of her depth and turned to the other girl for help.

The blonde however was still staring at him, like he was something she was examining under a microscope.

"You know Elena?" She questioned finally, looking between the two of them.

"Yeah…?" Damon responded back, trying to go for still friendly but now also slightly confused, tilting his head down for added affect. "I mean, it was just a brief meeting back in May, so I guess I can understand if you don't remember me."

"Oh! In May? That's when…" Elena started before trailing off.

"Oh!" It took the blonde a second to get it, Damon had to fight not to roll his eyes. She was honestly starting to remind him of one of those barbie dolls that came out in the 60s. "Elena was in a car accident back in May and loss all of her memories. She doesn't remember anything before that."

"What?" That was unexpected, he didn't think that they'd just come out and say it. Damon pulled out the chair that witchy had vacated and sat down giving Elena a concerned look as he did. "Really? Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, that was months ago, plenty of time to heal." Elena reassured while rubbing at a spot behind her right ear. Now that her hair had grown back it was far harder to see where the doctors had had to shave for the stitches in her head then when she had first left the hospital. Catching sight of Damon's glance at her hand Elena all but yanked it away from her head and immediately folded her hands on her lap. "We must have met right before the accident."

"Yeah… I admit, I was a bit hurt when you never texted me back but it all makes sense now." Damon agreed easily, smiling charmingly at Elena as he did. "I guess I should reintroduce myself, I'm-"

"Damon."

Damon felt like he just been clobbered over the head with a chair, Elena looked just as surprised for having blurted out the name herself. That shouldn't be possible, he had compelled her to forget. Over 144 years of being a vampire and Damon had never had someone throw off his compulsion without going through transition.

"I-It is Damon, right?" She ask hesitant and shy in equal measure, her shoulders coming up to nearly her ears at whatever expression was on Damon's face.

"Yeah…" He finally managed to get out, forcing a smile back on his face. "So you do remember me, I'm positively touched."

"You remember him before me!" Damon had nearly forgotten about the blonde at the table with them, so consumed with Elena. Her sudden shriek of outrage made the brunette next to him jump in surprise and Damon winced as the high volume hammered into his sensitive ears.

"Only just now!" Elena argued back, turning her full attention back to Caroline. Which thankfully gave Damon the chance he needed to fully regain control of himself.

"Did you cheat on Matt with him?" Caroline lend forward sharply, excited at the prospect of gossip. The question was completely random and highly offensive to Damon, but Elena was, surprisingly, more amused than anything else.

"You would know better than I would. Did I seem like the type to cheat?" She tilted her head curiously and smiled at the blonde next to her.

The enthusiasm for drama immediately faded away as the other girl slump back into her seat. "No…"

Damon open his mouth, hoping to draw Elena's attention back to himself, when the conversation outside the café claimed his focus. Baby Witch was finally wrapping up her talk with the Bennett matriarch. Sheila Bennett was being surprisingly stubborn about letting her granddaughter stay the night at the Gilbert's. That was odd, from what prying he was able to do, without drawing attention to himself, said that Abby Bennett and Miranda Gilbert had been the best of friends. Close enough to raise their girls together like they were sisters. But just now Sheila sounded down right cold when she heard the name Gilbert.

It would definitely have to be something for Damon to keep an eye on, at the very least to ensure that it didn't interfere with his evil master plan.

Unfortunately this also meant that Damon was running out of time, the last thing he needed was to draw the attention of the Bennett coven to himself. Even though he was pretty sure that baby witch wasn't aware of anything in regards to the supernatural, that didn't mean that Damon needed her blabbing to her grandmother about meeting someone who felt like death.

He shifted in his seat, pulling out his phone as he did, pressing the button to light up the screen. "Oh would you look at that, I'm late on picking up my brother."

Elena swung back around to him, looking guilty. "Oh no! I'm sorry, we're keeping you."

"Don't worry about it, I'm glad I ran into you." Damon smiled brightly at the brunette.

"Yeah! It's so good to meet you again!" Elena replied back, smiling herself. "And this time I promise not to forget you."

That startled a laugh from Damon, he was really starting to like this Katherine lookalike. "Let me give you my number again, hopefully this time we can keep in touch."

"Yeah! It's so nice to have made another friend." She pulled out her own phone before faltering, she looked up at him hesitantly. "You do want to be friends, right?"

She didn't have to emphasize it for Damon to understand what she meant. After all, he had seen Stefan's attempts at flirting with her and it had been positively cringe worthy. He put a hand on his chest, right over his un-beating heart, and lent toward her. "I would love nothing more."

Elena smiled up at him and Damon felt like he had just been hit in the chest with a car. Katherine had certainly never smiled at him like that…

《》

I couldn't help but beam as I watched Damon put his number into my phone before handing it back to me.

-Hot Stuff-

I giggled at that, somehow it didn't surprise me that that was what he would put his contact as.

"Well, I'd better go before my little brother blows a gasket." Damon sighed as he stood up, pushing the chair back under the table. "I'll catch you two girls later."

And with that he made his way to the exit, giving Bonnie a polite nod as he passed her on her way back. Caroline and I watched as Bonnie paused on her way back to turn and stare as Damon went through the café door and was out of sight.

"Who was that?" She asked, finally making it back to our table and reclaiming her seat that Damon had just vacated.

I open my mouth, ready to tell her all about what she had missed while she talked to her grams, only for Caroline to beat me to it. "That was Damon, Elena's friend!"

"You're making it sound weird!" I scolded, turning to nudge her gently on the shoulder before turning back to Bonnie. "He's just someone I apparently met before the accident."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow at me, smiling lightly as she lent forward, clearly invested. "He looked hot!"

(And he knows it too.)

"I know! Right?" Caroline gushed back. "But Elena just wants to be friends."

I couldn't help but laugh at how scandalized Caroline sounded, "He said he wanted to be friends!"

"We must have been looking at too completely different guys, because he looked like he wanted to eat you!"

[Literally.]

《》

It didn't take long after that for us to finally get word back from Matt that Vicki was going to be okay. The hospital was going to keep her for observation for the night, but they didn't seem too concerned that the wound on her neck was too deep, so luckily no stitches. Though they did tell Matt that she had lost about a liter of blood and was beginning to go in to hypovolemic shock. She had been really lucky that Jeremy and I had found her when we did.

Now that we knew Vicki was going to be okay with Matt staying the night in the hospital with her, it was decided that we could finally make our way to my house.

Like the drive over, I was selected to be the designated driver, this time Caroline claiming shotgun, so she could continue to gush about boys, while Jeremy and Bonnie took the back. The drive to the Gilbert residence was actually quite nice, listening to Caroline's chattering was very relaxing, to the point that I'm pretty sure Bonnie and Jeremy fell asleep briefly.

Once we made it to the house, it was easy enough to heard everyone inside and up the stairs to our bedrooms. With a brief stop to drop Jeremy off in his bedroom, I finally made it back to my bedroom with Bonnie and Caroline in tow. I felt like I hadn't seen my room in months.

Once I had everyone situated, I trekked back downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water for each of them. It was as I was filling up the third glass, contemplating how I was going to get them up the stairs without any spillage, that I turn to place it on the counter and nearly dropped it as I found that I wasn't alone in the kitchen.

"Sorry! Sorry, Elena." Aunt Jenna gasped, just as startled as I was. She quickly came around the kitchen island to help me steady the glass I was holding.

"It's okay!" I reassured as I set it down, thankfully without making a mess. "I just didn't hear you come down."

"Sorry, I heard you guys come in and I figured I'd ask how your night went." She scooted the glass I had just sat down a bit further away from the edge of the counter.

"It went pretty okay," I paused as a thought occurred to me. "Oh! I didn't even think to let you know, there was an animal attack."

"What?!" I winced at Aunt Jenna's response, guilt welding up sharply in my chest. I honestly forgot that I even had a parental figure that I had to check in with. "Are you okay? Was Jeremy with you guys, is he okay?"

"Yeah! We're okay. We were barely involved at all!" I tried to reassure. "Vicki Donovan got attacked by something and had to go to the hospital, but Matt said that she's going to be fine, that the doctors didn't think it was too serious."

"That's so crazy," Aunt Jenna shook her head in disbelief. "Do they know what attacked her?"

"I have no idea! Um, do ya mind?" I picked up two of the glasses I had just filled and gestured to the third. "Whatever it was, was able to get her in the neck, but I think it missed any of her arteries."

"Oh yeah, of course. That's still crazy and so close to a party too." She picked it up and we began the journey back up the stairs. "Well other than that, how did the party go?"

"It was okay, I guess." I shrugged, leading the way. "I mostly hung out with Bonnie, though, I did talk to Stefan for awhile. Oh! And I talk to Matt, I think I really made a break through on that front."

"That's great, honey." She smiled at me as we finally made it to the top landing of the stairs. "Stefan?"

"Oh right! He's a new student! He just started yesterday." I paused to dart into Jeremy's room, setting his glass of water down on his bedside table. After making sure that he knew it was there, I darted back out, gently shutting his door behind me. "Caroline had seemed really into him, but I think he blew her off tonight."

"No way!" Aunt Jenna looked properly intrigued by my words, I could see it though when a thought occurred to her as she glanced away. "Dirty blonde? With really broody eyebrows?"

I blinked in surprise at her rather accurate description of Stefan. "Yeah…?"

"Oh my gosh, he was here earlier!" Aunt Jenna suddenly whisper shouted. "While you were gone he showed up here, asking for you."

(This is starting to get a little weird.)

[This is starting to get creepy more like, maybe if we hit him over the head with a brick he'll take the hint.]

(Where would we get a brick?)

I shook my head to clear it, trying valiantly to shove the internal argument away so I could refocus on Aunt Jenna. "How do you tell a boy who might be interested in you that you're not interested back?"

"Really? I thought he was cute." She tilted her head curiously.

"I guess he is, but it really doesn't matter what I think about him because Caroline called dibs first."

"Good girl, sisters before misters." Aunt Jenna nodded in agreement. "My advice is make your intentions clear, some boys are really dense, and if he still bugs you after that let me know and I'll talk to the school."

I smiled brightly at her for her words, comforted that I definitely had at least her in my corner. "Thanks Aunt Jenna."

It was also great to see her stand just a little bit taller than before, undoubtedly getting a confidence boost as I accepted her advice. "No problem, sweetheart."

With that I took the last glass of water from her and bid her a goodnight, slipping back into my room as she returned to her own.

Bonnie and Caroline were exactly where I left them, though Caroline had pulled out her phone and was scrolling through it. After making sure that they had some water to rehydrate, we set to work rearranging my bed so it could more comfortably hold three. Luckily I had a queen sized bed otherwise someone might have ended up on the floor.

We all settled in for the night, with Caroline and I on either side of Bonnie who was in the middle of the bed, both of them fell asleep quickly as I stared up at the ceiling. With all that had happened, it truly had felt like months ago that I had last seen it. Hopefully the rest of the school year will be smoother, I hate to imagine what it would be like if this happened on the regular.

I yawned, snuggling further into my blankets, listening to the strangely comforting sounds of Bonnie and Caroline's quiet snoring. Well, any issues that did arise tomorrow would ultimately be tomorrow Elena's problem to deal with, for now I was content to sleep.