Chapter Text
AS ALWAYS, I WASN’T a happy girl when I awoke in the morning. Sleep once again chose not to accompany me last night, seeing as I was awake later than I was used to, doing homework that I completely forgot was due. I exited my room at the same time as Elena left hers, which made me confused.
We walked down the stairs in silence, but the second we reached the kitchen and saw Jenna, Elena was speaking. “Jenna,” she said in a hushed voice. “Are you aware of what’s going on upstairs?”
“Uh-huh,” Jenna replied nonchalantly.
“What’s going on upstairs?” I asked, my eyebrows pulled tightly together.
“Jeremy and Vicki,” was all Elena had to say to make me scrunch my face up in disgust.
“You have no objection?” Elena asked Jenna, shocked. Even I turned to my aunt, hands on my hips in disappointment. None of us approved of Vicki Donovan. I don’t think anyone in this town approved of Vicki—except maybe Matt.
“He could be craftier about it, at least make an effort to sneak her in and out,” Jenna replied, amusement coloring her tone. “Oh, and, uh, just so you guys know, I won’t be home for dinner.”
“Ooooh,” I teased, poking my aunt’s shoulder as she looked down, the faintest hint of a blush on her cheeks.
“Mmm, so you’re actually going to do it. You’re gonna go out with Logan,” Elena said in a mock-flirty voice.
“I’m gonna show up and torture him, yes,” Jenna corrected, looking up.
“Keep telling yourself that, Aunt Jenna,” I said, patting her shoulder. Elena chuckled softly.
Jenna lowered her tone, smiling coyly at Elena. “And have you heard from Stefan?”
“Not since he left that very vague message three days ago,” Elena answered as she poured her cereal into a bowl. She imitated Stefan’s voice, “Hi, um, Elena, I, um, I have something I have to do. I’ll, uh, explain in a few days.”
Jenna and I snickered. “What a douche move,” I said, shaking my head.
“Haven’t you called him?” Jenna asked, still smiling wide.
“Nope,” Elena breathed out. “Not going to either.”
This made Jenna and I sober up, seeing that she was genuinely serious about being upset with Stefan. “And you’re okay with everything?”
Elena slammed the milk carton onto the counter. “No, I’m not okay with any of it, but I’m not gonna cry about it either. You know, I was gonna write in my diary this morning, and then I thought, what am I gonna write? Honestly, I’m not gonna be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy.” She finished, taking a bite of her cereal.
“I love that energy, Lena,” I began, “but I am very worried about that cereal bowl and spoon in your hands because while the words you’re saying seem calm, your tone is very much… not.”
“I’ll be fine,” Elena stubbornly said, walking off.
“Well,” I sighed, “that was interesting.”
Jenna looked over at me, a humorous smirk on her face as she shook her head at me. I brightly grinned at her, softly punching her shoulder.
Later that day, after school, Stefan showed up out of nowhere to cook a homemade meal for Elena and “make it up to her”, which was my cue to lock myself in my room with snacks and ice cream. I spent the evening watching Hocus Pocus —and hoping that everything was going well downstairs, for Elena’s sake. I didn’t hear any screaming, so I took that as a good sign.
Once I was finished with Hocus Pocus , I struggled for a while to find something else to watch. I was getting beyond frustrated as I let out a groan when I finally found a Wizard of Oz DVD which I just decided to put on. I was aware that watching two children’s movies at my age was immature, but I didn’t particularly care.
That stupid car wash—which was really an excuse for Caroline and the “popular” girls to prance around and sway their hips in bikinis—was happening tomorrow, and I was most definitely not going to that trainwreck of stupidity, so I was staying home, watching movies yet again.
It was very much not December yet, but the first movie I watched that day was How the Grinch Stole Christmas —and once again, I was not at all bothered by the fact that I was watching Christmas movies months too early for it. What was the point of making Christmas movies if you only got to watch them one month of the year? That was bullshit. I loved Christmas—and the movies that came with it—too much to not enjoy it whenever I wanted. Sue me.
I was a movie enthusiast. There was nothing a good movie couldn’t fix. No matter how upset I was, I could always get lost in the movies that brought me comfort. I was very much an introvert, and days spent in my bed, watching cozy movies were my favorite types of days. Maybe that was out of the “norm” for a teenager, but I was okay with that.
And then I started watching the MCU movies in chronological order, getting through as many of them as I could while Elena and Jenna were out at the car wash thing. Jeremy wasn’t home either, but god knows where he was. He was definitely out with Vicki, probably hanging out with their druggy friends.
When Elena did come home, I didn’t even have the chance to talk to her before she ran out of the house saying she had to search old records about ‘Damon and Stefan Salvatore in 1953 because some old man told her he’d seen Stefan before.’ I thought my sister was maybe going crazy, listening to an old man who could very well be senile, but whatever. I had no idea why Stefan was such a big deal to her. Everything she learned about him, she harped on. Sure, the dude was a weirdo, but if he was alive in 1953, then he’d be like… really old. And he did not look wrinkly at all.
Stefan and Damon were probably just family names, passed down through generations. And maybe the Salvatores just had really strong genes. That was probably what the old man was talking about, but in his old age, he got confused. It sounded more plausible than Stefan and Damon actually being alive in the fifties because that was completely crazy talk.
My sister came home frantic, near tears, when she said she saw an old news clip of the attack on someone named Joseph Salvatore, and in the background was Stefan— her Stefan. She said it was his exact face and at first, I didn’t believe her, but when she pulled out her cellphone and showed me the photo she took of the computer screen, even skeptical me couldn’t come up with an excuse.
In that picture of the clip dated June twelfth, 1953 was Stefan Salvatore.
The same Stefan Salvatore that was dating my sister.