"Morning," Carli smiles at Elena. "Here," she hands her a glass of blood.
"You saved me," she says and downs the blood.
"I guess so," Carli shrugs. She faces the mirror, fluffing her hair, trying to decide whether she should tie it up or leave it down.
"It's over?"
"Jeremy was the next hunter," Carli said. "When he made his first kill, he ended it for you, so it's over."
"And you saved me?"
"We went over this."
"Why? Why not just-"
"Don't," Carli snaps. "Don't say what I think you're gonna say." She meets Elena's eyes through the mirror, "Don't ever think I'd let something bad happen to you. Elena, I was hurt, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you."
"I don't get it," Elena stands.
"Get what? What's so confusing about this?" Carli asks, turning to face her.
"Why won't you yell at me?! Tell me you hate me!"
"What are you talking about, Elena?! You're acting crazy!"
"I feel a thousand times more guilty," her voice cracks. "I need you to get angry, and to yell at me, and to tell me I'm the worst person in the world."
"Elena," Carli shakes her head.
"Please, I-I feel terrible, and I should-"
"Elena, stop, that's enough." Carli glared, "You don't get to do that. Don't cry, and make yourself out to be this evil person."
"But I-"
"You kissed Damon, I know," Carli sighs. "But that doesn't mean you deserve to die," she grabs her jacket and walks towards the door. She pauses halfway out, and turns to the Gilbert. "I love you, Elena," she says with tears in her eyes. "I don't know if that's a bad thing, I don't know what that means for me, or for us.
"But I do know, that I can't get you out of my head, and it's driving me insane. I know that I should hate you for what you did to me, and that I shouldn't have come. But I did, and I know that the thought of you being in danger scares the hell out of me.
"I know that I should leave right now, and never look back. I know I should learn to get over you, but for whatever reason I've got you stuck in my head and you're not going away anytime soon. I want to hate you, Elena, I want to let you go.
"But I can't," a tear rolls down her face. "I can't, and it kills me knowing that I can't move on. But it kills me even more knowing that while I was gone, you were with him."
"I-I wasn't," Elena shakes her head rapidly. "I couldn't, uh," she fiddles with her thumbs. "I couldn't stop thinking about you, or how I hurt you." Its quiet between the two for a minute before Elena spoke again, "I'm sorry, Carli."
"I'm not mad, Elena," Carli turns to walk out again.
"Can we try this again?"
"Elena," Carli sighs, her hand still gripping the doorknob. "I-"
"I love you," she says. "I love you so much, Carli," Elena began to cry. "A-and I can't do this without you, please, I need you."
"And I didn't need you?!" Carli turned to face her. "I'm a hybrid, Elena, and I've been pretending to be okay with what my brother did to me, but I don't think I'll ever be okay with what he did to me. But I dealt with it, and I kept pretending to be okay."
"You don't have to do that, anymore," Elena cups her face. "I'll be here for you, for whatever you need be to be."
"Elena, stop," Carli tries to pull away as the tears rolled. "Don't make promises you can't keep."
"I'm not," she pulls her back. "I love you," she cried. "I love you with everything I've got, just give me another chance, Carli, I'm begging you," she sobbed. "I miss you, I miss having you here, I miss everything about what we were!"
"It won't be like that, Elena," Carli shook her head. "It could never be like that, we can't just go back and pretend it never happened."
"Then, start over," she begs. "Start over, you could be my date for the pageant."
"Don't you already have one?"
"Matt would understand," Elena looked desperate. "Please, Carli."
"Maybe some other time, Elena."
"The movies, then? This weekend? Or we could get something to eat at the Grill?"
"Elena, stop. You're not over Damon, you can't be."
"Why not? Isn't that my choice to make?"
"You left me for him, Elena, there has to be something there."
"But there isn't, I swear it."
"You'll never know unless you try," Carli pulls Elena into her chest. "I love you, Elena, I probably always will, but I can't do this unless I know you're done with him."
"I am," Elena says into her shoulder as they hug tightly.
"I don't trust you, Elena, I'm sorry."
She pulls away, looking hurt, and completely broken. "You don't trust me?"
"You cheated on me, how could expect me to?" Carli adjust her collar, "I'll see you around, Elena."
"Stay," Elena says. "You can spend the night here, if you want, I can-"
"I still have my old place here," Carli smiles softly. "Thanks for the offer, have fun at the pageant tomorrow."
"Will I see you there?"
"Maybe," she shrugs. "I do have to make my grand entrance back to town," she jokes and manages to get a short laugh out of Elena.
"Would you mind helping me and Caroline get some of the girls ready?"
"Uh, sure, why not?"
"Okay, great," Elena grins, wiping the tears from her face.
"It's not a date," Carli says quickly. "If you're serious about us, then we start from the beginning."
"The beginning? You mean you-"
"Friends, Elena," Carli sighs. "Right now, I think we need to just be friends," Carli looks at the ground.
"Friends," Elena nods.
"Yep, friends." Carli turns around, but again doesn't walk out. "Fuck it," she pulls Elena to meet her lips.
"What happened to friends?" Elena mumbles as they fumble around.
"Friends can make out," Carli smirked, pulling away a minute later. "Still friends," she points a finger at her.
"Friends," Elena nods with a smile as she watched her walk out. Her hand flies to her mouth, and she pulls at her swollen lips. She lets out a sigh of content, falling onto her bed. "She still loves me," Elena grins at the ceiling.
"She still loves me," Carli smiles as she sat behind the wheel of her car.
Thanks for reading! I hope you all have a wonderful, and safe, Halloween!
