"What's up?" I asked Elena the next morning, seeing the weird look she had on her face.
"Did you know Vicki spent the night here?" she asked. I titled my head.
"What? She spent the night here?"
"Yeah, I just saw her in there," she said, pointing to the bathroom door.
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I wasn't really sure what to say about that. I thought that Vicki was with Tyler....then again, I heard about her fight last night with Tyler so it would make sense that she would turn to Jeremy. Elena and I got dressed, then went downstairs and saw Jenna sitting at the table.
"Jenna," Elena whispered. "Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?"
"Uh-huh," Jenna nodded casually.
"And you have no objections?" Elena asked.
"He could be craftier about it," she replied. "At least make an effort to sneak her in and out. Oh and uh, just so the both of you know I won't be home for dinner."
"Oh," I said slyly. "So you're actually going to do it. You're going to go out with Logan."
She told both Elena and I about Logan "Scumfell" asking her to dinner last night. We weren't really sure if she would actually do it or not.
"I'm going to show up and torture him, yes," Jenna said.
Elena and I laughed.
"Have you heard from Stefan, Elena?" she asked then.
"Not since he left me that very vague message three days ago," Elena answered. "'Hi, um, Elena, I, um, I have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days'."
"You still haven't called him?" I asked her, taking a sip of coffee.
"Nope," Elena said. "Not going to either."
"And you're ok with everything?" Jenna asked her. Elena slammed the milk carton on the counter. Poor milk.
"No, I'm not ok with any of it," Elena said. "But I'm not going to cry about it, either."
I sat down at the table next to Jenna, sipping my coffee while I listened to Elena.
"You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning, and then I thought 'what am I going to write?' Honestly, I'm not going to be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy."
"Ok then," Jenna said.
I frowned, knowing Elena was hurt that Stefan was keeping things from her. She saw me looking at her and put her spoon down.
"I'll be fine," she assured both Jenna and I before leaving the dining room. Jenna sighed before looking at me.
"Don't look at me," I said. "I'm fine when it comes to guy trouble."
"None whatsoever?" she asked doubtfully, obviously referring to Adam.
"Mm-hmm," I nodded unconvincingly.
"Right," she said, disbelief clear in her tone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chastity, Elena, Bonnie, and I were talking near my locker when we heard Caroline down the hall. We looked down and saw her with a few other girls, passing out flyers for the Sexy Suds Car Was that was supposed to be today.
"I want in your face sexy," Caroline said like nothing happened. "I mean, it's a fundraiser for god's sake."
"Unbelievable," Elena said. "It's like nothing happened."
"I thought you were in charge of the car wash," Chastity said to me. I shrugged.
"Caroline asked me this morning if she could take over," I said. "I figured she needed something to take her mind off of what happened."
"That's being in denial," Bonnie said.
"Hey," Stefan said as he walked up to us.
"Hey, uh, you know I gotta go," Bonnie said quickly.
"Yeah, me too," Chastity said. "Gotta be somewhere."
They both rushed off while I looked between Elena and Stefan awkwardly. I sighed and adjusted my bag over my shoulder.
"Yeah, I should go help with the....car wash.....planning....something," I said. "See you guys later."
I walked away from them so they could have their private conversation. Well...private up until Elena told me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Give him time, Lena," I told her after she came home from the Grill.
She had told me about the conversation with Stefan and how an old man said he knew Stefan and made some comment about how he hadn't aged a day. It was so...weird. Then again, Stefan could just look like an older relative and the guy could have mistaken Stefan for him.
"I'm trying," Elena mumbled into her pillow. "It's just hard. I feel like he's keeping so many secrets."
"Maybe he is, maybe he isn't," I shrugged. "You can't just expect him to spill everything right away. Maybe he's still trying to get comfortable with telling a girl he likes all his dirty little secrets. I mean, it seems like the last couple times he did that he had his heart broken."
"I guess," she sighed.
"You two okay?" Jeremy asked from the door of Elena's bedroom.
"Is Vicki in there?" she asked without looking at him.
"Don't answer the question with another question," he said, smirk on his face. "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm miserable," Elena answered.
"Well you should go get something to eat," he suggested.
I tilted my head at him. Get something to eat? Elena considered this before she shrugged and got out of her bed, patting Jeremy on the shoulder as she passed him. I sat Indian style on her bed and gave him a 'what the fudge?' look. He smirked and mouthed "Stefan's here" at me. I made an 'o' with my mouth and nodded.
"You're good," I said pointing at him. He held his hands up modestly.
"Stop it, you're making me blush," he said. He then threw himself on Elena's bed next to me and laid his head on my leg. "Why is her bed so much more comfortable than mine?"
"Because your bed doesn't like you doing your dirty deeds on top of him," I teased. He rolled his eyes.
"Relax, it's not like you heard anything," he said.
"Thank god for that."
"Well," he said sitting up. "I should be heading back to my own room now."
"Vicki IS in there, isn't she?"
"Guilty!" I heard Vicki call from Jer's room.
"Hi Vicki!" I called to her with a smile.
Despite the fact that she was a terrible influence on my brother, they made a good couple. Or at least they could be if they tried helping each other rather than supporting each other's drug habits. Vicki was a sweet girl, she was just lost. So was Jeremy right now. They needed each other, but not for drugs.
"So...I'd stay up here if I were you," Jeremy said. "Go to the Grill, steal some of the dinner Stefan's making....your choice."
"I'll stay here," I said laying back on my sister's bed.
He left and went to his room while I played with the blankets on her bed. When I was little, I used to come into Elena's bedroom and sleep in her bed if there was a thunderstorm outside or if I had a bad dream. She always used to pull the blankets over our heads and she'd tell me either stories she remembered from when I was a baby or crossover fairy tales, my favorite being Snow White and the three bears. Looking back now, the stories were horrible and didn't make much sense, but she tried and I was little and loved them regardless because they were Elena's. Then our parents would come in because they'd hear us talking and join in on telling us stories about us as babies and Jeremy would come in too, along with his teddy bear, and we'd all end up falling asleep in Elena's room just like that.
A tear rolled down my face and I quickly swiped it away. I missed those times more than I ever thought I would only because I knew that there was just no way that we could ever recreate them. My parents were gone. But I still had my brother and sister.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"He finally opened up to me," Elena said happily. "He told me all of this stuff about him. His favorite bands, his favorite movie, TV shows. He even told me about Katherine and Elizabeth," Elena said while she waited at the paying table by me for Caroline at the Sexy Suds Carwash.
"Wow, that's a milestone there," I said sincerely. "He actually opened up about those two?"
"Yeah and from the sound of it, they were both beautiful and intriguing. Katherine sounds a little bitchier than Elizabeth though."
"Alright," Caroline sighed as she sat down in front of Elena and next to me. "No friend discounts. No freebies. No pay ya laters. We are not running a charity here."
"No, we are not," Elena agreed. Stefan walked up to us then.
"Hi," he greeted.
"Hey!" Elena greeted back with a smile, standing up. Caroline re-tied the strings of my bikini top, which had gotten loose after I pulled my hair out to put it up in a messy bun.
"Uh..the event is called SEXY suds, you know," Caroline informed Stefan, frowning at his fully clothed attire. I smiled at Stefan and shrugged when he looked at me after she walked away.
"Did we just get scolded?" Stefan asked.
"And judged, yeah," I replied.
"I'm sorry, but I guess you're going to have to take that off," Elena said flirtily gesturing to Stefan's shirt.
"I..think you have to go first," Stefan flirted back.
"Okay...yuck," I said crinkling my nose in a joking manner. "Guys...sitting right here."
They both laughed and looked at me.
"Sorry, Sam," Elena said.
She pulled her shirt up while Stefan took his jacket off. I giggled when Elena struggled with taking her shirt off.
"Ugh, sorry. So not sexy," she said as Stefan helped her. He finally got it off and tossed it on a chair.
"I disagree," he said holding her face. He kissed her.
"D'awh," I said, making them both smile as they got deeper into the kiss. I groaned a little. "Still right here."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey, we're out of those towels and those shimmy things," Elena said as she walked up behind Caroline and I.
"I will go get some more," Caroline said, handing me the stack of money she was counting. "Mind the money."
"Gotcha," I said distractedly as I was counting the money in the box. I added the stack Caroline just had and closed it with a sigh, looking at Elena who was still sitting next to me.
"How is she?" she asked. I shrugged.
"You know her," I said, glancing in the direction Caroline went in. "She has ridiculously amazing resilience."
"Yeah, it's...weird," Elena said.
A man walked up then to pay for his car wash.
"That'll be twenty dollars," I said. He handed over the money and Elena looked at him carefully.
"I saw you last night," she said. He looked at her then. "You were talking to a friend of mine, at the grill?"
I looked from her to the man. So this was the old man who recognized Stefan?
"Well, I- I thought it was somebody I knew," he replied.
"Stefan Salvatore," Elena said.
"Nah, it can't be. It's just my mind playing tricks on me," he denied.
"Where do you think you'd seen him before?" I asked then. I shouldn't be butting in, but I was curious.
"When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore boarding house," he answered.
"Oh," Elena said.
"Stefan was just passing through to visit his uncle. I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the attack."
"The attack?" Elena and I both repeated.
"His uncle got killed," the man elaborated. "Mauled by an animal in the woods."
"His uncle, Zach?" Elena asked.
The man shook his head.
"Mm-mmm. Joseph," he said.
"I'm sorry, sir, I don't think I'm familiar with the story," Elena shook her head, confusion on her face. I was having trouble keeping up too....
"Oh, how could you? I mean this happened years ago."
"Grandpa, you gotta go. Mom wants you home," Tiki said coming up next to the table.
"Ah," he said looking away.
"He wasn't bugging you, was he?" Tiki asked us as he started to walk away. "He's a little Alzy-heimer."
I shook my head right away.
"Uh, no he was sweet," I defended her...grandfather.
Elena got up and went after Tiki's grandfather while I stayed at the table, seeing that another customer had walked up. I quickly glanced at Elena and Tiki's grandfather and Elena looked utterly....confused and weirded out. I wonder what else he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"June 1953?" I repeated.
Elena and I were walking away from the pay table together. I had put Tiki in charge of it since she didn't feel like washing anymore cars. I figured it was about time I did some cleaning today anyway.
"That's what he said," she mumbled back. "I...I can't believe it. More secrets."
"Maybe there's a good explanation," I reasoned.
"Maybe I'll find out," she said.
I followed her gaze to Stefan, washing a car.
"Yeah, I'll let you do this," I said to her. "I'm...I'm actually going to go look for Caroline. She totally abandoned me back there."
Elena nodded and I waved at Stefan, who was now walking up to Elena. He smiled and waved back. I then turned around and looked for Caroline.
"Sam!" I heard Chastity call out to me. She was washing a car with her sister so I walked up to them to ask if they'd seen Caroline.
"Hey guys," I greeted. "Either of you seen Care? She disappeared a while ago to get some more towels and she hasn't come back yet."
"That's why we're having trouble drying these stupid cars," Olivia grumbled. "I have no clue. I can go look in the school if you want."
"Yeah, that'd be great. I'll just keep looking out here," I said. Olivia nodded and jogged into the school to look for Caroline.
"Kay, guess I'll just finish this car myself!" Chastity called after her sarcastically.
"Oh relax, I'll help you finish," I said, picking up the towel Olivia left.
"Sam," Elena said, grabbing my arm. "Come with me."
"Or not," Chastity said.
I sent her an apologetic smile and walked with Elena toward a news van.
"Where are we going?" I asked curiously.
"I got Logan Sc- Fell to take us to the station where we can look at some archive news footage for a couple of fake reports we're doing," she said. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"We're doing this why?" I asked. She didn't reply. Then it came to me. "You're seriously going to look up footage from 1953, Lena?"
"There's things that Stefan isn't telling me. I want to know what," she said quietly as we got the van.
She opened the passenger door and gestured for me to get in first. I sighed and climbed in. Logan smiled at me and held out his hand.
"You must be Samantha," he said. "Logan Fell."
"Nice to meet you. And you can call me Sam," I shook his hand with a smile.
"Of course."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We digitized all our archives last year. You can pull all the remote footage right up on screen," Logan informed Elena and me as he led us to the archives. "What is it exactly you're looking for?"
"An incident from 1953," Elena answered as he opened the door for us. "If it even happened- at the old Salvatore boarding house."
We both sat down in a couple of chairs in front of all the TV screens. I shivered a little and rubbed my arms. I was still in my bikini top and short shorts and the air conditioning was cranked to the max in here. How Elena wasn't cold, I have no clue.
"Here, take this," Logan said as he draped his suit jacket over my shoulders.
His cell phone began to ring then. He checked the caller ID.
"Sorry, one second girls," he said. He flipped his phone open. "Yeah? All right, I'll be right there."
He hung up and looked at us both.
"I gotta go," he said. "You believe there's actual news to cover in this town? All right, use keywords to search the database. It's pretty easy to navigate. And Brady down in tech will help you out with anything you need."
"Ok," Elena smiled.
"Alright?" he said. We both nodded. "So..yeah, just leave the jacket by my desk before you leave."
"Will do," I smiled.
"Great," he said. He began walking out of the room before he turned around again. "Oh, hey! Could you two put in a good word for me with Jenna?"
"You got it," Elena said.
"All right, thanks a lot," he said with a smile. "Good luck."
He left then, closing the door behind him and I turned in my chair to Elena.
"He doesn't seem much like a Scumfell," I said, gesturing to the jacket draped over my shoulders.
"No, that's just him sucking up to you so you put a good word in," Elena smiled.
"It worked a little," I shrugged.
She giggled and began typing keywords for our "history class research". I leaned my head on her shoulder. One result popped up from the keywords she used.
"That must be our guy," I said. "Joseph Salvatore."
"Let's go back in time," Elena said, clicking on the footage.
"This is Michael Fell reporting to you from the Salvatore boarding house-" the man on screen said.
"Man, the Fells have the media covered here," I noted.
"-where a brutal animal attack has ended in tragedy. Ok, they're bringing the body. See if you can get closer."
Elena and I watched the screen intently as the shot zoomed in on the police rolling the body of Joseph Salvatore out of the house on a stretcher. Thank god he was covered...
"Is that the nephew?" Michael asked the cameraman.
The camera then zoomed in to the front door where....
"See if you can zoom in more," I said pointing to where the nephew was standing.
"I'm trying," Elena said.
She zoomed in more, the screen still moving. We both got a clear look at his face then...
"No way," Elena whispered.
"Is that Stefan?" I asked. "As in...Stefan? The Stefan we know? The one we talk to?"
"I don't know," Elena said. "But I'm going to find out what this is about."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How can we deny this anymore?" Elena asked as she paced around my room. "It's right in front of us."
"I...I don't know," I shook my head. "But..."
"But what?" she asked.
"I don't know," I said. "Someone who never grows old, never gets hurt."
"Someone who changes in ways that can't be explained," she continued. "There are girls being bitten, Caroline is one of them. There are bodies drained of blood....Stefan...he...it's all right in front of us."
"Talk to him," I insisted. "Whatever is going on, we can't just sit here assuming and driving ourselves crazy. We have to know for sure. At least you do."
She nodded and walked quickly out the door.
"I'll be back!" she said. I nodded, still trying to talk myself out of the...I guess the obvious.
There was just now way....he couldn't be. Stefan couldn't be a vampire.