Elena studied her reflection in the mirror. She turned to the side. Then the other. Then she sighed. This wasn't her. But Caroline thought otherwise. "You. Look. BEAUTIFUL!" she screeched, running across the room towards her. "It fits you perfectly" she nodded, turning Elena around a few times to properly assess the dress. "One more thing" she said, reaching for the veil resting on the nearby chair. Caroline stood behind Elena and fastened it in Elena's hair. "There. Now you look like a bride" she smiled.
"I don't know" Elena said hesitantly. "This is like a 4000 dollar dress. I really don't think I need a dress this expensive" Elena explained.
"Of course you do" Caroline disagreed. "This dress was made for you. If you walk out of the store without it, it will haunt you for the rest of your life" she said seriously. "Besides, Stefan would want you to be happy on your big day" she added.
"I doubt that" Elena mumbled, examining herself one last time. She and Stefan hadn't spoken since the night before when she tried to essentially blackmail him into telling her about Katherine. He had left her a note saying that Caroline was coming over to take her dress shopping and that he was going to be out late. "I can't believe I'm getting married in two days" Elena said, more to herself than to Caroline.
But Caroline was quick to reply. "You two love each other. There's no reason to wait" she smiled, smoothing out Elena's dress. Caroline stopped and looked at her. "Cold feet?" she asked.
Elena turned to look at Caroline. "Would that make me a terrible person?" she asked. Caroline smiled softly and shook her head no. "I love Stefan. But his family status is a lot different than mine was growing up" she admitted. The part about Stefan was a lie. The second part, not really. Her family had money and they were well known in the community, but they were by no means millionaires who made the newspapers in the big cities. It felt uncomfortable to be submersed into a family system with such financial power.
"You'll get used to it" Caroline said. "And besides, you'll be out in the middle of nowhere in that big house. Not in the big city of New York" she explained. Elena still looked unconvinced. "You should talk to Stefan about this. He's a good listener."
Elena fought hard not to scoff. Stefan had to be the worst listener ever. But she held it together. "Yeah, you're probably right" Elena replied.
"So, ummm ... are you inviting anyone to the wedding?" Caroline asked. It was her feeble attempt to figure out if Elena had a maid of honor yet.
Elena shook her head. "My brother and best friend can't make it on such short notice. Not with school" she said. It was a lie. Elena had not even called to tell them about this for fear that they would fly out there and drag her back to California with them.
"Oh" Caroline said. "So, do you like, need a maid of honor or something?" she asked, fixing the bottom of Elena's dress.
Elena thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I do" she said, a small smile forming. She really liked Caroline, despite how naïve she was about the whole situation.
"Really?" Caroline squealed. "Oh my gosh! I won't let you down" she promised. Though, she had planned the whole wedding anyway and was already responsible for making sure Elena had everything she needed, but she was still excited to have the official title. Caroline threw her arms around Elena, nearly hugging her to death. "I'm going to go and find shoes!" she announced excitedly as she scurried off to another part of the store. Elena simply smiled as she sat down, ready to take the dress off and get out of there.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
It was Friday morning, her last day as a free woman. She carefully navigated the stairs with her purse and jacket in hand. She found Stefan in the kitchen, sitting at the counter reading the newspaper and eating a bowl of cereal. Elena stopped in the doorway. "Yes?" he asked in an almost irritated tone. Clearly he was still mad at her for the other night. The guy held grudges like crazy.
"Just wanted to let you know that I'm going into Richmond and I won't be back until late" she said. Against Caroline's will, Elena had told her that she wanted to stay at Stefan's house the night before the wedding, promising to stay in a separate room and not see him at all. Like that would be difficult.
Stefan raised an eyebrow as he turned towards her. "Why?" he asked. He was curious as to why she needed to go into the city. She never went anywhere besides work.
"I have stuff to take care of at school" she replied.
"School?" he questioned.
Elena sighed, clearly annoyed with being interrogated. "University of Richmond" she answered.
Stefan stared at her dumbfounded. "You're in college?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes, I am. Why is that so hard to believe?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.
Stefan turned back to his cereal. "I just didn't peg you as the college type is all" he said. "How are you getting there?" he asked, not really caring but figuring he liked being nosey.
"The bus. Which is why I won't be home until late" she answered. "Unless, you are offering me your car to take" she added.
"Nope" Stefan said, taking another spoonful of cereal in to this mouth.
"Figured" she said, turning to leave. But then she stopped. What she had done to him the other night was going to bother her until she made it right. She turned back around and walked into the kitchen, stopping right next to him. Stefan looked up at her expectantly. "I'm sorry for what I did the other night. It was wrong of me to try and trick you into telling me what happened between you and Katherine. If you don't want to talk about it, then I respect that" she said in one breath. She waited for him to respond.
Stefan locked eyes with her for a moment and she thought he was going to accept her apology. "You're going to miss your bus" he said, turning back to his paper. Elena stared at him for a long moment, deciding it was not worth it to comment, and left the kitchen.
Stefan went back to his paper, flipping through the sports section. College? So, he literally had picked a smart girl to help him pull off this marriage. Well, he would have to see her grade point average to confirm just how smart she really was.
Stefan had just finished the sports section when he heard his front door squeak open. The stomping of little feet filled the room, getting louder as the feet grew closer. "Uncle Stefan Uncle Stefan!" he heard just as a little girl came flying around the corner and into the kitchen. Stefan smiled as she stopped and twirled around in front of him, showing off her flower girl dress. "Isn't it pretty?" she asked, looking up at him with her bright brown eyes.
Stefan stood from his seat and gave a low whistle before picking her up in his arms. "You are going to be the most beautiful girl at the church tomorrow" Stefan told her.
"I know" she smiled. Stefan laughed as he set her down.
Damon strode into the kitchen moments later, going straight for the refrigerator and grabbing a bottle of water. "Damon, please, come in and look through my refrigerator" Stefan said. Damon ignored his comment. "Lily, why don't you go play so I can talk to your dad" he suggested.
"Okay!" she said excitedly, taking off out of the kitchen.
"So tomorrow's the big day" Damon said, taking a seat. "You know you're not fooling me with this whole marriage bit" he added.
Stefan grinned, determined to ignore him. "How did you get Katherine to let Lily run around in her dress the day before the wedding?" Stefan asked.
Damon shrugged. "What Katherine doesn't know won't hurt her" he said, opening his water. "So where's Elena?" he asked casually.
"School" Stefan answered. Damon raised an eyebrow. "She's a Journalism student at the University of Richmond" Stefan said, mock proudly. "She's a looker and has brains. What do you know, it is possible."
"Well, I suppose you would need a girl smart enough to pull off a fake marriage" Damon replied.
Stefan grinned once again. "You just really can't be happy for me, can you?" Stefan asked. "I've finally found a girl who makes me happy while you're stuck with a wife who cheats on you" he reminded.
Damon slammed his water bottle down on the table, clearly angry with that statement. "Katherine isn't cheating on me" he argued.
Stefan raised his hands in defense. "Okay, calm down" he said.
Damon stood up, frustrated with his younger brother. "I just came by to tell you we bought a house here. So Lily could be closer to you" he said, walking out of the room and yelling for his daughter that it was time to go.
Somehow Stefan thought that was a lie. The only reason Damon would move to such a small town was to lessen the likelihood that Katherine would run around on him. Stefan sighed. The family drama with those two never ended. And there was a child right smack dab in the middle of it.
Stefan checked his phone and sighed again. It was still early and he figured he could get some work done since tomorrow he would be busy at the wedding. A small grin played across his lips. He was really going to pull this off tomorrow. And in six months, it would all be worth it.
XXXXXXXXXXX
It was close to 8:00 PM when Elena tiredly walked through the door of the Boarding house. She kicked her boots off, leaving them where they landed. She began walking toward the stairs when she realized that the kitchen light was on, and there was a rather nice smell coming from the room. Elena backtracked and made her way over. She peered inside and saw Stefan standing in front of the counter, chopping something. "I'm back" she said, breaking his concentration.
Stefan looked over his shoulder. "Good. Dinner is almost ready" he told her.
"Dinner?" she asked.
"Yes, dinner" he replied. "I'm an amazing cook" he stated. "And you, probably haven't had a decent meal all day" he finished, taking the pans off of the heat and emptying them. As Stefan moved about, Elena stood where she was, confused as to why he was making her dinner.
"You're mad at me" Elena stated, remembering what she had done to him the night before. "About trying to get you to tell me about Katherine" she reminded. "So why are you doing this?"
"I'm not mad" he replied, fixing their plates. "A little surprised that you would have it in you" he said, turning around to smirk at her. "And like I said, you haven't had a decent meal all day. The least I could do is feed you properly the night before our wedding."
Elena looked down at the floor nervously. "I get that you don't want to talk about your past with Katherine ..." she said.
Stefan set their plates down, along with some silverware. "Look, Elena. What we have, it's just a marriage. That's it. There's no reason to make this something it isn't by delving into our pasts" he explained. Elena nodded again. Maybe he had a point.
"You're right. We are nothing to each other. We don't need to explain our pasts" she nodded.
Stefan nodded as well. "Good. Glad we can agree on something" he said, sitting down. He looked back at her expectantly. "Are you going to eat?" he asked.
"Sure. I'm just going to run upstairs and wash up really fast" she told him, leaving the kitchen.
Stefan sat there patiently, remembering what his aunt had always told him. Never begin eating until everyone is sitting at the table and served.
Elena was back in the kitchen within ten minutes, having changed her shirt and washed her hands. She took the seat across from Stefan. "This looks great" she said, attempting to make conversation. She picked up her fork and took a small bite, figuring there would not be enough poison in it to kill her. Surprisingly, she found that it tasted amazing. He saw the satisfied look on her face and smirked.
"I guess I lucked out, choosing a girl with an education to pull this marriage off" he mentioned. Elena set her fork down and looked up at him. "I graduated from Yale and went on to Med school at Columbia for a year" he threw out casually.
Elena raised her brow. Those were two incredible schools. "So why did you drop out of Med school?" she asked curiously.
Stefan shrugged. "Wasn't for me" he said, continuing to eat. "So when are you done with your degree?" he questioned.
Elena shifted in her seat. "In a few months" she answered. "December."
"And where do you plan on working?" he asked.
Elena thought about telling him to shut up and mind his own business already, but she got the feeling that he was truly curious. "I thought I might start at a newspaper for experience" she answered. "But ideally, I would like to write my own novels" she added cautiously, having learned that Stefan's uncle owned and operated a publishing company.
This got Stefan's interest. "So you had an ulterior motive when you agreed to marry me" he said.
Elena shook her head quickly. "I didn't know about your family's business when I agreed to this" she said, almost in an argumentative tone.
Stefan smiled. "Relax" he told her. "I was just giving you a bad time" he said, standing and taking his plate to the sink. "I'm heading to bed" he said, walking towards her. He stopped behind her and bent down closer to her. "Big day tomorrow" he whispered into her ear.
Elena felt herself shiver at his breath against her neck. When she was sure he had left the kitchen, she put her fork down. Six months. Six months she had to be around him and not give in to his advances. Elena closed her eyes and sighed. She was doomed.