That night, the Falls were buzzing with activity as the entire student body of Mystic Falls High danced and drank and made merry. Elena was dressed in a sheer magenta spaghetti strap mid-riff blouse, blue jeans, and a black bomber jacket that was way too big for her.
Well, technically, it was Dean's bomber jacket, but he left it at her place one night when they were studying for a Math exam so she kind of kept it. Plus, it was cool out at the Falls, so she figured she might as well wear something warm. And if Dean just so happened to think she looked sexy wearing his jacket, then, of course, that was a bonus.
Just then Bonnie and Caroline approached her smiling and laughing and she drew them both into a tight hug. "Whoa, Elena, you look amazing," Caroline complimented. "Thank you, Caroline," Elena said. "Yeah, you look hot!" Bonnie chimed in. "Although, the bomber jacket seems a bit big on you."
"Oh, it's not mine, it's Dean's," Elena answered back. This caused the two girls to give Elena a suspicious look of interest. "Oh, really?" Caroline teased. "And where is our country rockstar?" Bonnie asked. Elena just shrugged off her friends heckling and grabbed a beer from one of the nearest coolers. "Well, while you two keep an eye out for Dean," Caroline started, "I'm gonna go look for Stefan." And with that, the blonde disappeared into the crowd of partying adolescents.
"Well," Bonnie said expectantly. Elena stared at her friend in confusion. "Well, what?" "Oh, come on, Elena. Insisting the Dean comes to the party, wearing his jacket," Bonnie listed off. "Not to mention, you get flustered every time he smiles at you, and you two were practically joined at the hip this summer until he left to visit his uncle. Even then, you still talked to him on the phone twice a day, every day."
Elena lowered her head flustered. "Was it that obvious?" She mumbled. "To everyone except Dean apparently," Bonnie sighed. "You like him, admit it, Elena." "Okay, so I've had a crush on him since Sophomore year, but I don't want to ruin anything between us," Elena floundered.
"Ruin anything between who?" a voice came out of nowhere. Both girls whirled around so fast and saw none other than Dean himself. The man in question was wearing an open long-sleeve red flannel over a black t-shirt with denim blue jeans and hiker boots. Elena couldn't help but give him a once-over, and that's when she noticed the tattoo on his wrist. But before she could say anything about it, Bonnie loudly announced that she was going to go find something to do then quickly gave Elena a thumbs up and darted off.
"I swear that girl is a mystery to me." Dean laughed at Bonnie's crazy antics and Elena giggled nervously. "So, what were you both talking about earlier?" he asked once things settled down again. They started walking away from the crowd and towards the bridge. "Oh, you know, girl stuff," Elena answered vaguely. "Ah, girl stuff," Dean repeated. "So were you just gossiping about guys or talking about clothes," Dean began. "Shut up!" Elena said, nudging him with her elbow. "Well, c'mon, tell me what you were talking about," Dean pried. "Was it about me, it was about me, wasn't it?"
Elena paused once they got to the bridge and looked up at Dean. They were only a few feet apart from each other and Elena struggled to maintain a steady breathing rate. "Yeah," she replied softly. "Well, I hope it was all good things," Dean japed. "No, no, it was all good," she huffed airily. "Trust me." Dean leaned back against the railing leisurely and quirked his lips upward.
"Actually, there was something I wanted to tell you before," she started. However, at that moment, Dean's phone rang and he pulled it out of his jacket pocket to answer. "Hello?" Elena groaned in exasperation as she slumped against the rail. Could she ever just catch a break? "Sam, what the hell is wrong with you?" Dean swore. "Son of a bitch! Tell me where you are!" This made Elena perk up with piqued interest. "Listen to me, Sammy, don't do it," Dean implored. "Just stay there, I'll be there as soon as I can." Of course, it was then that the line went dead and Dean lost the connection. "Sam? Sam!" Then, he pocketed the phone and let out a frustrated growl. "Shit!"
"What is it?"
"Nothing, just some shit with Sammy came up."
"Well, is everything okay? Does he need help?" Elena persisted. "No, Elena, it's nothing!" the young Hunter snapped. Elena jumped back from him in shock. She inhaled sharply when she saw something like red hot energy surge right into his eyes making the usually green irises look just a bit brighter than normal. "Dean, your eyes," she started.
This got Dean to snap out of his haze long enough to turn his head away. The sound of air filling his lungs was audible enough to be heard by Elena, who continued to gaze at him with concern. As the burning fire slowly started to burn out in his heart and mind, the green of his eyes calmly went back to normal. Chancing a look back to his friend, Dean swallowed thickly and cleared his throat to say, "I'm sorry for yelling at you, I was frustrated. But I do have to go now."
"Wait, but--"
"I call you later, okay?"
"No, stop," she said, grabbing his arm roughly as he tried to escape. "I said, stop! What is going on?" Dean halted his steps. "I don't have time for this, Lena." "Then make time!" Elena shot back. From a distance, Matt, Caroline, and Bonnie were watching them argue. At least they assumed they were arguing based on the looks on their faces.
"Oh, boy," Bonnie muttered. "I don't think I've ever seen them argue before," Caroline chimed in. Matt just continued to watch the argument unfold before his eyes in contemplative silence. "What do you think they're arguing about?" Caroline asked. Bonnie cringed awkwardly. "I may have an inkling, but I hope to God I'm wrong," she breathed.
"Elena likes him, doesn't she?" Matt said suddenly. Caroline squawked indignantly, fixing her gaze to her two friends up on the bridge. "Seriously? How come nobody told me this?" "Up until now, I only suspected it," Bonnie replied quickly. "Yeah, well then, what changed?" Matt snapped. "Did she tell you?" Bonnie gave her friend a look of sympathy and lowered her head.
"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Stefan said behind them.
* * *
Back on the bridge, Elena and Dean continued to argue about the secret Dean was keeping from her. "Why are you shutting me out?" she raised her voice. "It's not your problem," he shot back. "Well, apparently it's Sam's problem that you're trying to fix," she retorted snidely. Dean spluttered to come up with a retort but could find none. Then he let out a groan of frustration and stormed off back the way they arrived.
As he walked off, Stefan approached his friend and asked what was going on. In response, Dean said, "Dealing with your family's problems." Then, Dean shrugged past him and the rest of his friends and ran off in the direction of the forest, not caring about the odd looks he was getting from them. It didn't matter.
None of it did.
If what Sam told him over the phone was true, then Dean would have a serious problem on his hands. At the rate Damon was dropping bodies, it wouldn't be long before the others discovered what was going on. He needed to find a way to stop Damon that didn't involve killing him and fast. Otherwise, they would all be screwed.
With that in mind, he rushed off to go and find Sam... And maybe burn a corpse along the way.