DEAD GIRL WALKING
( 02. ) A Bloody Night at the Falls

ONCE HER FIRST TWO classes are done for the day, Rory finds herself spending her lunch period with Caroline like she always does. Because of the nice weather, the two girls decided to sit outside at one of the many picnic tables on their campus to eat the sandwiches Rory made for them earlier that morning, a habit she picked up when she realized her friend had stopped packing lunches for herself sophomore year. Caroline spent majority of the time eyeing Tyler and Matt as they tossed the football back and forth with other members of the team, though she easily changed the subject to Stefan Salvatore and the time he spent at Rory's house the night before once she was finished with her food. Rory was unsurprised by her persistent questioning and remained adamant that nothing had happened between the two of them, but Caroline felt rather confident in her instincts — and if Rory didn't want to jump his bones, she was going to go after him herself. That not only amused Rory, but also gave her an easy way out of the conversation by bringing up Matthew Donovan and Caroline's original vendetta to get him.

"I'm merely saying I think their relationship survived that long because Elena felt sorry for him," Caroline says aloud, fingers combing through her blonde tresses in an effort to fix her waves. "Matt's gotta realize that, right? Like, it was good when you and Tyler were still together, and Elena was on the cheer team and complemented Matt being on the football team —" Rory side-eyes Caroline at the mention of her estranged ex, though her friend pays her little attention, "— but after you two broke up, you could totally see Elena start to lose interest in Matt."

"Maybe," Rory replies absentmindedly. "But I don't think me and Tyler breaking up has anything to do with how Elena felt about Matt. We broke up in Spring."

"And Elena's parents died a couple months later," Caroline points out. "Do the math. I don't mean to sound insensitive, but I think she just needed an excuse."

"Care, you make Matt sound so ..."

"Pitiful?"

"Blue."

A smile breaks across Caroline's features at Rory's reference to their childhood nickname for Matt. "The best ones have to be a little sad — they're much easier to manipulate." She turns her head to face Rory, placing her chin in her palm to mimic her best friend's position. The ginger turns to face Caroline in return, an eyebrow raised in her direction. "What? You know it's true. That's why you couldn't deal with Tyler anymore. Way too much energy going on there. Who wants to deal with that?"

Rory rolls her eyes, unable to keep the smile from forming on her lips. "Amongst other things, Caroline. Sometimes people just ..." She pauses and looks off in the direction of the boys in question, brown eyes singling in on Tyler's figure carefully, "... aren't meant to be."

Caroline looks off in the same direction, though her eyes zero in on Matt's figure instead. "But it never hurts to try things out." She then grabs her bag from the other side of her, slinging it onto her shoulder before standing up and facing Rory. "You gonna be okay? How do I look?"

Rory smiles softly. "Like you're going to make Matt get over it whether he wants to or not," she says. "Invite him to the party. I'm sure he needs the distraction."

Caroline beams in response, bouncing on her toes slightly at the compliment. "Perfect. See you in class later?"

"Of course."

And with that, Caroline makes her way across the quad to where Matt and Tyler are playing, each step bringing her more confidence than when she left the table. Rory sometimes found herself envious of the persona Caroline was always able to keep up despite her insecurities. It had been months since Elena and Matt broke up, and while he was still hung up on the thought of them getting back together, Caroline merely took it as a challenge — one she was sure she could conquer. For Caroline's sake, and maybe a little for Matt's as well, Rory hoped that determination would pay off in the end.

"Hi."

The Hamilton girl blinks herself out of her thoughts, head dropping back slightly to see who's come over to see her. She smiles when she realizes who it is. "Hey, Stefan. What's up?"

"Wanna take a walk with me before third period?" the boy asks in reply, backpack slung on one shoulder as the other strap hangs limply by his other side. "I saw Caroline leave and you looked a little lonely."

Rory cracks a smile. "Story of my life," she says, more to herself than to her companion. "What's in it for me?"

Stefan thinks about it. "Free company?"

Rory hums as she turns around to grab her backpack, standing up from the picnic table before she places her straps on each of her shoulders. "Mmm, I think we can do a little better than that." She nods her head in the direction she wants to go and begins walking, Stefan following behind. "Maybe you pick me up and take me to the Falls party tonight?"

Stefan spends little time considering the favor, having already made his mind up when she said yes to going with him last night. "I think I can handle that. I already planned on asking if you wanted to drive with me, anyways."

"Ugh, no fair — I'll have to come up with something else."

An amused smile forms on Stefan's lips, and the two fall silent as they continue through the groups of students in the quad. Not too long after the comfortable silence sets, however, Stefan hears a swoosh that seemingly falls deaf upon the ears of the girl beside him; then, he feels something flying in from behind — and at an extremely fast pace. From the glare Tyler Lockwood has been giving him since he and Rory started talking, Stefan can easily guess the football the boy was playing with had now been launched fiercely in their direction, and was aiming right for his own head.

The green-eyed boy glances to the side at Rory, who seems lost in a comfortable daze despite her heart rate increasing ever-so-slightly. Turning around to catch the ball would be a risky feat for him to do in public even with her distracted, but they were far enough away from the crowd that he felt assured enough; plus, even if he were to dodge it, that would almost certainly put Rory in the line of fire instead, and he didn't want that.

"Stefan —!"

Not a second after Rory's sudden exclamation, Stefan turns around and catches the football just as it's about to hit him. Rory startles in her spot next to him from the sound of its impact against his hands, blinking a few times before registering what just occurred. "Did that ... seriously just happen?" Her brown eyes focus on the football in Stefan's hands, watching as he brings it a little closer to his chest with a small smile, seeming rather amused by his own actions, and that of the culprit. Rory, on the other hand, seems mildly shaken by the incident. "I ... thought I was just imagining it. How did you even —?"

"I had a feeling I might have just pissed someone off," Stefan dismisses Rory's confused tone, repositioning the ball in his hands in order to throw it back to its owner. He really didn't want to lie to her again if he didn't have to. "I definitely don't think it was aimed for you."

Rory flickers her gaze from the boy in front of her to across the quad, eyes narrowing in on the one person who almost ruined her sophomore year with his bullshit. As soon as her gaze matches that of Tyler's, that pouty look he's given her since that night, her mood changes from confusion to frustration, fists balling by her side tightly. "You have got to be kidding me."

When talking with Bonnie this morning during their shared class, Stefan found out that not only had Rory and Tyler Lockwood been the town's It Couple since early freshmen year, but Rory had been the one to break it off with Tyler in the end, and that's likely why the brunet boy had been giving Stefan the evil eye all morning. Given more context, Stefan understood Tyler's motives perfectly, but now he had a point to prove himself.

"It's okay," the older boy eventually reassures, feeling Rory's heart speed up the longer she held her eyes on Tyler. Stefan holds the ball up in Tyler's general direction, a gracious signal to him that the ball was about to come back to him with little mercy to spare. "It's not like it hit me, right? I'll just throw it back to him so we can get going."

   In one swift movement, Stefan launches the ball back across the courtyard with a harsh swing of his right arm. It rips through the air like a leaf riding a fierce wind, and it makes Rory's lips slightly part in awe of the sheer power of it; it had even caused a slight wind to blow past her as it took off from them.

   The football reaches Tyler in no time, and when he catches it, the push from the throw sends the poor boy tumbling backwards into the tree behind him. The look of clear disbelief is more than enough to satisfy Rory's previous annoyance and a large smile forms on her lips as Stefan turns back around to face her, a sheepish smile on his own. He reaches his hand up to scratch the back of his neck with an anxious chuckle.

   "I guess I might've gone a little overboard."

   "On the contrary, Stefan Salvatore," Rory says cheerfully. "I think you might've just made my day." She grabs his forearm, pulling him back the way they were originally going. She wouldn't let Tyler ruin another year of high school for her, and she certainly wouldn't let him ruin Stefan's first year at Mystic High either. "We're going this way — and we only have like, thirteen minutes until we have to be back in class, so we need to move it. I hope you can move as fast as you throw."

   Stefan clicks his tongue. "I think I can manage."

❧

   WHEN SCHOOL IS OUT and the sun has set on Mystic Falls, Rory finds herself sitting on the window seat in her room, looking out on the front yard where the rose bushes bloom beautifully and the water fountain pours endlessly. The fountain is a large stone bowl where an angel stands in the middle, a young girl with silky garbs with her hands raised and open in front of her. The water comes from her hands and shoots up about a foot above her, then falls on each side of her body, forming what looks like a heart as it falls. Surrounding the angel are small, bright blue lights that only shine under the starry sky.

One day a long time ago, Rory's mother told her the fountain was made in Rory's image. Each part of the Hamilton Mansion had a piece of each family member who ever lived, and Rory always thought it was sweet how there was so much history woven into the seams of their household; but these days, she had to admit, it felt like that same family history was haunting her instead.

The sound of the doorbell ringing throughout her home causes Rory to startle out of her daze. Her hand clutches tightly around her necklace that she had been fiddling with while she waited for Stefan to come get her, suddenly aware that she had to leave the house again before falling comfortably into her bed for the night. With a soft sigh, she untucks her legs from beneath her and steps onto the white carpet that lines her bedroom floor. She makes her way over to her dresser that holds her phone and keys, grabbing them before heading over to her closet to grab her signature black purse. She then grabs her black leather boots from her shoe rack and makes her way to the door of her bedroom to leave.

Once she's downstairs and at her front door, Rory opens it to find Stefan on the other side. She gives him a gentle smile. "Stickler for time," she greets him, "I like it."

"I do remember you telling me it was a pet peeve of yours," Stefan replies with a smile of his own, "and I don't think I'd like being on your bad side."

"You certainly would not." Rory opens her front door some more behind her so Stefan has room. "You can come in if you'd like. I have to get my shoes on and then we can get out of here."

Stefan takes the offer silently, walking in behind Rory as she sits on the bench next to the door. He surveys the house, searching for any signs of her uncle. "Is Xavier here? I still haven't had a chance to meet him."

Rory slides on her first heeled-boot. "No, he's probably at the Grill trying to flirt his way back into Jenna Sommers's life. He thinks if he tries hard enough, she'll suddenly forget he's got major commitment issues." She then pauses as she's zipping her shoe, looking up at Stefan through her auburn lashes. "Well, don't tell anyone I said that last part." She zips the rest of her boot and then starts putting on the other. Stefan's lips twitch in mild amusement. "Anyways, whenever I go out he usually lingers there until he knows I'm back home. Neither of us really like being alone in the house for a long time."

Stefan understands the feeling rather well; he also hated to be left alone for too long a time. "You two seem like you have a really strong bond," he comments softly. "I'm envious if I'm being honest. I don't have too much outside of Zach and ..." Stefan's voice trails off as his brother's name reaches the tip of his tongue, unwilling to talk about that area of his life yet with the sweet girl before him. If he burdened her with some of it, he had to burden her with all of it, and that just didn't seem fair at the moment. He clears his throat quietly, stuffing his hands back into the pockets of his pants. "Anyways, I wish I was closer with the family I had left."

Rory hums mostly to herself as she finishes zipping her other boot, grabbing her purse from beside her and hooking it onto her shoulder. She then grabs her keys from the R-shaped hook beside the door, then turns to Stefan with a smile. "I would never sell my relationship with Xavier short because we've always been close, but circumstances made us a lot closer than we probably were before." Stefan merely nods in return, also rather familiar with how loss could form the strongest (and most toxic) of bonds. "You ready to get outta here?" Rory then asks, nodding her head towards the door along with her words. "Caroline will kill me if I'm not there before she's had too much to drink."

Stefan chuckles. "Of course."

Rory turns in her step and opens the door, stepping aside so that Stefan can walk out in front of her. He does so silently, stepping off of the Hamilton Mansion's hardwood entrance to the stone pavement that lined the front porch and all of the circle driveway. Rory walks out behind him, locking the dark wooden door with her key before turning around to face Stefan and his car. When she sees the vintage red vehicle, her eyes sparkle with pure awe, soaking in its unique beauty compared to so many car models of today. She walks closer to examine its features, each part of the vehicle more shiny than the last, with even the black seats inside looking as though they had not been used frequently. She knows Xavier would go wild at the sight of this.

When the ginger reaches the front of the car again, she stops by the passenger door with a final click of her heels. Stefan is positioned next to her, leaning on the hood of the car as he stares at her curiously, wondering what she thinks of the car he holds in such high regard. "Unfortunately," Rory lets out a dramatic sigh, "this car ... definitely makes you cooler than me. And it will almost certainly attract Xavier to you like a moth to a flame."

Stefan lets out a quiet laugh, dropping his head a bit as he crosses his arms in front of him. Rory smiles at his laughter, another sound of his that felt like a kindness upon her eardrums. "So your uncle likes vintage cars?"

"Oh, it's his entire personality. He has a '67 Impala that he fixed up mostly by himself the past few years, though me and Matt pitched in when he asked us to," Rory explains cheerfully, bouncing on her toes at the memory of helping Xavier put together his most-prized possession. It was such an important part of their grieving process back then, to bond doing something where they didn't have to talk about their losses. "It's his baby, if you ask him about it, he'll probably take you to see it right then and there." Rory turns her head to look at Stefan's car once more, gently touching the cherry red door with her finger tips. "Your car's awesome though, seriously. I love two-doors."

Stefan smiles, bouncing off of the vehicle as his hands drop by his side gently. "Thank you, I don't take her out nearly as much as I should." He takes a small step closer to Rory, looking her up and down with something indecipherable in his eyes while Rory stares innocently back at him. Then, he opens the passenger door with a soft yank for her. "I'm hoping to change that now that I'm back home. You ready to go?"

Rory's blush spreads quickly within her ears at the motion, the very tip of them burning red with embarrassment. She nods wordlessly, stepping into the car before taking her purse off and placing it on her lap. Stefan closes the door firmly behind her with a smile much smugger than before upon his lips, then makes his way to the driver's seat to drive off to the party.

❧

STEFAN AND RORY arrive at the Falls ten minutes later, the party in full swing with almost every highschooler in town to keep it going for the rest of the night. There are quite a few bonfires going on in the more open areas of the woods where the picnic tables reside, and even more kegs and beer cases to keep everyone mellowed and completely distracted from the fact that they all still had school tomorrow morning. Despite her original protests about attending the pop-up party, Rory finds herself feeling good about being out tonight and having Stefan with her. He was her crutch, her excuse for being out, and for lingering close to his side to avoid Tyler Lockwood's drunk advances.

Then, she spots Elena's figure in the crowd and what little confidence she had filters away instantly. The nightmare she had the night before flashes at the forefront of her mind in short bursts, a bloody end to what should be a perfect night in the Falls all because Elena was here again.

But before the panic can settle, Stefan's hand appears on the small of her back and distracts Rory from her anxiety-ridden thoughts. She curiously looks up at him, but he doesn't return her gaze; just gently rubs his thumb into her back for a few moments before dropping his hand once they're noticeable enough in the crowd.

Rory finds herself adoring his respect for boundaries; or maybe more so, his respect for her social status in Mystic Falls, where her every move was basically recorded by the people around her, always under the watchful eye of her classmates and friends. It didn't help that Stefan was the new kid in town and happened to catch the eye of every girl and guy in school.

Caroline is the first to appear in front of the duo though, a beer in her right hand and a toothy smile on her face as her initial greeting. Rory instinctively smiles back at the sight of her best friend, already putting together that the beer in the blonde's hand was hardly her first, and likely number two or three of the night. "Hi guys!" the blonde cheerfully greets them both, baby blue eyes wild with excitement. "I can't believe you made it! Rore, I totally thought you might bail."

Stefan decides to lead the conversation in order to give Rory more time to breathe. "She promised to come with me," he easily shifts the focus from his counterpart to himself, Caroline's eye flickering instantly to him. "So there was no way she could bail on that, right, Rory?"

The ginger blinks herself away from her visions and back into the conversation before her. "Of course," she whispers. She registers her distant energy and fixes herself, standing up taller and replacing the smile on her glossy red lips. "You know how much I hate to break a promise, Care. Besides, look at how much fun everyone is having! I would be an awful friend if I didn't come support the party you threw together." Caroline blushes proudly at her friend's praise, beaming brightly as she slightly bounces from side-to-side. Rory's smile grows. "Good job on scoring all this liquor, too. Let me guess ..." She tilts her head to the side, eyebrows raised knowingly, "... Tyler gave you his Whitmore contacts?"

Caroline's proud blush changes into one of slight embarrassment. "Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! You know it's hard for me to get liquor on my own with my mom always up my ass." She pouts. "Forgive me?"

"Always." Rory then lets out a loud sigh, rolling her eyes as she does so. "But you know those guys are losers — Tyler included."

Caroline's smile returns. "I know." Her attention returns to Stefan, who had tried his best to fade into the background of their conversation so he could place his attention elsewhere. "So, Stefan —" His gaze is brought back to Caroline at the sound of his name, "— let's get you and Rory some drinks. Come with me to grab them?"

Stefan seems startled by the request. "Oh, uh — I think I should stay with Rory for now," he answers, less confidently than he would have liked but firm all the same. "We just got here, you know?"

"I'm sure Rory doesn't mind. We'll just be right back, right, Rore?"

It was hard to deny Caroline when she got this lively [read: pushy]. Arguing was fruitless, and giving in was always so much easier. "Of course," the two words leave Rory's lips faster than she can process that she's agreed to Stefan leaving her for the time being. Still, she keeps her spirits high, looking up at Stefan with a teasing smile on her lips that doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Don't let her trick you into doing a kegger, the crowd gets unbearable after a while."

Caroline lets out a string of giggles before she beckons Stefan to follow her, who does so hesitantly in response. He looks over his shoulder once they are a little ways away from Rory, and she merely gives him another soft smile that says, I'll be okay, without voicing it.

After not too long, they disappear from Rory's view, and she's left to fend for herself in the sea of drunk and high teens looking to forget their troubles for the night. She slowly starts making her own way into the crowd, a facade of calm plastered over her features in an effort to soothe the nerves Stefan left behind. Her hands are placed firmly in the back pockets of her mini skirt as she walks closer to one of the smaller bonfires to get a drink of her own, knowing very well Caroline had little interest in bringing her one as much as she had in taking Stefan to get his own.

"Need a beer?"

Rory turns around to find none other than Matthew Donovan behind her, a half-drunk beer in one hand and a freshly opened one in another for her. She passively scans his face to try to determine just how many he's already had tonight, his hazy deep blue irises a very easy giveaway for her intuition. She takes the beer from him with a smile once she's figured it out. "Let me guess ..." She takes a swig from her beer, grimacing at its taste, before clicking her tongue, "... you're on beer number ... four?"

Matt's face lights up at Rory's guess, a hearty laugh escaping his body at its accuracy. "Damn, Rore — I really don't know how you do that!" he manages to get out through his laughter. "This is totally my fourth beer." Rory smiles proudly in return, taking another small swig from her beer bottle with a little more sparkle in her brown eyes than there was before. Matt lets out a deep sigh to relieve himself of his laughter before focusing his attention back on Rory's face. He gives her a once over before asking, "You okay?"

She rolls her eyes. "Ugh, do I really look that depressing?"

Matt chuckles. "No, you look really hot," he responds kindly, like he always did to reassure his (second) favorite girl. She looks displeased with his answer. "But I can tell you're uneasy is all. I'm kind of surprised you're even here to be honest — Caroline said something about you coming earlier but I thought she was just doing one of those 'I have to put it in the air so it'll happen' things."

Rory's lips twitch in amusement. "Who's to tell you that's not what got me here in the first place, huh?" Matt gives her a look; she chuckles quietly to herself. "Alright, I promised Stefan I would come with him to the party when he came over to my house yesterday. You know a broken promise is like a knife to the heart to me."

Matt's eyebrows rise at the mention of the new kid in town, something like jealousy slowly seeping into his consciousness. "Really? You came out here tonight just because he asked?"

Rory raises one eyebrow. "Well, yes," she answers, dumbfounded by the simpleness of Matt's question, and the genuine surprise on his features, "but also, I can't just hide away for forever. And I can't be scared to see Elena Gilbert everywhere I go either." The ginger's hold tightens around her bottle, going in for just a sip as she brings it to her lips, and instead gulping down the entire beer as fast as she possibly can. She shakes her head in an effort to keep her alcohol down once she pulls the bottle from her lips, the taste of beer something like drinking a bottle of carbonated pee when she thought too hard about it. "Ugh."

Matt, aside from his concern, seems pleasantly impressed. A large smile forms upon his features again, his jealousy now lost upon his amusement. "Damn, I thought you could only do that when you were too wasted to taste it."

"Still trying not to throw up," Rory says through her grimace, pushing the bottle into Matt's chest, who hardly flinches at the notion. He grabs it with the same hand he handed it to her with, a little too enthralled by her and definitely too tipsy to say anything in protest. "Anyways, Caroline stole Stefan from me, so you're stuck with me for now." She tilts her head to the side. "And if Tyler approaches us, you have to make him go away."

Matt snorts. "Deal."

❧

AFTER A WHILE, RORY wanders away from the comfort of Matt's warm presence, with two and a half beers in her system and a vague haze in her eyes. She finds herself on the bridge by the Falls after not too long, its water lit up by the full moon above her in a way that made Rory remember why the town was called Mystic Falls. The cold air nips at her each time the wind blows, but it's a soft feeling of tranquility in the otherwise busy mind of Aurora Hamilton as of late.

Then, she feels a presence approaching. A heavy sigh escapes her upon sensing it, the moment of peace lost to the creeks of the bridge as the other person walks across it; she had only been here for ten minutes before they ruined her drunken moment of peace.

"Well, that's definitely not what I wanted to hear when I finally got back to you."

The serenity returns, and joy seeps through it like paint on paper. Rory doesn't move to acknowledge him, but a soft smile forms on her lips. "Interesting," she says airily, "I thought you forgot about me." Stefan shakes his head at Rory's teasing. He then walks closer to her figure on the dark oak bridge and takes off his leather jacket, placing it gently upon Rory's shoulders once he reaches her. The feeling of warmth reminds Rory that the temperature has cooled quite a bit since they arrived. She snuggles into the jacket, shamelessly inhaling his cologne before closing her eyes. "Okay ..." She lets out a small sigh of content, "... you're forgiven."

Stefan laughs, positioning himself so that he's resting his forearms against the railing in front of them. "Good." He shifts his gaze to the stars above them, tuning out all of the other noises to focus his attention on the sound of Rory's breathing and the low splashes coming from the waterfall. He realizes why she chose this place to escape to. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing okay," Rory answers simply. "How was Caroline?"

"She was okay, she actually wasn't with me for too long before she got pulled away by someone," Stefan says. "I went looking for you afterwards, but I saw you having a good time with Matt and I didn't want to interrupt ... I don't think he likes me very much as it is."

Rory chuckles, a melodic noise to Stefan's very old soul. "Matty doesn't dislike you, he just doesn't know you. And he and Elena used to be together, so he probably thinks she's into you like all the other girls and he's jealous." She lets out another heavy sigh. Talking about these two always sobered her up quickly. She had managed to avoid Elena pretty well tonight, but her name seemed to haunt her everywhere she went regardless. "Just give him some time, I think you two could be really good friends."

Stefan nods, then lets the silence overcome them again. He recalls an hour earlier when he first freed himself from Caroline's grasp in order to find Rory, and he stumbled upon her and Matt near the edge of the party, both sitting on top of tree stumps long since cut for this very use. Rory's head was laid on Matt's shoulder as they sat by a smaller fire with their beers, talking about whatever came to mind and snuggling closer to one another the longer they did so. Stefan could tell from the steadiness of their hearts that they had found great comfort in one another as they talked about what Rory did while she and Xavier were in Italy the last three weeks of the summer.

Their contentment in one another made Stefan decide to leave them alone. He was sure his presence wouldn't be welcomed by Matt, and he didn't want to disturb Rory after inadvertently ditching her for an hour. But he did hover for a while listening to them, even when Elena found him and began to chat him up; he had given the brunette just enough attention to satisfy her, but most of it remained intently on Rory's words in order to learn everything he could about her.

After a while though, Matt began to pour his heart out and become vulnerable in a way that made Stefan begin to feel invasive. He gave his full attention to Elena after that point, then eventually wandered off until Rory was alone again (which wasn't until about 45 minutes later).

"If you don't mind me asking," Stefan finally breaks the silence, which makes Rory turn her head to face him slightly with both eyebrows raised, "did something ... happen between you and Elena this past summer?"

The look of curiosity drops from Rory's face as she looks away from Stefan and back at the water. Mood killer. "Oh."

During his conversation with Elena, Stefan had gathered that a fight of some sort must have happened between Elena and Rory recently, because both girls went rigid at the mention of the other's name. Caroline alluded to something earlier in the night about the reason why she was surprised Rory came out with him — "Rory is typically so hard to move once she's made her mind up about something!" — but she pretty much left it at that, presumably to keep private matters private and to keep herself from revealing too much even if she only shared the smallest of details. Caroline Forbes was a gossip when it came to pretty much everybody, but it seemed her respect for Rory and their friendship trumped all in these matters.

Stefan hoped he hadn't pushed Rory too hard by asking about Elena himself.

Eventually, she replies, "Well, I guess I should've seen that coming. Why do you ask?"

Stefan clears his throat lightly in an effort to soothe his inner panic. "I guess I just noticed you two are very ... avoidant of one another despite having a lot of the same friends," he answers. "And while I was looking for you earlier, I ran into Elena and when I brought you up, she ... seemed sad, and she left pretty soon after that."

Rory shifts beneath Stefan's leather jacket, flexing her fingers instinctively to keep her emotions at bay. "Did she?" Her thoughts are somewhere lost amongst the wind that blows from behind them now. Stefan wonders how bad the fight was. The unrest Rory is feeling is practically palpable. "We became ..." She tries to find the right words to say after not speaking about her ruined friendship for so long, "... distant after her parents died a little earlier in the summer. There was a lot going on for her and — I think my ... relationship with Matt made it hard for her after everything."

The last part was a lie, though Rory had clung to that reasoning over the real one because it made it less painful. If she believed it was just because of Matt, she could find solace in sulking with him whenever they did; if she believed it was because of the cryptic warning she shared with Elena a day prior to that stupid party, because of the fight they had just days after her parents accident, then that made everything too real.

Stefan can easily tell what he's been told is a lie, but he accepts it all the same because he knows he's keeping his fair share of secrets as well. One day they'd be able to be fully open with one another, so for now, he just has to play the role he's given himself for the moment. "I'm sorry," he says gently, "that must be hard — for you and for Matt."

"Don't be," the ginger dismisses his apology, and the pity along with it. She really hated the way it made her feel. "I'm fine, really." Another lie. Her heart betrayed her every time. "I'm a pretty firm believer that what happens should happen, and I can only control how I respond. When Elena's ready, she'll come talk to me."

Stefan turns to face Rory fully, placing a tender hand on top of her arm that rests closest to him. She looks up at him, a pool of sadness in her eyes that the moon reflects in so mystically, Stefan almost hesitates to speak at all. "I'm sure you two will be friends again one day, but it's okay to grieve your friendship in the meantime, Rory." He squeezes her arm softly. "Don't shut it out just because you don't want to feel it."

The tears begin to well in Rory's eyes quicker than she anticipated. She instinctively drops her head to Stefan's shoulder to hide in case one decides to fall, and Stefan repositions himself so that his arm is wrapped loosely around Rory's torso so she knows that she's not alone. They both stare quietly off into the night, desperate for this moment not to end.

❧

   STEFAN AND RORY EVENTUALLY get back to the party and Rory has another (and another) beer to return to the blurred state she had before Stefan drudged up her past. Caroline joins them when she spots them huddling by a fire, and the three share light-hearted conversation about Rory and Caroline's childhood that the two likely wouldn't talk about if they were sober. When talking with them at the same time, Stefan quickly understood why Bonnie called Rory and Caroline two versions of the same person; after a while, it was hard to pick up where Caroline's thoughts ended and where Rory's began, and if there was a single thing one did without the other being there or at the very least, without knowing every detail of the story despite not being there.

   Caroline runs out of her second drink after not too long and Rory takes it upon herself to grab more. She leaves her companions little time to protest as she turns on her heel and makes her way towards the coolers that are placed near the picnic tables, hoping to find at least two bottles of beer so she and Caroline can have another before Stefan really makes them cool it for the night. She goes for the first cooler she sees, and inside she finds two beers sitting inside a pool of (relatively) cold water. A grin easily overcomes her features as she places the lid on top of the table before sticking her hands inside to grab both beers in triumph.

   Suddenly, she freezes. Her mind goes blank, yet she can still feel her body moving, dropping the beers back into the cooler and standing up straight as if she never came for them at all. There is a voice calling out to her from somewhere, lulling her into a trance and taking away her will to protest. It pulls her into the woods, where drunk kids can't quite see her unless they squint, where the moon isn't quite bright enough to reach the forest floor.

   This exact moment had been in her dream the night before, she was absolutely sure of it. She knows exactly what this will lead to, but she cannot will herself away from the path, only following blindly as the voice lulls her quietly through the night to the horror that lay waiting for her. There's an ominous feeling now that she's alone, but she can't bring herself to stop until she reaches it, until she reaches the spot where her hands are bloodied and her breath no longer seems to enter her lungs and there are people surrounding her.

   Then, the voice quiets, and her body stills again. She sees something in the fog off in the distance, something similar to a human figure but somehow different. A chill runs up her spine the longer she stares at it, and the fog slowly begins to take over the forest to further blur her vision. There's a feeling in her soul she's never felt before, like someone else trying to enter her mind and pick it apart from the inside. The wind picks up ever-so-slightly but it's as if Rory doesn't even feel it, too focused on the figure that seems to be growing ... closer to her?

   Come to me, a single voice whispers to her now, a lulling compulsion to go deeper into the dark forest she used to play in as a child. She takes a step, and then another, mechanically moving to the sound of this velvety voice inside her mind. Come to me, Come to me, Come to me. Each step crunches the leaves beneath her, covering the shiny black leather of her boots in soil, inching closer and closer to the seemingly angelic silhouette amongst the fog.

   AURORA, STOP!

   The sudden scream startles the ginger, the use of her full name almost causing her to trip over her own feet at how hard she comes to a stop. The figure has disappeared now and the fog was beginning to lift, as was the daze Rory previously found herself in. She's familiar with her surroundings, but unfamiliar with how she got there or even why. I must've had too much to drink, her mind immediately tries to justify her actions, though she really didn't think she drank too much tonight. Rory's head eventually turns to see just how far she had wandered away from her peers. She could still see the bonfires, but she doubted anyone could see where she was in this part of the woods without squinting really hard (and without being incredibly sober).

   The tip of her right boot was beneath something that felt almost like a thick tree root sticking out from the ground, but somehow less cemented to the earth than it should have been. Maybe she kicked it up walking here? Surely she would remember something like that, especially considering these were her favorite Chanel boots and they were already covered in dirt. Still, after sliding her foot from beneath it, she looks down with squinted brown eyes to see just what she had kicked up.

   When Rory looks down however, what she sees is not the large root of a tree, but the limp arm of none other than Vicki Donovan; and next to it, a small pool of Vicki's blood.

   The next thing out of Rory's mouth was a horrible scream.