MOVIE NIGHTS

─────────

WHEN THE BARNES FAMILY ARRIVED BACK IN BEACON HILLS, they unloaded all of Dinah's belongings and started setting her up in what was formerly the guest room. Standing in the bare room, memories of past visits flashed before her eyes. Whenever they would come down to California to stay, this was the room that her parents would stay in while she would stay in Selena's room with her.

She could remember Christmases past where she and Selena would wake up while the sky was still dark on Christmas morning, excited about opening presents. They would scheme to wake both their parents up, splitting up in the hallway and running into their parents' respective bedrooms, jumping up onto the bed to wake them up.

"God, what did we put in these boxes?"

Dinah turned away from the bed, looking towards the doorway as Selena came in, struggling with one of the boxes before dropping it on top of another one.

"Clothes, probably," Dinah answered.

"That would explain why it's so damn heavy," Selena complained.

It was clear in Selena's eyes that she was excited to help Dinah set up her new room. Over the course of the rest of the day and the one that followed, she eagerly helped decide where everything should be and go to make the room look not only the best as possible but as similar to her old room as they could make it. Dinah was thankful that she had her cousin to lighten the mood, as she didn't know how else she would have made it through the move.

Beacon Hills was a quiet town as Dinah quickly learned, just as Selena had said it would be. It seemed like just the calm place that she needed after everything that she had experienced in Mystic Falls.

It wasn't just that it was the place where her parents had been murdered. No, there was so much more to it than that. It was the place where she'd first started practicing her magic, where she learned about the existence of vampires and werewolves, and where she'd made friends with them. It was where she had fought for her friends, protected them from vampires like Katherine Pierce and the infamous Klaus Mikaelson.

So much had happened in Mystic Falls. A quiet town like Beacon Hills was exactly the change of pace that Dinah needed.

On her second night in Beacon Hills, Selena and Dinah curled up together on the couch in the living room while Lucy and Steven went out. Selena insisted on watching The Notebook, even though she knew it wasn't one of either of their favourite movies. Maybe that was the point, a movie they both wouldn't pay a lot of attention to.

It was nice. She got to spend some time with her cousin without feeling like she was being watched. Dinah knew that she had changed, that the death of her parents had changed her, and a lot, too. She knew it, she knew that her aunt, uncle and cousin knew it. But that wasn't something that someone could come back from easily. This was something that was going to stay with her for the rest of her life.

After a few more nights to settle in and get fully unpacked and acclimated, Selena decided that it was time for Dinah to be properly re-introduced to her friends. It was their monthly movie night, Selena explained, and her turn to host. So, late in the evening, they bid goodbye to Lucy and Steven once again, leaving the two girls in the house by themselves. At least until Selena's friends arrived. She had promised Dinah that there wouldn't be a lot of people joining them, but she wouldn't say who was coming. Maybe it was to keep Dinah from getting too overwhelmed or maybe it was just because she didn't fully know herself when she'd relayed the plan.

The first to arrive was someone that Dinah was already a little familiar with, given how much Selena had talked about him. When there was a knock on the door, Selena went to answer it and a few minutes later, she came into the living room.

"Uh, Dinah, this is Stiles, my boyfriend," Selena introduced the lanky boy standing beside her.

"Right, Selena's talked about you a lot. Hi."

"Hey. You like Lord of the Rings, right?" Stiles asked.

"I was practically raised on it," Dinah said, a smile growing on her face at the thought of one of her favourite movie series.

"Oh, thank god, finally," he said, which made her and Selena laugh.

"Your other friends aren't nerds?" Dinah asked.

"They are... just so uncultured, it's almost offensive. I've been trying to get Scott to watch Star Wars for years."

"Yeah, I had to introduce my friends to all the good stuff. My dad made sure that I—" Dinah stopped, suddenly and looked down at the floor. Her dad had always made sure that Dinah knew the best movies. But now that thought just hurt.

"Oh, hey, was that door? I think I left the food at the door. I'm gonna go check," Stiles said suddenly, turning and walking out of the room before anyone could say anything.

Selena immediately stepped up closer to Dinah and caught her eye. "Are you gonna be okay the rest of the night or do you want to skip the meet and greet?"

"I'll be fine," she promised. "Just forgot where that sentence was going. Go tell your boyfriend that it's fine and he can come back in."

"Stiles is a good guy, trust me," Selena sighed. "He's not good with grief, but he knows what you're going through better than anyone I know."

"Hey, if he's good enough for you to choose to date and Uncle Steven to let you, I trust that you're right about him."

Selena stood just as there was another knock on the door and Stiles called that he would get the door, a thud echoing through the house as he accidentally bumped into a wall. Selena mumbled something about not being able to leave him alone before she went to go greet whoever had arrived. After a moment, she came back in with another boy who had kind eyes and a crooked jaw. It was a little strange, honestly, that even though their appearances were so different, Dinah couldn't help but be reminded of Stefan.

"Dinah, this is my friend Scott. Scotty, this is my cousin, Dinah."

"Hey," Dinah greeted.

"Hey," Scott said, giving her a smile.

He took a step forward, lifting his arms like he was going to give her a hug, but Selena grabbed his arm and he gave her a curious look.

"Maybe wait till you get to know her before going in for the hug, yeah?" Selena said.

"Oh, right," Scott said, turning an apologetic smile to Dinah.

"Scotty, why don't you go help Stiles in the kitchen?" Selena suggested. The boy nodded and left the room, leaving the two cousins alone again. "Sorry about him. He tends to be affectionate."

"It's fine," Dinah assured her. "Are all your friends this awkward?"

"Mostly, yeah."

"Do you want the honest answer?"

"Great."

"Yep," Selena sighed. "I promise you, they're not all that awkward."

"Is anyone else coming tonight?"

"I invited Lydia but she probably won't come since Allison is still in France and they wouldn't come without each other after the whole breakup thing happened," Selena explained.

"Lydia and Allison dated?" Dinah questioned.

"Oh, God no. Allison dated Scott last year. Their breakup caused a bunch of issues since our friend group's kind of amalgamated. Lydia's only really friends with the boys because of me and Allison, so I hope that makes sense. You'll definitely meet them both later on, Lydia's been asking about meeting you. I hope that makes sense."

"Not really, but I get complicated relationships," Dinah answered. "Unfortunately I'm quite familiar with them."

Just then, Scott and Stiles came back into the room with paper plates, plastic utensils, four coloured cups and a two-litre bottle of pop, setting them on the coffee table. They all sat down and as everyone started to serve themselves out their dinner, Stiles took one for the team and got up to put Selena's copy of Fellowship of the Ring into the DVD player. He walked back to the sofa and sat down next to Selena, who adjusted herself so that she was snuggled into her boyfriend's side.

After the first twenty minutes of the movie, Dinah started to relax. With Selena and Stiles cuddled up on the other side of the couch from her and Scott lounging on the other couch while one of her favourite movies played, it felt shockingly normal and, more importantly, familiar. She was in the company of good people and her cousin, most of all, who loved her.

"I need to move," Selena whined as the movie entered its last act.

Stiles moved his arm, allowing Selena to sit up and adjust herself. The smaller brunette moved away from her boyfriend and toward her cousin. She placed her head on the older girl's lap, ignoring the look of betrayal on her boyfriend's face.

"You're really leaving me?" Stiles gasped. "For her?"

"Why wouldn't she? I'm obviously the better choice," Dinah said.

The two Barnes girls laughed at Stiles' offended look, turning to face the movie once again. By the end of the movie, Dinah was feeling better. She was joking with Scott and Stiles, laughing along with their jokes.

Beacon Hills was feeling more and more like home every day.