missed your kiss

ATHENA HEARS THE DOORBELL RING AND HER EYES WIDEN IN PANIC. She's wrapped in a towel, letting her hair air dry before she does anything with it, and Stefan's showering while Lexi puts her makeup on.

She hurries down the stairs, skidding to a stop when she sees Elena standing there. "Oh, Elena," Athena adjusts her towel awkwardly and stiffens when she feels Lexi come up behind her.

"Athena?" She eyes the girl wrapped in a towel with an unfamiliar blonde standing behind her, apparently shocked by Elena's presence. The blonde is taller than Athena, and Elena can see her tight black dress and matching jewelry that rests on her chest. "Where's, uh, where's Stefan?"

"He's–"

Lexi steps forward, snapping out of her apparent stupor. "He's in the shower," She smiles pointedly, eyes drifting back to Athena's state of disarray.

"Oh– oh," Elena's eyes widen in shock, her eyes falling to the ground. "I should go."

"I'll let him know you stopped by," Lexi forces a smile, but Elena just shakes her head.

"No, that's– that's okay,"

Athena holds her breath as Elena rushes out of the house, and as soon as the door shuts behind her she spins on her heel to glare at Lexi. "You made it look like I showered with Stefan!"

"No one told me Elena looks just like Katherine, I panicked!"

Athena sighs, shifting her weight uneasily from one foot to another. "That's Stefan's fault. I thought you knew– I knew and I've known him for like a month, tops."

Lexi groans frustratedly. "Of course you knew about Katherine, he's in love with you! He'll tell you anything!"

Athena's jaw drops and she clamps it shut before it drops again, and she utters a measly whimper at Lexi's words. She watches the blonde's words process in her mind, and their eyes widen as they meet gazes. "Athena, you can't tell him I said that. He'll–"

"I'm just– I'm gonna go put clothes on," She mutters, retreating for the stairs before Lexi can even finish her pleas.

Athena rushes into the bathroom and slams the door shut, leaning against it with a heaving sigh. She forces her eyes open, having closed them to unsuccessfully block out her racing thoughts.

She pushes herself off the door and walks over to the dress Lexi left hanging for her. "You know what? We're not doing this tonight," Athena mutters to herself, getting the dress off the hanger. "No feelings. No makeup sex, no hot vampire sex, no nothing. I am going to that party and having fun. No exceptions."

Athena's aware she has two other people who could hear every word she says if they wanted to. But she's so focused on ignoring the sudden racing of her heart and mind that she ignores the possible embarrassment in favor of getting dressed, and looking her best.

Maybe, just maybe, she could get through the night without any problems.

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"You have some serious emotional damage," Lexi smacked her lips together in the small compact mirror she'd been using to apply her lipstick.

"No, it's not what you think," Stefan denied her claims but was still smiling as he spoke to his best friend. "She's not Katherine."

Lexi frowned. "Then they're related because they could be twins."

Stefan rolled his eyes and shrugged. "I don't know,"

"You don't know– you didn't look into it at all?"

"No," He shrugged again, trying to play off her third-degree. "Maybe I don't wanna know. I have no desire to tie Elena to Katherine."

Lexi raised an eyebrow at him, holding back a laugh at her friend's terrible lies. Stefan sighs. "Okay, yes, yes, the resemblance is what drew me in but now there's–"

"There's Athena," Lexi smirks knowingly, watching as Stefan deflates and turns away from her.

Stefan sits down on the chair near his bed and wipes a hand over his face, smiling sarcastically when he meets her smug face again. "She was an unknown factor. I never– I wasn't expecting her. Athena is,"

He lets out a long sigh, a soft smile subconsciously growing on his face as he thinks about the dark-haired girl. "She's everything. She puts up with Damon–she likes him, and she accepts me for who I am. She's funny and," A wistful sigh echoes in the room. "And when I'm with her, I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not."

Lexi looks at her best friend in silent awe. "Oh, my god. You're totally in love with her."

Stefan stopped for a moment, his face dropping at her words. He started to shake his head in denial, but Lexi stopped him with a quirk of her brow. "I don't know," He whispers, staring at his hands in disbelief. "I don't know what it is. But I know that it's real."

Lexi goes to respond, but she cuts herself off when she hears Athena enter the room. Both she and Stefan turn to look at the girl standing in the doorway, who shifts anxiously when she sees both vampires looking at her.

Athena holds her hands out in sarcastic jazz hands and gestures to the baby pink dress that Lexi has let her wear, which is simple in its entirety. It's a pale pink, made of shiny silk that was probably expensive as she'd learned quickly that most vampires had a taste for the finer things in life like she did. The ties droop down the middle, and she fumbles with the necklace Stefan gave her where it sits on her chest.

Lexi is the first one to speak, and Athena's grateful because she can feel Stefan's gaze drilling into her like she's some sort of mystical creature standing before him. "If you and Caroline don't have sex tonight, we are for sure."

Athena snorts, her shoulders relaxing at the blonde's comment. "I have a thing for blondes, what can I say," She shrugs, walking over to the high heels that she'd been wearing earlier that day with her skirt and sweater.

"Doesn't she look great, Stefan?" Lexi elbows him in the ribs and he snaps out of his stupor, watching her strap-on shoes tall enough to be classified as deadly weapons– especially in her hands.

He nods, wiping a hand over his mouth as he tears his eyes away from Athena to glare at his best friend. "She looks, uh, good. Really good." Too good, his mind supplies. He swears that she was put on this Earth specifically to drive him crazy.

Athena stands straight again and cocks a hip out, facing the two vampires. "Are we ready?"

Lexi nods as she stands up, straightening herself out one last time. "Let the 162nd Birthday Celebration commence!"

Stefan groans, and the two girls laugh at his disdain.

──────

Athena walks in with her hand intertwined with Lexi's, and she lets the confident woman lead her into the party, her confident mask in place in the presence of people she can't stand.

Lexi marches them to the bar and orders two drinks, compelling the bartender to ignore Athena's minor status for the night. It's times like this that she's especially grateful to have vampires around.

They breeze past familiar faces with drinks in hand, and Athena stops at the sight of Caroline standing in front of Damon, an affronted look on her face. She's familiar with the hurt in Caroline's eyes and flashbacks of their dramatic hospital break-up shine clear enough that she excuses herself from Lexi's side and marches over to the duo.

"No, you are the only stupid thing here,"

Athena's face drops into a hateful glare when she hears Damon spit the words at Caroline, and she shoves in between the two, pushing Damon back. The vampire looks shocked at her presence, but she doesn't acknowledge it.

"What the hell is your problem, Damon?" She shoves his shoulder again, looking him up and down. She spins to face Caroline quickly, seeing the tears budding in her eyes and she looks closer at her ex-girlfriend, the hazy glaze that clouds her blue eyes. "What did Damon ask you to do?"

Caroline stutters for a moment, but a focused gleam makes her pupils dilate and Athena already knows the answer isn't what Caroline wanted to say. "He asked me to get the crystal from Bonnie."

He didn't ask, he compelled her.

Athena spins back around and faces Damon again, shoving him once more and ignoring the warning look on his face. "You are such an asshole. You know, I have done nothing but stick my neck out for you against everyone in this town, and you couldn't even respect me enough to leave Caroline out of this. She's my best friend, Damon. I didn't think I'd have to ask you not to compel her into doing your dirty work,"

Damon's eyes flash with a threat that she scoffs at. "I get you do shitty things, Damon, but I must have been outright stupid to not realize you were just an all-around shit person, too."

She takes Caroline by the arm and drags her off to the bathroom, locking the door behind them so no one can burst in.

Athena opens her mouth to ask Caroline if she's okay, but she's cut off by the feeling of her lips pressing against her own. Her breath hitches, but she quickly finds herself falling into the feeling of the kiss, her hand coming up to cup the back of Caroline's neck to deepen the kiss.

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author's note; Hey

originally published; 11.7.20.

edited: 11.27.23.

- liz