𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙀𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏
ミ★ ( lion and the lamb, act one ) ★彡

      Hazel thinks she's well and truly done with Stefan Salvatore. He's confused her mind, body and soul with his indecisiveness and it's driven her to write in her journal—something she hasn't done in weeks. She believes if she writes it all down that maybe, just maybe, she can wrap her head around what went wrong. Her therapist would probably wet her pants with joy if she saw this sight since she begs Hazel weekly to write something in her journal. She can't help but admit that she's right; writing in a journal does help, because rather than her thoughts be jumbled up in her mind all day, they've been expelled onto paper. It's all she's been able to think about, and at this point, she would've preferred the nightmares over a constant replay of Stefan shutting her down constantly for trying to get to know him while she figures him out.

     "You're up early." Jenna comments as she finds her niece downstairs at the kitchen island, writing into her journal, "And you're... writing."

     "Haven't slept." Hazel informs her and Jenna sends her a disapproving look before she hands her niece a cereal box, because she's sure she probably hasn't eaten either, "Thanks."

     "What are you writing about in there?" Jenna asks as she makes herself coffee and joining her, sitting right beside her hoping to get a sneak peek.

     "Believe it or not, boy troubles." Hazel chuckles to herself in disbelief as she closes her journal. She can't believe that she's reached this point in her life again where she's writing about a boy and how little she understands him.

     Elena wonders down to the kitchen, "Are you guys aware of what's going on upstairs?" She asks her sister and aunt, pointing with her thumb in the upward direction, trying to ignore the fact that she sees her sister with a journal in hand—she doesn't want to mention it since Jenna already did, and if she did, she doesn't want to discourage her from doing it more.

     "Oh, about Vicki being up there?" Hazel asks and Elena nods, "Yeah, we know about that."

     Elena looks at their aunt, "And you have no objection?"

     "He could be craftier about it, at least make an effort to sneak her in and out." Jenna laughs as she grabs one of her books to write down some final notes before smirking, "Oh, and just so you know, I won't be home for dinner."

     Elena grabs a bowl off the shelf and turns to Jenna with raised eyebrows, "Oh, so you're actually going to do it. You're gonna go out with Logan." Elena teases as she grabs the box of cereal.

     "You're going out with Logan?" Hazel asks in shock, "I thought he was scum."

     "I'm going to show up and torture him, yes." Jenna answers with a nod and the girls chuckle.

     Elena turns to her twin as she makes her another bowl since she saw an empty one sitting there and assumes she hasn't eaten, "And have you heard from Stefan?"

     Hazel shakes her head, "Not since he left that very vague message three days ago." She tells her before mocking his voice, "Hi, um, Hazel, I, um, have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days."

     "Haven't you called him?" Jenna asks with a small chuckle at her impression.

     "Nope. Not going to either." Hazel decided. She's not going to chase after him anymore when he's made it clear he doesn't want to be chased. She's over the back and forth games, and would prefer to just wait for someone else at this point—someone who actually wants her.

     "And you're okay with everything?" Elena asks, because her twin is oddly calm about it all when she expected her to be more outwardly frustrated.

     "No, I'm not okay with any of it. But, I'm not gonna cry about it either when we're not even together—and we never were, you know?" Hazel says as she shovels some cereal into her mouth, "Honestly, I'm not gonna be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy."

     Jenna blinks at the small outrage, "Okay, then." She says, making a small mental note to not ask again unless it gets brought up by her.

     "I'll be fine." Hazel insists, "No more Stefan Salvatore."

     It had been four days since Hazel last heard from Stefan. He had been radio silent after he left that intriguingly vague voice message on her phone that he was apparently 'dealing with things' and that he would eventually explain later. Hazel thought he wasn't going to show up again until he decided to show his face at the school and begged her for a chance to explain, to which he promised he would meet her at the Grill that afternoon and give her what she wants. Hazel curses her curiosity. Because she swore she was done with him and his secrets, but, she couldn't help it when the situation arose and she needed to know what the big deal was.

     Elena drove her to the Grill and waited with her for Stefan to show, the twins playing a game of pool to kill some time until he eventually showed his face. Hazel tried to avoid the pity looks from her twin as time flew by and Stefan was still yet to show—but, thankfully, she eventually became preoccupied when Matt showed up and played with them. Elena now had her own drama to deal with.

     The three of them eventually started talking about the Stefan situation and their life updates. Elena lined up her shot as she says, "And there's Vicki, all nonchalant in the bathroom like it's no big deal that they're hooking up."

     Matt huffs a laugh as he admits, "Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. Your brother and my sister, that's weird."

     "Yeah." Hazel mumbles in agreement as she checks her phone to see that Stefan was yet to call or text. He's late, but, she still would've appreciated the decency to say he was going to be late. If Elena and Matt weren't here, she would've been sitting at a table like a loser who got stood up—and she probably would've left after she didn't show up the first ten minutes he was late.

     Matt notices the sad look on Hazel's face and sends her a look of sympathy, "How late is he?"

     "Hitting the hour mark." Hazel grumbles as she watches Elena shoot the cue ball, "Nothing's wrong though."

     "You know you can talk to me about it?" Matt offers, "I mean, it's not like we were ever best friends or anything."

     Hazel and Matt have a stare off before Hazel gives in. She needs advice from a guy about a guy; there's only so much advice she can take from her girlfriends that was getting her nowhere, "You asked for it." She warns before getting herself comfortable on a barstool, "What do you think of Stefan? Is he a good guy?"

      "Why? What's he done?" Matt asks. He knows they aren't together, but, every time they get close to it, it never happens; and his protective tendencies are taking over to think that something bad happened.

     "Not any one thing. He's just so damn secretive all the time." She groans, "I think there's something that he doesn't want me to know, which makes me want to know all the more."

     "Like what? Like that he's a serial killer and he keeps a clown suit in his trunk?" Matt jokes as he lines up his shot and takes it, groaning to himself when he misses the shot.

     "No, of course not—well, I hope not, at least." Hazel shakes her head with a small laugh, "But, what do we know about him, really?"

     "He's great at football. A little bit of a loner. And as much as I hate saying it, he might be a nice guy." Matt tells her.

     Hazel's shoulders slump over, "So, you think I'm just being paranoid?"

"I think you should talk to him."

"Talk to who?" Stefan asks as he finally joins them, and Hazel looks disappointed, "I'm so sorry that I'm late."

"We'll give you guys a minute." Elena says as she leads Matt away and they go sit at one of the booths to give Hazel and Stefan some privacy.

Hazel nods at her twin appreciatively as she turns to Stefan, "What happened?" Hazel asks.

"I got held up." Stefan answers her.

     "Is everything okay?" Hazel asks. Maybe there was some sort of medical emergency that warranted him being late, because that would explain why he couldn't call or text.

     "There was this thing with my uncle." Stefan informs her.

     So, not a medical emergency, just inconsideration, "And you couldn't call and tell me that you were going to be an hour late?" Hazel questions.

     "I'm really sorry. It was unavoidable." Stefan tells her, trying to give her the romance eyes to get her to forget all about it.

     "What was unavoidable?" She asks and Stefan only looks down at his feet. Realising she's not getting anywhere with him, she lets out an exhale and grabs her things to leave, "Okay." She mutters, annoyed with herself for wasting her time yet again.

     As Hazel goes to walk towards Elena so they could leave, Stefan pleads her to stop, "No, uh, Hazel, please..."

     Hazel turns around, "No, Stefan, don't you get it? Every question gets a vague non-answer. What is so awful that you're afraid to tell me?"

     Suddenly, an old man walks up to Stefan, "I know you." He says, catching their attention while the man stares at him intently, "My God."

     "Excuse me?"

     "I know you." The old man repeats himself, looking at him up and down, "How can it be?"

     "I think you have the wrong person, sir." Stefan replies politely, even though on the inside he's incredibly nervous.

     "You haven't aged a day." He continues and Hazel looks at him with confusion before looking up at Stefan for elaboration.

     "I'm sorry. Excuse me." Stefan says to the old man before turning to Hazel, "Hey, can we... can I take you home and we can talk about it? Is that okay?"

     Stefan starts pushing Hazel towards the door before she can even reply. She stops him from getting any further, "Wait, what was that?"

     "I—I don't know. uh, nothing." Stefan answers nervously.

    "Right, nothing." She scoffs as she purses her lips in frustration at yet another vague answer. She lets out a groan, "Ugh, I am so over this! I'm going to catch a ride with my sister. Excuse me." Hazel says, walking away from him before he could even protest it, and heading straight for Elena who sends him a glare as they walk out.

Hazel was in her bedroom, lying on her bed with a book in her hand, trying to get her mind off of Stefan. She wants to call him and blow up on him; she wants to tell him to leave her alone for one and for all, but, there's that irritating part of her that knows that Stefan has gotten to her. The nice parts, at least, make her feel warm and fuzzy whenever he's around which makes it all the more harder to rid herself of him. He's like a drug, and she's an addict for him despite not being good for her.

Jeremy walks into her room, and Hazel doesn't look up at him, "You okay, sunshine?" He asks her and walks further into her room, sitting on the bed beside her, "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm miserable, Jer." Hazel frowns as she puts her head on Jeremy's shoulder, "I hate boy troubles—I hate boys. Except you, of course."

He laughs at her lightly, "Well, you should go get something to eat. It'll make you feel better." He advises and she looks at him strangely, "I know you haven't eaten dinner yet. You've been too stuck into this book of yours, nerd." He teases, flicking her nose.

"Hey!" Hazel whines as she pushes Jeremy playfully, "Don't call me that!"

     "Come on. Go eat." Jeremy tells her, practically pulling her out from under the covers and out of her bed so he could go push her towards the kitchen. Jeremy was usually the one that would push her to eat after the accident, and he would take note on when she would forget and he wasn't going to stop now.

     Hazel shakes her head at Jeremy, and her eyebrows pulled together in confusion as she noticed Stefan in her kitchen, chopping up vegetables with a tea towel over his shoulder like a proper chef, "Stefan?" She speaks, looking back towards Jeremy to ask what was going on, but noticing her younger brother no longer being there. She turns back to Stefan, "What are you doing here?"

     "Dinner." Stefan answers, "Jeremy told me that fettuccine carbonara is one of your favourites, and I happen to be a good cook. The Italian roots demand it." He says.

     Hazel reluctantly sits at one of the kitchen barstools, "I'm still confused as to why you're here..." She says, but, she's not complaining because fettuccine carbonara does indeed sound divine, and she can't cook to save her life.

     "You want to know me, right?" Stefan asks as he looks up from the cutting board, "Well, I figure if you're going to be done with me, you should at least, um... know who you're getting rid of." He explains, "So, let's start with Katherine." 

     "Stefan, I was stupid, you don't have to—"

     "She was... the most beautiful girl that I had ever met. She had this perfect olive skin. And she had this laugh. It was—it was ridiculous. I mean, her laugh made you laugh. And she was fun. She knew how to have a good time." He cuts her off and Hazel's lips press together in silence as she listens to him speak, a small sparkle in his eyes show as he talks about his first love, "But, Katherine was also very impatient and entitled and selfish, and, um, impulsive." He adds on, "Enter Damon. He claims that he was with her first—I don't know. I do know that I did some things that... I'm not proud of. And my biggest regret... is not being able to make it right before she died. I miss her, but... I'm no longer crippled by her loss."

     "Thank you." Hazel whispers after a while, her eyes soft and thankful, "I'm sure... I'm sure that was really hard for you to say. I appreciate it." She says.

     "I'm an avid reader—a huge Fitzgerald fan. Especially The Great Gatsby; his masterpiece. But, I'm no snob. I love some good Grisham. I think Seinfeld is the best American television show for the past fifty years, but I Love Lucy is all-time. The loving cup episode was the best, I think. Huge Scorsese fan. I can watch Taxi Driver over and over again."

Hazel smiles at his effort, and she feels like she's finally getting what she's been after for weeks, "Here, let me help." She offers and takes up chopping the garlic as she was beginning to feel like an invalid.

"As far as music, it's pretty much across the board." Stefan continues, "Um, Dylan, Hendrix, Patsy, Willie. A little Kanye. You know what? I even like that one Miley song." Hazel snuffles a laugh because she wasn't expecting him to be into modern music like Kanye or Miley Cyrus, she could tell from the day they met he was an old soul, "Easy." Stefan warns.

"I didn't say anything." Hazel replies before she stops cutting, "Hey, this is for the garlic bread, right? Because I'm not eating garlic unless you agree to, too." She cannot think of anything worse than having garlic breath while he doesn't, it just grosses herself out.

"Are you kidding? I love garlic." Stefan replies as he goes to the fridge to get something.

Hazel was only smiling at him, not paying attention to the knife when she suddenly cuts her finger with it. She lets out a hiss and drops the knife, "Ow!"

Stefan turns around, "You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah. I think so." Hazel tries to stay calm, but, she hates the sight of blood and doesn't want to freak out in front of him. She quickly goes to the sink to wash off her hand. When she looks in the window, sees Stefan's face transforming in the reflection. It was him, but, he looked different—he looked inhuman. She quickly turns to face him when they made eye contact in the reflection, and Stefan turns away, "Your face..."

"Yeah. I—I, uh, I think I got something in my eye." Stefan tells her, refusing to turn around.

"Stefan?" She gently calls to him, trying to see his face but no matter which way she went, he looked the other direction so she couldn't see, "Hey!" She calls again but he turns around and his face was back to normal. She lets out an exhale of embarrassment that she must be hallucinating again, "Um, I think that my lack of sleep has turned into full-blown hallucinations." She mumbles to herself, "I'm sorry."

      "Don't be sorry. It's part of your charm." Stefan tells her with a smile, to which she returns back, a small blush coating her cheeks at how close they were now with how thick the tension was between them, and the fact that Hazel wanted to close the gap rather than run away. Stefan then looks away and Hazel tries to hide her disappointment that he didn't kiss her as he says, "I hope you don't think this is too soon or too weird, but... I, uh, I wanted you to have this."

He opens up a box with a pendant necklace and Hazel takes it out with a gasp, her previous thoughts gone and now replaced by this beautiful piece of jewellery, "Oh, my God, it's beautiful."

She can't believe that he's gifting her something like this and Stefan looks slightly embarrassed by his display of affection, "It's something that I've had forever, and, uh, I've never wanted to give it to anyone until now. I'd very much like it if you'd wear it for me, for... good luck."

Hazel smiles at him as she inspects the necklace and she notices it's like a locket, and a faint smell of the contents inside it hits her nose, "Is that rose that I smell?"

"No, it's, uh... it's an herb. It's nice, huh?" He tells her.

"Yeah. I love it." Hazel replies, "It's a bit like the one in my mom's bracelet she left me." She says, holding up the bracelet to his nose gently, but he flinches away. She winces because the smell can be overpowering at times, "Oh, sorry. It's a bit strong."

Stefan coughs, "It's no problem." He tells her as he helps Hazel put on the necklace from behind her, the older Gilbert twin moving her hair out of the way so he could properly clasp it.

When Hazel turns around the two are face to face again, and she feels the air catch in her throat. She notices Stefan look down at her lips before back to her eyes, as if he's hesitant to kiss her. He inches forward ever so slightly before Hazel gains the confidence to make her next move, and closes the gap and kisses him first.