Eat Your Heart Out

Stefan had his hands in his pockets and looked back at the truck and then to the open door of the house. “Would you like any help?” He asked with a small smile.
Aiden said yes and Eric said no and both then decided to glare at each other and look at me. I thought about it for a moment, because I knew how my brothers felt inviting people, especially people they don’t know well.

“That would be nice,” I said with a smile, “but only if you let me cook dinner for the two of you as a thank you.” Eric poked me hard in the back. “Have Stefan help unload from the truck and you two bring it in. That way everyone wins.” I hissed so that only my brothers could hear. “Elena, would you mind helping me unload inside?”

She nodded and we quickly took off to the house. I was finally feeling cold after standing there for a couple of minutes.

We walked into the kitchen and quickly started to unload all the dishes. We worked in silence, other than the occasional question of where to put things. I was never too talented with small chat, but I was thankful for the help.

“So are you going to go to school here?” She finally asked. Guess she’s not good with the whole silent thing.

“Uh…starting in the spring semester. I’ll be a senior.” I said, before the second question came out of her mouth.

“Great. I’ll be able to show you around, if you want.”

“That’d be great. Thanks, Elena,” I replied with a smile. Silence filled the room once again before I asked the question that raced through my mind since we met a few minutes before. Guess I’m not good at the silent thing either.

“So Stefan and Damon…are they your brothers?“

“No.” She said incredibly fast with a slight chuckle. “Stefan is my boyfriend and Damon unfortunately is his older brother.”

“Ah,” was my reply, already assuming why she would be there so early in the morning. We went back to unpacking, she and I working hard together to make sure we would be able to find everything later.

Stepping outside to meet up with the boys, I found myself with the sudden urge to run. My nerves kicked in and I glanced around quickly, but saw no one else than the five of us around. Taking deep breaths, I settled myself down and Elena and I joined the small circle.

“…as soon as we get some food in the house.”

“Well, then let us show you a popular place to eat here. It’s not too far.”

“Sure sounds like fun,”

I looked between the boys and Stephan wrapped his arms around Elena to keep her a little warmer.

“Sorry, what?” I asked, a bit confused from joining the conversation late.

“We’re going to eat out tonight and cook them dinner tomorrow,” Eric said, nodding in my direction.

“Okay,” I said, smiling. I was glad that we weren’t going to be like some of those people and hide out in the house forever because of a bit of fear. Glancing at my watch, I noticed that it was only 11 o’ clock. “When do you want to meet up?” I asked, shivering.

“Six okay for everyone?” Stefan asked and everyone nodded.

“Alright, see you two then,” Aiden said as we turned to go into our separate houses.

~~

I didn’t go far when the group started to unpack everything again. In fact, I really didn’t go anywhere – I snooped around, trying to learn more about the mysterious new siblings here in Mystic Falls, but I came up with nothing.

Slipping back inside my own before the other two arrived, I disappeared into my room, flipping on the news to see if there was anything worthwhile going on around this town. Of course, everyone being away for the holidays, there wasn’t. With a sigh, I grabbed a bottle of bourbon from the side dresser and lifted it to my lips.

So far the neighbors didn’t look like a new threat, but I had learned very quickly in this town to not take everything at face value. Everything about them seems normal at the moment, but there were no promises for tomorrow.

The front door shut and I heard the two of them talking.

“Just don’t tell him –“ Elena stopped short and I figured that Stefan told her that I was upstairs. Too late, I had already heard enough and was downstairs beside them in a second.

“Don’t tell me what?”

“Nothing,” the two of them replied, rather quickly.

I raised an eyebrow slowly, a smirk falling on my lips. “What are you trying to hide?”

“Nothing,” they replied again, shoving pass me to get to the living room.

“You know eventually I’ll find out, right?” I asked – not thrilled I was being left out of something.

“Oh we know,” Stefan replied, turning to face me, “And you’ll probably find out about it after it’s done, so I’m not too worried about that.” He ended with a smirk of his own and he and Elena then walked into the kitchen.

I furrowed my brows, taking another drink from the bottle I was holding. They had just handed me a challenge and I will find out what is going on.