𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐓𝐘 𝐍𝐄𝐓, ᵗʰᵉ ᵛᵃᵐᵖⁱʳᵉ ᵈⁱᵃʳⁱᵉˢ

𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘴 + 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 & 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦

𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨

''he's on the rebound and has raging family issues'' elena informed her aunt jenna.

her, jenna and phoebe all stood in the gilbert household dining room making/eating food.

''well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend. wait till you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues. or amphetamine issues'' the red-headed woman told her niece, standing on one side of the girl with an apple in hand.

the door opening caught the attention of the girls' seeing it was jeremy.

''jeremy'' jenna calls out to the teen, but he only ignores her and rushes upstairs.

jenna follows after him,''jeremy, where were you?''

elena and phoebe glanced at each other, shaking their heads in disappointment before returning to what they were doing earlier (which was talking and eating).

jeremy had stopped at the top of the staircase with jenna at the bottom looking up at him,''more stoner stories. look, jenna, i get it, you were cool. and that's--that's cool'' he turned around giving her a thumbs up before proceeding to head upstairs.

''oh, no, no, no!'' jenna threw the apple she was holding at jeremy's back.

''ow! why?'' jeremy turned to face her annoyed,''why-why did you do that?''

''listen up! quit ditching class or you're grounded. no discussion'' jenna said authoritatively.

''parental authority, i like it. sleep tight'' the gilbert boy smiled, obviously buzzed giving jenna another thumbs up and then continuing upstairs.

jenna release a sigh, letting the teen go not having the strength nor energy to stop him this time.

~~~~~~~~~~

an hour passes at the gilbert house when phoebe decided to head home for the night.

as soon as the dawson teen entered her dark home, she immediately knew her mother was working a late shift at the hospital seeing as there was nothing on nor in the house that would indicate otherwise.

phoebe exhaled a sigh turning to close the door back and lock it, then proceeding upstairs to her room, closing the door behind her.

immediately she dropped her bag on the carpet, got undressed and into something comfortable.

(outfit: white tank-top, black & white shorts, a thin blue cardigan to cover her arms, wool grey socks with white slip-in house shoes)

the girl then gathered the scattered items she so carelessly threw on the floor, moving them to their designed areas.

after, the teen heard the doorbell from downstairs ring which confused her seeing as she's not expecting anyone, especially not at this hour.

nonetheless phoebe quickly slides on a thin blue wool cardigan, moving her hair to the side to do it, then letting it fall on her back.

she pulled open the room door, moving more quickly down the stairs when she heard the doorbell again,''i'm coming'' she announced to whomever was on the other side of the door.

the teen hesitantly unlocked the door, pulling it open and coming face to face with stefan, her face slightly lighting up,''uh, stefan. what are you doing here? how are you here actually?'' she questioned in confusion looking up at the green-eyed salvatore wondering how he got her address.

''oh, uh, sorry. i got your address from elena" stefan informed her,"i just wanted to make sure you were alright. you know after meeting damon".

''oh, i'm fine. i just-is there something i should know about him or...?'' phoebe trailed off in question, recalling the weird feeling she got from damon earlier.

''well, damon's damon. he's manipulative and seductive in a way'' stefan tried his best to explain his brother, which is not easy.

the dawson girl chuckled at that,''well, do not worry. i will definitely make sure to keep my distant'' she sent him an assuring nod.

stefan nodded back in gratitude with a smile,''thank you''.

''besides, bad boys aren't that attractive anyway'' phoebe shook her head mirroring the salvatore boy's smile, feeling something rise in her chest.

his smile widened for some reason,''yeah, i'll keep that in mind. wouldn't want to turn into one".

''yeah, we wouldn't want to lose the mysterious loner guy interior, now would we?'' phoebe teased making stefan laugh a bit.

''i guess we wouldn't''.

phoebe nodded with a small smile,''anyway, it's kinda chilly out here so you know, if you want you could come in. just for a cup of tea, water or whatever'' she offered rubbing her arms trying to create some warmth.

stefan nodded with an affectionate smile,''yeah, i would like that''.

"okay" phoebe moved aside,''then come on in'' she smiled making stefan return it as he walked forward into the warm house and phoebe closed the door.

~~~~~~~~~~

THE NEXT DAY

the next day went by pretty fast seeing as it was already close to sundown when phoebe, elena and bonnie were handing out pamphlets to people about the comet passing that was happening that night.

''tonight, night of the comet. would you like a program?'' the three girls handed programs to three people, then continuing to walk.

''he didn't call, huh?'' bonnie asked the gilbert girl
referring to stefan who hasn't called at her at all since her and phoebe showed up at his house unannounced and met the brother they never knew he had.

''or text" elena added,"then i realized we never even exchanged that stuff. we've never gotten to the texting part''.

''but that's an important milestone in any relationship'' phoebe pointed out handing someone else a pamphlet, also thinking about her time spent with stefan just last night and she couldn't help but wonder.

''isn't it? the timing is wrong, anyway'' elena confessed feeling uncertain about her and stefan being something more.

''when is it ever right?''

''i'm not ready, bonnie'' elena responded with uncertainty, which the two girls understood completely, but at the same time—life is short.

''nobody ever is'' phoebe answered with a shake of her head as the three stopped walking in the middle of the town square.

''at least i put myself out there'' elena defended herself, looking between her friends.

the bennett girl gave her friend a look,''is that what you're calling it?''

''what do you mean?'' elena asked looking down nonchalantly.

''all we're hearing is reasons why you can't. it's okay to let yourself be happy, lena'' phoebe assured the brunette with a soft smile on her lips, pushing her thoughts about stefan down to support the gilbert girl.