"No friend discounts. No freebies. No 'pay ya laters'," Caroline reminded Elena as they set up for the Sexy Suds Fundraiser. "We are not running a charity here."
"No, we are not." Elena agreed, a teasing smile on her face.
"Bonnie!" Caroline singled out the girl in the crowd, marching over to her. "The event is called sexy suds, you know..."
Bonnie laughed as Caroline raised a brow at her expectantly.
──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────
Caroline had left Elena and Quinn in charge of the money while she went to go and restock the towels and 'shimmy things'. Quinn had offered to do it for her, but Caroline was adamant that 'if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.' Clearly, restocking towels and shimmy things was a life-or-death scenario and could impact the success of the Sexy Suds Fundraiser if not done properly... or Caroline was just in a control-freak kind of mood.
"That'll be twenty dollars..." Elena looked up and trailed off when she recognised the old man in front of her. "I saw you last night, you were talking to a friend of mine at the Grill?"
The old man looked confused for a moment before there was a flicker of recognition on his face, and he awkwardly answered, "Well, I... I thought he was somebody I knew."
He seemed embarrassed, perhaps for mistaking a teenage boy for someone he was not, but Quinn was curious about the whole scenario.
"Stefan Salvatore?" She supplied, looking at the man curiously.
"No, it can't be..." He shook his head slowly. "Just my mind playing tricks on me."
Elena's brow furrowed and she tilted her head, "Where do you think you'd seen Stefan before?"
The old man hesitated, but slowly answered, "When I first moved here I stayed in the Salvatore's Boarding House."
Elena nodded, encouraging him to continue.
"Stefan was... just passing through to visit his uncle," The man explained. "I mean, none of us knew he was even there until the attack."
Quinn looked at the man in surprise, "The attack?"
"His uncle was killed... mauled by an animal in the woods."
Quinn fought the shiver that washed over her.
Elena frowned slightly in confusion, "His uncle? Zach?"
The old man shook his head in disagreement, "No... Joseph."
Both girls were now thoroughly confused.
"I'm sorry, sir..." Elena trailed off, a polite but nervous smile on her face. "I don't think I'm familiar with the story."
"Well, how could you?" The old man chuckled. "This happened years ago."
The girls glanced at each other.
Their non-verbal conversation was interrupted by Tiki, "Grandpa. You gotta go, mom wants you home. Okay?"
The old man nodded, smiling at his grandchild. He left without another word and Tiki turned to the girls, "He wasn't bugging you, was he? He's a little alzy-heimer."
"No, he was sweet." Quinn reassured her, while Elena quickly followed after the man.
"Hey, sir? Sorry," Elena stopped him. "Um... Are you sure that the man you saw... that you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?"
"... Yes," He nodded slowly. "I remember his ring and his brother--"
"Damon?"
He nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Stefan and Damon Salvatore."
Elena tried to hide her disbelief, "When... When was this?"
"It was early..." He looked away as he contemplated his response. "... June... Nineteen fifty-three? Yeah. June, 1953."
──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────
"Your car was done an hour ago." Elena reminded Jenna with a cheeky smile and a teasing tone to her voice.
Jenna blushed, "You're saying that out loud why?"
Quinn watched as they were approached by Logan Scum Fell, the news reporter.
He immediately stuck his hand out to Elena, "Hi! Elena, right? I think I met you once when you were nine."
Elena nodded whilst Jenna scoffed, commenting, "Your emotional maturity level when we were together."
"Ouch! Here I thought we were making progress." Logan replied, holding his hand over his heart as if what Jenna had said had really wounded him.
Jenna smirked and Elena looked to her aunt, "Is he enough in your good graces that I can ask him for a favour?"
Logan piped up, "If I do her a favour, do I get back in your good graces?"
Quinn watched as Jenna sighed reluctantly, "A very reluctant maybe to both..."
"Done!" Logan cheered, a grin on his face. "On one condition: dinner, tonight, your house."
Jenna raised an eyebrow, "Fine... But you're eating leftovers."
Logan still had a grin on his face when he turned to Elena and Quinn, the blonde looking at Elena with curiosity. What was she up to?
"So," Logan said. "What do you need?"
"Do you have access to old news stories, says... 50's?" Elena asked, her tone innocent.
"Yeah, back at the station. Between the archives and the internet, we pretty much have everything." Logan nodded.
"Quinn and I have this report way past due. It'd be a lifesaver." Elena lied cooly.
"I'm headed there now," Logan said. "Let's go."
Elena nodded with a smile on her face, quickly turning to Jenna as she said, "If anyone asks, you don't know where we went. I don't want Caroline to know that I left."
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