CENTURIES, stefan salvatore [1]

Before Sunset

CHAPTER 57: BEFORE SUNSET

The Gilbert House

The search for distractions was something on Natalie's mind from the moment she got home from the dance. Sure, Stefan may have convinced her not to bottle it all up, but that didn't mean that she wanted to lay in bed and cry all day. She did that enough after Scott's death, and the only one that was able to get her up was her late father. No, that wasn't an option. So after entering Alaric's room, she couldn't help but suddenly hate the color of the walls and asked Jeremy if he wanted to paint it with her, and Elena decided to join after their brother asking if she wanted to.

It was awkward, of course. The twins couldn't even look at one another for more than a moment and Jeremy was trying not to make it even worse, so he decided that he probably shouldn't speak up and ask about it, guessing it was probably about Stefan.

Speak of the Stefan, he walked into the room, worried about how the three were doing, not having seen how Elena and Jeremy reacted to Alaric's death, and knowing that Natalie's way of coping wasn't always the healthiest. He glanced at the walls and seeing them about half-way different, about split on the middle. "Going darker, huh?"

Elena turned around to look at her ex-boyfriend with cold eyes, even if he was somehow the person she was blaming less for his relationship with Natalie. "It's the only color we had."

"That's what happens when you decide to paint your dead guardian's room in the middle of the night." Jeremy pointed out, giving Natalie a teasing look, in which she responded with a sarcastic smile.

"I don't suppose anyone tried to talk you guys out of doing this so soon." Stefan sighed, looking between the two brunette females who were both giving him the same kind of look, the look he given both of them plenty of times, which was making him very awkward and slightly uncomfortable.

"We're just trying not to think. If I think I'll probably just curl up into a ball and cry. But don't worry, I'm still letting it in and letting it out." she assured him, trying to fixate on him instead of the fact that her father was dead, smiling at him with this cute little smile, which made him smile softly back.

Elena looked down for a moment as they were interacting, deciding that if there was ever a time to be blunt and ask them about it, it probably wouldn't be now, but she didn't really care at the moment, she wanted to know. She needed to know. "So, are you together now or what?"

Natalie and Stefan exchanged glances of surprise, them not having talked about their current status yet, Alaric's death being a little more important in their minds. Natalie was the first one to glance away and looked over at her taller sister. "No- no, of course not. We're just-"

Stefan then decided to take over after noticing Natalie's panic when it came to answering the question, almost as if she wasn't entirely sure what to answer. "I- I was just checking up on you guys. Seeing how you were doing, after everything."

Jeremy sighed at the drama that was so clearly never resolved between the three, and was not very happy about Stefan ruining the once warmer relationship between the sisters as he left town and Jeremy was more than ready to just blame only him. "We're fine. But, if you are trying to be the good guy again, why don't you do the right thing and give us one day. Just one day without any vampires in it."

The teenage boy shook his head as he glared at the much older male in front of him before walking straight past him, suppressing the urge to bump shoulders with him, but knew that doing so would cause Elena to start scolding him for being rude, which he totally wanted to be. Elena glanced at Stefan and Natalie, and although she didn't want to leave them alone together, she sighed and walked after her brother, not even bothering to say a word to the two.