She's A Salvatore. (Katherine Pierce Story)

So close, yet so far

The kiss was never mentioned again but when no one was looking they continued. It was unspoken that even if they only had a few minutes, the nook in the kitchen or against the rough bark of a tree, their desire to be close would be fulfilled.

What Stella didn't know was that after their midnight rendezvous Katherine would enter one of her brother's room and do the same thing. But only to keep them under her spell, she felt dirty when kissing or touching them like she did their sister. This vicious cycle continued until the Founder's Ball where Stella's brothers began to compete and argue over who would accompany her lover to said ball.

She knew that there was no way she would be allowed to have the Petrova woman on her arm or even wear the pants she so desperately wanted to. Their bickering annoyed her even more than usual. She had found that once her secret relationship began with Katherine every little thing her brothers did set her teeth on edge; they had what she yearned for when lying awake at night, dreaming of a different life where she did not have to be herself.

But the dreams ended once she opened her eyes again and another day of an overbearing father who would rather she was silent and docile, intolerable tutors teaching about subjects she will never use and her only saving grace being charmed by not one but both of her brothers while she's forced to watch and support instead of being in their shoes.

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Being back home always brought melancholy thoughts and memories of her short-lived time in the town Mystic Falls. Her visits were usually brief and overwhelming. Going to the old church and picking out the most ostentatious bouquet she could find was the easy part but the talking to the empty air made her heartache.

There was something different in the air that made the hairs on her body stand on end, something was about to happen and she didn't know whether it was good or bad. The cemetery and adjacent church seemed empty and void of life, literally, but Stella could hear a heartbeat from somewhere.

She left the brightly colored flowers and drawing of a small but intricate symbol by their place and she stood to go investigate her gut feeling.

Stella stopped short against a tree to look at a girl with her back turned towards her with her head down and a gravestone blocking all details but for her straight brown hair and the hunch of her shoulders. Since the other girl was human, she left her alone and continued with her business, leaving a longing look to a designated patch of grass since she very well couldn't go down to the cellar with no one getting suspicious. Although she hoped that wherever Katherine was, she appreciated the thought went into her yearly ritual of remembrance.

She just barely missed her brother doing the same thing but going up to the Katherine lookalike and almost losing control after she accidentally cut herself.

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Stella visited the landmarks and by landmarks, she meant the bar of the town because she had ample time before her flight. Walking in, it looked the same as it had for over a decade and it didn't take much coordination to navigate the dark restaurant/bar and to order herself a drink from the friendly blond boy.

The rum was watered down by the ice cubes that the boy put in the drink, but she wasn't particularly bothered by it. Maybe it was the day because usually, she would have had more than a few words over alcohol. Surveying the rest of the building she could see families and friends crowded around food and talking, laughing, being blissfully human on top of what was a supernatural magnet for trouble and death.

She turned into their conversations and little snippets were heard but nothing that interested her until she turned toward two girls, one brown-skinned and the other a pale blonde who was animatedly gesturing with her hands while telling what had to be a story.