I'll never love again [1]

MY BROTHER'S KEEPER

Nat and Elena walked down the steps of the Lockwood Mansion looking for Caroline. They were going to help with the decoration for the pageant tomorrow, Elena using it more as a distraction from her break up with Stefan. She had told Nat all about it when she got home that morning after falling asleep in Klaus' house. They walked over to Caroline as she spoke on the phone and looked at her. When they finally stood in front of her, she hung up and smiled at them.

"Hey." Elena said and Caroline smiled lightly at both of them.

"Hi. I'm gonna need you guys to help me arrange the flowers at every table." Nat and Elena nodded and immediately got to work.

"So, I broke up with Stefan." Elena said softly after some time. Caroline turned to her nodded slowly.

"I know, Stefan told me." She said and looked away for a moment before turning back to her. "Look, I'm your best friend and I would never pick sides, but are you sure that this is what you want? Because Stefan is your soulmate." She told Elena. Nat sighed quietly and kept arranging some flowers, not liking the point Caroline was getting to. "Sorry, picking sides."

"It's not like I don't love Stefan anymore, but I can't deny that ever since I turned, my feelings for Damon have become more intense." Elena confessed.

"Yeah, I know. Stefan filled me in on all the gory Damon details." Caroline said with a disgusted face.

"He did?" Elena asked her, face clearly showing surprise before it turned to worry. "Is he okay?"

"No, he's heartbroken."

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Lie to him?"

"No, but you weren't supposed to let Damon weasel his way into your confused newbie vampire heart." Caroline retorted and Nat rolled her eyes.

"Well, he did and that's exactly what I am. Confused. I need to figure out what these feelings actually mean." Elena said out loud. Before Caroline could say anything else, a man walked down the steps and towards the three girls.

"Excuse me, I'm a little lost. I'm here to interview contestants." He said politely.

"You're Professor Shane." Elena said and he smiled at her. The three girls looked at each other before turning back to the man.

"Yeah, that's right. Professor by day, pageant judge by other day. In spite of being absurdly unqualified, I'm apparently awarding a scholarship." He said with an awkward smile before looking at the girls expectantly.

"Uh, inside the parlor." Caroline informed him and he pointed up towards the house.

"Right in here?" He asked.

"Mhm." Caroline nodded.

"All right, I'll just follow the scent of hairspray and world domination." He said and the girls laughed quietly. He walked away and the three girls looked at each other.

"He's the one who told Damon how to break the hunter's curse." Elena told them.

"He's also the one that has Bonnie so obsessed with practicing magic that she bailed on pageant prep." Caroline said.

"And now he's judging Miss Mystic Falls?" Nat asked raising an eyebrow.

"Jack of all trades or kind of creepy?" Elena asked skeptically. Nat shrugged and turned back to her flowers.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but he definitely gives me the creeps." She muttered and finished the arrangement of that table. Elena and Caroline turned back to work on the decoration, and soon, the flowers were done. Caroline walked away to check on other things while Elena went inside the house to help with the decoration there. Nat helped some of the people outside with other things when suddenly her phone started ringing. "Excuse me." She told the guy she was helping as she got her phone out and walked a few feet away. "Hello?" She asked distracted as one of the girls showed her a vase and she gave her a thumbs up.