“It’s cute,” Elena agreed. “You should try it on.” The three girls had headed right after school to one of their favorite boutiques to look for dresses for Homecoming.
Even as she flipped through the dresses, a little sore place deep in her chest kept reminding Elena that this might be the end. If she wasn’t successful—if she died, back in that future—she would never be with her best friends again. And so she wanted, just for one afternoon, to be frivolous and try on dresses and talk about hairstyles.
“Focus, Bonnie,” Meredith said, amused. “I’d like to know where Elena met him, too.”
“At the cemetery, actually,” Elena admitted, and Bonnie gasped, almost dropping the pink dress.
“You went back to the cemetery? Elena, they still haven’t found who attacked that old man. It’s not safe.”
“I haven’t been there since we promised Mary we’d stay away,” Elena said patiently. “I met Damon before that.”
Meredith’s eyes narrowed. “The day we found you there?” At Elena’s nod, she frowned. “So he was hanging out at the cemetery alone the day the old man was attacked?”
“So was I,” Elena said dryly. “Damon has family buried there.” She wasn’t exactly lying, she told herself. Katherine, who had turned Damon into a vampire, was a kind of “family.” And her lurking underground in the crypt could count as being “buried.”
Bonnie rolled her eyes. “I really don’t think Elena’s gorgeous rich new boyfriend is attacking homeless people in his spare time, Meredith.”
“Even gorgeous rich guys can be psychos,” Meredith pointed out, her voice light.
“That may be true, but Damon’s not one of them,” she said, shortly. She began flipping through the rack of dresses in front of her and hesitated on a long sweep of silver silk. “This would look great on you, Meredith.”
Meredith looked at it critically. “You don’t think it’s too plain? Or too long?”
“You can pull it off.” Elena was sure the color would bring out her cool gray eyes and olive skin, while her natural elegance could carry off the style.
“So, are you bringing this Damon to the dance?” Bonnie asked.
“I don’t think high school dances are really Damon’s thing,” Elena said. She had trouble imagining Damon slow dancing to pop songs and bringing her little cups of punch. And Stefan would be taking Caroline to the dance, she assumed. It was better for the Salvatore brothers not to be in the same room, especially not surrounded by humans.
“Who are you going to go with, then?” Bonnie asked, taking both the short pink dress and a blue green gown in a mermaid style off the rack to try on. “I’m sure Matt would still take you.”
Elena shrugged. “No one, I guess.”
Silently, Meredith and Bonnie turned to stare at Elena.
“What?” she asked, but she knew. The Elena who belonged here wouldn’t be caught dead without a date for a school dance. She hadn’t cared about any of those dates, either, not until Stefan.
“Are you actually going crazy?” Bonnie asked tartly, and then gasped as Meredith elbowed her in the side. “I mean, fine, great. Who needs a date anyway?”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Meredith said casually. “I was supposed to go with Ed Goff, but it might be more fun for us three to just go together. Not even bother with boys.” There was something tentative to her gaze, and Elena realized what it was. Meredith was worried about her.
“Are you both crazy?” Bonnie asked. “I want to go with a boy. I want to dance all night. I want romance.”
“With Raymond?” Meredith asked, arching an eyebrow. “There’s nothing wrong with Raymond, but you can’t pretend you’re all that interested in him.”
“I can pretend anything I want,” Bonnie said, crossing her arms, the dresses she held crumpling against her.
“Come on, Bonnie,” Elena said coaxingly. “If you go with us, you can dance with all the boys. And we’ll have more fun together, you know we will.”
“It’s our last Homecoming together,” Meredith said, laying her hand on Bonnie’s arm. “It should be the three of us.”
“Oh … oh … fine,” Bonnie said. “But there had better be lots of cute boys who want to dance with me.”
“Of course there will be,” Meredith said reassuringly, “because you’re going to look so great in one of these dresses.”
“Obviously,” said Bonnie with a suddenly teasing, crooked grin. She stuck her nose into the air and sailed off to the dressing room.
Meredith searched through the racks of dresses efficiently, pulling out a short jewel blue dress to add to the growing pile in her arms. Flicking past a green velvet minidress, Elena wished she could be so enthusiastic. Nothing seemed quite right.
“Here,” Meredith said, stopping. “This is perfect for you.”
The dress was gorgeous. Silk the color of crystallized violets, which would bring out the gold of her hair and the deep blue of her eyes. Elena would look magical in it, lit from within. Had looked magical.
It was what she had worn to the dance, the first time. Tyler had torn this dress. Stefan had fallen in love with her, finally taken her in his arms, while she was wearing it.
Elena stuffed her hands in her pockets, unwilling to touch it.
And then, she saw something on the other side of the room, just waiting for her. Yes. Elena brushed past Meredith and headed straight for it.