It didn't take long for the three to be interrupted.
Caroline approached with a tray in hand and impeccable posture as always. She had already seen Ryan earlier, but now, upon finding him sitting in a corner with Elena and Bonnie, she felt a slight discomfort, that kind of tightness in the chest that she hated to admit.
"But look at that..." Caroline approached with a forced smile and eyes shining on purpose: "You three looking like an exclusive little club and didn't even bother to call me?"
Elena looked up, a bit surprised.
"Caroline... it's not quite like that, we just—"
"Just nothing..." Caroline pulled a chair without asking permission and sat down, placing the tray on the table. There was a carefully assembled salad, a diet soda, and, of course, a strategically placed cupcake: "I feel personally offended, okay? Childhood best friend disappears for years, reappears suddenly, and you two kidnap him without warning me?"
Bonnie raised an eyebrow.
"Kidnap? That was an exaggeration.... I think he's not a trophy you can steal..."
"Maybe he is...." Caroline replied without thinking, tossing her hair to the side in that characteristic way: "An international trophy. Came straight from Japan, limited edition..."
Ryan let out a low laugh, bringing the juice to his lips.
"I don't know if I like that comparison."
"Ah, you should feel flattered..." Caroline leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand and staring at him without disguise: "Not everyone comes back to Mystic Falls causing collective commotion on the first day..."
Elena looked away, stirring her plate, trying to hide the discomfort. Bonnie pretended to drink her juice, but her eyes followed Caroline attentively.
Ryan, in turn, maintained his usual amusement.
"I was just catching up with them...."
"Hm...." Caroline smiled, but the jealousy was still there, hidden behind the shine in her gaze: "Catching up... or reminiscing about certain nights that no one ever forgot?"
Elena froze for a second, the fork stopped in the air. Bonnie pressed her lips, her gaze hardening before looking away to the sandwich. The tension became evident, even if no one had the courage to admit it out loud.
Ryan leaned slightly back, a half-smile appearing on his lips.
"Well... some memories deserve to be revisited, don't you think?"
Caroline blinked slowly, victorious for provoking the reaction she wanted.
"I think so...."
Elena took a deep breath, finally raising her eyes.
"Caroline, don't start."
"What?" Caroline made her voice sound innocent: "I'm just joining the conversation. It's not like I was the last to know, right?"
Bonnie rolled her eyes, but said nothing.
Ryan just kept that enigmatic smile, letting the silence linger for a few seconds longer than necessary.
It was almost cruel, as if he wanted to see how far each of them would go or react regarding this subject.
Everyone at that table knew in some way that they would have to address this subject sooner or later, since
Caroline drummed her fingers on the table, satisfied for having poked where she knew it hurt, but deep down, she also felt her own chest tighten with the memory. Elena kept the fork still, her eyes fixed on the plate, trying to compose herself.
Bonnie, impatient, was the first to break the mood.
"You two can laugh and tease as much as you want..." She said, with a firm voice, but unable to hide the slight blush on her cheeks: "But no one here is going to pretend that that night wasn't... complicated...."
Caroline arched an eyebrow.
"Complicated? It was... intense. There's a difference."
Elena sighed, finally dropping the fork.
"Intense, confusing, embarrassing... call it what you want. But we all promised it was better to forget. We had a weird year after it back then... I don't want us to have another year like that. We're seniors now and we're not teenagers anymore...."
"Promising is easy..." Caroline retorted, raising her chin: "Forgetting... that's another story...."
Ryan rested his elbows on the table, interlacing his fingers, his gaze wandering from one to the other calmly and with a slight ironic smile.
"Maybe you're overthinking it. It was one night. A memory. Nothing more...."
Elena stared at him, surprised by the coldness of the response, but at the same time relieved that he was trying to downplay the mood caused by the subject.
Bonnie let out a brief ironic laugh.
"You talk like it had no importance at all...."
Ryan shrugged.
"It has the importance you want to give it. I, personally, don't usually live in the past...."
The phrase hung in the air like a sharp knife, cutting part of the tension.
Caroline pressed her lips, almost annoyed, while Elena relaxed her shoulders a bit. Bonnie just shook her head, accepting the cue to end the subject.
"Right..." Elena murmured, trying to sound light: "So let's talk about something else..."
"Good idea..." Caroline forced a smile, although she was guilty of bringing up this subject, it was just her impulsive side speaking. She pulled the cupcake closer and continued: "After all, we have a 'Tokyo boy' back in town and I still haven't asked about his international scandals...."
Ryan laughed low, the change of subject serving as relief.
"Scandals? I was studying and working most of the time, Caroline. There's nothing glamorous about that..."
"Ah, please...." She rolled her eyes, biting a piece of the sweet: "You could be in a moldy library and still manage to stir up a scandal...."
Elena laughed unintentionally, and Bonnie sighed, but the mood around the table was already lighter. The tension from the memory still lingered, since it was hard to forget, but no one seemed willing to resurrect it again... at least not at that moment.
The group continued talking, trying to keep the tone light. Caroline didn't stop firing questions about Ryan's life in Japan, each one more invasive, while Bonnie and Elena limited themselves to laughing or sighing, as if they were used to the blonde's exaggerated curiosity.
"So you didn't meet any exotic model?" Caroline insisted, poking with the plastic spoon: "No mysterious artist? No billionaire heiress who wanted to marry you?"
Ryan raised an eyebrow, the smile still at the corner of his lips.
"No, Caroline. None of that."
"Tsk, you're terrible at gossip." She huffed, but her eyes still shone with mischief.
Bonnie laughed lightly. "Or maybe he just isn't obligated to tell everything..."
"Ah, please." Caroline retorted quickly, resting her elbows on the table and leaning closer. "This is Ryan! Since he was little, always surrounded by attention. It's almost a Mystic Falls tradition."
She made a dramatic pause and looked at Elena, the tone becoming slightly competitive:
"Remember? Even in the worst moments, he was always the boy who drew attention."
Elena raised her eyes, confused. "What do you mean?"
Caroline shrugged, trying to seem casual, but her tongue ran faster than her brain.
"I mean... even after your parents' accident at the beginning of summer and now with the return to classes when everyone was watching you, he still managed to be the only one capable of distracting people from that tragedy because of how hot he got. Like... inevitable."
The silence fell heavy on the table. Elena froze, the smile disappearing instantly. Bonnie blinked slowly, surprised and indignant.
"Caroline..." Bonnie spoke in a low but firm tone, reprimanding her. "Seriously? You didn't need to bring that up now."
The blonde blinked several times, as if only then realizing the gravity of what she had said.
"I didn't mean... it wasn't in that sense," She tried to correct herself, nervous. "I just... meant that Ryan always had this way of shifting focus, you know? I—"
But she was soon interrupted in the middle of her words.
Ryan looked at Elena, noticing how her face had lost color. He didn't say anything right away. He just extended his hand slowly, touched Elena's shoulder carefully, and when she raised her confused eyes, he pulled her into a firm hug.
Elena felt the world spin. Her heart raced, his scent enveloped her, and for a moment she forgot where she was. There was only the memory of how it felt to be protected, loved, even if just for that brief moment.
"I'm so sorry, Elena..." Ryan murmured against her hair, his voice laden with sincerity: "Really. I didn't know. Now I regret not being here when it all happened... but if I had, I would have done anything so you wouldn't go through it alone."
She closed her eyes, trying not to get lost in the wave of emotions. Caroline, who before was in panic, now watched the scene with a pang of regret and, mainly, throbbing jealousy. Bonnie, on the other hand, kept her face impassive, but the way she gripped the cup in her hands betrayed the discomfort.
"I'm fine, thank you. Don't blame yourself for that. You didn't know, Ryan...." Elena murmured finally, slowly undoing the hug, even though she still wanted to stay there. She took a deep breath, trying to compose her tone of voice, and cast a firm look at Caroline. "Really."
Caroline swallowed hard, lowering her eyes before forcing a light smile.
"Sorry, Elena. I... let it slip. It was lack of filter, as always. I shouldn't have said it."
Elena nodded, offering a soft smile back. "I know, Care."
The bell echoed loudly through the hallways, ending any chance of prolonging the conversation. The cafeteria began to bustle, voices and footsteps filling the environment as the students hurriedly collected their trays.
Ryan let out a low sigh, adjusting himself in the chair with his usual calm.
Elena still maintained a serene semblance, although her eyes betrayed that the memory poked by Caroline still hurt her.
Bonnie, in turn, collected the folded napkin and pushed her chair back.
"Better we go." She said, standing up first. "The next class won't wait."
Elena nodded slowly. Before standing up, she quickly looked at Caroline, who continued with the cupcake in front of her, now untouched. The blonde forced a small smile, but it was easy to see the discomfort in her eyes.
Ryan was the last to move.
His gaze lingered a second longer on Caroline, who pretended to adjust the napkin just to not look at anyone directly.
"See you later, Care." He said in a casual tone, with that enigmatic half-smile that left in the air whether it was kindness or provocation.
Caroline raised her eyes and responded with a quick nod, the knot in her throat betraying that, behind the confident facade, she was ruminating every word she had let slip.
Elena and Bonnie followed alongside Ryan toward the exit.
Caroline stayed behind, watching the trio walk away. Her chest tightened in a strange way, a mix of regret and resentment. She wanted to run after them, explain herself, but her own stubbornness kept her glued to the chair. Deep down, she knew she didn't like feeling excluded and even less perceiving that, unintentionally, she had hurt Elena.
As the cafeteria door closed behind the three, Caroline sighed, resting her chin on her hand.
"Congratulations, Caroline..." she murmured softly to herself. "Always talking too much."
The hallway was full of voices and footsteps mixed with the sound of lockers being slammed.
Ryan walked between Elena and Bonnie.
The three continued together to the classroom. When they crossed the door, all eyes turned to them immediately.
Matt frowned, unable to hide the pang of discomfort that crossed his chest.
Earlier, he had considered calling Ryan to join him and Tyler during the break. It would be the right thing to do, after all they were trying to include the new boy in the group. But, before he had the courage to open his mouth, he saw Ryan approaching Bonnie and Elena naturally, and in that instant, he gave up.
The feelings that had already arisen in class, when he noticed Elena looking away to "another boy," only deepened. Now, seeing them returning together to the room, side by side, provoked in him an immediate, almost suffocating discomfort.
It was as if something tightened his throat.
Elena wasn't just "an ex." She was his first love, someone for whom he still harbored feelings, even if he tried to hide or pretend he had gotten over it. Seeing her smiling at Ryan awakened a bitter mix of jealousy and insecurity.
Tyler would probably mock him, say he was exaggerating and needed to move on. But for Matt it wasn't that simple. Elena had been part of his life forever, and watching another guy approach her so easily was like reopening a wound that had never healed properly.
He took a deep breath, trying to disguise it. He had no right to complain, he knew that. Still, he couldn't stop the question hammering in his mind: how should he feel about that?
But Matt wasn't the only one taken by conflicting feelings. The other new student, seated at the last desk near the window, remained silent, observing. His gaze wasn't just curious, there was something intense, almost too loaded for someone who barely knew those faces. Seeing Elena so close to Ryan, this "old friend" who to him was a complete stranger, awakened a discomfort he didn't even know how to name.
A discomfort that went beyond simple jealousy.
Ryan, in turn, gradually interrupted the conversation with Bonnie and Elena, as if nothing had happened, and proceeded to his desk in front. With tranquility, he adjusted his books, taking the seat without showing anything. Elena took a deep breath before sitting a bit behind him, in her usual place, while Bonnie settled beside her.
The buzz in the room gradually resumed, but the tension in the air didn't disappear completely.
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