The night had already fully taken over Mystic Falls when the scene shifted to the Gilbert house.
The kitchen was illuminated by a warm and welcoming light, the kind that made even an ordinary night seem special. The window above the sink showed only the reflection of the house's interior, while the distant sound of crickets came from outside. On the counter, ingredients were scattered in a way that was too organized to be a coincidence. That could only mean one thing.
Jenna was in charge.
She wore an apron over her casual clothes, her hair tied back haphazardly, stirring a pot with a wooden spoon while talking nonstop, completely at ease.
"I'm telling you two, you could help more instead of just chatting." She shot a quick glance over her shoulder, but her smile gave away that she wasn't really complaining.
Elena was leaning against the other end of the counter, carefully chopping vegetables. She wore a comfortable hoodie and shorts, her hair tied in a low ponytail. She seemed relaxed, something that had become more common in recent weeks. She let out a short sigh upon hearing Jenna's comment and rolled her eyes lightly, without stopping the chopping.
"You talk like we're literally standing around staring at nothing." She retorted, with that half-teasing, half-amused tone she used when she was comfortable. "This counts as helping."
Bonnie, leaning against the kitchen island, was peeling potatoes with a small knife. Her dark curls fell loosely over her shoulders, and she wore a simple blouse and jeans, with that casual air as always, but with the touch of a girl who had an amazing boyfriend and was happy.
"She's just teasing because we were reminiscing about things she wasn't part of."
She commented, feigning innocence.
Jenna narrowed her eyes, immediately interested.
"Oh, really?" She turned a bit more toward them, still stirring the pot: "And what kind of mysterious childhood things am I missing out on?"
Elena exchanged a quick glance with Bonnie before responding.
"Well, it started with that time Caroline fell while trying to juggle. Now we were about to get into another topic...."
"Do you remember that time we tried to make a 'magic potion' in your grandma's backyard?" Elena said, with a light, almost nostalgic tone, her eyes sparkling as she glanced toward Bonnie: "We mixed dirt, leaves, and grape juice thinking it would turn into something powerful. In the end, it just made a mess and your grandma gave us one of those lectures."
Bonnie laughed softly,
"Oh, yeah, I remember. And she said that 'real magic doesn't come from mess, it comes from intention'...." Bonnie winked, her smile mischievous, but with a hint of seriousness that Elena caught immediately.
Elena let out a short laugh upon hearing the memory and shook her head: "I was convinced for, like, a whole week that we had almost discovered a secret of the universe."
She set the vegetables aside and leaned her hip against the counter.
"Until I realized it had just stained my mom's clothes."
Bonnie shrugged, still peeling the potatoes.
"In our defense, we were kids." She shot a sidelong glance at Elena: "And you were always dramatic."
"I wasn't dramatic." Elena retorted automatically. "I was… intense."
Jenna laughed, finally setting the spoon down for a second to turn and face them.
"See?" She pointed at Elena. "That explains a lot."
The three laughed together, the atmosphere light and familiar.
Jenna went back to stirring the pot, but her tone shifted a bit, more casual, like someone starting a conversation without seeming to.
"Speaking of intensity…" She paused deliberately. "I ran into Ryan the other day at the market."
Elena felt her body react before she even thought about it, but she kept her face neutral. Bonnie lifted her eyes for a second, curious, but equally restrained.
"You did?"
Elena asked, trying to sound disinterested.
"Uh-huh." Jenna replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world: "And, seriously… even though I'd already seen him when he brought you home the other day, Elena, I still can't stop thinking about how that boy has gotten even more handsome."
Bonnie bit her lip to hold back a smile.
"He was always handsome." She commented, in a light tone.
"No, no." Jenna shook her head, emphatic. "Now it's different. He has that… vibe. Posture, confidence. If I were about ten years younger, I swear I'd try my luck."
Elena rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide the smile that escaped.
"Jenna." She complained, half-laughing. "You're not that old, and I don't think he's your type...."
"Hey! He is too. I'm being honest." Jenna defended herself, with an amused smile. "Besides, he treats you well. You can tell from a mile away."
Bonnie nodded lightly, as if agreeing without needing to say much.
"He's kind." She commented casually.
Jenna observed the two of them for a moment, her gaze too attentive for someone just commenting casually. A small smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"Well." She turned her attention back to the pot. "Whatever you two are doing right, keep doing it. But seriously, now you two could help more instead of just reminiscing about the past. This soup isn't going to cook itself."
Elena rolled her eyes, but the gesture was affectionate, as it always was with her aunt. She set down the knife for a second and approached Jenna, picking up a spoon to taste the bubbling sauce.
"Oh, it will, Jenna. You're the queen of the kitchen here. Remember that time you tried to make cookies for us and burned everything? We ate them anyway, pretending they were good."
Jenna laughed, turning to face them.
"Oh, please, that was a disaster. I was trying to be the cool aunt, but I ended up being the aunt who almost set the house on fire. But hey, you survived. And look at you now, growing up, dealing with... whatever it is teenagers deal with these days."
Bonnie joined in the laughter, setting the potatoes aside to grab a cutting board and start chopping onions.
"You're the best aunt we could have, Jenna. Seriously. At least you try. My grandma is great, but she's more the 'do it yourself or learn from your mistake' type."
Elena nodded, passing the chopped carrots to Jenna, who tossed them into the pot with a dramatic gesture.
"Exactly. And look, Jenna, you're doing great. This soup smells amazing. What else? Pasta? Or is it staying basic?"
Jenna shrugged, stirring with the wooden spoon.
"Basic with a touch of love. And spices I don't even know the name of. But seriously, girls, tell me more about this magic potion. It sounds like the kind of thing I'd do at your age, except I'd probably put vodka in it."
The three laughed at the same time, the sound filling the kitchen like a balm against the night outside.
Elena, who had gone back to chopping more vegetables, paused her movement for a second and shot Bonnie a curious smile.
"You know, speaking of childhood… remember when we swore we'd marry the same guy? Like, share him as if he were a toy. We were so innocent...."
Bonnie almost choked on her own laughter, her hands stopping midway through cutting the onion.
"Oh my God, yeah, I remember. And we even fought over who got him on weekends. As if that made any sense...."
For a brief instant, too short to be noticed by Jenna or Elena, but too long inside her own head, she felt the ground disappear beneath her feet. The laughter caught in her throat; her body reacted before reason. A dry shock spread through her chest and down her spine, chilling her skin, as if someone had opened a window in the middle of winter.
The first thought that crossed her mind was irrational and devastating: Ryan had told. And with it came a silent panic, forcibly contained behind a smile that barely held. Her heart raced, her breath shortened, and for a second she really thought she'd lose control right there.
It wasn't guilt, nor fear of judgment. It was the terror of seeing that invisible line, which she had been balancing so carefully, crossed without warning. Only when she realized that Elena's comment had been made casually, without any ulterior motive, did a belated relief begin to seep into her chest....
Jenna tilted her head, interested, while tasting the sauce.
"Wait, who was the lucky imaginary guy? Some TV actor or what?"
Elena shook her head, laughter still on her lips.
"No, it was Ryan. He was the only boy we thought was cool enough to share."
While laughing, she couldn't help but think about how her own feelings had changed in recent weeks.
At first, when Ryan mentioned the idea of a relationship that included Bonnie and Caroline, the discomfort had been immediate. It seemed wrong, confusing, something that didn't fit with the simple image of love she had always believed she wanted. Still, the more they talked, the more he spoke without pressure, without imposition, just exposing who he was and what he desired, the less that idea sounded absurd. She didn't wake up one day accepting everything suddenly; it was a slow process, made of honest conversations, thoughtful silences, and small internal concessions....
What really made her change wasn't just Ryan, but Bonnie and Caroline. She wasn't blind to the two's feelings, nor to the way both orbited around him, each in her own way. Thinking about continuing to hide the relationship, pretending normalcy while watching her friends hurt in silence, began to seem much crueler than facing something unconventional. Gradually, the idea stopped being merely tolerable and became desirable. That way, no one would need to be excluded, no one would have their heart broken in secret, and she could love Ryan openly without guilt or lies in the way. It was strange, scary, and definitely off the script she had imagined for herself… but, for the first time in a long time, it also seemed honest.
And she wanted to be honest with Bonnie that night, approach her first, because she knew it would be easier to talk to her about it than to Caroline.
That's why she brought up the topic....
Bonnie blushed lightly, but disguised it with a laugh.
"Ah, yeah....."
Jenna raised her eyebrows, her smile growing.
"Ryan? Wow, girls, is this destiny or what? You wanted to date the same guy and he's in town now...."
Saying that out loud was kind of embarrassing.... Elena felt her face heat up instantly, but she didn't look away. Instead, she let out a short, almost defensive laugh while going back to stirring the pot with the spoon.
"Jenna, we were, like, nine years old." She spoke too quickly. "Everything was exaggerated back then."
Bonnie cleared her throat lightly, clearly trying to buy time while pushing the chopped onions to a corner of the cutting board.
"And it wasn't exactly 'sharing.'" She corrected, choosing her words carefully. "It was more… a dumb kid idea."
Jenna didn't respond right away. She just alternated her gaze between the two, that slow smile forming again, the same one she used when she noticed something before everyone else but decided not to press.
"Of course." She said finally, in a tone too light to be entirely innocent: "Dumb kid ideas usually disappear… or not."
Elena shrugged, feigning disinterest.
"Some disappear. Others just become less dumb." She commented, with a half-smile.
Bonnie let out a short laugh, agreeing.
"Yeah." She added. "We just got older...."
Jenna went back to stirring the pot, as if the topic had lost importance, but her voice carried a discreet amusement.
"Well, if I believe in anything in this life, it's that Mystic Falls has a weird talent for making the past knock on the door without warning." She tasted the broth again and nodded satisfied. "And, from what I've seen, Ryan seems to fit right into that… coincidence."
Elena exchanged a quick glance with Bonnie, the air in the kitchen growing a bit heavier for a second, as if Jenna's words had touched on something neither wanted to admit out loud. But before either could respond, the sound of the doorbell echoed through the house, a simple but unexpected ring, cutting through the comfortable rhythm of the conversation.
Jenna raised an eyebrow, stirring the pot one last time.
"Who could that be at this hour? Did Jeremy forget his key again?"
Bonnie stood up quickly, wiping her hands on the dish towel.
"I'll get it...." She said, her voice casual, but with a tone that Elena caught as slightly tense.
She left the kitchen, her steps light down the hallway, her heart racing for a reason she couldn't even explain yet, as if the air had changed, charged with something only she felt.
When she opened the door, her face froze. Stefan Salvatore was there, standing on the porch with that serious and polite air he always carried, his deep eyes fixed on her, as if expecting to be greeted with a smile.
"Hello…" He said, his voice soft and controlled: "I'm looking for Elena. Is she here?"
Bonnie felt a chill run up her spine, her instinct speaking louder than any reasoning. Her eyes narrowed, her expression turning cold and unforgiving, as if a mask had fallen into place. Ryan had already said that the Salvatore brothers were the vampires attacking the town and that he had sent them away, but it seems one of them didn't listen....
"Get out of here...." She said, her voice low and firm, with no room for discussion: "Before I have to take action...."
Stefan blinked, confused, tilting his head slightly as if trying to remember something.
"I... do I know you? You seem familiar, but..."
Bonnie didn't wait, invoking the magic she had learned to control over the last three weeks, a pulse of invisible pain hitting his skull like an explosive migraine.
Stefan groaned softly, his body bending forward, his hands rising to his head as he nearly fell to his knees, his eyes closing tightly.
"What... what are you doing? Ahhhh..."
At that moment, Elena appeared in the hallway behind Bonnie, her apron still tied around her waist, her eyes discreetly scanning the front of the house....
"Bonnie? Who is it?"
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