CENTURIES, stefan salvatore [1]

The Birthday

CHAPTER 37: THE BIRTHDAY

The Gilbert House

In most stories you hear about someone's perception of time. How at one point it may have gone so fast that you didn't even notice that it was over. Then there were the ones where you'd hear how slow they felt it. As if every moment felt as long as an hour, those were usually the ones where they were going through pain or something equally hurtful.

Natalie Saltzman felt neither of these. She felt every moment as long as it was, which might have been the greatest torture of all. The safety of knowing how long everything would last and how long it would be hurting her was somehow something that hurt her even more.

Because for a whole summer, Natalie Saltzman felt every moment of Stefan Salvatore's absence as a torture she could not escape, but at the same time, it could go too fast for her as times at the normal speed she was used to because she had no idea how it would turn out when she finally saw him face to face again for the first time since she did the unthinkable. Kissing her sister's boyfriend.

It was because of those actions that Natalie tried to avoid spending time with Elena and Damon alike. Her guilt was eating her up inside every time she saw her sister's face. But after Caroline told her that whilst Damon was on his death bed Elena kissed him, she almost felt as if what she did was okay. But she knew that just because it would be hypocrisy on Elena's part, Natalie would not allow herself to become such an unreliable person in the doppelgangers life after she lost basically every part of her family. Of course, Natalie's lost plenty of family herself, but Elena definitely lost more.

But the huntress wasn't ignoring Jeremy, and he did notice his cousin/kinda sister's (they stated that she was as much their sibling as they were to each other that summer, but Natalie wasn't sure if they meant it) strange behavior.  "Hey." he greeted.

"Hi, Jer." Natalie greeted back with a small smile.

"So, are you gonna tell me why you've been avoiding Elena all summer?" he asked her.

Natalie's eyes widened as she realized that her actions were finally revealed. "I have no idea what you're talking about." she lied.

"You're too smart to play dumb." Jeremy narrowed his eyes at her.

"Are you telling me that I'm smart or that I'm an awful actress?" Natalie frowned.

"Both. But you're great at changing the subject." the 16-year-old retorted.

"Obviously not good enough." Natalie muttered to herself annoyedly.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "But why are you ignoring Elena? You've barely talked to her at all this summer. You have to today at least, seeing as it's her birthday."

"Yeah, well, it's my birthday too. And I command you to leave me alone." Natalie grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"It doesn't work like that." Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest as a sign of challenging her.

Just then, Natalie was saved by the text. Because Matt texted her at that exact moment.

Jeremy should really get to work, he's late again. And happy birthday btw.

He's just the sweetest.

"Yeah, well, you need to get your ass to work. You're late again, Matt texted me." Natalie smirked as she realized that Jeremy couldn't interrogate her anymore.

"Well, maybe he'll fire me." Jeremy shrugged indifferently.

"Aim high, Jer. Aim high."

▹▹▹