Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Chapter One

Two and a half months later:

Diana stands in front of her bedroom mirror as she swishes the bottom of her dress. Her bedroom behind her has been decorated and furnished and lived in. Tonight is date night. It's been a good two and a half months. School is fine. She does well. Gets good grades. Things with Derek had begun progressing steadily, a little slower now. But that's how relationships get. The honeymoon period is over. Life goes on. Schedules clash. She grabs a pair of shoes from the bed and then leaves her room behind her.

..............

Diana jogs down the stairs, her shoes in her hand. Jeremy is leaning in the kitchen doorway, Elena on the couch reading. Diana glances at them both and then raises an eyebrow. It's rare that they are both in the house these days, and even rarer that they are both here at the same time.

"What do you two have planned for tonight?" Diana asks them both as she takes a pew on the bottom of the stairs so she can pull on her shoes. 

"Something less exciting than you it seems" Elena teases noting Diana's more formal outfit. "Where are you going?"

"Well Derek had to do the whole family thanksgiving thing last night, so tonight, he's taking me to dinner" she offers with a smile. Despite how distant Derek's been, he's still been an attentive enough boyfriend to her. Elena glances at her cell phone in her hand. Diana watches her a moment, knows just who Elena is checking her phone for. "Still nothing from Stefan?" Diana asks Elena who shakes her head. Stefan is Elena's current flavor of the month, it's not been easy for them, she's noticed that much. Elena told Diana that she liked Stefan but that is about all she's been told about the boy. She's seen him around school, shares some classes with him, but he's not really talked to her.

"Nope" Elena mumbles. "I know you don't like him, Di" Diana nods in agreement. She doesn't know why she doesn't like him. Just that she doesn't. From the first moment that she met him, something about his presence rubbed her up the wrong way. "But I do"

"Which is why I have held my tongue" Diana offers.

"You have not" Elena argues with a slight smile.

"I could have been worse" Diana admits, Elena gives her a look, Diana shrugs a little. She could have been worse, she knows that. The number of times that she bite her tongue. Elena is her little sister and Stefan is not good enough for her. To be fair, no one would likely be good enough for her. Diana is the oldest, and with their parents gone, Diana feels like it is down to her to protect both Jeremy and Elena now. "What about you, Jer?" Diana asks. "No date? No plans?"

"Nope" Jeremy answers and then disappears into the kitchen, Diana and Elena share a look.

"He misses Vicki," Elena tells her, Diana hums a little and pulls a face. "Yeah, well, I agree with you on that" Elena whispers. "Though I miss that she made Jeremy happier" Elena adds. "Don't you?"

"Oh, do I miss the girl who put our baby brother onto drugs?" Diana questions sarcastically, Elena smirks and looks down.

"She was in your year, right? Back before you left?" Elena asks her, Diana nods.

"Yeah, and she was just the same back then" Diana pulls on her jacket. "Okay, I have to go or I'm going to be late" she grabs her car keys from the side and then heads out the house.

............

Diana sits on a bench at Whitmore College, waiting for Derek. She glances at her phone, Derek is an hour late. An hour. Okay, she gave him the benefit of the doubt, she gave him time. He is not coming. She takes a breath and scrolls through her contacts till she gets to Derek's name, she dials and sweeps her hair aside to press the phone to her ear. It's not the first time he's been late, there have been a few dates and meetups where he has been late but only ever a few minutes, maximum of twenty minutes, but this, this is all new. An hour. And that's not acceptable to her. She takes a breath when the line picks up.

"Hey, Di" Derek greets.

"You on your way?" she asks, there is a quiet pause on the other end of the phone.

"Dinner" Derek then figures out. "I totally forget" he admits. "I'm on my way now" he adds. "I'll be there in like ten minutes"

"You know what..." She starts. "Don't bother" she snaps and hangs up the phone before sliding it into her bag. Things are changing. Maybe it was a mistake to think that they could just go back into a relationship. Maybe they've both changed too much. Diana brushes her hand over her cheek to remove a tear. She will not cry. She's stronger than that. And she's not going to be the type of girlfriend that rolls over every time her other half does something wrong. "Unbelievable" she scolds as she slides her cell phone away before standing from the bench and heading back towards her car. She drove all the way to Whitmore for this, for him, because he had wanted to spend time studying and working on assignments, and he can't even be bothered to remember their date, he can't even be bothered to remember her. No. She's not doing this. She strides towards her car, she's not going to go home yet either. Not going to walk back into that house and them seeing that things didn't go as planned. She needs a drink. A big one. A strong one.