Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 10

"Get out" she said in a quiet, yet demanding voice. Stefan remained standing where he was, unsure of what to do. "I said get out!" she yelled at him, surprising both herself and Stefan with her outburst.

Stefan looked at her for a long while, trying to decide if leaving her alone would be the best plan. She was upset. What if he only upset her more? And then she decided to blow off this marriage plan and he didn't get his money?

But Stefan's next move made him realize that it wasn't about their fake marriage or even the money right now. It was about her. "No" Stefan said evenly. It was an awkward situation as the two stared each other down.

Stefan watched Elena ball up her fists tightly at her sides as her face began to turn slightly red. She was angry now. Angry was better than scared in his opinion. "Fine. Then I'll leave" she said, storming past him with such ferocity. And then he did it. He grabbed ahold of her wrist to stop her. He wasn't even thinking anymore at this point. He was acting. On impulse. His instinct told him to stop her. Elena's mouth gaped open as she turned to see him holding on to her. The expression on her face grew angrier. "Let go of me!" she demanded, yanking her arm away from him.

"Tell me what he did to you Elena!" he demanded back, losing his own rational thinking.

She continued to struggle to get out of his grasp, ignoring his question. "Let go! Stop it!" she screamed, taking a swing at his chest with her free hand. Stefan grabbed that wrist too and pushed her backwards against the wall, holding her there so she couldn't hurt herself or him.

In an instant he regretted it. Fear flashed in her eyes and her breathing stopped momentarily. And then tears burst from her eyes. Stefan realized his mistake too late. "Elena, I'm so sorry" he said, guilt seeping from his voice. He let go of her wrists and watched as she remained frozen in place, too scared or shaken up to move. Her eyes refused to meet his, but tears continued to run down her face. "Just ... just let me help you" he told her softly. "Tell me what I can do" he nearly begged. Because he felt helpless and useless and that was not something he did well with.

Elena still refused to look him in the eyes, but she was listening to him. No matter how sincere he seemed, she couldn't trust him. Could she? "Just go" she whispered, her tears slowing, though still present.

Stefan could only nod, telling her that he would go. He didn't want to, but she was not going to let him in. Not tonight and probably not ever. He had messed up. He had gone about trying to help her in the wrong way and now she would never trust him.

Stefan slowly took a step back, looked at her sadly one last time, and then left her room. When Elena could hear his bedroom door shut, she sunk down to the floor and sobbed.

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Elena tapped her pen against her notebook as she focused on the clock up on the wall. It was ticking by so slow. The professor was talking about something she couldn't recall. Luckily, he hadn't called on her to answer something.

The only thing keeping her awake was the triple shot espresso she had grabbed on the way to class. The only thing keeping her from concentrating was the lingering meltdown she had had in front of Stefan. She had snuck out of the house an hour earlier than usual on this particular day, wanting to get to campus early so she would not have to run in to Stefan this morning.

He hated her. Elena was sure of it. When she did finally return home, he would probably throw her out of the house.

But if she weren't mistaken, which she probably was, Stefan looked concerned. Why, she had no idea. He didn't know her. Hell, he probably didn't even like her. But he had practically begged her to let him help her. Elena shook the thought from her head. She had messed up. She had treated him so horribly in his own home. Just because she had been upset did not give her the right to scream at him and tell him to get out.