Second part to “Lose My Mind”

Word Count: 2,222

Read part one “First” here!  - Masterlist 

3 Weeks Later

The incident with Dean had been almost completely forgotten. Elena was quick to forgive Caroline for setting her up on that blind date, and was ultimately forbidden in meddling with Elena’s love life. Instead Elena focused on her school. She was a med student, and that meant her attention was devoured completely by her classes. Tonight being a Friday evening meant nothing to her anymore. She sat on her bed, with books scattered all around her. She was so engulfed in her studies; she barely heard the pounding that was coming from her apartment door.

“ELENA! OPEN UP!” She heard Caroline’s muffled voice as she approached the door. She smiled and shook her head at her friend’s impatience once she began to unlock all of the bolts. The door almost hit Elena in her face when she reached the final one; as Caroline’s impatience drove her to opening the door herself. “God, you take so long!” She says as she invites herself in.

“Hi to you too, Care,” Elena responds with a quick roll of the eyes. She quickly begins to lock up all the bolts before turning her attention back to Caroline. “So what’s…” She stops mid-sentence now looking at her friend. The young blonde had a huge smile spread across her face, with her hand stretched out towards Elena. She looked at the hand, and quickly spotted the item being shown to her. “Oh my god, Care…” Her smile was now mirroring Caroline’s. “Congratulations!” She pulls her friend who was on the verge of tears into a huge hug.

“Thank you!” Caroline squeezes Elena, and pulls away. “Can you believe it? I’m engaged!” She squeals in excitement. The two take a moment to cheer excitedly.

After the initial shock of the news; Elena quickly fixed up a batch of hot cocoa to celebrate the news. The two friends were now sitting in Elena’s living room with their mugs in their hands.

“It’s the middle of spring and we’re drinking hot chocolate. Are we delusional?” Caroline teases.

“It’s the only thing I could make under such short notice,” Elena rolled her eyes. “My fridge isn’t exactly stocked at the moment.”

“Well, doesn’t matter,” Caroline takes a sip from her mug. “It definitely hits the spot.” She smiles.

“So, tell me! How’d he propose?”

“Well,” She places her mug on Elena’s coffee table. “It wasn’t anything extravagant. You know, Sam; he’s very traditional,” Elena nods in understanding. “We were eating at that Italian restaurant, Luigi’s…” Elena held back the urge to roll her eyes at the mention of the restaurant. “And just after dessert, he grabbed my hands. He began telling me how much I meant to him, and it didn’t take long for me to put together what he was about to do. He got up from his seat, and got down on one knee in front of me.”

“Aww, Care,” Elena wipes a tear she hadn’t noticed had escaped from her eye. “I’m so happy for you guys!” Elena pulls her in for another hug.

“Thank you, Elena.”

“So when are you guys planning to have the wedding?” Elena asks, once they pull away from each other.

“I want a Fall wedding, Sam wants Winter. Speaking of the wedding,” Caroline quickly reaches for her mug of hot cocoa. “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind being my maid of honor!” She exclaims excitedly.

“Oh my god, of course Caro…” Elena pauses for a moment. “Wait… who would be Sam’s best man?” Elena narrows her eyes at Caroline. Caroline forces a big smile, confirming to Elena it’s exactly who she thought it would be. She throws her head back and lets out a loud groan. “You can’t be serious Care!”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry, Elena. But he’s Sam’s brother, I can’t exactly say no. But we promise we’ll make sure he’s on his best behavior. Please, Elena.” She begs.

Elena takes her lip between her teeth. Caroline was her best friend. She couldn’t let her down on something this huge. “Care,” She begins. Elena’s tone of voice tells Caroline to prepare herself to be let down. “I would love to be your maid of honor.” She smiles at her friend.

Caroline squeals in excitement. “Yes! Oh my god, you totally got me there for a minute.” She says as she leans over and pulls Elena in for a hug. “This will be so much fun, Elena!” Caroline lifts herself off of the couch and grabs her handbag.

“Wait, what? You’re leaving already, Care?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I just may have/kind of ran out on Sam after he proposed and came here,” She admits guiltily. Elena chuckles and shakes her head at Caroline. “I’ll call you tomorrow. We got to get started on wedding duties!” She says as she runs out the door.

Once Caroline was gone, Elena slumps back on her couch. Her hands fly up to her face as a loud sigh escapes from her mouth. She was thrilled for her best friend, but she dreaded having to face Dean again. The next few months were going to be torturous when it came to dealing with him, but she was going to deal with him nonetheless. She was going to be the bigger person, hold her head high and kill him with kindness. Yes, that’s exactly what she was going to do.

-

Time flew by quickly as the big day approached. Caroline’s neuroticism and perfectionism pretty much pushed her to being her own maid of honor, as she handled every single detail of the wedding; not fully trusting Elena. Elena knew better than to interfere with Caroline’s preparations though, she was present at any moment Caroline needed her,  and was there to calm her down whenever something might have gone awry. Lucky for Elena, she saw very little of Dean. Their interactions were short and usually supervised by either Caroline or Sam. The engaged pair would quickly intervene when they’d begin to see Dean and Elena beginning to bicker.

The big day came, and everything in the ceremony went flawlessly. Tears threatened to escape from Elena’s eyes once she saw Caroline walking down the aisle, but were quick to fall once her attention landed on the look on Sam’s face. The way he looked at Caroline, the love he held in his eyes for her. That was the moment Elena knew for sure, Sam would take care of Caroline like no other. She even felt a quick pang of jealousy. She began to hope that one day, someone would look at her the way Sam was looking at Caroline as she walked down the aisle.

Laughter and tears were shed as Care and Sam exchanged their vows. Family members in the audience cheered for the newlyweds and then came the reception. Elena looked out at the audience, and took note of the small crowd they were surrounded with; the small crowd who were now all joined as a big family. Her attention went back to the newlyweds, the smiles on their faces after they shared their first kiss as an officially married couple. And right behind, the couple, Elena spotted Dean. She hadn’t paid any attention to him throughout the entire ceremony. Surprise filled her when she noted his glistening green eyes, the happiness Dean held for his younger brother. Surprisingly enough a small smile grows on her lips as she kept her gaze on Dean’s expression.

Dean felt the sensation of being watched. He peeled his eyes away from his younger brother and his new wife to find the culprit. He quickly found the pair of doe eyes that were glued on him. He shot her back a wink once she noticed he had been looking back at her. She rolled her eyes at him and began to make her way to congratulate Sam and Caroline. Dean chuckled and followed her lead.

-

The battles were constant between the two as another couple years flew by. Dean had officially moved to be close to his younger brother, and being Caroline’s best friend meant Elena was constantly bumping into Caroline’s brother in law. Dean knew just what buttons to push to irk her. A lift of his brow would earn him her death stare, a wink would earn him a roll of the eyes,  a suggestive remark would earn him a scoff; these little, mischievous back and forth battles were what made the many events Caroline planned bearable for Dean. And there were many events planned throughout the year. Besides the obvious holiday season, Caroline practically threw some sort event of get together each month; from Christmas to celebrating their dog’s birthday.

July was closing in, and one of Caroline’s favorite holidays was approaching. Something about fireworks on the Fourth of July always seemed to bring Caroline an extra amount of joy. She was sitting in the kitchen with her eyes glued on the laptop screen, when Sam walked into the house. She was so focused on her research; she hadn’t even heard Riot, their dog, bark at him when he came into the house.

“It’s a good thing we got Riot,” He says walking into the kitchen. She peels her eyes away from the laptop and looks up at him questioningly. “A burglar could have come in, took all of our things, and you wouldn’t have noticed unless he tried taking the laptop from you,” He teased. She rolled her eyes at him and chuckled; before he leaned down to give her a quick kiss. “What are you doing anyway? Aren’t you done with classes for the summer?” He asks as he shrugs out of his coat.

She points at the calendar hanging on the kitchen wall. “It’s almost July, Sam. Yes. I’m on summer break. That being said, with the 4th coming up soon; I’m looking for a beach house for us to rent for a few days.” She winks at him.

He chuckles. “That sounds nice,” He leans over her shoulder to get a look at the screen, checking out some of the options. That’s when he notices the settings, Caroline had preset. “2 rooms?” He questions. “Are you planning on sleeping in separate rooms?” He takes a seat beside her. His eyes remain glued on her, as she avoided his question.  “Care, what are you up to?” He asks with his skeptical tone. She looks up at him and gives him her guilty look. He knew exactly what she was plotting.

He lets out an exasperated sigh. “Come on, Care. Am I really that boring of husband, that you need to interfere with Dean and Elena?”

“No!” She exclaims. “Sam you’re the best husband I could have ever asked for,” She leans over and gives him a quick kiss. “And because you’re the best, you’re going to help me, help them.” She smiles.

He smiles at her and shakes his head. “Babe, anytime those two are together, I’m afraid we’ll end up having to call 911 for help. They don’t like each other, Care. What makes you think you can change that?”

“Because they don’t hate each other, Sam.” He tilts his head puzzled. She lets out a sigh and begins to explain. “If they hated each other, they would do everything in their possible ability, to avoid being within a mile of each other. Yet, at every event we invite them to, they always find each other. They clearly look forward to seeing one another.”

“Okay, so they don’t hate each other. Doesn’t change the fact that Elena doesn’t want you to interfere with her relationships. Plus isn’t she dating that guy Castiel?” Sam leans back in his seat, and crosses his arms. She lets out a disgusted sound. “What you don’t like him?  I think he’s really nice.” Sam says.

“Yeah, exactly what I think!” She exclaims.

Sam chuckles at her reaction. “Wait, so you think he’s nice, but you don’t like him?”

She groans. “How you’re a lawyer, I will never understand,” She teases. “First of all, they’re not dating-“

“But you said,” She lifts her finger to quiet him.

“I said I had a feeling he had a thing for her. Anyway, a relationship needs balance to work. Cas is nice. He’s super nice, just like Elena. Nice and nice. You’d think that’d be a good match, but it isn’t. Nice and nice make for a boring relationship.” “So you’re saying Elena needs a bad guy?”

“No! She just needs a nice guy, who has a little bit of a bad in him to make their relationship exciting.” She winks.

Sam narrows his eyes at her and begins to smile. “Are you saying you think I’m bad?” He lifts his brows at her.

She smiles at him, refrains herself from telling  him he’s the sweetest guy she’s ever met and that she’s pretty sure she was the one with the bad bone. Instead she turns her laptop, distracting him from his question with one of her own. “So what do you say we invite them on this trip? 4 days, on the beach. Could make for an interesting 4 of July weekend.” She lifts her brows.

He lets out a sigh. “If you get caught. I’m not going down with you,” He starts. “My only part in this will be to get Dean to agree to coming on this trip with us.”