donovan

"happy new years, matt." the softness of her tone gestured towards the guilt elena felt. matt tried to avoid her, and she hated knowing that her presence was a gaping wound on his heart. elena didn't think she was innately cruel, but it felt like she was dancing on the cusp of becoming so when she forced him to talk to her. "actually, i did earlier. she was... not happy with me." to put it lightly. "she was at the bar."

oh, man. this was so not what he needed right now. too bad. matt turned and put on his best smile -- the one that convinced people he didn't have much else going on in his head except football -- and tried to pretend the sight of her didn't do his chest in like an axe. " 'lena, hey. " okay so he wasn't doing that great of a job at the pretending. " yeah .. " matt went on and then immediately paused. " --she's protective in her own way, i guess." he felt like he was stumbling. trying, and failing miserably, to tip toe around the sink hole that was their nonexistent future, seconds away from falling face first in it and drowning. vicki had her way of caring and he didn't really want her to be mean to elena, but it was nice to know someone would throw him a line to pull him back out. even if she might be high when she did it. showing up was showing up. " she's probably off with tyler somewhere." he shrugged, trying desperately to change the subject. "how's jenna ?" there. jenna was safe.

jeremy snorted. " is it ?? " matt sounded about as enthused as jeremy felt .... which is to say , not in the fucking slightest. maybe misery was catching after all. it was funny how life could make a joke of you ..... like , now , apparently. he shot the other man a look , bleakly amused. if matt were a different man , jeremy would accuse him of being vindictive , or of trying to share the sorrow around ..... but he wasn't a different man and jeremy had never known matt to be spiteful. " sorry , man. try tyler. "

god, what a pair they were. if he was quiet, matt could hear the universe laughing at them beneath the noise of the grill. how in the hell had they ended up hearbroken over each others sisters ? matt wasn't a total idiot, he knew that jeremy had a crush, but he never really expected vicki to indulge him--mainly because she was older and distracted with tyler. but he supposed of she was going to be with any one, he would have preferred it to be jeremy. he liked tyler as a friend, but that didn't mean he wanted him dating his sister. at least jeremy seemed to actually like her, even if she used him like a pill bottle. . "sorry, i thought -- " he cut himself off with a shake of his head and then downed the rest of his beer. he was drunk but even inebriated matt knew better -- he certainly didn't want jeremy bringing up elena. " wanna take a shot ? " somewhere in the back of his mind an ancient proverb whispered something about beer before liquor in the the clear, giving him the confidence to follow through with this as a good idea --- he'll realize he has it backwards when he's puking his guts out later. matt waved the bartender over and asked for two shots of tequila. elena probably wouldnt be too thrilled he was getting jeremy drunk but jeremy was gonna do that whether he had help or not -- at least this way he had good company.

mystic falls was the kind of tiny town where you couldn't wake up and sneeze without the neighbors knowing about it by lunch. there wasn't a phase in his life this town hadn't seen and not a secret he could keep, even if he wanted to. sometimes having your whole world reduced to a few thousand people was way too intimate, but other times it seemed safe. tonight it was definitely the former. he would have liked nothing more than the convenient normalcy of sitting in a bar and venting to a stranger instead of the same four people he went to grade-school with....and middle school....and then high school and college. so, when he looked up and saw a face he didn't recognize, he blinked. "oh -- uh. vicki's my sister." matt answered lamely, which was immediately followed by a drunken pause. he didn't know what to do with his hands ? did he offer to shake hers ? was that weird if she was a girl? --- was that sexist ?? god, he was drunk. "i'm matt, by the way. you've gotta be new around here. i know everyone in this bar--including that guy." he pointed to the kid puking his guts out into a plastic bag in the corner. "unfortunately." he added. where was he going with this, again? oh. right -- "what's your name ? "

holy sh*t, batman! an actual scene of reggie w/ good lighting this week!

charles melton photographed by francesc planes for i-d magazine, 2023

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, 4.21 — She's Come Undone