Note: chapter title from "kiss me" by ed sheeran.

here it is... the final chapter!

20. epilogue / this feels like falling in love

- six months later -

… … …

If you had asked Damon at the beginning of the school year where he thought he'd be the day after graduation, he sure as hell wouldn't have predicted this.

He's beyond glad that this day is finally here. Not because he was really looking forward to it or anything, but because maybe now that Jenna and Ric are married, he can have a conversation with his girl that doesn't revolve around flowers or seating arrangements. Not that he faults her for any of that - as the maid of honor, she had a lot of responsibilities in planning the wedding - but he can't say he's upset that it's over.

(She likes to joke that it's all been good practice for when its their turn, sometime in the distant future. He doesn't really think she's joking, and if he's being honest, he doesn't really mind.)

Speaking of his girl, she looks absolutely stunning tonight, and it's not just the perfect fit of her dress or her professionally-done hair and makeup. It's that she's happy. She's really, truly overjoyed that Ric is officially, legally part of her family. There's nothing more beautiful than her smile, he thinks, watching as Jeremy twirls her around the dance floor. He can't help but smile back when she meets his gaze, her eyes sparkling and her mouth parted as she laughs.

Then she dances over his way, toward where he's seated at the head table, and he has to wipe that smile off his face so she doesn't ask him to dance with her. (Not that it'll actually stop her.)

"Your turn," she chirps, tugging at his hand.

He shakes his head, plants his feet firmly on the ground. "Nope," he smirks, and she sticks out her lip in the cutest damn pout he's ever seen. He tugs her into his lap, and he's sure the way she stumbles has everything to do with the multiple glasses of champagne she's consumed tonight. "My dancing feet have retired for the night."

She frowns at him. "I know for a fact that your dancing feet never retire. Exhibit A: prom."

He chuckles. "Prom was different. I was already drunk when we got there."

"You could be drunk right now, if you wanted to be."

"And show up hungover to a meeting with my new head coach tomorrow morning?" He smirks. "You were the one who told me not to overdo it tonight."

Her frown only deepens. "Don't remind me that you're leaving tomorrow. I'm trying to forget about it."

And yeah, okay, he understands that, because he's been trying to forget about it, too. Not that he's not stoked about his full scholarship to Whitmore and the opportunity to continue playing football, but their summer practice schedule fucking blows. He's got two-a-days for the next three weeks, then a week off, and then three more weeks of practice, and so on, until the season starts in September. Like he said, it's not that he's not grateful for the opportunity, but he would've liked a little more quality time to spend with his girl before he starts classes in the fall and she goes back to school and this whole thing becomes exponentially more complicated. (He uses words like 'exponentially' now. Clearly, Elena's tutoring has done wonders for his vocabulary.)

"You sound like me," he jokes. "Aren't you the one who always tells me that avoiding my problems doesn't solve anything?"

"That's different," she insists, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. "That only applies to things you can actually fix."

He doesn't really have anything to say to that, because she's right. This isn't an issue they can solve with one conversation or one of her little to-do lists; it's just the reality that they're living with. And that thought is fucking depressing, so he decides he's not gonna think about it anymore tonight.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?" he asks, his lips brushing her ear as he speaks over the music.

She giggles, her cheeks flushed from the compliment. "Not in the last half hour," she teases.

"Well, you look fucking incredible," he smirks. "If I had more alcohol in my system, I'd probably have shoved you up against a wall and messed you up a little bit by now."

"Damon!" she shrieks, laughing, her cheeks bright red. "My parents are here. You can't say things like that."

"It's not like we do anything your parents don't already know about," he reminds her with a laugh.

When he meets her gaze again, she's just staring at him, and he reaches up to push a stray curl out of her face. "What?" he wonders.

"I'm gonna miss you," she says, and she's not crying, but her eyes are sad, and if she's like this now, he's dreading saying goodbye to her in the morning before he leaves.

"I'm gonna miss you, too," he mumurs, because it's true, and he can't think of anything to say to make her feel better. But he supposes there's something he can do, so he stands up, steadies her against him when she loses her balance. "Alright, you've convinced me. Let's show these jokers how it's done."

"Your dancing feet came out of retirement?" she teases.

"Just for you, baby," he winks, then kisses her quickly. "And because if we don't get out there soon to run interference, Ric might hurt someone with his flailing arms."

And with his girl in his arms and her head on his chest as they sway to some Ed Sheeran song, it's so easy to convince himself that no matter what happens, no matter where he ends up in the future, as long as he has her by his side, he'll be happy.

… … …

Stefan's never been a big fan of weddings. Yes, he's a writer, and he can be romantic when he wants to be. He just doesn't understand all the time and effort and money pumped into one singular day when it takes so much more than that to make a marriage. (From the stories he's heard and the photos he's seen, his parents' wedding was quite the event, and look how that turned out.) But watching Jenna and Ric exchange their vows and celebrate with their friends and family, seeing the genuine love and joy in their faces, seeing how happy Elena is to finally have her family together… he understands it now more than he did before.

It also doesn't hurt that his girlfriend loves weddings, and he can't really be against anything that makes her smile the way she is now.

"What?" Caroline laughs, reaching up to touch her cheek. "Is there something on my face?"

He rolls his eyes, but he can't help but smile. "Can't a guy just admire his beautiful girlfriend?"

She hums appreciatively. "I suppose, if you must," she sighs. She tries to brush it off when he compliments her, but the blush on her cheeks always gives her away.

He chuckles, wraps his arms a little tighter around her waist. Her arms wrap around his neck again as they sway to the music. "Thanks for being my date," he says. "Your enthusiasm has made the day much more bearable."

"Oh, please," she scoffs with a chuckle. "I saw the look on your face during the vows. Don't act like you didn't appreciate the meaning behind the day."

He shrugs. "It's nice to see them happy," he admits with a smile. "Their family's been through so much… Elena hasn't stopped smiling all day."

"Probably good timing that she's been so happy all day," Caroline muses, glancing over where Elena and Damon are dancing close by. "So she doesn't think about the fact that Damon's leaving tomorrow."

Yeah, to be honest, Stefan's been trying not to think about that, too. It's gonna be weird, being alone in the house for most of the summer. Damon's already told him that he'll be home on his week-long breaks, but he's gotten used to having his brother around. He's gotten used to having someone to watch basketball and baseball with, someone to throw the football with when they're bored. He doesn't mind their board game nights with Elena and Caroline. But really, he's just been enjoying having his brother in his life again. He'd even say they're friends at this point. After all the time that they spent being angry with each other, he feels like they've barely scratched the surface of making up for lost time.

"Yeah," he sighs. "I'm already preparing myself for the tears tomorrow morning."

"Elena's?" Caroline smirks. "Or yours?"

Stefan rolls his eyes, laughs. "Come on."

"I'm serious," she insists. "You try to pretend like you're not gonna miss him, but I know you will. He's your brother, and you guys have been through a lot. You've basically taken care of each other for the past six months. It's gonna be weird, living in that house all by yourself this summer."

"Well, yeah," he agrees. "It is gonna be weird, but I'm sure I'll get used to it."

She tilts her head, smiles knowingly. "Stefan," she murmurs.

"If you already know it, then why do you need to hear me say it?"

She hums. "I don't, I guess," she muses. "As long as you know it, too."

The song changes to an upbeat dance number, and Stefan steps away from her with a smirk. "That's my cue."

He hears Elena shriek, laughs as she barrels over to them, throws her arms around both their shoulders. The smile on her face is more blinding than the sun. "I love this song!" she shouts over the music. "Let's dance!"

And yeah, he was gonna go get another beer and sit this one out, but when your best friend is really, truly happy for the first time in a really long time, how can you say no?

… … …

Selfishly, Elena's been dreading this day since she wrote it in her calendar. She figures it's some kind of twisted irony that yesterday was the happiest day of her life, the day her family finally became whole again.

Yesterday, she gained something. Today, she has to give something up.

Okay, so she's being a little dramatic. It's not like Damon's leaving forever, or they're breaking up, or something like that. But he's moving to Whitmore, which is at least a two hour drive away. He won't be just down the road if she wants to go get ice cream, or watch a movie, or just talk to him. She doesn't know what she's gonna do for the next three weeks until he gets a break to come home again. Yeah, she's got Stefan and Caroline, but they've also got each other, and she's certain they don't want her third-wheeling all the time. She would say she's got Bonnie, but Enzo's going to the local community college to continue to care for his daughter, so clearly Bonnie's got her hands full, too.

So basically, he's leaving her here to rot this summer.

It's not that she's not happy for him. Of course she's happy for him. She's happy that he decided to continue playing football for himself, because he loves it, and that he got his grades up enough that he was accepted to Whitmore even before the scholarship was offered. She's so proud of him she feels like she could burst; watching him walk across the stage at graduation a few days ago was an incredible moment. And she's happy that they never needed to have that discussion about whether or not they're staying together; it's just a given at this point. She's happy that he feels the same way about her as she does about him.

That does little to make her feel better when he loads his last bag into the trunk of his Camaro and slams it shut.

"That's the last of it," he says, turning around to lean on the car, folding his arms across his chest. "Guess the time has come."

She comes to stand in front of him, rests her hands on his shoulders, and his hands fall to her hips to pull her closer. She sighs. "How do you think this whole long-distance thing is gonna work?"

"Well," he drawls. "I personally plan on forgetting about you the second I drive away." He chuckles and kisses the pout off her lips. "We'll make it work," he assures her. "I'm not worried."

"No?" She quirks a brow. "And why's that?"

"Because I love you."

She melts a little bit, can't help but smile. "I love you, too."

"Then there's really nothing left to figure out, is there?" He moves his hands to her cheeks, rests his forehead on hers. "We can make day trips on the weekends, and Facetime every day, and I'll be home in three weeks."

She nods, and he kisses her, soft and sweet. "Don't have too much fun," she warns.

He smirks. "Without you?" he says between kisses. "Impossible."

Stefan clears his throat from the sidewalk. "Sorry to interrupt, but…"

"Yeah, yeah," Damon sighs. "I've gotta get going."

Elena steps away, watches as Damon steps toward his brother. "You gonna be okay without me, brother?"

Stefan smirks. "I think I'll manage," he chuckles.

"You've got the bank account information, and you know how to pay all the bills, and you've got plenty of groceries to feed yourself…"

"Yes, Damon." Stefan rolls his eyes. "I'm a big boy. I can handle it."

Elena watches as the two brothers engage in some kind of strange, wordless exchange with their eyes. She imagines that's as close to an expression of brotherly love as they're gonna get. Then, Damon surprises her, steps forward to hug Stefan.

"Call me if you need anything," Damon says.

Stefan clears his throat, a tell-tale sign of emotion. "I will."

Damon pats him on the back, pulls away. He approaches her once more, wraps his arms around her so tightly her feet leave the ground, presses his lips to hers so hard she thinks they're gonna bruise. "I love you," he whispers once more when he pulls away.

"I love you, too," she echoes with a smile.

He puts her down, pats Stefan's shoulder one more time as he passes. Then he climbs in his Camaro, throws a hand up to wave goodbye out the window. And then he's gone.

"Okay," Stefan exclaims, claps his hands together. "We're not going to wallow."

"Why not?" Elena pouts. "I can't even have one day to wallow?"

"Nope," he says emphatically. He drapes an arm over her shoulders, smiles down at her. "We've got predictions to read."

He pulls two folded up sheets of paper out of his back pocket, and she gasps. "You opened the box without me?"

"Had to have these on hand to cheer you up," he reasons with a smirk. "I can't wait to read how wrong we were about the way this year would go."

She laughs because he's right. She honestly doesn't even remember what she wrote for this year, but there's no way it came anywhere close to predicting the year they had.

They sit down on the front steps of the Salvatore mansion, and Elena takes a deep breath, takes her sheet of paper from his hand. "You go first," she insists.

He rolls his eyes. "Fine." Slowly, carefully, he unfolds his paper and holds it in front of him, clears his throat dramatically. "This year," he drawls, "my dad will make my life a living hell."

"Stefan," Elena laughs. "Come on. You didn't really write that."

"Duh," he chuckles. "I'll quit the football team before the season's over." He hums. "I guess that wasn't so far off base."

"You didn't end up quitting so much as they just didn't invite you back," Elena teases.

"Okay, well let's hear yours, then," Stefan laughs.

She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes as she unfolds her paper. She doesn't think, she just reads it out loud.

"This year will be the best one yet."

Stefan snorts out a laugh, but she honestly doesn't think she was too far off. It definitely wasn't easy, and most of that was her own doing, but all things considered, she thinks it was a pretty great year. Stefan and Damon finally cleared the rift between them. Elena made two great new friends in Caroline and Bonnie. Stefan finally stood up to his father, and they finally got out from under Giuseppe's thumb. Oh yeah, and she fell in love. That was pretty great, too.

"I don't know," Elena murmurs. "I don't think I was completely wrong."

Stefan hums, considers. "You know," he pauses, "I think you might be right."

His eyes meet hers, and she can't help but smile.

… … …

Note: I started writing this story almost a year ago, and now here we are with the final chapter finally posted! thank you so much to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed. I'm so happy y'all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I've had a lot of requests to continue writing in this 'verse... who knows? maybe I'll get inspired again. for now, I'm happy with the way this ended, and I hope you are too. thanks again, y'all... it's been a fun ride!