She manages because he allows her to manage, allowing her to see the parts of him that are still childishly playful and still very much alive beneath all those hardened layers of a boy who was forced to grow up faster than most should. He played parent and guardian to his out of control older sister, worked and took care of the bills that his mother neglected to pay. Matt behaved like an adult, but he was still an eighteen-year-old not yet out of high school beneath it.

"You're a sneak, Elena Gilbert. A cheat and a sneak."

He grabs a handful of sprinkles and holds it threateningly over her head.