The CW is nothing if not aesthetically predictable in its casting, and Elena and Katherine share a thoroughly conventional beauty that's no less striking in person, which Nina maintains with smart—though not obsessive—eating. On set, dressed in a pale yellow-and-blue plaid shirt, skinny black jeans, Frye boots, and a silver beaded bracelet that was a gift from a fan, Nina polishes off a giant takeout box of fish fajitas, corn salad, and fruit. "I try to eat healthy," she says. "I like to drink my kombucha, I like smoothies, and I genuinely love oatmeal because it reminds me of childhood. But having chocolate or cake makes me happy too." Her single beauty obsession: washing her face before bed. She also practices hot yoga three or four times a week. "It's that hour and a half in my day that I get to not have voices telling me to go somewhere, do something, run lines, get curtains," she says. (Apparently, in addition to sleeping on the floor for the first week of home ownership, she went without drapes. "I was doing sit-ups, and I remember looking over, and there's somebody on the balcony across the way smoking a cigarette and watching me," she says. "I was like, I need some curtains.")

Though she remains far less cynical than her Twilight counterpart and rarely has to contend with paparazzi at home in Atlanta, she's increasingly wary of media attention, having gotten tastes of it during trips to New York City and Los Angeles. "Going to the gym, to the airport, to meetings and auditions, getting lunch—they somehow find you," she says. "I just feel like a normal girl, and the whole concept is very odd to me. But other people, like Ian, have had that experience before, so they're like, 'Yeah, this is what happens; there's nothing you can do about it.'" Speaking of Ian: Excited fans speculate endlessly about the offscreen relationship between him and Nina—proof of which has included everything from flirty tweets to videos of the pair sharing a kiss at the airport. She toes the line, neither confirming nor denying. "We expected the rumors," she says. "Like, if I wasn't dating Ian, I'd be dating Paul. A lot of people who work together end up dating, so it wouldn't be unusual, but I've never dated anyone I've worked with."

After TVD goes on hiatus this spring—"Klaus is coming," the only hint she'll give—Nina will star opposite Kellan Lutz in The Killing Game, an action indie. She hopes to fill the break between filming seasons two and three with a movie, but wants to choose wisely. "A lot of things that I'm being offered right now are horror, sci-fi, or high school–related," she says. "That's what I do every day. I want to do something different." And despite the demands of her busy TVD schedule and the industry's stiff competition, just like in high school, she's not worried about failing. "Everything I stressed out over or was upset about or cried over then was a learning experience," she says. As always, Nina's up for the challenge.

Hoppas ni älskade det lika mycket som jag!

XOXO

// Ruta