"What the hell do you want, Kol?" Davina Claire groaned into her phone on Thursday night.
Kol was one of her best friend Rebekah's older brothers, and so full of himself that he'd probably start floating around like a hot-air-balloon soon. He was also always either hitting on her with the worst pick-up lines the world had ever seen, or trying to sabotage her so she would embarrass herself in front of his parents. Basically, it was safe to say that they loathed each other; at least as far as two people who didn't really know another could.
"You're having a fallout with Beks, I heard." She could practically hear his smirk. "What's so interesting about that Tom-guy that you two of all people get into a fight?"
"His name is Tim, and there's nothing interesting about him in the first place, which is why I said no when he asked me to the dance next week. But for some stupid reason, Rebekah is now mad it me for turning him down as well as the fact that he asked me at all. Like I would've said yes if I hadn't promised Josh to go with him anyway!"
"I thought she was going with Stefan Salvatore," said Kol, seemingly perturbed.
"He ditched her for Katherine's sister," explained Davina. "Bekah's probably taking that rage out on me now."
"You wanna get revenge?"
Davina raised her brows. "On who?"
"Rebekah, Tim, Marcel," specified Kol.
"What did Marcel do?"
"Oh, I dunno, exist?"
"And here I was, thinking I was the person you hated most on this earth."
"You're looking way to good for that, darling."
"Tell me about whatever plan you have in mind," she ignored his usual commentary.
"How about we go to that dance together?"
She snorted. "Right. I just told you I'm going with Josh."
"What if I told you I convinced Aiden to finally make his move on Josh?"
"You're kidding! Josh's had a crush on him for– what do you mean his move? And finally?"
"I guess that crush was mutual all along."
Davina could barely fight the smile that was crawling onto her face. "So, why would I go with you of all people?"
"For one," he started. "I'm interesting. Then, you could get Tim angry for lying about your date, Rebekah furious because you didn't tell her about having a thing for her brother and, well, Marcel shouting at me for even thinking about you for one second." He chuckled. "It'd be so beautifully awkward. All your peers would hate you for going out with a senior as well."
"That's what you want, isn't it? For everyone to hate me?"
"Was it that obvious?" Kol sighed. "Think about the look on Bekah's face, love; especially when she finds out we've been lying to her all along. I bet your date won't say no to his crush anyway."
"You're so annoying."
"I know," he grinned, and the line was dead.
Davina checked her messages and swore when she read Josh's latest text: OMG D! AIDEN JUST ASKED ME TO THEDANC E! it's ok I sad yes right?! AIDEN! Along with the many exclamation marks came a screenshot of Aiden's text, with the words 'I've been thinking about this for a while now' underlined in red.
"I don't know if I should hug or hit you for this, Kol," mumbled Davina before replying to her friend.
"You're really going alone, then?" Davina's adoptive brother Marcel asked while closing the zipper at the back of her dress. She nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry about it, though, I'm seeing my friends there anyway."
"Rebekah still pissed at you?" He'd offered to go with her friend when he heard she was so desperate to find a date, but she wouldn't have any of his 'sister's pitiful attempts at peace.'
"I guess," she shrugged. "Can't be that long anymore. I told Matt to ask her for a dance and she's never been able to resist his blue eyes."
"You're too good for this world, D." Marcel winked at her in the mirror.
"Has to be true if the best brother in this world's saying it," she grinned back at him. "You should get going, though, I bet Cami's all set to be picked up by her pity date."
"I'm not her pity date! She just didn't say yes until this afternoon!"
"That is a pity date, Marcel."
"I asked her a month ago!" She gave him a pointed look. "I'm a pity date?" He pulled a face and patted her shoulder. "See you later, D."
She waited until she heard the apartment's door fall shut, then grabbed her phone. "He just left, you can come over."
"I can't believe I'm doing this." They had just arrived in their school's parking lot and Davina was debating whether or not she should actually get out of the car.
"You're just worried I'm setting you up," said Kol from the driver's seat. "Which I'm not, by the way," he added when he saw her expression and realised she hadn't thought of that.
"Yeah, right, because you would tell me if you were."
He smirked. "Touché. Now, let's get out of here, this is gonna be fun."
"Until when? They see us together and freak out?"
"Oh, but that's the best part, love," he retorted. Kol threw the door shut behind him and shot her a grin through the window. "Don't be a wuss!"
Davina took a deep breath and gathered her skirts up, right along with her courage.
"You could've at least pretended to care if the door hit me in the face or not!" Davina huffed when she'd finally caught up with Kol, who obviously didn't have any idea how to behave on a date, fake or not. "Ah, love, can't be treating you differently to the ones before you, or someone's gonna think this is serious."
"That was the goal, wasn't it?" With an afterthought, she uncrossed her arms. Her scowling at him didn't really help their pretenses either.
"Not that serious," Kol pulled a face.
"You're unbelievable."
"Unbelievably handsome, I know."
Davina rolled her eyes. "You know, arrogance is kinda counterproductive in that area." She grabbed for his hand and pulled him into the decorated gym.
"So you do agree."
She smiled benignly. "Have you seen your siblings? Not all the good genes can pass you by."
"Are you flirting with me, Davina Claire?"
"Isn't that what you do on a date?"
"I don't really do dates, I wouldn't know." He scanned the room for the people they were here for. "Look, there's the loverboys!" He nodded his head to the right, where Davina could make out Josh and Aiden laughing with each other. She beamed.
"Thanks for that, I guess." She nudged Kol in the ribs. "The first good thing you ever did in your life?"
Smirking, Kol guided her onto the dance floor. "And straight on to the next one." The hand on her waist pulled her closer. "What are you doing?"
He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Ruining your brother's life."
"More like mine," she said when she saw Rebekah walking towards them.
"I'll protect you." He winked down at her.
She put her hands to his shoulders. "You better."
"Hey, can I talk t— Kol?" Rebekah's eyes moved between her bother and friend in bewilderment. "What are you two doing here together?"
Kol smirked at Davina. The show was starting right now. "Why, we're dancing, sister."
"You hate each other! You said you were going with Josh!" Rebekah pointed her finger at the other girl. "I can't believe you lied to me about this!"
"It's not like you've been talking to me the past week," said Davina, cocking her brow.
"Well, I definitely won't start doing that now!"
"What's the problem? You clearly came over to apologise, so—"
"That was before I found you slow dancing with my brother! And the one you claim to hate, at that!"
Davina looked at Kol for help, but he was just biting his lip to hide a grin. She sighed. Of course he had his fun.
"Beks, it's not like—" "It's complicated," interrupted Kol. "We only just realised recently that this… attraction was mutual, and it definitely didn't erase all the dislike from before, so we didn't really know how to address this to anyone."
"So you thought you'd simply go to the school dance together?" Rebekah looked sceptical.
"Well, it's such a nice atmosphere, how could anyone get angry at us here, right?"
"And as per usual, your plans didn't work out," commented Davina, silently pointing towards the fact that Marcel was nowhere in sight.
"Hey! I was trying to be the supportive boyfriend here!"
"Boyfriend?" Rebekah screeched. "This is getting worse by the second! You're coming with me right now!" She grabbed one of their hands respectively and stormed through the crowd, tagging them along. Davina and Kol could barely exchange a confused look before Rebekah suddenly came to a halt — in front of Marcel.
Davina's brother was talking to Camille, one of his classmates and date for the evening. When Rebekah tapped him on the shoulder, her turned around, somewhat annoyed.
"Have you had the pleasure of meeting Davina's boyfriend yet?" She asked sweetly.
"Davina isn't dating anyone at the moment," said Marcel, but while his voice sounded sure, a few worried lines still appeared his forehead. Kol made a show of looking insulted when Davina met his eye.
"Oh, but she is! And I'm sure you won't like him." Rebekah's smile was so icy, basically everything in Kol screamed at him to run and save his hide, but he stood his ground. Seeing their faces when he told them they'd been tricked would be worth everything they put him through now. Except maybe a broken nose, but he just had to hope it wouldn't come to that.
All the while, Marcel scanned his surroundings, his face practically falling when he saw Kol standing next to his little sister. "You're kidding, right?"
Yes. "No," said Kol hastily, before Davina ruined their whole show. She looked like she'd never lied to her brother before, and she probably hadn't; at least not on this level.
"Davina, tell me you're not actually seeing the guy you've been whining about since the day you met him in third grade."
"Aww, you have?" Kol grinned down at her. "That's so touching!"
She punched his arm. "You're not making this any better, Kol!" He raised his hands in defeat. "Sorry. Sorry."
"Marcel, I—" "You told me you were coming here alone, D."
She bit her lip. "I know, I… I just didn't want the drama to start before we got here."
"And you thought lying to me would make it better, yeah?" He shook his head, looking so disappointed in her that Kol felt almost felt bad for her.
"Hey, if you have to be angry, be angry with me. I told her it might be for the best not to tell anyone." So the prank would work out better. Ha. "Now, if you'll excuse us. We were about to find a place to snog at when my dear sister disturbed us."
He'd barely turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "You're not kissing my sister, Kol."
"I don't think you really have a say in that, mate."
"Can you please just stop it?" Davina looked worriedly between the two. Don't overdo it, Kol! her eyes seemed to be saying. "This is really not neces—mmphh." Kol grinned against her lips. He was so overdoing it. And it was awesome. She pulled away with a gasp.
"I can't believe you just did that." Her eyes wandered to Marcel, and Rebekah behind him, who both looked as shell-shocked as she felt. She'd just got her first proper kiss, and the whole scenario was part of a farce. Actually, an unplanned part of a farce! A farce she had to continue, for a few more minutes at least, or she would look even more stupid.
She fixed her gaze back on Kol, who, for once, actually seemed a bit nervous about his actions.
"I told you I didn't—" She broke off, unsure about how to end her sentence without giving to much away about their actual situation. "You don't always have to make a statement out of everything, Kol!" Well, she guessed that didn't quite work. Two at least make it look like a quarrel between two… partners, she brushed past him and made her exit.
"Davina!" Rebekah and Marcel both started towards the doors as well, but Kol stopped them. "No, no, this is my fault, so I'm gonna handle it."
"If she's still upset when I check up on her, you're a dead man, I swear," Marcel spoke through clenched teeth.
"Davina?" He hadn't been able to actually follow her through the crowd, so he was just taking a chance looking for her outside the building. He was lucky, though, and spotted her leaning against his car, of all places, arms folded over her chest.
"You want a drive home?" Kol advanced as casually as possible, stopping in front of the driver's door. She gave him a curt nod and got in.
"I'm sorry," he said after a few minutes of driving in silence. "I know I shouldn't have–" "Stolen my first kiss. You've stolen my first kiss," Davina whispered. "And you didn't even do it well."
He shot her a look. This was worse than he'd thought. "Davina—" He pulled up to the sidewalk a few meters from her home.
"I know it's romanticised in films and all, but I'd at least hoped for me to like it a bit, you know? And now I'm not even sure if it counts because we were playing pretend. Gosh, I don't even like you, i should be upset about the fact that you kissed me at all, not wonder why it felt so weird! I mean, maybe that's why it did, right? That we don't like each other?" She ran her hand through her hair. "You said this would be fun, Kol. I'm not sure I had any."
"Want me to make it better?"
She frowned at him. "How?"
"I could kiss you for real, this time."
She looked at him for what seemed like an eternity. "Okay."
