Higher Education
by Sandrine Shaw
"Hey Jer, how's art school?" The line crackles. Jeremy is deep in the woods up somewhere in Maine; it's a miracle that there's a signal to begin with. Bad connection notwithstanding, he can clearly hear the cheer in Damon's voice and has no trouble picturing the smile that goes with it. It's the sort of smile Damon wears before he snaps necks and rips out hearts.
"Good. It's challenging, but so far I'm enjoying it." He tries to sound convincing even when he's being distracted by the bloody remains of a camper at his feet. It could have been an animal attack. Or possibly an 'animal attack'. Hard to tell. There's not enough left of the poor guy to make a sound judgement call.
"Yeah, I bet it's challenging, especially since you're half a continent away from campus and your attendance record is non-existent. I know they're calling all kinds of shit 'art' these days, but I doubt anyone would label dead vampires with a stake through their hearts an installation. The museums tend to frown upon that sort of stuff."
Jeremy winces. There's part of him that wants to quip back, I think of it more as performance art, but he doesn't really think he's far enough away from Mystic Falls to be safe from Damon's anger.
"Alaric told you," he says instead. It's more statement than question.
"What do you think, dumb-ass? Of course he told me, he's my best friend. Which is rather fortunate for him because otherwise I'd have killed him for helping you pull off this stupid idea."
There's knowing that poking the bear is unwise, and then there are openings too perfect to care. "Right," Jeremy says with a snort. "Because you would never kill your friends."
"I was going to come and drag you back to school, but there's nothing stopping me from burying you in the woods and claiming I couldn't find you." The fake sweetness of Damon's tone is enough to make Jeremy laugh.
"You and what army?" he taunts. Before Damon can take it as a challenge, he stops the banter and cuts to the chase. "Look, Damon, I can take care of myself. I know Elena wants me to be safe and have a normal life, but you and I both know that was never going to happen, and I'd rather be proactive than wait for trouble to come find me. Remember Denver?" It's not exactly Damon's idea that a psychotic Original vampire pretended to be his friend to have leverage over his sister, but that doesn't mean he can't rub it in a little.
"Don't remind me." Damon makes an unhappy, resigned sound. "Just, take care of yourself, okay? And don't be too stupid to ask for help if you're in over your head."
It's as close to Damon giving him his blessing as it gets. Jeremy isn't entirely sure why Damon's approval even matters to him, and he doesn't feel like examining the sentiment too closely. It's easier to throw Damon's allegedly non-existing emotions back in his face than to analyze his own. "Careful, you sound like you actually give a shit."
He images that, on the other end of the line, Damon rolls his eyes while downing his bourbon. "Cute. Seeing as it's my life on the line too because your sister is going to kill me slowly and painfully if she finds out I knew about your extracurricular adventures and allowed you to get hurt, I have a vested interest in your well-being." He cuts the line before Jeremy can make a quip about how Elena killing Damon might just be incentive enough to let himself be roughed up a little by some random vamp.
End