AN: Here is the second chapter! I was so happy with the response I got from the first that I immediately started writing more. You guys are amazing and I thank you for the reviews, the favorites and the follows. Since I didn't say it on the first chapter, I don't own The Vampire Diaries nor the characters I used...as if hat wasn't obvious.
Enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think!
No matter what others might say, Elena Gilbert had had a lot of fun in her life. Together with Caroline, Bonnie and Matt she had been in her fair share of ridiculously funny moments.
There was the time she had offered to cut Caroline's hair when they were ten, only to end up chopping off a handful of her blonde tresses when Matt had made her laugh making funny faces. Caroline had not appreciated the fact that her right side was about five centimeter shorter than the left.
She could still remember the first time she got drunk with Caroline and Bonnie at the Grill. Yeah, let's just say that hadn't been the smartest idea, especially when Bonnie ended up slipping on some spilled beer ending up falling on the floor. Even though it had ended with the three of them being grounded for a month after Elena had screamed 'We need a doctor!' and her father just happened to be walking in at the exact moment, it had been worth it in the end. They still laughed when they remembered that night.
The time when Matt had dressed up as Superman when he was eight, saying that he was the strongest boy on Earth, only to end up screaming like a little girl when Vicky had kicked him in the shins, could still make her chuckle to this day.
However, nothing could rival with what was happening right before her eyes.
The day she had made Damon leave his friends at the bar to come to her, he had told her of Rick and Enzo's strange behavior. At first she had dismissed him, saying that they were probably having a bad day. Alaric might be good at controlling himself, but he was still a four-month-old Original vampire. He still needed time to adjust to this new life, or afterlife.
And Enzo...well no one ever knew what Enzo was up to. Maybe he had been upset with the newest technological gadget he had found. Everyone had noticed he was still a little upset with all the modern things he hadn't had time to get used to. Being captive for seventy years would do that to you, she guessed.
During the following days, though, she had started to notice things. Like how Alaric or Enzo could always be found around Damon, wherever he went. Now, Mystic Falls certainly wasn't a big town so it was normal to meet almost everyone you knew every time you went out. What wasn't normal was the way Alaric had appeared from nowhere the second she had left Damon's side, she had seen a really pretty dress and went to check it over, to ask him if he wanted to go to his loft to drink some bourbon and do what she guessed could be filed under the 'guy stuff' category.
The same could be said for Enzo. One afternoon they had come home after spending some time alone at the falls, only to be greeted by the sight of Enzo sitting on the sofa. When they had asked him what was he doing there, he had simply said that he wanted to ask Damon if he was in the mood for a game pool with him. The glare she had received when she had told him the were planning to have a romantic dinner just for the two of them, still shocked her.
That night while laying with her head on Damon's shoulder, after a round of pleasurably bendy sex, she had breached the subject with Damon.
"Damon?" She asked, caressing his chest.
"Hmm?" He answered while gently stroking her hair with his right hand.
"Have you noticed anything weird with Alaric and Enzo?" She inquired, trying not to sound too curious. After all she didn't want to upset him, not after everything that had happened during the last months.
"Weird as in..." Said Damon trailing off.
"I don't know. Like, do you think they've done anything unusual?"
Damon turned on his side to look at her before answering. "Now that I think about it, I haven't been able to drink with the both of them for more than five minutes, before something happens." He said playing with her hair. "Like yesterday, for example. I was drinking with Rick, then Enzo arrived and not two minutes later he spilled his drink on me. When I got back from the bathroom, they were both gone."
He stopped playing with her hair, furrowing his brows like he was thinking about something. In the end he just shrugged his shoulders and went back to caressing her.
"Anyway, I'm sure it was just an accident." He said, smiling at her.
"You're probably right." She agreed. However she was sure that something was going on. She had this nagging feeling in the back of her mind, telling her that the solution to the enigma was right before her eyes. What was it they said? Sometimes the most simple solution is also the right one?
The following days she continued to observe both Alaric and Enzo and every time she saw that something was not normal. In the end she decided to talk with Caroline and Bonnie, maybe they could help her.
"Are you sure you're not just imagining things?" Said Caroline when they were seated in a booth at the Mystic Grill.
"I'm telling you Caroline that something is happening, and I'm going to find out what it is even if it kills me." Hissed Elena. This thing was making her go crazy, she absolutely had to find out what Alaric and Enzo were doing. She was not about to give up.
"Is that why we sat here? So you could keep an eye on them?" Chimed Bonnie seeing Elena blushing.
"Yeah well..." Mumbled Elena. "I told Damon I wanted some girl time and suggested he should drink something with his friends."
"God, are you serious Elena? This is getting out of control." Exclaimed Caroline after signaling to Matt to come over.
"Listen, Damon is the common factor here. Every time they behave strangely he is present or nearby. If I can just observe them all together I'm sure I can figure this out." Insisted Elena keeping her eyes on the three aforementioned men.
Meanwhile Matt had arrived ready to take their orders.
"So what are you girls doing here?" He politely asked taking off his notepad.
"Elena is obsessing over her boyfriend and his two friends." Smirked Bonnie looking at Elena.
"Bonnie!" Exclaimed her. "I'm not obsessing!"
Matt furrowed his brows. "Is this about the weirdness that hangs around them? 'Cause if it is you got all my support."
Elena turned toward him. "Thank you!" She stated turning toward her friends with a smile. "See? I'm not the only one who noticed."
Caroline stared at her for a moment before sighing and turning to Matt. "All right then, Matt could you bring us two cokes and an iced tea, please? I guess we'll be staying here for a while." She stated.
Matt nodded and left to go fetch their drinks.
Caroline turned toward Elena. "If you're so sure about this then you should keep an eye on them." She suggested discreetly motioning toward the three vampires seated at the bar. "Meanwhile Bonnie and I are going to talk about the horrible afternoon I had with Tyler. You can butt in once in a while so they won't suspect you're stalking them." She added, waiting for Elena to agree with the action plan.
Elena smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Care." She replied before turning toward Damon to focus on her mission, only to suddenly turn again to Caroline grunting, "And I'm not stalking them, I'm just...satiating my curiosity." This said she turned back to her targets.
Caroline just shook her head before starting to tell Bonnie everything that happened with Tyler the day before.
From what Elena could see Damon, Alaric and Enzo were just drinking and chatting between them. There was nothing strange about the way they were behaving. Yet. If she was right, and she usually was, from everything she had gathered during the last days either Alaric or Enzo would start acting weird. That was the chance she would be waiting to figure out what was up with them.
She smiled at Matt when he came back with their drinks but immediately went back to her task. While she sipped her coke she tried to analyze the situation. Enzo seemed pretty at ease, maybe too much at ease. But then again maybe he had had a good morning. When she moved her gaze to Alaric she noticed that he seemed a little tense. He was sitting with his back straight and kept moving his eyes from the other two vampires to the barmaid and back. Maybe he hadn't drank enough blood and now he was hungry?
After about another five minutes, filled with random nods and hums she used to pretend to be part of the conversation she had been ignoring since the beginning, something changed. It seemed like Enzo had just said something funny because Damon suddenly smiled before taking a sip from his glass. But that wasn't the interesting part. The interesting part was the way Alaric subtly turned toward Damon and stretched one of his long legs to rest it against Damon's stool. Elena was pretty sure that if stools had backrests Alaric would be draping his arm over Damon's. She couldn't see Enzo's expression but, if the way Alaric's eyes narrowed was any indication, he was probably smiling at him like the cat that ate the canary.
Elena furrowed her brows. While Damon seemed oblivious to what was happening Enzo and Rick seemed to be silently challenging each other. What the hell was going on? Why were they being so strange? Alaric seemed on the verge of jumping on Enzo to throttle him. Or worse. Right then she caught a bit of what Caroline was saying to Bonnie.
"...I mean can you believe it? There I was thinking that he wanted to talk about us and instead what did we do? We spent an entire afternoon in this total awkwardness! Then, because apparently the silence wasn't awkward enough, he turned on the TV to avoid conversation and we ended up watching this documentary on Animal Planet!" She ranted to Bonnie who silently nodded. "We spent like two hours watching animals peeing around to mark their territory. What did I ever do to merit this?" She whined.
Elena in the meantime could do nothing but hear the same words going around her head.
Peeing around to mark their territory...
To mark their territory...
And then she put everything together. They were marking the territory! The way Alaric subtly moved closer to Damon responding to the silent challenge thrown at him by Enzo. Enzo spilling his drink on Damon to interrupt his conversation with Rick. The way the both of them were always hanging around him, waiting for the moment he was alone so they could be with him. It was so obvious! How had she not realized what was going on sooner?
When she finally understood Elena couldn't help laughing at the situation. Her sudden laugh made Caroline and Bonnie interrupt what they were saying to look at her questioningly. Elena fanned her face with her hands trying to catch her breath. As soon as she was able to breathe again she turned to her friends.
"They're jealous!" She beamed at them still chuckling.
Bonnie bent her head a little to the side. "Who are we talking about?" She asked.
"Alaric and Enzo." Explained Elena looking at her two best friends. "They're jealous of Damon because they both consider themselves his best friends!" She giggled.
Caroline and Bonnie exchanged a look.
"Are you sure?" Inquired Caroline, still doubtful.
"Look at them." Urged Elena. "Do they remind you of someone?" She smiled.
The two girls turned to look at the three vampires. Now it was Alaric's turn to smile with an air of satisfaction, while Enzo was clenching his hand around the glass with so much strength it was a miracle it hadn't exploded in a million pieces yet.
Bonnie and Caroline turned back with little smiles on their faces.
"They're behaving like Caroline and I did in first grade when we were competing for your friendship." Laughed Bonnie. Caroline and Elena soon joined her before the blonde looked at the brunette in front of her.
"What are you going to do now? Are you going to tell Damon?" She asked.
Elena thought about it for a moment before smiling and saying, "I don't think I will tell him yet. It's so entertaining watching Damon try to figure out what's gotten into his friends." She giggled thinking about all the funny moments she could witness now, knowing what she was looking at. "I can tell you one thing though." She said. Her friends waited to hear what she was thinking. "This is going to be so much fun!"