DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, BUT I DO OWN MY CHARACTERS AND THEIR STORYLINES
Emily could feel her palms sweat as she watched her boss read her article about Jason Harris with his lips pursued and with a face she couldn't read quite right.
She was nervous because it was her first article for the newspaper and she didn't want it to be her last either.
Her heart was beating like crazy and her mind was thinking worst scenarios as she saw Mr. Skye's eyes move towards the last lines.
She almost jumped when he dropped the article on his table and looked at her with an emotionless.
"It's good." He informed her but Emily was so nervous before that she didn't show any sign that she heard him. " It's a good article."
"Really?" Emily asked in disbelief making her boss raise an eyebrow at her. Emily cleared her throat and straightened her back a little. "I mean thank you Mr. Skye."
"Your article will be published by the morrow. Do you want your name to appear on the article?" Emily frowned at the man before realizing that he needed a response.
"I want my name to appear." She told him with a firm tone and she straightened her head a little to look more serious in front of middle aged man.
"I would keep that in mind." He started to look at other papers in his desk and Emily knew it was her cue to leave.
She didn't walk to her cubicle though but to the bathroom. When she got inside one of the stalls and knew she was alone it, Emily started to squeal in excitement. She squealed more than she ever did in her life.
Her heels clinked against the ceramic floor as she started to jump up and down not able to contain the happiness she felt.
Without thinking straight, she pulled her phone out and started to dial the phone number. As she glanced at the number one more time, she stopped dead in her tracks realizing who she was about to call.
Her father. Her father who had passed away almost four months ago.
Emily was so used of calling her mother every time she received some good or bad news or when she needed an advice. This time she would have called her father to tell him some good news but she knew fully well that there would be no person in the other line.
He would have been so proud of her and he would have told her that he always knew she would be good at her job. Then later, he would brag to her mother how he was the first person she called.
But she wouldn't have any answer in the other line and that thought alone brought a tear in her brown eyes which slipped right down her cheek before she whipped it quickly.
She wasn't going to let that ruin the good news she received from her boss. She put her phone in her pocket before getting out of the stall of the bathroom.
She walked up to the mirror to see if any if her makeup was ruined but thankfully it wasn't.
What bugged her was the reflection in the mirror. She looked like she had never experienced sleeping in her life of how tired her eyes looked and how big her eye bags really were.
She had the same nightmare she had every night. It was in constant loop ans she had read every book and looked through the Internet but the nightmare was repeating again and again.
Emily sighed as she moved away from the mirror and walked out of the she got outside she noticed that everyone was talking about something and it looked a little bit chaotic in her opinion.
"I'm sorry. What is happening?" Emily asked the closest person to her who was the oldest person working in the paper. Carmen Douglas.
"Oh, dear. There was another animal attack." Emily raised an eyebrow at the information the woman just gave to her. "A couple was found dead in the woods."
Emily's lips parted at the shocking news she just heard as the old woman started to talk to the person she was previously talking.
She stood there frozen thinking about how the animal attacks were reaching number ten by now and she knew it would keep going if someone didn't do something about it.
Emily tapped the steering wheel of her car as she had parked it outside her old high school. What was she doing in her old high school? Picking her siblings up as she had promised her aunt she would do if Jenna went to the parent-teacher conference.
Emily didn't want to go as she didn't want to see her old teachers especially Mr. Tanner who Emily had received her detentions because of him.
High school hadn't been the worst for her if she excluded Tanner. She had been a good student and she had been in debate club and in the school newspaper but she had skipped the whole tradition of being in the cheerleading squad. Her mother had been a little bit sad that she didn't want to join the squad but as the years went by and Elena joined too, her mother got over it completely.
"Hey." Emily's thoughts were interrupted by Elena entering the car. "Do you mind dropping me and the girls at the Grill?"
A frown appeared in Emily's forehead at first but she turned around to see Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes outside the car. "Of course, hop on." Both of the girls did so and Emily turned to look at her sister.
"Where is Jer?" Emily asked as Elena buckled her belt around her.
"He said that he would walk home." The teenage girl responded and Emily sighed at her brother knowing fully well that he was heading to the hospital to see Vicki.
Emily started the car and pulled over so she could drive the girls to the Grill. "How is the third year of high school treating you girls?"
"Good." Bonnie gave Emily a short reply knowing fully well that Caroline was going to ramble on.
"Well, cheerleading practices start in less than two days, plus I have to start working today at the organizing community because tomorrow is the night of the comet. I am so excited for this year!" Caroline Forbes was one of the most organized people Emily had ever met in her entire life and she always praised Caroline for that since Emily started to babysit her.
"You forgot the guy from last night." Bonnie added and Caroline let out an exciting squeal.
"I saw the hottest guy yesterday at the Grill. If you guys think Stefan is hot, you should meet this guy." Emily took quite a notice if the use of Caroline's words and so did the other two girls in the car. Caroline had basically said that the guy she was crushing on was hotter than the guy Elena was crushing on. They always had some kind of rivalry going on since they were little girls which always put Bonnie in the middle.
"So, how did he look like?" Emily asked the blonde wanting to distract everyone from what Caroline said.
"He had the most clear blue eyes I have ever seen and I noticed that a few tables away. He had raven hair that were a little long and his jaw was just..." Caroline trailed off making Emily let out a quiet chuckle. "There are no words for it."
"Is he in your school?" Emily asked as she turned to the left of the street.
"Nah, he looked older. Probably in college or older." Elena raised an eyebrow at Caroline's words and so did Bonnie but Emily seemed to be the only one not giving much of a thought. "What's with the judgy looks?"
"He's older than you, Caroline." Elena stated and Emily gave her a side way glance before looking at the road again.
"So what? Emily here dated a guy who was in college when she was in high school." Emily grimaced at Caroline's words remembering that relationship and how it ended. "They were such a good couple until they broke up of course."
"Wait, why did you two break up?" Bonnie suddenly asked taking Emily off guard with the question.
"Uh, uh," Emily hesitated giving an answer to the question as she didn't want to share the whole break up thing with her first boyfriend. "it's a long story." She managed to say earning a scoff from Elena.
"Like everything in your life." The car became dead silent at Elena's words and Emily was feeling slightly uncomfortable not knowing what to say. Thankfully, they had arrived in the Grill and she stopped the car so the teenage girls could get out.
"See you, Em!" Caroline called with a big grin on her face while Bonnie just gave her a small wave.
Elena in other hand, just slammed the car door without a single word leaving Emily to think what was going in with her sister and why did she say those words.
That meant only one thing. They needed to talk.
"How did the parent-teacher conference go?" Emily asked her aunt as soon as she stepped into the kitchen after a much needed nap which didn't involve a nightmare.
"I might have underestimated your words about Mr. Tanner." Jenna admitted and Emily gave her aunt the 'I told you so' look that she had perfected over the years. "I tried to talk to Jeremy about being high on high school like he is."
"You're such a role model, aunt Jenna." Emily said making her aunt glare at her before continuing.
"As I turned around, I saw that he had left the room." Emily's lips parted at Jenna's words at what her brother did.
"I need to talk to his disrespectful and rude ass." Emily was about to walk out the kitchen and go to her brother's bedroom but Jenna stopped her.
"He's already out. Probably in the hospital." Jenna informed her and Emily frowned at the last sentence.
"Do you think that he and Vicki...?" The thought alone was making Emily gag and Jenna scrunched up her nose a little.
"I don't know but I don't think Vicki Donovan is really good for him." Jenna pointed out and Emily had to agree with her aunt as she knew that Vicki Donovan was a junkie. "I can't even imagine her being his type."
"Yeah considering his type was Strawberry Shortcake last year." Her aunt let out a laugh at her joke as Emily moved to grab a plate and then a taco.
"Where is Elena by the way?" Jenna asked as she sat down on the seats of the kitchen island grabbing a taco for herself too.
"Dropped her off at the Grill with Caroline and Bonnie." Emily responded thinking about the ride and Elena's words that had made it awkward as hell. "She said something in the car."
"What?" Jenna asked not thinking much of her niece's words.
"Bonnie asked me about my break up with-"
"Kevin?" Jenna cut her off and the brunette knew quite well that Jenna still wanted to know why did she break up with Kevin.
"Not Kevin. I said that is a long story, not wanting to take that trip into memory lane and Elena basically said that everything in my life is a long story." Emily told her aunt who was swallowing her taco.
"You never told her how it ended like you aren't telling me why you broke up with Kevin." Emily could see her aunt waiting for the story.
She let out a sigh before putting her taco down. "It was the long distance and the fact that we had different futures planned out in our heads."
"What kind of plans?"
"Marriage, kids, a house in the suburban. Kevin wanted that." Emily admitted to her aunt before looking down to her lap. "I didn't."
"I'm really sorry, Em." Her aunt said putting her hand on Emily's shoulder as the latter one sniffed a little.
"It's okay. I'm moving on from him. Slowly but the moving on is there." Emily pointed out with tears in her eyes.
"You know, my grandmother used to say you can't get over someone until you get under someone." Emily's sniffs were replaced with laughs at her aunt's words.
"Damn, she was one dirty minded old lady." Emily recalled her mother and aunt telling her many stories about her great grandmother.
"Best talk about birds and bees I've ever received." Jenna admitted and Emily gave her an 'are you serious?' look. "I'm not joking."
After that, Emily and Jenna finishes the rest of their meal and Emily began to wash the dirty dishes while Jenna was cleaning the kitchen counter.
The front door opened and Emily stopped her task wondering who entered the house. "Hey." She heard her sister's voice and Emily flinched at the last words Elena said to her.
"Hey. You want some tacos?" Jenna asked as Emily continued her task of cleaning the dishes.
"No, my stomach is full." Elena informed her aunt as she walked in the kitchen. "You know, the weirdest thing happened to me."
Jenna looked up from the cleaning and asked Elena what happened. "I went to Stefan's house."
"Stefan is the guy from yesterday, isn't he?" Jenna asked and Emily knew that her aunt had a smile on her face as she said those words. Elena's answer was a hum as she out her bag on the dining table. "So?"
"I met his older brother." Elena informed them making Emily turn to look at her.
"And?" Emily asked, curiosity taking the best of her as she cleaned the last dish.
"He's on the rebound and has raging family issues." What her sister just shared didn't phase Emily as she had worst and she knew for a fact that her aunt did too.
"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend. Wait till you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues." Jenna assured Elena as Emily put the last dish on its place.
"Or amphetamine issues." Emily added talking about one of her aunt's ex. Jenna chuckled at the words while Elena frowned not getting what her older sister meant.
The door opened again and Emily was sure that it was Jeremy entering the house.
"Jeremy? Jeremy, where were you?" Jenna asked her brother who was about to go upstairs to his room.
"More stoner stories? Look, Jenna, I get it, you were cool. And so that's..." Jeremy trailed off before continuing. "That's cool." Emily could hear his steps moving to the staircases and she saw her aunt grab an apple from the fruit bowl.
"Oh, no, no, no!" Emily heard the thump of the apple on Jeremy's head and she bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing.
"Ow! Why? Why...why did you do that?" Jeremy asked as Emily was sure he was touching the place where the apple was thrown at him.
"Listen up! Quit ditching class or you're grounded. No discussion." Jenna used her bossy voice towards Jeremy and Emily quite liked it as it out her brother in his place.
"Parental authority, I like it. Sleep tight." The way Jeremy talked seemed like he was joking with them making all the three women hope that he actually listened.
"I'm going to sleep." Elena said as she grabbed her bag and footsteps were heard go upstairs.
Jenna turned to give Emily a pointed look. "I'm already on it."
She walked slowly towards her sister's room and she took a deep breath before knocking on the white door. "Come in." Elena called and Emily opened the door with slight hesitation.
"Hey." Emily waved her hand then wondered why the hell did she do it. "I wanted to talk to you."
Elena stood there looking at her and trying to read her older sister by seven years. "Yeah, why not."
The older brunette closed the door of the bedroom and sat on the end of Elena's bed. "We both know why do we need to have this talk."
"Because of my comment?" Elena asked as she took a seat next to Emily.
Emily gave her a nod before looking at the floor. "So ask away."
"Really?" Elena asked doubting her sister and Emily nodded her head.
"Definitely. Think of me as an open book." Emily explained with honesty in her voice as she turned to look at her sister.
"So what happened between you and you know who?" Elena was careful not to mention the name of her ex making Emily chuckle a little.
"You can say his name, Elena. I've moved on from him years ago."
"Okay. What happened between you and Mason?" Elena finally asked the question completely and Emily sighed.
"Pregnancy scare." Emily admitted and she could have sworn if Elena opened her mouth more, her jaw would have touched the floor. "It was before I headed to Northwestern. I was late for two weeks and I got paranoid."
"That's why you acted so weird that week?" Elena asked as she remembered Emily's behavior that June week.
"Yep." Emily responded popping the 'p'. "He was in town that time and I told him about my scare. He was mad at me as he wasn't the other person to blame for my supposed pregnancy."
"That's just a dick move." Elena commented and Emily hummed in agreement.
"He walked away and left me in tears. I didn't know what to do so I called Jenna. She drove all night and we went to " Emily shivered as she thought of how scared she had been that night when she had only been 18. "It came negative. I called Mason and told him that we were safe. He started to apologize of how he reacted but I told him we were through. I haven't seen him since then."
"He hasn't been in town since then too." Elena noted and Emily just gave a shrug as as a response.
"Any other questions?" Emily asked Elena who paused before speaking.
"Kevin?"
"Long distance. He living in Chicago and me moving here again plus he wanted to settle down." Emily explained as she played with the ends of her cardigan.
"You didn't." Elena stated knowing her sister pretty well and Emily hummed.
"Anything else?" Elena shook her head but Emily wasn't planning on getting out of the bed. "How about you give me the deed about you and Stefan..." Emily seatched for his last name in the back of her mind.
"Salvatore." Elena added making Emily raise an eyebrow. Stefan and his brother must be relatives of Zach Salvatore who had kicked out the people who rented the big house.
"So?" Emily asked not wanting to think of the creepy boarding house.
"We talked at the party and today he gave me 'Wuthering Heights'. One of the first published editions." Elena informed her and Emily couldn't help but smile at her sister.
"He is a keeper already." Emily teased her sister who only gave her a shy smile as a response. "You didn't talk with him more?"
"He practically kicked me out because of his tension with Damon, his older brother. We didn't have that much time to talk."
"So, he wasn't in your room until 2 a.m last night?" Elena gasped not expecting for Emily to have heard or seen Stefan. "You can't fool the master of sneaking boyfriends in the house."
"He's not my boyfriend."
"Yet." Emily added with a little smirk.
"Promise me you won't kill him when you see him?" Jenna mumbled to Emily as they were walking on the Town Square.
It was the night of the comet while her siblings had gone out with their friends, Emily had decided to tag along with her aunt. Plus, she didn't have any close friends in town left.
"He told you aren't doing a great job at taking care of Elena and Jeremy. Tanner needs at least an earful, if not High 5 right across his smug face." Emily told her aunt as she passed the townspeople who seemed to be in total glee.
"He also told me that I was paired with the worst person to raise them." The brunette stopped at the words of the strawberry blonde.
"Does that fucking idiot think that us being legal guardians is a school project?" Emily almost yelled and a few mothers turned to look at her with glares as their children overheard her. "Sorry."
"You can't go talking to Tanner in a place full of people in this mood." Her aunt caught Emily's wrist preventing her from leaving.
"Why not? We both know how much this town loves drama." Emily responded as she tried to move from her aunt's hold.
"Em, come on." Jenna gave Emily her puppy dog eyes which sooner or later made sigh in defeat.
"Fine but I hope he gets struck my lightning or gets poisoned." Jenna took her arm and they linked it together as they walked towards the town square. "Why does this town have so many events is beyond me."
"I never got it either." Jenna admitted as they decided to sit in a bench.
They stood like that for a couple of minutes before Emily saw a popcorn stand.
"I'm going to get some popcorn so we can eat them and judge people." Emily told Jenna who let out a hum.
"Seems like old traditions are coming back." Emily gave her a grin before she moved to the stand.
"Two bags of popcorn." She told the old man behind the stand who nodded his head at her.
The man began to put the popcorn in the bags and the brown eyed girl waited as she tapped her foot against the concrete.
"That'll be two dollars." The man told her and Emily was about to reach for her wallet but someone beat her to it.
"Here, I'll pay for it." Emily frowned as she didn't recognize who the voice belonged to. She turned around to see a handsome man with dark colored hair giving the man the money for her.
"You don't have to pay for it." Emily said as she tried not to get distracted by the man's beauty.
He turned to look at her with a smirk and then Emily noticed his blue eyes that she could have sworn pierced into her soul. "It's no big deal. Trust me. I'm just buying some popcorn for a beautiful woman."
He was smooth and Emily would have fallen for the words 5 years ago or even three but now she merely gave him a smile as a response. "Well, me and my aunt thank you for buying us popcorn."
The man behind the stand gave Emily the bags as she talked to the mystery man next to her. "I just hope you enjoy them." The man winked at her before he turned in his heel to walk away from her.
After she was sure she got the popcorn right adjusted in her hands, the brunette walked over to Jenna who was still occupying the bench.
"Here." Emily extended her hand for Jenna to take one of the bags and she did.
"Why do you have a tint of blush in your face?" Jenna asked making Emily realize that she had blushed while talking to the mysterious man.
"I was about to pay for the bags but some guy paid for me." Jenna raised her eyebrows at the 'some guy' part. "He was handsome and smooth but I didn't fall for his act."
"You sure about that? Cause you're blushing." Jenna popped a popcorn onto her mouth and Emily shrugged it off.
"He was very handsome I admit that. It was just my body reacting." Emily grabbed a few popcorns and started to eat it.
"Is he someone worth getting under him?" Jenna asked with a mischievous smile making Emily laugh as in response before throwing popcorn to her aunt.
"I can't see it." Jenna admitted as they looked up to the sky up their head which had turned dark now.
"We have still to wait for it." They were talking about the comet as they were sitting in the same bench they sat hours ago.
Emily looked around and spotted Elena with a tall boy with dirty blonde hair that reminded her of the one she saw two nights ago going to the Grill with her sister.
She nudged her aunt and pointed to her sister and Stefan with her head. "He's handsome." Jenna commented as Stefan was chatting with Elena. "Why do you think that they are talking about?"
"Probably about his ex and brother. Elena seemed to be hesitant to take the next step considering those things." Emily explained to Jenna as Elena was still talking to Stefan but this time she had some kind of a frown in her face. "Uh oh. It's going bad."
"She's probably gonna do something a little dramatic and walk away." Jenna guessed and they waited for Elena to do something that matched Jenna's words.
Soon, the teenage girl blew out the candle she was holding and walked away from Stefan who turned to watch her go.
"That was good, Jenna. That was really good." Emily admitted and there was a silence as they both looked up to look at the stars ahead of them.
"I need to go look at Jeremy's room." Emily frowned at her aunt who got up from the bench. "I need to find his stash."
"I'm coming with you." Jenna stopped Emily from getting up her seat.
"You know, I need to do it myself. You should enjoy the night. Maybe you could find the guy from earlier." Jenna told Emily before she smiled at her and walked away.
Emily sighed as she looked down to her lap before looking at the sky which was filled with stars.
"Hey, Em." She looked up to see Caroline, Bonnie and Tyler Lockwood in front if her and she gave them all a forced smile. "Have you seen Vicki?" Bonnie asked and Emily frowned at the question.
"No. Shouldn't she be in hospital?" She asked as she crossed her arms.
"She got released today." Tyler responded to her and she let out a hum to show him that she had heard his words. "Call us if you see her."
"Of course." The three teenagers walked away and Emily waited a few seconds before she got up from her seat.
She was worried about Vicki Donovan considering what was out there. She started to look around for the brunette who just had gotten out of the hospital.
As she looked around for Vicki, her eyes landed on someone else. Her younger brother who seemed to be doing the same thing Emily was doing.
"Jer." She called and he turned to look at her with wide eyes but then his eyes turned to normal and disappointment was written all over his face.
He must have thought she was Vicki for a split second before he saw that it was only her.
"Have you seen Vicki?" He asked her and Emily shook her head.
"I'm looking for her to-"
"Why?" Emily's eyebrow furrowed at Jeremy's question. "Why are you looking for her?"
"Because she has a neck bite, because I used to babysit her when she was little, because I care for her and because my little brother has a massive crush on her." Emily responded as she took a step closer towards Jeremy.
She waited for him to say something but he only stared at the ground for a minute.
Emily didn't know what to say or how to comfort her little brother. She was close with him but not as close as she was with Elena and Jenna. She blamed the big age gap between them.
"Come with me." Jeremy's mumble was hardly audible but Emily was glad she had heard him.
"Is there someplace she might go?" Emily asked not knowing if she could ask her brother where was the place that they went to get high.
"There is." Jeremy replied and Emily followed his steps to the unknown place.
There was a silence as they walked side by side and Emily didn't like it one bit.
"So..." Jeremy turned to look at his sister with a questioning look. "How long has this thing with Vicki going on?"
"I don't want to talk to you about it." Jeremy told her ending the conversation Emily was planning to make.
"Okay, how about you snorting pot? You want to talk about that?" She asked casually as it wasn't a big thing she was talking about.
"No, I really don't." Jeremy responded without turning to look at her.
"Too bad cause we are having this conversation." Emily told him with a simple shrug of her shoulders.
"Not right now, Em." His voice had a warning edge to it that clearly told her to back off but the older Gilbert wasn't interested in listening to her little brother.
"Yes, we are." She said matter of factly as they crossed the Town Square. "What are you doing to yourself is not good Jeremy. Drugs might take your problems and make you feel better but the second it wears off you'll be filling like shit and that will be another problem to add to the pile."
"I told this to Elena and I'm telling to you too. You should all just stop!" Jeremy's voice went an octave higher making some people turn their heads to look at them.
"Tonight I will." Emily said to her brother and he just stared at her with his brown eyes. "Tomorrow, we will talk."
"Fine." Jeremy muttered as they continued their walk and Emily noted that they were heading to the school.
She was about to ask Jeremy something but his phone buzzed indicating he got a text. Jeremy stopped to look at the text message and he let out a sigh of relief as soon as he read it.
"Matt texted me that she is fine and now she's in the Grill." Emily felt a rush of relief go through her body as she looked at her younger brother.
"We can go to the Grill. You could talk to her while I make myself scarce for a few minutes before you come to get me and we go home. Is that good with you?" Jeremy gave her a curt nod and they moved to the direction of the Grill.
Emily was tired and hoped her brother wouldn't drag his conversation with Vicki. All she wanted was to get a sleep but she had a good feeling that she would have a nightmare. The same nightmare she had every night.
She yawned a little as they entered the buzzing place and Emily spotted Vicki out of the corner of her eye. She stopped Jeremy and pointed to Vicki who was leaning against a wall next to the pool table.
Emily saw a smile spread on her brother's face but it disappeared when Tyler walked over to Vicki.
The brunette raised her eyebrow as she saw the dark haired boy put his hands on Vicki's before starting to kiss.
Immediately, she turned to look at her brother who had lost any hint of the smile he just had which now was replaced with a tremble of his lips and a sadness in his eyes. "Jer." She called him with soft tone but Jeremy didn't look at her. He kept his eyes trained on the still kissing couple.
"Let's go home." He turned on his heel and started to make his way out of the place while Emily spared a last glance to Tyler and Vicki who were still kissing.
"How can they not be out of air by now?" Emily muttered before she followed her brother out of the Grill.
Here is the new chapter and I can't believe I got to update both of my stores in one single day so yay me. Thank you for all the favorites and follows of this story and I hope all of you would enjoy the next chapters to come
PinkLady12