Chapter Three: Family ties and Parties
Once again, Caroline had pushed Charlotte out of the house. With only hours to get ready for the Founders Day party. All because of Damon. They were supposed to get ready together, Caroline was going to do Charlotte's hair and they were going to paint each other's nails. They had the whole day planned for primping. Then Damon showed up. No sooner had he showed up at the door then Caroline shoved Charlotte out of it. With her garment bag draped over her shoulder and nowhere else to go, Charlotte ended up outside of the Gilbert house.
Before last spring Charlotte would have no qualms about heading right in without knocking. She practically grew up in the Gilbert house. Now, even though Jeremy and her had talked things over, she wasn't exactly sure if she was supposed to let herself in or use the doorbell. Tyler pulling up as she stood contemplating what to do solved her dilemma. He'd definitely have to knock.
Jeremy answered the door, spotting Tyler first, and almost closed it in his face before he spotted Charlotte.
"Lottie, I didn't know you were coming over," he said.
"Caroline kicked me out to get ready with Damon. Mind if I get ready for the party here?"
"Come on in," Jeremy smiled, opening the door for Charlotte to come in. As soon as she was inside he started closing it on Tyler again.
"I'm here for my mom. I'm supposed to pick up a box or something," Tyler said, using his arm to stop the door from closing.
"Right here!" Elena called out, coming from the kitchen with a jewelry box. "Please be careful."
"Yeah, be careful with it dick," Jeremy spat out causing Charlotte to slap him on the shoulder.
"Not now guys," Elena warned. Tyler threw one hand up defending himself. Of course Jeremy had a comeback for it, but eventually Elena got Tyler to leave and the door to shut without further incident.
"Charlotte, I wasn't expecting you. Is Caroline coming too?" Elena asked, turning towards Charlotte.
"No. she kicked me out when Damon came over. Again," Charlotte sighed, adjusting her grip on the hanger of her garment bag.
"Do you want to join Bonnie and me in the kitchen? We're about to paint our nails." Elena offered, motioning down the hall where Bonnie was seated at the kitchen table.
"Actually, do you mind if I get ready up in your bathroom?" Charlotte asked. Bonnie and Elena were always nice to her, but she wasn't their friend. She didn't want to feel like she was tagging along with the big kids. Besides, it'd just remind her what she missed out on with Caroline.
"So what's going on with you and Caroline?" Jeremy asked, taking a seat at his desk as Charlotte hung her bag on the hook on the back of his door.
"Ever since she met Damon she's been distant. Anytime he's around she makes sure I'm not," Charlotte shrugged, glancing around Jeremy's room. It hadn't changed much over the years, and it made her smile. Jeremy's room was familiar.
"Do you want me to paint my nails on the floor, or at your desk?" Charlotte asked, pulling out her nail polish from her backpack.
Jeremy gave up his desk chair, moving to his bed as he watched Charlotte spread her hands out on his desk.
"Do you want to listen to music?" Jeremy offered, trying to find a way to fill the silence that seemed to scream how much things weren't completely back to normal yet.
"Just not any of your scream-o bands. I don't want a headache," Charlotte responded, concentrating on her nails.
"No rock, got it," Jeremy said, moving to his CD collection. Flipping through the book he found one that Lottie had left behind one time, the music from one of her first recitals. Plucking it from the case, he set it in the CD player. "So when did you get all girly. I don't remember you ever painting your nails or using makeup unless it was for a recital."
"I guess Caroline's starting to wear me down," Charlotte said, glancing up at Jeremy with a smile when the music started. "The Nutcracker score?"
"You left it behind one time," Jeremy shrugged, moving back towards his bed. "And it's not scream-o."
Charlotte let her nails dry, switching places with Jeremy and laying on the bed as she blew on them to speed up the process, when Elena came storming into Jeremy's room. She demanded to know what Jeremy did with the pocket watch that was supposed to be in the collection of heirlooms at the Lockwood's for the Founder's Day party.
Charlotte curled up at the head of the bed as the siblings fought, pretending to be especially interested in her nails. It wasn't uncommon for Elena and Jeremy to have little sibling spats, but Charlotte always hated witnessing them. They made her feel intrusive.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, Lottie," Jeremy sighed, collapsing back on his desk chair. He knew how much she hated confrontation. It made her uncomfortable. Jeremy had always thought her fear of confrontation stemmed from her witnessing her mom and dad fight before the divorce.
"It's fine," Charlotte murmured, testing her nails to make sure they were dry before starting on her hair. Caroline was going to curl it for her, but she'd have to settle for a side braid tonight. It was the only hairdo Charlotte could do other than her normal bun.
"Are you coming tonight?" Charlotte asked, taking the hair tie Jeremy had been holding for her until she finished her braid.
"No," Jeremy snorted. "I can't believe you're going."
"The Lockwood's always have good food at their parties," Charlotte shrugged, avoiding Jeremy's gaze. She wasn't just going because of the food, she just wasn't sure how to bring it up with Jeremy. He wasn't exactly nice to Billy whenever they'd been around each other so far this year.
"Billy asked you to go with him, didn't he?" Jeremy asked, his voice hardening at his question.
"Technically he just asked me to save him a dance," Charlotte evaded. "You should come. It'd be fun. Stealing appetizers in my purse and making fun of all the drunk adults."
"I don't think Billy would appreciate me coming," Jeremy said, drumming his hands against his desk.
"So what," Charlotte said, causing Jeremy to look at her with raised eyebrows. "You were my friend first. You're my best friend."
"Yeah, I don't think he's interested in being your friend Lottie," Jeremy smirked, causing Charlotte to grab one of his pillows and throw it at him.
"Even if I was ready to date someone, he'd better want to be my friend first. Trust starts with friendship," Charlotte countered, grabbing her dress off the hook and retreating to the bathroom. Thankfully Elena and Bonnie had moved to Elena's room to finish getting ready.
Slipping on her dress, Charlotte admired the way the skirt flared when she twirled. She had to work to get the sleeves to lay flat against the sides of her shoulders. Caroline had helped her pick out the dress, another off the shoulder garment. Care had insisted she looked best in them because they showed off her collarbones and dainty shoulders. Just as she got both sleeves to lay flat, laughter erupted from Elena's room, causing a pang of loneliness to settle in Charlotte's heart. As nice as it was to spend time with Jeremy again, Charlotte really missed her sister and the loss of the day Caroline and her had planned.
Elena's bathroom door opened before Charlotte could dwell too long on Caroline. Elena apologized for barging in, grabbing a lipstick from the counter and telling Charlotte she looked pretty. Before she shut the door again, Charlotte spoke up.
"You should let Jeremy have the watch," Charlotte said, causing Elena to pause in the doorway to her bedroom. "The heritage display is going to have plenty of pieces. What's one watch in the scheme of everything?"
Before Elena could respond, Charlotte disappeared through the door to Jeremy's room. Her cheeks felt flushed from opening herself up to a possible confrontation with Elena.
"Wow Lottie. You look beautiful," Jeremy said when he glanced up from his computer and took in Charlotte in her dress. She'd added little pink flowers to her braid that matched the pink of her dress.
"Thanks Jer," Charlotte murmured slipping into her heels. "And now, I'm taller," she added, beaming at him.
"Your feet gonna be okay in heels?" Charlotte almost always wore flats or sneakers. Despite wanting to be taller, she rarely wore shoes that gave her any additional height.
"Heels are a godsend compared to holding en pointe for extended time in rehearsal," Charlotte said, throwing her keys and her phone into her clutch. "I guess I'll come back for my bag later."
"I'll keep it safe for you," Jeremy assured Charlotte. "Now go have fun. Steel me some appetizers."
…
"Charlotte, there you are," her mom pulled her aside as soon as Charlotte came through the door. "Do you know who the guy Caroline brought is?"
"Just some guy she met outside the Grill at the comet celebrations," Charlotte said, choosing her words carefully so she wouldn't accidently sell out Caroline.
"I thought she was coming with you," Elizabeth sighed, crossing her arms.
"That was before he asked her," Charlotte said. Apparently that wasn't a good answer, as her mother's frown deepened. "Besides, I kind of ditched her first. Billy Fisher wanted to meet me here," Charlotte added, hoping to draw her mother's attention away from Caroline. If she pushed Caroline away from Damon, Caroline would only latch onto him more just because their mom didn't want it.
"You have a date?" Her mom asked, surprised. Charlotte had never shown any interest in guys. Unlike her sister, she was focused on her dancing rather than going boy crazy as soon as she hit her teens.
"Not a date. I just told him I was coming and agreed to save a dance," Charlotte corrected.
"We never had the talk," Elizabeth started, taken off guard by this new development.
"And we're not having it at the Founder's Day Party," Charlotte insisted in a hushed voice. "Caroline kind of beat you to it anyways. Not that that's on my mind right now." Charlotte had never kissed a guy, and kissing came before second, third or fourth base.
"Of course she did," Elizabeth heaved a heavy sigh. "You look lovely. Go on and have a good time. But not that good of a good time."
"Bye mom," Charlotte said as she made a beeline for the backyard.
Searching the crowd for Caroline as she randomly wrapped food in napkins and shoved them in her purse, Billy ended up finding her first.
"You made it," Billy greeted her. "And you look great," he added when Charlotte turned towards him.
"Thanks," Charlotte said, smoothing out her skirt. "You didn't happen to see Caroline anywhere, did you?"
"No, I was too busy looking for you," Billy admitted unabashedly. "Didn't you two come together?"
"No. She came with, with a date." Charlotte managed to catch herself before mentioning Damon by name. There was a big chance her mother would make an introduction happen sometime during the evening and she didn't want to give Billy a name he could accidently give to her mother.
"Have you seen the heritage display?" Billy asked. When Charlotte shook her head, Billy offered his hand to lead her back through the crowd to the house.
Charlotte caught her mother's eye as Billy led the way upstairs to the display. Realizing how it must look to her mom, Charlotte kept her eyes on the stairs and hoped her mother wouldn't follow them. Thankfully her mother's attention was diverted by Mrs. Lockwood and Billy and her made it to the heritage display without interruption.
"It's a shame they only keep track of the founding families' heirlooms," Charlotte mentioned as they perused the display.
"They're the ones this day was created for," Billy pointed out as they stopped in front of the Forbes display.
"I guess. It just seems silly to focus on certain families or certain people throughout history. That's how a lot of history gets forgotten to the past," Charlotte murmured. Who had the right to claim some people's history was more worth remembering than others?
"I'm sensing a history lesson coming on," Billy joked.
"No lesson. Just an opinion," Charlotte assured him just as the sounds of music filtered in from downstairs.
"They've started the music. I do remember you promising me a dance," he said turning towards Charlotte.
Charlotte kept her eyes out for Caroline as they made their way to the dance floor. She didn't see her until she joined the dance with Stefan. For once she wasn't with Damon. As soon as the dance ended, she excused herself from Billy and made a beeline for Caroline, who stood beside Damon. Caroline exclaimed how cute she thought Stefan and Elena were when Damon told her to stop talking. Seriously, he told her not to talk.
"Caroline, there you are," Charlotte called out, making her presence known as she glared up at Damon.
"Char, hey," Caroline greeted her with a smile. Noticing Charlotte's glare, she quickly pulled her away towards the food. The less she was around Damon, the better. "Are you having a good time? I saw you dancing with Billy."
"Why do you let Damon talk to you like that?" Charlotte asked, ignoring Caroline's question. "The Caroline I know would never let anyone, especially a guy, tell her to shut up."
"He didn't tell me to shut up, he just wanted to hear the music," Caroline defended. "Where is Billy? I'm sure he'd love to dance again."
"I told him I wanted to talk with my sister. Because we didn't get to hang out at all before this. You've been avoiding me," Charlotte accused. She recognized Caroline trying to divert the conversation, and she wasn't going to let it happen this time.
"I haven't been avoiding you. I promise. I love spending time with you." She was just protecting Charlotte from Damon. He wasn't always a bad guy, but he was bad enough times she didn't want to risk Charlotte being around when he was on one of his mean streaks.
"Oh no," Caroline muttered, glancing over Charlotte's shoulder. "I hate to tell you this, but mom's cornered Billy by the punch bowl."
"This conversation is not over," Charlotte warned, before taking off to intercept her mom before she could start giving Billy the talk.
"Billy, let's dance," Charlotte greeted, pulling him away mid conversation with her mother.
"Not that I'm not enjoying dancing with you, but is there a reason you don't want me to talk with your mom?"
"No, I just really like this song," Charlotte said.
"Okay," Billy said, trying to hide his smile at Charlotte's blatant lie. It had to be a good sign if she was embarrassed to have her mom talking to him. That meant she cared about his opinion of her and didn't want her mom to embarrass her.
"Tell me something no one else knows about you," Billy said, starting a new line of conversation.
"I don't know if there is anything that no one knows about me. Not between Caroline and Jeremy," Charlotte mused as she tried not to step on Billy's toes. She wasn't used to dancing with a partner.
"You're telling me Jeremy knows everything about you?" Billy asked, sounding put off at the fact.
"He's my best friend since we were in diapers. Even my secrets aren't secret to him."
"Present tense, you two have made up then?" Billy asked, trying to sound casual.
"We had a heart to heart that included a sincere apology. It's a little different than before, but we're working on it," Charlotte admitted.
"And he didn't come tonight?" Billy asked, glancing around the crowd as though he expected Jeremy to cut in at any moment.
"No, this isn't his scene."
"Good, then you're all mine tonight," Billy said, pulling Charlotte in a little closer.
…
Taking a break from dancing, Charlotte excused herself to the powder room where she found Caroline touching up her makeup. She seemed nervous to be alone with Charlotte again, tugging at the scarf around her neck and murmuring a soft greeting. Charlotte didn't want things to be that way. She wanted Caroline to feel free to talk to her.
"I managed to get Billy away from mom," Charlotte said, offering up a neutral conversation starter.
"Hopefully before mom said anything too embarrassing," Caroline smiled, seeming to relax a little bit. "Do you want some lip gloss," she offered, digging in her bag for the perfect shade of pink for Char.
"Caroline what's that on your neck?" Charlotte asked, reaching out and pulling up the scarf to reveal a bite mark before Caroline could stop her. "Oh my god Care, what happened?"
"It's nothing, Charlotte," Caroline insisted, pulling away from her and straightening out her scarf.
"Nothing doesn't leave a scar Care. Did someone hurt you? Did Damon hurt you?"
"It's nothing. Please let it go." Caroline said, turning away from Charlotte. Which was a mistake, because it had Charlotte reaching out for her and her sweater falling down to reveal the mark on her back.
"Caroline, what did Damon do?" Charlotte asked in a stern voice. The sight of her sister covered in bite marks and bruises really freaked her out. It was obviously done by Damon. The guy screamed abusive by the way he talked to her.
"Nothing, Charlotte. Just leave it alone," Caroline shouted, gathering her bag and leaving before Charlotte could ask any more questions.
Charlotte was on a mission when she left the bathroom. Stalking her way through every room open to the public in the Lockwood Mansion, she found Damon out back by the tent. He had the audacity to smile at her as she approached. He wasn't smiling after she slapped him hard across the face.
"You are one sick son of a bitch," Charlotte fumed. "Stay away from Caroline or I will report you to our mother. The sheriff," Charlotte threatened.
She was going to hit him once more for good measure, but Caroline had caught up to her and frantically pulled her away from Damon.
"What did you do?" Caroline muttered once they were inside the house. She was on the verge of hyperventilating at the thought of how Damon would retaliate against Char for what she said and did.
"I told him the truth. Care, you have to break it off with him. He's a psycho," Charlotte said, standing her ground.
"You're right," Caroline admitted, seeing Damon entering through the back door. She needed to get Charlotte out of there, and the only way to do that was to agree with her. "I'm going to go break it off with him right now. As long as you leave. Go home. Right now."
"If you don't end up breaking it off with him, I'm going to have words with him again. And our mother."
"That won't be necessary I promise," Caroline insisted, shoving Charlotte out the front door. "I'll see you later tonight. At home."
After everything that happened at the Lockwood's, after what she'd found out about Damon, Charlotte couldn't go home. Instead she ended up on the Gilbert's front porch, her legs unsteady beneath her as she rang the bell.
Heaving a sigh, Jeremy paused his video game to answer the door. When he saw Charlotte trembling on the porch, he immediately pulled her inside and to the couch.
"Lottie, what happened? Are you okay?" Jeremy asked as Charlotte sank into the cushions.
"I threatened Damon for hurting Caroline in the middle of the party." Charlotte said, accepting the throw blanket Jeremy wrapped around her shoulders. She didn't need to explain further. Jeremy well remembered the last time Charlotte had instigated a confrontation to defend him.
"I'm sure it was the highlight of the party," Jeremy reassured her. "And that everyone was way too drunk to remember it."
"You really think so?" Charlotte asked, glancing up at Jeremy with skepticism. At least she'd stopped shaking so much.
"Definitely. Want to join in?" He asked, picking up an extra controller and offering it to her.
"No, I'll just watch." Even with her heart rate returning to normal, Charlotte knew she'd be a spastic mess if she tried to use the motor skills necessary for video games. "I did bring you food though," Charlotte added, handing her purse over to Jeremy.
"Crab puffs?" He smiled as he unwrapped the first napkin. "You're the best."
Charlotte's eyes starting getting heavy as she watched Jeremy play. Not even a half hour later and she ended up falling asleep beside him on the couch, her head sliding down the cushion until it rested against his arm. Jeremy glanced down at Lottie, smiling at her before returning to his game. He made sure to keep as still as he could so as not to wake her.
A/N Back at it with chapter three. Hope you all enjoyed it! Not much more to say in this note, except thank you to everyone who is following, favoriting, and letting me know their opinions on each chapter!
Rach
xoxo
