Chapter four

The celebration

"Bella, are you ready?"

Bella groaned. She didn't want to go to this celebration- it wasn't her to get drunk and flirt and dance with boys. She preferred to stay home and practice with her powers, which was why everyone insisted that she needed to get out more and have more fun.

"Do I have to go, Gemma?" she whined, running her hand over the furs she used as blankets. She was sitting on her bed, wearing one of her best dresses, like Gemma insisted she'd do. It was uncomfortable and tight, and Adora had spent hours on her hair. She felt like this was all for nothing. Why even try when every man in the village would be staring at Tatia.

"Yes, you do," her sister said firmly, yanking her off of her bed. "It will be fun Bella, trust me."

"Our opinions on fun very, Gemma," Bella told her as she pulled her out of the bedroom she shared with Halia.

"Elijah will be there," Gemma said with a knowing smirk.

"Great, so Bella will spend the entire time staring at him," Adora said, walking up to her two sisters. Adora looked nothing like her other sisters. While Halia, Gemma, and Bella all looked related with their fair skin and dark hair, Adora had golden locks and tanned skin.

"I will not!" Bella said with a frown. "I swear, I do not fancy Elijah Mikaelson as much as all of you think I do."

"Please sister." Adora rolled her eyes. "You are half in love with that man. It's obvious to everyone except Elijah."

"Dear god, I hope so." Bella shuddered with embarrassment just thinking about Elijah finding out about her crush.

"Come, let us go. I want to get there before all the good wine is taken," Gemma said, pulling her siblings towards the door.

"Have fun you four," Adrian called to his sisters as Joseph joined them.

"Why do you get to miss out on the celebration?" Bella asked, frowning. It wasn't fair- Adrian hated these things as much as she did.

"Because I have a life outside of this family, Bella," her eldest brother retorted, earning a glare.

"Just make sure Garrett and Halia do not try to join us, alright?" Bella told him firmly. Her youngest siblings were still angry at her for not letting them go to the celebration.

Adrian rolled his eyes. "I do not see why you insist they stay behind, but I shall make sure that they do not try to go," he said, before walking to his room.

It was night out as the four siblings walked through the woods to get to the main part of the village, by the white oak tree. Joseph stood in front of his sisters as if to protect them from any wild animal or person. They did not have to worry about werewolves until the full moon, which was in a few weeks.

There was a roaring bonfire casting a glow over the village as Bella, Gemma, Adora, and Joseph approached the celebration. The sound of laughter and chatter filled the air, along with music. People were already starting to get rowdy, and Bella frowned slightly.

"We stay together, alright?" she told her siblings.

All of them rolled their eyes at her. "Relax Bella, you worry too much," Joseph said to his sister before walking away to join his friends.

"You need a drink," Gemma said, before dragging Bella along to get them wine. Adora had vanished into the crowd, probably going to find her own friends.

"No, someone needs to remain sober tonight, Gemma," Bella said firmly, refusing the goblet that was handed to her.

"And it shall not be me." Gemma smirked as she drank her wine. Bella rolled her eyes at her older sister.

"Sometimes I question who is older, Gemma," Bella told her sister.

"Just because I am older than you does not mean that I cannot have fun, Bella," Gemma retorted, getting more wine.

Bella rolled her eyes before deciding to get her own goblet. It was going to be a long night if she were to remain completely sober. "Yes!" Gemma cheered. "A few more glasses and you will be the life of the party, Bella."

She rolled her eyes again. "Do not count on it," she said dryly, before pulling her sister away from the wine. "What do we do now?" she asked.

It was Gemma's turn to roll her eyes. "Now we socialize, Bella. We have fun," she said slowly, mocking her.

Bella glared. "I know what fun is, Gemma," she told her.

"You could have fooled me," Gemma muttered, sipping her wine.

Bella glared before marching away. She would show all her siblings that she could have fun. "Bella, where are you going?" Gemma sighed before following her.

She ignored her sister and kept walking. She didn't notice a rock in the ground and tripped over it while walking. Bella stumbled and would have fallen forward if she hadn't fallen into a chest instead. Strong arms steadied her and a familiar chuckle greeted her.

"We should stop meeting like this, Bella." Bella closed her eyes, every part of her freezing at that voice. Her heart started pounding her chest and she slowly looked up to meet brown eyes.

Say something, anything, she urged herself. He's going to think that you are not physically capable of speaking.

Bella opened her mouth but nothing came out. Elijah was just staring at her, expecting her to respond. Her green eyes widened as she stood in front of him, mouth open. Run away! Run far, far away! Her instincts screamed at her.

She started to turn around, but thankfully Gemma was at her side. "I apologize for my sister and her clumsiness," she said to Elijah smoothly Bella had never loved her sister more than she did at that moment.

"It is alright," Elijah said easily, frowning slightly at Bella. She was sure that she was as red as a tomato.

"Excuse us, we must find Adora," Gemma said, wrapping her hand around Bella's wrist and pulling her away. As soon as they were far enough away, Bella stopped them and buried her face in her sister's shoulder.

"Please, kill me now," she moaned. "Put me out of my misery."

"I do not understand why you freeze up around him. He is just another human being, nothing more," Gemma said, sighing exasperatedly.

"He's also the same human being I've had a crush on since I was thirteen!" Bella shot back. "The same human being who is in love with Tatia."

"Just talk to him, Bella," her sister urged.

"I seem to lose my ability to talk when I'm around him, Gemma," Bella reminded her sister.

"Don't look at him when you're talking. Focus on the ground or the fire, it will make it less scary for you," Gemma said, before pushing her away. "Now go talk to him!"

Bella smoothed down her hair and dress before walking slowly towards where Elijah was, Niklaus at his side. Niklaus seemed drunk and was winking at every woman that passed him. Elijah seemed amused yet disapproving of his brother at the same time.

Niklaus followed a young blonde girl away from his brother, giving Bella the perfect opening. With bravery that she didn't know she had, she walked right up to the spot Niklaus had vacated seconds before. Elijah raised his eyebrows when he saw her, but Bella kept her gaze firmly on the ground.

"Hello," he said, bemused.

She took a deep breath, her heart racing in her chest. "Hello," she said in a clear voice. Bella beamed at the ground, proud of herself.

The corner of Elijah's mouth turned upward "I believe that that is the first thing you have said to me in five years," he said in a slightly teasing tone.

"Four. It is the first thing I have said to you in four years," Bella said defensively, keeping her gaze on the ground. It seemed that Elijah's brown eyes were the problem; whenever they were on her, she couldn't speak.

"Mumbling nonsense does not count, Bella," Elijah told her, causing Bella to look up at him. This was a mistake- once those brown eyes met hers, she felt her throat close up. His eyes were full of amusement and a half smile was visible on Elijah's lips.

Bella instantly looked away and took deep breaths. There had to be some sort of enchantment on his eyes that made her act this way. "I was not mumbling, you just were not listening to me," Bella argued, her gaze on the fire.

Elijah scoffed. "I always listen to you, Bella," he muttered under his breath, before his eyes widened, realizing what he had said.

Her green eyes widened at his words and she looked up again. Before Bella could say something intensely awkward, there was a shout and the sound one might hear when a drink is thrown into a person's face. Both looked away from each other to see Kol soaked in wine and Gemma glaring at him, an empty goblet in her hand.

"Oh no," both said at the same time, before running to break the two up. Kol's eyes were narrowed at Gemma and the fairy looked ready to drown him with water using her power.

"Gemma, come on," Bella said, grabbing her sister and tugging her away.

"Kol, do not do anything rash," Elijah said, holding his brother back.

"What is wrong with you?" Kol growled at Gemma, ignoring his brother. "A man compliments you and you throw a drink in his face? It is no wonder why you do not have a husband."

Gemma's face flushed before she glared at him. "Then it is no wonder why a pig like you is without a wife!" she retorted, as Bella struggled to hold her back.

"Gemma, you are making a scene," Bella whispered fiercely, very aware of everyone watching the fight unfolding.

"Yes Gemma, run along," Kol taunted, a twisted smirk on his lips.

"Kol, stop antagonizing her," Elijah scolded his brother.

"Oh, go have sex with your reflection, you arrogant, narcissistic bastard!" Gemma screamed.

Joseph appeared at Gemma's other side, gripping his older sister's arm firmly. "Gemma, just walk away," he told her.

Gemma huffed before pulling away from both of her siblings and storming off. Bella sighed and looked longingly at Elijah as he chided his brother. She was finally having a nice, decent conversation with the man her dreams, and then one of Gemma and Kol's fights ruined it. She sighed again before following her sister away from the celebration.

"What did he say, Gemma?" Bella asked, catching up with her sister by the oak tree.

"He had the nerve to say that I looked beautiful tonight," Gemma said angrily, and Bella raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, how dare he? Did he kiss your hand too? Because then you should've punched him," Bella said sarcastically, and Gemma glared at her.

"It is Kol, Bella! He did not mean it! He was just trying to mess with my head," Gemma argued, turning to face the giant tree.

"Or, as crazy as it sounds, he thought that you looked beautiful tonight and you overreacted," Bella said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Do not be foolish, Bella," Gemma snapped. "Kol has never said one nice thing in his life, let alone to me."

Bella sighed; there was no point in arguing with Gemma about Kol's possible feelings for her. To change the subject, Bella told her sister about her conversation with Elijah. "I actually spoke to him without vomiting Gemma!" she exclaimed with pride.

"I bet that he was grateful for that," she said dryly.

Bella ignored her sister's teasing and grinned to herself. Talking with Elijah was not scary at all- she liked it a lot, in fact. Bella would talk to him more often, she promised herself. Little did Gemma and Bella know, they were not the only Erikson sisters who had a conversation with a Mikaelson boy. In fact, all four did- two with the same boy.

Halia walked with Garrett through the forest, heading towards the celebration. It had been easy, sneaking past Adrian. Their eldest brother had not been doing a very good job at watching them and making sure that they did not sneak out.

"Make sure that Bella does not see you- she'll drag us back if she does," Halia warned her brother. He nodded and the two split up when they reached the celebration.

Halia looked for Rebekah through the crowd of people, though she doubted that she had been allowed to attend. Her gaze settled instead on another Mikaelson, this one drunk and male. Niklaus met Halia's brown eyes with his blue ones, and a drunken smirk made its way onto his mouth.

With a rush of bravery, Halia decided to walk up to him. Bella would not approve, nor would she approve of Halia being there in the first place. Little did she know, her eldest sister was walking up to Niklaus at the same time she was, her eyes and heart set on him. Adora had secretly been crushing on Niklaus for weeks, though no one had noticed because she was much better at hiding her crush than Bella.

Adora suddenly stopped walking when she saw Halia approach Niklaus. Her youngest sister flashed her charming smile and batted her long eyelashes, and Adora just knew that by the end of the night, Niklaus was going to be wrapped around Halia's finger.

Well, Adora would just have to put a stop to that.

~TLND~

A/N: thank you to: vdemily, pat bennett, and HoneyGee08 for reviewing!

Reviews are inspiring!

~Abby :)