"Well, Jasper was killed less than a month ago. I loved him more than anything in the world. He was… staked." her voice cracked as she looked up at Damon, who looked deeply sympathetic and sad for her.
"That's why I came with you. I decided that if I ever met someone heartbroken like me, I would try to help them. And here I am. But I'm healing. Sort of." She lied, out of breath since telling him her life story. She'd told him everything. Not remembering her human life. Meeting Jasper. Living with the Cullens. Then Jasper's death.
Spilling your heart out was exhausting.
She didn't know why she was so comfortable with Damon, but she just was. He was an excellent listener and came off with occasional amusing, slightly sarcastic remarks when they weren't talking about something serious, like her life story.
Damon was an absolute blast to hang out with, she decided as she laughed along with him at something he'd said.
He didn't come off with lame pick up lines or cheesy jokes like most guys, he just had a way of putting things that made them hilarious. And he didn't even seem to try, it just seemed to be the way he was naturally.
After he drank more glasses of red wine than Alice cared to talk about, Damon slid gracefully from his chair and to his feet.
"What are you doing?" She asked, sipping her iced tea and glad to be sober.
He just flashed her a cocky, mischievous smile she'd already come to recognize and strode towards the polished wooden platform where a live band was playing.
" She whispered, knowing he could hear her.Damon."
He looked over his shoulder and smiled.
When she peered through her fingers, which she had over her face, he had a microphone and was talking.
"This one is for my friend in front of the window back there-" he motioned to her- "Who looks like she is about to start looking for a nice rock to crawl under." Everyone turned to look at her, and she smiled back timidly. People laughed, but not at her, more with her than anything. She laughed softly and looked up at Damon.
Oh Hell.
She silently prayed that was not the instrumental of Adam Lambert's "For Your Entertainment" she was hearing.
It was.
And, amazingly enough, Damon had one of the most amazing voices she'd ever heard. To her surprise, she felt her face break into a smile. She was actually having fun.
After the room broke into happy applause, Damon hopped off the stage and appeared next to Alice.
"Having fun?" He asked with a grin.
"Surprisingly… yes." She said, returning the smile with a small laugh.
"Now you do it." He said, nudging her in the direction of the stage.
"What? Are you insane?"
Come on, Alice, live a little. And do not do Taylor Swift. Please." He said, putting on a fake stricken face at the thought of Taylor Swift.
"Fine. I'll do it."
He gave her a triumphant smile and waved her towards the stage. She took a deep breath, just for the sheer fact she was in the habit of breathing. She muttered something that sounded like "please don't let me make a fool of myself" under her breath as she stepped onto the stage.
Damon stretched out his legs as he sat back down, watching her take the stage.
At least she wasn't doing Taylor Swift, he thought to himself as she said something so low even he couldn't hear.
Moments later, Alice was singing "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus.
She should have stuck with Taylor Swift, my mental voice said in exasperation.
Yes, she should have, I mentally agreed. Though in all honesty, the girl could sing. He couldn't fight laughter when people actually got up and started pairing off and dancing.
He rolled his eyes playfully at her when she was done and clapped along with the rest of the room as she exited the stage.
"Miley Cyrus?" He asked, his tone disbelieving, but the half smile playing on his lips gave away his amusement.
She just smiled happily, her face glowing with energy.
"I think we started a trend." He laughed as a young man probably younger than him took the stage and began singing a song called Enjoy the Silence that he enjoyed very much for reasons that cracked him up to this day.
He remembered that day clearly.
He'd been stuck inside without his protection ring and had only himself, Vicki Donavan, and his never ending supply of alchohol to keep him entertained. Well, a little goes a long way, right? So he'd turned on Anberlin's cover of Enjoy the Silence and they'd had a full blown, two-person, dance party.
And at one point, he'd leapt up on the small ledge in front of the railing of the landing at the top of the stairs, using his natural vampire grace to keep him balanced. He'd moved his body gracefully from side to side, moving his arms in sync with the rest of his body. Ah, good times.
He cocked his and told Alice exactly what he'd told Vicki that day.
"No more talking, let's dance!"
He left her standing there and leapt as gracefully on to the long, unused table in the center of the room just as gracefully as he'd leapt on to that ledge.
His body followed the exact pattern it had then, and right before he'd jumped, he'd unbuttoned his black dress shirt with vampire speed.
Alice was staring open-mouthed, snapping her jaw shut when she realized it was hanging open.
Then she was lost in helpless, hysterical laughter.
He had himself quite an audience, cheering and whistling and - hey, that hurt, dammit! He glanced around, not breaking his rhythm to see what had just hit him in the side of the head. His eyes caught the change laying at his feet, along with several large bills that looked, from that angle, to all be fifties or hundreds. Only this time, instead of it being short, he kept up with his steps, moving his body in time with the beat until the song ended.
And, just like last time, he was drunk to the point of no return.
Alice grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him down when the song ended. She was trying to chastise him, but she was laughing too hard.
"You shouldn't have done that!" She finally managed when she stopped laughing.
"Of course I should have."
She just gave him the God-you're-so-damn-cocky look. She turned to sit back down when something caught her eye as he shrugged of his jacket and hung it on one of the hooks by the door, apparently planning to stay and party awhile. Alice sighed, figuring there was no way to talk him out of staying and getting any more wasted than he already was.
"Ah, Damon?"
"Hmm?"
"You have money, ah, in your jeans." She said, elegant little arched eyebrows shooting up.
He looked down to see bills folded up and stuck in various areas of his waistband.
"Huh. Wonder how that got there."
"Oh, do you know what you got into? Can you handle what I'm bout' to do? Cause' it's about to get rough for you. I'm here for your entertainment."
~Adam Lambert
