Author's note: I didn't plan to finish this chapter so soon :) Oh well, I hope no one is going to complain! Now that we have the whole 1 DAY till new episode – new treat for you :) And again – I really appreciate you interest and support, guys. It means a lot! :*
Chapter 12
"Wow," Elena breathed out, unable come up with something more specific.
Jenna passed a stack of dinner plates to her and squatted near the over to check on her first ever French-chicken-something. "Tell me about it," she scoffed.
"That's," Elena started choosing the words carefully, still standing with the plates, her jaw all but dropping to the floor. "That's—"
"One-way ticket to a mad-house," Jenna prompted helpfully, one brow quirked.
"That's really dangerous," Elena managed at last regarding her aunt with reproach, obviously not finding the situation amusing.
"Well, I kind of figured it out," Jenna breathed out, her attention slipping down towards tight bandage wrapping her right wrist under the sleeve of her t-shirt. "It's not a good thing that I can easily imagine restraining jacket on me, is it?"
She straightened up, paused for a moment and then headed to the fridge deciding to go for a salad after all. Browsing mentally through the options, she reached for tomatoes, green pepper and lettuce, paused and added canned mozzarella. She pushed the fridge door close with her elbow and the unloaded the whole pile onto the kitchen island. Elena finished setting the plates on the table and turned around, leaned against the back of the chair and hooked her fingers into the front pockets of her jeans.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Why didn't you tell me about your vampire boyfriend?" Jenna asked back.
Okay, she had a point here, Elena grimaced inwardly. So, 1:1. "When I saw you at Ric's, I thought—" she trailed off and shrugged in a You know what I mean way.
"Yeah, I got that," Jenna sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, small sad smile flickering across her face for the barest of moments.
Trying to look and sound nonchalant, Elena strolled to find linen napkins in the cupboard. Hesitated and then reached for the soft drinks glasses, too. "So, he knows?"
"I guess he got the general idea when I took the party to his place," Jenna let out a short laugh. "Can imagine how much I must have freaked him out. Or… maybe I can't."
"I don't think that's the point," Elena noted vaguely, and continued when she caught Jenna's puzzled look. "He seems to truly care about you, so I would say 'freak out' had deeper meaning in that case."
"Don't," Jenna stopped her and shook her head. She sprinkled the salad with olive oil and went to put it on the table, all the while trying to sort out her thoughts and feelings. Stopped to scan the table and then turned to find Elena watching her expectedly and with a slightly skeptical expression. "I am not blind, Elena," she said softly. "I know he cares. Hell, I can see the way he looks at me." Her voice dropped a little. "But I don't want to be his rebound girl. I want him to want me for me, not because he needs someone to help him get over his not so dead ex. It's… not enough."
"Aw, come on, Jenna! He wouldn't do that! Not with you," Elena objected instantly and then cut off when Jenna arched a brow at her.
That was a close hit, she thought sourly. Hadn't been she going through the very same thing herself? With her being the exact copy of Katherine – she was in a much worse situation, not knowing who Stefan, and Damon come to think, was after in the beginning. And even now. It was too confusing, too weird. At least Jenna wasn't looking at Isobel like in a mirror. It was a good start as is. No one was comparing her to anyone.
"Yeah," Jenna agreed half-heartedly, not convinced.
"You don't really think he is still into her, do you?"
"Well, it's not about what I think. The problem is, I'm not sure he decided it for himself yet."
Reluctantly, Elena nodded. At this point it was easier to agree than to start an argument, or whatever. "What does he think about all of that?"
"That I'm screwed," she breathed out. "You know, I've been thinking about it, a lot. And I… there's nothing." She pinched the bridge of her nose and then sighed lowering his hand down. "I'm stuck. There's no explanation to it." Reached out and grabbed a leather-bound book that was lying on the other end of the table and what she was reading before Elena showed up about an hour ago, and gave it a thoughtful look. A journal. "It's the third one. But… it's just a journal," which sounded like Yeah, it's a car but it's a toy car. "It's full of feelings and fears and speculations. But it's not the insight on vampires and their behavior patterns."
"They weren't much into psychology back then?"
"Doesn't look like it."
Elena studied her face. "Are you okay?"
"I'm a freak with a secret life that I have no idea about," Jenna grinned putting the book down again. "If it can be qualified as okay, then believe me, I'm perfect." She looked up and at Elena's concerned face and lightened up a little. "Come on, don't look at me like that. It's creepy but I don't see any mortal danger yet." It was a fake bravery and a very big lie, but she couldn't have had it otherwise.
Damn it, she was an adult here and she was supposed to be able to handle everything! Only now it seemed like her teenaged niece and nephew were doing a much better job with it. How was she supposed to be a parent, if her own life – so simple and uneventful for the most part just recently – was such a mess? It was a miracle that Miranda didn't come to haunt her ass down the way she promised. Although, to be honest, Jenna was practically expecting it to happen any time soon.
"It's serious," Elena told her, as if it was news.
Jenna leaned against the counter and crossed her arms of her chest. What was she supposed to say? What she was a step away from locking herself somewhere? Well, she was! That she was terrified? Well, that was true as well because she had no idea who was doing it, or how, or what was going to happen next, or when – to begin with. A ten-minute notice every now and then would be nice. The thing was, it wasn't like admitting all of that and becoming an object of pity and sympathy was going to solve the problem.
"I know that it is," she paused to take a breath. "But I can't think about it like that. The moment I start taking all this crap seriously, I'm going to lose it. And chances are I'd end up hiding in the closet for the next couple of years." She lowered her voice and leaned closer to Elena as if sharing a secret, "It won't be pretty."
Elena couldn't help smiling at that.
"What are you going to do?"
Jenna shrugged. "I have no idea." Join the traveling circus, or go to grow crops in South Africa, or move to Greenland, perhaps. Possibilities are endless at this point. The oven timer went off and they both turned to the sound. "Where's Jeremy?"
Elena checked the clock. "Should be back any minute," she shrugged. "They are drawing banners today. Anna lured him in some after-school stuff for the parade, so… who would have thought Jeremy would be spending so much time at school?" They exchanged Unbelievable, right? looks. "Where is Uncle John?"
Jenna's face darkened. "I don't know and whenever he is, he better stay there." Her mobile beeped announcing the arrival of a new message and she reached to retrieve it from the back pocket of her jeans. And then she felt the color leave her face when her eyes ran along one short line on the screen.
"So, what do you—" Elena stated turning to her and then faltered. "Jenna? What is it?" She came up closer and took the phone from her aunt's dead grip.
"Everything comes to an end."
The bell rang at three in the afternoon. Two seconds later all doors on both sides of the corridor burst open and the students started filing out into the hall, instantly filling the whole space with noise and chatter, relieved that they were finally free for a little while.
Jenna smirked to herself. Some things never change, she thought with amusement watching the colorful crowd with genuine curiosity as she waited for the classroom to the left from her to get empty, still torn between staying and leaving before anyone saw her. And the leaving part was winning so far. Well, kind of. Not enough to give her a kick in the ass to actually move.
Elena was one of the last to walk out and Jenna grabbed her by the arm before the ocean of bodies swallowed her and drew her closer to the wall where no one could knock them down on the way out. End of the day was a cruel time, she still remembered that. Standing between the teenagers and their so short-lived freedom was never safe.
"Hey!"
"Jenna?" Elena frowned. "What are you doing here?"
"I…" was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by because the last twelve years without high school were a torture, "came to have a parent-teacher talk." She tried to keep her voice and face dramatically grave.
"What?" Elena blinked, the struggle as she fought to come up with what could have gone wrong so obvious on her face that Jenna barely refrained from giggling.
"I need to talk to Ric," she explained.
"Oh." Oh! Her expression changed to the one of complete understanding mixed with satisfaction within split of a second. "I see. Well, I won't be holding you back then," she craned her neck to peek inside the classroom. "The scene is clear. I expect to hear the details later," she added conspiratorially.
"Jenna? Hey, what's up?" Jeremy maneuvered his way to them through the quickly receding crowd. He stopped to wave at someone before squeezing further to approach them. Moving against the current, that's what it was. It took him a while.
"Jenna's busy," Elena grabbed him by the sleeve of his jacket before Jenna had time to so much as open her mouth and pulled him with her down the hall and towards the front doors.
"What?" He frowned in misunderstanding, his gaze darting between the two of them as he let his sister drag him away.
"And we've gotta go," she reminded him excitedly.
"Where?" Their voices started to fade. "What's going on?"
"Just move, Jer."
Jenna watched them until they disappeared behind the doors – namely, until Elena shoved her brother out – and then shook her head with amusement. Looked around then. It had been about two minutes, barely, and the hall was practically empty. And so was probably most of the school.
Through the open door she could hear someone flipping quickly through the book or a notepad. Muffled voiced were coming from another class somewhere down the hall. She saw a couple of guys in identical dark-blue hoodies and with identical sports bags in their hands disappear behind the door to the gym. There were some people stuck in the library, she thought absently. And, well, whoever was involved in the extra-curriculum activities. Stop dragging the time!
She took a breath to steady herself and then stepped into the doorway. Rapped her knuckles on the doorjamb and leaned against it with her shoulder folding her arms on the chest.
Alaric was standing in the far corner of the class and putting the books on the shelf. He jerked his head up and turned around to the sound, his brows creased at the sight of her as a mixture of confusion and worry flickered across his face.
"Hey," she breathed out softly.
"Jenna? What are you—? Is everything okay?"
She couldn't help smiling at that. "No drama of the day if that's what you're asking about," she told him. Okay, so this was the part where her impulsive spur-of-a-moment decision and oh so well-rehearsed speech started to look like total crap. And wasn't it tempting to say something like 'I was just passing by. Nice to see you're doing good. Bye!'? But, she braced herself and asked, "Are you done here for today?"
Well, whatever he expected to hear from her was nowhere close to what she had just said, apparently. "Yeah." Alaric looked down at the stack of books in his hands and then put them away onto the windowsill. "Yeah, I guess I am." His eyes narrowed a little. "Why?"
"Would you like to have a walk?"
Elena knocked on the door, waited for about half a minute and then turned the knob and pushed the door open. Hesitantly, she stepped into the semi-dark hallway, listening, and then padded down the corridor to where the dance of light on the wall indicated the fire burning, her footsteps soundless on the carpeted floor.
She paused in the doorway when she spotted Damon sitting on the couch in the library, his back to her as he stared at the dance of flames, apparently. His hand moved, and even though she didn't see it, she knew he took a sip of whatever drink he had in his glass. He must have heard her, she thought. Couldn't have missed her entering for sure. Elena knew her heartbeat was loud enough for him to register, especially in such close proximity. Yet, he didn't acknowledge the fact of her presence making her wonder if she should just leave, being obviously an unwelcome company for some reason, or so it seemed to her.
Her curiosity peaked though. Damon wasn't a wallowing type and yet it was exactly what he was doing, and Elena couldn't help wondering what could have possibly caused it. Well, the possibilities were endless to be honest. Their lives weren't all unicorns and rainbows lately. And yet, it was Damon, of all people… um, vampires. But she didn't want to pry in case he needed some privacy, which was probably the case by the looks of it, and she respected it.
But when she finally made up her mind to just leave and stop by later, Damon said, "Stefan's not here. He'd hunting. Probably some poor Bambi. Bet he never saw the movie." His voice was dull, flat and distanced, and his gaze never left the fireplace. "You can wait for him here if you want, he won't be long." Which was almost an invitation, or the closest thing to it that she could get from him.
Leaving was still tempting. Dealing with cranky Damon wasn't her idea of fun. But something was eating him on the inside, and she didn't feel like leaving him all alone. Not when he didn't want her to go at least, and if he did, he wouldn't have said a word.
So, Elena let the strap of her bag slide down her shoulder and fall to the floor in the corridor before making her way into the library. It was warm, compared to the rest of the house, and she pulled off her jacket and tossed it onto one of the chairs on her way. Came up to the couch and flopped down beside him realizing all of a sudden that she, to be honest, could use some company, too.
He didn't turn and his gaze didn't shift as if he didn't notice her at all but one corner of his mouth tugged up slightly in a humorless sneer. Geez, he was such a bundle of joy today!
Elena's eyes flickered down to the tumbler he cradled in his palms and she arched her eyebrows. "And you're so extremely cheerful today why?"
Damon let out some muffled sound, a mixture of laughter and snort, and shook his head, still not looking at her. "You know this myth about the vampires not being able to reflect in the mirrors and stuff? The whole Dracula thing? All these… legends."
"So?"
"I wish this crap was true." He made another gulp making her wonder how he didn't choke, and fell silent.
Elena waited for a minute or two, and then asked when he didn't continue, and apparently wasn't going to, "Just because or for some particular reason?"
He didn't say anything right away. Instead, he dropped his gaze and studied his drink as if the answer she was waiting for was going to appear somewhere between the ice cubes.
"That school teacher of yours," he said after a little while, when Elena already lost her hope to hear another word from him some time this century.
"Don't get side-tracked. What's with the mirrors?"
"I'm getting to the point actually." He pointed out, slightly annoyed. "He's crazy about your aunt, you know? Not the puppy-dog thing. It's a real deal." A grimace crossed his features although she failed to understand the nature of it. "And yet he keeps grasping onto the past and his bitch of an ex vampire wife who doesn't give a crap about him. Maybe never did. Not enough to stick to her human self at least." He snorted. "And you know why?"
"Why?" She stared at the outline of his profile.
"Because he's an idiot, to begin with. But also because it's safe," Damon chuckled ruefully. "No risk at all. It is so much easier to sit and feel sorry for yourself and your miserable life than just get out and… live." His voice dropped almost to a whisper and he finished the phrase on an exasperated sigh. "I mocked him about it because it was pathetic. It was… is, like, a definition of pathetic. Mourning your life while you're still alive. I truly felt pity for him."
He gave Elena a quick sliding look before getting back to peering at the fire again.
"I still don't get your point, Damon," she sighed. She couldn't agree more about certain teacher and her aunt. The rest was still a mystery though. "Alaric, legends, what are you talking about?"
"The point, Elena, is that I woke up in the morning and saw him in the mirror." Damon let out a bark of a laugh, bitter and painful. "Because it is exactly what I am doing, too." He finished his bourbon in one big gulp and then grabbed the tumbler with both his hand, his eyes somewhat glassy as if he was looking inside of himself but his voice steady and not affected by alcohol by the sound of it. "I wish I couldn't see the bloody reflection because… because it is so lame to love someone and keep holding onto the past out of some pitiful habit. Just because you know how to do, having all these years of practice and all."
He didn't look at her again and never said another word, just continued to stare at the dance of flames that reflected in his pale blue eyes making them look like they were glowing in the semi-darkness of the room.
Elena didn't dare to break the silence either, if only because it wasn't easy to wrap her mind around what he had just said. It wasn't hard to hear Isobel's voice somewhere in the back of her mind but she pushed it away. She was afraid of saying too much, or not enough. He was right after all, it was lame. But she didn't know where admitting it would put her, and wasn't sure either of them was ready to take a step in that direction.
Jenna threw a quick surreptitious glance at him out of the corner of her eye. And then another one. And one more, not so surreptitious this time. Alaric was looking straight ahead at the road outside the windshield, his right arm draped lazily over the steering wheel, fingers tapping on it in time with the music. But at the same time this seeming easiness was delusive. With his jaw set tight and his brows drawn together, he was a living breathing example of thoughtfulness and determination, which she found quite amusing for some reason.
He was too lost in thought to care at first, so she took her time to study him now that the monotonous blinking of the trees outside her window lost its original appeal. She wasn't breaking any rules, was she? It wasn't like she was stepping away from her 'give him time and space' plan, not really. One small friendly… favor, no privacy invasion. And wasn't it he who told her she could always come to him if something happened in the first place? Well, that was kind of the case, and he was the only one she felt comfortable turning to.
He noticed it eventually though, both the interest and fleeting smile, and caught her eyes the next time she turned, eyebrows cocked up. "What?" He asked not sure if it was a good sign or bad.
"Nothing," Jenna replied innocently, and maybe a little too quickly, and clenched her teeth before she ended up grinning or something.
"Seriously, Jenna, what?" He pressed on a couple of minutes later when she gave him yet another look, totally despite herself. His eyes narrowed as he watched her suspiciously.
"You look so serious, like we're on some suicide mission," she confided at last, finally breaking into a smile.
Alaric couldn't help but smirk back. "Well, you said something about having a walk. We're driving for twenty minutes already. So, I can't help having this… suspicion that I am missing something here."
Jenna hesitated for a moment. "Do you mind if I embarrass myself first and only then explain everything?" She asked somewhat apologetically.
He gave her a curious glance but then shook his head, chuckling and finally relaxing. Even the line of his shoulders sagged a little. "Okay."
"Here," she said when another road sign popped up before them.
Ric turned the car to the right, off the highway and onto the gravel road that snaked between the trees. It wasn't used often by the looks of it, and the branches of overgrown trees and bushes that no one bothered to cut or take care of scratched the doors as they crawled forward spooking away occasional birds. They followed it for another mile or two until the road turned into a barely visible path and then practically disappeared giving in to the nature. Alaric stopped the car and killed the engine – before this ride killed his vehicle, looked expectedly at Jenna and then climbed out when she did, too.
The sun was almost down and the temperature began to drop steadily, which for some reason was especially evident in the forest where the air always seemed to be a little cooler. He shivered a little and looked around. They were standing in the middle of nowhere, and all he could see were grayish forms of mostly naked trees around them and nothing else. Nothing of interest at least.
Jenna zipped up her jacket and came up closer to him. "Have you got a flashlight?" She asked.
Ric's curiosity peaked. Well, to be honest, it peaked forty minutes ago when she showed up at school proving the statement that there was no such thing as bad surprise but he forced back all the questions for a while and just nodded. "Sure" At least they finally got to the walk part, or so he assumed.
He circled the car and opened the trunk, found the flashlight, paused to throw a quick look at Jenna hovering somewhere at the hood and observing the forest, her hands tucked into the pockets of her jacket, and then reached for the tool-box stored in the back of the trunk where he kept a few stakes, just in case… Well, they were good for practically anything he had to deal with in Mystic Falls. At least ever since the Logan Fell incident.
For a moment his gaze lingered on his stake-shooting gun. It was safer and a lot more efficient in any case – not only against the vampires but probably against pretty much everything that could cause any trouble, but in the end Alaric simply slipped the stake into the sleeve of his jacket not sure how Jenna would like the idea of him carrying the gun since she didn't quite elaborate on the purpose or nature of this trip. He knew better than hope that it was some sort of romantic getaway but that was just as far as his guesses went. Speak of wishful thinking.
He slammed the trunk close then and demonstrated the flashlight to Jenna who turned around to the sound.
"Ready?" She asked.
"Lead the way."
Dry leaves and broken branches crackled beneath their feet on the frozen ground as they were making their way through the forest catching the howl of wind in the treetops and occasional chirps of restless birds. The sun wasn't completely down yet but the clouds kept swallowing it every now and then plunging everything into grayish dusk and deepening the shadows. He could hear the river somewhere behind the trees, and the fog was rising from the water and crawling along the ground clinging onto the grass and stones, smoothing the edges and adding some eeriness to the picture.
Alaric walked a few steps behind Jenna, listening carefully and scanning their surroundings, trying to figure out if this feeling of inexplicable uneasiness that made skin on the back of his neck crawl was caused by his sixth sense or simply by the fact that they were in the woods, and it was getting dark, and it probably wasn't safe.
"Okay, really, where are we going?" He asked in about ten minutes realizing suddenly that the night would fall in no time, and the temperature would drop even more, and he was still clueless. Not to mention the fact that the darkness was dangerous for at least a thousand of other reasons, beside freezing to death.
"Patience is a virtue, Ric," Jenna called back.
"Not mine apparently," he snorted, and his breath puffed out in small cloud. "Are you going to kill me and bury my body in the woods? Is that why you lured me here?"
Jenna laughed and looked at him over the shoulder. "And then I will steal your car, you life and eventually take over the world," she added, nodding in agreement.
"So, that's the plan, huh?"
"I would probably stop giving me the ideas if I were you," she pointed out and he heard smile in her voice.
"Just trying to figure out when should I start worrying," Alaric chuckled.
"We're almost there," Jenna told him, amused.
It was a good idea to come to him after all, she thought. It felt good to have him around, and not only because it was less creepy than if she had to do it alone. Truth was, it was good to have him around, period. He was making her feel safe the way no one else ever did. And hell if she didn't like it.
"And where exactly is the—re… wow!"
He stopped short when dark forms of a semi-ruined stone structure suddenly stepped out of the fog and shadows. It was unbelievable that he hadn't noticed it before. Towering among the trees, they were silently watching their approach and waiting.
Jenna stopped too and looked around. They were standing in the middle of the clearing surrounded by crooked misshaped remains of once magnificent construction, and the silence was pressing now. And then all of a sudden the cloud was gone and the low sun showered everything with soft dying light that filtered through naked branches, and twigs, and cracks and holes in what had once been walls, casting an intricate ornament of shadows on the ground and chasing away the fog, making the picture completely different, bringing warmer shades to it.
"What is this place?" Ric asked gawking around almost in awe.
"Fell's Church," Jenna responded turning to him. "Or at least what's left of it." She swept the stone forms with another glance. "I think you've heard of it." Which was rather a statement than a question.
"I have," he agreed. "But I've never been here before."
So, that's it then, he thought. The place where everything started 145 years ago. One of the many things that didn't work the way they were supposed to. The vampires didn't die inside, and it was that trigger that set off chain reaction the consequences of which they had to deal with now. The church looked rather impressing even now, he noted, but it had some sad aura to it, too. Not only because it was destroyed so viciously and then forgotten for good, but because he could almost feel it was blaming people for their mistake. Dying for a good cause was one thing. It was almost honorable even. If only everything happened the way it was meant to…
Alaric studied it thoroughly, not that there was much left to look at though. Now it was practically impossible to imagine what exactly it looked like at the time of its full glory. And then it was burned down for nothing, and he could almost feel sorrow coming from everything around him.
"I thought it was closer to the town," he said absently.
"It is, actually," Jenna approached him, her eyes drifting across stone forms. "There is a road coming from the south but it is much worse than the highway. You can also walk right through the forest that starts behind the Historical Society Park but it takes a while ," she explained. "The town had moved a little geographically over the time and some older constructions ended up being lost in the woods. Be careful and watch your step."
He appreciated the advice. The stone bricks were scattered all around and he stumbled a time or two not noticing them in time as he followed Jenna around the church and a little further into the forest. Weird dark shapes hiding behind the trees left him puzzled until he realized that they were crooked and broken headstones covered with dry ivy and destroyed by time and weather. Church, cemetery – right, the whole package!
Meanwhile, Jenna stopped before two other pieces of wall that formed a corner and scanned the ground at her feet.
"Priest's house," she said before Ric asked anything when he caught up with her.
"I would have never guessed," he commented studying almost nothing of what had been left of it.
The place must have been two hundred years old at least, he whistled mentally. And then followed Jenna's gaze when she made a few more steps kicking away grass and leaves, and ended up staring down at something at her feet as she chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. He came closer and felt his brows arch when he saw a roundish, slightly misshaped hole in the ground, black and, well, unwelcoming. Like a well, only destroyed. He could feel the cold coming out of it.
"And this is rabbit's hole that leads to Wonderland?" Alaric guessed squatting down before it and tuning on the flashlight.
Its beam hit the earth floor. It wasn't as deep as he first thought, maybe a meter and a half of so. And it wasn't just a hole, too. Or a well, come to think of it. It looked solid, not like something created by nature, if stone walls that he managed to see were any indication. Maybe a cellar? If it was a part of the house then it would make sense. Pieces of rotten black wood lying on the floor and sticking from the wall to the left from him indicated that there used to be some sort of ladder leading down until wind and rain worked on it.
A short laugh escaped Jenna. "It's a secret passage between the house and the church," she told him when he got up again. "The other end, on the church side, got blocked when some part of the floor collapsed after the storm a couple of decades ago."
His brows quirked up and he looked down again with new sort of interest. "And that's the final destination?"
The sun had sunk below the horizon line by then and Jenna rubbed her upper arms with her hands, shivering a little. She looked down and into the blackness too before locking her gaze on Ric's again. He didn't ask a thing, which she appreciated because it gave her time to try and collect her thoughts together but she knew she owed him some explanation before asking him to jump down and find Crazy Hatman for her.
"I have these memories coming back to me," she started choosing the words carefully. "Of the things that never happened." She shook her head and rubbed her forehead, feeling a little embarrassed by how silly it sounded – so much worse than in her head. "I know it's crazy." To say the least. "And I don't know how to explain it but I hadn't been thinking about this place for ages and now I keep remembering some things about it, as if they happened just a while ago. Things that—well, that didn't happen. Not… for real."
Alaric furrowed his brows as he studied her face, doubtful and confused. It wasn't what he expected to hear exactly, but then he found himself realizing that he wasn't surprised by it. Worried was a much better word, and this worry kept growing with every moment until it finally struck him that foreboding of something like that was exactly what troubled him for the last hour or so. And instantly it stopped looking like an adventure, this church and all stories behind it, and his curiosity was replaced by almost sickening wish to get the hell out of there.
Yet, it didn't look like it was an option. Something about this place bothered Jenna so much that he could all but feel anxiety coming from her, which, apparently, was contagious. And if going down there was all it took to make it go, well…
"Let's check it then," he said with more enthusiasm than he was feeling.
"And either prove that I'm a nutcase or… that I'm a nutcase," she finished somewhat darkly.
"That's a hell of a choice," he winked at her, glad on the inside that he thought about brining the stake. Not that it could be of any help against a whole nest of the vampires – oh boy, he should really stop thinking about something like that! – but it was better than nothing at any rate. The idea of tagging Jenna along was slightly disturbing though. Who knew what the hell was hiding down there? Leaving her here on her own was not much better but— "Look, you can wait here," he offered – had to offer.
Jenna quirked a brow at him. "You're kidding, right?"
Well, he knew she'd say that, didn't he?
"Okay then, hold this for me."
He gave her the flashlight, and then crouched beside the hole and jumped. It was rather wide and turned out to be a little deeper than he expected, what with him being about to straighten up without hitting his head on her ceiling. Barely, but still! His feet sponged on the pile of leaves that wind threw down there softening his landing. He stood up and looked around, and even though it was impossible to see anything outside the pool of pale light coming from the flashlight that Jenna directed down, it still was a relief to find out that it probably wouldn't be a big deal to get out with the help of the remains of the ladder, however unreliable they were. He looked up then, still half-hoping she'd change her mind.
Instead, Jenna sat on the edge and let her legs dangle down. Took a breath as if she was going to dive into the water and then slipped off and into his arms, flashlight in hand, its light dancing on the walls with the motion. Ric caught her effortlessly by the waist as she brushed against his body a second before her feet touched the ground. Instinctively, Jenna wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself to his body out of fear to lose her balance and fall, big distance that it was, flooded by the smell of his after-shave lotion and what she guessed was winter-fresh fabric-softener from his shirt. Against better judgment they stayed still for a long moment just staring at each other.
"You okay?" Ric asked at last, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"Yeah," she let out the breath she didn't even notice she was holding. Um, what was the question?
"Good." He let her slip out of his arms and onto the floor, taking a small step back. "Let's go. And… stay close, okay?"
Gladly! "Sure."
The passage started going down and deeper underground almost immediately, and within minutes they were cut off the sounds of life that they could hear while staying on the surface. The light of the flashlight in Alaric's hand was sliding along the earth floor and walls, supported by wooden arches, black from time, and heavy stone bricks, similar to those that the church was built from.
The air was damp and cold in that special way only air underground or in the caves could be. It wore rich smell of wet soil and stone mixed with whatever scent roots and other underground parts of the plants had. Jenna reached out and touched the wall feeling moisture beneath her fingers. The cold coming from it flashed a faint shade of memory through her mind but it was so vague and blurred that it slipped away just as soon as it came before she even contemplated trying to figure it out.
"How do you know all of that?" Ric wondered, amazed by the extent of the conspiracy – secret Council, secret passages, secret life of some inhabitants of Mystic Falls – as he was taking in their every single detail. "About this passage? All of that?"
The deeper they were going, the thicker and staler the air was getting. There were no more leaves beneath their feet anymore, most of them not making their way this far down, what with the lack of wind down there. Could have thought about some ventilation system, he thought absently. But then again this place was hardly meant for hiding, more for a safe escape.
"I grew up here," Jenna reminded him, letting out a soft laugh. "Plus, this was a hang-out place for cool kids when I was in high school," she added. "Not right here of course, but around the church. Mostly because of the ghost stories, you know. About the confederate soldiers wandering in the forest because their souls can't find peace." Her voice was theatrically dramatic until Ric turned and she smiled at his Huh? expression. "Also, because it was far. You always want to get away as a teen. I've never seen any ghosts here, but others did. Although, to be fair, I must say that it probably had something to do with the buzz than with restless souls."
"That's what I thought," he smirked.
"Anyway, it was fun until the church wall collapsed nearly killing one of the guys, and the Sheriff – it was Liz Forbes's dad back then – ordered to patrol this place from time to time to make sure we stayed away before someone else ended up in the hospital with broken bones, and it soon lost its appeal. Too much trouble being caught here." She let out a small breath. "I take it, the following generations didn't pick up the idea. This place looks like no one's been here for quite a while."
Except for some vampires and a couple of witches that set some other vampires free, Alaric mused but didn't let it slip out.
"I'm sure they found some other not less exciting way to entertain themselves," he chuckled. "Are we looking for something specific?" He stopped to give Jenna a chance to catch up with him.
She observed the walls skeptically. "Hardly." Okay, she had to check it. Or she would never get this thing out of her head but maybe dragging Ric with her wasn't such a good idea after all. Now that she was finally here, all she could imagine finding were cob-webs and dirt.
A muffled sound somewhere in the distance made them both skid to a halt in a split of a moment. Alaric's reaction was instant and fast. Swift and silent, he caught Jenna by the arm and yanked her to the wall shielding her with his body from whatever was lurking in the darkness, and they both held their breaths as they listened and waited, tense and alert.
It took Jenna a while to notice that she had her fingers clenched around his jacket, and she uncurled them carefully to let go off it before he noticed anything and lowered her hands to hang by her sides instead. Cautiously and with her heart stuck somewhere in her throat and practically choking her, she looked up to find Ric staring intensely down the passage, his brows furrowed and his eyes darting from side to side following the beam of the flashlight that unfortunately wasn't strong enough to cover as much of the tunnel as he obviously wanted. Saying that she could all but hear him thinking feverishly wasn't even an exaggeration. She followed his gaze then, but didn't see anything except bits and pieces of walls and floor.
For several painfully long moments that stretched into eternity they just stood there waiting, but the silence was so thick and deafening that after a while the very existence of any sounds at all became questionable.
Jenna blinked when straining her eyes to see something outside the range of light started to hurt. Alaric's chest was rising and falling against hers as he kept taking one deliberately slow breath after another, and instinctively she fought to catch the rhyme of it to make their proximity less obvious. The contrast between the warmth of his body and the stone wall she was practically pressed into was striking, and she shivered and tried to think about something else. Like, mortal danger of some sort, or spiders, or something else distracting.
"What is it?" She asked in a barely audible whisper.
"I don't know," he echoed in a similarly quiet voice.
"Must be rats," she supposed after a short pause, not sure if she liked rats any more than the vampires. Hardly.
"Perhaps," he agreed with a slight hint of doubt.
Jenna was still peering down the corridor when she felt the slightest movement of the air and knew that he had turned to look down at her. Her body stiffened when she felt his warm breath falling on her face, making the skin of her cheek tingle. Slowly, she turned too, and then felt her own breath hitch in her throat when she found his face barely a couple of inches away from hers, his eyes catching and reflecting glints of the light as they wandered around her features.
His heart was pounding against his rib-cage and Alaric swallowed hard fighting to stay focused on the task at hand, namely – on anything that wasn't her lips. Standing so close, he could feel gentle scent of her hair which wasn't helping the matters, and mixed with adrenaline coursing through his system, it was a truly insane combination.
"We should probably go," he said in an oddly hoarse voice that sent another wave of shiver down Jenna's body and this time it had nothing to do with the cold air.
"We should," she agreed automatically but neither of them moved for a while. "Ric?"
"Right. Go." He snapped out of it and stepped back clearing his throat and looking away. "Must be rats. How far does it go from here?"
She looked back to where they came from trying to recall how far in they'd made it already. "A hundred feet more, maybe," she said uncertainly. The underground chill was easily making its way right through her clothes making her teeth chatter unevenly and she wrapped her arms around her shoulders in vain attempt to get a little warmer.
There was nothing here, and she was not only cold, she was now feeling ridiculous, too – like, for dragging him all the way to the Fell's Church and down to this godforsaken place. She was having dreams about it. Weird dreams, scary dreams. Not the nightmares kind of scary, and that was the problem. No, they were creepy in how real they felt, so real that she started losing her grip on reality upon waking up because it was hard to see the different, as if they were sucking her in and it was getting harder to get out each time. But they still were just dreams and some rational part of her knew that, although it was a much smaller part than the one that was making her question the reality she used to live in and pushing her to do some insane things – like coming here, for example.
Yet, she followed Alaric when he started to walk again. It wasn't making much sense to stay here any longer. They wouldn't find anything here, Jenna was quite sure of that, except for rats maybe. She shuddered. And that feeling of hers – must have been overall exhaustion, lack of sleep and all that coffee running in her system instead of blood. But she just couldn't bring herself to open her mouth and tell him how pointless it was to keep moving forward. They might have as well checked the whole passage now that they were here anyway, she decided in the end. And maybe – maybe! – she'd be able to get at least this one thing out of her mind.
Lost in thought, Jenna stumbled and all but bumped into Alaric when he stopped all of a sudden. He didn't see to notice the impact though. Instead, he just kept peering down the tunnel, his brows drawn together and his whole frame rigid. She didn't like it.
"Ric?"
"Stay here," he told her absently before starting to walk again.
"What—?"
"Just stay here," he repeated and something about his voice left her glued to the spot with a cold sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that made Jenna wish to turn around and run away from there, as fast and far as she possibly could, just to get out and away from that dread that settled inside on her.
The tunnel was making a small curve there, probably because of some rock that they couldn't dig through and had to circle around, and before Jenna knew she was standing in near darkness, the dancing light of the flashlight flickering on the walls somewhere down the passage was barely reaching her. She wanted to go there, to follow him and find out what it was about. But instead she just looked around, not that it was making much sense, and then tried to keep her eyes focused on the dance of shadows ahead of her. She didn't like it. Whatever he'd seen there – she didn't like it at all.
A few meters away from her, Alaric crouched by what he'd first thought was a misshaped pile of earth. He remembered Jenna mentioning something about the other end of the passage being blocked so he expected to come across some evidence of it sooner or later and wasn't surprised in the beginning. Not really.
But the feeling of wrongness stopped him from letting her go any farther. And now he was thanking whatever there was to thank because it wasn't just earth after all. What he saw lying on the ground was something covered with dark cloth, like a bed comforter or thin blanket. With hammering heart and suspecting that it was probably the last thing he wanted to do, he found the end of it and pulled it away, knowing better than to breath when he did it.
She was lying with her face away from him, long brown hair scattered on the ground and her skin ghostly pale. Mustn't have stayed here long, Ric noted somewhere in the back of his mind as a wave of nausea washed over him, twisting his insides into a tight knot. Plus, it was cold here. Cold enough to save her from fast decomposing, but ever though he held his breath, he could still feel sweetish sickening stench coming up his nose as he couldn't close his hand around it, what with them both being busy.
Careful not to touch anything not to destroy whatever evidence there could be left, he scanned the slim form of a girl searching for the cause of death – just in case the ugly bloodstained bite-mark that he spotted on her neck right away wasn't it. And then lowered the cover back knowing that he'd either die from the smell of dead flesh if he dared to take a breath, or he'd suffocate from not breathing – very, very soon.
His head was spinning from what he'd just seen and lack of oxygen when he pushed back to his feet. There was no sense in staying there, they were a few days late in any case. Taking small shallow breathes, if only not to pass out or something, he directed the beam on his flashlight further down the tunnel but with the body lying right across his way, he didn't find enough strength to make himself step over it and continue exploring. Well, come to think of it, he wasn't up to it either.
Jenna. She was still down here, too. Alone.
The realization brought all his senses back, made him start thinking again and forced Alaric to finally leave the spot and make his way back to her in long brisk strides, and he only let himself breathe out with relief when he saw her standing at the wall to the right from him, pale as hell in the light of the flashlight.
"Let's go," he said throwing a quick look over his shoulder and shuddering on the inside. "Let's get out of here."
"What happened?" Jenna asked automatically. He didn't seem to hear her though, his mind unable to stay focused on one thought for longer than a couple of seconds.
Got to call the Sheriff. No, got out of there first. Had to find out who that woman was. How did Jenna know? It was so cold but now his cheeks were burning. Must be shock of some sort. How did she get there? God, what if whoever did that was still somewhere here? They never made till the end of the passage, it was a perfect hiding place.
Cold hand of fear squeezed Alaric making him think he could hear someone's heavy breath and rapid footsteps behind their backs and see blinking shadows out of the corner of his eye, and didn't get go until they finally reached the entrance, or whatever it was, and he helped Jenna climb out of the tunnel and then followed her up and onto the surface scraping his hands on the rough wood and rock.
"Ric—"
"Come on."
Jenna didn't say a word as they walked – well, practically ran back to the car, party because she wasn't sure she'd get any answer, and partly because she didn't want to hear it. Not when he was looking like that – like he had just seen a ghost. She couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief when she spotted his grey car parked between the trees. She climbed inside faster than she thought she could and was only bucking up hastily when Alaric already started the engine and was revving backwards to find a good spot to make a u-turn. In almost complete darkness all they had were front and rear headlights to navigate their motion and that wasn't much.
He managed to turn around at last, without ending up somewhere in the ditch or embracing nearest tree with the hood, and then hit the gas pushing the car forward as fast as it could go, given the crappy quality of the road and limited range of visibility. Jenna kept casting quick glances at the side mirror on her door as if seriously suspecting to see someone following them. The feeling that they were being watched was back again and she couldn't shake it off as if it was something physical that stuck to her skin. She looked at Ric then, noting tight set of his jaw and white-knuckled grip of his fingers on the steering wheel, and found herself unable to start asking anything.
It was only when they finally got back to the highway that he reached into the pocket of his jacket and retrieved his cell phone, his eyes darting between the road and small screen as he scrolled his phonebook searching for the number before hitting the dial button.
"Come on, pick up. Pick up," he muttered listening to the rings on the other end of the line as they practically flew down the road. Jenna preferred not to go into how many traffic rules they were breaking. Not that she was giving damn about any of that right now. Gladly, the highway was empty. "Damon! Thank god," he breathed out barely audibly. "Yes, I missed you, now focus. We found the lair." Ric shot a quick look at Jenna who watched him without blinking before his eyes were back on the road again. "Or at least one of them." He paused to listen to Damon's response. "It's some sort of passage underneath Fell's Church. I believe you know where it is." He explained quickly how to find the entrance. "Call Sheriff… I don't care what you're going to tell her! Think something out, for heaven's sake!... Yeah, okay, whatever. Just make sure she sends someone to check it out. There's a body down there… And, um, they should probably come armed. I have no idea what else they are going to find there… Yeah, I'll explain everything later. But we can't leave it like that— Okay, you can. I can't… Yeah, thanks. Call me when you have any news."
He hung up then, not looking particularly relived after the conversation, what with his brows still creased. But he did let out a sigh and the line of his shoulders relaxed a little. Just enough for him to stop looking like a maniac.
"Who was it, Ric?" Jenna asked in a couple of minutes. "Who did you find?"
Their eyes met again for a moment. "I don't know," he said shaking his head. "A girl… um, woman. With dark hair. I tried not to touch anything. It was a crime scene after all."
Slowly, she nodded. "I've been there, you know. That night."
"What?" He whipped his head to her, frowning.
"I'm sure I've been there," she repeated and added before any questions followed, "I don't remember it. I just… know. In that creepy way when you know stuff." She let out an exasperated sigh fully aware of the fact that she probably looked and sounded miserable and helpless – maybe because that was exactly how she felt – and then dropped her gaze down for a moment before locking it on his again.
"You sure?" He asked, and Jenna failed to understand if he was surprised or not. Not really by the looks of it. Scared, she'd say. Worried. But not quite shocked or anything. To be honest, she wasn't either.
"No," she pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head as she tried to keep her thoughts in some sort of order. "But I know I've been there recently, and it sure wasn't my own decision."
"Damn it!" Alaric muttered and then smacked the steering wheel with his palm.
It could have been her lying down there, he thought. If it wasn't for vervain and whatever else stopped them, it could have been Jenna. Hell, they could have killed her just for fun! For the sake of it and vervain would stop her from dying! It made his blood run cold and he swallowed uneasily at the mental images his way too vivid imagination offered helpfully. What the hell was going on here? Why her? Why would they do that to her?
He turned and saw Jenna looking at him with the expression he couldn't read. Well, fear was the closest definition he could think of. Confusion, too. The urge to reach out and take her hand if only to try and comfort her somehow was overwhelming, but instead he only tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
"It's going to be okay," Ric said not sure if he was telling it to her or to himself. Not that she believed anyway.
She was getting really annoyed, and compared to her human experience of being annoyed… well, it wasn't pretty. Why wasn't it working? Why on earth wasn't it working the way she expected? It was a good plan, almost perfect plan, so simple and straight-forward. And it was getting on her nerves. It was seriously messing everything up and she couldn't stand it. She couldn't let it go wrong, could she?
Damn it, this new personality was a lot to deal with! All these feelings and emotions, so strong and overwhelming – she needed to try and focus somehow. But this rush of thoughts in her head – it was driving her crazy. Never-ending buzz. And hunger. And power coursing through her veins like liquid fire, all mixed together, and it was confusing. It was hard to concentrate, so much effort. She didn't want to try. She was tired of having to stay under control. She wanted to just… be.
Yet, she had to make it work. She had to make that bitch pay. And it wasn't like her idea was total crap after all. It was just taking more time than she'd thought in the beginning. Just a detour. She was not going to retreat, no. She was going to try again. And again. And again, if necessary. Maybe that was the point – waiting would make her victory even sweeter, even more satisfying. More… worthwhile! Yeah, that was probably it. She could wait. Of course she could! What a couple of days mattered when she had so many years ahead?
Comforted by this decision, she felt her lips stretch into a contemplative smile. It wasn't the end, no way. She was not going to give up. No, she was going to come up with something else but meanwhile she was going to stick to the original course and keep messing with her little blonde head. And then… then someone was going to die.
But before – she was going to find something to eat.
"Has there been anything else?" Alaric asked as he held the door open for her to let Jenna into his apartment.
Habitually, she flipped on the light in the hall and strolled to the living room distractedly. "Calls, texts, all from hidden number. I couldn't recognize the voice. It was too quiet and muffled, like the person was speaking through something. A napkin maybe. I don't know. And it wasn't like anyone was threatening me, you know?" She turned around to find him watching her thoughtfully, and tucked her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. Stay cool. Sighed and then handed him her phone so that he could check a few messages she received lately. "See? They are just…"
"Creepy?" He offered quirking up his brow.
"Yeah, I guess," she breathed out. "And when they call… well, mostly I can hear the breath. Like phone pranks." Jenna fought to remember the details. "I didn't even pay attention to them at first. Thought someone was just having fun, or dialed the wrong number but… these messages, and all that…" She trailed off and bit her lower lip. "And then again, no threats."
Alaric nodded. Handed her back her phone and wandered into the kitchen. "Would you like to have something to drink?" He asked her giving a quick look over his shoulder. He could use some whiskey – like, a lot! If only to try and erase the terrible picture that was standing before his mind's eye. Not to mention the aftertaste of the stale underground air in his mouth.
"That… that sounds good." Something strong please, more gin, less tonic. Jenna watched him going through the routine – find glasses, get ice from the freezer. She propped her forearms on the smooth counter leaning on it. "That woman down there, she was killed, right?" She asked warily.
Alaric tensed for a moment despite himself when this too clear for comfort image flashed before his mind's eyes again. "Yes."
"What if I did it?"
He froze and then turned around feeling his eyes growing wide with surprise. "Come again?"
"Well, I don't remember anything that happens when I… black out. What if I—" kidnapped someone and went all Jack the Ripper and stuff?
"Hardly," he interrupted her chuckling. "Unless you're a vampire."
"How the hell do I know that I am not?" Jenna grumbled darkly.
They looked normal, she thought. Stefan and Damon – they looked pretty damn normal! And Logan, too. And Isobel, come to think of it. She cringed inwardly. They must be feeling normal as well. Well, she couldn't know that. So how—
Ric's laughter, genuine and loud, made her snap her head up and find him watching her puzzlement with sincere amusement, his eyes glinting. He left the glasses on the cooking counter and was now leaning against it, his arms folded across his chest. God, she liked his smile, the open one, with dimples.
"What did you have for dinner last night?" He asked.
Jenna blinked. "What?"
"Dinner. Last night."
She furrowed her brows, trying to recall it. Last night seemed to be so far away in the past. "Meat pie and salad," she replied cautiously, expecting the question to be some kind of a trick.
"Well, if it wasn't a bag of O-negative, then I guess you're off the hook," she chuckled again. "Plus, you'd probably notice if you died some time recently. Or maybe not. But the change of diet is usually a significant sign."
His answer made Jenna break into a smile, lifting some weight off of her shoulders, making her feel a little better by the second. And silly, too. But silly was good. It was a crazy theory and she knew it from the start but since crazy was normal and normal wasn't always good… well, at least she could cross one thing out of her list of thing that she feared.
"Yeah, I probably would have," she agreed. "Um, listen… Thanks. I really appreciate you coming along today." I know I'm fun to hang out with – all these dead people around.
"Sure, anytime." Alaric paused as if bracing himself for something. "Look, Jenna—" he started. The shrill of his mobile startled them both and they exchanged worried looks, smiles fading momentarily. "Excuse me," he muttered, reaching for it. "Yes?"
Jenna wandered back to the living room, her mind still buzzing. She probably should have asked for coffee instead, she thought. Her eyes went down to her still bandaged wrist. It was okay, almost healed by now but Ric was right – it looked too strange to keep it open until the mark was gone completely. She didn't want anyone asking any questions the answers to which she didn't have and didn't want to know.
She peeked out the window and then ended up sitting on the floor by the coffee table, her legs crossed. It was frightening – the way thing were happening to her, that constant feeling at the back of her head like someone was watching her all the time, which was only getting worse when she was alone and couldn't blame it on occasional crowd. She could bet she was feeling it even in her sleep – assuming she had any.
Alaric was pacing back and forth in his small kitchen, three of four steps in each direction at most. He was frowning and looking, well, displeased, Jenna guessed. The hand that was resting on his hip when she lifted her gaze to find him went up to rub his forehead and then rumple his hair, absently or in frustration she couldn't tell. He was nodding out of habit from time to time even though whoever was on the other end couldn't see him. Obviously, he didn't like the news or so she guessed if the expression of his face was any indication.
He finished the conversation in a couple of minutes and then joined her in the living room brining in their drinks.
"Thanks," Jenna breathed out taking a sip of her white wine and watching him over the rim of her glass.
He took a sit on the floor beside her and leaned his back against the couch, bent his legs pulling them closer to his chest and then gave a long studying look the amber liquid in his tumbler. Whiskey or scotch, she wasn't sure. Took a gulp and winced when alcohol burned its way through his mouth and down his throat.
"That's good stuff," Jenna noticed darting her eyes down to her glass when he looked at her with a shade of confusion.
"It was Hollie," Ric said in a low dull voice. "The girl that I found, it was her." He screwed his eyes tight and rubbed the eyelids tiredly. "They found two more bodies deeper in the tunnel. Not locals. Maybe campers or tourists. They are working on identifying them now. It won't take long if they were reported missing." Paused. "All drained of blood. No other injures aside from some scratches but then again they weren't kept in some fancy hotel, so…" The smirk that touched his lips was more angry than sad or amused or whatever. "Nothing else yet," he added. "They'll explore the place more thoroughly once they have the bodies out of their way but for now they didn't find anything that could have helped to track down whoever did it."
Another gulp followed, and this time he didn't flinch as if it was just soda that he was drinking as he stared sightlessly before himself.
"What did Damon say? About how he found that place?"
"He said he eavesdropped on some conversation at the Grill. High school kids thought that there was funny smell coming from that tunnel but didn't tell anything to anyone because they didn't want to get in trouble assuming they were not allowed to go there." He scrubbed his hand over his face. "Sounds like crap but Sheriff Forbes doesn't have any reasons not to believe him." She nodded automatically. "Hey, you okay?" Ric asked with concern.
"As opposed to what?" Jenna sneered and sipped some more of her wine finding familiar comfort in the warmth that settled in her stomach. Oh God, she was so screwed!
His lips twitched, which she took for conceding her point. "It'll take them a while to sort out all the stuff. Damon is going to hang around, pick up some news."
"Until they notice he's not a cop and kick him out?" She arched her brows.
Alaric smirked. "Yeah, probably." He paused. "Jenna, I'm—look, it's probably not the best time but I just want you to know that… I'm sorry for all the mess between us. I—"
"Don't," she stopped him and shook her head. "I get it, Ric. Really, I do. This whole thing with your wife… must have been really overwhelming. Would've been for anyone." Which was just as much as she could give him beside time and understanding. She couldn't comfort him or fix it for him or help him in any other way. He was confused, it was normal. But he had to deal with it on his own, otherwise he'd never move on. "It'll get better eventually."
"Yeah, I hope," he breathed out.
"It will," she pressed on, her smile softened minutely. "I know it will." Reluctantly, he nodded in agreement although she wasn't sure he meant it, but it wasn't like she could expect anything else. Jenna put her half-full glass onto the coffee table. "I think I should probably go home," she said. "My car is still at the school parking lot. Could you—?"
"Sure," he put his unfinished drink down as well. "I'll take you there."
Her words were still ringing in his head when he followed her into the hall. And when Jenna pulled the door open, he put his hand on it to close it again. Surprised, she turned around, her back leaning against cold wooden surface. Once again he was watching her with that wondrous expression she'd already seen before, as if he was looking at her and actually seeing her for the first time, and was now trying to figure out where the hell had he been all this time. The one she couldn't quite read.
"What?" Jenna asked letting her lips form into a small smile, her brows drawn together in misunderstanding, as her heart gave a small leap and ended up thudding dully against her ribs.
She was very well aware of his hand still lying on the door somewhere near her head as she watched the corners of his mouth tug up a little as if some secret revelation downed on him at last making everything simple and clear. His gaze wandered around her face before catching her eyes and holding her gaze. Vaguely, she felt him run the back of his fingers down her cheek leaving a practically burning mark on her skin, which happened merely a moment before his hand slipped around her neck and he dipped down and captured her lips in a soft kiss.
To be continued…
Okay guys, I'm taking a break to deal with some real life stuff now, sorry :P No idea when I am going to update next :S
Meanwhile… the next chapter is going to start right where this one ends. So, what do you think is going to happen next? Tell me! I have 4 drafts of Chapter 13, all going in different directions, so suggestions, opinions and speculations are welcome!
And remember – reviews and comments are always highly appreciated! [I apologize for any grammatical errors or typos, in case you find some]