Still Around

Chapter 14:Glimpse of the Truth

'Cause this life is anything but certain,
when they close the final curtain,
You'll get a glimpse of the truth.

'Cause you're still around,
Well, she's still around.

-Still Around, 3OH!3

A/N: So…get ready to say goodbye…

Damon's POV (I feel like this hasn't happened in a while.)

Alright, so I had absolutely no idea that Alyssa was going to invite Sara to our family dinner night. When she said friend, I figured she meant a friend from school. Although she technically is a friend from school, that didn't spare me the agony of that night. Not only did I have to endure and interrogation from my parents, but also several arguments with my wife. Needless to say, I had forgotten what it was like to have Rose around and a week later, we still weren't on speaking terms.

I had grown accustomed to simply going out for a drive if she started to get me riled up. Her favorite topic always seemed to be Sara. I handled it better than Alyssa, who always seemed to flee to her room in tears. I knew it was time to find some sort of distracting activity when I found myself beginning to wonder how much longer she would be staying. I know, I know, a husband shouldn't feel that way; but lately…it was all I could do to distance myself from my increasingly unstable wife.

It was on the third night of driving that I discovered him. It was as he somewhat secretively entered a high end hotel, nodding at the doorman as if they recognized each other. This obviously wasn't anything new.

I tried to keep an open mind, tried not to assume the worst, but as she became increasingly closed off when asked about him, I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't just sit around and watch her get hurt.

I followed him for a week, just to make sure, and each night he did the same. He would nod to the doorman, slip him something, and disappear inside. Now, I might have been jumping to conclusions a little quickly when I decided to continue following him, but my suspicions were only confirmed when I went inside to inquire about his…residency.

I hit the little bell on the front desk of the posh marble and velvet lobby. The darker tones of the room made it seem a rather fitting place to hide away.

"Yes?" A short, stubby man emerged from a door behind the counter. "How can I help you, sir?"

"Yes…"I nodded. "I was wondering if a Griffin Roberts was staying here."

"Roberts?" He asked while typing the name into their system. "Ah, yes, however I can only allow you to go up if you're on the approved list. Your name, sir?"

Damn it. I'd have to try something else. "I don't believe it's on there. But thank you anyway. I'll come back some other time." I turned on my heel.

"Sir, I can call him for you and let him know that you're here." He called after me.

"That won't be necessary." I held up my hand to stop him as I walked out of the door.

I continued my sleuthing for another week, discovering that on weekdays between one and seven p.m. a blonde worked the counter. Now not to be judgmental or assume the stereotype, but judging by the way she spent her time playing on her iPhone or staring at herself in its reflective surface, I figured that she would be easy enough to charm.

Now all I needed was to get Sara to agree to come with me. That would be more difficult than any of my detective work combined. Sure, I figured that there was something sketchy about Griffin right from the get-go, but to get her to believe me was going to be a feat in itself.

Imagine my surprise when I told her that I had been following him and she didn't bite my head off! She actually agreed to come with me when I offered to take her to their meeting place.

Naturally, she was defensive at first when I asked about him, but judging by her sigh, she was ready to get it over with.

"So how is Griffin?" I asked her during our phone call, getting straight to the point.

"Fine." She snapped. "Why?"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down. I was just asking." I tried to calm her down.

"Sorry." She mumbled. "I actually wouldn't know. I haven't seen him in a few weeks."

"Ah," I almost smiled gleefully. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Is there a point to this call, or are you just doing this to annoy me?" She wasn't having any of it.

"Actually," I paused. "There is."

She didn't say anything. She waited for me.

"I don't want you to be mad at me for doing this..." I began. "But I've been following Griffin around and….well," I didn't know how to say it.

She still didn't say anything.

"I don't know how to put this…" I couldn't do it. "I think…that he may be cheating on you."

She made a clicking noise on the other side, and I thought, for a second, that she was going to hang up on me.

"Sara?" I made sure that she hadn't.

"I'm still here." She replied quietly.

"Listen, I can show you where it is. It's your choice if you want to go in or not, but I thought you should know." I hoped that she would agree to come.

"Fine, we'll go tomorrow. You can pick me up at four." It was all she said before hanging up.

I was completely shocked at how painless that was. Well….relatively painless for me. Of course, I knew that this must be hurting her in some way, but I figured that it would hurt her more if she found out some other way. I didn't want to hurt her, in fact if I could have kept it from her, I would have. For about three days, I considered paying him off to get him to leave. It might have worked, I don't know. But as far as I was vaguely aware, she had Stefan to console her right now.

I was surprised for the second time that day, when I told Stefan about my findings.

"I told you there was something fishy about him." I took a sip from my tumbler of scotch.

"Damon," He sighed. "Why'd you have to go get involved?"

"What?" I was shocked. "Isn't this what you wanted? She won't be engaged anymore."

He pressed his mouth into a firm line. "Sara and I…we didn't…we don't…we just can't right now, okay?"

I was exasperated. "What the hell do you mean you can't?"

"We both need to work some things out before we take anything further." He wasn't going to explain much to me.

"And I think I just took care of one of your main issues, so why worry now?" I tried.

He glared at me with his usual broody look. Apparently, there was more than what meets the eye.

"Fine, then I suppose you won't be joining us tomorrow, when I show her that Griffin is a good for nothing cheater?" I began to leave his office.

"I'll meet you there." He grumbled before I left.

"Good," I smirked as I closed the door.

I set up a sort of mini plan, to have him arrive when she would surely be trying to exit the building. She would end up right in his arms. It was practically fool proof.

Great, I finally felt like I was making up for being such a horrible person and tearing them apart before.

So why did I feel as though something was going to go absolutely, horribly wrong?

Sara POV

I sighed as I set my phone back into its dock. Damon's statement hadn't been news to me. I had suspected Griffin of cheating on me for a while…I just preferred not to think about it.

I couldn't very well confront him about it while I was cheating on him myself. So I end it with Stefan in an effort to get back to Griffin. I told him that I had signed with the Mikaelsons and he had practically blown a gasket. We agreed that there were too many things in the way for us to be together right now. I tried to convince myself that it was for the best, but I missed him so much.

He had been everything that I ever dreamed he would be, and now I had to let that all go. Griffin had promised to try to "come home" but every night he made some excuse that would keep him away. Maybe after all of this was over, things would go back to normal. All he had to do was apologize. It wasn't like I hadn't done it myself. We just needed to get back to the start.

Damon picked me up just like I had instructed him to. The car ride was surprisingly quiet.

"Thank you," I said to him quietly, unable to look at him.

"For what?" He asked.

"For…looking out for me." I clenched my jaw slightly defiantly. There, I said it.

He gave a small nod. "Of course."

I was almost puzzled when he pulled into the parking lot of a hotel that Griffin and I had stayed at rather often when we needed a night of different scenery.

"Here?" I asked slightly incredulously.

He nodded and got out the car. I followed him to the front desk.

"Hello," He greeted a blonde girl that was leaning against the counter, gazing at her phone. "I'm sorry to bother you, but it appears that I've lost my room key."

Her eyes glazed over a little as she stared at him. He had always been quite the charmer.

"Sure," She smiled. "I just need your name."

"Roberts," He smiled widely at her. "Griffin."

"Yeah…room sixteen-twenty." She swiped a plastic card and generated a key. "Here you go."

"Thank you," He winked at her and she nearly swooned.

I rolled my eyes. Had he not been my father, maybe I too would have swooned, but sometimes he laid it on a little too thick.

"Come on, let's go." I dragged him to the elevators.

"Do you know where we're going?" He asked as we stepped in.

"Unfortunately, I know exactly where we're going." I punched the button in the elevator as the doors closed.

Boy, did Griffin have nerve bring his…I mistress to our room. He could have reserved any other room in the whole damn hotel, but no, he reserved our room. This was a very low blow.

"Might I ask how you know?" Damon pushed gently.

"Whenever we would stay here, we always got room 1620 because of the amazing view." I growled out, snatching the key from his hand.

I didn't think that I would be this mad, but boy oh boy was I wrong. My anger only seemed to increase as I marched down the long hallways of the sixteenth floor.

"Slow down, maybe you should take a deep breath," Damon nearly had to jog to keep up with me.

I said nothing as I approached the door. I considered knocking for just a second.

"Hold on, collect your thoughts, first." He touched my shoulder in a warning. "You don't know what's behind that door. It could actually be nothing."

"I don't think it's nothing, Damon." I glanced at him through the corner of my eye.

"Alright, it's your decision. If you want to open it, go ahead." He let go and I slid the key into the slot.

I heard the door unlock with a soft click, and I pushed open the door.

The small sitting room was empty and the curtains were drawn so the view was not visible. I took a step inside, flipping on the light switch. There was no one in the kitchen area either, though I did find a pair of Griffin's shoes tossed lazily to the side of the couch.

"I don't think anyone's here," Damon stepped in cautiously.

There was a sudden rustling from the bedroom. He spoke too soon.

I strode over to the door and nearly threw it open. Nothing could have possibly prepared me for the sight that was before me.

My fiancée was getting pretty hot and heavy with someone on the bed.

"What the hell?" The figure that had been lying on the bed sat up.

"Oh my god." I recoiled.

It wasn't a mistress at all. It was the one person on this planet that I loathed to the core, Mr. Jason Knight.

"Sara?" Griffin's eyes grew wide as he jumped away from Jason and tried to button up his shirt.

"What the fuck is this?" I couldn't contain myself now. "You're gay?"

He held out a hand as if to stop me. "I can explain."

"Don't you even dare come near me." I backed away from him as he approached me.

"I know that this looks really bad," He ran a hand through his messy red hair.

"Bad? Oh Griffin, you have no idea." I shook my head.

"Will you just give me a chance to explain?" He looked almost ready to cry.

I didn't care. All of my sympathy for him had vanished the second Jason Knight decided to announce his presence.

"You're going to tell me that you had no idea that he's gay? Not even the slightest little inclination?" Knight appeared in the doorway of the bedroom in only his boxers and unbuttoned shirt.

I glared at him before turning back to Griffin.

"How could you?" I sent daggers at him with my eyes. "I loved you. I trusted you."

He of all people knew how much that was worth. I had trouble letting anyone in after Damon. This had ruined everything.

"I didn't know how to tell you…" He almost whispered.

I shook my head at him. I didn't know when I started crying, but I was surprised to find hot tears streaming down my face.

"Please don't cry, babe." Griffin reached out to touch my cheek.

"Don't!" I jumped backwards, away from him. "Don't call me that. Don't touch me. You have no right."

"Can we just talk about this?" He held his hands up in surrender. "I…still love you."

"Fuck you." I growled. "I want nothing to do with you."

"Sara, don't." He caught my hand. In that instant, I reflexively turned around and slapped him across the cheek.

The sound of my hand against his face rang through the hollow room.

He let go of my hand to touch his burning cheek, the imprint of my hand beginning to form on his pale skin.

"I think I deserved that." He conceded.

I could feel my nails beginning to cut through the flesh of my palms as my nails dug in from the pressure of my fists. "You deserve worse."

"We can talk once you've cooled down," He was still holding his cheek.

"I have nothing left to say to you Griffin." I shook my head as I toyed with my ring. I slipped it off and held it between two fingers as if it disgusted me. And it did. Everything that it represented, all of the lies disgusted me. "Stay away from me." I threw it at him before running out of that godforsaken hotel room.

Griffin called after me, but I ignored him.

Damon had decided to wait outside, but I left him standing there as I ran for the stairs. The elevator would take too long. I needed to get out of there. I felt as though it was going to swallow me and keep me there forever.

"Sara, wait!" Damon ran after me, he was nearly two flights behind me as I got to the bottom.

I didn't stop until I was outside.

"Wait!" He called again, thinking that I was going to run again. Where did he think I was going to go?

I sobbed; gut wrenching, loud, wet, hiccuppy sobs as I stood on the sidewalk. I thought that I would collapse onto my knees, but a pair of arms held me up.

"I'm sorry. I had no idea." He whispered into my hair.

I cried into his chest, and just a few minutes of my life, I felt like a child again; a little girl that just needed to be held by her daddy.

I couldn't even string together a coherent sentence, I was sobbing so hard.

He took me home, opened my door and carried me to my bed. He didn't leave when I caught his hand, begging him not to leave me alone. I was afraid of what I would do if I was left alone.

"It's okay, it's alright." He stroked my hair. "He wasn't worth it, anyway."

I clutched his shirt in my hand, terrified that he would leave me alone.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but when I woke up, he wasn't there. I sat up in a panic. I scurried into my living room to find him having what appeared to be a quiet, deep conversation with Stefan.

My eyes narrowed. This was all Stefan's fault. If I hadn't been so distracted by him, none of this would have happened. If Stefan hadn't come back, he would never have met Jason Knight. Everything would be just perfect if Stefan hadn't returned to my life.

"Hey," Stefan over to me. "Are you okay?" He tried to wrap an arm around me.

"Don't you dare." I pushed him away. "This is all your fault."

He looked at me puzzled. "I'm sorry?"

"You introduced them." I growled. "You caused all of this."

"I had no idea that…Jason was gay." He shook his head.

"You have nerve being here right now. I don't even want to see you." I glared at him.

"If you want me to go, I'll go." He nodded, his forehead creasing in worry.

"Get out." I didn't even bother asking him politely. I wanted nothing to do with this world right now.

He exchanged a look with Damon, before turning to leave.

"You should leave, too." I turned to Damon.

At this, he raised his eyebrows at me. No, I wasn't forgetting what he had just for me. I was just beginning to irrationally blame him as well, so I figured that it was best that he leave, too.

"I'll be fine." I waved him off.

"Are you sure?" He gave me one of his stern "fatherly" looks.

"Yeah," I nodded, avoiding his eyes. "Just…tell Alyssa that I'll be…around if she needs me."

He nodded and put on his jacket. Before he stepped out of the door, he turned to me. "I'm around if…you need me."

"I know." I whispered as I closed the door. Letting him see this much of me was too much to bear right now. I was supposed to be mad at him. I was supposed to hate him. Yet here I was, letting him take a look behind the velvet curtain that was the façade that I put up to shield myself.

He gave me one last nod before leaving me again. This scene was all too familiar for me. I didn't want to deal with this now. I wanted to be alone, but I feared it. The sea of loneliness engulfed me, and I let out a choked sob. I sat on my couch and reached for my phone.

It rang a few times before it was answered.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Bekah?" I tried to control my tears.

"Sara?" She asked, worry immediately obvious in her voice. "Are you alright, dear?"

"I-I need you right now." I cried, tears coming down my cheeks in torrents.

"I'll be there in five minutes."

And she was, complete with ice cream, chick flicks, and a bottle of wine. She held me as I hiccupped out what had happened, and promised to beat Griffin's ass if she ever ran into him.

"He'll be sorry." She stroked my hair.

"I've wasted eleven years of my life." I sniffed.

She handed me a tissue. "That's alright. He didn't deserve you anyway."

I took it. "Thanks."

"Are you going to fire him?" She rubbed my back as curled myself on the couch beside her.

I nodded. "I don't think he'd stay anyway."

"Everyone will be too terrified to take his job." She laughed a bit nervously.

"I won't start auditions for a while." I sighed at the idea of having to find someone who could replace him in the troupe.

"Well, don't worry about it right now." She patted my shoulder. "Let's just watch something funny. I think we both could use a laugh."

She put The Proposal into the DVD player, apologizing for the irony, but it was our favorite RomCom.

She stayed the night, making sure that I didn't do anything stupid. I was especially grateful for her during the next few weeks. She kept me on the right track and even helped me break it to my parents.

They were exceptionally devastated; especially my father, who had seen Griffin as the son that he had never had.

She even stayed true to her word, and had nearly gotten herself arrested while hitting and kicking Griffin when she ran into him at the gym.

"I think I gave him a black eye." She proudly informed me, earning a giggle from me.

"Gawd, Bekah." I shook my head. "I didn't think you'd actually do it."

"Anything for you, dear." She smiled. "Besides, it was fun."

It wasn't easy, but time certainly didn't stop for me. Soon it was October and the leaves on the trees began to change to that hideous brown color that California trees turned into. I began to change, too. I didn't notice it immediately, but it crept up on me. I got over it. I allowed myself to get past it all.

I didn't need a man to make me feel better. Hell, I was the most powerful woman on the committee for Brookshire's alumni division program. I was going to hire or promote the best damn male lead they had ever seen. I was sure of it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of just how soon I would be forced to hire someone. The school threatened to pull money from the program if I didn't fill the position within the first week of October, and because heaven forbid that it would be an easy task, all of the males qualified to take the position were too afraid to even try to fill Griffin's shoes. Great.

That was until one Wednesday afternoon, when I got a phone call informing me that someone would be coming in to audition. The nerve. Apparently it was someone with no prior connection to the troupe.

"Wonderful," I grimaced as I scribbled notes onto a pad of paper in my kitchen. It wasn't even eight a.m. and I was already being called in to audition some, no doubt, cocky man that thought he had even the slightest chance of getting the job. If he was coming from the outside, which he was, this was most certainly in his dreams.

There would have to be some sort of miracle for this guy to convince me to give him the job as Male Lead over anyone else in the troupe. I would beg someone else to take it before I stooped as low as giving it to an outside person.

A/N: And so we say goodbye to Griffin! …for a little while at least. Don't worry, he'll be back. As for this mysterious person who will be joining us next chapter, who could it be now? Hint, hint: he's a very attractive Original.

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