25; Founder's Day | Part Two

A couple of hours later, as the sun went down, Marissa ate a quick dinner with Caroline before the two sisters went their separate ways and met back up with their boyfriends.

Caroline and Matt were sitting in a booth at the Grill, while Marissa and Tyler were over at a pool table playing a few games of pool. Marissa wasn't the best pool player around, she knew how to play the game, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't beat Tyler.

"Annnd..." Tyler dragged out as he took a shot and knocked the eight ball in. "Another win for me."

"Would it kill you to let me win just one game?" Marissa whined.

"I don't let anyone win. If you want to beat me, you have to do better, babe," he pointed out.

Marissa leaned against the pool table and pouted while he racked the balls to begin a new game. He looked over at her and chuckled at the look on her face.

"Don't give me that look. You might be my girl, but I'll still kick your ass at pool."

Marissa rolled her eyes and laughed at his comment before glancing around the restaurant. When she saw her sister and Matt, she looked back at Tyler, a plan in mind to try to get the two former friends back together.

"You know what? You might have more fun if you played with someone else."

"I am having fun playing against you."

"Of course you are, you keep beating me. But wouldn't it be better if you had some competition? You could play against someone else, someone like...oh I don't know..." She pretended like she was in deep thought, then snapped her fingers like a name just came to her. "Someone like Matt."

"Rissa," he warned as he shot her a look.

"What?" she asked innocently. "It was just a suggestion."

"I know what you're trying to do, but stop it, okay? It's not going to work."

"I'm sorry." She sighed. "I just hate that you and Matt are still fighting."

"I hate it too, but there's nothing I can do. I've apologized to him over and over again."

"I know you have, but you can't give up. You two have been friends way too long to let something like this come between you two," she said, repeating what Caroline told her earlier that day about her and Jeremy's friendship.

"Is that what you did with Gilbert? You two talk things out and now things are sunshine and rainbows again?" he asked sarcastically, already knowing the answer to the question. He knew the two still were not talking to each other since their argument days ago.

"Okay. Point taken," she mumbled as she walked around the pool table away from him.

Tyler sighed when he saw he had upset her. He walked around the other side to meet her, then said, "Look I'm sorry for being a dick. I'm not trying to take it out on you. I just don't think Matt's ever gonna forgive me and I don't blame him, and I hate it, I really do. We were friends for years and in one night I screwed it all up, but that's the price I have to pay for what I did."

"Maybe one day he'll forgive."

"It'll take a miracle for him to do that and I don't see that happening." Wanting to change the subject from his latest failure, he turned her toward the table then wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Besides I couldn't do this if I was playing with Matt."

Marissa laughed as he placed his hands on top of hers on the cue stick to help her take a shot, knocking in the white cue ball, causing her to scratch and lose her turn.

Turning her head to look at him, she said, "You're doing a bad job at helping me. I was playing better on my own."

"Maybe I'm trying to make you lose on purpose. Ever think of that?"

"You're really never going to let me win, are you?"

"You already won. You got me, remember?" he joked.

"That's not a very good prize," she said as she turned around to face him with a smirk on her face.

"Oh, it's like that I see," he said. "I guess you forgot about all the orgasmic things I did to you recently. Maybe I need to throw you on this table and remind you."

Marissa threw her head back to laugh, then squealed out in surprise when he gripped her sides and picked her up, sitting her down on the edge of the table.

She felt her face heat up in embarrassment as she glanced around the restaurant to make sure no one was paying attention to them. Once she realized no one was watching them, she looked back at Tyler and whispered for only him to hear, "What are you doing?"

"I told you. I'm helping you to remember." He grinned as he laid his hands on her knees and parted her legs to get closer to her.

Marissa opened her mouth to argue with him but before she could say a word his lips crashed into hers, silencing her. She wasn't usually into public display of affection, but as his lips moved over hers, she felt her whole body come alive and suddenly she didn't care who could see them.

In this moment she felt like they were in their own little world and nothing could ruin that- or so she thought until she felt Tyler being ripped away from her. She snapped her eyes open and was shocked to see Richard Lockwood standing in between them.

"Hi, Mayor Lockwood," Marissa mumbled as she felt her face heat up in embarrassment at being caught making out in public with his son. She quickly jumped down from the table and folded her arms across her chest as she glanced around again. This time they did have the whole restaurant's attention.

Richard ignored her greeting as he tightened his hold on Tyler's arm. "What are you doing here? I told you to go home."

Tyler pulled his arm away then walked over to Marissa, he threw an arm around her shoulders. "We decided not to."

Richard reached out to grab his son's arm again as he called out, "If I tell you to do something you do it."

"Let go of me," Tyler snapped as he jerked his arm away again.

"Mayor, it's my fault," Marissa called out as she stepped in between father and son. "I wanted to come to the Grill. It was my idea."

Marissa looked at the older and younger Lockwood and hoped the older one bought her lie. She didn't want to see Tyler get in trouble for something as stupid as playing pool at the Grill.

As Richard continued to look at the two teenagers before him, Marissa reached out to grab Tyler's hand, hoping to comfort him and calm him down. Since both Lockwoods had a bad temper, she hoped she could at least keep Tyler calm until his dad left.

Richard sighed when he saw the looks on their faces- anger on his son's and a cross between confusion and worry on Marissa's face. Honestly, the last thing he wanted to do was anger them or upset them, he just wanted to protect them.

"You need to leave now. Take Marissa with you," Richard stated as he nodded his head toward the front entrance.

"Why?" Tyler asked.

Richard sighed again, this time in frustration at being questioned. He opened his mouth to snap at his son for back talking, but before he could Caroline and Matt walked over to them after seeing the tense standoff from across the room.

Caroline stood beside her sister and asked, "Is everything okay?"

Richard looked at the small group before him, then looked at his son and said as calmly as he could, "Please Tyler; I need you to go home, now. Take your friends with you."

"What's going on?" Matt asked.

"I can't explain. All of you need to get home, now. Please," Richard begged.

"Yeah, okay," Tyler said, finally giving in.

"Here, take my car, it's out back," Richard said, handing his car keys to his son.

"Mayor, what's wrong? Is something happening?" Marissa asked him with a worried look.

"Everything's going to be okay," Richard said, hoping it was the truth. "Now go on. Just go home."

"Come on, Ris," Tyler said as he wrapped an arm around her, then began to lead her through the restaurant behind Caroline and Matt.

As Marissa and Tyler walked across the parking lot, he kept glancing over at her and saw a worried look on her face. He silently cursed his dad for ruining their date. He didn't know what the hell his dad's problem was, but he wasn't going to let it ruin the rest of their night.

"You okay?" Tyler asked as he looked over at her again.

"Mm-hm," Marissa answered, not paying attention.

"So where do you want to go?" he asked. "You want me to drop you off at home with your sister or we could just go to my house?"

"That sounds great," she mumbled lost in thought.

"I was thinking we could just go to my house. I could put on that uniform from the parade again. Maybe you can even borrow that big gown Caroline was wearing. You could be my sexy southern belle and I'll be the hot soldier that saves you from...something bad that happened in the past," he joked, hoping to cheer her up.

When he noticed she wasn't paying attention to him, he decided to take it a step further. "Or we could do something simple. Like sexy cheerleader/hot jock. Of course, you'll have to be the sexy cheerleader because I'm not dressing up like one. I draw the line there. Besides you have better legs for a skirt then me."

He paused for a moment, seeing that she was still lost in thought. "Or we can do a teacher/student thing. I'll be the teacher and you can be the naughty student. Or if you're into kinky stuff, I can do that too. What do you say?"

"Sounds good," she mumbled, not hearing a word he said.

"Okay, that's it," he said, reaching out to grab her arm to stop her from walking. He turned her toward him, then said, "Seriously, babe, what's wrong?"

"I just...I feel like something's wrong," she answered, a worried look still on her face.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"Earlier I saw John and...I don't know, it was like he was hinting for me to leave. Like he didn't want me to stick around town tonight. I mean he didn't come right out and say 'leave' but he heavily suggested it," she explained. "Then just now with your dad. He-"

"Is a dick," he interrupted.

"Maybe so, but don't you find it weird that he was pushing for us to leave so badly?"

"Not really. Like I said, he's a dick," he answered. "He's probably worried I'm going to embarrass him and the family name if I stick around. He probably figured it was best to send me home and pretend I don't exist."

"If that is true, then screw him, Ty, because you are an amazing person and it's his loss if he doesn't see that," she said sincerely.

Shaking his head, he took a step toward her and said, "Nah. The only thing good about me is you."

"That's very sweet of you to say, but you're wrong. There's a lot of good in you, Tyler," she said as she laid her hands on either side of his face, then leaned forward to lightly kiss his lips.

Pulling away, she kept her hands on his face and caught his eyes as she added, "I just hope one day you see that. I hope you see yourself the way I see you."

Tyler closed the gap between them to press his lips against her. He rested his forehead against hers with a sigh. "You're too good for me."

"Maybe so, but you're stuck with me, so deal with it," she teased.

"Hey, I wasn't complaining. I'm just saying you could do better," he said back.

"Better than Tyler Lockwood? Not possible. He's just so hot and dreamy," she said dramatically.

"Ha-ha smartass," he said sarcastically as he wrapped an arm around her waist and began to walk toward the car again. "Now let's go so we can start the role-playing."

"Roleplay? Wait, what?" she questioned as she came to a quick stop. "When did I agree to that?"

"A few minutes ago. When you were lost in your own little world."

"Hey! That's not fair. I was distracted."

"Then maybe you should start paying more attention to what you agree to," he joked. "This is your punishment. Now you have to play sexy southern belle/hot soldier with me."

"Do I even want to know what that is?" she asked with a laugh.

"Probably not. Best to just go with it, but don't worry the night will be orgasmic," he teased.

Marissa laughed at his comment, then said, "Sorry, but I am not playing southern soldier/hot belle or whatever it is you called it."

"It's sexy southern belle/hot soldier."

"Well, whatever, we're not playing that."

"Okay fine, we'll play something else," he said, pretending to be deep in thought. "I got it. I can be the bad boy and you can be the sweet and innocent virgin who I corrupt."

"I think we already played that one," she teased.

"You're right. That's what we did our first night together," he said back, his tone matching hers.

"How about you just be the boy I love and I'll be the girl you love," she suggested as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"That's no fun," he joked.

"Oh, but it can be. Because the girl who loves you, is going to do this..." she began to say as she raised up on her tiptoes and whispered something in his ear.

Tyler shot her a surprised look and grinned. "That does sound like fun."

"Told ya," she said with a cocky grin before she leaned forward to kiss him. The two were quickly lost in their own little world, forgetting about everything and everyone for the moment.

"Hey, can you stop molesting my sister now. I want to go home," Caroline said with an annoyed tone, causing the kissing couple to laugh.

"Okay, okay, we're coming," Marissa yelled back at her sister.

"Well not yet, but later we-" Tyler began to say with a grin until Marissa playfully slapped her hand over his mouth.

"Don't even think of finishing that sentence."

Tyler playfully bit the palm of her hand, then laughed when she removed it. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, she jerked the car keys from his hand and began to run toward the car.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Tyler asked as he jogged after her.

"Driving," Marissa answered as she shook the keys in the air.

"No, no, no. Not happening," he said, reaching out to grab the keys.

"I second that. I've tried to teach her to drive and it was scary," Caroline added.

"Well, how am I going to get better if no one lets me drive," Marissa pointed out.

"I don't think there is any helping you," Caroline said with a laugh, causing Marissa to gasp in surprise as she playing slapped her sister's arm. She rubbed her arm, then said, "I'm sorry, Ris, but you know it's true."

"No, it's not, I'm a great driver," Marissa argued.

Caroline threw her head back to laugh out loud at her comment. Looking at Matt, she said, "Help me out here, Matt. She's a terrible driver, right?"

"I'm not getting in the middle of this," Matt laughed as he watched the two sisters playfully bicker.

"I don't blame you man, I wouldn't want to get in the middle of the Forbes girls either," Tyler said to Matt.

For a moment, Matt had forgotten all about the problems between him and his former friend, but when he spoke it all came back to him.

Not wanting to be around him any longer, Matt sighed. "I don't care who drives. I'm just ready to get out of here."

Without another word, Matt opened the back door and sat down in the back seat. Marissa looked over at Tyler and saw his face fall. He had hoped Matt was finally going to start forgiving him, but it was clear to see that he was still pissed.

As Caroline got into the backseat with Matt, Marissa walked over to her boyfriend and quietly asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's cool," Tyler lied, not wanting to admit how much it bothered him. For a moment he thought there was a chance to fix their friendship, but he should have known better than to get his hopes up.

"Here," she said, handing him the car keys.

Once the keys were in his hand, she turned to walk to the passenger side, but before she could take a step, he reached out to lightly grabbed her arm.

"Hey, wait a second."

"Yeah?" she questioned as she turned to face him.

"I'll take you out soon in my car to practice driving," he said. "I just can't let you drive Dad's car. He'll kill me if you wreck it."

Marissa smiled, happy that he was offering to teach her to become a better driver. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss.

"Thank you, boyfriend."

"You're welcome, girlfriend."

Marissa leaned forward to kiss him again but before she could they heard the horn blow, scaring her as she took a quick step back.

She chuckled and laid a hand over her heart, then turned to look inside the car and saw that Caroline had leaned over the backseat to blow the horn at them. Caroline gestured for them to get in the car, then sat back down beside Matt.

Looking back at her boyfriend, Marissa opened her mouth to tell them they better go, but before she could utter a word he took her by surprise when he laid a hand on the back of her neck and brought her toward him for a long passionate kiss that sent chills down her spine.

He took a step back and chuckled at the look on her face. He loved taking her by surprise, the look on her face was always worth it.

Whenever she looked at him with those wide eyes, flushed cheeks, and plump lips, he didn't want to stop kissing her, but he knew he had to for now. Once they made it to his house though he planned to kiss her, as well as do other things to her all night long.

"You better get in the car before your sister goes crazy," he said as he turned her around and lightly pushed her to get her walking. He couldn't help himself as he reached out and playfully slap her butt, before adding, "Besides we have all of that role-playing to do, remember? So let's go."

"I told you, we are not doing that," she laughed as she opened the passenger side door.

"We'll see about that," he said with a wink as he opened his door and slide behind the wheel.

Minutes later, as the small group were riding silently down the road, Marissa couldn't help but think again how weird it was that the mayor was pushing them to leave. She knew Tyler thought it wasn't a big deal, but it seemed like he knew something was going to happen.

She replayed the conversation between herself and John earlier; like the mayor, it seemed like he knew something too, and combined with the fact that she had not seen or heard from her mom all day, and something didn't seem right.

The fact that her mother didn't show up wasn't that surprising, but it is surprising that she wasn't out patrolling during and after the parade. If there was one thing Liz Forbes loved, it was her job. The job came first, protecting the town came first and usually anytime a town function was going on, she would be out among the crowd making sure everything was going well.

She also couldn't ignore the fact that her mom would have checked in with them once during a function, but neither girl had heard anything from her in hours, not since Liz dropped them off before the parade.

With that thought in mind, Marissa pulled out her cell phone to double check that she had not missed a call or text. She pulled up her contacts and planned to send her mom a text, but before she got to her mom's number she went past Jeremy's and came to a stop. She stared at his picture and felt a pang in her heart, she missed him- she missed her best friend.

Her sister was right earlier, they had been through too much to throw it all away over something stupid. She wasn't sure if she believed in vampires, but she did believe that Jeremy was her soul mate. She told Caroline earlier that she wasn't sure if she still believed that or not, but the truth was she did believe. She knew she and Jeremy had a bond, she was just scared of believing it and then losing his friendship. She couldn't handle losing Jeremy from her life.

She clicked on his name and planned to send him a text, but before she could type anything, Tyler spoke up, "What the hell is that?"

Marissa quickly looked over at him and saw the confused look on his face as he looked around like he heard something, but she or the other two in the back heard nothing.

"What's wrong, Ty?" Marissa asked as she laid a hand on his shoulder in concern.

"That noise," Tyler said, wondering if they could hear it too. He couldn't see how they couldn't, it was a loud piercing noise that made him feel like his brain was going to explode. He just couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

"Wait, what noise?" Matt asked.

"What's going on?" Caroline added before she glanced over at her boyfriend, the confused look on her face matching his.

Marissa turned in her seat to look at Tyler closely and saw a pained look come across his face, she opened her mouth to ask him if he was okay, but before she could he scream out in pain and held his head in his hands. He had never felt a pain this badly before.

"Tyler!" Marissa yelled out as she dropped her cell phone and quickly removed her seat belt. She scooted over as close as she could and laid her hands on top of his as she called out his name again. She felt lost on how to help him since she wasn't even sure what was happening.

"Rissa! The wheel!" Matt called out.

"What?" Marissa asked confused as she turned her head to look at Matt. She didn't even realize the car was swerving all over the road, she was too busy being worried about her boyfriend.

When Matt and Caroline yelled at her to grab the wheel and pointed out in front of them, she turned her head back toward the road and gasp in surprise when she saw they were headed straight for a fence at a high-speed.

She removed her hands and reached to grab the wheel but was too late as the car slammed into the fence. She felt her body fly forward and her head slam into the windshield before everything went black.

•••

Tyler wasn't sure what that noise was before, all he knew was it felt like needles piercing his skull, then he had passed out. His mind felt foggy as he tried to remember what all had happened, what he was doing...then it hit him all at once.

He was driving down the road after leaving the grill, then he heard the weird noise. He was taking Caroline and Matt home, then he and Marissa...

"Rissa..." He thought to himself as he snapped his eyes open and quickly sat up. Taking the paramedic who was checking him out by surprise, as well as, Matt who had been standing beside him.

"Dude, are you okay?" Matt asked as he squatted down beside him. "You need to go to the hospital. An ambulance just took Caroline and-"

"Rissa...where's Rissa?" Tyler interrupted him.

Matt didn't say anything as he glanced over his shoulder to look behind him, causing Tyler to glance in the same area. He felt his heart drop when he saw her laying on the ground with paramedics surrounding her.

Tyler quickly stood up and made his way over toward her, ignoring Matt who suggested he take it easy while a paramedic lifted the stretcher she was laid on. He walked along beside it, calling out her name and asking what was wrong with her as they wheeled her toward an ambulance.

After they loaded her into the back of the ambulance, Tyler went to jump inside to be with her, but before he could he felt someone grabbed his shoulder and pull him back. He turned his head to see one of the paramedic holding him back and telling him he couldn't go.

"Screw you, I'm going," Tyler snapped at the paramedic.

"You and the other boy are riding in another one. A doctor will check you out further at the hospital," the paramedic stated.

"I'm going in this one," Tyler argued as he went to walk past the man until he reached out to stop him again.

"Look, we need to work on her the whole way to the hospital and we can't have you in the way. Do you want her to live or do you want her to die?" the paramedic snapped back.

Tyler took a deep breath and felt tears fill his eyes at the thought of losing her. He took a step back, not going to argue anymore.

"Just save her. Please, just save her." he softly pleaded with the paramedic.

The paramedic felt bad for the teenage boy in front of him, he could tell the younger guy felt deeply for the girl. He laid a hand on his shoulder, then said, "We'll do everything we can. I promise."

Tyler nodded his head and stood frozen in place as he watched the ambulance drive away. He could see the paramedics working feverishly on Marissa, he just prayed they could save her.

Even after the ambulance was gone he couldn't move, it took another paramedic to lead him toward another ambulance to take him and Matt to the hospital. He didn't pay attention as the paramedic checked him over again, all he could think about was her. She was hurt and she needed him.

He felt like it was just yesterday when he was hoping she would survive an animal attack, and now here he was again hoping she would survive something else. He couldn't understand how this was happening again, but since she survived the attacked, that meant she could survive this too...at least he hoped so.

•••

Across town at the Gilbert house, Jeremy had no idea about the car wreck that just took place. He was sitting on his bed and staring at his bedroom door in a daze.

Damon had just left his room. He had come by to tell him that Anna was dead and offered to take away his suffering, but Jeremy turned him down.

He didn't want any other memories taken from him, because even if Damon did take away his suffering before when Vicki was killed, it was never really gone. He still felt lost and at times alone.

The only times he had felt anything was when he had Marissa in his life and when he started dating Anna. The latter brought him happiness and he did care for her, while Marissa had always made him feel alive.

Anna was someone he could have spent his whole life with, but Marissa was the girl he would always love. He would never get over Marissa, but Anna was someone he could have fallen for too, but now she was gone and it hurt like hell.

He already missed her. He also missed Marissa.

Marissa had always been a big part of his life, but he knew he had screwed up and hurt her. He knew she would probably never forgive him, but he needed her. He was hurting bad and he needed her now more than ever.

With that thought in mind, he stood up from his bed and walked across the room to grab his cell phone from his desk. He quickly called her number with plans to invite her over and work things out. No matter what happened, they were bonded for life.

He couldn't help but feel disappointed when the call went straight to voicemail. He could only assume that she ignored his call.

Anytime in the past when they had argued about something, they had never gone this long without making up. But this time he had really done it, she had told him to never talk to her again and apparently, she meant it. Their friendship was over.

With tears in his eyes, he opened the desk drawer and grabbed the vial of blood Anna had given him before she died. He had lost too much in his young life; his parents, two girlfriends, and now his best friend. He felt like he had no one and was tired of feeling empty and alone. The pain was too much to bear.

Anna told him vampires didn't have to feel pain, that they could shut it off. He thought back to what Damon told him just a few minutes ago.

'Life sucks either way, Jeremy, but at least if you're a vampire you don't have to feel bad about it if you don't want to.'

He realized he didn't want to feel it, he didn't want to feel anything again. With that thought in mind, he turned up the vial and drank every drop of blood before taking a bottle full of pills.

Laying down in his bed, he closed his eyes and within minutes everything went black.

•••

A/N; Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to winxgirl1997, Lady Syndra, roses and violets, AlexisMariahh, Bradly93, TeamGilbert, Sage Londyn, shippolove844 and HermioneandMarcus for reviewing.

Happy reading!
xx