A while into Damon and Jeremy playing, the latter decides to affirm some facts. "So. You and my sister," he says. Damon, who was focused on the game, registers the statement.
"Not exactly," he vaguely replies.
"Really? That why you took her on a surprise road trip?" Jeremy retorts sarcastically. Damon chuckles.
"Right. I was trying to cheer her up," he replies, despite being actually greatly uncertain as to why he did in fact take her with him.
"Yeah? So, why not?" Jeremy adds, eyes fixed on the tv. Damon catches his meaning, sensing the protective brother tone.
"It's complicated. I mean, don't get me wrong. Emily's great. She's smart. She funny. She's sweet…It's me. I have…issues," Damon weirdly replies, not actually taking the idea of 'being with' Emily seriously.
"What kinda issues?" Jeremy curiously asks.
"Just…stuff," Damon was starting to get tired of the conversation, wondering where Stefan was this whole time. He was enjoying the game though.
"Do you talk to her about it?"
"Sometimes." Damon momentarily tries to recall the amount of times he'd let her glimpse into his past.
"Well, she doesn't seem to mind. I mean. She's got issues too. Besides, her ex wasn't exactly a saint."
"She has an ex?!" Damon asks in surprise, facing Jeremy.
"Yeah. Hey, I passed you!" Jeremy grins. Damon faces the tv and quickly regains control of his car. "She didn't tell you?"
"No. She didn't!" Damon replies, irritated by the game slip. "Who was he?" he asks. Jeremy's grin widens, thinking that Damon sounded fairly jealous, and was assuming this would bring him and Emily closer.
She was his sister. He wanted her to be happy.
"This guy she met at college. His name was Alec. He was like the cool guy every girl was into. He was smart. He was sporty. That sorta crap," Jeremy lists kind of irritably. "I guess she caught his eye. We didn't think they made much sense though, cause he was the outgoing type and stuff, and Emily wasn't. It's like she wants to be, but doesn't know how to, or doesn't wanna do it alone, you know." Jeremy casually explains. Damon's noticed that about her.
"So what happened?" he asks, genuinely curious.
"He had to leave town. Changed majors and went to some fancier college or whatever." Damon raises a brow and frowns.
…Was that why she always reaffirmed the fact…that Damon was leaving? She would always say it as though a factual reminder…like she didn't want to get used to having him around…
"I'm guessing she didn't take it well," Damon comments sourly.
"Yeah. No. She was really weird about it. Like. Stubborn." Damon furrowed his brows. "She spent most of the time in her room, actually studying. Who studies after a break up?" Jeremy weirdly mentions.
"She didn't want his leaving to affect her," Damon explains.
"Yeah. That's what we guessed. Didn't make her look any less upset though. She's not one to…communicate feelings, you know."
"That makes two of us," he smiles, resisting the urge to turn and look at her.
Jeremy's phone rings, and he pauses the game. Damon eyes the tv in confusion, upset with the pause. He faces Jeremy and sees him glance at the caller, close the phone and toss it aside. He un-pauses the game, and they continue as Damon asks: "Who are you dodging?"
"This girl Anna. She can be, uh, persistent," he says.
"Is she hot?" Damon smirks. Jeremy chuckles.
"Yeah, yeah, but she can be weird."
"Hot trumps weird, trust me." Jeremy laughs.
The doorbell rings, and Damon's eyes widen. He tosses the controller aside and jumps off the couch, rushing to the door. "Dude!" Jeremy complains. Damon ignores him as he heads for the door. Emily is approaching from the kitchen, but both are taken aback when Elena rushes down the stairs and heads for the door first.
She opens it, and Stefan almost smiled at her,
when he saw Damon.
Elena had texted him that he was there, but he hadn't checked his phone yet, busy dealing with Alaric,
the undercover vampire-hunter with a stake-shooting rifle!
Long story.
Stefan glanced at Elena as if for an explanation, when Damon speaks up: "Well?" he pushes. It takes Stefan a minute to form an answer.
"…He didn't have it…It was taken," Stefan answers gravely. The three opposite him are confused. Stefan gestures outside, and everybody follows, Emily shutting the door behind them.
"Who took it?!" Damon asks, clearly frustrated. He heads for the swing-couch on the porch, and stands there. The others stop and face one another.
"I don't know. Somebody got to it right before I did," Stefan replies.
"Wait. Let me get this straight. It was in the house, and then the little brat took it," he refers to Jeremy. Both sisters glare at him. "And then he gave it to that super suspicious history teacher. You looked there? You asked him?" Damon affirms.
"Yes, Damon," Stefan answers irritably. Elena glances at Emily, almost sure now that at some point during the day, she'd filled Damon in on everything. "He had it, but someone took it from his desk."
"Who?! Who else knew it was there?!"
They all have a think about it,
and reach the same conclusion.
Jeremy.
Damon moves past them to re-enter the house, a determined look in his eyes. Everyone gets on their toes, wary of Damon's reaction. Emily blocks his path. "Damon, no!" she says. Damon tries to move past her. She puts both hands on his chest and adds minimal pressure to keep him in place. He looks down at her irritably. "I'll talk to him," she says.
"What's the big deal? I'm just gonna ask him. Nicely," he says, quite obviously being sarcastic.
"Like how you asked Elena this morning?" she raised a displeased brow. He rolls his eyes, and Elena is at least pleased that Emily hadn't over looked that, and was trying to keep it from happening again. Stefan is confused, and now worried by what she meant. "I will ask him, okay?" Damon looks irritated, not because she was keeping him from what he wanted to do, but because he could feel her palms against his chest, as well as often finding it hard to break eye-contact with her.
"Fine," he reluctantly gives, backing down. She smiles lightly and nods, thankfully removing her hands.
Damon watches her leave with a strange curiosity.
Stefan is making eye-contact with Elena, both tense and afraid of exposure.
XXX
Jeremy tells Emily that his new friend, Anna, knows about the journal, and that he's to meet her that night at the Grill. Emily tells him she and Damon will drive him there, and they leave Elena and Stefan at the house. It was a one-man job, and Emily was only going to keep Damon from annoying her brother.
"So, how did you and Anna meet?" Emily asks her brother from the front seat. Damon drives his car beside her, and Jeremy is in the back.
"At the library. I was doing that report for Mr. Saltzman, and I bumped into her."
"You haven't seen her at school before?" she asks strangely. The question catches Damon's interest, wondering when this Anna had popped up.
"She's home-schooled," Jeremy says.
"When you said she was weird, what did you mean?" Damon asks. Emily cocks a brow at that, awaiting an answer as well.
"What's with the twenty-four questions?" Jeremy asks suspiciously.
"What do you mean she's weird, Jer?" Emily pushes, sounding concerned. Jeremy rolls his eyes.
"She's just…weird with people…She isn't a very social person. Kinda tries and force us into a friendship, you know. Like she's trying too hard. Plus, she's really into that vampire folklore stuff, and the journal," he explains. Emily and Damon share a glance.
"Huh. That is weird," Emily comments to break the ice.
XXX
They arrive at the Grill, and break off from Jeremy, who stands aside and waits for his 'friend' to show up. He is kind of irritated he is being stalked by Damon and Emily, who said they'd come in for a 'drink.' He ignores them.
At the bar, the two sit. Damon orders a plate of fries, as Emily watches Jeremy from afar, keeping an eye out for the suspicious new girl.
She soon arrives, and Damon looks away with a face of total shock. "What? Do you know her?" Emily asks warily.
"Uh, yeah," he answers in disbelief.
"Who is she?"
"She's…Pearl's daughter…Annabelle…" Emily nods, despite being in the dark.
"And Pearl is…" she draws. Damon faces her, and starts to explain.
"She was a vampire. Friend of Katherine's…She's in the tomb too…" Damon turns to Anna again, as Emily feels as though she'd heard the name before.
She had, in Jonathon Gilbert's journal…
"This makes so much more sense now…" he says. 'I'm not the only one who wants that tomb open…'
"Pearl…She was Jonathon Gilbert's crush," Emily states. Damon faces her with furrowed brows. She explains. "I read it, in his journal a couple years back. And before you ask, no, I don't remember where the Grimoire is, nor do I think it's location was mentioned at all, but I could be wrong. I don't remember." Damon considers her words and nods, irritated. For a few moments, he thinks, and Emily waits patiently, before finally asking: "So, what are you gonna do? She's a vampire too, right?" Emily soon grows wary of the fact that yet another vampire was near her brother.
The two were harmlessly playing pool, but it became awfully clear that the girl surely had ulterior motives behind the 'friendship.'
"Yeah…I'm gonna have a chat with her, see what she wants, what she's doing here," he replies.
"Now?" Emily retorts.
"No," he gives her a look. "When she's gone. I'll follow her," he explains, picking at the fries on the table. "So what else did the journal mention?"
Emily spends a good ten to fifteen minutes reciting what she remembered. Jonathon's thoughts and feelings regarding the era he lived in, the people he knew,
the things he believed.
As if she'd brought back bad memories, Damon seemed to lose interest, and she quieted for a moment before he suddenly spoke up again with an extreme change of topic.
"So. Alec. That's a funny name," he mentions suddenly. Emily's eyes shoot to his face, completely taken aback.
"Where'd you hear that name?" she asks almost hostile-y. Damon smirks in amusement.
"You didn't tell me you had an ex. Not fair. You know about mine," he states. She tries to believe for a moment that they're actually having this conversation.
"Well…Why should I? I'm not trying to…" she struggles to find the words, "resurrect him, like you're doing with yours…So why bring it up?" she irritably asks.
"Ooh. It was that bad, huh?"
"What was?"
"The break up," he takes a sip of the drink he'd ordered.
Her face flushes red in frustration. "We didn't break up. I didn't know him well enough to tolerate a long-distance relationship, so we ended things," she elaborates shortly, taking a large gulp of her banana shake. Damon considers this.
"How long did you know him?" he asks curiously. She faces him again. Apparently, the conversation wasn't over.
"Why do you care?" she questions suspiciously. He fixes himself in the chair to face her properly.
"Well, I thought we were friends, Emily. And if memory serves me right, this is what friends do. Share stuff," he muses humorously, though she could tell he was genuinely interested in hearing the story. She shakes her head and sighs.
"We were only together for a couple of months," she answers.
"Hm. Was he as good-looking as me?" Damon smirks. Emily turns to him, not expecting the question, before she laughed heartedly. Damon grins pleasantly, enjoying the sight of her laughing. She calms down and looks to him.
"Well, I don't wanna feed into your ego, Damon, so I'm gonna say…he was different," she states uncertainly.
"Psh. Just admit it. I'm way cooler," he teases.
"Hm, really? Cause he lacked the part where he was a genocidal maniac, so I don't know," she retorts, causing him to laugh as well.
Her gaze softens on him, in some sorrow.
She feels suddenly as though time was running out.
He was so close to getting what he wanted, she wouldn't see him again…
She'd miss his laugh, his smirk, the way he teased her.
He caught her gaze, one fixed afar, and he somehow knows what she's thinking.
He doesn't like it, doesn't need to hear it.
Yes, he was leaving.
Yes, this was never leading to anything.
Yes, it's been fun,
but no, it won't last.
He diverts his attention to his drink, and she shakes off her thoughts. He turns momentarily to check on Anna, and catches her saying goodbye to Jeremy. He straightens in his seat, and Emily notes the next step. "Okay. Gotta go," he finishes his drink and slides off the chair, looking at Emily. "Tell me when she's out the door." Emily glances at Anna, watching her leave the building.
"She's gone." He gives her a nod, and takes his leave.
The image of departure affirms her fears.
She sighs tiredly, and faces forward.
XXXXX
