Sorry everyone, only posted the last half of the chapter! This now includes the first section
Suzanne stood in the doorway of her apartment, frozen with disbelief as Louie howled mournfully behind her at the fact that he couldn't burst into the hallway and play with Damon.
"D, when you said that there was a high school girl who wanted in your pants, you didn't mention that fact that you'd be fake seducing her the next day. What if I had work early tomorrow?"
Damon replied in a blithe voice, "I know your work schedule. Last week before your break you had the night shift, so you don't have to go in tomorrow until ten. I'll be by tomorrow morning to pick up Barbie."
The blonde girl standing beside Damon looked offended at both of their comments and put on a bitchy I'm-popular-and-clearly-superior-to-you look that Suzanne had long since become accustomed to when she herself was in high school. Getting that look now as a twenty four year old woman was more amusing than anything else.
The blonde cocked her hip – literally performed that action – and said in a snooty voice, "And who exactly are you?"
Suzanne burst out laughing, not at all offended by the girl, which only made the blonde pout. Damon had warned her that the girl was insecure, and her bizarre posturing was a very clear indicator that he was right.
"I'm Suzanne, Damon's best friend. You'll be staying at my place tonight. Hope you like dogs."
Damon, however, looked a little annoyed at the way that the girl had spoken to Suzanne. He turned her head to make eye contact and compelled her right away.
"You'll stay with Suzanne tonight and not cause any trouble. I'll pick you up in the morning and you will act as though we had sex when you are around your friends."
The girl nodded enthusiastically in response, and followed Suzanne into the apartment when she beckoned that she enter. Before shutting the door, Suzanne narrowed her eyes and spoke in a falsely threatening voice.
"You owe me, Salvatore."
Damon bowed lowly in response and responded with fake sincerity, "Of course, Miss Sinclair. I am indebted to you."
Suzanne snorted and took a bit too much enjoyment in slamming the door in his face.
Surprisingly, Suzanne liked the girl, who'd introduced herself perkily as "Caroline Jennifer-Jean Forbes." Once they'd gotten over the awkward first half hour of being around a stranger without a buffer, the two had discovered their mutual love of the movie The Princess Bride, which was now playing in the background as the two chatted.
Suzanne hadn't been joking when she had said that she would paint the girl's nails – it was something she secretly loved doing. When she had been much more sober than Damon one night after he passed out, she might have painted his toenails a pretty dark blue.
His threat that he would push her off a cliff if she ever showed anyone the pictures was one of the very, very few she had taken to heart.
Caroline was currently laying down on the couch with her feet in Suzanne's lap as Suzanne concentrated on painting her toenails light pink. Caroline's running bitchy commentary of the movie was fucking hysterical, and more than a few times Suzanne had been forced to stop the pedicure because she was laughing too hard.
The fact that Caroline was rhythmically stroking Louie's head, who was sitting just next to the couch and in heaven what with the attention he was receiving, was also a deciding factor in Suzanne's decision to befriend the teenager. She had decided a few days before that her Dalmatian was a fantastic judge of character, just like his mom.
…and okay, Suzanne was fairly certain her dog was the only dependant she should ever be responsible for. Children were always sticky and had a self destruct button on the top of their fucking skull.
However, when Caroline began speaking about her friends, Suzanne immediately felt a stab of concern that morphed into anger.
" – Elena's been through a ton, obviously, but Bonnie has been shutting me out every time I reach out to find out how she's doing. They both treat me like I'm some blonde moron sometimes, it's just – it's hard sometimes. Everyone has always put Elena first and treated her like she'd so much better than me. Like, I get straight A's. I take AP courses. But I'm probably going to finish high school with the legacy of the slutty cheerleader."
Suzanne didn't speak for a minute, trying to calm herself down as she slowly finished the last nail and screwed the top back on the polish. Caroline was staring at the television, as if unbothered by her reveal, but Suzanne could see her clenched jaw.
Suzanne leaned over and grabbed one of the girl's hand, squeezing it hard to get her attention. When Caroline turned to meet her eyes, Suzanne spoke firmly and without any room left for doubt.
"Do not ever let some moronic high school fuckheads make you feel like you aren't good enough for whatever it is you want. People will always place the blame on you, as if it's your fault for having a low opinion of yourself, but it isn't. Self worth is usually low when others have treated you poorly. You are more than a 'slutty cheerleader'." Suzanne wrinkled her nose, suppressing a rant about the unfairness of the word slut – that was for another time, "We've only hung out for three hours and I already like you a lot. I'm a complete bitch, so that says something. You clearly care about your friend, and you're smart and funny. Plus you're nice to my dog. In my book, you're pretty grade-A. Even if they're your friends, don't let their opinions matter."
Caroline had tears in her eyes when Suzanne finished speaking and was pressing her lips together tightly in an obvious attempt to keep from crying. When she whispered out the word "Okay" it was in a hoarse and trembling voice. Suzanne smiled warmly at her and resolved to make sure Caroline emerged from Damon's plot unharmed. The girl didn't deserve to be collateral damage , and it would be easy for Damon to treat her nicely – well, not badly at least – and find another teenager as a snack pack.
A jackass Damon was, a completely unfeeling bastard who disregarded a request from his best friend Damon was not.
Suzanne cleared her throat and decided to give the girl an out so they wouldn't have to get too Lifetime-movie for the rest of the night.
"Fun fact – I'm pretty much platinum blonde naturally, makes me look washed out. I low light the shit out of it. But you rock the light blonde, so fuck anyone who knocks it. So, how late do you want to stay up? I'm used to all nighters and don't have work until ten."
Caroline smiled and latched on to the lighter conversation when she replied, "I have cheerleading practice after Damon picks me up. I'm going to act as though Damon and I had sex."
Suzanne coughed to hide her laughter at the straightforward acknowledgement of the compulsion Damon had performed but went on to ask, "Not an answer, Rapunzel. What are you up for?"
Caroline opened her mouth with a slightly confused expression, clearly going to ask what the nickname was for, but Suzanne cut in.
"Rapunzel is one of the blonde Disney women for one, and she's one of the only ones who saves herself to get what she wants. You deserve to be a princess and clearly don't need some asshole prince to save you. Ergo, Rapunzel."
Caroline smiled brightly, evidently accepting the nickname, but answered Suzanne's original question when she said, "I'm used to all nighters too. But since I have practice tomorrow I'm thinking I should go to sleep at three."
Suzanne clapped, absolutely delighted, and tried brainstorming what they should do. She didn't have female friends, and her hobbies were weird. Girls didn't respond the same way to brutal honesty that guys did, and it was admittedly fun to now go through the stereotypical sleepover activities.
Suzanne acknowledged that this was pathetic. She was turning twenty five in a month and Caroline was either sixteen or seventeen. Suzanne also didn't care that this was pathetic.
"Got it. Am I a terrible influence if I break out the booze? Lie to me if the answer is yes."
Caroline shook her head with false solemnity before asking, "Do you have any tequila? I'm a tequila girl."
Suzanne stood up and wandered over to her liquor cabinet, not entirely sure. She had multiple handles of vodka, but eventually found a half empty bottle of tequila in the way back and grabbed a few shot glasses, limes, and salt.
When she sat back down on the couch, Caroline was flipping through a few selections and suggested shows on Suzanne's Netflix account. When she finally settled on the movie Clueless, Suzanne sat back down next to her and nodded in approval.
With that, the two of them started drinking.
When Damon came by the in the morning her alarm had yet to go off. Caroline was still asleep and Suzanne motioned for him to be quiet. As he opened his mouth to speak, Suzanne immediately cut him off.
"I like her a lot. Even though she gives me freaky big-sister vibes that I want to exfoliate off immediately. So please don't hurt her. I get that she's important to your plot, but find another high school student to munch on. I'll owe you a favor."
Damon's eyebrows raised in surprise, clearly caught off guard by the request. Suzanne wasn't exactly the friendliest regarding people, so she had been expecting his response. When he answered her his tone was a little incredulous, but she could sense the sincerity behind it.
"Damn. Unexpected connection right there – I'll admit I did not see this coming at all. But if she has your stamp of approval she probably isn't the vapid little Barbie I pegged her for. We should bring her to the Social sometime and test her out, see if she's worthy of coming out every once in a while."
Suzanne rolled her eyes and interrupted, "I said I like her, not that she gets to intrude on our best-friend-time."
Damon smirked at her but continued, "I need her for my dastardly plot obviously, but yeah, I can feed on other people. Besides, it'll be fun coming up with an outrageous and humiliating favor."
Suzanne let out a low sigh, but was appreciative of the fact that he would go along with her request. She knew he wasn't joking about the last part.
Suzanne really hoped this kid was worth the inevitable embarrassment she'd be experiencing later.
Alright everyone, we are officially going to be seeing some changes from canon because of Suzanne's involvement! Suzamon adventures will be altering the events in Mystic Falls from now on in some minor and major ways. Let me know what you think so far! xx Cheers