Waking up in my childhood home felt strange. Which wasn't that odd, really, considering the countless nights I'd spent alone in my apartment up until now. But it was nice. For about a split second. Then I remembered that sharing a bed isn't always so fun, and that the walls in this house were very, very thin.
I woke up by Elena not only turning in her sleep, but in the process of this pushing me out of the bed. All whilst Jenna turned on the coffee machine downstairs. Lovely.
There was really no use in trying to go back to sleep after that, so instead I got off the floor – cursing silently at my sister's calm face pressed into her pillow – and headed downstairs to keep Jenna company.
"Look who's up," Jenna said over her shoulder as I walked into the kitchen, tugging down a sweatshirt over my head that I'd stolen off Elena's floor. "And look who's here!" my aunt went on to exclaim as she noticed it was me, clearly having believed I was Jeremy or Elena. She leaned the small of her back against the kitchen counter and smiled at me over her big cup of coffee.
"Morning," I merely grunted and slumped down at the table with a thud.
"Still not a morning person, ey?" Jenna laughed and handed me her cup. I looked down at it, up at her, then shrugged and took it. "That's the spirit!" she cheered. The coffee tasted pretty bitter, but anything to wake me up.
"I guess that morning run is out of the question then." I yawned and stretched out my body, before finishing the coffee in one big gulp and forcing myself over to Jenna by the machine. Giving her a look, she refilled my cup whilst I started digging through the content of their refrigerator.
"Since when do you run?" Jenna didn't do much to try to hide her skepticism. "And in the mornings!"
"I'll have you know that it takes effort to keep this body looking good," I answered her with my head still stuck in the fridge as I patted my stomach. Something colorful caught my eye, stuffed in the very back, and I dug it out. It looked extremely unhealthy.
"I can see that," Jenna remarked, raising an eyebrow and eyeing me over her very own cup of coffee. Jumping up onto the counter with ease, I opened the colorful thing; it seemed to be some sort of candy or energy bar. "I have NO idea how long that has been in there," Jenna informed me with a nod towards the fridge. Regardless, I shrugged and took a bite from it. "Suit yourself!"
One more of those candybar-things in my stomach, and I was ready to face the day.
"Wanna help me drag the teenagers out of bed?" Jenna offered, with the charming smile of a scamming seller.
"I think I'll pass on that extremely tempting offer…" I answered and slid down from my place on the counter, eyeing my escape path towards the front door. But Jenna was faster.
"You know what! I'll let them sleep," she said and looped her arm in mine. "They were up late partying last night, they deserve the extra hours." If only she knew how much and why they needed them. "How about you and I grab some lunch instead?" I threw a look over Jenna's shoulder, spotting her laptop that laid untouched on the dining table.
"Jenna Summers!" I gasped with played shock. "Are you skipping studying for little old me?"
"I think it's about time we had a proper catching up, don't you?" She laughed and steered me towards the door.
It wasn't like I had anything else planned today anyway, still being unemployed and all. Thus, I allowed myself to be guided away, squeezing her arm lovingly.
"Looking go-od, Gilbert!"
"Keep walking, Ashton."
"It's Aaron."
"Like I care!" I scoffed.
That would be the fifth guy throwing me a comment since I'd arrived at the police station merely half an hour ago. Moral of the story: I knew way too many scumbags in this town.
I felt as if I had been standing in the same position, leaning my back to the green wallpapered wall with one foot against it for support and my arms crossed in front of my chest, for ages! How long could it possibly take to make one bloody statement?
Vicki's sudden 'disappearance' a few days ago had created some question marks, and the Sheriff had called in Matt, Elena, Jeremy and Stefan for questioning; as well as some other unimportant people whose names I hadn't bothered to add to my memory.
So far, Jeremy had been quick, Stefan out before I'd even noticed he had gone in, but Elena was, as per usual, taking forever!
Leaning forward a bit to catch a glimpse of the big, black watch on the wall over the station's check-in desk, I instead found something else attracting my eye; a familiar back, dressed in black leather, to be exact. What was he doing here? Just as I'd formed the silent wondering, the person in question happened to turn around and spot me in return. Great. Because this day couldn't possibly get any better!
"Have you gotten yourself into trouble?" Damon teased and moved towards me, a big, cardboard box in his hands.
"Very funny," I spoke coldly. The fact that I hadn't had any breakfast yet was really messing with my mood. "What's that?" I nodded towards the package.
"None of your business." The reply didn't exactly ease my curiosity, so I pushed myself off the wall to tiptoe to see its content. But, before I could see anything useful, Damon moved it out of my sight.
"Secretive much?" I tilted my head to the side, whilst yet again trying the get a good view of the box.
"It's just something for the Sheriff," Damon explained, leaving a lot more suspicious blanks than he filled. And also piquing my interest even more.
"Really? Running errands for old Lizzie, are we? Huh…" I eyed his hands tight grip of the box with interest. "Now, what type of package could she possibly be interested in from someone like you, I wonder."
"Don't concern your pretty head with it," Damon shot back with a tight smile at my teasingly pensive tone. In response, the fun disappeared from my features, replaced with a taut jaw. "Either way, it doesn't matter. She's apparently busy, so I'll just have to come back later."
"Yeah, she's busy alright!" I scoffed. " Interviewing chatty Elena..." I muttered with a glance at Liz's office down the hall and past a pair of double doors.
"I wouldn't have taken her for a very talkative person," Damon said with furrowed brows.
"Well, you don't know her like I do." I laughed dryly. "Elena was about THIS close–" I held up my hand and showed him a mere inch between my thumb and index finger. "–to become one of those stereotypical, shallow cheerleaders."
"Like Caroline," Damon muttered, and I threw him a dirty look. "Easy there," he joked with the already familiar askew smirk showing.
"Nothing's easy about her!" a hooded figure in handcuffs being led past us put in.
"Shut up, Clark!" I snapped, and was returned with a high pitched laugh.
"It's Charlie, sweetheart!" The cop leading him away forced his head back to their path straight ahead. Sighing, I drew a hand across my face to erase the idiot from my mind, and as I let it fall I noticed Damon observing me.
"What?" I grunted.
"You seem to be very popular around here." Damon allowed his narrowed gaze to follow the hooded guy's back. Was I imagining things now – my empty stomach the clear cause – or was that some kind of twisted anger or jealousy I saw, directed towards Chester or what's his face?
"Maybe…" I eyed his contoured features watchfully. "Why?" I fished. Damon, hearing the slightly amused tone to my voice, turned back to me. I cocked up a brow.
Was the big bad vampire – without even a scrap of humanity – getting all worked up by some douchebag being rude to me. Given, Damon had shown a bit of having a heart in the right place when he'd asked for my call in compelling away Jeremy's memories of Vicki; and of me. Maybe I had been a little too quick to judge him.
But on the other hand, according to Elena and Stefan, who'd both quickly filled me in on the oldest Salvatore brother's past, everything Damon did was all about Kaitlyn, or whatever her name was. Katherine...? Yes! Katherine! His obsession with her was apparently what was driving him to do, well, pretty much everything. Like being here in this little town to begin with.
So why did it matter that he got a bit pissed off by some douche, or if he was nice and saved someone's brother from being destroyed by a traumatic experience? Damon still had his eyes set on one thing and one thing only: Katherine. Considering she was dead, it would be fun to figure out what his plan was there. From what I'd gathered over the years, bringing people back from the great beyond was rarely done. But hey! Psychopathic, lovestruck vampires and their ways of thinking weren't exactly my specialty.
Finally spotting Elena exit the heart of the station where all the offices were located, I was pulled away from any further conversation or musings about the guy before me. As she too saw me, she stopped dead in the middle of her step, but I didn't understand why until I realized her gaze had locked on Damon still standing in front of me.
Truthfully, I wondered what the sight must have looked like to her; the guy who'd turned the girl she just made up a covering story about, casually chatting with the woman who had killed said newbie vampire, and who also just so happened to be her sister.
"Nice chatting with you," I said and gave Damon's chest – surprisingly firm, but then again he was probably pretty well-trained beneath all that leather – a quick pat without looking too much at him. "Gotta go. But let me know when you're ready to share about what's in the box." I offered a quick wink, before walking to meet Elena. She only greeted me with a hurt look, and then stormed past me.
Typical, really.
Spotting Damon's smirk directed my way from out of the corner of my eye didn't exactly make the situation any nicer either. Letting out a sigh, I cursed my sister's good name and went to follow her.
"Wait!" I yelled as I ran down the stairs, trying to catch up with her. Damn she was fast! However, I was wearing high-heeled boots whilst she'd chosen flats, so really it wasn't that strange when thinking it over. Ultimately, I still managed to catch up with her and pull her around by a firm yank at her arm. "Come on, sis–"
"Why were you talking to him?" Elena instantly snapped into my face.
"Oh, I don't know." I shrugged. Digging for info about his box. "Passing the time?" I offered. She answered with a snort and tried to turn away from me again. "Hey! I thought we were past this," I said and grabbed a secure hold of her arm. She attempted to break free by shaking me loose, but I simply tightened my grip. "Elena?"
"He's a murderer, Parks!" she exclaimed, her patience apparently having run dry from lying to the Sheriff. "He's walking around in broad daylight without a care in the world! He doesn't deserve it." I can't say I wasn't a little hurt by that.
"Are we only talking about Damon now?" I checked with a careful cool seeping into my voice. She avoided my gaze, and instead it froze on something over my head. With a frown, I turned around and spotted Damon casually making his way down the stone steps, towards us. "Elena–" I began, but she had taken this moment of distraction as a chance of yanking her arm from my grip.
About a second away from running after her again, I halted my action when noticing Stefan waiting for her, leaned against her car. As Elena saw him too, she stopped, crossing her arms and immediately adopting a resigned posture.
"Rough times, huh?" Damon commented from behind me, halting at my side.
"Aren't we the last people to comment on such things?" I replied, seeing my sister's back turned to me become more and more tense the longer her conversation continued.
"There's a 'we'?" was Damon's only, smug, response.
My retort and eye roll for him fell away as I watched Elena burst past Stefan in an upset manner, entering her car to drive off before I'd even blinked. Well, there went my ride. Abandoned, just like that! So much for that sisterly love… Nevertheless, she did kind of have the right to be pissed at me right now.
"So she clearly hates me," I stated as Stefan approached me, ignoring his brother and ogling eyes at my side. "Or you, maybe," I added as I noticed his shoulders seemed as resigned as hers had been.
"She needs time," he answered with his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that helping, Stefan. We Gilbert women are a stubborn kind when it comes to things like this." Lies. I sighed, staring at the empty parking spot.
"Need a ride?" the smooth voice spoke up from my elbow.
"I'm good with walking," I replied without, yet again, turning to it. "I'll see you around, Stef." I gave the younger Salvatore a pat on the shoulder on my way past him, still neglecting the other one's presence.
"What?" I heard Damon ask innocently; clearly he was about to receive some sort of lecture about his behavior from his brother. With the vivid picture of Stefan staring at Damon disapprovingly, his arms folded over his chest, I couldn't help but smile to myself.
Barely having left the station behind me, my steps were halted by the buzzing of my phone from my pocket. Hauling it up reveled the last number I expected to see.
"Liz? What's up?"
"Parker! I'm glad I caught you," the Sheriff replied in her Sheriff-y voice: matter-of-factly and strictly down to business. "Your sister was just in, so I was wondering if you were in the neighborhood too and could come by real quick?"
I decided to lie. "Actually, sorry, I'm not." Briefly, I cast a glance over my shoulder at the building just blocking my view of the station. "Why? What's going on?"
"Well," Elizabeth sighed, sounding a little less serious. "It's about this town's… problem. I just got a package that could really help out, and I wanted to give some of it to you." To that, I stopped dead and silently cursed myself for not recognizing the smell earlier.
"Vervain." Of course! At least I knew Damon's reason for being all sneaky and extra mysterious, then. But giving it to the Council… What the hell was he up to?
"Yes," Liz replied, a little surprised at my good guess but still hiding it well. "How did you–"
"I can come by and pick some up later," I informed quickly. "Thank you, for calling and offering. Really."
"It's no trouble," she stated. "You want in, I wish you safe." Because of who my parents were. If only she knew… A beep announced that someone else was calling me.
"And I appreciate it, I do, but I gotta go. I'll swing by soon," I promised. Even if it really wasn't necessary; I already had my very own stock of the herb.
"I'll leave some for you at the desk. Just ask."
"Thanks," with that, I pressed the call away to instead have a different female voice pour into my ear.
"Parks!" Jenna practically yelled.
"Jen. Always nice to hear your voice." Holding the device a few inches away to spare my hearing, I waited for her to continue.
"Sorry, but I'm a little stressed, and I was wondering…" Something seemed to be shuffled around on her end, and I dared bringing the phone closer to my head to better catch the sound; papers, ruffled, probably. "Elena's not taking any of my calls after her visit to the station today. Could you maybe swing by the house and check up on her?"
Deciding not to inform my aunt of my sister totally blowing me off and literally leaving me in the dust of her car after I joined her interrogation as moral support, I agreed; but not without reluctance. "Eh… Sure. But I really don't think she wants to see me right now, Jenna."
"Oh, quit messing around," Jenna waved off. "Right now, she'll be miserable to see anyone!"
"Not helping," I pointed out tightly.
"Gee, I'm kidding," she chuckled. "It'll be fine. Thank you, you'd really be making my day a whole lot easier."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm super nice and you love me," I huffed, hanging up before my aunt could come with any other attempts at charming me into doing chores as well.
Cutting off her voice mid-laughter, I changed my course for the old Gilbert house.
Just as I thought, I found my sister sulking on the couch in the living room as soon as I stepped through the door. She was infinitely busy with blankly staring at the TV, where some colorful comedy show flashed by. As I moved inside to seat myself beside her crouched figure, she instantly hugged the pillow in her arms tighter.
"Elena," I asked as gently as I possibly could; nearly wanting to gag because of it. "What's going on?"
"Nothing. I'm fine. What makes you think anything else?" my sister answered shortly and with a pout, sinking further into the couch.
"Look, I know you're not okay with what I…" I tried to find the right words, knowing anything I said would probably come out sounding wrong in her ears at this point. "...did. But I also know that you're not this hostile without a reason. Especially after being tolerant about it before. So…" I watched her expectantly. "What's going on?"
Elena, continuing to avoid my questioning gaze by staring at the TV, seemed to zip her lips shut. I reached for the remote on the table in front of us to turn the moving display off.
"Is it about Stefan?" I checked. She sighed, letting her shoulders fall in a defeated gesture. Smirking victoriously at finding the cause, I tried to keep the occurrence hidden from her view. "Really? My sister is one of those lovesick fools whose entire world revolves around a guy?" I muttered, mostly to myself, but Elena gave me a hard look. Then, she let her face fall and dig into the pillow. Whoops. "Sorry." I made a face. "Do you…wanna talk about it?" I offered sheepishly.
"No," came the muffled response. But I rather heared: not with you. That worked for me too.
"Okay…" Evaluating what or rather who I could call in as a reinforcement to get the truth out of her, I barely caught her final whisper of admitting, directed into the pillow.
"We broke up."
That was a conversation I was in no mood of having. Back up was definitely needed. And I knew just who to call.
The doorbell rang through the house, and as I made my way to the door I silently cursed Bonnie for not knocking; her presence was supposed to be a surprise for Elena.
"Hi. Is she okay?" Bonnie's concerned eyes met mine.
"No," I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "She's withdrawn into her bedroom." After her faint declaration and my response of silence, I couldn't really blame her either. I nodded upstairs. "Do your magic Bonnie-Bear." Opening the door a little more, I gestured for her to enter.
Instead, Bonnie remained where she was with an odd look, before suddenly quickly bolting into action and hurrying past me to get upstairs.
Well, at least that problem had been taken care of, then. Some success felt to be in need after the last couple of days.
I'd only just had time to steal a snack from the pantry and settling down in the couch with an interesting-looking book I'd found laying around, when both girls returned downstairs. Elena, visibly happier, and Bonnie with a secretive expression on her face.
Without a word, I got up and retrieved an ice cream container from the freezer to hand to my sister with an expressionless look, to which she responded to by accepting with a faint smile. Clearly, my good, old – and sometimes, or most times annoying – sister was back.
"You're gonna have to tell me your secret sometime," I murmured to Bonnie whilst Elena went to dig out spoons for us from a kitchen drawer. Instantly, the dark-haired girl's eyes widened and her face shifted into nothing but pure panic. Weird, but noted. Quickly, I let out a little laugh to calm her down. "How you got Elena to talk to you and return to her somewhat normal self, I mean."
"Oh!" Bonnie smiled, a bit hesitant. "Sure, sure…"
Shrugging off the strange vibes I was getting – ignoring the bell of suspicion going off inside my head – I instead chose to enjoy the ice cream shared with Bonnie and Elena; all whilst my sister poured her heart out over her boyfriend – or well, ex-boyfriend now. It felt as if she was keeping some things to herself, not giving away the whole story; but since Bonnie most probably still didn't know about whole vampire-thing, the details had to be a little foggy. I did wonder what other things Bonnie might know…
By the end of Elena's jabber, however, I knew enough to think she was overreacting.
"So. Lemme see if I got this straight: you're refusing to speak to the guy?" I checked. Elena nodded. "Why? Because you're afraid you two might actually solve your problems and get back together? And that's all dangerous and you could get hurt?" That was in the literal and physical sense, but Bonnie just nodded along, thinking I meant emotionally. But, well, that too. "But isn't that what you really want? Deep, deep down."
At first, Elena seemed stunned by my layout. She opened her mouth to say something, but not a word came out. Clearly, I'd hit the right spot. Bonnie's gaze darted back and forth between us where we were sitting by the dining table, her eyes big and round with anticipation of what reaction might come out of my sister by that blunt putting of things. I raised my eyebrows even higher, and Elena closed her mouth.
"Fine," she said and rose from her chair with her palms spread wide on the table. "I'll drive over and talk to him right now. Happy?" Was I happy about Stefan being a vampire who was surrounded by death? No. But then again, so was I… Was I happy my sister clearly loved the guy? Nope, nothing there either. But was I happy with her sitting around here and sulking about it in my presence? Definitely not. So something had to be done.
"It's your life," I responded with a shrug. "Your decision." I knew that would set her off; set her in motion. And, of course, I was right.
"Alright then," Elena only replied; instantly, storming off with drama to grab her car keys on the go.
Once the door had been slammed shut with a bang, I turned back to the ice-cream, catching Bonnie shaking her head at me.
"You sure know how to provoke people," she chuckled.
"Thank you for noticing!" I smirked back and stuffed a spoon full of the delicious, cold cream into my mouth.