"I can't believe him!" Elena belted the second she barged in through the front door. My immediate guess was that her talk with Stefan probably hadn't gone so well.
Turning to Bonnie seated next to me, in the same spot as when my sister had left, we shared a look.
A look of deep understanding, one that had occurred after I'd coaxed the truth out of the fidgeting Bonnie; she was a witch, just like her Grams had pestered her about for the past weeks. The signs had all been there, but I'd kept my mouth shut about my observations concerning these as Bonnie had told her story, promising to continue to do so when the newly discovered witch swore me to secrecy about her magical powers. My only demand was that she'd show me the same feather things she'd used to cheer Elena up with earlier, to which she'd kindly complied to. All was now well again.
"So. Should you or should I get that?" Bonnie asked me with her dark brows raised high.
"Ugh! I think it's my turn…" I groaned miserably and stood up. "But you can get the honor of cleaning all this up." I smiled sweetly and gestured towards the mess of feathers on the dining table, which the content of a pillow from the sofa had provided for Bonnie's little show.
Before she had any chance to object, I was already halfway up the stairs.
Pausing slightly outside Elena's shut door, I took a steadying and calming breath, before knocking gently. It was answered with something hard being thrown at the door from inside the room. This was even worse than before.
"I'm coming in anyway!" I declared through the door, preparing myself for battle. Nothing could match the rage of a teenager.
However, instead of being met by a mess of thrown around objects and a crying, screaming girl in the middle of it all, Elena sat silently on the bench in her windowsill, staring out at the purple dusk. She might actually have gotten worse. On the floor before me laid Elena's old teddybear in a weird position. I picked him up to hold him for my sister to see.
"Did he really deserve that?" The short laugh I got sounded more like a cough, and was cut off before it could even begin. Clearly no time for jokes, then.
Moving further into the room, I went to sit down on the bench next to her, the small of my back leaned against the wall of the window recess. Pulling my legs up under me, I rested my chin in my hands and focused my gaze fully on Elena. From there on, I remained in that position for what felt like a good few minutes, just staring at her.
Eventually, she caved; a sigh and a repositioning later, she finally faced me.
"He had a woman there," Elena slowly spoke. "She was wearing a towel. Said he was in the shower." I thought about the scene in my head for a moment, imagining my sister's chin dropped to the floor prior to storming out, before leaning back with a sigh.
"Yeah, that does sound pretty bad," I remarked.
"Not helping." Elena rubbed her tired forehead. "I don't wanna feel like this." Her voice cracked slightly at the last word.
"It sucks," I stated, and got a hint of a smile from her, although it looked very sad.
"Yes, it does." Her sigh was heartbreaking, bringing out the only genuine compassion I seemed to have left in me; solely reserved for my baby sister.
"Okay… I don't wanna sound like I'm defending him," I began carefully, but there was just something odd with the picture. The image of Stefan jumping into bed with another woman didn't fit in my mind. "But maybe there is a reasonable explanation. 'Cause I'm guessing you didn't stick around to talk with him after that?" I checked.
"Nope." My sister shook her head.
"Right…" I sat there quietly for a moment, feeling Elena's eyes on me, excepting me to go on. "I'm sorry!" I let out, sighing. "I don't have any deep meaningful advice for you. Not really my thing. That was a douchey move and you should ignore the guy. If you want me to, I'll even go over there and kick his ass. And the woman's ass too." Elena just raised a brow. "Or, if I am to go with my gut here…" I leaned forward and clasped my hands together, my gaze firmly meeting my sister's. "As much as I hate to admit it, Stefan actually seems like a genuinely nice guy. Even for being a bloodsucking vampire. So maybe you should at least hear him out. See what he has to say about this. Hm?" I tilted my head to the side. She sighed, rolling her eyes and pushing me away with a little playfulness.
"Wise ass."
"Where did you learn such words!" I faked a horrified gasp.
"Where do you think?" Elena faintly chuckled back, elbowing my side. I stopped myself from ceasing it and tackling her into the floor, instead suggesting it was time for a movie night.
So, this time it was I who returned downstairs with a now happy Elena, meeting a feather free kitchen and a Bonnie just closing the cabin to the trashcan.
Without wasting a moment, we sat down to plan which movies to best fill the night with, a suggestion concerning bad rom-coms instantly winning. However, Bonnie soon declared that she was bailing; something about her Grams and the witchy-business.
When Elena's mouth fell open by Bonnie dropped the w-bomb so casually in front of me, I quickly filled her in on my new knowledge. She eyed me suspiciously, clearly wondering how much I already knew about the magic stuff in general. But I wasn't telling.
Instead, I made myself extremely busy with picking out a bad movie, to the extent that I didn't even notice the knock at the front door until Elena informed me of it. Or, well, I rather didn't care to answer it.
"I'll get it, then," she sighed in an over-the-top dramatic manner when I – who was seated closer to the door – didn't move. Placing a bowl of most probably barbeque chips, at least judging by the smell, she had just carried from the kitchen, on the coffee table, Elena went past me to answer it.
After casting a glance over my shoulder to make sure the late-night visitor was a harmless one, spotting none other than Stefan, I returned to the rack of movies in front of me.
I kept scanning over the surprising amount of films – everything from old, black and white, detective movies, to unrealistic action, to an impressive collection of bad romantic comedies – to pick from until Elena returned and cleared her throat from the doorway. Already a hunch about what was to come, I turned and looked up from my crossed-legged seating on the floor.
"How would you feel about a change of plans?" she asked me cautiously. I merely raised a brow. "Okay, just hear me out!" Elena continued and held her hands up in a defending gesture. "A party, at the Grill." I kept staring. "There will be alcohol," she added, sighing, clearly being desperate enough to go to such lengths.
"Sure!" I smiled and got up from the floor with a little jump. "But may I ask, does the sudden change of plans have something to do with the man at the door? Because a minute ago, you sounded all for staying in."
"Well…" Elena scratched the back of her head, with a hint of a smile. "Yeah."
"Was Stefan's explanation any good, at least?" I checked. She nodded. "Oh, well. I suppose I should support this, then." I fluffed my hair back in place and stretched out my body, which had stiffened during my time on the floor. "Being a Stelena shipper and all."
Elena let out a little laugh. "A what?"
"You know, Stefan and Elena–" I pointed at the imaginary names I wrote in the air, before bringing my hands together. "–Stelena!" She simply raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh, never mind!" I huffed. "Shall we?" The look Elena gave me as I brushed past her was still amused, but I ignored it, grabbing my brown leather jacket to hold the front door open for her.
"I need to go to the bathroom." Literally the very first thing Elena said when we entered the Grill. That woman's bladder was scary prompt. My sister practically ran through the crowded room and disappeared into the lady's room, leaving me standing there all alone in the middle of the crowd of drunk teenagers.
How fun. Why had I agreed to this again? Right, Elena still kind of liked Stefan. And this was a bar. Meaning, alcohol.
Apparently, the girl in the towel from earlier had been his best friend for the past 140 or so years, meaning no romance there. Also, today was Stefan's birthday, probably what the party was about. In other words, there were many reasons for Elena to forgive and forget previous behavior and move forward with her relationship with Stefan; so why was she hiding in the bathroom?
Shrugging off my sister's problematic love life, I steered my steps towards the bar. The bartender seemed to recognize me, which didn't surprise me; I had become sort of a regular around here lately. Heck, I had already been one before leaving town.
"The usual?" he asked with slight smile. I returned it with a wide grin and nodded. Just as he disappeared away to fix my drink, a blonde dropped down on the stool next to me and tried calling him back. When she didn't get any response, she sighed and slouched down with an elbow against the bar counter. I kept observing her with a slight smirk, which caused her to eye me suspiciously.
"What?" she demanded.
"Oh, nothing." I shrugged, still not averting my eyes from her. "It's just that 'hey bartender' usually never works." She straightened her posture and continued with the staring.
"What do you suggest instead, then?"
"Watch this," I said knowingly, leaning over the bar. "Hey, Nick!" The man in question immediately came running back to meet my sweet smile.
"Did you want anything else?" he questioned. I swung my head around and gave the blonde a meaning look. She shook her head, not sure if she was impressed or just baffled.
"Two shots of tequila." she ordered. I let out a little cough, and she smiled. "Make that three." He poured them up for her and pushed them over the smooth surface of the counter.
"I'm gonna need to see some ID," he spoke, suddenly a little hesitant on who to give out the alcohol to. Well, there was a first. The blondes brows furrowed, and she leaned over the bar, but before she had any chance to speak up, I cut in.
"It's fine Nick, she's cool," I assured with a wave of my hand. His eyes flew between us, before he shrugged and walked away again, hopefully to get my order. The blonde looked impressed, pushing one of the shots over at me.
"You seem to know your way around."
"You're welcome." I smiled and looked down at the shot. "But I won't be needing this. Although I know who might." I nodded towards my sister, just having returned from the bathroom to glance at the crowd as she chewed on the inside of her lip. Something in the woman's eyes shifted when she spotted Elena, as if she recognized her. A theory popped into my head.
"Giving up a free drink doesn't seem very Parker-like," a smooth voice said behind me. Rolling my eyes, I threw a look over my shoulder at the bar stool, the all-too familiar smirk meeting my gaze. To my surprise, the blonde seemed equally annoyed by Damon's presence.
"Seems like I'll be needing it now," I said coldly. The blonde tried to smother a laughter, although not very well. Damon's gaze shot daggers at her, and she responded by flashing her eyelashes back at him.
"Damon, I had actually forgotten you would be here. Well, it was certainly nice while it lasted." She gave him a fake smile. This woman was growing on me by the second! "Don't worry," she said, now turned to me, "I'll give this to her." She raised the shot with a nod towards Elena, before squinting her eyes at Damon one last time. "Sorry to leave you with him." Damon put a hand over his heart with an expression of fake hurt on his face. "Yeah, like you have one!" the blonde snorted, giving me one last smile before she gracefully picked up the three shots and sauntered off into the crowd.
Observing carefully, I watched as she moved to strike up a chat my sister. Quickly, I also noticed someone else regarding the two; Stefan, smiling faintly from across the room. So my suspicions had been correct: the blonde was the old best friend. Having been right, I smiled to myself, before being painfully reminded that Damon was still sitting next to me.
"You should know that your sister is pretty worried," he spoke in a nonchalant tone. My head snapped to him.
"And how would you know?"
"Well, she came up to me…" I huffed "...fine. I came up to her. Happy?" I didn't respond, so he simply went on. "Anyway, she expressed her growing concern about your little brother's recent changed behavior. Slightly accused me of compelling away more than what was asked, might I add." Damon, who had been twirling a glass in his hand – one which I suspected had contained my previously ordered drink – stopped with this movement and turned to look at me, observing my reaction.
"So?" I asked, without giving away anything. He sighed and turned his chair so that he was facing me, grabbed a hold of my stool and twirled me around towards him, leaving his hands on either side of my thighs. I was about to forcefully remove them with a scowl, but he spoke before I could do so.
"So, I answered her kindly." Of course he did.
"Tried calming her down, I'm sure," I scoffed, trying to ignore how his hand brushed against my leg. Why didn't I move it?
"Exactly. But she didn't seem convinced. Just a heads up." He smirked and leaned back, releasing his grasp on my chair. Something loosened in my chest.
"So now you're giving me forewarnings about my siblings behavior?" I huffed. "What is this even?" I gestured at the space between us. The question had been bothering me for a while now, and I figured I would try the approach of simply asking.
As expected, he answered with a smug smirk. "A truce, I think you called it."
"That was before I knew about Caroline," I reminded with a harsh tone. "Speaking of which."
Speak of the devil and he will appear; or she in this case. In that moment, Caroline happened to stumble from the bar a few stools away, making her way towards Matt. Good. He would have it covered. As I saw how she dropped down next to him with slouched shoulders, I immediately gave Damon an accusing look. His jaw had clenched slightly, the flirtatious gleam in his eyes gone.
"You leave her alone and I might reconsider," I spoke, rising from my chair. I was about to leave, but hesitated and pointed at the empty glass on the counter. "And you owe me a drink." I got a glimpse of the wry smirk before I elbowed my way towards my sister in the heart of the crowd.
The blonde vampire was gone, and Elena had an empty shot glass in her hands.
"Are my eyes deceiving me, or is that my sister with a finished drink!" I gasped, laughing at the roll of her eyes, before I threw my arms around her to hang onto her annoyingly.
"Actually, I didn't drink it. But are you drunk already?"
"I haven't had a single drop of alcohol!" I spoke, a bit offended by her question. "Here. Just smell my breath." She tried pushing me away, but I just hung onto her tighter. Maybe it wasn't so surprising that she would assume I was drunk, my behavior was kind of suspicious.
"Come on!" Elena sighed, rolling her eyes at me again. However, I knew that she was laughing hysterically on the inside because of my conduct, the tugging at the corner of her mouth giving her away.
Somehow, she managed to force me back to the bar and down on a stool. Thankfully, Damon had by then disappeared and left the area free, abling me to relax. Once again, I charmed Nick, getting us both drinks.
"I'm such a good role model!" I joked as we clinked our glasses together. Elena giggled and took a sip, whilst I finished the whole thing in one swig and waved for another one. My sister seemed a little absentminded, staring into the crowd with a glazed gaze. "What are we thinking?" I asked as I received my second glass.
"I'm a little worried about Jeremy," Elena spoke, all serious, and put her drink down. Here I'd thought she would start blabbering about Stefan. But had Damon really given me some useful information earlier?
"He seems fine to me," I answered nonchalantly and stretched out my stiff body, hearing pleasant cracks along my spine.
"I'm serious," Elena told me firmly as she grabbed my arm, forcing away my attention from my flexing. "He's acting weird."
"How?" I asked with my brows furrowed.
"Well, he actually sat down and studied earlier. And it seems… I don't know, like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders or something."
Truth be told, I had also been concerned with Jeremy's new carefree behavior at first. But once I thought over what Damon must have said to him, I came to a conclusion.
"The grieving is gone," I stated, not able to help my sad smile. I had to admit, I was a little jealous of the kid. Now it was my sister's turn to furrow her brows, but for her it was in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"Damon took away his pain, Elena. All of it. I could see it right away." She still looked at me with confusion written on her face. I let out a tired sigh. Why did she have to be so damn slow? "His suffering is gone." She seemed dumbfounded by this too, so I added: "He's fine, trust me." She still wasn't convinced, but at least didn't push the matter any further. Instead, she picked up her drink and continued sipping on it, grimacing at the strong taste.
"You need to get your mind off of it. Shots?" I suggested temptingly. Elena wasn't usually into that type of thing, but I knew she could let loose in some situations. And today seemed to be my lucky day! She nodded, maybe a little reluctantly, but still with a smile.
Even though she was done after only two, I continued to entertain her with my strong alcohol persistence.
"Do I even wanna know how you became so good at this?" she laughed after I slammed the top of the glass down onto the wooden counter for the umpteenth time.
"Nope," I stated and picked up a new one, holding it up for Elena, nodding, before I finished it in one quick swig.
We were actually having fun together! Which felt like ages ago. However, instead of goofing around into the late hours as we'd done before I skipped town, we now sat with our heads close together and discussed the people passing around us, making up rumors and laughing at each other's imaginative suggestions.
As my eyes wandered over the crowd in search for my next victim to criticize, I caught sight of the blonde from before playing pool with Stefan. For once he was genuinely smiling, something I hadn't seen him do unless he was around my sister. Good to know the guy had other ways of being happy.
"Who is she?" I nodded towards the woman, and Elena looked over her shoulder. Even though I already knew the answer, or at least suspected it, I wanted it confirmed.
"That's Lexi. Stefan's best friend."
"Right! The girl in the towel?" Elena nodded. "I met her before, she insulted Damon. I kinda like her." I tilted my head to the side and observed her make a perfect shot to turn and high five Stefan. "Is she single?"
"No, she said something about having a boyfriend," Elena laughed and shook her head, almost apologetically.
"Damn. Why are all the good ones always taken?" I took yet another shot as my sister let out another laugh, but it suddenly got stuck in her throat, and as I turned around I realized why.
"How can you say that when I'm still single?" Damon's faked hurt tone to his voice was hard to miss, and it lessened even more as he smirked. He sat down on the bar stool next to me and waved at the bartender. Really! This again?
"Hm… Last time I checked, you were still hung up on some girl for the past, what, 200 years was it?" I raised a brow, and he chuckled.
"Doesn't mean I still can't have a little fun." He leaned in closer to me, and maybe it was the alcohol or my playfulness from joking around with Elena just now, but I found myself not moving away. Until Elena quickly cleared her throat and yanked me backwards.
"Come with me to the bathroom, Parks," she spoke through gritted teeth. Before I had any chance of protesting, she had dragged me with her, leaving a still smirking Damon behind us.
Once we were through the crowd and out of sight, I yanked my arm back.
"What was that about? I had it covered!"
"It didn't look like it!" Elena threw a look over my shoulder and sighed, eyeing me seriously "Your track record with guys like him isn't too good, Parks." At least she wasn't going on about his murderous side this time. "Can you blame me for being a little worried?"
"Don't be. I'm the older one here, and I know what I'm doing. I can take care of myself. Or at least I've done a pretty darn good job at it so far." Elena didn't look convinced, but I slid past her into the ladies room before she could start listing all the reasons why I was wrong. Apparently, our parents had either filled her in on my past activities during my high school time, or she herself had caught onto enough details during it to form a clear enough picture. Either way, it was going to be a problem.
But once I'd finished up and returned back out into the narrow hall connecting the Grill to the toilets, my sister was gone. Leaving me free to do whatever I wanted without the risk of being lectured. Since when was she, my baby sister, giving out lectures anyway? That was supposed to be my job. Okay, fine, I'll admit that I hadn't really done a good job on that front so far, but we're all works in progress!
Making my way back to the bar counter, I held up my hand to gesture for yet another drink. Truthfully, this evening had just felt like a long repeating scene of me either elbowing my way through the noisy crowd of teenagers, or chugging down some shots. As I got my strong alcohol in hand, I swept my gaze over the room, keeping an eye out for anyone I might recognize, but instead caught sight of Elena. She was talking to Stefan, grinning from ear to ear; they really seemed to be warming up to each other again. Good for them.
An odd bitterness bubbled up inside of me, and I quickly downed my drink to keep back whatever memory threatened to come rushing up. As soon as I placed my empty glass back on the counter, I felt the alcohol hit my head, grabbing for the edge of the counter to keep myself from swaying. Looking up at the rows of bottles lined up behind the bar, I even noticed the edges of my view turning a little blurry.
Even so, I wasn't gone enough to miss the presence next to me. Rotating slightly towards it revealed Damon, eyeing me up and down. He took one look at my state of squinted eyes and hand gripping the counter, the number of empty shot glasses next to me, and got a perfect perception about the situation. Probably.
"Hi." I raised my hand in a slack movement, and as it fell down made a thudding noise when hitting my thigh. "Whoops," was my only comment.
"You're drunk," Damon stated.
"Well, stating the obvious," I scoffed, rolling my eyes, but instead ended up nearly losing my balance completely, hadn't Damon been so quick to stabilized me with a hand on my waist. Seeing it there, so oddly placed yet still not wanting to remove it, had me sniggering. Sniggering! Damon seemed about as baffled about that as me. He threw a look at Elena and Stefan, who were lovingly gazing into each other's eyes somewhere on the other side of the crowded room, before he sighed.
"This wasn't part of the plan," he muttered, but grabbed my arm and began pulling me with him.
As we pressed our way through the tight crowd of people hitting the dance floor, Damon had to put an arm around me to keep me from falling, my legs suddenly having decided to give up on me.
I didn't even react that we were outside the Grill until the chilly air hit me and Damon placed my jacket over my shoulders. When had he even grabbed it? Probably whilst I'd been busy keeping myself upright and my thoughts in order, not letting them slip away into old memories of hands touching other places than where Damon's now laid on my back and upper arm.
"We're outside," I stated.
"Very perceptive of you," he praised dryly, continuing to drag me away from the building. We passed a couple making out in a dark corner, but I was quickly yanked forward when I tried to stop and get a look to see if I recognized either of them.
"Why? I wasn't done in there!" I protested, proud at my speach at least still unaffected, even if my thoughts were slow. Regardless of Damon's grumbling response, I tried twisting my way out of his grip, but he was a strong vampire and I a very drunk non-vampire. Obviously, I didn't succeed in getting free.
"Stop that! I'm trying to help you!" Damon huffed, frustrated.
"Help me?" I checked, staring at him as he continued to drag me along. "You?" Sharply, I let out a laugh at the hysterical situation, which evolved into a fit so violent I could barely even stand up straight anymore.
Hearing him sigh again, as I practically sagged against his body, shaking, I felt two arms wrap around my body. It then took me a moment of blinking and breathing, before I realized I'd been thrown over Damon's shoulder.
"Hey! Not okay!" I protested, hitting his back to get him to put me down. Only, Damon just ignored me and kept walking. If I hadn't been so drunk, I would easily have made him regret that. But now, I instead felt a sour feeling start to spread from my stomach up my throat, and I released a growl. "I'm serious, Damon. Put me down!"
He must have heard the sharpness to my voice, because he immediately obeyed. I stood folded over for a couple of seconds, taking deep breaths whilst trying to gather myself and force down the building bile. Once I felt safe to, I straightened up my posture and gave Damon a hard look, holding up my hand when he moved to undoubtedly try to pick me up again.
"No!" I shook my head firmly. "Not upside down!" He listened, sighed a bit, but actually listened, instead picking me up bridal style.
"Better?" he checked as I placed my arm around his neck for a more secure travel.
"Much." I nodded. "But no vamp-speed!" I added quickly, even in my mist having felt his body tense against mine, as if preparing to dash off into just that. "Unless you feel like washing your jacket."
"Point taken," Damon commented, choosing a more humane pace.
During the rest of the hazy path, I vaguely recalled Damon asking for my address, and actually getting a truthful reply from me as my head grew heavier and heavier where it rested against his shoulder.
Also, an unclear suspicion awakening had floated into my mind as I'd been on the verge of unconsciousness. Alcohol alone had never before made me this out of it, which had me wondering if some other substance might have been dropped into one of those many drinks without my notice. The chilling thought – more so because it had gotten past my attention than the horrified action in itself – was however eased as we reached the inside of my building.
From there on, the world got even murkier, only sensations filling me. Like heavy eyelids falling shut, body meeting soft bedding, gentle fingers stroking strands of hair away from my face, resting a second too long against my cheeks.
Then, dark, odd sleep gripped me. Holding tight, right until a buzzing phone against my leg forced me back.
By then, night had been turned into day, and the worried voice of my sister was what met me as I – once rubbing the sleep from my eyes and massaging my aching head – listened to the voicemail she'd left. Besides wondering where I'd gone, they informed me that Lexi had been killed last night, by none other than Damon.
Honestly, I just wanted to go back to sleep after that. And I probably should have.