"No."
"Come on, Parker!"
"No!" I folded my arms, determined. "I'm not working a night shift when the Grill is going to be filled with women bidding and hoping to win the 'right man'."
"It's a busy night! We need everyone to chip in." Bella held a writing pad in her hand with a pen hovering inches over its surface, waiting for the second I would back down so that she could instantly sign me up.
Slowly, I leaned forward. "No."
"Please, Parker!" Bella blew out a frustrated sigh. I could practically see the cartoon light bulb lit up over her head when she realized something. "You skipped your shift the other night, you owe me this." Her pen now pointed at me to underline her words. Damn. I had forgotten all about that. But that does remind me… I have a favor to call in from Stelena.
"Fine," I reluctantly agreed, although my thoughts were too wrapped up in figuring out things I might need from my sister and her vamp-boyfriend to notice Bella's triumph as she finally got to write down my name.
"Great! You start at 6PM," and with that, she was gone. Leaving me blinking.
As I walked back to the table housing my aunt, I stated that I really needed to stop going to the Grill when I didn't have a shift. But when you're too lazy to cook, that employee discount sure sounds tempting.
"What was that about?" Jenna asked as I sat down at our booth with a loud thud.
"I just got roped into working the fundraiser-thing," I sighed, emptying my drink. Euw, water.
"You'll get used to it," Jenna told my frown.
"Which? The crazy small town or the non-alcoholic stuff?" I asked and held up my glass. "'Cause I'll never get used to this shit."
"Both," Jenna chuckled, but there was a bitter undertone. Neither of us really liked this town, but we grew up here, and when your family needs you…
"We'll see," I grumbled and watched Bella walk around between the employees, attempting to fool yet another sucker to work the dreaded night.
As I stood trying to decide what one should wear to this type of thing – apart from my t-shirt with the Grill's logo, maybe experimenting with either pants or skirts – a muffled buzzing came from a pile of clothes on the floor. Quickly settling for a pair of dark jeans thrown on the floor of my walk-in-closet, getting them on just as swiftly, I moved to dig through the jumble to eventually find my dark brown leather jacket, and in its pocket the little brick now entitled as my phone since I was too lazy – and poor – to buy a new one.
"Hello," I greeted and tried to rearrange the pile of clothes to lock less….well, pile-y.
"Parks," Elena sighed with relief.
"What's up, sister-from-another-mother? And father," I joked and gave up my attempt at organizing. It was useless anyway. Instead, I went to pick out a pair of shoes. Even if flats would be kinder on my feet, the high-heeled boots called to me. And there was a reason why; the bendable knives tucked in under the shoe's soles. Best way to boost one's confidence.
"Actually, about that…" Now what? "Jenna did some research on my birth mom, and… she found a name. And a friend from her high school days!" I leaned back, sighing. I had specifically advised Elena not to dig into her mother's past; it never ended well. I would know.
"What did you do, Elena?" I sighed and rubbed my forehead.
"I… Well, I went to visit the friend. Trudie Peterson. She acted really weird, and… I think she knows about vampires." I sat up a little straighter. This was taking a rather interesting turn.
"What happened?"
"She didn't invite me in. And I swear, there was vervain in the tea she made." Elena started to sound worked up. "And there was this man outside of her house, following me. Something really weird is going on." Elena was right, that did sound strange.
"Where are you now?" I grabbed my jacket from the floor, pressing my phone in place between my ear and shoulder as I swung my arms into it. Where had I cast aside my shoes?
"I went to Stefan's. On my way to the Grill now."
"Great! I'll met you there." Finally, I found my high-heeled boots underneath one of the pale, blue-gray, padded armchairs. I struggled to get them on on the go.
"There's one more thing. Or two, actually." Elena sighed. I could hear her fingers tap against her phone.
"Spill," I said and stopped by my front door, making sure I had everything I needed by going through my pockets one last time.
"My birth mom's name is… Isobel. As in Alaric's wife."
"Oh!" I gasped dramatically with a hand over my mouth. "Family drama!"
"Hey, I'm serious," Elena scolded. Apparently she wasn't in a joking mood, then; but Elena rarely was.
"Sorry." I jerked at the door to close it, struggling with the old lock by jabbing the key around a bit. I really needed to fix that. Like the bathroom, peeking at me from across the small hall.
"His dead wife, Parks." The key slipped out of my hand and landed on the floor with a clinking sound, which echoed through the staircase.
"Oh." This really wasn't the right time to say 'I told you so', buuuut… I had. Just for the record.
"And the last thing…" Elena let out one final sigh. Soon, she would be done with delivering the bad news.
"Hmm?" I abandoned my attempts at locking the door and made my way down the stairs instead.
"I met Damon at the Salvatore house. And he… Well, he's not doing so great. I thought you should know."
I furrowed my brows as I walked out into the early, chilly evening. "Why would I care?"
"Because…" Elena began, but her voice died out.
"Hellooo?" Only silence from the other end. "Elena?"
"Because I know you two have… something. Especially after what happened outside the tomb."
"I'm royally pissed off at the guy," I said, my cold voice dripping ire into the phone. "He threatened you twice. And decided that Jer's life was worth nothing in his greater plan to bring his old girlfriend back. He deserved everything that happened. A broken heart might actually do him some good."
"I'm sure you believe that," Elena spoke softly. "But I still think you care about him, in some weird way. And I just want you to know that it's okay."
"I don't need your acceptance, Elena," I snorted.
"I know." The woman's patience was enormous today, even after she'd found out all that information about her biological mother. "But I still wanna say it."
"Okay," I ended the call with that after a moment of silence, mixed feelings surging through my body.
The truth was, I didn't particularly like the fact that the number of people I cared about was increasing. So far, I'd always been more or less detached, and perfectly satisfied with it. But now Elena, Jenna, Jeremy and, well yes, even Damon – maaaybe Stefan – were all swirling their way into my heart. And I didn't like it. Caring about someone meant that you could lose them, which resulted in the risk of falling apart. Something I'd had enough of.
This needed got stop.
But even though I genuinely meant that, I still enjoyed seeing my sister park her car by the sidewalk outside the Grill. I even felt relieved when she came out in one piece and hugged me before we went inside to find Jenna.
Crap. I was already in too deep. It was too late.
Just barely setting foot inside the building, Caroline stopped us by the door.
"Come on! Tribute with something," she urged, waving a box that seemed to work as some sort of cash register under my nose.
"I'm here working, that's enough," I scoffed and allowed my gaze to sweep over the room, on the lookout for Bella's platinum bob.
"Don't mind her," Elena defended me. "She's just a little cranky," my sister leaned in to whisper to her blonde friend, and both burst into laughter. Weird teenage girls. "I'll buy one for you, Parks," Elena continued teasingly, digging up some extra cash from her pocket. "Since it's for a good cause."
"You do that," I said absentmindedly, excusing myself when Matt approached. "Kennedy," I greeted with a nod as we passed. He responded with a roll of his eyes.
Moving through the Grill towards the staff room, I swept past the little scene that had attracted my attention earlier; Damon flirting with a smitten Mrs Lockwood, which made me want to throw up a little in my mouth. Mainly because I'd never liked the Lockwoods, since they all thought they were so much more important than the rest of the founding families, only because some of their ancestors had been mayors of this town during several different occasions. Well, screw them. And screw her!
After a quick stop to drop off my jacket and other few things, I made it to behind the bar just in time to see the fundraiser soon about to begin. When I was finished tying my hair up, Jenna dropped down on a stool in front of me with a thud.
"Here. Compliments from Elena." She handed me about a dozen tickets.
"You're kidding," I accepted them with great skepticism.
"I think she's trying to get you laid." Jenna smirked.
"Elena?" I checked. "Our Elena? Are you crazy!" Jenna just shrugged, keeping the smug smile on her face. "Shouldn't you be worried that someone's gonna steal your man?" I pointed out in an attempt to erase her stupid grin.
"That's why I've got these." Jenna swung her purse up onto the counter. It was filled to the max with about the double amount of tickets in comparison to what Elena had bought for me.
This was ridiculous! I just couldn't keep a straight face.
"Stop laughing!" Jenna scolded when I doubled over behind the bar. "This is war." That just made me laugh even more. Soon, I could feel tears begin to form in my eyes as my stomach and dimples started to ache. Slamming my fist into the floor to create some pain, I hoped that maybe that would stop my laughter. Bit it didn't help, and sadly I was beginning to attract some unwanted attention.
"Gilbert! Get yourself together," Bella seethed at me as she hurried past behind me. I tried, believe me, I really tried. But it was all just so hilariously comical and, well, plain crazy! Given, my humor could be a bit weird from time to time.
Unfortunately, Bella wasn't the only one who had heard my pouring laughter.
"What's so funny?" a silky smooth voice asked above me, making my laugh abruptly stop in my throat, almost to be turned into a cough. My gaze shot upwards, to be faced by Damon's blue eyes staring down at my place on the floor behind the bar. He raised his brows questioningly, and leaned back from the counter when I rose up.
"Nothing." I avoided his gaze by brushing off some dust from my clothes. They really needed to clean the floors here more thoroughly.
"What's that?" Damon asked and pointed at my tickets on the counter.
"Nothing," I repeated and quickly grabbed them, stuffing them behind the bar and out of sight. "What do you want?" I asked Damon's smirk with a fake smile plastered on my face. Jenna's curious gaze flew between us when Damon tilted his head to the side, pulling that face that could only mean he was feeling flirtatious. "Hang on," I said and held up a finger in front of him. "Jenna." I turned to my aunt. "Why don't you go and keep Elena company."
"But I'm really enjoying it here." She smiled meaningly at me.
"Go," I told her through gritted teeth. Jenna's strawberry blonde hair was thrown in a dramatic flip when she rose from her stool.
"Fine." She kept smiling as she made her way over to Elena, looking back at me over her shoulder every once in awhile. Ugh, she was being annoying today… My teeth remained gritted as I turned back to face Damon.
"Shouldn't you be up on the stage?" I snapped at him.
"Is someone bitter because they're afraid of losing the bidding?" Damon teased with a pout.
"Shut up."
"I hear the plumber's really attractive," he continued in an equally amused tone.
"Did you actually want something, or?" I questioned impatiently, tapping my fingers against the counter when he ignored me yet again.
"Or the history teacher. But maybe he's reserved for someone else…"
"There are other paying customers here, Damon. Scurry off, will ya?" I didn't even have to look around to know that my statement was wrong. The long row of stools by the bar were all empty, everyone had taken a place closer to the stage.
"I hear he's got a troubled past. Dead ex-wife and all." Wait, what?
"How did you know that?"
Damon just kept smiling at me teasingly. "'Cause I met her once. She was, hmm…" He seemed to carefully choose his following word. "Tasty." No he didn't! I stared at him, my mouth gaping. Elena would freak when she found out about this. Damon turned around and looked at the other bachelors, now making their way up onto the stage. "Duty calls," he told me with a wry smirk.
"Wait!" I threw myself over the counter to get a hold of him, but it was too late. Damon had already made his way halfway through the room. Dammit! A really bad feeling was nestling in my stomach, as if Damon was about to do something extremely stupid.
Unfortunately, I was right.
Bella didn't mind that I abandoned my place tending to the bar, there were no customers there anyway. Easily, I found Jenna and Elena by a round table, seating myself between them.
"You got your tickets?" Elena teased and elbowed my side with a grin. She threw a meaning look at Damon up on the stage. She wasn't going to support our possible relationship for very much longer.
Carol Lockwood began presenting the bachelors. It all proceeded rather uneventfully; that bachelor did this, the other one did that, this one liked that thing, blah, blah, blah.
Alaric was cute and a little awkward, but it only made Jenna's smile widen, as if saying 'he's mine!' During all this time, however, Damon kept eyeing me with that flirty sparkle in his eyes.
"Someone's staring," Elena whispered by my ear. I nudged her away, but she just kept grinning.
"That asshole should stop fooling around. I'm not interested," I said sternly.
"I think he heard you," Elena sniggered, nodding towards the man in question.
"Of course he did. That weasely vampire-gigolo doesn't know when to keep his nose, or maybe ears, out of other people's business," I bit off, smiling wryly when Damon pretended to put a hand over his 'hurt' heart. "Yeah, right."
"If this isn't your way of flirting, then I don't know what is," Elena mumbled beside me, and Damon's smirk grew. Wasn't he suppose to be heartbroken over Katherine? Or was this simply his way of rebounding?
"And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore," Carol said as she walked over to Damon with the microphone in her hand, flipping through her cue-cards. "We…don't have much on you." I noticed Elena leaning away to wave at someone behind my back, probably Stefan, but I was too focused on what was happening up on the stage to be sure. The rumbling, bad feeling in my stomach was growing stronger by the second. Damon was about to screw up. Badly.
"Well, I'm tough to fit on a card," he explained into the mic.
"Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?" Carol inquired.
"Oh, yeah. L.A., New York," he began listing nonchalantly. "Couple of years ago, I was in North Carolina. Near the Duke campus, actually." Damon turned to Alaric, as if he was just now realizing this. Oh boy… "I think—I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you, Ric?" Damon received a cold glare from the history teacher. "Yeah, 'cause I—I know your wife did." I could feel Elena tense up beside me; that would have erased her grin quite nicely. And rekindled her hatred for Damon, no doubt. "I had a drink with her once. She was—she was a great girl. I ever tell you that? 'Cause she was… Delicious. Mmm!"
Biting my lip, I turned to examine Elena's current state. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were blank.
"Are you okay?" Jenna asked, leaning over me to check on Elena more closely.
"I just need some air," Elena excused, her voice trembling slightly. Stefan was standing right behind us, and with one shared look of silent understanding he went after Elena whilst I turned to glare at Damon.
"Jeez!" Jenna breathed out beside me.
On the small stage, the show continued. However, Damon had been abandoned and Carol was now making smalltalk, building up the tension for the big reveal of which of the women had won which bachelor. Damon noticed my glares, raising his brows in question. As a response, I got up from my chair and moved towards the bathroom, never breaking our eye contact. He got the picture, slipped away unnoticed and followed me.
Feeling him follow, I walked around a corner and into an empty hallway, crossing my arms and preparing my absolute coldest glare as I awaited Damon's arrival.
"Wha– Ow!" Damon rubbed the back of his head. "What was that for?"
"Don't pretend like you didn't deserve it," I growled, wishing I'd punched him instead of just hitting him lightly in the head.
"What are you talking about?" Damon's brows furrowed. He sounded genuinely confused.
"Did you have to rub it in Alaric's face? Right now?" I sighed in frustration and threw my arms out. "Really?" Damon still looked perplexed as heck. "You know, Elena was this close–" I showed him a mere inch between my thumb and index finger. "–to approve of you. But nooo! You just had to go and ruin it!"
Damon's frown remained, even deepening. "Am I missing something here?"
"Thanks, Parks," Elena spoke up from behind Damon, her voice cold as ice. "But I think I got this one." Damon took a step aside, revealing both my sister and her shadow of a boyfriend next to her. If Elena's voice wasn't oozing off her cold and hostile attitude, then her posture definitely was; every little muscle in her body seemed tense to the max. "You know my birth mother, who gave me up? Her name was Isobel." Damon's face fell when he came to the realization. "So go ahead. Reminisce about how you killed her," Elena spat before making a dramatic exit. Although, I was pretty sure she wished she could have rammed into Damon's shoulder in the action, but he sadly wasn't in her escape path.
Even if I could have, I only shot Damon a cold glare as I walked past him. I refused to stick around long enough to hear what he might have to say; if he would even bother, with an apology or explanation. I doubted it.
Returning to the bar, I was just in time to see Jenna win her price: Alaric, that was. Carol announced that she was about to draw out who the winner of bachelor number five, Damon, putting her hand in a glass jar and shuffling around for a one of the tickets.
"37586!" she called out, spying around the bar after the lucky winner. No one made a move to accept their prize, not even as she repeated the victorious numbers. Weird.
A mess of red lottery tickets, stuffed in behind the bar, caught my eye. Right, the ones Elena had bought for me. I wondered… I began flipping through them whilst keeping an eye on the scene in front of me. Carol had moved on, since no one had declared themselves the winner, and the bachelor himself was nowhere to be found either. But I still wanted to know…
There! At the very back, I found a crumpled ticket with the numbers 37586 written on it, and held it up into the shady light, just to be sure.
Huh, what were the odds? I won.