AUGUST 2003
"Anyway, that's why we're having a Terminator marathon."
"So it's a political statement, ey?"
"Something like that. But I'll see you later, babe." Tim placed a quick kiss on my lips, before joining his buddies waiting for him by the entrance to the school. With my chin resting in the palm of my hand, I watched his back as it moved further and further away. Or, more correctly, I watched his ass.
"How cute," Tanya commented from my side, not doing much to hide her bitterness as she licked the ice cream off her spoon.
"Be nice," I warned, clicking my tongue. When she raised her gaze from her chocolate ice cream to glare at me, I only winked.
"Remind me why I'm here again," Tanya sighed, once a group of giggling 14 year olds had bought half our ice cream storage.
"Because you love helping out your best friend, whose Mom loves to sign her up for random charity events," I replied, rolling out another scoop of cookie dough ice cream to hand it to a little blonde girl with big, round green eyes, who looked to be about my little sister's age.
"Juliette!" a woman called over the crowd that the fair had gathered, several heads turning to watch as the new Principal closed in on our petty stand. "You know that you're not allowed to eat sweets on weekdays," she scolded her daughter.
"Relax, Suzanne." I ignored Tanya's warning gaze to my left, her blue eyes sparkling as she shook her head frantically, gesturing with her finger slitting her throat open. "It's Friday! One little treat can't hurt." I winked at the little blonde, who beamed back at me with the widest smile I had ever seen.
"Don't push your luck, miss Gilbert," Principal Walters spoke coldly. "Your mother may have recommended you for this, but your reputation from school is not forgotten."
My smile faded completely when the blonde woman shot her nose up into the air, grabbing her little daughter's hand to drag her away through the crowd. On her way, she almost rammed a handsome young man with curly, light brown hair cut short, wearing a tight, sky blue t-shirt.
"Incoming," Tanya leaned in to whisper, her almond brown mane tickling my cheek.
"Shut up," I whispered back, repositioning my smile as the hot guy stopped before our table. "Can I interest you in some chilling ice cream this fine, sunny day?" I offered with a grand gesture towards our stash of flavors.
"Depends," Mason Lockwood pondered. "Are friends given a discount?"
At Tanya's scoff, I shot out my elbow, aiming for her ribs. A grunt told me that I had hit my target.
"Sorry. Mom will slaughter me," I deplored with a pout.
"It's fine." The most adorable little laugh lines formed around his blue eyes. "I know the feeling…" he chuckled, with a shake of his head. "Carol," he informed my frown.
"Right." I nodded.
Mason leaned over the glass counter, close enough to invade my so called 'personal space' with a flirtatious smile. "I'll have the lemon ice cream then."
"Coming right up," I responded with an equally flirty smirk.
From her stool, Tanya only stared openly as the eye-fucking continued, even when I scooped up the ice cream. When handing him the paper cup containing a big ice cream sphere, our fingers stroked against each other briefly as Mason took it. At the touch, a spark of electricity shot through my body. I just couldn't hold back the beam anymore.
"Thanks." Mason's wry grin tattled that he had felt the very same spark as well.
"Anytime." I smiled back with a tilt of my head, preparing for his hand to graze mine again when he handed over the money. I was not disappointed.
It seemed as if Mason was about to say something else, but a quick glance to my left shut his mouth rapidly. I was pretty sure I knew the cause.
"I'll see you later, Parks," he excused and backed away, giving me one last grin.
"Yeah…"
Once Mason was out of sight, I twirled my head to the left. Innocently, Tanya licked her plastic spoon clean, which by now could only have managed to gather melted ice cream from her paper goblet.
"Care to explain?" I inquired with my arms folded over my chest.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tanya said simply, moving to cough into the bend of her bronze arm.
"Don't even try," I snorted.
"Okay!" Tanya folded with a raise of her hands, and I could happily retreat from my position of towering over her as she sat on the only little stool that had come with the stand. "I may not like Tim all that much–"
"Clearly," I scoffed.
"But that doesn't mean I condone the obvious eye-fucking."
"Why do you care?" I waved off a scrawny looking boy who had attempted to charm me for a free scoop of ice cream five times only during the past half hour.
"It's your life, Parks," Tanya responded with a shrug. "But if you ask me, you should just send Tim packing and go all in with Mason instead."
"It's complicated," I sighed as I gave the young boy the finger to bang in the message. He finally surrendered and left to be swallowed by the crowd.
"Whatever," Tanya spoke. She leaned forward to retrieve another scoop of ice cream, doing everything in her power to remain sitting whilst eyeing me with puppy eyes. With a roll of my eyes, I scooped up another sphere of the creamy chocolate before handing the paper cup back to her. "I'm just saying that he isn't the most faithful rooster in the hen, if you know what I mean."
"Because it's Tim's faithfulness that makes him so hot and popular. Clearly the reason I date the guy," I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Tanya chuckled. "Just putting it out there; he's a cheating douche." She pointed her red plastic spoon at me. "You can do better."
"Gee, thanks! That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me." I placed my hand over my heart, pretending to wipe a tear from the corner of my eye. "I'm touched!" I ducked for a napkin and stuck my tongue out at Tanya's glare.
"I mean it."
"I know you do," I responded, earnestly this time. "But Tim's got booze and I'm going with the 'innocent until proven guilty' thing."
"Mistake," Tanya commented, before swallowing another spoon full of chocolate.
"Noted. But it's easier like this." I grabbed a waffle cone to scoop up some of the oreo ice cream for myself. "Mason is too involved in my mom's cute community world and I'm not gonna get wrapped up in it as well. I'm getting out of this town as soon as possible," I said, empathizing the last part.
"You and me both." Tanya held up her paper cup for a toast, and I met it with my cone.
Returning the smile, I turned to watch the pulsing crowd before me, the only breaking of the pattern kids running around and screaming with joy when they saw another stand stock full of colorful candy.
Everywhere, everybody greeted everybody with a big beam. Everyone knew everyone. The mere thought made me want to barf all over the little community. No matter what I did, I would forever be the troubled eldest daughter of the perfect Gilbert couple. But mark my words: I would get out of this town. No matter what it would take.
"What am I even doing here?"
"Stop whining and help me with the food." Jenna placed a big, transparent, plastic box filled with vegetables from the fridge in front of me on the light kitchen counter. "Make yourself useful and fix the salad."
"So I have to do it just because I'm the vegetarian? You could grill some vegetables for me, you know!" I called after my aunt's back, as she disappeared through the back door and out into the yard. "Great…"
"Having fun?" Elena asked as she entered the kitchen with her bag thrown over her shoulder, without a doubt containing the book with the letters spelling out Petrova on the back. Knowing my sister, she had been busy reading up on her crazy doppelgänger at every chance she got.
"No," I grumpily responded and began picking up lettuce and other vegetables from the box, throwing them onto the kitchen island as reluctantly as humanly possible.
Elena placed her elbows on the counter opposite from me, leaning forward with a serious expression. "Is this about–"
"Whatever name you're gonna say, Damon or Mason, then no. I just don't like barbecues," I stated. Pulling out a sharp knife, I began chopping up the many different greens violently.
"Okay then…" Elena drew back, her brows raised at my chopping.
"Elena! You're back," Jenna greeted my little sister as she returned from the backyard. "The meat is looking good," she informed, then cast a worried glance my way. "Calm it with the harassing of the veggies, sweetie."
With a gruff sound, I dropped the knife and grabbed onto the counter, to the point that I felt my hands go numb. If it wasn't abundantly clear, I was not psyched about Mason and Damon coming to this thing; the latter one recently informing Elena that he would use this dinner to once and for all prove Mason's werewolfism. Thanks to my sister's quick texting, I'd received that piece of information beforehand, giving me some time to process it. Though apparently not enough.
"You sure you're okay?" Elena double-checked, Jenna mimicking my sister's concern with a tilt of the head and crossing of her arms.
"I'm meeting an ex! I haven't gone mental or anything." I picked up the knife from the cutting board made of wood and continued chopping up the lettuce as Elena and Jenna shared a look. "I'm not gonna snap," I informed them, perhaps waving the knife around a little too vigorously. Maybe that was why my sister and aunt both took a cautious step back.
"Okay, you're done," Jenna stated after carefully closing in on me, slipping the knife from my grip. "Sit. Elena, give the woman some chips."
Surprisingly, my sister followed instructions without any questions asked, placing a green bowl filled with potato chips in front of me. The strawberry blonde and the brunette kept staring at me as I shoved the first fist filled with crunchy goodness into my mouth.
"Quit staring at me like I'm crazy!" I commanded, my words being a little indistinct due to the chips not yet swallowed. "Talk about normal stuff or something." Hugging the bowl, I reached to grab another fistful from it.
Elena threw one glance at my protective behavior of the bowl, before she took another one out to fill it up for the rest of the guests. Jenna deemed the salad basically finished, gathering my chopped vegetables in a nice, see-through, glass bowl. Placing it on the dining table, she proceeded with setting the rest of the table as well.
"Thanks for letting me invite Caroline," Elena directed towards Jenna, as our aunt sat down the newly filled bowl of chips. "She could use a day of distraction." When my sister bravely tried to reach to have a taste of my crispy heaven, I slapped her hand away with a hiss.
"Well, she's not the plus one I'm worried about." Jenna returned from setting the table to stand next to Elena, observing me from across the kitchen island. "Why is Damon coming?" Good question.
"Because Alaric is a pity taker," Elena explained. As I scoffed, she managed to grab a chip. Gasping, I stared at my sister in horror, ignoring Jenna's amused grin. "Come on Jenna, be nice."
"I thought we agreed that he's hot and I should go for it?" I cut in, earning an eyeroll from my aunt.
"We did. But that doesn't automatically mean that I like him. At least not when Mason's in town," she responded, also managing to grab a chip from right under my nose as well. Damn! I was slipping.
"I forgot how much you used to ship us," I sighed, giving up on my attempts at keeping the bowl with chips for myself, instead sliding it towards the middle of the kitchen island.
"Me and your mom," Jenna pointed out.
My attempted eyeroll caused me to see him before he said a word, sweeping in through the door with a bottle in one hand and four shot glasses in the other, a huge grin plastered on the face with the familiar features.
"Good news! I found the shot glasses!" Mason declared happily, his open jeans shirt flowing a bit behind him. I froze, gulped, and tried to get some kind of contact with my sister.
"That would be my exit," Elena declared to my ex gliding in, getting up from the table. As she went to leave, I silently cursed after her.
"You're here 10 minutes and I'm already back under the bleachers at the pep rally," Jenna laughed, throwing me a quick glance from across the counter. As Mason threw his arm around my aunt's shoulders, she made a discreet gesture with her hand by bringing it to her chin. Getting the hint, I immediately snapped my jaws shut.
"Like old times, huh?" His blue gaze raised to met mine for a split-second, and my heart missed a beat in sheer surprise. "Only I didn't swipe this bottle from my old man," Mason beamed back at Jenna, as he began to fill the shot glasses up to the max.
"I'm pretty sure that I recognize the label," I spoke up, stretching my neck to get a clear view of the bottle.
"Well, just don't tell Carol that I broke into their stock." At Mason's wink, some leftover feelings from my teenage years reacted by digging its claws into the depth of my stomach.
Jenna's beam was enormous, and as Alaric entered through the backdoor with a plate of freshly grilled meat in his hands, I was actually glad, as it averted her attention from gazing between me and Mason with a meaning look and a smug smile.
"Ah! The expensive stuff! I like you already," Alaric chimed as he joined my side of the kitchen island, saving me from the undivided attention.
"Just happy to be invited." Mason's gaze on me was hard to miss, even as I only stared at the content Jenna.
"Thank Ric, it was his idea," my aunt said.
"Really?" I spoke in choir with Mason, suppressing the urge to respond to his smile as we both noticed the coincidence.
"Yeah, you know, I thought it would be nice to meet some of Jenna's high school friends. Dig up a little dirt," Alaric responded.
"You don't need him for that," I scoffed, pointing my thumb towards Mason whilst turning to face Ric.
"Hey, I've got dirt too!" Mason chipped in, smirking as he poured up the final shot glass, handing it to me. Hesitating, my gaze flickered from his face, ignoring Jenna, until I finally accepted it. With the light graze of his fingers against mine sending a sparking through me, I pulled my hand back swiftly. Some of the content spilled out on the floor in the process. Although no one despite me, and maybe Mason, seemed to notice the occurrence.
"I have no secrets. Only dirty shame," Jenna stated, raising her tiny glass for a toast.
"To dirty shame," Alaric agreed with a mischievous smile.
Everyone brought their glasses together to cause a clinking sound, before emptying them in a quick swig. Although, I nearly choked on the strong liquid as a figure dressed in black just then entered the room behind Mason and Jenna.
Damon greeted everyone with a simple, "Hey."
"Damon," was Jenna's only response, not trying to hide her dissatisfaction with him. At all.
With a cough, I called on her attention, reminding my aunt of who had the right to act rude here. However, instead, it made both of the men who I wanted nothing more than to avoid turn their attention, right towards me.
"We were just doing shots. Let me give you a shot glass, buddy," Alaric called from my right, as Damon made a gesture at the box from the Grill in his hands, a pie painted on it. It didn't make Jenna look any happier.
"Use mine." I walked around the right side of the kitchen island, avoiding Mason as thoroughly as possible, before handing the empty shot glass to Damon. His hand went up to take the glass from me as I pushed it against his chest, and the same kind of claws in my stomach dug in again, resonating through my entire my body.
Quickly, I shook the feeling off, as I felt every pair of eyes in the room stare right at me. It had me leaving as fast as I possibly could, without it seeming too suspicious.
MARCH 2005
The English lecture felt as if it had been going on for hours! Emma Cartwright's words had since long melted together, leaving my ears only able to listen to the changes of melody in her voice.
Instead of staring at her red, pixie cut, curly hair bounce up and down as she walked back and forth in front of the whiteboard, gesturing with her hands in that elaborate way of hers to be as clear as possible, my eyes drifted to watch the yard outside. A nice view of a big, green lawn and a parking lot, surrounded by a few thick leaf trees, met my gaze. Along with a familiar figure standing by a black, shiny jeep. My head shot up from resting in my palm to get a better look, as my heart instantly swelled up with warmth.
This day just turned better.
The large, round, white clock on the wall above the door had slowly been moving towards 3PM. Now, it lingered only inches away from the inevitable sound that would mark the end of yet another school day.
Come on! One more little push. Off you pop!
The smallest one of the two black needles on the clock finally moved. The loud, familiar signal echoed through the school, filling the classroom.
Biting back my beam, I quickly shuffled all my belongings together, shoving them into my beige shoulder bag, hanging on the back of my chair. The rest of the students lingered for one obvious reason; no one wanted to hurry away from Emma's class.
Well, everyone except for me.
The perfect, cursive handwriting on the board spelled out something that looked like a homework assignment, but I ignored it as I hurried past Emma's blue gaze.
"Miss Gilbert, may I have a word with you?" she called after me in her smooth, British accent as I swept past her desk.
"Not now, Em. I've got a hot date waiting." With a wink, I was out the door before she could come with any compelling arguments to why I should stay. Even though there was none.
Feet pattering against the stone, I made my way down the steps from the school's main building in a jumpy manner. Right up until I stopped before the handsome guy wearing a grey, tight t-shirt that showed off his very familiar and sculptured muscles underneath.
"Wow." I let out a whistle, my hand naturally going to cup his cheek. "So this is why you've been so busy the past month." With a nod at the car, I placed a quick kiss on his soft lips, I enjoyed the pleasurable spark of electricity that action still sent through my body, a few days old bristle scratching my cheek as I drew back to meet the blue gaze.
"Well, I'm all yours now," Mason chuckled, moving to wrap his arm around my waist, leaving it to remain there as we both turned to watch the car before us. It looked recently polished, reflecting the sun's rays beautifully.
"Nice work," I commented, resting my head on Mason's shoulder. Soon, I felt him return the favor by placing his head atop of mine. "But I'm glad you're done with it, so that you'll have more spare time on your hands." Speaking, I drew a circle with my forefinger on his chest, feeling the shaky sigh it caused as Mason's chest quickly raised and sank under my hand.
"You wanna take it for a spin?" Mason offered, removing his head from resting on top of mine, to meet my gaze.
"I'd love to," I smirked, about to walk towards the passenger's seat when Mason's hand pulled me back, making me crash into his embrace.
"No." Grabbing my hand, he pushed cold metal making up a set of car keys into my hand. "You drive."
"Oh?" At my raised brows, Mason's smile widened. Since he still held the keys pressed to my skin, I responded to the offer with another – more intense – kiss.
With Dad rarely letting me drive the family's car – probably thinking that I'd be irresponsible and crash it or something – Mason's trust, being literally placed in my hand, meant a lot more to me than I let on as we jumped into the car and took off.
The wind whizzed against the vehicle's smooth surface as I stepped on the gas, causing my heart race along with the car. The intoxicating rush of adrenaline flowed through my body, and made every nerve warm up.
Bleak shadows were cast from the big leaf trees along the road as we drove through an alley, an empty countryside spreading out beyond the greenness. Happily, I yelled out in ecstasy with Mason's voice backing me up. It had been a while since I'd felt this true rush of happiness soar through me. I'd missed it.
Pushing the gas down a little further, I felt the car enhance its speed as much as the exhilarating feeling spread through my body. Momentarily, my hand abandoned the gearshift to grab the smiling Mason's hand, to squeeze it tightly.
"How's it going?" Elena asked as I entered the kitchen again, having just escaped a loud game of pictionary being played in the living room.
"PUPPY! PUPPY WITH A TUTU!" Caroline's shout came through the tv-room, reaching my ears.
"They're taking this a little too seriously," I informed, rubbing my still aching ears with a sigh.
"And how's–"
"Otherwise it's all good," I interrupted Elena. As she frowned, I pointed at my ears, mouthing vamp-hearing.
"Oh." My sister nodded. "Right."
"Need help with that?" I moved to take her place of retrieving Damon's peach cobbler from its box.
"Eh– thanks?" The confused Elena allowed me to take her place by the kitchen island.
"Anything to escape that," I explained with a sigh, nodding towards the living room.
Although my plan didn't work as long as I'd hoped, since a certain drop-dead gorgeous, but still very much murderous, vampire entered the kitchen soon after.
"Aunt Jenna is getting tipsy," Damon declared smugly as he walked past the eye-rolling Elena, who had decided to take up my chips eating across from me, her back facing the group of board game players in the next room.
"Maybe you should stop slipping her alcohol," I suggested, lifting up the pie from its box. Damon moved to stand behind me.
"I want her to like me," Damon enlightened, a purr in my ear. Whether I liked it or not, his body's presence very close to my back was extremely noticeable.
"How is operation Lockwood?" Elena inquired.
"Did you–" The beginning of Damon's sentence was again uttered just by my ear.
"Yeah, Elena informed me of your little plan," I interrupted, trying to ignore the shudder that his mere presence caused. "Just don't try to stake him or something."
"He's a werewolf, Parks. Not a vampire," Damon corrected me. "And he's my new BFF," he answered Elena's question, stopping to stand close enough for my hip to touch his side.
Ignoring my sister's hard gaze trying to pry some information about Damon's behavior out of me, I merely shrugging as a response. It was Damon. Flirting and invading people's personal space was kind of his thing. There was only so many times I could shove him away. Or find the strength for it.
"There you are." Jenna walked into the kitchen. "Isn't this fun?"
"I can think of better–"
"Yes, thank you so much for inviting me," Damon interrupted my muttering as Elena gave me an equally silencing look, before swallowing a potato chip.
"Did I have a choice?" Jenna retorted. As they continued their bickering, I moved away to find something to cut the pie with, unable to help the roll of my eyes as I locked gazes with my sister.
"I know what you must think about me," Damon began.
"No, you don't," Jenna cut off. "You've never dated you; I have dated many you's."
"Well, I'm a work in progress," Damon admitted.
At my short whistle, Jenna turned around, accepting the cake slicer I handed her. Almost instantly, Damon's gaze flickered from it to the stand of similar matching cutlery I had taken the cake server from.
"Oh!" He moved to investigate as I side-stepped to stand next to my sister instead, who seemed troubled, her forehead in creases. "These are fancy."
"Thanks. My mother's silver set," Jenna said. Elena's frown deepend.
She leaned forward, to glance past my figure. Following her gaze, I was just in time to see Damon pick up a silvery knife from the set with a wry smirk. Elena and I shared a quick look, deciding silently to get to work, before she engaged in a lively conversation with Jenna. Whilst I closed the space between me and Damon.
"Yeah, like that's gonna work," I whispered with a hiss, making sure to stand so that I blocked any of Jenna's potential peering looks, nodding at the knife in Damon's hands. "But sure! Go ahead and try."
Even though silver weakening werewolves was as much of a myth as the garlic thing about vampires, I was honestly still curious if Mason actually had activated the gene. Or curse, as the werewolf bunch liked to call it. Damon's attempts at proving him would be useless, but what harm could come of it? If Mason indeed had triggered the curse, then his behavior when Damon started to try out all the werewolf myths might be enough to give away the truth.
"Are you giving me permission to use this?" Damon teased as I realized my mistake statement.
"Scratch that. Don't stab anyone," I warned with a strict finger, earning another smirk from Damon. It didn't exactly ease my bad feeling.
"Thank you for helping," Elena commented with a huff, as she struggled to close the massive notebook which had been used for the pictionary earlier.
"You're welcome," I answered from my place in an orange armchair, my feet resting comfortably on the coffee table as I took a swig from my beer.
"Hiding out from Mason?" Caroline inquired. Besides from her obviously being different due to turning into a vampire, something else just felt… off about the blonde today. But for the sake of the party, I tried to shrug off the uneasiness.
"Careful, Care. Too much gossip might kill you." I winked, before attempting to take another gulp from the bottle, only to realize that it was very much empty. "You girls proceed," I instructed, waving at Caroline trying to shove all the colorful markers back into their package. Jumping up from my chair, I left them to move through the tv-room and into the dining and kitchen area.
The 'grownups' had taken place by the dark, dining table, set with plates and ready for the desert; it would seem as if my track record for escaping chores today was getting better and better. The pie with the silver cake slicer had been placed before Mason, probably by Damon. But instead of the silver handle facing the potential werewolf, it laid in the opposite direction as Mason was licking his fingers clean after clearly having taken his piece of pie only using his hands.
"Still a slob, I see," I commented as I took the free place next to Mason, grabbing one of the unopened beer bottles from the table to claim it as my own. But as I reached for a bottle opener, I could only state that there was none in sight. Hiding the bottle underneath the table, I removed the little cap using my hand; it hurt a bit, yes, but it was very effective.
"I apologize, I'm an animal," Mason laughed. He was met with suspicious looks from both Damon and Alaric.
Damon's smile grew strained as he gave me a meaning glance, sitting down opposite from me and Mason. As conversation continued, I immediately came to regret the seating. And the entire situation, really.
"So, Mason, you and Jenna never dated?" Alaric asked from the end of the table.
Mason cleared his throat, throwing a quick glance my way, which I could have sworn Damon noticed. But before anyone could say or remark on anything, Jenna appeared from the kitchen with two cups of coffee in her hands.
"Oh, he always had his eyes set on someone else. Right, Mason?" Jenna winked, causing me to choke on my beer. Coughing violently, I waved off attempts of offering me some water to ease my throat, urging for the conversation to continue without me as I dared take another sip from my bottle.
"And she was always lost in Logan Fell land," Mason teased back as I tried to take deep, calming breaths.
"My first mistake. Mason was a catch; he had girls lining up. But like I said–"
"We got it, Jenna," I interrupted my aunt with a stern glare, and kept it on her strawberry blonde head as she moved back to the kitchen island to retrieve something else with a content smile. "Mason was a real womanizer." That evoked a genuine laugh from him, seated next to me.
"Really?" Damon ignored the bickering between me and my aunt to comment on the statement she had uttered before I interrupted. "Huh, I always pegged you for a lone wolf," he directed for Mason.
"I'm sure I wasn't half the lady killer you were," Mason retorted. This time, I almost choked on my beer for a very different reason. I even had to bite into my fist to smother the laughter from escaping me, all whilst I ignored Damon's narrowed glare thrown my way. "How about a toast?" Mason cut in, drawing away Damon's attention from me. "To new friends."
Mason's elbow nudged my side, urging me to raise my bottle. Reluctantly, I did just that, whilst almost being able to touch the strained tension in the air between the vampire and the potential werewolf.
"Cheers!" Jenna exclaimed happily, smiling at me knowingly.
My previous laugh died in my throat. Her constant hints, the tension, Mason's as well as Damon's presence! It was too much at once. I just couldn't take it anymore.
"Excuse me," I said, my throat dry and my voice a croak. Placing the beer bottle on the table with a loud thud, without even taking a sip first, I abruptly got up to leave. Ignoring Damon's look of furrowed brows. He'd probably heard my heartbeat picking up.
"Wait, Parks!" Jenna called after me. But I was already halfway up the stairs.
Distantly, another, familiar voice said, "I got it."