Charlotte opened her eyes.

She realized quickly that she must have fallen asleep during her little remembrance of the man that Changed her. Slowly, she straightened herself up from the bed so that she was in a sitting position on its edge. She ran her hands through her long dark hair, expecting it to be awfully tousled. It wasn't- which was a surprise. She must have stayed in the same position throughout her sleep.

Charlotte stood up, stretching her body, walked over to her wardrobe, and looked in the mirror. She still looked made-up, but she now had panda-eyes; the sleep had ruined her eye make-up. She reached for the eyeshadow and eyeliner, but then thought- what the hell. The boys aren't gonna be back for ages- its just me. What's the point in putting on her make-up again?

Instead, she reached for her make-up wipes, and took every last scrap of her make-up off. She stripped off her clothes, and put on black sweats. She couldn't decide which top to put on- all her jumpers were tight fitting and showed off her body. After all that happened that night, she just wanted a baggy top and trousers and to collapse in front of the TV. Even a vampire- she was still a girl, and enjoyed those 'relaxation' moments.

She put on a shirt- even though she knew she was alone, she didn't want to wander the house half-naked- and went across the hall into Lee's room. Charlotte took a jumper out of his wardrobe, put it on, then walked back out the room. She figured he wouldn't mind, he wasn't going to be back for ages anyway.

Half an hour later, she was lying on the living room couch, watching TV, when she heard the door slam and Lee walked in the room. Charlotte sat up.

She heard his breath quicken at the sight of her.

"Hey, Charlotte. You left early."

She smirked at him.

"Yeah. Not really into that girl."

"Elena?" Lee asked, surprised.

"Yeah. She's a bit too...annoying."

Lee laughed nervously.

"Yeah, she can be that way sometimes. Her boyfriend, Stefan, is on the soccer team. He's quite nice. Sometimes I wonder why Elena hasn't ditched him yet. She normally breaks up with them after, like, two weeks."

Probably because she's too thick to notice how stupid he is.

"Hmmm."

Lee stood nervously, thinking of what to say, until he saw what Charlotte was wearing.

"Hey, you're wearing my top," he said, his eyes wide.

She looked down at it.

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't mind...you don't do you?" she looked up at him, her fingers touching the collar of the jumper.

"No, no. Of course I don't."

Silence.

"Are you going to stand there all night?" Charlotte asked. Lee was still standing awkwardly against the doorframe.

"Huh?"

"You gonna sit down?"

"Er, yeah, sure."

He walked over to the couch and sat down.

"Hey, isn't there beers in the fridge?" Charlotte asked Lee. Right- she thought. I want to get drunk and forget all that's happened tonight.

"Er, yeah, but they're Kian's beers."

She smirked at him. "Kian's not here. And anyway, I'll give them back. Someday." As if I will- she thought slyly.

"OK."

Lee got up to go get the beers, and Charlotte sat back into the couch, thinking about her brothers.

Would they come here? They better not- her mind snarled. What right do they have to come to my home and harass me about their petty little arguments they had with the big bad guys of the world? None.

"Charlotte."

She looked up, shocked. She'd been daydreaming again. Lee had several beers in his hands.

"Huh?"

"Did you hear what I said?

"No, I was daydreaming."

Lee looked at her strangely.

"Ooookay. Well, anyway, I was asking if we can put a movie on. This program's depressing."

She nodded, not remotely interested.

Lee handed her the beers. She was however, remotely interested in them, and opened one up for herself.

Lee sat down next to her- nearly causing her to spill her can of beer due to the thump of the sofa as he sat- and opened his own can. Christ- she thought. He's sitting far away from me isn't he?

"Scoot up if you want."

"What?" He looked alarmed.

She laughed.

"I'm not gonna bite you." Well, maybe I might..- she thought slyly.

"Er, okay."

He shifted himself slightly closer to her.

She sighed, and moved closer to him.

She heard him gulp.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently. But inside she was smirking.

"Nothing. Why would there be?"

"Nothing."
Now finding his awkwardness amusing, she leaned her head against his shoulder.

She felt him stiffen, then his head seemed to lean into hers.

"C'mon. Let's get totally pissed," she said, smiling and looking up at him mischievously.

An hour later, the awkwardness of Lee was forgotten, and they were both laughing and rolling around. Lee was feeling closer to her now, but Charlotte was still retreating from him. No-one was going to touch her heart again. But for now, she thought, she's just gonna get smashed.

"Okay, so, what was your mom like?" he asked, rolling around on the sofa.

"Dunno. She died before I knew her."

"Oops. Awkward moment settling in."

"It was a long time ago." Over five hundred years ago, actually.

They talked for around fifteen minutes about completely worthless stuff: the new fridge that Kian bought for the house, Lee's mother's cooking. Then, shockingly, after they had finished hysterically laughing about Lee's first time when he had to hide from the girl's father, he had leaned forward and kissed her.

It's not often a vampire got taken by surprise- Charlotte thought- but Lee had just done exactly that.

Just as she was getting used to the kiss, a blast of lightning came from outside the house. Lee bumped his head against the sofa, made a sound like 'huft', and pulled away from her.

Luckily- and with a little thanks to them being so drunk- there was no awkwardness. But Charlotte took a quick peek into his head, and found that the kiss wasn't a drink-fueled urge. Lee had wanted to do it.

"I've been wanting to do that for ages," Lee said, giving her a slightly lipsided smile- obviously due to the alcohol.

Charlotte smiled at him.

But inside she was screaming in anger and confusion over her having these feelings over him.

***

Lee fell asleep soon after that, and Charlotte sat with her legs against her chest with a bottle of half-finished vodka- they'd found two bottles in the cabinet under the fridge- and watched him. He wasn't as pretty as many of the other guys she'd been with, but he was by no means the slightest bit ugly.

She leaned her head back against the sofa. Was she falling in love? No, she couldn't be. Charlotte had never been in love, and never wanted to be.

After seeing what it did to her brothers...she thought love ruined people.

And it did.

But that feeling. That feeling she had when Lee's lips had come forward and met hers. She wouldn't have been able to explain it even if her life depended on it. Her heart had been beating rather fast, and she was hyper-aware of his closeness.

She wondered to herself if she had fallen in love with Klaus on the night she met him. She thought about him every day, and she frequently daydreamed about his body...he had a gorgeous body.

Charlotte leaned forward to place the vodka bottle on the table on front of her, then got up to go take a long, hot shower. After that, she brushed her teeth so she wouldn't have even a touch of the smell of alcohol.

Climbing into her bed, she pulled the covers tight around her, and fell asleep to the smell of soap and shampoo.

And woke up to the smell of burning.

***

What was happening? Were the straighteners still on? Had one of the boys burned some toast again?

No. No it can't be!

It was a real fire.

Unlike most things, fire was deadly to vampires. Of course, she could leg it out of the window, but the boys were still in the house. Lee was still in the house.

Charlotte jumped up from her sleeping position and ran to the door. Pulling it open, a wave of smoke fell over her, making her cough. It wasn't too thick, thank god, and she could still see the stairs. She could she small flames coming from the bottom of the stairs, traveling upwards. Lee was in that room!

She gasped, and ran into Kian's room; not there. Then she ran into Sam's room. Not there either. Had they hooked up with girls? Collapsed drunk at the blonde girl Elena's house?

Or were the downstairs?

She took a deep breath, and walked slowly down the stairs, getting closer and closer to the flames...

Almost the entire room was on fire smoke rising from the rug, walls, and basically everywhere.

"Lee!" she shouted, putting a hand up to her face to try and protect herself from the smoke.

He wasn't on the couch. He wasn't on the floor. He wasn't upstairs. Where the hell was everybody?

But suddenly, she couldn't think anymore. Too much smoke had entered her lungs; she could feel it in her chest. Dizziness swarmed over her, and she fell. She lay on her back, now knowing her life was at an end. Then suddenly blackness fell over her and she knew no more.