A/N: Is anyone under the impression that I'm writing too fast? Because I am lol But I'm going to keep it up for as long as I can, i.e. until RL starts interfering ;) Thank you SO MUCH for your stunning reviews! :):):)
Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries belongs to L.J. Smith & CW.
Chapter 6
Perplexed, Bonnie shifted her eyes to Jeremy and with a twinge of anxiety acknowledged that he looked alarmingly pale, which rather defied her initial thought that she might've only imagined seeing Elena's skin burn for a few seconds.
"We have to get out of here," Jeremy whispered, glancing around, noticing that everyone in the cafeteria was looking at them. "Now," he added, giving Bonnie a desperately pleading look and then looking at Damon whose attention was fully focused on Elena.
More worried than confused, Damon was hurriedly wiping the water off Elena's face, suspecting that there must've been something in her glass. There really wasn't any other rational explanation for water to burn her skin.
"Is everything alright?" Amanda suddenly appeared next to their table, looking between the four of them with concern. However, after a quick assessment of the situation, concern seemed to fade off her face and turn into cold alertness.
"She just choked on water-" Bonnie tried to explain, but stopped abruptly in mid-sentence when to her dismay, instead of helping Elena, Amanda grabbed two glasses and splashed even more water over Elena – and some over Jeremy.
The water didn't have any effect on Jeremy, Elena, however, screamed and Bonnie's eyes widened almost to the point of no return at the sight of Elena's skin actually catching fire from water. People in the cafeteria began screaming, jumping off their seats and running to the door in panic.
"Why the hell did you do this?!" Damon shouted, completely shocked by Amanda's actions, dousing the fire on Elena's skin with his bare hands. "Elena!" he whispered, horrified, wincing at the pain she must be feeling, but then stilling his movements for just a second when he realized that Elena's scorched skin was healing all by itself almost immediately, blisters closing, burnt flesh regaining its natural texture and color. He drew a sharp breath, astonished but relieved, his hands flying up to very gently cup Elena's face. "Are you OK?" He asked breathlessly, his eyes wide from worry.
Elena nodded quickly, trying to decide on the best way of getting out of this predicament.
"Get away from her!" Amanda cried out. "All of you! She's not human! She's a monster!"
Unable to even comprehend what she was hearing, Bonnie stared at Jeremy who knocked Amanda down to the floor when a syringe flashed in her hand.
"Get Elena out of here!" Jeremy screamed.
Damon blinked, his mind reeling, but he didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed Elena's hand and ran with her to the door.
Bonnie shifted her terrified gaze between them and Jeremy, not knowing what to do, whether she should stay or follow them and what exactly was going on anyway.
"No!" Amanda yelped, pushing Jeremy away and making to follow Damon and Elena. "She'll kill you!
Bonnie looked after her, a single, quick, abstract thought springing to her mind, that she didn't want Damon and Elena to get hurt. Bonnie's eyes flickered to Amanda's feet and then, for no viable reason whatsoever, Amanda tripped. Bonnie frowned at the strangely firm conviction that somehow she had caused it, but she didn't have much time to dwell on that, because Jeremy grabbed her hand and pulled her with him toward the other door.
"What's going on here?!" Bonnie demanded, considering snatching her hand free, but not doing it, because for some inexplicable reason she felt a sudden rush of trust toward this boy she had technically known for half an hour. What was even more bizarre, was that this situation reminded her of something. The fear she felt... or rather the fear she didn't feel... It was as if she knew she should be afraid, but she wasn't. Also, every time Jeremy adjusted his hold on her hand she... remembered, for the lack of a better word, that she could trust him.
"I told you it's not easy to explain," Jeremy replied, glancing at Bonnie over his shoulder as they continued running across the bright hospital corridors.
"Not easy?" Bonnie snorted dryly, sliding her fingers in between his without even thinking about it. "You mean there actually is an explanation for all of that? That's awesome."
They turned around the corner into another hallway, but had to start running into the opposite direction when a couple of white-clad people emerged from the elevator and began chasing them. Bonnie marveled inwardly at the utter ridiculousness of what was suddenly happening around her.
"We need to get out of the building," Jeremy said, squeezing Bonnie's hand in his. "Can we get out through the roof?"
"How can I know?" Bonnie asked, peering over her shoulder at the growing number of people running after them. She always found scenes like that unsettling in the movies, but in the reality they were downright creepy.
"I thought you might've done some exploring," Jeremy said, flashing Bonnie a smile when they reached a closed-off staircase and began climbing the stairs, taking two steps at a time. "Don't tell me you spent three months just watching TV with Damon."
"We did some exploring together," Bonnie said, briefly wondering if they would've been able to run faster if they weren't holding hands, but she quickly dismissed the idea. "But it's not like I was jotting down escape routes for future reference. We threw a low-profile pajama party on the roof only once," she added with a shrug.
Jeremy shot her an odd look over his shoulder and then laughed under his breath.
"What?" Bonnie demanded with a frown.
"Don't tell Caroline about that," Jeremy offered in an amused tone. "She'd never give you a break."
"Why? "Bonnie asked, wrinkling her nose as they made their way to the top and got onto the roof through a small door. "Who is Caroline?"
xxxdelenaxxx
"Have we just..." Caroline looked around the large space, taking in the ornate wooden furniture and the high ceiling. She had no memory of the last few seconds, just a blur of colors and the next thing she knew they weren't in Stefan's apartment anymore.
"Been teleported to New Orleans," Davina finished the sentence for her, gracefully stepping in front of them.
"And who the hell are you?" Caroline asked impatiently. "I'm so tired of people appearing out of nowhere thinking it makes them intimidating or something," she muttered, glancing at Stefan whose good mood was apparently unwavering and allowed him to just wordlessly nod his agreement to Caroline's words, a glimpse of humor flickering in his eyes. "It's actually pretentious," Caroline said loudly, sending a glare Davina's way.
"I'm going to make sure that Klaus won't ever hurt anyone again," Davina said with confidence that sounded as unshaken as misguided, if only because of how imperious the girl's voice was.
"That's an admirable goal," Stefan said, squinting, "however, and don't take it the wrong way, helping Mikael, for whatever reason, is very, very, very stupid."
"Yes, Mikael is fifty times worse than Klaus!" Caroline exclaimed in an impetuous manner, crossing her arms over her chest. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Stefan glance at her in a way that almost made her laugh. She cleared her throat. "Or... at least... ten times worse," she amended.
"I'd say eight," Stefan said with a completely straight face in a speculative voice, as if he was genuinely trying to come up with the best estimation. "And a half," he added after a moment of consideration, tilting his head from side to side and it took all of Caroline's self-control not to chortle.
"He's just using you," Caroline said with a disdainful smile, looking unblinkingly at Davina and trying to put herself into a combative mood, because she didn't think that they were going to get out of this situation unscathed if they made being silly their survival method of choice.
"Maybe I'm using him," Davina said with a trace of annoyance in her voice.
"Good for you," Caroline chirped sourly. "Now could you continue using each other and kindly leave us out of it?"
"Hey, don't be rude to her!"
Caroline and Stefan looked to their right only then noticing that they weren't alone in what looked like a large attic. Two more people, a man who had just spoken and a fragile-looking woman were standing in the other side of the room.
"And you're what, a Stockholm Syndrome case?" Caroline snapped at Marcel who was glaring at her.
"Davina, you don't want to be doing all that," Camille said in a calm, pleading voice, her eyes fixed on the young witch. She started walking toward her, but stopped when Davina averted her eyes from her and took a step back.
"Mikael doesn't control me. I'm controlling him," Davina said haughtily, looking Caroline straight in the eye. "And in case you wondered," she said, thrusting up her chin and slightly pursing her lips. "This room is under a spell, so don't even think about leaving it." She turned on her heels and left the room, locking the door behind her.
"Funny, that's exactly what I wanted to start thinking about," Stefan said with a thin smile. Caroline sighed, glaring daggers at the door. "But if this room is under a spell, why did she lock the door?" Stefan mused out loud when Davina's footsteps quieted down.
"She's very powerful. Don't underestimate her," Marcel said in a grim, solemn voice.
Caroline's head turned into his direction. "I hate to break this to you, but judging from the fact that you're locked up here, it seems that she isn't as much into you as you're into her."
Marcel narrowed his eyes at Caroline in annoyance. "You don't know anything about me or her, so you might want to stop with ridiculous insinuations."
"She isn't a bad person," Camille cut in, catching Caroline's gaze. "She thinks she's doing the right thing."
Caroline laughed derisively. "Sure."
"If Damon is human, then maybe Bonnie is a witch again," Stefan suddenly said in a low voice, staring thoughtfully into the distance.
Caroline's attention was immediately drawn back to him. "What do you mean?"
"They seem to have reverted back to their original... forms, so to speak, right?"
"Right," Caroline said with a gasp. "Bonnie could get us out of here! If she remembered how to be a witch," she added after a pause, her enthusiasm dwindling. "Even if Elena and Jeremy told her everything, would she believe them? And even if she believed them, would she know what to do? Before, she had her Grams to guide her and now she doesn't even have a Shane," Caroline said dejectedly.
"Considering everything that happened, maybe we should give her more credit," Stefan said cautiously. "I hope Alaric just went ahead and flew to them," he added after a pause.
Caroline stifled a groan. "If we only had a phone."
"I have a phone."
Caroline's eyes flew to Camille who gave her a small smile and produced the phone out of her pocket. "I don't really have anyone to call, though," she said with a humorless smile, blinking rapidly and Caroline's mouth twitched at the sight of tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry. Whoever you've lost, I'm sorry," Caroline said sincerely and a sharp look on Marcel's face seemed to soften a little.
Camille's eyes widened in slight surprise and she nodded, a faint smile flitting across her face. "Thank you. Here," she said, extending her hand with the phone to Caroline who accepted it with a brief, grateful smile.
Caroline looked down at the phone and then suddenly she frowned and grimaced. "Do you remember anyone's phone number?" She asked, shifting her eyes to Stefan who looked at her in confusion, before he realized what the problem was.
"I remember Damon's," he offered.
"Very helpful, thanks," Caroline said wryly. "Elena and Jeremy don't even have their phones with them anyway," she muttered to herself. But then her expression brightened and she straightened up. "I remember Enzo's number!" she exclaimed with a smile.
Stefan blinked. "Of all the phone numbers out there, you remember Enzo's phone number," he aimed to verify, his voice serious, but not devoid of undeniable amusement that wasn't lost on Caroline who rolled her eyes and laughed.
"He keeps sending me these stupid texts every once in a while, but I've never put his number into my address book, so every time he sends me a message, I see his number on the screen and it just stuck in my head," she explained and narrowed her eyes at Stefan when he made a face, pretending not to believe her explanation. "OK," she said, resuming a determined tone. "Oh, by the way, I'm Caroline and this is Stefan," she added, glancing at their fellow captives, before turning her gaze back to the phone.
Camille gave them both a smile. "I'm Camille."
"Marcel. Terrific to meet you," Marcel said dryly, his tone a little more resigned than upset.
"I'm sorry if I was being a little brusque. We've had a stressful day," Caroline said with a sigh. "Year."
"Life," Stefan corrected and Caroline smiled.
"Well, we can bond over that," Marcel allowed with a humorless snort.
"Don't worry. I'm a psychology major. I get it," Camille said conversationally.
"I was thinking about majoring in psychology!" Caroline said enthusiastically and then sighed deeply and added in a low, grumpy voice. "But I got a little sidetracked by two thousand years old evil witches impersonating my friends, evil vampires overtaking the bodies of my friends, evil spirits invading my home town and I'm just mentioning the most recent highlights."
Camille looked between Stefan and Caroline sympathetically. "Well," she said, "on the bright side, that's got to be the best why-I-dropped-out-of-college excuse I've ever heard."
There was a moment of silence and then the four of them exchanged more relaxed, sincere smiles.
xxxdelenaxxx
After running through a couple of conveniently uncrowded hallways and making sure they weren't followed when they sneaked onto a different floor, Damon pulled Elena into a room that he knew was probably empty.
"It's only the first floor. We'll jump out of the window," he said, closing the door behind them. "Are you OK?" He asked once again, placing his hands on either side of Elena's face and looking at her searchingly.
Elena covered his hands with hers. "As long as you're with me I'm always OK."
Damon gave her a lop-sided smile and pulled her into a hug. "I'd like to hear more about this tumultuous relationship of ours, because so far it seems completely idyllic to me," he said pressing a lingering kiss to her cheek before drawing back.
Elena smiled faintly. "And you're saying that right after seeing my skin melt off my face and then heal by itself."
"Nothing I haven't seen in some of those terrible movies Bonnie insisted on watching," Damon said with a shrug, returning her smile.
Elena slid her hands over his shoulders and snuggled into his arms that promptly closed around her. "I love you," she whispered frenziedly and Damon's breath caught in his throat. He grimaced and smiled, overwhelmed by the memory evoked by her words, nothing clear or precise, just a feeling, a familiar feeling of hearing these words spoken in her voice before.
"I figured that much," Damon said with feigned smugness, closing his eyes and cradling Elena to him, reveling in their closeness.
Elena stifled a smile. "I missed you so much," she whispered, her voice beginning to quiver and Damon gently grasped her arms to look at her.
"I'm sure we can find mutually satisfying ways to make up for the lost time," he said with a wink in an attempt to cheer her up.
Elena snorted brokenly and looked away, her eyes shifting back to him when he propped her chin with his hand.
"You can tell me exactly what's going on, Elena. You know that, right?" He asked gently. "I may have lost my memories, but I'm not a different person. I'm pretty sure I can handle the truth."
"I know." Elena nodded. "We never lie to each other. That's kind of one of our things," she said with a small smile. "Like dancing and surprise kisses." They exchanged brief, giddy smiles before Elena continued with a deepening frown. "I... The water burnt my throat and my skin, because... there was vervain in it and vervain," she carried on before Damon had a chance to ask what vervain was, "is poisonous to... people like me."
"Beautiful, smart, funny?..."
Elena bit back a smile and drew a breath, her eyes meeting his. "It's poisonous to vampires."
Damon blinked, his eyebrows knitting in bafflement. "Vampires?" He echoed, but in a such a tone as if he was merely trying to verify if he had pronounced the word correctly. "You're a vampire?" He asked heedfully, his reaction catching Elena off guard in the most mollifying way.
There was an astounding amount of calmness to his curiosity and she was amazed that anyone could react like that to such a revelation, without initially finding it either horrifying or hilarious at best. But Damon seemed to instinctively trust her enough to know that she was telling the truth and that she wouldn't hurt him. Or perhaps it was just him, being who he was. Elena clenched her teeth. Contrary to some words that drifted to her from the distant past, without the memory of all the awful things that had happened to him, of all the things he had done, it seemed that trust came very naturally to him.
"We both are. Were," Elena said quietly. "You were a vampire too, before... Before you and Bonnie... before you..." Elena shivered and closed her eyes for a second. "You didn't just get lost. You... died."
She let go of a breath she didn't know she had been holding and looked at Damon, waiting for his reaction, for him to either laugh or stare at her in horror, but he did neither. He just blinked a few times and then looked at her with a hint of dismay in his eyes.
"Did I do this to you?" He asked, cradling her face in his warm hands, trying to put the puzzle pieces together and immediately jumping to seemingly plausible conclusions. "Did I make you a vampire?"
"No," Elena shook her head, not really prepared for him to focus on that aspect of the situation, although she wasn't surprised that he didn't seem very concerned with what had happened to him and directed his attention to what had happened to her instead. "I mean... Your blood made me a vampire, but... It's a long story. It was more of an accident. No, you didn't turn me into a vampire," Elena repeated just to make it perfectly clear, because Damon still looked skeptical and she didn't want him to think that she was just being vague for his benefit. "But you taught me how to be one," she added, reaching out and placing her hand on his cheek. "When it happened, when I became a vampire, I didn't know if I could handle this, if I even wanted to live like that at all. But you were there for me, with me, at all times, even when I wasn't there for myself. You made me feel safe, happy, alive and loved. You saved me."
She covered one of his hands with hers and gently pulling it away from her cheek, wanted to press a kiss to his palm when she noticed the burns on it, suddenly remembering that he had been dousing the vervain-induced fire with his bare hands. With a grimace, Elena bit into her own palm with her fangs and then offered her hand to Damon.
"Just drink. This will heal you. This will heal your heart and it will also make the burns disappear," she said softly, her lips twitching into a timid smile. "One of the perks of being a vampire. Your blood can cure human diseases and injuries."
Damon's eyes shifted between her face and her bleeding hand and Elena braced herself for a forced smile or a flicker of disgust in his eyes, but he surprised her once again.
Without breaking the eye-contact with her, he gently grasped her hand. "So we're just being practical, not kinky?" He asked with a convivial smile, lowering his mouth to the small wound and taking a few sips. When he drew back, he watched the wound heal and tentatively, he brushed his thumb over the invisible scar.
"You said I saved you," he murmured, still looking at her hand. "What did you save me from?" He asked with a pensive smile, shifting his eyes to her and for a second Elena wondered if the drinking of her blood hadn't triggered some memories.
"Nicely deduced," she said, smiling wistfully at the callback and catching herself wishing that he'd smile at it knowingly too.
But wasn't it selfish, wishing him to remember? She was becoming more and more certain that she wanted to protect him from painful memories altogether.
"Can you turn me into a vampire?" Damon suddenly asked and Elena widened her eyes at him, unprepared for him to formulate the question so soon, taken aback by such an immediate request.
On the one hand, she had no doubt that if he had his memories intact, he wouldn't even want to talk about it. It would've been out of the question. He had made that quite clear when he had almost died refusing to take the cure. On the other hand, however... Obviously, his amnesia didn't give her the right to make his choices for him, but just like she was certain he would've chosen immortality by her side, she was also certain that had the situation been reversed, he would've insisted on giving her some time to make her decision only after proper consideration.
"You didn't even ask what this entails," Elena said with a hesitant smile, wondering if it was possible to describe all the dark sides of being a vampire without prompting him to ask her questions concerning the things he had done.
Damon pulled her against his chest. "Being with you for all eternity," he said, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear.
Elena chuckled weakly. "That too, but-"
He captured her lips in a brief, soft kiss. "I want to be with you for all eternity, so if that's the only way, I'm in," he said under his breath, looking at her seriously.
Elena stared at him in amazement. "You barely know me," she blurted out, feeling guilty for how his words were making her feel. They were making her happy and she was so tempted to just give in, but the nagging conviction that this wouldn't be right by him was making it impossible for her to just enthusiastically agree with his rash decision. "You don't remember me... us..." Elena whispered, her voice faltering.
Damon regarded her thoughtfully for a few seconds. "Yes, I don't remember the past" he finally said, his voice quiet and a little hoarse and Elena felt a pang of pain in her chest when he raised his hand to her face to caress it, the gesture clashing with his words. "I don't remember that I loved you."
Elena inhaled sharply and nodded erratically, trying to keep a brave face and not to break into sobs, reminding herself that he was just being honest with her and that was what she wanted and that she couldn't rightfully expect-
But her train of thought was cut short when Damon gently cupped her face in his hands and said, his eyes boring into hers with utmost intensity:
"But I feel that I did, do and will."
Elena gasped and smiled the most radiant smile that somehow made tears gather in her eyes. Damon pulled her into his arms and held her, smiling into her hair.
"I missed you too," he whispered and Elena looked up at him, but then the sounds of movement in the hallway brought them back to the matter at hand and their current predicament.
"We have to go," Damon said, quickly opening the window, about to assist Elena in stepping over the sill.
But she took his hands in hers and wrapped them around her neck instead. "Hold on to me," she said with a glimpse of a smile in her eyes.
To Damon's surprise, they not only landed on the ground as effortlessly as if they had taken a single step down the stairs, but then they also walked off... ran... flew... he wasn't quite sure how to name it... away so fast that they found themselves thirty miles away from the hospital within three seconds.
xxxdelenaxxx
Escaping through the roof and then climbing down the building was the most exciting thing Bonnie remembered doing, unfortunately the excitement was gone the moment they were unexpectedly caught when trying to sneak past the entrance gate.
"He didn't do anything!" Bonnie shouted, watching the security officers seize Jeremy by his arms while she was being restrained by a doctor and a nurse she had never seen before.
"They're not who you think they are," Amanda hissed, giving Bonnie a look that was both silencing and concerned, which somehow irritated Bonnie even more.
"How do you know?" Bonnie snapped. "You don't know them!"
"You don't know them either!" Amanda retorted.
Bonnie didn't have an immediate response to that, but was determined to continue arguing anyway. However, suddenly a police car pulled into the parking lot nearby and soon they were approached by two officers whom Amanda seemed to know.
She quickly went on to explain to the police officers what had happened... which was definitely not what had happened, but Bonnie's attempts at telling the truth were unceremoniously dismissed as ramblings of a mentally unstable patient.
"That's ridiculous!" Jeremy snarled incredulously. He didn't care about being arrested as he was sure this would get sorted out soon enough. But he couldn't stand the thought of leaving Bonnie all alone in this place for even an hour longer, especially after this entire commotion. He was afraid they might hurt her while trying to make her give them answers she wasn't able to provide due to her amnesia anyway. "You can't arrest me, I didn't do anything! What exactly am I accused of?" Jeremy asked angrily when one of the police officers handcuffed him, pushed him into the car and then stepped slightly to the side to talk to Amanda.
In the meantime, the other policeman slid into the passenger seat.
"They want you arrested, so do yourself a favor and go along with it for now," the police officer said in a low, gritty voice. Jeremy was about to continue protesting, but was suddenly struck by the realization that he had heard this voice before. In the haze of the moment he hadn't even looked up at the policemen's faces, his eyes almost exclusively fixed on Bonnie for the entire time.
Enzo glanced at him over his shoulder.
"You?" Jeremy grimaced, blinking, and leaning forward in his seat. "What are you doing here?" He asked in bewilderment.
"Investigating," Enzo said off-handedly, squinting. "And you're interrupting."
"Investigating what?" Jeremy demanded. "You knew Bonnie and Damon were here? How could you not tell us?!"
Enzo rolled his eyes, propping his chin on his hand and glancing out of the car window at the other officer and Amanda, the two of them talking to the security guards while the doctor and the nurse proceeded to escorting Bonnie back into the building.
Bonnie gritted her teeth, feeling like kicking and screaming, but clinging to the common sense pulsating almost painfully in her head, advising her to keep it together in order not to end up sedated and locked up in some remote room. She caught Jeremy's desperate look and sent him a quick, encouraging smile, trying to make it as intense as possible.
"I don't owe you an explanation," Enzo said, turning away from the window and shifting his gaze to Jeremy again, "but if you must know, I only found out they're here three days ago and I was actually planning on bringing them home as a peace offering," Enzo flashed Jeremy a smile, but Jeremy just continued glaring at him. "I got here last month, following the trail of the Augustine Society. It turns out it wasn't just a local phenomenon. Sixteen centers in twelve states plus quite a few abroad. Twenty three worldwide, altogether," he muttered with a viperous glint in his eye.
"Oh, you mean I'm interrupting you murdering people," Jeremy cut in sardonically and Enzo turned in his seat a little more to look at him.
"I wonder if you'll be restating these concerns if they catch your sister and put her in one of their signature cells for a few years," Enzo said wryly.
Jeremy clenched his jaw and sat back. "So what now?"
"Now you'll spend the night at the police station and we'll decide on what to do next tomorrow. I'll try to find out if Damon and Elena got out."
"I'm not leaving Bonnie here for the night!" Jeremy exclaimed in aggravation. "And why should I trust you anyway? You wanted to kill me!"
"From what I've heard, Damon did kill you and you don't seem to be holding a grudge," Enzo said, snickering humorlessly.
"Well, he also did a few other things since then," Jeremy scoffed, his tone acid.
"Yeah," Enzo snorted under his breath. "Most notably your sister."
Jeremy tossed himself forward, almost tearing the skin off his wrists in an attempt to free them from the handcuffs and punch Enzo straight in the face.
Enzo shot him an impatient, silencing look, shoving him back in place and glancing outside to check if no one was watching what was going on in the car. "Chill out, kid. For all they know your little witch is a clueless human, " Enzo said through his teeth, releasing his hold on Jeremy's shirt and drawing back. "They won't do anything to her. Just might try convincing her you're some kind of a conman with a devious agenda. Nothing you couldn't clear up later with a candle-lit dinner."
Jeremy opened his mouth to argue, but then the door on the driver's side was pulled open and the other police officer got inside. They exchanged some casual comments with Enzo until a buzzing sound interrupted them. Enzo reached into his pocket and Jeremy watched him frown and answer the phone while the other officer was starting the engine.
"Ah," Enzo's frown turned into a crooked smile, "hello, gorgeous. I see you got a new phone number, especially for us, I'm guessing, so we could have some long-overdue secret conversation. You've got my approval and attention."
The other police officer glanced at Enzo and laughed under his breath, shaking his head.
"Do you know that one, special, unique moment in life that is just totally bad for flirting?" The person on the other side of the line spoke in a brisk tone.
"No," Enzo said with feigned caution, smirking to himself.
"Well, actually, you do, because guess what, this moment is right now," Caroline announced and then changed her voice from mockingly cheerful to worrisomely serious. "So please just cut it out and listen up."