Serendipity

2. Friday night bites. Part II

"Stop looking at me."

I stared at Jeremy open mouthed the entire way from when he entered the kitchen to the back door, taking in his interesting choice of clothing ensemble - a black leather trench coat.

He shook his head, mumbled an insult about my intelligence, and left.

"What was that?" I swung back round on my stool to face Aunt Jenna, but I ended up facing the back door again. I cleared my throat and kicked myself round with a little less force this time. I was hoping Jenna hadn't noticed.

"Smooth." Jenna grinned when I returned to facing her.

"I meant to do that," I said, matter of fact. Obviously. "Can you tell me what's going on here? He never used to dress like that."

"I know. I caught him trying on a clip in nose ring the other day too." Jenna put on the kettle and then rested her forearms on the counter opposite me. "I think he has a new group of friends at school and this is where it's all coming from."

"What's next? Eyeliner?!"

Suddenly the back door opened back up. Jenna and I fell instantly quiet as Jeremy walked back in. He bent down beside me to pick up his backpack. When he straightened up, he looked between Jenna and I.

"What?" Jeremy barked.

For a moment, neither Jenna or me answered him, but Jeremy didn't budge. He continued leering at us. As you know, I don't like awkward silences so...

"I'll stand by you, I'll stand by you, make sure nobody hurt-" I sung sweetly. Jeremy rolled his eyes, stormed out and slammed the door behind him. "Um, what?" I turned to Jenna. "I was completely in tune, right?"

She patted my arm. "It's a really hard song to sing."

I'll have to get Stefan's opinion. Back in the day, Jeremy would have joined in with me!

The kettle clicked and Jenna grabbed two mugs and filled them "God, I've missed Coffee Talk." Jenna didn't have many age appropriate friends since she moved back to Mystic Falls to become our Guardian. That was almost a year ago so I was surprised her situation hadn't improved.

"I thought Elena was going to do it with you," I replied, blowing on my coffee.

"We tried, but it didn't stick." Jenna shrugged one shoulder. "This may surprise you but my other niece and nephew don't actually like hanging out with me."

I thought about it and shrugged back. "That doesn't surprise me."

"What?"

"I said that surprises me." I cleared my throat. "Anyway, what piece of gossip do you have for me today?"

"Honestly, I think you should be the one answering that."

I paused on my sip.

"You didn't give anything away whilst you were at boarding school. It's like you had this secret life."

"Wasn't much to tell," I lied.

"And, I couldn't help but notice you were suspiciously quiet this morning." She clasped her hands together and raised her brows at me in a very concerned aunt way. I cringed, really not wanting to talk about it. "Something up? I know we're out of practise, but think of me as your friend, not your Aunt." That old chestnut.

Well, let's see.

I had a rough sex dream about my best friend's boyfriend. That may have something to do with it.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong," I dismissed, tapping my nails nervously against the counter. I stopped when my Aunt's gaze flickered down to my hand. There are lots of things I could tell my Aunt, that wasn't one of them. "What about you? Something up with you?" I quickly deflected. "Think of me as a friend, not your niece." She threw me a look.