Chapter Seven
"I'm a vampire," Elena stated. I snorted. She was practicing on how to tell Liam the truth. All because he stuck his nose where it didn't belong and found out the girl Elena saved, didn't just survive that night but a previous injury spontaneously healed. My twin was shook by his accusations of her being a liar with secrets, and by Liam's determination to either get answers from her—that she's a vampire—or he'll figure it out on his own he had said. I highly doubt that was possible. But okay. So here we are taken the dumbest route possible and telling him the truth. As if her relationship with him will last longer than the rest of this year. Pfft.
"I don't know. Maybe a little less emphasis on vampire," Caroline said.
Elena sighed in frustration before trying out the words again, "I'm... a vampire."
"I mean, there's only so many ways you can say it," I pointed out while putting the tablecloth over Elena's dining room table. It was Thanksgiving. She was hosting cause she had a real place to live.
"Well, maybe Liam will stop digging into Lady Whitmore's miraculous recovery, and you won't have to come clean," Caroline grinned with optimism. I scoffed in disagreement. I doubted he would just give up. He was annoyingly persistent. Hmm, kind of like Caroline. Elena should've tried harder to hook them up. Maybe then the blonde would stop pouting over the love of MY life.
"Or he'll keep digging, realize that I force-fed her my vampire blood, and then just bail," Elena pouted.
"Okay, just stop. You know all of this can go away with one little mind wipe," I told her.
"So lie and lie? Again, and again, and again—" my twin droned on.
"Okay! If you want to tell him the truth, I support you 100%, but if you're rushing into this to escape some conflicted feelings over a certain ex who just came back into your life, then I suggest you keep your fangs to yourself," Caroline said.
A knock to the door came and Elena went to answer it. "Jo," she greeted the woman in the doorway holding a covered pan of food.
"Hi," she smiled.
"Where's Alaric?"
"Don't kill the messenger. Something about an impromptu guys' weekend," she informed us, coming into the apartment now.
"Excuse me?" Caroline frowned.
"Ric, Damon, and Stefan won't make it," Jo said, wincing as she faced Caroline who had her hands on her hips.
"Well, Stefan wasn't invited," Caroline mumbled and I furrowed my brows. "But Damon and—"
"Why the hell not?" I questioned. "Why didn't you invite Stefan?" I haven't seen or heard from him in days. I wanted to see him today. I was hoping the holiday would put us both in good spirit. Pull us together. Maybe being in a happy environment would bring out my sweet lover. Maybe then we could make up. Because I was miserable without him. Sleeping alone hasn't gotten easier knowing he's alive. Sleeping without him has always been hell if not impossible. Not to mention I was also sex-deprived. And I was growing lonely.
"Because he and I got into a little fight. And I told him... I hated him and we couldn't be friends anymore," Caroline told me.
"What? Why? What happened?" I asked her.
She shrugged, "Enzo told him I had a thing for him. I asked Stefan to never to bring it. Then once we saved my mom, we took her to the hospital to get checked out, and he asked me why I liked him? I snapped and answered him. Then I said I hated him for ruining our friendship because if I didn't hate him for it then I had to hate myself for ruining it..."
"Wow," I stated, standing up. I then walked away ignoring Elena who called for me. And brushed by Jo who could definitely hear us even in the kitchen.
I went to Maverick's room to check on the baby taking a nap. He was awake when I got there and I smiled. I peered down at the baby sitting up, holding a nearly empty bottle to his mouth. "Hi, handsome," I grinned. "Did you have a good nap? Is the bottle good? You're just like your auntie, huh? Sleep and food. That's all that matters."
He dropped the bottle and made grabby hands at me. "Up," he uttered. I raised my brows before picking him up.
"Hi, Mav," I cooed, brushing his soft hair. "Your mama said you've been starting to talk a little bit—"
"Ma-ma!" He giggled.
"Oh, you probably think I'm her. This is weird now," I mumbled. "But you're still cute and I love you. And I know you would never, ever betray me and try to steal my lover."
"Daaaa, li, da, dooo," he babbled. The door to the room opened and I looked to see it was Elena who was on the phone.
"You can't miss Friends-giving. I mean, Matt and Jeremy are already cleaning up the whole Tripp mess, and Caroline's mom has to work. We're already low on friends as it is," Elena said.
"Well, if it's any consolation, our Thanksgiving was roadside chili," I heard Ric say on the other side of the line. "Anyways, we're following a lead to save Bonnie from the prison world—"
"What do you mean Bonnie's in the prison world? Stefan said that Damon said that she wasn't there, that she found peace with... Why didn't he tell me this?" Elena asked.
"Why wouldn't I consult you in a decision that might permanently change your life? Hmm. I wonder," we heard Damon's sarcastic answer.
"He didn't want to get your hopes up. He honestly thought Bonnie died trying to free him. But we have her teddy bear that Damon said they found in this witch Kai's prison world of 1994 that Damon manages to get out of. He left out Bonnie was there and basically sacrificed her freedom... Anyways, if she was indeed the one who sent her teddy bear over, it could mean she's still—"
"Bonnie's still alive? Oh, my God!" I gasped. Elena grabbed my hand, squeezing as she grinned with me.
"Yeah. So we're in Portland right now, trying to track down some Gemini thing," Alaric said Andrew I frowned.
"Ascendant," I heard Damon say.
"This is amazing," Elena stated.
"Alaric, you might want to keep the news to yourself. I tracked this lead months ago. It was a dead end," my ex-fiancé chimes in.
"Stefan sends his love," Alaric rephrased.
"Wait. What—?" I was about to ask a question but then we got the dial tone. Maverick started to reach for his mother who took him happily.
"Mama! Mama!" He cheered.
"Bonnie's alive?" Someone asked. We both turned around to see Caroline standing there in disbelief. Elena nodded her head slowly. Then she grinned and Caroline did too. I laughed softly. This was crazy. I almost couldn't believe it. But it was good news. It was great news. The two girls laughed with me and Caroline moved to pull us in a group hug.
We all separated when Maverick started pulling on everyone's hair. So we left the nursery. "The alcohol has arrived!" I heard Tyler say. I looked to see Jo opening the door for him.
"Yes!" I cheered, walking over to meet him. He pulled me in a one armed hug, his other holding a case of beer and a black bag of more liquor. "Eek!" I squealed when he still managed to lift me from the ground for a second.
"Happy Thanksgiving," he grinned, holding me close still. I bit my lip, blushing slightly at the way my whole body was pressed into his side. Oh, god. Was this weird? Or am I being paranoid about everything because Damon made it a thing that Tyler and I had a moment? Like we've been friends forever. He always hugs me. I'm his closest female friend. "Let's do shots," he suggested.
"I like the way you think," I said, snapping to reality as he let me go. Okay, see, not weird. He wanted to do shots. With his friend. "Let me help," I added, taking the 6 pack of beer from him, leading the way into the kitchen where Caroline was handling food. Elena and Jo on the couch now, playing with my loud nephew.
"Hey, Care," he greeted our friend.
"Hi," she smiled, grabbing a dish and carrying it to the table. I grabbed two shot glasses from Elena's cabinets and Tyler pulled out a bottle of vodka. He filled them up and we clinked them together before taking them.
"Woo," he smirked. I laughed, refilling them. "Are you trying to get me drunk, Kenzie?"
"Yes," I grinned.
He laughed, "as long as you don't let Liv take advantage of me later."
I chuckled, "you'd like it."
He shrugged, "maybe." I rolled my eyes as I caught the smirk coming to his face. He then grabbed his shot glass and I took mine. "Here's to getting taken advantage of."
I laughed loudly, "we are not cheering to that!"
"Why not?"
"First off it sounds terrible—"
"Not if you like it," he quipped using my words against me.
"And I don't have a chance with anyone," I added.
"Where's Stefan?" He frowned.
I scoffed, "don't know. He's not talking to me cause he's too busy talking only to Caroline and about her feelings for him and etc."
"Cheers to not dating Stefan or Caroline," he said and I snorted a laugh. "What? She's my ex and he's yours. Drink."
"Cheers," I smiled, hitting my glass against his before tossing my head back as I took the burning clear liquid. "Ugh."
"Okay, dumb and dumber. Set the table," Caroline ordered coming back into the kitchen. "I need to finish cooking."
"I'll help!" Jo offered, getting off the couch.
***
Things were almost done, we were just waiting for the rest of our friends to get here. Elena got up to answer the door. I was laying on the floor, playing with blocks with Maverick. I glanced to see it was Liv coming into the apartment now. Alone. Huh. And her twin was where?
Tyler came into view, setting a bucket of ice onto the table. It was for the champagne or wine or whatever it was Liam was bringing. "Where do you want the stuffing?" Liv asked, coming up to Tyler with her cooked dish. Could all these women cook? I mean, Elena barely could. She just started learning recently. I guess because she was a mom or living on her own now. But I couldn't cook anything. Except maybe scrambled eggs and toast.
"Well, hello to you, too," Tyler replied.
"I'll take that," Jo smiled, coming up to Tyler's side and taking the dish of stuffing. "Hi. I'm Jo. You look... have we met before?"
"Liv, and no, but you're dating my Occult Studies professor, which I guess somehow earned you an invite for Thanksgiving dinner," Liv responded.
"Nice to meet you, too," Jo frowned and I scowled. I already didn't like Liv or her stupid voice. But the constantly fake monotone disinterest voice was not needed for Jo, AKA the nicest woman I have ever met. She reminded me of my mom. But with way more backbone and self respect. My mom gave into my father too much, bent her personality a lot to fit his egotistical desires and qualms.
"Where's Luke?" Tyler asked as my nephew crawled into my lap.
"He's outside testing a new filter on his phone. He's making me this stupid retrospective video for our birthday. Twenty-two. Go us," Liv mumbled in the same tone. Ugh. If anyone should go mute it should be her.
My eyes widened as Liv took off her jacket, shoving it in Tyler's arms. Elena entered the room with more dishes of food, mouthing, "What's with her?" To which Tyler gave a shrug as if he was used to this and his face said 'I don't fucking know'.
Liv has made her way towards me, sitting down on the couch behind me. "Whose baby?" She asked.
"Hi, how are you, Liv?" I grinned with an annoying amount of enthusiasm that I faked. "This is Elena's son. He's only one but he has more manners and respect than you."
Liv's jaw dropped, "you're one to talk."
"No. I'm not," I snapped, covering Maverick's ears. "I'm rude and mean when people usually deserve it, not for no reason because I'm moody bitch—I mean, witch. And if I ever see you disrespect Jo or Tyler, or anyone else I care about I will rip your fucking tongue out. Got it?"
"Kenzie!" Elena and Tyler both intervened.
"What?" I frowned, widening my eyes to feign innocence. Tyler shook his head as Liv got up to leave the living room and sit at the table. He sat down next to her, whispering an apology on my behalf.
"If Stefan was here, you'd act better," Elena scolded, joining me on the floor.
"St-Stef," Maverick stumbled out. My jaw fell open as I stared into his eyes.
"Yeah, uncle Stefan," Elena cooed. "Good job."
"He knows Stef before Kenzie?" I growled, glaring at her. She giggled, shrugging. "Life is cruel."
"Maybe it's a sign that you and Stefan should make up already," she sang.
"You think I don't want to?" I hissed.
"You do?" She gasped.
"Of course I do."
"Well, he thinks that you don't," she frowned.
"What? Well... I want him to be sorry. I want him to bring me flowers and apologize and ask me on a date," I said, my voice shaking as I grew more irritated realizing he hasn't done this and he probably wasn't going to. "I want my fucking engagement ring back," I snapped.
"The baby," Elena hissed, snacking my arm. Hard. Ow! Fucking hell. That really hurt. I got up from the floor and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a beer before heading outside onto the patio.
I took big gulps from the bottle while holding my phone in my right hand. I had my thread of text messages with Stefan open. I couldn't believe weeks ago I was re-reading happy messages to get me by in my life with him 'dead' and now I was left on 'read' after finally opening up a little to him on how I still felt about him and how hurt I was he called Caroline that night to tell her he, Damon, Enzo, and Ric were alive and defeated Tripp and his plans.
Now what was I going to say? Hell, it wasn't even my place to fix this. But I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to apologize for being so mad and mean. Yet I was stubborn and felt he deserved my anger! Who comes back to win the love of their life by not trying to win their affection at all? He hadn't done anything, except the wrong thing. Trying to push me up against that door and ask for sex. Kissing me after a fake proposal. Ugh!
"Kenzie?" I heard Elena call. I turned to see her stepping outside now. "You okay?"
"One beer down. In need of something stronger while I figure out what to text Stefan. Or maybe I should just call and yell at him to love me."
She gave me a look of pity. Ugh. "I vote text. That way you can say what you need to, what you want without him interrupting or distracting your thoughts. I think you need to tell him everything you're feeling, Kenzie. Because as great of a guy as he is, he's still a boy and they're all dumb, especially when it comes to women," she said and I cracked a small smile.
"You're right," I said.
"I know I'm right," she smirked. I rolled my eyes playfully as she came to lean over the banister with me, wrapping an arm around my waist and leaning on my shoulder. "Liam came. Brought champagne and wine. And he apologized. He double checked the lab results and Jo had changed them. So, I'm in the clear now."
I smiled, resting my cheek on her head. "Good. Only one of us needs to be stressed out over a boy," I told her and she chuckled.
"How are you holding up with this whole Caroline and Stefan thing?" She whispered.
"Well, she told him she has feelings for him and probably that he was a great guy so how could she not... And they're not together so... Maybe he doesn't want her. He doesn't feel the same and... maybe that means he still loves me," I mumbled.
"Of course he does."
I shrugged, "I don't know... it makes me insecure. They've always been close. She's been in love with him for months, as in love as you can be when it's one sided. I mean, she has no idea how amazing he is as a boyfriend... Or how annoying he is, and how ugly things can get when he's... well, the way he's been with his bad attitude lately. The way he's been handling our relationship and treating me these days..."
"But?"
"Oh, sorry," I apologized for my distracted thoughts. I shrugged again. "But the point is she wants him. She won't admit it, but she does. So I'm still left wondering, if he has feelings for her. They were friends, we've been apart for months and now we're broken up and he's been spending a lot of time with her and talking to her... It's possible he could... they could—Ugh, it makes me sick."
She sat up, hugging me now. "I have no idea what is going through Stefan's head. Or how he's feeling. All I know if you and him, have an epic love. If he's stupid enough to throw that away, then let him. Contrary to popular believe, you can have multiple people be the one or your true love. Okay?" She smiled, cupping my face in her hands like my mom used to do.
"No. It's not okay. Because if he chooses her... I might die, Elena. Because I saw it coming all along. Because I don't think I'll ever love someone as much as I love him. I don't think I'll ever be happy again," I admitted quietly. "I don't want to ever be with anyone else. I want him. I still want to marry him."
She nodded. "I know," she whispered, wiping my cheeks as tears poured down uncontrollably. My throat burning and itches to sob and cough so I could cry all ugly.
"You don't know," I whispered. "If he chooses her, you might be sad for me but you're going to be happy for her too." Then I pulled away from her, turning my back to her while wiping my own face. "She's our friend. Everyone will be happy that she's happy. And that he's happy with her... But I won't be. I can't be. I will never be okay with it."
"You're getting yourself upset for something that isn't likely to happen, Kenzie," she said.
I shook my head. "We don't know that. We don't know that's it isn't 'likely' at all. All I know is that it is possible. And she is praying for it to come true."
"Not at your expense," she frowned.
"You think selfish Caroline would rather Stefan and I makeup than to have him for herself?" I scoffed. She grimaced. "See, you don't even believe that!"
"Shhh!" She shushed me. I sighed, wiping my eyes furiously. Then I put the empty beer bottle onto the table and took a seat at it, in one of the two chairs out here. Then I pulled up the text messages again. I needed to text him. "Good luck. But don't take long, it's about time eat now," she said as she went back into the house.
"I am so mad at you. I just want to yell and punch walls and stab pillows. Like I'm livid. And I'm heart broken, Stefan. How can you say you love me and not once try to prove it? All I wanted was effort. I wanted to be pulled into your arms and kissed. Or taken out for coffee to talk. I wanted an apology with promises to never hurt me again. Promises to make it up to me every day for the rest of our lives. I gave you my ring back. I want a fucking proposal, Stefan. Are you stupid? I'm furious but that doesn't mean I stopped loving you. But I'm at the end of my rope. I'm sick of waiting for you to sweep me off my feet. Or wondering if you just don't want me anymore. Can you please just tell me? Tell me you want to fix this, that you still love me and you still need me. Or tell me it's over. But whatever you tell me, let it be the goddamn truth. You owe me that much. I can't take another lie or half truth or secret from you. I just want MY Stefanator back. Not this guy who ran off to Atlanta. My man, my fiancé, the love of my life... okay? Just tell me if you want me too," I typed up. I hesitated before pressing send.
I then put my phone in my pocket and went into the apartment. I saw Caroline, Liv, Tyler, and Luke at the table. "Uh, anyone want to see some embarrassing baby videos of Liv?" Luke grinned, holding out his phone to them.
"Oh. You know what? Now would actually be an excellent time just to shut down anything with an on-off button," Caroline said.
Liv and Tyler ignored her, moving behind Luke to watch the video. "Elena, can you get me a beer?" I called out, taking a seat at the table.
"One for me too!" Tyler added. His eyes met mine and he gave me wink. I forced the best smile I could before pulling my phone out. I wasn't trying to be impatient. He was probably busy. He probably hasn't read the text yet. Or if he has maybe his reply is long too. He had to think it all out.
"No. Please let the food get cold. Whatever that is is far more important," Caroline grumbled, pouting at the head of the table directly across from me at the other end. Luke to my left. The three seats to my right empty for Jo, Elena, and Liam.
"How old are you?" I tunes into a feminine voice asking in the family video Luke was playing.
"Four," came two responses. That would be four year old Luke and Liv then.
"How do you add that? You guys want to do some numbers?" The woman asked. What's one plus one?"
"Two!" The kids answered.
"Two plus two?" The lady asked and I furrowed my eyebrows. Why does she sound familiar.
"Four!" They choruses again.
"Nice," the woman laughed softly. Jo and Elena joined us. My twin carrying two beers in one hand and her son in her other arm.
"What are you watching?" Jo asked as the video continued to play.
I frowned, sitting up straight. "That kind of sounds like your voice," I commented and Jo looked at me for only a mere second before listening in.
"That is my voice. I took that video 18 years ago at a birthday party for the twins," Jo stated.
My brows raised as my eyes grew in surprise. "Oh, my God," Liv uttered in shock.
"Lucas and Olivia?" Jo asked.
"Jo as in Josette?" Luke gasped.
"Hang on. You guys know each other?" My twin asked, handing Tyler a beer.
"I'm their sister," Jo said. She had tears in her eyes now. "Oh my goodness."
"What?" Tyler frowned in confusion. Elena handed me my beer and I quickly opened it, taking a long swig. It was story time.
"Oooh, pause. Liam?" I called as I caught sight of him. Caroline gasped before compelling him to leave and fetch a wine opener from his dorm. "Okay, now story time."
"Well, at 18 I left my family and the coven. It was too much drama. I had a psychopathic twin brother who was so evil our coven locked him away for good. In our coven twins are in line to be leaders. Without mine, I figured I could leave my witch responsibilities and live a normal life. So that's what I did," Jo stated.
"So if you don't know each other, then how did you all just happen to end up at the same tiny liberal arts school?" Caroline asked.
"We had a family friend here... Sheila Bennett," Jo said and I gasped.
"You knew Bonnie's grams?" I grinned. Now this was starting to make sense. Maybe Bonnie's grams put Damon and Bonnie in Kai's prison world because she knew there was a way to escape.
"She took me under her wing. She also helped my family put Kai away," she stated and I raised my brows again. Oh this story was good!
"Elena glanced at me recalling the name we heard earlier from Ric. "Kai? Kai as in Damon's Kai?" My twin asked.
"As in our brother, my twin," Jo said, not knowing what Kai was Damon's cause she probably had no idea he was trapped in a prison world with her brother.
"There are two sets of twins in your family?" Caroline asked I rolled my eyes. That is so not important.
"Yeah, there were until my coven put Kai in a prison world," Like said, confirming their Kai was obviously Damon's Kai.
"Now there's just Luke and me," Liv states.
"Why was Kai put away?" I questioned.
"Kai killed 4 of our bothers and sisters to make a point, but he was really targeting Lucas and Olivia," Jo was telling us.
Tyler frowned, "Why them?"
"Because in our coven, twins are in line to be leaders," Jo stated.
"Hence our lame-ass name: Gemini," Liv grumbled and I rolled my eyes. First of all Gemini was not a stupid name. And I was a twin and I was under the Gemini zodiac sign. I'm naming my kid Gemini, I've decided it. Or my dog. Whichever I get first.
"Kai wanted to be the leader, but that wasn't possible if Lucas and Olivia were alive. So I protected them with magic. Which just pissed him off more," Jo continued her fascinating story. "My brother was born without his own magic. He can only draw it from others. It made him feel like a freak. My parents saw him acting out, isolating himself, and they realized that he'd never be capable of leading our coven, so they kept having children until another set of twins were born. Kai figured it out, and he snapped."
"Therefore trying to kill his entire family," I concluded, nodding to myself.
"He was a psychopath, so they sent him away," Liv shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "Kai went to his prison, Jo dodged a bullet, and now the leadership falls on us."
"Okay, well, now that we've all gotten to know each other a little bit better, could someone please pass the dinner rolls?" Caroline smiled. I glared at her but kept my mouth shut and chugged the rest of my beer. I needed to be drunk and now.
"Sorry that my family drama isn't appropriate dinner conversation, Caroline," Liv spat before standing up.
"That's not what I meant. It's—" Caroline was saying before sighing in defeat as Liv started to leave, pulling on her jacket.
"Liv," Tyler frowned.
"Just leave me alone," she said. Surprisingly he didn't say another word. Then she was gone.
"Okay, I think I may have missed something. If you and Liv can both be the leaders of your coven, why did she just get so upset?" Elena asked, sitting down after placing Maverick in his high chair that was between her and I.
"Because there aren't two leaders, are there, Jo?" Luke frowned.
"In our coven's tradition, after their 22nd birthday, the twins merge their strength. The stronger one wins, absorbing their twin's power, and the weaker of the two..." Jo trails off, looking down.
"The weaker of the two what?" Tyler asked, voice hard and demanding.
"The weaker one dies," Luke answered. Then he too got up and left.
"Umm..." Elena trailed off. Tyler stood up then I did too, moving to stop him from leaving.
"She needs space," I told him and he frowned. He went to side step me but I pressed my hands to his chest. "No. You need to stay."
"Yeah, let me go. I need to apologize," Caroline chimed in. Smartest thing to come out of her mouth in weeks honestly.
"I need another beer," Tyler grumbled, pushing my hands off him. I frowned as he grabbed mine and his empty beer bottles off the table, carrying them to the trash can in the kitchen.
"It's going to be okay," I told him, following him into the kitchen.
"My girlfriend might die and you're saying it's going to be okay?" He scoffed, opening another beer.
"Girlfriend?" I questioned and he narrowed his eyes.
"Well, almost. Ugh, Kenzie," he groaned I mmmm in annoyance. "You know what I mean."
"And I know you. You're thinking of how you're going to save her from this. But Tyler—"
"Don't, okay? Don't say I can't," he cut me off. "If it were Stefan and Damon who had to merge. You'd do anything to save Stefan, right?"
I raised my brows, "a merge is different than—"
"Wouldn't you?!" He yelled.
I sighed, "yes."
"When it was you and Elena over and over again, Stefan and Damon and everyone saved you guys. Why can't I save Liv?" He retorted.
"Okay," I said.
"I can't just accept that she's going to die."
"Only if she's the weaker twin. And I don't think she is, honestly," I admitted. "But killing your twin... I couldn't live with myself... And that's saying something cause there's been a million times where I couldn't stand Elena and I wished she was never born... But I never meant it."
"I wished you were never born a lot growing up!" Elena chimed in and I laughed.
"I'm going to go," Tyler said. I pulled him in a tight hug, wrapping my arms around his neck. He hugged my waist and nuzzled his face in my neck and I shivered as he sighed, his breath tickling me. "I'll see you later." Then he pulled away, kissed my cheek and walked away. He said bye to Elena and Maverick and left his nearly full beer on the table. Then he was gone after his girl.
"You and Tyler seem close," Elena commented as I sat down next to her at the dining table. She was feeding Maverick baby food.
"Um, yeah," I snorted. "Known him my whole life."
"I know but... you guys been hanging out a lot... Like one on one... I haven't seen you this close since before freshman year."
"Because our parents died. I went mute and hid away. And then he dated Vicki and I had to take Jeremy's side by default," I explained.
"And when Vicki was gone?"
"Fine. I'll admit. I guess I was distracted by Stefan. He dated Caroline. And he's been gone multiple times dealing with werewolf stuff. He's finally back and—"
"And you're single."
"Okay, what are you getting at?"
"I saw you two dancing at the hospital fundraiser. I almost died cause I thought you were going to kiss," she said and my jaw dropped.
"What? No!"
Maverick banged his hands on the table, yelling, "no! No, n-no!"
Elena shushed him, wiping his mouth as he shook his head avoiding her spoonful of mashed peas. That was disgusting. Don't worry buddy, when you're older Mav, I'll be giving pizza and ice cream. No veggies.
"I'm just saying. I think you're a little vulnerable right now... You and Stefan haven't made up. You're hanging with Tyler. He's hanging with Caroline. The longer you both draw this out the more likely feelings are going to get involved," Elena said.
"Ty and I are just friends."
"It's looking a bit too friendly," she quipped. "You both can't keep your hands off each other. Hugs, kisses on the cheek... dancing... what's next?" She smirked and I rolled my eyes.
"You want me to like him," I accused.
"No, I want you to be happy. So if that means you and Tyler who I never would've pictured in a million years getting together... I'm 100 percent behind it," she said and I shook my head.
"It's not going to happen. We're just friends. And he has Liv anyways."
Her phone on the table started ringing and she picked it up. It read Stefan. I frowned then while she answered. So he could call my twin but not text me back? Wow.
"Hey. So turns out there was a mansion here after all under some invisible spell. Some man came out. It was Kai's father. Which means it's also Jo's father because turns out they're twins," Stefan was filling her in.
"Yeah, we know," Elena chuckled humorlessly.
"You know?"
"Long story. But Luke and Liv are also Jo and Kai's siblings. I'll fill you in later. But back to you."
"Okay, um, well... Good news is there is a lead. Bad news is... it disappeared."
"What do you mean?" Elena frowned.
"One second the house was invisible. Then I tossed Bonnie's teddy bear, which is apparently where she's put her magic, and the bear landed on a porch, making the house visible—"
"Bonnie lost her magic?" Elena asked.
"She disabled it. It's in the bear for safe keeping. Damon said it was so Kai couldn't use her to get out of the prison world. Which means she can't get herself out. We have to save her."
"Okay. So what's wrong now?"
"Kai's dad shows up now that we could see the house. He heard us talking and was like 'you know Kai?' Damon said yeah. They shook hands and then Damon with the bear, their father, and the house all vanished again," Stefan said.
"So wait... Damon's gone, as in into thin air?" Elena gasped as I tuned into the conversation. Maverick started banging on the table again, wanting food again as she got distracted talking. Elena put the phone on the table, putting it on speaker so she could continue feeding her son.
"Oh, careful. You just sounded genuinely concerned for my brother," Stefan's teased. His voice was so... playful. Light. Soft. More normal. Like the loving man I fell for. Not like his aggressive and defensive tone I've been getting from him. He's been way too serious and detached since he's been back. Or maybe that was just with me.
"I don't have feelings for him anymore. That doesn't mean I want him to blink out of existence," Elena laughed.
"He didn't. It's some sort of cloaking spell. Alaric's on the phone with Jo trying to figure out how to break it."
"And to think we could have all been sitting around stuffed, playing board games."
"So just to be clear, Jo was invited to Friends-giving, but I wasn't?" Stefan asked.
"Friend code states that in matters such as yours and Caroline's I must, with no exception, take the side of my best friend."
"Uh-Huh. Can't believe she didn't invite me," he grumbled and I scowled.
"Yeah. You have a lot of making up to do with people," she said, meeting my eye. "I need you to hurry it up cause things are getting really weird."
"You're just mad because no one knew how to carve the turkey," Stefan quipped and my twin laughed. A knock to the door came so I got up to answer it, glancing at Jo in the kitchen on the phone with Ric assumably.
I opened the door to see it was Liam. Ha. He was back with the wine stopper he fetched, courtesy of Caroline's compulsion. Elena glanced over, pressing the phone to her ear. "How did you know that you could trust me?" I heard her ask quietly.
"Trust you with what?" I strained to hear Stefan. He wasn't on speaker anymore.
"When you were honest with me about what you were. How did you know that you could trust me with such a huge secret?"
"That's easy. I was in love with you. I wanted you to know everything," I heard him say and I winced. My heart couldn't take anymore pain. Reminder he loves her first. Now he only cares about Caroline. He's still ignoring me. Fuck him.
I tuned into Liam rambling on about letting him in or not. I rolled my eyes, stepping out of his way. I headed to the kitchen, grabbing the bottle of vodka. It wasn't huge but I was about to have the whole damn thing to go.
"Jo!" I shouted as she fell to ground only a foot away from me. I crouched down next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Jo? Are you okay?" I asked.
"Something's wrong," she whispered weakly and then she fell forward on me.
"Jo?" I heard Ric's voice call as she held her phone to her ear still. I started lifting her up and Liam ran over to help me. We carried her to her couch while Elena took Maverick to his nursery.
"Jo, what's wrong?" I asked, leaning down as she was blindly slowly. Oh, no. Don't pass out.
"I think my dad..." she trailed off. "My dad's trying to kill me." I furrowed my brows ready to ask what she meant by that. And why he would be doing that. But then she was gripping her head, groaning in pain.
"What the hell is she talking about? Her dad's trying to kill her?" Liam frowned in confusion.
I ignored him and grabbed Jo's phone where I could hear Ric's voice coming from. "Ric?" I answered.
"Kenzie, what the hell's going on?" He asked.
"Something's happening to Jo. You have to find her dad and stop him from whatever he's doing to her," I said.
"Well, that's gonna be problem because even if we could see the house I haven't been invited in," Stefan spoke up on his line.
I held the phone towards Jo who was thankfully still conscious. "Invite him in," I demanded.
"You can come in!" She shouted, still clearly in a lot of pain.
"But we can't even see the damn house," Ric said.
"They need magic," Jo told me. Then she started coughing and soon she was coughing up blood.
"Crap," Jo groaned.
"Kenzie, we have to do something. Definite signs of hemoptysis," Liam said, grabbing onto my elbow to get my attention.
"Shut up, Liam," Jo scoffed. "Kenzie, ask them if they see an old tree stump in the front yard?"
"Yeah, I see it," Stefan said as I put them on speaker phone now.
"Go there now!" Jo ordered.
"Go get ice," I told Liam, shaking him off me.
"You need to tell me what's going on."
"You have to get ice," I growled.
"I'm not an idiot, Kenzie. I know you guys lying to me, so whatever it is, just tell me, please."
"She's crashing!" Elena yelled, coming into the room. She squeezed between Liam and I, dropping to her knees in front of Jo.
"Kenz?" Stefan called. I picked up the phone while wincing at Jo's convulsing body.
"Dr. Laughlin, look at me," Liam said, snapping his fingers.
"Jo, can you hear me? Jo!" Elena yelled.
"Hey," I breathed into the phone.
"All we got is a knife," Stefan told me.
"Jo said you needed magic... That's got to be it."
"What?" He questioned.
"Come on, Dr. Laughlin. Please wake up. Elena, check for dilation," Liam instructed. Elena pulled open one of Jo's eyelids and I gasped with her and Liam. Solid red eyes. Both of them jumped back in surprise.
"Holy crap. What the... what happened to her?" Liam asked.
"Stefan, go now. Bonnie has a teddy bear. Jo is saying use the knife. She's going to die. Go!" I demanded before handing up.
"Call 9-1-1, Elena. We need help. She's about to die," Liam said, trying CPR now. Elena was pacing.
"Liam... Liam, there's not enough time," I snapped, yanking him to his feet. Elena glanced at me for a second and I nodded for her to go.
"What are you doing?" Liam asked, trying to shrug off my hold on him. Elena then bit into her wrist, her veins coming under her eyes. "Elena, your face," he gasped.
"It's okay. My blood will heal her," Elena said as she passed by us, feeding Jo her blood finally. A couple second later Jo woke with a gasp. "Jo?l
"I'm okay," Jo said and I let Liam go.
"I'll get you some water," Elena said, walking away. Liam chases after her and I rolled my eyes. I sat next to Jo, taking her hand.
"Elena. Elena, stop! How did you do that? How did you do that?!" I heard Liam ask.
"I hope the knife Stefan said he found was where you put your magic," I said to Jo trying to ignore the young 'couple' in the kitchen. Jo smiled, nodding.
"Yup. The same knife Kai used to cut out my spleen," she said and I winced.
"I'm a vampire," I heard Elena finally say. Jo and I both turned to see the two in the finish room, talking.
"You're a what?" Liam asked
"It doesn't matter, because as much as I like you, my life is complicated enough," Elena sighed. "So you're not gonna remember anything from tonight or about Lady Whitmore or the fact that we even dated at all. You're gonna go home, get some rest, and I'll see you at work on Monday," she compelled him.
"I'll see you Monday, Elena," Liam smiled before leaving. Elena frowned, watching him go. I sighed, feeling bad. Then she came over, handing Jo a glass of water and a napkin. Jo quickly wiped her mouth, cleaning up the blood around it.
"Hey! What did I miss?" Caroline smiled, coming into the room. The three of us shared a look before Elena went to fill her in. While I made myself and Jo a plate of food. I was starving now. And I needed something to help with the bottle of vodka I was going to drown myself in when I left here.
~Picture: Jo, Liv, Luke, and Elena discussing that all the witches are related
So Friendsgiving was a total bust. Half of the friends didn't come, Stefan wasn't invited, half of the party left, Jo nearly died, and Kenzie is ready to go get drunk.
Quite a lot, huh? Bad news: Kenzie sent Stefan a long text that he ignored, Liv and Luke have to merge, and Elena broke up with Liam finally. Good news: Bonnie is alive, Baby Maverick starting to talk, and Elena is being supportive of Kenzie's love life decisions so she can be happy even if that means #Kyler has to happy.
What do you guys think? Crazy stuff is gonna happen next chapter! Spoiler alert—Kenzie is going to be drunk and with a Salvatore brother. Check it out:
*** SNEAK PEAK #1 ***
"Ugh. How did my brother put up with you and all your messes?" He scoffed, wiping my wet arm and then my thigh cause I spilled bourbon everywhere.
"Tell me more," I whined.
"Well... when she wasn't talking, she was listening. She listened for hours and hours and hours, so when the opportunity presented itself for me to come back, she made sure I took it."
"What did you talk about?" I smiled. Damon stopped wiping the alcohol off my body and met my eyes.
"What do you think?" He retorted.
*** SNEAK PEEK #2 ***
He slid between my legs, pressing the vodka bottle to my mouth. "I want to make sure you're drunk," he said and I raised a brow.
I opened my mouth and he tilted the bottle to pour the burning alcohol into my mouth. Five seconds before he let me go. I placed my hands on his firm taut stomach.
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