CHAPTER SIX;
dinner for seven

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CAMILA ARRIVED AT CHEERLEADER PRACTICE that day at the same time as her sister and Bonnie sprung up from the floor with a huge grin on her face at seeing the two sisters arriving. "Oh, my God! You're here!"

"Caroline would kill me if I wasn't," said Camila with a grin as she began stretching and Elena nodded, saying, "Yep. I can't be sad girl forever. The only way to get things back to the way they were, is to do things that were."

"Well, that and I didn't go through hours of torture at Care's house learning routines for nothing," said Camila, and Elena rolled her eyes before, remembering something.

"Oh, you're coming to dinner tonight," she told Bonnie.

"I am?"

"She is?" asked Camila.

"Mm-hmm. You, Cami, me and Stefan," Elena said promptly and Bonnie grimaced, making Camila raise a curious brow. Elena and Stefan had patched things up on the night of the comet and Camila was happy for them even if she sometimes gave Stefan threatening looks. Bonnie though, looked thoroughly uncomfortable with the idea of being around him. "You have to give him a chance."

"Tonight's no good," said Bonnie.

"Come on, Bonnie," said Camila, because she wouldn't pass up an opportunity for free entertainment and an awkward dinner party was definitely the latter. "I'll invite Nate, too. That way it won't be so awkward."

Bonnie eyed her for a moment, and for a second Camila thought she had her, but then the girl abruptly changed the subject. "Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times."

Elena and Camila exchanged a look. And Camila spoke up, "Caroline should be here any second. Now don't change the subject."

Elena nodded. "You're going to be there."

"Fine," said Bonnie with a sigh, "I'll go."

Both sisters grinned at her and Bonnie rolled her eyes. "But seriously, where is Caroline?"

"I don't know. It's not like her," said Elena, and Camila pursed her lips, reaching for her phone, just as music started blaring and she looked up, her brows raising to her forehead as she saw her blonde best friend kissing a guy in a blue car, and her mouth fell agape as Caroline left the car and Camila's eyes met Damon Salvatore's. He winked at her and Camila flipped him the finger.

Elena too was at a loss for words. Meanwhile Bonnie didn't seem that surprised. "Oh, my God. That must be the mystery guy from the grill."

"Mystery guy?" Camila scoffed. "That's not a mystery guy."

"That's Damon Salvatore," added Elena as Damon drove away and now it was Bonnie's turn to be surprised.

"Salvatore, as in Stefan?!"

Just then, Caroline approached them with a smile on her face, "I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind." And just as Camila was about to say something she turned to the squad. "Sorry, I'm late, girls. I, uh, was busy. All right, let's start with the double pike herkey hurdler, what do you say?"

Everyone got in their positions and began doing the routine as Caroline counted the steps, only she stopped for a moment as she turned to Camila's sister, "Elena, sweetie, why don't you just observe today? Ok? Keep going! Ok. Do it again from the top. And 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8."

Camila shared a grimace with Elena but kept doing the routine, rolling her eyes at Caroline's giddy smile every time she touched the scarf around her neck. That had Camila furrow her brows in question, because never, in a million years, would her best friend wear a scarf, no matter how light, in the summer.

•••

Camila, Elena, and Bonnie were all leaning against the island of the kitchen, heads tilted as they watched Nathan stir whatever it was he was cooking for the night. Camila had invited Caroline but the latter had said she had plans with Damon that night, so, she wasn't there to watch the muscles in Nathan's back move against his shirt as he cooked.

"I can feel your eyes on me," he told them, "If you want a show I can take off my shirt."

"Please do," said Camila without hesitation and Elena and Bonnie burst into laughter. Nathan glanced over his shoulder with a smirk and shook his head before keeping on cooking.

"I feel really bad about having you cook a dinner I planned," Elena told Nathan with a grimace as she went to fetch some bowls to put dinner on.

"You'd probably feel worse if it was you cooking, El," Nathan said with a laugh and Elena glared at the back of his head making Camila laugh.

"I mean, Lena, you did burn water once."

"And you're one to talk?" Elena scoffed.

"She's right, James. I still can't eat cinnamon after your failed attempt at hot cocoa."

"Well, it's not my fault the chocolate powder and cinnamon basically look the same when they're in glass jars."

"I thought you had witchy powers," said Nathan without looking up from the stove, "Shouldn't you have known?"

"Speaking of," Bonnie spoke up, "I'm still trying to figure out if I'm a witch."

"Your Grams keeps bringing it up?" asked Nathan, who had been brought in the loop that afternoon as soon as he arrived at the Gilbert house and found Camila trying to explain to Bonnie how cool it would be if she actually was a witch.

Bonnie shrugged. "You explain it. Last night, I'm watching Nine-o, a commercial breaks come on and I'm like, I bet it's that phone commercial. And sure enough, it's that guy and the girl with the bench, he flies to Paris and he flies back. They take a picture."

"Oh, come on," said Elena with a smile, "That commercial's on a constant loop."

"Fine. Well, how about this?" asked Bonnie, "Today I'm obsessed with numbers. 3 numbers. I keep seeing 8, 14, and 22. How weird is that?"

"Maybe we should play the lottery," suggested Elena with a grin. And Camila let out a laugh that she hid with a cough when Bonnie narrowed her eyes at her.

"Have you talked to your Grams?" asked Nathan as he poured the pasta he'd been making into the bowl Elena passed him.

"She's just gonna say it's because I'm a witch. I don't want to be a witch. Do you want to be a witch?"

"Yes," replied Camila instantly and Nathan shrugged.

"Ok, serving spoons," said Elena, "Where are the serving spoons?"

"Middle drawer on your left," said Bonnie immediately and Elena opened the drawer to find the serving spoons.

"Ok, so you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times."

"Yeah, that's it," said Bonnie with a nod just as the doorbell rang. Elena took a deep breath.

"Ok, he's here. Nate, thanks for cooking," she said and then turned to Bonnie, "Don't be nervous. Just be your normal loving self."

And with that, she scampered off to open the door as Nathan and Camila brought the food to the table. "This is going to get awkward, isn't it?" asked Nathan with a grimace.

"That's why you're here," said Camila, "You're on the team with Stefan, just figure something out."

"What? Why me?"

"Because I can't keep a conversation going on my own," said Camila. "Bonnie isn't going to talk. Elena will push for chit-chat. And Stefan, the poor boy, will just sit there and look pretty."

"You think he's pretty?" Nathan's eyes narrowed at her and Camila's eyebrows rose in her forehead.

"Don't you?"

He scowled at her and shrugged as he grumbled out, "I guess he's okay."

And just like Camila had predicted, dinner started on the wrong foot. And she was trying really hard to hide the grin on her face at seeing Stefan fumble for awkward chit-chat, her sister's smile that was verging on a grimace, Bonnie's complete dismissal of all topics Stefan related, and Nathan's horrible attempts at keeping the conversation going.

"Football!" Nathan said all of a sudden and everyone turned to him, and Camila tried hard not to burst into giggles. Nathan cleared his throat before turning to Stefan. "How'd you like practice? I mean, you're a fucking good player."

Elena nodded, "Did Tanner give you a hard time today?"

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right," Stefan said modestly but Camila was sure he was Mystic Falls's new star player, at least according to Nathan.

"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today," said Elena. "Tyler threw a ball right at him, and—"

"Yeah, I heard," said Bonnie stiffly, and Camila and Nathan shared a look.

"Tyler can be a dick sometimes," said Camila to Stefan, "But don't take it to heart."

"I guess they're getting used to me." Stefan shrugged.

"Not really," said Nathan, "Matt is just jealous—"

"Bonnie!" Elena said loudly, sparing a glaring glance at Nathan who shrugged sheepishly before shoving food in his mouth. "Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?"

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad," said Bonnie briefly and Camila let out a laugh that she hid with a cough.

"What about the witches?" asked Camila and Elena nodded, encouraging her sister. Camila turned to Stefan with a grin, "Grams thinks Bonnie is a witch. They apparently have a lineage, it's pretty cool, who wouldn't want—"

"Cool isn't the word I'd use," interrupted Bonnie.

"Well, it's certainly interesting," offered Stefan, a genuine smile on his face as he found a topic of conversation that he seemed to be able to hold. "I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s."

Bonnie nodded along and all of a sudden, for a moment, the awkwardness was mostly gone, "My family came by way of Salem."

"Really? Salem witches?"

"Yeah." Bonnie nodded.

"I would say that's pretty cool," said Stefan.

"Really?" Bonnie narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity," said Stefan, and Nathan and Camila shared a look that said, why are we back in school on a Friday night?

"Yeah, they are," said Bonnie with a smile.

"You really are a history buff aren't you, Stefan?" Camila asked amused, "I mean, that battle of wits with Tanner in class was... not boring."

"I just like history," said Stefan with a shrug.

"But you speak like you've lived it," said Camila and she frowned when Stefan's shoulders tensed up.

"Uh—I just—" Stefan's words died off as the doorbell rang and Camila was sure she hadn't imagined his sigh of relief.

Elena frowned, "I wonder who that could be."

"Caroline," said Camila, not even standing up and everyone turned to look at her. Camila looked up from her plate with a frown, "What?"

"I thought Care had plans," said Nathan, and Camila sighed as she stood up.

"She said she did. But I have a feeling it's her," she said with a shrug before going up to the door.

When she opened it, her blonde best friend grinned at her, her curls bouncing, the scarf that bothered Camila earlier that day still around her neck, "Surprise!"

Amused, Camila smiled at her before raising an eyebrow at Damon trailing behind her, "You said you guys had plans, Care, we didn't cook enough for—"

"Oh please," Caroline said, waving her off as she walked into the house, waving at the people at the table, one of which, Stefan, was now standing up, looking warily at his brother who remained outside. "We brought dessert."

"What are you doing here?" asked Stefan as he came to stand next to Camila.

"Waiting for Cami to invite me in."

Camila scowled at him. "First, we're not that close. It's Camila for you, and it really should be Ms. Gilbert, what are you? A 100?"

The smirk that grew on Damon's lips was impossibly amused, "Around there. Come on, Camila, I'm not that old."

Camila pursed her lips and rolled her eyes before stepping aside to let him pass, though something in her mind prevented her from actually telling him to come in.

"He can't, uh..." Stefan cleared his throat, "he can't stay. Can you, Damon?"

"Get in here," Caroline said with an incredulous smile and Damon merely smiled politely.

"Just come on in!" Elena said from the dining room with a laugh, "We're just finishing up."

"You have a beautiful home, Camila, Elena," Damon said as he walked into the house, deliberately slow, a smug look on his face as he kept his eyes on Stefan, whose jaw was clenched tightly.

"Thanks," said Camila with a shake of her head at the brothers bickering before closing the door and joining everyone in the dining room.

•••

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team," said Caroline with a smile, from beside Damon, as she looked at Stefan, who was sitting on the couch with Elena. "Tyler must be seething."

"Tyler knows it's good for the team," Nathan piped up from his place next to Bonnie. "Like James said, he can be a dick sometimes just don't take it too personally."

"James?" asked Damon, looking at Nathan like he was an inconvenience and Camila scowled at him.

She raised an eyebrow at him from where she sat on the couch next to Nathan, her legs thrown over his lap as she leaned on the arm of the couch. "That would be me. Camila James Gilbert. Pleasure, I'm sure."

"Cute middle name," said Damon.

"Cute girl too," replied Camila with a grin and all her friends rolled their eyes. She chuckled and turned to Stefan, "But yeah, you'll about save our football team, they're not very good—"

"That's because I'm amazing," said Nathan with his eyes narrowed and Caroline let out a laugh.

"Amazing? Nate, you can barely catch the ball—"

"That was one time!"

"Every game," added Bonnie and Elena at the same time, and all four girls burst into laughter; Nathan scowled at them.

"So yeah, good for you," concluded Caroline, as they turned to an amused Stefan again, "Go for it."

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage," said Damon with a nod, "You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it."

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today," said Caroline with a frown, and Camila narrowed her eyes at her. The blonde didn't notice. "It's only because you missed summer camp. I mean, Cami did too but she came over so I could teach her. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines."

"We'll work with her," said Bonnie, pointing at herself and Camila, "She'll get it."

Caroline seemed to be lost in her head as she mindlessly nodded, and Camila was waiting for the worst. Her best friend was a lot of great things but sometimes it was like filter wasn't a word in her vocabulary and anything that came to her mind just immediately left her lips. "I guess we can put her in the back."

"You know," said Damon, "you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena."

Caroline waved him off, "Oh, it's just 'cause her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun," she said in a ramble and the room went quiet. Caroline took a second to realize what she'd said and grimaced, her eyes meeting Camila's, who was looking at her emotionlessly. "And I say that with complete sensitivity," she said meekly, throwing Elena a genuine apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, Elena, Camila. I know what it's like to lose both your parents," said Damon, "In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die."

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon," Stefan said coldly.

Camila agreed completely, she could already sense Nathan's worried glances her way as if he was expecting her to break down at the mention of her parents. She could sense Caroline's apologetic looks as she tried to catch her eyes, too.

"Oh, you know what, you're right, Stef," said Damon earnestly, "I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up."

"Please, can we go back to the Salem Witches?" asked Camila.

•••

Camila walked into the kitchen with a couple more plates, she sat on the counter and found Elena washing the dishes, and Damon hovering around and helping as they spoke.

"Earlier," her sister was saying, "did you mean...Katherine?"

Damon hummed in confirmation as he twirled his fingers in a wave at Camila, who in turn rolled her eyes at him with an amused smile as she grabbed a pack of gummy bears from a drawer on the counter and plopped one in her mouth.

"How did she die?" asked Elena.

"In a fire," said Damon, and for a second it was like he was in the past again, his eyes trained on nothing in particular, a somber shadow cast upon the blue of his eyes. "Tragic fire."

"Recently?" asked Camila and just like that, Damon blinked out of his trance.

He shrugged. "It seems like it was yesterday."

"What was she like?" asked Elena.

"Did she look a lot like Elena?" added Camila and Damon choked on air.

He cleared his throat and turned to her with a bewildered face, "What?"

Camila shrugged with a smile on her lips as Elena shot her a warning glance, but the older sister was having way too much fun gauging reactions out of the Salvatores. "Well, when we showed up at your house you immediately assumed Elena was Elena... I mean, I know I'm way out of Stefan's league, but you could've thought it was me. So... Maybe Stefan has a type and Elena certainly makes the cut."

Damon tilted his head curiously at Camila before nodding, "Well, she was beautiful. A lot like both of you in that department. Though I must agree, Camila James, you certainly are way out of Stefan's league."

"Thanks." Camila winked at him and Elena rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, Katherine was also very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive," said Damon and both sisters shared a look.

"So which one of you dated her first?" asked Elena.

"Nicely deduced," said Damon with a smirk, "You sisters have a talent. But you'll have to ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine."

"Didn't Katherine have a sister?" asked Camila after a long pause and Damon looked at her with a raised brow. "Well, I'm just saying it would've made it fairer. Less sharing."

"If she did, I wouldn't know," said Damon with a smile, before turning to Elena as he started questioning her about cheerleading practice again and Camila got entirely too bored too quickly.

And so, she left both of them in the kitchen and went to join the others in the leaving room. To be honest, she'd thought about quitting cheer a million times over, but every time she came close to quitting she asked herself what she would do instead. At least in cheer, she had Caroline, and she could pretend to be all preppy and dress up for competitions.

She used to paint and draw before her parents died. She used to write. She used to go out more. She even had a sewing phase that didn't quite end up with her making it to fashion school. But after the accident, nothing really excited her anymore, not like it used to.

And she wanted to paint, to draw, every time she'd sit down to do it, her brain would get overwhelmed with pictures, with memories, with dreams, with millions of possibilities of things to draw and she always ended up closing the notebook and leaving the house to hang out with anyone available.

Because when Camila was alone, she was haunted by her mind, and it was trying to tell her something she wasn't quite sure she wanted to face yet.

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