08: What's My Age, Again?
The morning light poured into the living room, where Cecilia and her band-mates had fallen asleep on the floor. Instead of dropping off everyone at their homes, they all went to the Gilbert house to binge watch some horror movies and they ended up falling asleep on the floor. At some point during the movie marathon, they told Ricky about vampires existing.
"Oh, good, you're up," Aunt Jenna said to Cecilia.
It must've been a funny sight to see them all in their Halloween costumes asleep on the floor, like in one cuddle-puddle. Well, Cecilia was in between Dylan and Alex, with Alex having one arm around her waist.
"What time is it?" asked Cecilia.
"Time for you to get up and get ready to go to the sheriff's station," Aunt Jenna said.
Cecilia felt panicked, "Why?"
"Sheriff Forbes wants to talk to you all about Vicki's disappearance," said Aunt Jenna.
Cecilia asked, "All of us?"
"Yes," said Aunt Jenna. She looked at the guys, "All of you."
After giving their statements, Cecilia and her band-mates gone to that diner that she and Jack loved so much, more to regroup.
"It's interesting how things disappear," Dylan said. "People, media, my will to live..."
Ricky looked alarmed, "What was that last thing?"
"How a sock disappears in the dryer," Dylan said quickly.
"Yeah, that's what I thought you said," Alex said.
Jack took some onion rings from Cecilia, who reached over and took some of his fries.
Alex asked, "Is that a thing you two always do?"
"Yeah, why?" asked Cecilia.
"Nothing, it was a little weird," replied Alex.
"Suddenly it makes sense," Dylan said.
"What?" asked Jack confused.
Dylan started, "Some time last month, I went for a walk in the woods with Lockwood—"
"What were you doing with him in the woods?" asked Alex.
"Banging against a tree," Dylan said. "But really, I went for a walk and he ran into me, because he was looking for the thing that attacked Vicki."
"Okay," said Cecilia
"He took off and I found Stefan eating a deer," Dylan said. "I mean, I thought he was eating the meat off of it, but now I realized he was actually drinking its blood."
"And you didn't think that you should've told Elena that her boyfriend was eating dead deer?" asked Cecilia.
"I wanted to, but I thought he would've stabbed me for knowing," Dylan said.
"So, why didn't he?" asked Alex.
"A secret for a secret," Dylan muttered. "I found out he eats raw deer and he found out I was the freak hanging nooses on trees."
That was like a gut punch.
"I knew it," muttered Jack. "Well, not really, but I knew you were hiding something."
Dylan smiled.
"God, what else are you hiding?" asked Ricky.
"You don't want to know," replied Dylan.
"What did you do?" asked Alex.
"Don't talk about your crimes. That's how you get caught," Cecilia told.
"And don't even write them down," Jack added.
Caroline appeared at their table.
"Hi, Caroline," Cecilia greeted awkwardly.
"I want you guys to perform at the Mystic Grill for Stefan's birthday party," Caroline said.
"Are we even allowed to perform in the Grill?" asked Ricky.
Caroline smiled, "I have my ways. By the way, don't wear the face-paint, it'll just ruin the party atmosphere."
Cecilia found her sister bundled up in blankets in Elena's room. Cecilia sighed, "What happened to you?"
"Stefan and I broke up," said Elena.
"Again?" asked Cecilia. "Elena, what happened to you saying that you won't turn into one of those girls, whose world stops spinning over some guy?" Elena didn't say anything.
The doorbell rang and Cecilia went to answer it. It was Bonnie.
"She's in her room," Cecilia said.
"Come on, there's something I want to show you," Bonnie said. She took Cecilia up the stairs.
"What do you need me for?" Cecilia asked.
Bonnie walked in, "You up?"
"No," said Elena. She pulled the blanket over her head. Bonnie went over and tried to pull the blanket off of Elena's head. Elena protested, trying to pull the blanket back.
"Why haven't you called me back?" asked Bonnie.
"I'm sorry," replied Elena.
"Are you going to stay in there forever?" asked Bonnie.
"Yep," replied Elena.
"Move over," said Bonnie. She got on the bed next to Elena. "I'm officially worried. What's going on?"
"I'm tired of thinking...of talking. I..." Elena started, but trailed off.
"Can I get a one-line version so I can at least pretend to be helpful?" asked Bonnie.
"Stefan and Elena broke up. Again." Cecilia said.
"I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Right, stupid question. I know I've been kind of MIA when you need me most. I suck," said Bonnie.
"You want to make it up to me. Get my mind off of it," said Elena.
"Just remember you asked for it," said Bonnie. She got out of the bed, closed the windopw and grabbed one of Elena's pillows, before removing the case. She ripped it.
"Hey!" said Elena.
"Those are expensive!" Cecilia added as Bonnie emptied the pillow of feathers. "What are you doing?"
"Be patient you two," said Bonnie.
"Okay," said Elena.
Cecilia nodded.
"I need you both to be sworn to secrecy," said Bonnie,
"It's kind of a bad week for that kind of stuff," said Elena.
"Swear, 'cause I'm not supposed to be showing any of you this," said Bonnie.
"Okay, I swear," said Elena.
Bonnie looked over at Cecilia.
"Yeah, me too," Cecilia said.
"There's no windows open, right?" asked Bonnie.
"You closed the only open window," Cecilia pointed out.
"There's no fan. No air conditioning," said Bonnie.
"None are on," said Cecilia.
"What are you doing?" asked Elena.
"Grams just showed me this. You're going to love it," said Bonnie. "You ready?"
Elena nodded.
Bonnie held her hand over a feather and it levitated into the air, just under Bonnie's hand. Elena's mouth opened as feather was levitated in the air.
"Bonnie, what's going on?" asked Elena.
Bonnie rubbed her hands and levitated more feathers, and dropped the feathers on the bed, along with her hands. More feathers were levitated in the air to swirl around Elena. "It's true, you two. Everything my Grams told me. Even Jack was right. It's impossible and it's true. I'm a witch," said Bonnie.
"I believe you," said Elena.
"Me too," said Cecilia.
"It's weird, right?" said Bonnie, "After all the jokes about being psychic. Or thinking Jack lost his mind with his comment about me being a witch. It turned out that he and Grams were right. I really am a witch."
The feathers were slowly dropped back down.
"I don't understand though. If your Grams told you to keep all this a secret, why did you tell us?" asked Elena.
"You're my best friend," Bonnie said to Elena. To Cecilia, she added, "And Jack knew I was one. I wanted you to see that he was right too."
Cecilia had gotten a text message and she looked at it. It was from Alex.
"Who is it?" asked Elena.
"Alex," said Cecilia.
Elena grimaced. Not because she didn't like Alex. She liked him fine; she grimaced because her twin was in a relationship and not her. "What does he want?"
"Caroline told us that we can perform at the Grill for Stefan's surprise birthday party," explained Cecilia. "Alex was checking to see if we're really performing and apparently we are."
"Stefan's birthday is today?" asked Elena surprised.
"Yeah," said Cecilia, "I guess Caroline is planning it."
"Why is Caroline planning it?" asked Bonnie.
"Good question," said Elena.
The party was actually kind of lame, Cecilia noted. She and her band performed their set-list, the more 'pop' sounding music. To Alex's irritation, Cecilia and Dylan agreed to perform Black Magic because someone shouted it to them, to agreements.
After they finished, Caroline, most likely, turned on the radio to play more party-sounding music.
Dylan took a booth in the back, far away from the party-goers and to slide into some kind of funk, which consisted of him staring blankly at nothing.
"Why do you always do this?" Alex demanded. "You always do this after gigs. What is the matter with you?"
"Not this shit again," Dylan said.
Cecilia left her boyfriends to it and went to the bar to get some non-alcoholic drinks. She knew Jack was allergic to alcohol. Jack had a bad reaction to it when they tried it when they were thirteen and it terrified Cecilia to see that. She had to call an ambulance, so it put her off. Dylan didn't drink because he really didn't want to have history repeat itself by being a teen dad like his dad. Alex certainly would drink, but he was surrounded by non-drinkers and Cecilia wasn't sure if Ricky was a drinker or even allowed to drink, because of religious reasons.
She got the drinks and returned to the booth where Alex and Dylan were. Thankfully they hadn't had a huge argument, though they looked annoyed with each other. It was a step up from Dylan staring into space after their gigs.
Ricky looked like he was getting a headache.
"Where's Jack?" Cecilia asked.
"He took off," Ricky said.
Cecilia set the drinks down and went to find Jack. She went up to Stefan and some girl who were playing pool together.
"Have you seen Jack?" Cecilia asked Stefan.
"No," said Stefan. He motioned to the girl he was with. "Lexi, this is Elena's twin sister, Cecilia."
Cecilia looked at Lexi. Elena had come home and said something about a girl wearing a towel. "Is this the towel girl that she told me about?"
"I've been called worse," Lexi said.
"Lexi, this is Cecilia's best friend, Jack," Stefan said.
Jack had come up and Cecilia hadn't noticed. Jack looked at Lexi, "You're going to die tonight."
Lexi looked alarmed. "Excuse me?"
"He's also a Seer," Stefan said quickly, "A real one."
"Oh, I hadn't met one in decades," said Lexi. "The ones I met were frauds. What's this about me dying tonight?"
Jack shrugged, "I don't know. All I know is that you're going to die tonight. Sorry."
"All you need is to focus," said Lexi. "Find a quiet area and just focus on that feeling you get when you just know things."
"Yeah and then there'll be two people staring off into space, me and Dylan to annoy Alex," Jack said dryly. He looked over, but strangely Dylan wasn't there, but Alex and Ricky were.
Lexi and Stefan looked over too.
"Excuse me, I have to go see where my boyfriend went off too," Cecilia said. She walked off to go find him.
Dylan really needed to get away from the party, even if it was for a brief moment. He really needed to be alone, which was strange because he hated being alone. A couple went by him, though the guy gave him a strange look.
"There's an alley," Dylan said, motioning to the alley.
The couple went on to the alley.
A guy in a leather jacket came out of the Grill. He walked forward and stopped to look at Dylan.
Dylan tilted his head. The guy had to be Stefan's brother. "Do you think it'll rain soon?" He always loved storms because it matched his mind.
"No," said Damon.
Damon was studying the blond boy, who was fidgeting with his sleeves. Dylan scratched at the inside of his wrist, which was riddled with cuts.
"Are you going to kill me?" Dylan asked.
Damon nodded, "Yeah."
Dylan nodded ready to accept his fate, "Right."
Or maybe not, Damon reasoned. He looked at the scars on Dylan's arm. One, it was no fun killing someone who wanted to take their own life. Besides, this was Cecilia's other boyfriend. Cecilia, Jack, Ricky, Alex....and, maybe, Elena would kill him if they found out that he killed Dylan. Two, Dylan wanted to die because his mind was telling him to do it. Okay, Damon played psychologist a while ago, (he had to do something with his time other than mess with Stefan) so he knew that Dylan was clearly suffering from depression and really needed help.
"Just do it and get it over with already," Dylan said.
Three, there was a couple in the alley that would be more to kill.
"Just fucking kill me already!"
Damon looked at Dylan, compelling him. Dylan faltered, looking like his mind fogged over. "Go home, Dylan." He considered the idea of making Dylan get help, but he decided against it. Dylan had to reach out for help on his own. Besides, Damon didn't care about the boy. "Go home." He repeated and Dylan turned and walked away.
Good. He went after the couple.
It turned out that Dylan went home because he was tired. It was nothing new, but it was annoying that he just took off without telling them that he was going home.
Caroline came up to Jack and Cecilia. She was smiling widely. "There you are. I'm glad you showed up to perform. I really enjoyed your song Black Magic."
"Alex and Dylan hate the song," Cecilia said.
"Then why did he sing it?" asked Caroline.
Cecilia shrugged, "Don't know."
"This is out of nowhere, but am I shallow to you two?" Caroline asked.
Cecilia was confused, "No. Why do you think that?"
"Who do you think?" asked Caroline. She seemed genuinely upset.
"Why not get your mother to arrest him?" Cecilia asked.
"I can't," said Caroline. "Do you think I'm a useless waste of space?"
"No," Jack stated. "Want me to stab him?"
"No," replied Caroline. "I have to find Bonnie."
Cecilia asked, "For what?"
"To apologize to her," said Caroline, walking away.
Jack took a cup from the table and took a drink out of it.
Cecilia looked at Jack, "Hey. That's my milkshake."
"Buy another one," Jack told her. "I still prefer the vanilla though."
"Then give it back," Cecilia said.
"No," replied Jack, taking another drink.
"Why is stabbing always an option for you?" Cecilia asked him.
"Correction, murder is always an option for me. Stabbing is the second option," said Jack. "I don't think Stefan would appreciate it if I staked his brother."
Cecilia said, "Even though they're more dysfunctional than Sam and Alex?"
"At least they don't want each other dead," Jack said.
Cecilia nodded and took her milkshake back from Jack, and then took a drink before he drank it all.
"Hey, can you not hang out so much with Jack here?" Alex asked Cecilia.
"Sorry?" replied Cecilia.
"I mean, you're spending way too much with Jack here and Ricky snapped at me to shut up after hearing me go on about it for five minutes," Alex said. "And Dylan just randomly went home without saying anything, which is unlike him. Is that the sheriff?"
"Yeah," said Cecilia. She went to go to the sheriff to see what was going on, but Alex took her arm.
"Come on, we still didn't get to dance yesterday at that stupid Halloween party," Alex told her.
"Okay," said Cecilia.
Ricky was talking to that new girl, Mai, who looked like she'd rather be anywhere but there. Cecilia tried to dance, hated it, and chose to lean against the wall, with Alex joining her. She looked at Elena and Stefan.
"They broke up," Cecilia said.
Alex asked, "Again?"
"Yeah," replied Cecilia.
Alex stayed silent before saying, "Remember that one girl I dated?"
Cecilia remembered that girl very well. She flatly said, "Yes."
"We kept breaking up and getting back together, only to repeat the process again," Alex said.
"I remember that," Cecilia said. Alex had thrown a vase against a wall when he got dumped...again. "Maybe I should've had you talk to Elena about her situation."
"I doubt she would want to talk to a guy about her break up," Alex said.
"Why not? I talked to Jack about my ex," Cecilia said. Alex started snickering. "What's so funny?"
"I still can't believe you told him to stop being a little bitch," Alex said chuckling.
Cecilia really didn't want that reminder.
"Anyone, after she dumped me for like the fourth million time, my dad told me that we should stop dating because there is a reason we keep getting back together and then breaking up," Alex said. "So, I refused to get back together with her."
Cecilia nodded. Alex took her hand, pulled her close, put his hands on her waist and kissed her. She put her arms around Alex's neck, deepening the kiss.
"Damon killed Lexi," Elena said to Cecilia when Cecilia walked in the house.
"Jack did tell Lexi that she was going to die," Cecilia said to her sister.
Elena heaved a sigh, "And she still ended up getting killed." They sat on the couch together and Elena rested her head on Cecilia's shoulder. "Stefan told me that I was right to stay away from him."
"Stay broken up then," Cecilia said. "Alex and his ex-girlfriend had some kind of on-off relationship that lasted months, but after they broke up for the last time, Alex refused to go out with her again. There was a reason they kept getting back together but there was also a reason they kept breaking up."
Elena said, "Wasn't it because she wanted to go sleep around with other guys?"
Cecilia didn't know that. She frowned, "He didn't tell me that."
Elena lifted her head, "That's what I heard from Caroline, whom she heard from Bonnie, whom she heard from Matt, whom he heard from Tyler, which he knows because she slept with him, and Tyler offered because he overheard Dylan talking to some other guy about how Noelle asked him to sleep with her, but Dylan shot her down."
"I got it," Cecilia said. "Although that explains why Noelle suddenly hated him."
"Speaking of Dylan...Tyler asked me about him," Elena said. "He wanted to know if Dylan was going to therapy yet."
"Why would he go to therapy?" Cecilia asked confused.
Elena shrugged, "I don't know. When I asked why, he just shrugged and walked away." She got up and went to her room, leaving Cecilia to her thoughts.
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