As Jenna sweetened the deal Alaric knew he wouldn’t be able to turn it down. He laughed a bit and nodded. He honestly didn’t care who won. He almost wanted to let Jenna win but knew she would be able to tell. “Sounds good to me. I just hope you’ve got game.” He teased smiling at her. Laying his cue on the table he left the table to place in their order. Ric couldn’t take his eyes off Jenna as he walked back with two iced teas in hand. Even in the dim lights she looked stunning. The small bits of light reflected on the lighter parts of her hair and her skin seemed to glow. How he was so lucky as to be here with her he wouldn’t know.
“Here you are. They said they will bring the pizza over when it is done.” Ric took a sip from his glass before placing it down on a nearby table. The tea was too sweet and he had never cared for it unless it was brewed by Jenna. It was her who had showed him how to sun brew tea and put just enough sugar in it to not override the lemon. “Would you like to break?” He asked motioning towards the racked balls. He hated breaking them, always getting the balls to barely move. He kind of sucked at the game but would never tell Jenna that. It wasn’t manly to suck at such a game.
Glancing around Ric noted the place was full of couples and families. One family in particular stood out. The mother and father were fawning over a baby, not much older than six months as their three year old played nearby. Alaric couldn’t help but watch them, hoping that one day he would have it as well.
“Oh, you have no idea,” she said mostly to herself. Jenna wouldn’t be going easy on him. She was a good player, she knew that. She had played pool for years all the way through high school and college. Mason had taught her most of it, she remembered. They had spend nights at the Grill playing, and she got better and better with every game. They had often played for drinks, and at college they had played for pieces of clothing. Jenna had never ended up naked. She always won, thanks to her best friend. Maybe she was a little out of practice now, but that didn’t stop her from scheming. She would probably lay low a little, letting him think he was winning, and then when he thought he had practically already won, she would show him who was the better one here. She smiled to herself at that thought while Alaric was already gone to get food and drinks. She would tease him a little, because she knew she could. She could always tease him and he never minded, because she was messing with him out of love. All she did was out of love.
She was leaning against the pool-table, mindlessly watching how the balls were sparkling in the light. They were pretty, she thought. She liked pretty. Jenna was a little startled as he came back with the drinks, but composed herself quickly and nodded. “Thanks,” she said and reached for her glass of iced-tea. It was really too sweet. Jenna hardly ever put sugar into the tea when she made some herself, because she didn’t really like sweet tea. She wouldn’t even call it tea. It was more like a syrup. Ninety-eight percent sugar with a little bit water on top so you wouldn’t completely choke and die. It made you gain five pounds just by looking at it and your teeth were never exactly happy abotu the drink either. But today she didn’t mind, not in the slightest. She was taking another sip and then set the glass back down. “What pizza did you order?” she asked, hoping he remembered that she wasn’t a big fan of meat. But she would eat it anyway. Jenna wasn’t a vegetarian. She enjoyed McDonalds as much as other people did, but when she had the choice between salad and a stake, she would always go for the green stuff.
“I’d love to break,” she said then. She clumsily wiggled out of her jacket and dropped it onto the chair next to the small table. Then she took the cue and walked over to the table, bending, aiming, and hitting. The balls were going in every direction, but she had no color yet. “It’s my turn again, right?” She thought it was, but she wasn’t sure. The one who broke had the first hit, right?
As Alaric didn’t answer right away, Jenna looked up, noticing him being a little lost in thought. She followed his gaze across the hall and immediately knew what he was watching so longingly. The young family really stood out, and she could almost read his mind. Often she had wondered how it would be to be a mother. How it would be to have an own family; children. But then Jenna always thought she was too young to start a family. Hell, she wasn’t even out of college yet. She wasn’t ready to be a parent. She had to take care of Elena and Jeremy, and Hazel, God the child was a challenge. She thought she would be a terrible mother anyway, and she didn’t like the thought of bringing a child into this world where danger was just waiting around the corner. Jenna knew what was going on in this world, and knowing that, it would not be fair to the child.
“It’s your turn,” she said then, deciding it really didn’t matter. She was going to give him the first shot if that made him come back to reality. Maybe someday, when there was no evil anymore, she would think about having children, and she didn’t want anyone else but Alaric to be the father. But the time was not right, and it probably wouldn’t be for another few years.
(Source: jenna-sommers)
It’s only been 11 minutes, but still. Has he picked her up already?
Ric smiled upon hearing Jenna not want to go elsewhere. This was a favorite place of his and he really wanted to share it with her. He wanted to share everything with her. This was a chance at redemption and he fully planned on making the best of it. But for tonight, he wouldn’t bring up his disappearance or anything else that would start a fight. Tonight would be all about making Jenna smile and forget all of the drama they left behind in Mystic Falls. He would make it a purpose to forget the vampires, the witches, and the Doppelganger business. For one night they could act like a normal couple without problems with the supernatural. Maybe eventually they wouldn’t have to pretend but for now, one night at a time.
“There’s a lot to do here. I took Elena and Jeremy a time or two and as reserved as they can be they both had fun. There is skee ball, mini golf, pool, a ton of games, pizza, beer.” Ric rattled off some of the choices with excitement. “The choice is yours my love.” Out of habit he pulled her to him and kissed the side of her head. Realizing he was rushing things he pulled a way a bit but slid his hand into hers to give her a reassuring squeeze. Jenna wanted time and he would give that her. It was hard not just jumping into what they used to be but he would respect her wishes.
Ric gently pulled Jenna to the pool tables only stopping for change for the table. With shaky hands he placed the quarters into the slots and pushed them in dropping the balls in a rumble. After grabbing the balls from the drop down, he placed them all on the table and started racking them up. “Looser buys winner a beer?” He suggested. Games were usually funner with a little risk like a bet. Thinking back Ric couldn’t remember any bets on the spot that he had with Jenna. He was sure there were two or three. Jenna could never turn down a bet. The hunter stood there balanced on his pool cue watching her silently. She was everything he wanted and more.
Jenna looked up to him as he said he had taken Jeremy and Elena here once or twice. Why did she not know that. “Really? When?” She hadn’t been aware that these three were so close. Sure, he was a part of the family, but Elena was hardly spending time with Jeremy, much less her, so she wondered what had gotten them to spend time with Alaric. She felt a twinge of something at her heart as she realized the two kids wouldn’t do stuff like that with her. Hurt, jealousy maybe. Jenna felt very distant to Elena lately; to everyone really. It seemed they only wanted to pump her for information and not really cared what she was feeling. In fact, Jenna felt very lonely and sad most of the time. When she didn’t see Jeremy for days because he was hiding out in his room, and Elena too, was throwing herself into so much work (which would actually be alright with her) but the girl forgot about her friends. And both of them forgot about family.
They took Jenna for granted, a lot of times. She was only there, making horrible food, cleaning the house occasionally, and knowing what’s going on around. The young woman couldn’t take it anymore. She was important, too! She wanted to be a friend again, someone they cared for. No one had said anything as she had the idea of going to the lakehouse for a few days. Only as her mind was set on leaving people jumped in wanting to stop her. She thought it had been a mistake telling, but she didn’t want to pull an Alaric and disappear without a word. But she didn’t want anyone to come with her either, so maybe it was a mistake after all. She shouldn’t have said anything. She should’ve left a note. However, she decided not to bring it up tonight, because maybe if she didn’t talk about it, people might forget it and she could leave Sunday morning in peace. It would only be for a few days, too. And Jenna was convinced she’d be safe at the lakehouse. After all, only Stefan was invited in. If she wasn’t burning the house to the ground in attempt to make cupcakes, she thought she’d be fine.
She had lost herself in thought for a few short moments as they walked towards the pool-table; only as she was pulled in by Alaric and kissed on her temple she snapped out of whatever drifting she had been in. She looked up a little confused, because she hadn’t heard what he said before. Something about the game being her choice and my love. She gave a tight smile and nodded. Jenna knew Alaric would love to just pick up where they left off. But she couldn’t. He had hurt her after all, and this pain wasn’t easily forgotten. She was trying, that why she had agreed to this trip to begin with. She wanted to fix things, but she didn’t want to rush it. At his suggestion of a bet, she smiled again and nodded. She was never the one to turn down a bet; it made things a lot more exciting. “The loser has to buy the winner beer, and cannot drink for the rest of the night,” she thought she’d set that as a ground rule. Only one of them could drink tonight, seeing that the other had to drive the car home. Jenna wouldn’t mind not drinking. After all, she had been sober for almost four weeks now and she didn’t plan on getting wasted until Saturday, which was Caroline’s party. But she thought it might make things more challenging for Alaric, because really, he was a functional alcoholic. “Deal?” she asked with a soft smile.
She watched him setting up game and got two cues for the two of them. “Let’s get some iced-tea or something.” She said then, thinking they should have something non-alcoholic to drink before one would win and get a beer. “We could order Pizza, too, and eat as we play,” she suggested and handed him one of the cues.
(Source: jenna-sommers)
“I’m down here!” She yelled at the base of the hole that was dented into the ground above her. Looking down at her watch she smiled.
“That…didn’t take too long.” She answered. She could sense her coming closer and rested a hand on her hip. This was probably a drastic move, but the humanity of Jenna Sommers was important. If Jenna was a vampire or any other supernatural being, adjustments clearly needed to be made in Bonnie’s life. It would probably be easier if Bonnie could simply sit down and talk to her, but for all Bonnie knew, she could have easily been lied to, like always.
Finally, she heard Bonnie’s voice. Finally! And it was like heavy stones fell from her heart as she felt relieved. She had actually managed to find her friend, in the dark, in the forest somewhere between Fell’s Church and … wait, wasn’t that Fell’s Church? Yeah, Jenna was pretty sure it was. The young woman remembered the many, many times they had gone here back when they were little. Exploring the forest was something she and Mason had loved doing; playing pilgrims finding the new world, or monkeys jumping from one tree to another. Sometimes a regular game of soccer was not enough and they had ended up playing wood-soccer. The trees and branches and bushes had made the whole thing a lot more challenging. Often Jenna had fallen and started crying, and most of the time Mason had cheered her up again and they kept playing a minute later.
Jenna had really been a funny little girl. She was able to endure a lot. Her knees were always cut and bleeding, and often she got stuck with her long hair in trees, but she refused to cut it. She wasn’t girly, but adored her blond locks. She laughed and cried within a span of five minutes, and then ran off laughing. She was sometimes jealous of her older sister because Miranda seemed to have everything, but Jenna loved her nonetheless. She didn’t like boys very much, but her best friends were Mason and Logan. She hated dresses and loved sports, and — Why was she thinking of all this again? Right, because she was still in the freaking woods. It was so quiet, and yet the noises of branches cracking scared the living hell out of her. Maybe going down memory lane a little would distract her a little, and maybe remembering how many times she had played here would make the forest seem less scary. It didn’t work, mind you. She was still nervously looking around, clinging to the stake and hoping that her friend was alright and they could get out of here
Down here.Down where? There, the stairs. Slowly Jenna took one step after another, trying not to fall at its uneven pace. Then she glanced around the corner, not wanting to step in, finding it too creepy. This wasn’t a place she should be. It went well for vampires and werewolves, she was sure. But this was no place for humans. “Alright, awesome. Can we go now?” she asked shakily as she tried to spot her friend in the darkness, but she could not see very far inside. “I’d really love to go home now, you know, where it’s light and warm and not scary, and where I can have tea and continue my book,” she said. Jenna knew what she said didn’t exactly make sense or was appropriate for this situation. She was sure Bonnie didn’t care for half of it, but when she was scared she just started talking and it made her feel better. It over-tuned the noises that might scare her if it was all quiet.
“What are you waiting for, come on,” she was already turning to head back up again, because this place really crept her out. It gave her goose-bumps and it made her shiver. And again it wouldn’t surprise her if something would just jump out in front of her screaming boo. She found herself being part of a first class horror movie, really, and she knew this was the part where something bad must happen. Someone dying or someone going mad or dead people falling from the sky, or something equally horrifying.
(Source: jenna-sommers)
Alaric laughed a little at Jenna’s question. Of course they wouldn’t go somewhere fancy; somewhere that required a coat and heels. He hated those types of places. Isobel always complained that he never took her enough to places like that where a glass of water was five bucks. He preferred low key, laid back places he could enjoy himself and his company. Places where he could have fun and just relax. Yea, he did want to impress Jenna on their first “date” since he had been back but fancy wasn’t impressive to her and he knew that.
“I don’t know I guess you’ll know when I do.” He grinned at her. Of course he was lying. There was a place not too far away that was more so for teenagers than a couple of adults but he was determined to have fun and make her smile. It was a restaurant but contained a mini golf area, an arcade and a bar. He had taken Elena and Jeremy a couple times but never Jenna. Ric wasn’t sure if she would think it was too childish or not but it had the best subs and pizza around; not to mention a bar. Keeping silent for the rest of the trip he pulled in with a huge smile. Cutting the engine he turned to his woman and tried not to scare her with his smile “You ready?” Hopping out of the car he rushed to Jenna’s side and opened the door.
Ric slipped his hand into hers and gave it a little squeeze before leading her into the semi loud, brightly lit place. The minute you walk through the double doors the smell of pizza, French fries, and beer assault you. “We can go somewhere else if you’d rather.” Ric spoke to Jenna. He wasn’t sure if this was too childish for her but he figured she could use some fun.
Jenna glanced over to him with a questioning, yet amused expression. She liked when he was being so secretive, but only if she knew it was there was something good behind it. She decided not to push it further and just wait it out. They wouldn’t go too far, right? So leaned back and enjoyed the ride. Besides, she knew pretty much everything around her, even in the city, seeing she lived here all her life, so if he said he wasn’t going to find something fancy, she was pretty much alright with any other place she could think of. As he turned the car and pulled into a semi-familiar place, her expression lit up. She was sure she’s been here before, but it was been years. Maybe in middle school or freshman year with Mason and some others, and it had been dark, so Jenna might be mistaken. But she had the feeling as if she knew the place.
She had been a little lost in thought and was startled as Alaric was already around the car and had opened the door for her. She smiled tightly and quickly grabbed for the bag and clumsily climbed out of the car. She didn’t mind him taking her hand, even though she knew, really, that it wasn’t right. Not yet, at least. But again, Jenna didn’t pull away, knowing that this would ruin the moment, and she liked the moment too much to even think about runing it. Not like she ruined their first kiss.
The smell of pizza and fries made her smile, and she looked over to the mini-golf area and then in the back was the arcade room. As he asked her if they wanted to go somewhere else, she shook her head. “Are you kidding, this is awesome,” she said. Jenna was just a teenager at heart, and sometimes very child-like when it came to games and she was clumsy. However, she immediately picked where she wanted to go and tugged Alaric along with no question. He chose the place, she would choose the game. And besides, they had all afternoon, right? They could try out everything in this place, even though that might be a little lot. Maybe they should just start out with something and come back another time for the rest. However, Jenna knew she wanted to play pool with him, and maybe mini-golf later, but it was the empty pool-table in the back that caught her attention. It was dark, there were no windows but dim light. It reminded her of the Grill a little. Then she turned to look at Ric.
“We’ve never played pool together,” she realized. They had been to the Grill so many times, but they had never played pool or anything really.
(Source: jenna-sommers)
Why, out of all people, would Bonnie want Jenna to go and get her? Why, out of every supernatural being in this God damn town, had she asked her? Her, being so scared of everything not human; so fragile and broken. And why had Bonnie said she stole her liquor? Jenna had made sure there was no tequila at home, since she was going on her fourth sober week. All in all, everything was so confusing. Bonnie saying she raided her liquor cabinet, and then ending up in the tomb in the middle of the night, and now wanting Jenna to find her. Why not asking Stefan who would make it into the forest in less than five minutes? Or Tyler? Or Caroline? All of them would’ve been by far a better choice. None of it made sense to her, but Jenna, being the good friend she was had gotten into the car that she finally had gotten back from Stefan and found her way to the edge of the forest. It was dark, too. The sun had set hours ago, and there was little light coming from the crescent moon and the stars.
Of course, Jenna hadn’t come unprepared. She had at least two cups of vervain tea in her system, and the vervain bracelet (of which no one knew it held vervain at all) clinked against the other jewelry that she wore on her right arm. And as if she would actually be able to use it, she was clining to a wooden stake that she stole from Alaric’s collection that he left in the house a long time ago. Alaric was yet another story she currently had to deal with. They’ve had so many issues before. Ironically, Bonnie was there to help her through a little of it. She remembered the Founder’s Event, and how Bonnie had made sure she was okay and even slept on the couch to look after the slightly drunk woman, and how Jenna didn’t remember much of that night and how Alaric had come over and they ended up in the bedroom and how Bonnie caught them the next morning. It seemed like a lifetime ago. It wasn’t much later that Alaric left town for nearly four months and hadn’t returned until two weeks ago. It was safe to say they weren’t together right now. However, Bonnie was there for her that night, so she felt as if she owed it to her to make her way through the woods and get her friend out of whatever turmoil she was in.
Jenna shook her head as if to let these thoughts go and climbed out of the car, the stake so tight in her hand it almost hurt. The forest was dark, but she knew her way around. Mason himself had thrown so many unforgettable parties here back in High School, and she and him had played hide and seek countless times when they were little. She knew the forest. But now she saw it with different eyes. Now the dark shadows were menacing and scary. Behind each tree was hiding a monster, and Jenna found herself being so, so scared. The young woman swallowed hard as she took the first step into the darkness. A branch cracked, Jenna froze, and resigned to the fact that she was going to die tonight. Of course, she was over-reacting right this minute, because really, she was terrified. But hey, it was Mystic Falls. The thought wasn’t so far-fetched.
Inhaling deeply, she took anther step, and she grew more and more tense the further she walked into the forest. “Bonnie!?” she called out, hoping to hear back from her friend. Maybe that would make her feel less alone in the darkness. She felt paranoid, watched, as if somebody was following her, and she expected someone to jump out right in front of her any minute, and snatch her. Wasn’t the forest a vampire-hunting ground? She felt so out of place, really. “Bonnie, say something, damnit!” Now Jenna started to panic. She wasn’t that far from the tomb anymore, but she was still so, so scared, specially because she hand’t heard anything back from Bonnie. “God, where are you?”
Jenna turned a little, looking around, but there was nothing but blackness. She could maybe see within a six feet radius. “Bonnie, please,” Now there were tears. Only Jenna knew she was crying. You could not hear it in her voice, and it was too dark to see them. Slowly, she walked closer to the stairs that led down to the tomb. “Bonnie…..?” Her voice was soft now, and held so much fear. She was hoping to hell she would finally get a reply out of the girl she was looking for. Where was she?
Gregory Alan Isakov | If I Go I’m Goin’
(Source: katbird16)
