forty

YES I'M STILL ALIVE

I'm v v sorry for the massive hiatus on this story but I had things to do, people to see and I really should be revising for my mocks right now but I think you guys have waited long enough so...YOU'RE WELCOME; I'm sacrificing my education for you people, I hope you appreciate that (only jking ofc)

// chapter forty //

Walking back into the bar suddenly gave me a surge of memories. I almost smiled to myself as I lifted my head, my eyes glancing around the small bar as I remembered the first time I'd come back here. I allowed the smile to pull at my lips and I caught Damon's eye as he sat down in one of the booths, a frown present on his face but he was smiling.

"What's gotten you all giddy?" He questioned, not even picking up the menu as I slid into the seat opposite him, Stefan sliding in after me.

"What can I say?" I grinned. "The thought of alcohol does that to a girl."

He let out a chuckle, his eyes narrowing in amusement as his head shook. His eyes seemed to latch onto something as he licked his lips lightly, rolling his shoulders back in his leather jacket. I shot him a confused look, swapping a similar expression with Stefan as to what the hell he was doing but I soon found out what had him all hot and bothered.

A woman with black hair came over to us and my eyes involuntarily widened. Her face was done up in makeup that would probably have clowns crying out in envy and...To be honest, I don't know why she bothered buttoning up her shirt because she was obviously desperate for her cleavage to burst out. I grimaced slightly, shooting Damon a disgusted look as he grinned up at her. He gave me a look. Behave. 

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I placed my chin into my palm. 

"What can I get you, honey?"

"How about a decent shirt." I grumbled to myself, jabbing Stefan in the ribs when he elbowed me to be quiet. 

I wasn't sure if she heard me or not or whether she just decided to ignore me, but she raised her chin and turned away from Stefan and I for a moment as she took Damon's order.

"I'll have a beer, thanks." Damon smirked, his arm reaching across the back of the empty seat next to him as he grinned up at the woman. "Or whatever's hot."

"Oh, please." I grimaced, wrinkling my nose in disgust as I didn't bother to lower my voice this time, the giggle that the lady let out almost making me gag on the spot.

Damon shot me a look, his eyes narrowing slightly. Why he was interested in Miss Clearly Doesn't Own a Mirror, I had no idea. But there was no way in hell I was going to allow him to flirt with her. If I can't flirt with Liam, then it's about time he stops flirting with random women in front of me.

Karma's a bitch, what can I say?

She turned to me, her upper lip almost curled up into a sneer at my last comment. "And what about you?" She asked reluctantly, her hand gripping the pen in her hand tightly.

I grinned up at her sweetly. "I'll have a beer as well thanks." 

She shot me a sarcastic, sweet grin back before scribbling my order down on the list and asking Stefan what he wanted. Luckily, Stefan was 100% not interested in her flirting and quickly said that he didn't want anything, which also signalled a teasing remark of being a lightweight from Damon.

"Why did you do that?" Damon hissed quietly once the lady had trotted off back to the bar.

"Because her shirt was just about as low as your standards, Damon." I shot back, leaning across the table and placing my folded arms in front of me. 

"What?" He asked, sounding genuinely confused as to what I was implying.

I simply rolled my eyes, pressing my forehead against my arms, closing my eyes for a moment as my brother's started up a small conversation about something or other.

It only took the bar women another five minutes before she came around with Damon and I's drinks. You could tell she definitely did not take a liking to me as she gently placed Damon's bottle in front of him, giving him a seductive grin before she slammed my bottle almost violently in front of me.

"Thanks, I wanted half my beer out of the bottle, thanks so much." I bit sarcastically, flicking a few droplets of beer off of my hand and in her general direction, watching as she narrowed her eyes at me.

"You're more than welcome." She snarled back.

I was about to show her just how grateful I was but Stefan planted a hand firmly on my shoulder, laughing awkwardly as he quickly got rid of the lady and turned to me with an irritated expression.

"Don't look at me like that," I said, ignoring the stare my twin was giving me out of the corner of his eye. "It's not my fault she spills half the drink on the table."

"Be nice," He muttered back as I took a swig of my beer, Damon doing the exact same. Our beer bottles landed on the wooden table with a simultaneous thump and we couldn't help but grin at each other.

Stefan was right; it would do me good to get out of the house.

~~~~~~~~

I thumped down another bottle of beer and glared at the man opposite me with a smirk. He lazily pushed the bottle in his hands away from his lips and slammed it sloppily onto the table, making me smirk that much more.

I'd some how managed to get myself into a drinking match and this man, while he seemed to be able to pull his weight, was finally crumbling. The spectators that had gathered seem completely amazed that I didn't even appear slightly tipsy and held a steady hand still.

Perks of being a half-vampire hybird, I guess.

The man held up a finger as if to protest about something, causing me to arch an eyebrow in curiosity. But he only let out a string of unintelligble words before falling flat on his face onto the wooden table with a thud. I felt the table vibrate slightly as he fell onto it, and sat back in my chair with a satisfied smile.

Weirdly, I wasn't doing this for money, I'd made that strictly clear when the first guy had challeged me into the drinking contest because I knew that if I did take money from people; I'd feel like a scam. Like there's no true contest here because of my high tolerance to alcohol, I'd practically be a cheat. So, I just took him for a laugh. And I sure did laugh, especially when he accused me of being the drunk one before falling off of his stall.

Stefan and Damon stood near the back of the crowd that had gathered, Stefan watching me with peculiar interest and Damon with an oddly proud smirk, his arms folded in front of him. Stefan muttered something to Damon just as two other men hauled my opponent off of his chair and started making their way towards the door. Damon looked back at Stefan and nodded, causing me to tilt my head in curiosity as Stefan weaved between the people and made his way towards me.

"We're heading out of here." Stefan explained once he stood beside me, pushing my beer bottle away from my grasp as I went to reach for it. "By 'we' I mean, you're coming as well."

I rolled my eyes, grabbing the bottle quickly before he could react and guzzled down the last of it's contents. I pulled the rim of it way from my lips, and smirked at Stefan who just simply glared at me.

"You're impossible." He muttered, but the fond tone was still in his voice as he threw me my jacket. "Let's go."

"You go on ahead," I smiled, pushing my seat away from the table and hopping down as I grabbed my coat. "I need to relieve myself, so I'll meet you guys at home."

A look of uncertainty crossed his face and he opened his mouth to protest. "Nu-uh!" I interrupted, pointing a finger at him. "Go, okay? I'll catch up with you."

"Are you sure-" He had that frown on his face.

I rolled my eyes once again, raking a hand through my hair as I started to make my way towards the bathroom, grinning at Stefan as Damon came up beside him. "Bye lads." 

I stood in the doorway of the bathroom for a few moments, before checking to see if my brothers had actually left and was genuinely surprised when I didn't notice them anywhere in the bar. 

Quickly relieving myself and making sure I didn't look like a disaster in the mirror, I took my leave of the bathroom and headed out of the bar, throwing some cash onto the table I had been sat at to pay for the drinks I'd had during the contest.

How honourable of me.

The bitter cold outside made me shudder as I pulled on my thick coat. The night was dark, darker than usual and I huddled myself as deep into my coat as I could while I started to make my way down the street and towards our house. The glow of the bar sign was soon diminishing and I was left with the dim light of overhead street lamps as I slowly began my trek down the road. I was surprised my brothers hadn't waited outside, but it was nice to have some quiet after being in that bar for a few hours. With all the drunken yells and screams that came from others, I was surprised I hadn't wound up with a headache.

I was just shoving my hands into my pockets when I saw an old phone box ahead. 

"Huh," I mumbled quietly, observing the blue box with curiosity as I neared it. The glass around it was dusty and the phone inside was rusted with age. It looked like it hadn't been used in nearly a decade. "Don't see a lot of you fellas about." I smiled to myself as I finally stood beside it, admiring the chipped paint that once would have looked brand new. And without looking at the phone box for more than a few seconds, I made my way past it and had no intention of looking back.

Until it rang.

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cReEpY sTuFf oOooH

but seriously I had a massive brainstorm for this and I'm so excited to get this part going :)))))) anyway, hope you all enjoyed :) comment what you think, it interests me to know what you guys think of the story so far! Hope everyone had a great christmas/holiday break and thank you for reading!

stay hashtag swagulous

- Emma