Kismet | Damon Salvatore

Chapter 21

Tripp was dead.

"Mom isn't going to be happy about this," said Meredith when she brought them the news. "But it was out of my control. He taunted Enzo and even without really knowing Enzo, I can understand once he gets an idea, no one is talking him out of it."

"Well, did they at least get the names of his helpers?" asked Maribel hopefully.

"They did. Matt and Jeremy are going to round them up. Some already came looking, Stefan and Enzo had to do away with them, too." She flicked up a piece of paper, depositing it in her sister's hand.

Maribel simply stared at it. "What's this?"

"An invitation," said Meredith. "Unfold it."

She did, and saw Jo and Alaric were hosting a dinner in Alaric's apartment. "To meet new friends and greet old ones," she read off the top. "Uh... is it rude if I say I don't want to go?"

"Yes, it is rude."

"But I don't like random surprise gatherings of any kind."

"They are just trying to do something special. You're going, Damon's going, Bonnie's going."

Damon made a face. "I have to go?"

Meredith heaved a sigh. "Do none of you want to go?"

"I sure as hell don't," said Damon. "And I bet Bonnie doesn't, either."

"There is going to be a lot of bourbon. Alaric said he picked a special bottle to share with you."

Maribel groaned when she realized Damon had been convinced to attend. "Fine," she said. "I guess we can go. But if I don't feel comfortable, I reserve the right to leave. We may not have been run raw and bloody in that prison world but being there was its own torture. It didn't make me more comfortable with social situations. I'm just as wary of them as I've always been."

Damon made them late. Maribel at least wanted to show up early, pretend she wanted to be there so there would be no problems if she asked to depart well before dessert. But Damon, who knew very well how she really felt, made sure to take as long as possible to get ready so that they'd arrive just as the food was being served, and not a moment before.

"Hey, at least we don't have to make small talk," Damon whispered when Maribel yanked him aggressively out of the car. "Woah! Are we about to have car sex right here, right now? You could be marked as a sex offender, there are people nearby."

"I'm not in the mood to have sex with anybody, I don't want to be here," she said under her breath. "It's nice, I get it, but I don't feel comfortable with this. Let's just get it over with."

Dinner proved to be awkward right from the get-go.

Caroline, as per usual, was in charge. They walked in and found her barking orders, having set out name tags to force people to sit in a certain formation. "I think," urged Caroline, "since we're celebrating new friends and old ones, we should share something about this friend group we're thankful for. Oh, Maribel!"

Maribel wanted to perish as soon as she was bombarded with hugs. She awkwardly waved at Tyler, Jeremy, and Matt, allowed Elena and Caroline to hug her, but made no move to greet Liv or Luke, wondering why they'd been invited in the first place. She learned soon enough that Liv and Tyler were now dating.

Liv was being moody, which didn't exactly invite anyone to be warm with her. Maribel didn't like holding grudges, but she and Damon heavily blamed Liv and Luke for the fate they'd suffered these last few months.

"Uh," said Luke, trying to diffuse the tension, "anyone want to see some embarrassing baby videos of Liv?"

"Oh," said Caroline distastefully, "you know what? Now would actually be an excellent time just to shut down anything with an on-off button."