Carson Gilbert

Chapter Two

When it came down to it, Jared and Garrett were not far behind to wherever Carson went, that was something I wasn't used to since in a way my parents had given up on me and my sister had always been pained during her visits.

But it also meant I would never betray their loyalty for anything or anyone in return for the loyalty they gave me. Not when they had stuck by me though everything.

"Come on," whispered Jared pulling me from my memories of the last year to see I was just standing there clutching the black tie in my hands. "We gotta get ready."

Elena ended up going to that years bon fire party, only to call our parents to pick her up after she had snuck out in the first place. I don't even know if this was originally supposed to happen since my sister hadn't gone into detail of what happened before Stefan and Damon showed up.

But once again I had lost my parents, and this time more permanently than before. The pain was double as these parents actually cared and loved me, something my other parents hadn't shown in years.

"Here," sighed out Garrett as he swatted my hands out of the way and took the tie from me before fixing it for me. "You won't be left alone, not when you need us the most."

Jeremy wasn't even around after Elena had returned from the hospital and Aunt Jenna had fully moved into the large home. Garrett had mentioned something of seeing him with Vicki, who was his older sister, and that had been the end of that discussion.

Our family was breaking at the seams, and no one wanted to fix it right now as we focused first on dealing with our grief. Not that anyone could blame us for that as we left my room, placed in the redone basement, to meet with the others by the front door.

There were more people than I had thought would show up at the funeral. Not that it should have surprised me considering my father was a well-known doctor, and my mother had been part of the social committee.

"I can't do this," breathed out Elena from my right where she stood between Jeremy and me before she twisted and took off the second the funeral was to end. "I'm so sorry."

"Let's go home," decided Aunt Jenna with red-rimmed eyes and exhaustion all but screaming from her face as she pulled us along behind her. "Come on."

Jeremy remained silent the whole trip home. He had taken the front seat, seeing as Elena had run off, leaving the backseat for Jared, Garrett, and myself.

None of us said anything as we all went our separate ways. Jeremy rushing to his room with a slam of the door while Aunt Jenna collapsed onto the couch to bury her face into her hands.

I just headed back to my room where I sprawled out onto the bed. Jared took the right side while Garret took the left leaving me between them.

"Remember that time your mom almost lost her mind when we took off from school?" mused Garrett as he wrapped an arm around my middle while Jared scooted closer. "I thought she was going to murder us when we returned back home."

"It was only thanks to Grayson that she calmed down," agreed Jared with a small wet chuckle as a shudder raced down my spine while tears welled in my eyes. "Yet even then we all got grounded for two weeks with us not being allowed over the whole time."

That was how we spent the rest of the night and into the early morning just speaking of the past. We went over our favorite memories that involved my parents until we finally passed out.

The next day none of us felt like getting up for much of anything aside to change and take quick showers. Both of them had kept their word, I was never left alone.

~ Time Skip: Start of Canon ~

Jer had only gotten more distant over the rest of that summer leading to our first year in high school to the point that I rarely saw him. Each time that Jared or Garrett had tried to reach out and be there for him as well, well he just snapped back at them until they gave up.

The fact that he kept taking off to spend time with Vicki to get high wasn't helping. He was self-destructing and all I could do was watch as he refused to let me or anyone in.

"Shit," grumbled Jared from where he was curled up behind me as someone ripped the covers away from us even while my alarm began to blare music. "What was that for?!"

There standing at the end of my bed was a frowning Elena who just tossed the covers back to the end of my bed. She was another that had kept her distance with most of her time either spent locked in her room or at the cemetery, it had left her own friends really worried.

Which meant I had been the one stuck dealing with a nosey Caroline and a scolding Bonnie. Thankfully, Garrett and Jared had helped me deal with it.

"Get up," ordered Elena as I sat up and Jared rolled out of the bed to stumble toward my bathroom that Uncle John and my dad had helped me set up. "We have only an hour before we have to get to school."

"I had my alarm set for a reason," I shot back while giving her a tired glare before standing up to get my clothes that I had set aside for today. "Matt's swinging by to pick us up so we can get to school early as we've got basketball practice."

Coach Elvir wasn't a man that one wanted to piss off or disappoint. He had also been our coach since we were kids just getting into basketball, so was someone who knew us too well.

Not that we would have to depend on Matt for much longer as Jared was turning sixteen in a month and would be getting his first car, that being a jeep, which meant he would be on driving duty from then on until we got our own.

That had been a deal we had made between one another back in junior high. Jer had also been apart of the promise, but now I wasn't too sure how that would go. Aunt Jenna had already stated that money had been set aside previously for us to buy our first cars with.

"Can you please leave now?" added Jared while he came out of the bathroom without a shirt and in a pair of my jeans while drying his hair with the towel as I passed him by for my own shower this morning. "We're up."

"Fine," stated Elena with a huff as she headed for the stairs once more.

"Sometimes she can be a bit too much," muttered Garrett as he rushed past Elena and plopped down onto my bed to wait for us. "She's gonna end up driving Carson out the house."

"If she does than he has more than one place to go to," answered Jared while glancing toward the bathroom door where the shower could be heard running. "I get that they're still grieving, but Carson doesn't need someone to be his mother, he needs his family right now."

Garrett only hummed in agreement.