Eat Me

Chapter 18: No Escape

No Escape

New Year Eve's dinner at the Pierces was far from fun in any normal situation, and now that things had become abnormal really fast, well let's just say that hell suddenly looked more inviting.

Elena should be glad that Damon had accepted their invitation to a Chinese dinner tonight, he had even brought a chocolate cake because he knew that it was Elena's favorite, but he was uneasy. Very uneasy and honestly Elena couldn't blame him.

She looked across the table and saw that her mom had barely touched her food, but she had seemed to go through her second bottle of wine. Katherine had only served herself some white rice and an egg roll, but was just playing with it and not really eating it.

Elena sighed as she looked towards her baby triplet, the youngest of the three and the sweetest, poor Amara was a nervous wreck. As if it wasn't bad enough that her bitchy, jealous roommate Tessa had stolen her short story, the headmaster had called and informed Jenna that an anonymous person had told them that Amara smoked weed and when they had gone to check, they had found weed in her bedside drawer.

Amara had tried to explain that the weed wasn't hers (though she was very sure that it had been Tessa that had planted it there) but she didn't have proof of anyone else that might have done it and it was in her desk drawer. Amara had been promptly expelled from her dream school and she needed to come on the first day of the term to pick up her stuff.

Since then Amara had been a full blown mess, her eyes were puffy from crying and she didn't even bother to dress up. Elena looked at Damon as if silently begging him to put all of them out of their misery, and in Damon's defense he did try.

"So back at my aunt and uncle's ranch my cousins taught me how to milk cows," Damon smirked as if saying that was the equivalent to getting a new car. Elena giggled and she felt herself relax.

"So did you learn how to milk a cow?" Elena giggled.

Damon nodded. "Took me a while, at first Daisy wanted to kick me. She's not use to strangers."

"Daisy?"

"The cow, my cousins gave all of their cows weird Disney names like Pluto and Minnie and Mulan." Damon shrugged. "Cows are gentle, they don't smell that great, but they are pretty sweet."

Elena looked over to the rest of her family hoping that they would at least pretend to be interested but they were all lost in their own little worlds. Jenna had gone to the kitchen for another wine bottle, Katherine was starting to stab her egg roll with her chopsticks, and Amara was wallowing in self-pity.

Elena threw a knowing look at Damon, it was obvious that her family wasn't in the mood for guests. Damon understood. "Thank you for a lovely dinner, Mrs. Pierce. But I should probably head back home."

The rest of the Pierce women muttered goodbyes as Elena followed Damon outside.

"I'm sorry," Elena blurted out once she and Damon were outside in the bitter cold. "My family is kind of a mess, right now. A huge mess, I shouldn't have put you through that torture."

"It wasn't torture, Elena," Damon lied lamely. "It was. . . different."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Please we both know it was as happy as a funeral in there."

Damon led her towards the porch. "Do you want to talk about it, because honestly I'm kind of lost?" Elena didn't look convince. "Come on Elena, just because we broke up, doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"Fine." She sat down on the porch. "It's just everything is so different, it's harder than last year. My parents got divorce that's why my dad isn't there and that's why my mom is drinking like there's no tomorrow."

Damon had guessed that, but hadn't brought it up. "Is that all?"

"I wish," Elena sighed. "And I'm worried for my sisters-both of them. Katherine may act really tough, but she really is the most vulnerable. For the past few months she has been acting weird, like she's upset about something or trying to complete a goal that she can't achieve. She's moody, she's not speaking to Rebekah her best friend, and she avoids everyone. She's not eating and she's not the girl she was."

"I notice." Damon said lightly. "She was playing with her food a lot."

"She always does that now." Elena said frustrated. "And Amara just got kicked out of boarding school and I'm sure her crazy, jealous roommate is behind everything. She's trying to act brave, but I can tell she's upset. She worked so hard to get in and now it's all gone."

Damon squeezed her shoulder. "Elena, you don't have to shoulder everything, I know you care about them and they are your sisters, but it's you parents responsibility too. You shouldn't be handling all of this alone."

"Thanks for listening to me," Elena gave a nervous chuckle. "I'm sure you rather be doing something else that listening to me whine."

"I admit there are other more pleasant things we both rather be doing, but what's a depressing talk between friends?" Damon joked.

Elena laughed. "Thanks Damon, I really appreciated."

"Any time, well I better go." Damon hesitated before he kissed her cheek. "Good night, Elena."

Katherine was not stupid, she could feel her sisters eyeballing her and it was incredibly annoying, it seemed that Elena had also managed to put Amara in her ridiculous concern mode and now the two of them were driving her mad.

Katherine turned around and Amara and Elena flinched in their steps, they were acting as if Katherine was a poisonous snake. "What?" she hissed.

Amara started playing with her hair. "We, were um wondering if you wanted to talk."

"No," Katherine said tensely. "I don't want to talk."

"We're worried about you, Katherine." Elena said. "Please don't shut us out, we want to help you. You need help, please let us in."

"I don't need your help."

Elena grew annoyed. "So playing with your food and avoiding eating while you waste away is normal behavior? We're not stupid, Kat."

"Mind your own business, Elena!" Katherine snarled.

"Katherine, please don't do this," Amara begged. "It's not healthy, and you're pretty just the way you are-"

"What do you know?" Katherine turned to her triplet. "What could you possibly know Amara? God, how I wish you were still at that stupid school of yours so that you would stop breathing down my neck!"

Amara bit her lip and flushed.

"Katherine!" Elena scolded.

Katherine close the door firmly behind her, feeling a knot in her throat. She was such a bitch. She sunk to her knees and hugged them against her chest as she felt the tears falling down her face.