Holding on (Vampire Diaries~Enzo)

Chapter 27: Road Trip

~ Road trip ~

2 January 1951 ~ Ruby

 

We have been driving for about 5 hours and it is already getting darker. We’re heading south, to where Enzo said he knew a witch who could be to some use to us. I said we should go to Mystic Falls first – since that was the only place he’d ever told us about – but Enzo pointed out he’d never go back there. To much painful memories of his family, his brother who forced him to turn into a creature he never wanted to be and of course Katherine. Let’s not start about Katherine.

I’m worried about Damon. I’ve got to know him pretty well in that prison cell. I know what he is capable of and I feel like I should have been there to prevent what is happening now. I don’t need to see him to know he is unraveling. We may not have a bond like I have with Enzo, but he is the closest thing I got to a brother and I should be preventing this from happening.

That’s what sisters do, right? I didn’t do that much of a good job the first time. Before turning into a vampire I could be pretty shallow. In some ways, turning gave me a much better perspective of the world. When I still lived with my family I loved my sister. But there was something that always tortured me under the surface. Teresa was the model daughter; I was far from that. Even if you don’t count running away from home with some guy I hardly knew, I always spoke out of turn on the dinner table, spend more time reading than on my appearance and rather go outside than sit and wait for a suitable man to come around. That wasn’t me. Still not. Enzo can hardly be called a suitable man – at least for my parent’s standards – but I don’t care. I love him. That’s enough for me.

But all that made me look differently to Teresa, prevented me to say the things I should. And then she died. And I left. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my parents – still do – and I know that they love me, but I couldn’t stay.

Maybe one day… Maybe I can go back. At least to let them know I’m okay.

I smile as the late evening sun grazes my skin and I let myself drown in its warmth.

I’m okay.

For the first time in forever; I’m okay. I’m better than okay. I feel amazing. Free. I feel like myself.

A very familiar set of fingers slide along the back of my hand and I look up from the starting sunset. Enzo is looking at me with the most happy smile I’ve ever seen and my heart makes a jump. His fingers follow my arm while he keeps staring at me and I realize something.

‘Eyes on the road!’ I yell in utter panic but he just laughs.

‘You know how to drive right? I don’t need to watch the road to know we’re perfectly fine.’ His conception of ‘fine’ will be a little different after he’s wrapped the car around a tree. I give him a glare, knowing he’s right and I overreacted. And I glare even harder because I sense he senses how much I like his touch. After my yell, he did look back in front of him, but didn’t stop caress my arm.

I laugh too now shaking my head.

‘You think too much you know.’ Enzo says, referring to my thoughts of when before I started screaming at him. For no reason at all my smile vanishes instantly. I look away.

The hand on my arm stops moving and for one second I think he’ll withdraw it, but instead he takes my hand in his.

‘Hey. Look at me.’ His voice is demanding and for some reason his English accent sounds even thicker and I’m compelled to obey. ‘Don’t blame yourself for your past. If it hadn’t happened we’d never met. Just think about that.’