White Lies (The Vampire Diaries)

| 13 | Bribe

There was a moment of peacefulness enveloped around the sleeping vampire as she laid in the warmth of the queen sized bed, tucked underneath the navy blue comforter, safe from the impending doom that threatened to suffocate Presley when she inevitably returned to the new world outside of the bedroom. A chest rose and fell beneath her right arm from where it stretched away from her curled up body.

Light snores sounded beside her and gently eased her out of the dreamless sleep she found herself in throughout the night. Presley knew if she were human, her head would be pounding with a headache from the immense amount of tears she shed last night.

The sheer thought of returning to the Boarding House after Damon's unprecedented arrival and the breakdown in the woods that followed shortly after made the the vampire ridden with anxiety. She wanted nothing to do with either of her brothers; Damon was simply put an asshole, while Stefan lied to her about said asshole's return.

Her younger brother's refusal to warn Presley about Damon's return cut her deeper than she dared to admit out loud. She didn't have to either. Stefan knew he messed up when he saw the betrayal flash across her face after she found out.

Presley feared to head back home after her breakdown, worried Damon would wait around in hope to talk again. She fled to the one place she felt safe when her own home was not an option; the Gilbert home, more specifically, Jeremy's bedroom.

The two friends settled on a 'no questions asked' agreement not long after Jeremy's parents died, where the other was allowed to seek comfort in the other without questions being asked for the reasoning. Jeremy acted on the saying more often due to his wide range of emotions, whereas Presley only used it once until last night.

She snuck into the Gilbert household without being detected by Jenna or Elena, easily entered Jeremy's bedroom, startling the poor boy with her silent approach and puffy eyes, immediately demanded 'no questions asked'. The only thing Jeremy could do was bite his tongue and envelop the emotional girl into his arms while she sniffled to herself.

No one suspected Presley spent the entire night in the teenager's bedroom. His locked door prevented Jenna from potentially checking on him before she left in the morning to run errands and Elena was too caught up getting ready to worry about her brother's sleeping habits.

A shrill ringtone sliced through the quiet air of the dim bedroom, startling the two teenagers out of their dreams. Jeremy loudly groaned in annoyance, whereas Presley yanked the pillow out from underneath her head and smothered herself with it.

"Shut it off," Jeremy grumbled in a thick, drowsy voice. His eyes peeked open as he yanked the pillow off of her head and dropped it in the middle of the bed.

Presley pouted at his actions before she rolled over in the warm bed, blindly reaching for her ringing phone on the nightstand. Caroline's perky smile brightly showed on the screen with the phone icon placed beneath her picture. She accepted the call and pressed the phone to her ear, rolling onto her back.

"Ugh, what, Caroline?" She answered, groggily.

"Excuse me? No," Caroline fired back with a fiery tone. "No, you do not get to give me an attitude when you're the one running late!"

Presley squinted her eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"What am I—"

She hurriedly yanked the phone away from her ear when the raging blonde on the other end loudly raised her voice. She glimpsed at Jeremy beside her, noticing how he rolled on his side to watch her. His brown hair messily laid against his head in various directions from moving in his sleep.