Fickle Game [The Vampire Diaries]

06 | Panic Attack

TW- Mentions of sexual assault

Ronnie's POV

Not much time had passed before all of us decided to head into The Grill. I had really thought the comet would hold Luke's attention for more than five seconds, but just like me, he got bored of it quickly. We were really the ones that were begging the rest of the group to come to The Grill with us because of how bored we were.

As soon as we entered the welcoming atmosphere, I headed straight for my new favorite object in there. The Jukebox. The rest of my friends, including my little brother and his new friend, went to find a place to sit.

My eyes skimmed past Mrs. Potters Lullaby, reminding me of the strange man that I saw watching me today. I quickly moved my eyes past it and rid my head of any thoughts of him. A small smile graced my face when I came across a familiar song that brought back memories.

Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) by John Lennon.

It was a song my father used to sing a lot to Lucas when he was a baby. I knew my dad loved me, I was his firstborn and only daughter. But he had the biggest soft spot for Lucas. Anything he wanted, my dad tried his hardest to get. Luke was the favorite and he never let me forget it.

I grabbed a quarter from my pocket and stuck it in the slot, clicking the buttons for the Lennon song to play. I turned away from the jukebox as the song started to play its soothing melody and searched for my friends.

Tyler saw me looking around and raised his hand, waving me over. He was nice enough to save me a seat between him and Caroline. I gave him a smile as I took a seat, my eyes subconsciously searching for Lucas when I didn't see him. I quickly found him sitting at a booth next to our table with Posie by his side, both of them coloring on some paper and chatting excitedly with each other. An amused smile found its way onto my face when I saw Bash sitting across from them, coloring on a paper as well.

I didn't blame him for wanting to sit at the kid's table. It seemed a lot more fun than the toxic aura my friends gave off at the moment. I suppose it had something to do with little Jeremy Gilbert coming up to our table asking about Vicki Donovan's whereabouts. As soon as Tyler started running his mouth about Jeremy's extracurricular activities, I slapped his arm harshly as I got up from my seat.

I knew how much Tyler hated Jeremy for messing around with Vicki, who was his on-and-off girlfriend. I had heard a fair amount about how he wanted to "pummel Elena's kid brother" when I would hang out with him. That being said, I knew exactly what he was going to say to Jeremy and I didn't want to stick around to hear something I've heard a million times.

"Honestly, Ty." I huffed with an eye roll. "When are you gonna grow the fuck up?" I rhetorically asked and started to walk over to the booth that Bash and the two kids were sitting at.

Tyler's attention left Jeremy and focused on me when he noticed I was leaving. He grabbed my wrist with a confused look, holding me in place. "V, where are you going? You're supposed to be on my side."