~ Under Control ~ Part Two ~

Ronnie's POV

"So, what is up with your brother?" I asked Damon curiously, taking a sip of my water. Damon and I were sitting at the bar, watching all the dancing people. "He's, like, fun now."

Damon smirked, his eyes raking past all the bodies. "Well, he's still weaning himself off blood. Don't worry. He'll be back to his boring, brooding self in no time."

My eyes caught Elena walking towards us, making them roll as I turned away from the crowd and towards the bar. "Speaking of boring." I mumbled, grabbing the bourbon out of Damon's hand and taking a sip.

"Have you noticed what your brothers been up to?" Elena's voice drifted into my ears. I glanced towards Damon, sharing a look before we both turned towards her.

"Nope. Been too preoccupied with yours." Damon stated, taking his drink out of my hands. At Elena's confused face, he then elaborated. "Jeremy's been asking questions about Vicki Donovan's death." My eyes involuntarily rolled at this new information. Can't people just mind their own business?

"He knows that her death was ruled an overdose." Elena responded.

"Really? "Oh, but, Sheriff, someone buried her. Who would do that?"" Damon did an awful imitation of the youngest Gilbert before raising his hand in the air and pointing a finger at himself. "I know. I know. Me. I mean, I could compel him, but he's wearing vervain." Damon then said in a suggestive voice, making me purse my lips, knowing my face was screaming for Elena to do it.

But alas, no one listens to Ronnie.

She quickly turned towards Damon, pointing a finger at him. "No. I don't want you to compel him."

A sigh left my lips, "Elena, if he keeps asking questions, then maybe--"

"Guys, no. I'm serious." Elena cut me off, giving both of us looks. "I'm not gonna do that to him again."

I scoffed. "Elena, no one likes a moral compass. Lower your standards a bit. It's just a little bit of mind erasing."

Elena glared at me for a moment, making me give her a mocking one back. "I'll handle it."

Damon sighed, picking a rose out of a vase of flowers. "Okay." He sighed out, bringing the red rose up to his nose. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He said before handing her the rose.

Another scoff left my mouth as I watched him walk away. I jokingly yelled at his retreating figure, "Where's my rose, you jackass?"

My walk was sluggish as I searched around the mansion for the blonde beauty I arrived with. I was exhausted. My feet are aching, my back is killing me, and I have a massive headache from seeing all the people I hate. I just wanted to leave, but I couldn't until I found Caroline.

"Ronnie, hey!" I heard Sebastian's voice, making my nose scrunch up. I was not in the mood to talk to anyone, let alone Bash. But, since he's only ever tried to be my friend, I plastered a fake smile on my face as I turned towards him.

I've realized I never really want to talk to Bash anymore. Guess he's lost his 'Shiny New Toy' status to me.

I hid my surprise when I saw the girl he was "Fuck buddies" with hanging onto his arm. "Hey, Bash. Linda."

"Really, Ronnie? Linda?" She quirked a brow, a nasty scowl on her face.

"Isn't that your name?" I asked in confusion. I know I've purposely gotten her name wrong before, but I thought it was Linda.

"It's Lindsay."

Close enough.

"Honest to God, I thought it was Linda. Sorry, doll." I shrugged apologetically. "So, are you two dating now?"

Lindsay smiled like she won a medal and gripped his arm, pulling herself closer to him. I had to stop myself from grimacing at the display of affection. She made it seem so awkward. "Totally!" She replied enthusiastically.

I raised a brow, my eyes traveling to Bash, seeing him shake his head a little. So she only thought they were dating? Interesting. "Right, well, I'm sure you two will make lovely ankle biters." I said, subtly rolling my eyes. "Say, Bash, have you seen Caroline anywhere around here?"

"O.M.G., I love Linny!" Lindsay suddenly squealed, making me give her a side glance, which I'm sure was filled with annoyance. I couldn't stand people who said texting abbreviations in real life.

"Linny?" I asked in disgust. That was the most awful nickname I had ever heard for Caroline, and I call her Barbie. "That's revolting."

She dismissed my insult, a dreamy look on her face as she thought of my blonde friend. I knew people at school admired Caroline, but I didn't know it was to this extent. I bet Lindsay is the president of the Caroline Forbes Fan Club. "I saw her in the upstairs bathroom five minutes ago. I think she was crying. I tried to comfort her but I don't think it did much."

My stare stayed on her for a moment. "Lindsay, I think Sebastian is parched. Why don't you be a good little pup and go get him a drink?"

I really need to work on my attitude. I blame this on Damon. My bitchiness has only skyrocketed since I started hanging out with him.

Lindsay then smiled and nodded, giving Bash a kiss on the cheek before whirling around and walking towards the bar. I widened my eyes as I looked back towards Bash. "Dude, I'm worried about your standards."

"She's... sweet." Bash said slowly. "Look, I'm bored. She's an acceptable distraction."

I scrunched up my face. "Okay, one; That's fucking douchey. And, two; She thinks you're together. If you don't want her, cut her off before she gets more obsessed than she already is. Maybe if you do it soon, you'll escape with your dick." I could tell he didn't understand my last sentence, reminding me that he hadn't lived here his entire life. "Us Mystic Falls girls are fucking psycho." I gave his chest a pat and smile up at him. "Good luck."

Then I went upstairs and started searching for the bathrooms. I was on my third bathroom and was about to give up, but I saw familiar shoes underneath one of the stalls. I knocked on the door softly, "Care? You okay?"

I heard her sniffle before clearing her throat. "Yeah, I'm great. Just allergies."

"You don't get allergies." I pointed out. "Come one, open the door."

She didn't move for a moment, but then the lock clicked and the door was pushed open. I sighed at the sight in front of me. There sat a red-eyed Caroline on the floor, traces of mascara on her cheeks, making me wonder how long she had been crying. "Caroline, this floor is hardly sanitary." That was what my brilliant mind decided to say first.

Caroline gave me a look, wiping her nose with some tissues. "Thanks, Ronnie."

I sighed before sitting on the floor next to her, shoulder to shoulder. "Is it Matt?" She scoffed at his name, so I assumed I was correct. "Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked, looking at her from the corner of my eye.

She shook her head. "Not really."

Nodding, I let out a sigh as I grabbed her hand and held it in my lap. "What do you say we go to your house and eat all the ice cream in the freezer while we watch sad movies?"

She let out a teary laugh, nodding her head while saying, "Thank you, V."

A smile was on my face as I bumped my shoulder with hers. "Don't get all sappy on me." I let go of her hand and stood up. I dusted off the back of my dress before holding a hand out to her. "Come on, Barbie." Caroline grabbed my hand and pulled herself up with my help.

I dragged her to the sink, wetting a paper towel before bringing it up to her face. "No offense, but you look like a raccoon. A sexy one, though." I quickly added the last part as I wiped off the mascara streaks. When her face was as clean as it could get, I threw the paper towel in the trash and nodded at her. "Lookin' good, doll."

We both walked out of the bathroom, Caroline and I getting looks from people walking by, the former because of her wrecked appearance and me because they were accusing me of being the reason. We paid them no mind.

We were almost to the front door when Caroline stopped in her tracks. I gave her a confused look before looking at what she was looking at so brokenheartedly. My blood boiled.

Elena stood in front of Matt, a loving smile on her face as she brought a hand up to his shoulder. My eyes narrowed on them as they brought each other in for a hug. "I know someone who could kill them and hide their bodies if you want." I told Caroline, glaring at them as they pulled apart. Damon would gladly kill Matt and Elena if I asked him to.

Care shook her head sadly as we continued to watch them. "Who do you know that would do that?"

"Someone from my time in Milan." I lied, watching Elena pull on her sweater before they headed out the doors. "Oh, hell no." I mumbled, marching after them.

"Ronnie! Come back here!" Caroline yelled as she chased after me.

I opened the door they went out of, seeing them still standing there. Just as I was about to give them a piece of my mind, my attention went to what they were staring at. I felt Caroline come stand next to me, but I didn't glance her way as all four of us looked at the scene in front of us with disgust.

"Yuck." I mumbled.

Matt then stormed towards Tyler and his mother, who were in the middle of making out. "What the hell are you doin', man?!" Matt pulled his best friend away from his mom. Kelly called his name, but he cut her off by yelling, "Mom!"

Tyler held up his hands in defense. "Whoa. Dude, calm down."

Matt, in fact, did not calm down. He immediately punched Tyler in the face, making me let out a wincing sound, Caroline gasp and cover her mouth, and Elena call out his name.

While Kelly grabbed onto her son's jacket, trying to pull him away, Tyler threw a punch right back at Matt, who then stumbled into his mom. Kelly fell back against a table, taking it and everything on it down with her. I rolled my eyes at that. Such a dramatic harlot.

Tyler pushed Matt to the ground, punching him repeatedly. Caroline and Elena's pleas for him to stop were doing nothing, so deciding to be a hero, I rushed forward, grabbing Tyler's arm. I wasn't prepared for him to jerk it away and hit me in the face with his elbow. I stumbled backward, landing in Caroline's arms just as Mr. Saltzman rushed forward, pulling Tyler off of Matt, thankfully.

Mr. Saltzman pushed Tyler against the wall, "What the hell was that?" He asked but got no answer. Tyler looked shocked with himself.

Caroline and Elena rushed towards Matt and started helping him, but I wasn't paying attention to either of the boys. I was too busy trying to stop the blood flowing from my nose. "Ronnie..." I heard Tyler's regretful voice, making me look up, seeing him standing in front of me while his father-- who I didn't notice arrive-- stood with Mr. S. "I'm sorry."

"Fuck right off, Tyler." I growled, holding my nose. He gave me one last apologetic look before walking back into the mansion.

"Everything's fine. Everything's fine. Come on. Everybody back to the party. Let's go. Come on. Have a good time." Mayor Lockwood told the guests that were staring.

When the bleeding out of my nose wouldn't stop, I looked towards my three friends. "I'm going to find some tissues. Care, you good here?" She only nodded, holding her boyfriends face in her hands as she scanned over his injuries.

I held my nose, not caring that my blood was dripping on the floor as I searched for some tissues. I tilted my head back, thinking it would stop the blood. It didn't. It only resulted in the blood flowing down my chin and me bumping into a chest. "Sorry." I mumbled.

"Ronnie, why are you bleeding?" Damon asked.

I looked in front of me, seeing the vampire in front of me. "Uh, Tyler hit me."

"What?" Damon snapped. "I'll kill him. Where is he?"

I grabbed his arm when he tried to walk away. "Okay, Cujo. Tone the testosterone down. It was an accident."

My friend turned towards me, grabbing my face, which I'm sure was all bloodied up. "You can't stay out of trouble for just one day, can you?"

A chuckle escaped my lips, "Impossible."

He tilted my head to the side, examining my nose. "Come on. Let's get you fixed up."

As Damon lead me to the bathroom, he stopped in the middle of the room, his hand on my wrist forcing me to stop as well. "Damon, kinda bleeding out, if you didn't notice."

"You've got to be kidding me." Damon grumbled, his eyes trained on something across the room. John Gilbert. "I killed him."

"He doesn't look dead."

He gave me a look, taking his eyes off the Gilbert as he started leading me towards the bathroom again. "Way to state the obvious." He sounded pissed, but I don't think he was pissed at me. "Can't people in this town just stay dead?"

"Preach." I mumbled, noticing that the blood flowing from my nose wasn't as heavy as it was before. "Why did you try to kill John, exactly?"

"I didn't try, I succeeded." Damon said as we walked into the empty bathroom, him locking the door behind us. He stood at the door while I walked over to the sink. I grabbed a few paper towel, wetting them and wiping off the blood that was covering my face, along with most of my makeup. "He made me, that's why."

"Uncle Johnny knows your a vamp? Yikes." I said absentmindedly as I scrubbed my face. I noticed that there was very large and prominent bruise forming on my nose, making me wince. I should just move out of this town, I'm gonna die one of these days because trouble just loves Ronnie Tate.

Damon walked away from the locked door and over to the sink, standing next to me. He looked at me through the mirror, nodding towards my bruised nose. "Want me to get rid of that?"

I pursed my lips, actually considering it for a moment, but I eventually shook my head. "Nah, I'm good."

My friend let out an exasperated sigh, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Come on, Ronnie. Just take my blood." We both looked at each other, my eyes challenging him and his challenging mine. I squinted my eyes before my shoulders slump. I really didn't want to walk around with a bruised nose. I wasn't in the mood for the stares and questions.

Damon saw my defeat and a smug smirk took over his face. "You should know by now I always get what I want."

A mocking smile graced my face, "And you should know by now..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. I scoffed at myself, "Whatever, let's just get this over with. People saw us walk in here together and they probably think we're having a quickie."

He raised a brow. "I could arrange that if you want." He said before biting into his wrist, holding it out to me.

My face scrunched up, looking at the blood. "You wish." I snapped before taking his wrist and hesitantly bringing it up to my mouth. The metallic taste filled my mouth instantly as I closed my eyes. I hate this. This feels weirdly intimate and I don't like that.

Damon pulled me against him, my back resting against his front, his wrist against my mouth and his other hand stroking my shoulder. I could feel his breath hitting my ear, making me want to cringe away. His lips touched my ear for a moment, which snapped me out of my entranced state.

I opened my eyes, removing my lips from his wrist. My eyes stared into the mirror we were standing in front of, taking in the scene. There I stood in Damon Salvatore's arms, his eyes closed as he held me. There was blood on my mouth and my nose was no longer bruised. I quickly pulled away from his embrace, wiping the blood off my face. "That was weird." I mumbled awkwardly, making sure all the blood was off of my face. I turned on the sink's faucet and put my hands under the running water, watching as red flowed down to the drain.

I turned the sink off, drying my hands. "Uh, thanks, I guess." I glanced up at him, but he didn't look as affected by this as I was. He didn't look affected at all.

Damon had a smirk on his face as if I hadn't just drunk his blood. "Ronnie, did you... enjoy that?" He teased, knowing it would make me feel more uncomfortable than I already felt.

Not willing to give him the satisfaction, I snapped out of my awkward state. My face was stoic as I let out a scoff, punching his shoulder. "As if, demon. If anyone here liked it, it was you." I shot back as we both walked towards the door. I unlocked it and we walked out, gaining looks from the elders around us. Judging bitches.

"Would've liked it more if I got something in return." He wiggled his brows. If he wasn't a vampire, I would think he was talking about a blowjob, but I knew he meant him getting his own taste of my blood.

"I'm not one of your blood whores."

"Please." He scoffed as we came to stand in the main hall, seeing the Mayor was about to make a speech. "Everyone is my blood whore."

I rolled my eyes, watching as Mayor Lockwood walked up on the stage, making everyone start clapping. I crossed my arms, not willing to clap for a dickhead.

"Thank you very much. Thank you." Mayor Lockwood said, his eyes scanning the crowd. "Thank you all for joining us tonight. In just a few moments, we will officially begin the countdown to our upcoming Founder's Day Celebration, and it's a very special one this year, the 150th birthday of our town." He explained, the people applauding as a giant bell was rolled next to him. "And-- And I would like to welcome back one of our town's favorite sons to do the honors of ringing our official charter bell. John Gilbert, would you please join me up here?" I looked over a Damon, fake gagging.

John shook hands with the Mayor, who stepped aside and let John take over the speech. "150 years of community, prosperity, family. We take care of each other, look after each other, protect each other." I watched as John's eyes zeroed in on the vampire standing next to me. "It's good to be home." He finished, getting everyone to clap again.

Damon grabbed my hand and dragged me across the room, over to Mr. Saltzman. He leaned towards the teacher, "Look at his right hand."

"Whose?" Mr. S asked.

"The town's favorite son. Look at his ring." We all looked at John's hand, which was wrapped around the rope to ring the bell. He pulled the rope down, a loud ring sounding through the room.

"Hey, Mr. S, don't you have a ring like that?" I asked, my eyes going to the teacher.

"Oh. That looks like mine."

"Yeah, and that would be a big coincidence if he didn't just come back from the dead 10 minutes ago." Damon hissed.

"Magic rings, fun." I said sarcastically.

"Where the hell did you get that ring?"

"Isobel, my wife." Mr. S said, making Damon chuckle.

"Who gave birth to Elena under the medical care of the esteemed Dr. Grayson Gilbert, John's brother." Damon said, making a pang of grief run through me at Grayson's name.

"Oh. You think John knew Isobel?"

"I think John knows a lot of things." Damon said, both of them looked back to the man in question.

They didn't say anything after that, just standing there and staring at John. I broke the silence, "Spooky." Which earned looks from them. I held up my hands, "You know what? I've had a long night. I'm leaving. Have fun."

I then walked away and luckily, this time I found Caroline easily. I grabbed her arm, pulling her away from Lindsay. "Sorry, Linda. Care and I gotta jet." I said, before walking away, a stumbling Caroline being dragged along by me.

"It's Lindsay!" She yelled from behind us.

My eyes rolled. "Seriously, Caroline. Get some new fans. That girl is bat-shit crazy."

"Says you."

~~~~~

"Are there tiny dicks covering your pajama bottoms?" Caroline asked in confusion, her eyes squinting as if that would help her see better. "What would persuade someone to buy those? Or even sell them?"

I shrugged, walking over to her bed, a carton of chocolate ice cream and two spoons in hand. "I bought them in Milan while I was drunk."

"You weren't drunk alone in a foreign country, right?" She said, turning off the lights as we settled down. She grabbed a spoon and opened the ice cream as our eyes were trained on the TV, The Titanic playing.

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. "I think I was with someone. But I can't remember who." I furrowed my brows, straining my brain to remember who I was with. I then shrugged, "I dunno. I was wasted."

It was silent for the next ten minutes, the only sound coming from the television. The scene where Jack saves Rose from falling off the boat was playing when Caroline spoke up.

"So what happened between you and Damon tonight?" She asked, making my eyes widen.

I took the spoon out of my mouth, licking my lips. "What do you mean? Nothing happened."

She had an unconvinced look on her face. "Really? Cause I saw you two walking out of the bathroom and your cheeks were extremely red and he had that annoying smirk on his face."

"He always has an annoying smirk on his face."

"This one was different. He looked as if he had just won a Ronnie-sized prize." Caroline said, earning a slap on the shoulder from me.

"Please, Caroline. The day Damon wins all this," I gestured towards my body. "Will be the day that the world ends."

She shrugged, her eyes going back to the screen. "If you say so."