***

IT WAS LATE at night when I heard the ring of my cellphone from my nightstand. I picked it up, only to find it was Damon. I answered the call, being met with immediate chatter, "Elena got in an accident. I think she needs a sort of vacation away from Mystic Falls. She's going to need a girl with her, do you want to come? No time to pack, we're going to Georgia."

I was speechless, but finally found my voice a few moments later, "Yeah, I'll be right out." I grabbed my cellphone charger and my wallet, slipping my phone in my pocket. Thank God I hadn't changed for bed already or I would have had to pass this opportunity up. I ran outside when I had what I needed, only to be met with another phone call.

It was once again Damon. "Speed about a mile or so down the road. Elena passed out, I don't know when she's going to wake up." I didn't say anything, only hung up and sped to the door, seeing Elena laying in the backseat. I took the front as we began on our way to Georgia. I was impulsive. This was an impulsive decision. The only problem is that I'm not adventurous...

[ 𝙷𝙾𝚄𝚁𝚂 𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚁 ]

Damon and I finally heard our very own sleeping beauty stir in the back. I looked back there to find her now sitting up from her laying position,

"Morning," Damon said cheerfully.

"Where are we?" Elena asked him, cutting right to the chase. Her hand went to her head and hair, obviously stretching and fixing her hair in some way. It was a normal gesture for when you just woke up.

"Georgia," Damon replied simply, although he had a weird way of saying it. It was crazy to think we were driving to Georgia right now, probably insane to Elena who has never been outside of Mystic Falls.

"Georgia? No, no. No, we're not. Seriously, Damon. Where are we?" Elena asked, turning to him. She then looked over at me, "Charlotte? You're in on this too?" She huffed a bit as I chuckled.

"Seriously, we're...we're in Georgia," Damon explained, looking over at me. "And yes, she is. She's my accomplice in this whole thing. How ya feeling, Elena?"

Elena seemed to stutter her words, so Damon decided to just cut in and speak, "There's no broken bones. I checked."

"But my car...there was a man...I hit a man. But then he got up, and...who was that?" Elena asked, more than confused. Damon seemed to leave out a little part in his story: the man part. The part where Elena hit a man and he got up.

"That's what I would like to know," Damon replied back to her.

"Where is my phone?" Elena asked, looking in her lap and in her seat. "Okay, We really need to go back. Nobody knows where I am." She made a decent point, but we were already in Georgia. We couldn't just turn bad around now. "Pull over. I mean it, Damon. Pull over! Stop the car!"

"Oh you were so much more fun when you were asleep," Damon remarked, pulling the car over to a stop. It wasn't his brightest idea to listen to her, but he obviously had done it anyway.

Elena got out of the car, limply weakly as she bent over. Damon, being the nice person he could be at times, rushed to help her at the same time I did. We both held her, him crouching by her for support. "Hey," Damon said softly to her.

"Are you okay?" I asked Elena softly, brushing some hair out of her face.

Elena looked at the two of us strangely, before brushing us off, "I'm fine. We have to go back."

"Oh come on. Look. We've already come this far..." Damon tried to persuade her.

"Why are we doing this? I can't be in Georgia. I wrecked my car. I have to go home. This is kidnapping," Elena argued, and I shot her a look. She didn't know what to do about it, since to other girls I'm very intimidating.

"That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?" Damon shot back, and I nodded.

"Elena, I hate to admit it.. but Damon is right. You're a little dramatic. This trip is a sort of vacation from Mystic Falls. A way to unwind," I explained to her with a large sigh.

"You're not funny. You can't do this. I'm not going to Georgia," Elena fired back at the both of us.

"Well, you're IN Georgia. Without your magical little necklace, I might add. We can very easily make you... Agreeable," Damon teasingly threatened with a smirk.

"What are you trying to prove?" Elena asked, then her cellphone began to ring. "That's my phone.." I held back a laugh at this whole string of events. She should've known that Damon would do that, but apparently she didn't think much over things.

"Mmm. It's your boyfriend. I'll take it," Damon assured, answering it. "Elena's phone!" He answered cheerfully.

"Where is she? Why do you have her phone? Is she okay? Where'd Charlotte, have you seen her?" Stefan asked two separate sets of questions.

"Elena? She's right here. And, yes, she's fine. Charlotte? Again, right here. She's with me," Damon explained, looking at both of us.

"Where are you? Let me speak to her," Stefan said to Damon, causing me to roll my eyes. I love Stefan, but the girl just left him. Why would she want to talk to him?

"He wants to talk to you," Damon said, holding the phone out to her. Elena only shook her head and declined, making Damon answer for her, "Yeah. I don't...I don't really think she wants to talk to you right now."

"Damon, I swear to God, if you touch her..." I heard Stefan on the other side. "Charlotte, I swear to God if he touches her..." Ooh, now I'm getting threatened.

Damon smirked at that and decided to end the call there, "You have a good day. Mm-hmm. Bye-now."

"Look, no one knows where I am. Can we please just go back?" Elena asked us, stubborn as usual.

"We're almost there," Damon explained to Elena.

"Where is there?!"

"A little place right outside of Atlanta. Oh, come on, Elena. You don't wanna go back right now. Do you? What's the rush? Time-out. Trust me. Your problems are still going to be there when you get home. Look. Step away from your life for five minutes. Five minutes!" Damon argued to Elena.

"Am I gonna be safe with you?"

"Yes."

"You promise not to do that mind control thing with me?"

"Yes."

"Can I trust you?"

Damon was now finished with the little quiz, "Get in the car. Come on." We were finally back in the car, and back on the road. I was glad we could be heading to the town finally because I was appreciating this day away from Mystic Falls.

"So, where's my car?" Elena asked us.

"I pulled it off to the side of the road. I don't think anyone will bother it," Damon explained to her.

"What about that man in the road? Was he a...?" Elena trailed off, obviously meaning a vampire.

"From what I could tell, yeah.." Damon answered.

"You didn't know him?" Elena asked.

"If I've never met him, I wouldn't know him. I mean, it's not like we all hang out together at the Vamp Bar & Grill," Damon joked around.

We pulled in to a bar named "Bree's Bar". I've never heard of this place, and I don't know why we're here, but I've decided to try and live a little.

"Where are we? You brought me to a bar? Damon, I'm not old enough. They're not going to let me in," Elena tried to argue, getting out of the car with us.

"Sure they will," Damon said with a smirk, gesturing for her to follow as we entered the bar. It was decorated nice and golden.

"No. No, it can't be. Damon. My honey pie," A dark-haired woman said, sliding over the entire bar table as she walked to Damon, grabbing his face and kissing him. I can assume this is Bree. Elena and I were both uncomfortable, but we didn't want to show it.

"Listen up everybody! Here's to the man that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chances of happiness!" Bree said, grabbing a bottle and pouring shots for everyone. She gave us all shots, "Drink up!" She, Damon, and I did our shots. Damon downed Elena's shot for her and set it back down in front of her while Bree wasn't looking. "Ahh. Whoo!" she looked to Elena, "So, how'd he rope you in?"

"I'm not roped in. Actually, I'm dating his..." Elena trailed off, causing her to turn to me.

Bree pointed to me, "then you.. how'd he rope you in?"

"I'm not roped in either, we're just fri—"

I was cut off by Bree speaking once again, "Honey, if you're not roped, you're whipped. Either way, just enjoy the ride." She smiled and poured me more alcohol, which I gladly drank. Bree seemed like a really cool person, a person I'd be friends with.

"Okay. So, how did you two meet?" Elena asked Bree.

"College," Bree simply replied.

Both Elena and I were in shock at that, neither of us had known he had been to college. "You went to college?" I asked him with a smile.

Damon smiled back, "I've been on a college campus, yes." I understood what he meant, so he didn't have to elaborate.

"About twenty years ago, when I was a sweet, young freshman, I met this beautiful man, and I fell in love. And then he told me about his little secret, made me love him more. Because, you see, I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody," Bree continued on with the story.

Damon looked at us and whispered over to us, "She's a witch." We both looked at her in surprise, not expecting it.

"Changed my world, you know," Bree said with a carefree grin.

Damon smirked as he cockily replied, "I rocked your world." I wouldn't doubt that he'd think that. His ego is about as big as it can get.

"He is good in the sack, isn't he? But mostly he's just a Walk-Away Joe," Bree said to me, looking to Damon as she downed another shot. She turned away, and then turned back around to speak to Damon, "So, what is it that you want?"

***
Elena walked off to call her aunt while Damon and I sat inside the bar. "Come on, there's gotta be another way," Damon pleaded. He had been asking about Katherine, and how to get her out of the tomb.

"After all these years, it's still only Katherine. How do you even know she's still alive?" Bree asked him.

"It is only Katherine, but not for the same reasons. And if you help me get into that tomb, and we'll find out the rest," Damon replied back smoothly.

"I already did. Twenty years ago. Remember? Three easy steps: Comet. Crystal. Spell," Bree said to him, causing me to look at him. He had looked in the tomb once before?

"There's a little problem with number two. I don't have the crystal," Damon explained.

"That's it, Damon. There is no other way. It's Emily's spell," Bree argued to Damon, and he didn't seem to want to take no for an answer.

"What about a new spell with a new crystal that overrides Emily's spell?" Damon asked, looking over at Bree.

"Damon, that's how magic works," I said softly. I should know, my best friend Nikkita was a witch. May she rest in peace. I learned a lot about witches from her before I left my town.

"Charlotte's right, It doesn't work that way, baby. Emily's spell is absolute. You can't get into that tomb." Bree said in finality.

Damon sighed and stood with me, gesturing for me to follow. He wrapped an arm around me as we walked outside to check on Elena, catching bits of the end of her conversation, hearing Elena hang up. She was on the phone with Stefan. Elena was shocked to see Damon and I standing there.

"You okay?" Damon simply asked her.

"Don't pretend to care. I know you're gloating inside," Elena argued, as I crossed my arms. She had a point, she definitely did.

"She's kind of right," I said softly, only loud enough for Damon to hear. He only wrapped his arm around me again, harshly patting my arm in a passive-aggressive way. "You are a gloater."