CHAPTER TEN | OUR TOWN

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EVER SINCE THEY WERE CHILDREN, CAROLINE FORBES' BIRTHDAY WAS AN EVENT TO BE CELEBRATED FULLY. On Caroline's birthday, the female loved to be the center of attention and the girls enjoyed rallying around her to make sure she had the best day imagine and today was no exception. Even with all the Original vampire drama surrounding them, they were still determined to give Caroline an amazing birthday.

The plan was to get into school early, before Caroline arrived, and decorate her locker with a birthday banner and dozens of balloons. But, it seemed that Riley and Elena were the only ones that remembered. Bonnie was late.

"It's unlike Bonnie to be a no-show," Elena mumbled softly as she glanced around the corridor in search of the Bennett witch. "Any ideas where she is?"

"Not a clue." Riley shrugged softly, then eventually she saw the flustered female hurry down the corridor. "Oh, there you are."

"Sorry, I'm late. I got held up." Bonnie spoke in an evasive tone that intrigued Riley, though Elena completely shrugged off the vague excuse.

"It's okay. I just got here, too. Will you pass me the balloons?" Elena requested as Riley bent down to pick up the array of birthday balloons. "What got you running late?"

"Uh—working on some new spells." Bonnie nodded her head as the lies flowed from her mouth, then she glanced at Elena. "What about you?"

"Working out with Alaric," She nodded at the two girls as they held up a card for Caroline. "So, uh, Bonnie, I have something I need to tell you and you're not gonna like it."

Bonnie's posture and face stiffened the minute Elena's tone of voice had completely changed. She knew it ought to be something bad, she just didn't know what. "What happened?"

"Jeremy's gonna be leaving town for a while." Elena suddenly revealed as she watched Bonnie's mouth gape open in surprise. "He's gonna be staying with some old family friends in Denver until this whole Klaus thing blows over."

"Jeremy wouldn't just leave you to deal with Klaus on your own." Bonnie raised a confused eyebrow.

"Yeah, he wouldn't. But, she had Damon compel him to leave." Riley explained and then suddenly the look of heartbreak on the witch's face.

"What?" Bonnie growled in the doppelganger's direction.

"I know, Bonnie. But, it's not safe for him here anymore. Leaving will give him a better life. The only reason I'm telling you is because I know that you two haven't really worked out your stuff and I thought maybe you'd wanna say goodbye."

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All the work that the girls put into decorating Caroline's locker went to waste since the girl was a no-show at school. So, the group of friends decided to ditch school and surprise Caroline at her house. Riley, Elena, Bonnie, and Matt all waited quietly inside Caroline's living room with balloons in their hands and smiles on their faces. As soon as they heard the blonde walk inside, the four of them jumped out into the hallway to surprise her. "Happy birthday!" They yelled in unison.

Caroline looked completely alarmed at the unexpected arrival of her friends. She glanced between them, an unreadable look on her face. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well, you blew off school and missed our work of birthday art. So, uh—" Elena removed a small purple tiara from the top of her head and placed it on Caroline's with a smile.

"It's your birthday, Caroline, and we've got loads planned!" Riley clapped her hands together with a smirk on her face. "Get changed into some warmer clothes because we're going to the falls for s'mores—"

"Campfires," Bonnie continued on from Riley.

"Cake." Elena followed on. "Like when we were little."

"Except with Tequila," Matt sang from behind the trio with a smirk on his lips. He knew that mentioning Tequila would surely win Caroline over.

"Thanks, guys, really. Um, I'm just not really feeling my birthday this year." Caroline's face fell with a light shrug as they all furrowed their eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, what?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "You've already claimed your birthday as everyone's favorite day of the year."

"Yeah, and now it's just a reminder that technically I'm dead." The blonde deadpanned without a hint of emotion. "Look, I don't even like seventeen and the only point to seventeen was to get to eighteen. It's a filler year. I am stuck in a filler year."

"Caroline, you're not stuck." Riley sympathetically tilted her head toward her friend, who shrugged.

"Yeah, I am. But it's okay. You know, it's all good and I will be fine. I just need some time to wallow in it."

"Okay. Well, I think I have another idea." Elena smirked out with a devious chuckle.

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"This is creepy," Bonnie finally spoke out as the group of friends wandered inside the Fell crypt. She yanked her jacket across her chest with a confused look on her face, whilst Riley chuckled.

"And coming from two witches that have seen practically everything, that's saying something." Riley nodded in agreement with her arms crossed over her chest to preserve the little warmth she had left.

"Well, Caroline was right." Elena began as she wandered inside and placed the box that contained the cake down. "Technically, she's dead. Sorry. But you don't need a birthday, you need a funeral. You need to say goodbye to your old life so that you can move on with your new one."

"Okay," Caroline nodded in agreement in the hopes that Elena's idea would actually bring her some comfort. She took the tiara from her head and placed it down. "Here lies Caroline Forbes,"

"Cheerleader. Miss Mystic Falls. Third grace hop-scotch champion." Elena spoke out with a smile and started to place candles on the top of Caroline's birthday cake.

"Friend. Daughter. Over-achiever—" Bonnie continued on from Elena with a smirk.

"Control-freak," Riley added quietly.

"Mean girl. Sometimes, no offense." Matt chuckled once he noticed Caroline had given him a pointed look.

"She was seventeen and she had a really good life. So, rest in peace so that she can move forward. It's what you really need. It's what we all really need. So, amen or cheers or whatever." Elena spoke as the group burst out laughing. The doppelganger looked over to Riley, who closed her eyes and suddenly caused the candles on Caroline's birthday cake to become lit. "Okay, make a wish," Elena ordered as Caroline stared into the flames before finally stepping forward and blowing them out.

As the celebrations got underway, the group appeared to be having a better time than anyone anticipated. Mostly due to the fact that there was booze involved— and lots of it. But, they were just happy that they could all enjoy the moment together.

Riley raised an eyebrow when she noticed the blonde vampire had moved into the corner of the crypt and began typing on her face. "Care, what are you doing? Why are you all the way over there?"

"What? Hm. Nothing." She spoke quickly with a guilty look on her face.

"Okay, you're a bad sober liar. You're an even worse drunk liar." Elena raised an eyebrow and then rolled her eyes.

"I might've texted Tyler." She blurted out as Elena sighed out. "What? I'm delicate."

A sudden scoff of disbelief left the Bennett witch's mouth. She glanced over to Elena with a stern look on her face. "Give her a break. You can't control what everyone does all the time,"

"Oh, wow." Riley lifted her head from Matt's shoulder as she turned to look at Bonnie.

"Ouch, Bon," Matt mumbled.

"I'm sorry. I know that it's Caroline's birthday, funeral, or whatever. But, I just feel it's really wrong that you compelled Jeremy to leave town." The Bennett witch continued with her rant.

The doppelganger's mouth hung open in shock at what Bonnie had said. "I'm doing it to protect him, Bonnie. I wanna give him a chance at a normal life." Elena was quick to defend herself.

"He should be able to choose how he wants to live it. You're taking his choices away."

"Bonnie, you can't tell him—"

"—Why? Are you gonna compel me not to?" She raised an eyebrow toward her friend.

Matt rolled his eyes and exhaled deeply the moment Riley handed him the bottle of Tequila. "You know, you guys are ruining a perfectly good funeral."

"Yeah! Matt's right. This was a great evening. Please don't let this ruin it." Riley slurred out. It was obvious that the strawberry-blonde with incredibly drunk. She had never really been able to handle her drink.

"I'm sorry. I'm just gonna go sleep it off or something." Bonnie quickly got to her feet and sent Caroline a smile as she left. "Happy birthday."

After Bonnie left, Tyler turned up and asked to speak with Caroline which the trio had no objections with until the blonde had been missing for quite some time. Matt led the search party with a torch in his left hand as he yelled out for Caroline while the two females remained behind him.

"Great. We've been abandoned." Elena sighed out heavily. She looked around to see only the forest around her.

"Like we didn't see this one coming." Riley tutted in agreement, and then pulled her jacket over herself. "Care, come on! It's getting boring playing hide and seek. Plus I'm starting to sober up, which is also boring."

"Yeah, come on, Caroline, we don't have any more drinks," Elena whined out as she walked up behind Matt. "And Matt's being haunted by the Fell ghost."

Just then, Matt was thrown against the wall with ease which caused Riley and Elena to yell out. Riley locked eyes with the attacker— it was Stefan. There was a moment of silence before she was thrown against the wall, too.

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"Are you sure you're okay?" Damon asked as he sped round to the passenger side of his car and carefully helped Riley out. She leaned against the side of his car as he ran his finger across the cut on her forehead.

"I mean, I can't tell if this headache is because of the alcohol or because your brother is a jackass." Riley shivered softly at his touch before a small smile crept across her lips. "Thank you for picking me up."

"Like I would have left you stranded in the middle of nowhere. No thanks necessary." Damon nodded whilst his hand was around her waist. He helped the strawberry-blonde back inside the house and over toward the couch. "You know, Stefan made a good move today. By taking Elena I mean, he pushed Klaus to the edge and Klaus actually blinked."

"Are you serious? He was prepared to kill Elena just to get at Klaus." Riley began just as Damon lifted her legs up so that he could sit down, and then he placed them back on his lap.

"I'm not saying to condone his methods, especially when it came to hurting you but we needed it. Stefan beat him tonight." Damon locked eyes with the strawberry-blonde. "Klaus has been calling all the shots. Stefan beat him at his own game. He was the better villain."

Riley raised an eyebrow toward her boyfriend and she swore she could almost see a smirk on Damon's face. "Funny, it sounds like your almost impressed with Stefan's tactics tonight."

"I can't help but be a little proud." Damon mused and then placed a gentle kiss on Riley's forehead. "I'm also proud of you. The way that you handle this— all of this. You're amazing."

Riley melted into his hold, her head against his chest whilst his arms wrapped around her body. "Well, it helps when I get to come home to this every night."

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