The Love I Lost

Chapter 37: Music & Lyrics to My Heart

"There are moments when I don't know if it's real. Or if anybody feels the way I feel. I need inspiration. Not just another negation. All I wanna do is find a way back to love..."

"You know, I think I like her in that pathetic excuse for a horror movie better." Damon said.

"What horror movie?" I asked. I was watching Music & Lyrics on the couch when Damon up and decided to come over. Still no news about why my father was in a coma, but Uncle Brian wouldn't leave me, in any case. As it was, he was in my dad's room, still asleep, and had no idea Damon was here. I planned to keep it that way.

"The movie where her parents sell her to the devil to keep her alive," Damon explained boredly.

He was talking about Haley Bennett, who played Cora in Music & Lyrics, a.k.a, the weird Buddha, orgasm loving chic. "Oh, um...Yeah, it's with Chase Crawford, um...OH! The Haunting of Molly Hartley."

"That would be the one."

"Yeah, Chase Crawford is completely gorgeous," To which I received a quick glance from Damon for saying that. "but he can't act."

When Damon continued staring at me, I was forced to pay attention to him. "What?"

"He's completely gorgeous, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, brother. Please don't do the jealous boyfriend thing if I think an actor is hot."

"No, that's not it at all, Love Cakes," Damon assured, even after I frowned when he called me Love Cakes. "I was just wondering..."

I fluttered my eyelashes. "What were you wondering, Love Muffin?"

Damon didn't even acknowledge my one chance of a stab at him. Damn. He looked at me seriously. "Is he more gorgeous than me?"

I had to stop myself from laughing. he had such adorable, mock puppy dog eyes that I said, "No, of course not, Love Muffin." When he seemed satisfied with that, I said, "Ryan Reynolds is."

"Isn't that guy like thirty?" Damon said, wrinkling his nose. "He's too old for you. I forbid it."

"Hey...wait...Weren't you born in like the Renaissance times?"

Damon pretended to be absorbed in the movie. "That's different."

"Oh, yes, I forgot. Silly me..." When he didn't add on, I did. "How is that different, exactly?"

"Easy. I at least look like I'm twenty."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, brother. You're so full of shit."

Damon held onto my waist, nuzzling my cheek and neck. "But you like me, still, don't you?"

I giggled, vainly trying to shove him away. "Get off, you retard! You'll wake my uncle!"

Damon did nothing I said, as per usual. "Your uncle's already awake."

I looked at my dad's door. "No he's not."

Damon smirked up at me. "Don't you think I'd know?"

I stared at him, trying to figure out if he was serious or not. He was, even though he was smirking like the gorgeous idiot he was. "Shit!"

"Shit is right," My uncle's voice boomed from behind the couch.

I looked at him from behind the couch, smiling mischievously. Damon smiled innocently. If my uncle fell for that, then he was oh so doomed. "Morning, Uncle Brian!"

Uncle Brian had his muscular arms folded against his chest. "Your dad never said anything about boyfriends."

No, of course not, he's in a coma, duh! I thought bitterly. "There are no boyfriends here, Uncle Brian. This is---"

"Damon Salvatore," Damon interrupted, holding his hand out to my uncle.

My uncle didn't give in. He glared at Damon. Okay, I really have to hand it to Uncle Brian---he didn't fall for Damon's innocent act. "Charmed, I'm sure. But you'll be needing to scat."

I groaned. "C'mon, Uncle Brian---"

Uncle Brian turned his steely glare at me. "No boys here, 'k? Not while your dad's not here. I don't know this boy---"

"Uncle Brian, my dad knows him, 'k?" Only, he thinks we're still broken up... "It's all good."

He shook his head. "I don't think so. Out."

At this moment, Uncle Brian was grating on my nerves. "Fine," I grabbed my bag. "See you later, then," Damon and I started toward the front door.

"I could glamour him, you know," Damon whispered in amusement.

"Not you, Rachel," Uncle Brain followed on my heels. "I want to talk to you."

I sighed dramatically. "About what? Please just let me hang out?"

Uncle Brian shook his head stubbornly. "Sorry, no. I can't do that. I need to talk to you."

I had half a mind to stomp out like a little girl. I rolled my eyes. "See you later," I grumbled to Damon.

He was stifling a laugh. "Sorry," he muttered before practically running away. Well, if I couldn't do anything to him, at least my family scared the hell out of him.

I tuned back to Uncle Brian dramatically. "Yes, Uncle Brian?"

He sighed and gestured for me to sit down on the couch. We both sat. He fiddled with his thumbs awkwardly. "Honey...you know when you were asking about your mother the other day..."

"Yeah..." I answered suspiciously.

Uncle Brian seemed to be having a private battle with himself as he struggled to talk. Finally, he said, "Now I'm only telling you this because I absolutely have to."

I nodded confusedly. "Okay..."

He sighed in frustration. "Okay. Here goes." He took a deep breath. "Your mother is dead. Your step-mother, however, knows about your father and she's decided to come down here."

I jumped off the couch in outrage. "WHAT?!"

Uncle Brian followed me as I raged through the house. "Rachel, that's not it! She---"

"Don't call me Rachel!" I raged. "It's Elizabeth, for the hundredth time!"

"Elizabeth, please listen to me," Uncle Brian asked desperately. "I couldn't stop her---but wait," he said after I tried interjecting again. "She's bringing someone with her."

"This isn't the circus! She can't just bring a friend!" I screamed angrily. "God, she has got some nerve! Who is she bringing, a friend? Her new wife?"

"No, honey. Her name is Olivia. She's seventeen," Uncle Brian said calmly. "She's Tori's daughter."

Tori is my mother. And she has a daughter. "Wow. She sure knows how to pick the girls who already have kids---"

"No, Rach---Elizabeth. Olivia is seventeen. She's the daughter of Grace---the lady Tori left your dad for..."

"Oh my God..." I had automatically thought Olivia was the daughter of my mom's new bride. But... "So this kid...Olivia...she's my..."

"Yes," Uncle Brian said, as thought telling me my grandmother had just died. "She's your sister. She was born one year before Tori left Daniel...Rachel?"

I waved him off. "I'm fine, I'm just...I'm fine...When will they be here?"

"Tomorrow."

I nodded dazedly. "Good...good...I'm just gonna be in my room for a while..."

Uncle Brian didn't try to stop me as I shuffled mutely to my room, and shut the door behind me. I put on my music and sat at my desk chair, staring out the window.

I have a sister...