when the party's over | elena gilbert

24|FOUNDERS DAY (PART TWO)

Gemma shuffles around behind Damon, her hands shoved tightly into the pockets of her black skinny jeans. The woman had been consistently stealing drinks from the teenagers since her conversation with Elena; which seems to be an alarmingly bad habit she's had lately. She doesn't necessarily know why the Gilbert has been unsettling her; she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Damon shoots her an annoyed look over his shoulder before stopping in his tracks. Gemma peeks out from behind him before taking a sip of her beer with a loud huff.

"You're still around?" The eldest Salvatore questions Anna.

"There's something you need to know," she rushes out, her tone quiet to the human ear. "The vampires from the tomb are planning to attack tonight."

"How do you know that?"

Gemma shoves her beer into the hands of a passing by kid, the boy grinning before rushing off with an iron clad grip on the bottle. The woman scoffs and moves forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with her brother. "And why would we trust that you know this?" She can feel Damon's irritated stare on the side of her face and she knows he thinks she's too intoxicated to handle the situation, but she's not; really she's not.

"I went to them," Anna admits. "They think I'm with them but I'm not. They want the founding families dead."

"When is this supposed to happen?" Damon demands to know.

"When the fireworks start."

"How festive," Gemma smirks.

Damon side eyes her, "now is not the time, Gem."

"Why?" She shoots back, running a hand through my hair. "Why should I care? They're not my family, I have nothing to do with those people."

Damon glares at her, "you say that now because you're drunk. Tomorrow when you wake up cold stone sober, you and Stefan will be down a girlfriend and our brother will hate us."

Gemma folds her arms, "I gave away my beer for this conversation."

The Salvatore man huffs before turning back to the teenager. "John Gilbert wants us to use that invention on them."

"Then we can't be here!" Anna panics.

"It doesn't work, it's been deactivated."

"Then alot of people are going to die."

"Great," Gemma chuckles, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know why we didn't do this sooner, guys. All of our problems are about to be solved."

"Shut the hell up," Damon finally snaps. "I've had it with you and your 'let Elena die' facade, Gem. You know how many times I've had to hear you  mope about how she hurt your feelings?" He squints at her, "either woman up or forget about her. Jesus, go to therapy or something."

Gemma tilts her chin upward in defiance, "I do go to therapy."

"Do you guys make everything a fight?" Anna stresses. "There are more important things to worry about!"

"Like what?" Gemma exclaims, her cheeks turning red in frustration. She wanted this whole ordeal to be over. Her brother-Elena-Katherine-tomb vampire-depression-alcoholic problems were beginning to get the best of her and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't tempted to kill the founding families herself just to make herself feel better.

"Gemma, they're already here."

===

Damon had a steel grip on Gemma's wrist as he weaves through the crowd trying to find Alaric. Gemma made one comment about going home and not helping and he hasn't let go since. She doesn't know why saving the founding families is so important to her brother; something about keeping their humanity intact, whatever bullshit that was. At this rate, Gemma barely had any left and she absolutely did not want to spend the last of it saving people who'd be dead in fifty years anyway.