You caused my heart to bleed

Damon knew that being turned into a vampire is hard on even the strongest people, he assumed that Letha had done most of her vampire life alone. Which made his heart squeeze in his chest even more, because they had been engaged and he should have been there for her. Both his eyebrows shot up as he looked at her, "A tightrope walker? Seems like being a vampire has improved her, I remember you tripping over your own feet as a human. It was so adorable," He hadn't even realised what he had said until the word 'adorable' was already out of his mouth, with no way to take it away. Hopefully Letha wouldn't pay much attention to it, he was sure that she had moved on from him. She did deserve better than him, he had tried to move on from her many times but no one was ever able to fill the spot in her heart that Letha still carried in her hand.

His ears heard that Jeremy was giving Belle a turn, he looked over at Jeremy as he didn't want him to give his sister something bad. A bad question or a bad dare, it would be bad if it was something that Damon didn't like. When it came to his sister, he didn't like a lot of things.

---

Isabelle smiled hearing that Elena had gone into the boy's bathroom, she would be horrified if either Damon or Stefan did something like that to her. They have done a lot of embarrassing things to her in their time as vampires, things that still embarrassed her to this day. She bit down onto her bottom lip as she thought about which she should pick, was she brave enough to be the first dare or should she stick with a safe truth. She hated having to decide but this game was suppose to be a fun one, so she decided that she would be brave. "Unlike the rest of you, I'm picking dare." She said and tried to not regret it once she had spoken, "But you better be nice to me, Jeremy." She looked at him although if he wasn't, then she wouldn't mind because they were meant to be having fun.

She sat there and waited for Jeremy to decide on what her dare was going to be, she turned to look beside her at Letha. Who she gave a smile to because she couldn't even imagine what she was going through, the pain that she still felt for what Damon put her through. But she seemed to be doing well for now, they had been talking and nothing was happening.

"When am I ever not nice to you, Belle?" Jeremy asked honestly, arching an eyebrow before he tapped his chin as he thought over what the dare could be. Having seen the look that Damon gave him, he knew he couldn't do anything too odd - not that he would have, anyways, but still. After a few moments of thought, he nodded his head. "Alright, I dare you to prank call Caroline's mom," he decided with a grin. "Only, it has to be, like, an awesome prank call, not one of those 'Is your refrigerator running' ones, okay?" Honestly, he would have rather have her prank call Elena, but Elena would probably catch on too fast. Even if Stefan had taken Elena away, she knew that they were playing Truth or Dare, so she could easily guess that one of them was prank calling her and that wouldn't have been any fun at all.

Honestly, he was a little curious to see if she would even do it. It was a safe dare, at least, and it wouldn't get him killed by one of her brothers, or both, for that matter. There had been the chance to offer something more teenage-boyish as a dare, but he wouldn't ever do that to Belle, since they were pretty close and he didn't want to ruin their friendship. He liked her, of course, but he wasn't entirely sure how much he liked her, if his emotions were platonic or romantic, but they continuously grew and he couldn't help but always be on the look-out to spot her whenever he went anywhere.

---

Letha tried not to cringe when she heard Damon say that her tripping over her own feet had been adorable and she tried to ignore the pang that reverberated through her being as the mention of it only brought back memories that she didn't want to think about. She shot him a look, only a brief one, and she wasn't sure if it was filled with pain or anger or betrayal, it could have even been a mix of the three, but she sighed and looked back to her friend while she waited for the decision. Seeing that her friend had picked dare, she smiled, because she wasn't too surprised that her best friend was brave enough to be the first dare. She would have felt bad for her friend, if it weren't for the matter that she was pretty sure Jeremy didn't seem the type to make Belle do anything bad; from her view, he seemed a little soft on Belle and it was honestly rather cute.

Hearing the dare that Jeremy gave Belle, she leaned over with a smirk. "I would suggest doing a sexy prank call, but I'm almost certain that Damon would rip my head off if you actually did it," she whispered to her friend, even though she knew that Damon's vampire hearing would pick up on it regardless. Not that it really mattered, either way, but she was curious. She didn't know who Caroline's mom was and she wasn't even sure if prank calls were even any fun these days (she had done a few with drifters that she had met in her day, but that was pretty much it.)

Belle looked at Jeremy and even though it was an easy dare, she had to prank call the sheriff. "You've never been mean to me, but you better not start." She smiled at him and laughed softly when she heard Letha's comment, she smiled at her friend. "I highly doubt the sheriff of Mystic Falls would want a sexy prank call," She whispered to Letha so she'd know who she was prank calling, "Fine I'll call her." She pulled out her phone as the Sheriff luckily didn't have her number, Caroline was eager to give Belle her mother's number. She dialed the number and put the call on loud speaker, when she heard the sheriff answer Belle took a deep breath. "Burt, Burt, they know what we did. And now they're after me... Wait, is this Burt? You gave me this number, what did you do with Burt? Don't lie to me. When you talk to him, tell him he owes child support." Belle said before she hung up quickly as she didn't want Elizabeth to say anything back to her, which may defeat the purpose of a prank call. But she had begun to laugh as she was talking.

"That was horrible," She shook her head as she never was good at joking because she could never keep a straight face, she'd always start laughing in the middle of the joke. She never was even able to finish a joke normally, it was something that her brothers always found amusing.

---

Damon shut his mouth when he saw the look that Letha gave him after his comment, he did deserve it. But seeing the sadness and anger was enough to cause his heart to drop into his stomach, she was still hurting after all these years and he honestly didn't blame her. He wasn't sure how she was still in the same room as he was, he had felt extremely guilty but now he felt like scum because of what he's done to Letha. She deserved to be happy, to have someone in her life that was able to give her everything that she deserved and wanted. She should be treated like a real princess, to be given the world. None of which that Damon thought he could give her, he finished off the whiskey in his glass and poured himself more but this time he filled up more of his glass as he'd need it.

"No sexy prank calls," He told Belle after Letha had whispered about it, "Still trying to corrupt here." He said only softly, he sat there and watched his sister call the sheriff who had to figure out that it was a prank. Belle had laughed while still talking, he smiled only slightly at how bad Belle was at pranks and jokes.

Jeremy couldn't help but to burst into laughter. "Out of all the things you could have possibly done, you did that? You know, she's going to have your phone tracked now," he said with a smirk, "Cops don't like prank calls." He would know. The last time he tried to prank call the police, they called him right back - it had freaked him out so much that he turned off his phone for a week to avoid them tracking the number. Of course, he was pretty sure that they got tons of prank calls from teenagers, because it was Mystic Falls and most normal people didn't have anything better to do. Those that weren't so normal, such as pretty much everybody in the Salvatore boarding house at the moment, were usually busy dealing with actual dangerous things, crazy Originals, hybrids, hunters, etc. How they had survived so long without being aware of vampires in the first place was a wonder to him.

"Okay, who wants to go next?" he asked before looking to the others, wondering if any of them would want to give out the next Truth or Dare. His eyes landing on Damon, he arched an eyebrow. "Sure you don't want to play? I mean, I'm starting to think you're a bit of a coward." He grinned, mostly joking, but the alcohol in his system was making him rather amused with everything anyways.

---

Letha grinned after hearing what her friend said to her. "Aw, but everybody needs to feel sexy some time, right?" she joked lightly, easing back into the light atmosphere after the tension that had build in her at Damon's earlier statement. "Don't be a party pooper, Damon. Sexy prank calls are the best. And corruption is even better, when done right." Not entirely true; she had never been one for corruption, but she did think that they should loosen up on Belle. It wasn't entirely fair for them to keep such a protective barrier around the girl and she hoped that her friend wasn't too bothered by it. Sometimes, over-protectiveness was a good thing; other times, it could be the most awful thing to put somebody through, because then they only rely on those who are protective of them and they don't trust anybody else. That wasn't the case for Belle, though, and she was glad, because her best friend had managed to make more friends.

Hearing Jeremy ask for somebody to go next, she didn't bother stepping up. She was terrible at coming up with truths or dares to use, but she did enjoy the game somewhat. Honestly, though, hearing him almost taunt Damon brought an amused smirk to her features.

Belle had already turned her phone off in case the sheriff tried to call her back, she looked at Jeremy with a pointed look on her face. "I know they don't like it, but you forced me to make the call." She told him with a small smile on her face, she didn't really care about making the prank call to the sheriff. She was sure either Caroline or herself would explain it, if Caroline didn't than Belle would the next time she saw the sheriff. It was no big deal really. Lifting her glass to her lips, she finished off the whiskey that she had because she felt like drinking it. She poured herself some more before glancing over to her oldest brother, usually Damon would have been the one to suggest a drink game as it gave them all the more reason to continue drinking. But it was obvious the type of mood he was in, it was because Letha had turned up after all this time. It was a shock to all three Salvatore siblings, but it hit harder on Damon because of what he had put her through.

"Come on, Damon. You know that you want to play, otherwise we're all going to drink your alcohol without you." She wanted both her brothers to have a good time, she wasn't sure what Stefan was doing with Elena but them seemed to be fine as neither of them had returned to the group yet.

---

It was only a matter of time before they started trying to get Damon involved in the little game, it would help if he played as he could keep a control on what Belle was asked to do. However, he wouldn't get far if he only continued to ask Belle truth or dare. He wouldn't do that but the thought was in his head and he was considering it, but then he saw the amused smirk on Letha's beautiful face and he always hated being called a coward. "You're lucky that I didn't rip your throat out for that comment," He grumbled to Jeremy as he waved his hand for the game to go now, "Fine I'll join. But if I get bored, than I'm not." He told them in hopes it'd keep everyone happy and would shut them up, he drank his whiskey from his glass all in one go and poured himself enough glass as he'd need to alcohol if he was going to play truth or dare.

To him it was such a teenager game, a human teenager game that they did at parties when no adults were around. But he'd give it a few turns and then he'd deserve if he wanted to continue or not, it would most likely be not because he did tend to grow bored of things rather quickly.

"I didn't force you to," Jeremy reasoned with a smile before he shrugged, "I just simply dared you. There's a big difference, you know. You could have backed out of it - though, of course, that would have made you a bigger coward than your brother." He was joking, of course, because he really didn't want Damon to rip his throat out. He just wanted things to stay calm and enjoyable and for them to have a day of relaxation without the worries of the dangers outside the walls of the Salvatore boarding house. It wasn't too much to ask for, he hoped. Besides, he was never one to pass up on a chance to hang out with Belle - and he honestly hoped that getting Damon to join the game wouldn't ruin the easy-going mood that most of them had right now. Not only would he feel guilty for inviting Damon to join in that case, but all the fun would end.

Taking a few sips of the whiskey in his glass, he glanced around. "Okay, who wants to ask who?" he asked with an arched eyebrow, though he was mildly surprised to see that Letha was already volunteering. He wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he tried not to think about it and instead glanced over at Belle. "You know, we have the perfect chance to make Damon do whatever we want now - or to ask him whatever we want. We should exploit the chance while we have it," he mused with amusement.

---

Letha was almost surprised that Damon had agreed to join in on the game, but she was rather amused with it, too. Since the game was set to continue, she took it as a chance for her to ask and she arched an eyebrow as she leaned forward, grinning mischievously. "That's wonderful, Damon. Now we can all torture you for juicy secrets or with ridiculous dares," she chimed, almost looking forward to it. It was almost as if it was a chance at revenge, though it was a silly form of it. Though she wasn't normally one for revenge, this chance was a hundred and fifty years in the making and she wasn't going to waste it. "So, Damon Salvatore, Truth or Dare?" She arched an eyebrow while she waited for his answer, though she was in no hurry to decide on what she would use depending on what he would choose.

There were tons of questions she could ask, she knew that. And there were embarrassing things that she could use as dares, she was sure. Still, she wasn't the best at playing this game. Regardless of that, she was still a little eager to play now that Damon had decided to join. Drinking what was left in her glass, she poured herself another glass and relaxed against the couch.

Damon didn't really care what he was asked to talk about or what dare he was given, he was a pretty open book and didn't really care what people knew about him. "You wait and see, you should know that I can talk about myself." He looked at Letha, if either her and Jeremy or even Caroline wanted to get revenge on him and embarrass him. It would take a lot more than playing truth or dare to do that, so as he looked at Letha he decided to play is safe for at least now. "Truth," He told her as he sat on the couch and crossed his leg over his knee, he sat there waiting for the question that Letha was going to ask him. He glanced over at Jeremy when he heard what he said to his sister, he knew his sister and knew that she wouldn't ask him anything. She already knew most of the past he had, he had either told her or she had seen it. Of course, there were a couple things that he had done when he was alone. Horrible things that he never wanted Belle to know about.

Having her think any differently of him is the last thing that he wanted, besides he was pretty sure that even Belle had some secrets that Stefan and him didn't know about. It came with being a vampire for so long, Letha also had to have some times in her long life that she didn't want people to know about. Most vampires did and if a vampire didn't, then they usually hadn't been around for all that long.

---

"It felt like a force to me," Belle smiled as she was only joking, she actually didn't mind prank calling the sheriff. She had met Caroline's mother once before when she was with both her brothers, the sheriff wanted to meet the youngest Salvatore sibling as she was a vampire. Belle didn't mind at all as Elizabeth was nice to her, "I'm not a coward. You should know that already, we've spend enough time together now." She looked at him as she was partly joking, but she was also partly serious. They had spent a lot of time together, something that Elena wasn't overly fond about and she knew Bonnie really didn't like it nor did the witch like her one little bit. It was a little surprising that Bonnie had even turned up, but she was also sitting on her own with her phone in hand.

She smiled when Damon joined in the game, she could see that he didn't really want to but no one called him a coward. In that sense, it was really easy to actually get him to do something that you wanted. All you had to do was pick a few good works that would degrade him, and he'd want to prove you wrong.

Jeremy placed a hand over his heart in mock pain, his grin ruining the effect that the action was supposed to cause or have. He was already a little tipsy - which wasn't surprising, since they were drinking whiskey - so he was a little more light-hearted and easy-going than he normally would be. "I did not force you," he chimed with a smile before arching an eyebrow to her later words. Yeah, he could admit that Belle wasn't a coward. Considering how much time he spent hanging out with her, how could he possibly not know that she was a coward? In reality, he wasn't sure any of the Salvatore siblings were actually cowards, but he assumed that could just be a vampire thing; he wasn't entirely sure and didn't really bother asking. It wasn't like vampires really had anything to worry about, aside from the things that were lethal to them, like werewolves, hybrids, stakes, things along the lines of that. But simple things like prank calling the sheriff? That was probably nothing for any vampire to ever really worry about, he decided. It was still amusing to tease her, though.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you've got to be afraid of something," he teased lightly, though he didn't want to pry for fear of her thinking that he would use whatever she was actually afraid of against her. He never would do something like that, not to her, and he hoped that she knew that. Okay, maybe he was overthinking with all the alcohol in his system; he wasn't sure. "I just hope you don't end up doing crazy things like your brothers." Because he was pretty sure that they had been close to death tons of times since returning to Mystic Falls - and he didn't really want that to happen to her.

---

"Yes, yes, we all know that the eldest Salvatore sibling just adores to talk about himself or just to hear himself talk," Letha drawled as she eyed him. "That doesn't mean you like people getting into your personal business, though." She knew that there were probably questions that others could ask that she probably wouldn't answer, most of which would probably pertain to Damon. But, hopefully, no questions that were too personal would get asked to her. With this opportunity to get juicy information from Damon, though, she jumped at the chance. "What's your deepest secret?" she asked casually, pretending not to be interested as she swirled her drink in her glass. She wasn't sure why she was asking that of all things; she shouldn't want to know anything about Damon, not really. She should be trying to embarrass him to get back at him for breaking her so terribly, but she couldn't help it. Whether she would admit it or not, she couldn't bring herself to hate him - that didn't mean that she would let herself get close to him again, though.

While she waited for him to answer the question, she glanced around to the others. Caroline seemed a bit interested in the answer, but it was pretty obvious that Jeremy and Belle were consumed with their own conversation. With an arched eyebrow, she observed them for a few moments, trying to determine just how close those two were, but she wasn't particularly good at that. Shaking her head with slight amusement, either with herself or those two, she returned her attention to Damon.

Damon wasn't caught off guard or anything by Letha's question, he could be a pain and say something ridiculous or he could be serious. But when was he ever serious? "I do really like hearing my voice," He grinned as that was very true, he had always liked the sound of his voice and he wasn't shy about letting people know that. "My deepest secret, huh? Hmm, that's a tough one." He said as he thought about what secret he should say, he had a few secrets that he could decide to chose. "I secretly really enjoy the whole Twilight saga, the books over the movies." He admitted as he took a drink of his whiskey and he couldn't help but grin to himself, he knew Letha wouldn't be happy with his answer but that was a true secret that he had. "I also wished that I had stuck to the army a little longer," He shrugged his shoulders lightly as that was a secret that not even his siblings knew, their father had been so disappointed in him when he came back from the army after only a few months. Although he didn't like being in the army, he knew that it would have saved him from Katherine.

Although then he could have never met Letha, but then it would have saved her all the heartbreak that he put her through. So it would have been better for her if he hadn't been in town when she arrived, she wouldn't have had to be engaged to him only to have her chose Katherine over her. "Is that enough for you?" He asked Letha as she knew that the army was a sore topic for him and it probably always would be.

---

Belle wasn't even really paying attention to what Letha was asking her brother or what his answer was, she was more interested in talking to Jeremy as they did get along really well. She smiled when he couldn't even keep his face straight, "I'm scared of spiders and bugs in general." She told him which was the truth, she may be a vampire but she had always been scared of spiders. Although she just didn't like bugs, anything that crawled in a creepy way was disgusting to her. She always ran away and then got her either of her brothers to deal with the bugs, she had been the same way when she was human so her brothers were used it to and expected it. Shaking her head, she looked at Jeremy. "I won't do anything crazy, but are you that worried about me?" She grinned as she looked at him, after a few moments she looked away and finished off her glass of whiskey.

"If you're going to be eating, then you should have something to eat. Right?" She asked as she was pretty sure that's what she's heard about humans, she had found human food in the kitchen and Stefan said it was because of Elena. But now it was because Jeremy and Bonnie still came around, it was so they could be prepared if their human guests became hungry.

Jeremy was mildly surprised with Belle's admission to being scared of spiders and bugs, though maybe he shouldn't have been too surprised. Most girls were afraid of those things, he realized, but he had never really bothered to pay too much attention to them before. "You're a vampire and you're afraid of spiders and bugs?" he asked before shaking his head, though he tried not to appear amused with the news. Sure, it was a little amusing, but he didn't want Belle to get upset with him for thinking that. When she spoke again, though, he arched an eyebrow and lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug. "Perhaps," he eventually answered, though he figured that he really shouldn't be worried about her. She was a vampire, after all; she could probably take care of herself better than he could take care of himself. "I figure I have a right to worry about you, though; I mean, we are pretty good friends."

When she suggested that he should eat something, though, he nodded and moved to stand up. "Yeah, that would probably be best," he decided, since he hadn't eaten at the Grill. Thankfully, he wasn't so tipsy that he was too dizzy to walk - in fact, he liked to think that he was walking straight as he made his way towards the kitchen in hopes of finding something that he could (and would) actually eat.

---

Letha stared at Damon for a long moment, having no satisfaction with the entire thing. She had hoped for a more embarrassing secret, not something so depressing. Clearing her throat, she looked away and gulped down the remaining contents of the drink and set her glass aside. "Yeah, that's a good enough answer," she decided after a few moments, though it just made her feel awkward for asking in the first place. Bringing up sore topics was the last thing she wanted to do, because it was both incredibly bothersome to know things that bothered Damon and it easily gave Damon a chance to bring up sore topics for her and she honestly hoped that wouldn't be the case. "Anyways, I guess it's your turn to ask, though it seems you only have Caroline and me as options," she said, seeing that it seemed that Belle and Jeremy would be leaving to go find food or something.

She wasn't sure how to feel about that, because even Caroline seemed occupied with her phone now - probably texting the Tyler guy that Belle had asked Caroline about earlier. And, well, the other girl was kind of absorbed in her phone, too. Which meant that she would be pretty much alone with Damon, even if these other two were around, and she was honestly worried about just how awkward things would become.

It was obvious that Letha wasn't satisfied with the two answers that he gave her, he didn't even need to give her two answers but he did. Apparently his answers what she was wanting from him, but there wasn't anything that he could do about that now. As he glanced around the room, he noticed both Bonnie and Caroline were busy on their phones. "I don't really think having just us two playing the game, will be very exciting." He told her as it wouldn't be exciting for either of them, he looked over at her and sighed softly. "I should probably leave then, I could go find Stefan for you. Or I could tell Belle to spend time with you," He offered her as he knew that she wouldn't want to be around him, he did want to stay and talk to her but knew it was better if he didn't. At least not right now, he'd let her settle in and get used to the fact that he was going to be right there. If things got awkward between them, then it could be hard to fix and get back to normal. Although they'd never truly be normal, he ruined that chance when he stuck with Katherine like a lost puppy.

He stood up from the couch leaving the bottle of whiskey there for if Letha wanted to continue drinking, or for when Belle returned from the kitchen. He stretched a little and listened in on where Stefan was, he was talking to Elena on the back porch and he rolled his eyes at the both of them.

---

Belle knew that her fear of bugs would be strange to someone who has seen what vampires can really do, how easy they could kill or drink blood from someone. How strong they can be and how fast, but that didn't mean that she could be scared of something little and silly like bugs. "Hey, I had this fear when I was human and it carried over when I was turned. It's not my fault," She told him as she too stood up and walked into the kitchen with Jeremy, she was also scared over other things. Like actually dying and losing the people close to her, things that everyone had fears with. "You can worry about me as we are good friends, but you don't really need to. Shouldn't I be worried about you? I mean you do live in a town filled with creatures," She told him not really understanding just how hard that would be, he was someone that she could lose so easily and that did scare her a lot. The past little while, Belle has been noticing that she has either been thinking about Jeremy or wanting to see him when he isn't around.

She wasn't fully sure what that meant and she didn't have anyone to ask, Damon and Stefan would flip and she wouldn't dare ask Caroline. That girl couldn't keep anything to herself, especially when it involved her best friend's brother and her best friends ex-boyfriend. But now she had Letha so she'd have to ask her later on, Belle opened the fridge and searched through what human food they had. "I could make you a sandwich, if you like?" She offered as it would be the easiest thing for her to give him to eat.

Jeremy nodded in understanding, because it wasn't surprising to hear that her human fear carried over when she was turned into a vampire - apparently, that was a common thing, for human things to be carried over, but it didn't make much sense to him. Following Belle into the kitchen, he listened to her quietly, rather surprised with her words. "You don't have to be worried about me, though. I can handle myself," he assured her, as Alaric had taught him a lot about defending oneself against vampires; he had taught Elena, too, which he supposed would be good for his sister, even if she was a vampire now. "I'm surrounded by supernatural creatures. I'm used to it now. Besides, most of what happens around here gets others hurt, not me." Sure, there were the occasional times that he got hurt - or, rather, killed, but he was able to come back, both because of Bonnie's magic and his ring (though the ring only worked if he was killed by a supernatural creature, hence why Bonnie's magic had to bring him back at one point, too.)

But, even then, he didn't mind everything that happened in Mystic Falls. If none of it happened, then Belle wouldn't be around and he actually cared about Belle. Sure, he cared about some of the others in their weird little group, too, but he cared about her in a deeper way, one that he was pretty much familiar with at this point. "Yeah, a sandwich sounds good," he told her with a nod as he moved over to her, "I can help, if you want." Because he didn't mind helping; besides, he worked at the Grill, so he was used to working with food.

---

Letha didn't bother telling him that he didn't have to go, because, honestly, she wanted to get away from him. Even though she could act like she was okay, she knew there were moments when it was clear she wasn't, where memories would resurface and she just wanted to bury them deep. Watching him leave, she waited for a moment before she stood up and vamp-sped out of the house. She didn't really want to be around Stefan, especially when he seemed to be with who she supposed was his girlfriend, and she didn't want Belle to have to stop hanging out with Jeremy just because she had shown up. So, she opted for climbing in her car and trying to relax in the backseat. She wouldn't leave, of course, not when Belle had made it so clear that she wanted Letha to stay, but she just wanted to be alone, away from Damon and the awkwardness that still surrounded the two of them. She doubted it would ever disappear and she knew she was going to dread living there if she constantly had to be around him.

Part of her was beginning to regret ever coming back to Mystic Falls. She had promised herself that she would never return, yet here she was. She even had a chance to just up and leave right now, pretend she had never broken the promise to herself and pretend that she still thought Damon was dead, but she couldn't even do that - and, at this point, she wasn't even sure if it was all because she didn't want to upset Belle or if part of her just wanted to be around Damon again.

Belle knew that Jeremy only got hurt a handful of times, but that still didn't mean that it was okay when he did get hurt. She'd much rather have herself be the one who gets hurt because at least then she can heal herself, it also takes a lot more for her to get hurt. Unless it was with a wooden stake or wooden bullets or a few other things, Stefan had told her about the times when Jeremy had been a victim which is why she knew about the ring he wore and what it could do. "Oh, so every time that you've died. That's been how you handle yourself?" She looked at him knowing that he could always have someone else around that could help protect him, she was sure that Elena would like that even if it did come from Belle. She had seen so many people that she cares about die, any human that she has become friends with and even a few other vampires. They all seem to leave at one point in her life, the first being her Mother who didn't make it after giving birth to Belle and then it was Letha. Her first best friend who wasn't related to her, it all continued from there when she lost her brothers and then her Father.

She was surprised she never turned her humanity off, "Sure. You can get whatever vegetable you like and slice it for me," She told him as the fridge had all the usual salad vegetables so she'd make him a big salad sandwich, she'd throw in some cheese and meat too as she knew that's what he liked.

Jeremy couldn't say that it had been how he handled himself, per se. He was just used to it by now, no matter how messed up and twisted he was. He knew that he shouldn't even have to be used to it, that he should be living a normal life away from all of this - and, at one point, he had been, when Elena had Damon compel him to leave. And, honestly, that had been an okay life for him, but, if he had stayed, he wouldn't have gotten to spend any time with Belle and he would have worried about his sister - or, he hoped he would have, considering that Damon had told him that he wouldn't think twice about leaving or whatever. "Ah, I suppose you could say that," he mentioned eventually, lifting his shoulders in a slight shrug. It could have been worse, he could have replied on vampire blood and then have gotten turned the first time he died. Sure, he had drank vampire blood before and tried to die, but it hadn't worked and he was honestly glad it hadn't. He couldn't believe that he had ever wanted to turn into a vampire before, but that didn't matter too much.

Nodding to her suggestion, he moved to the fridge and gathered whatever he would need for his sandwich. "How long has it been since you actually made human food?" he asked, mostly joking, but now that he had asked it, he was a little curious. He knew that at least Stefan sometimes ate human food; he was sure Damon was the same way. But he highly doubted that either of them ever actually cooked their own food. Except, there was the time that Stefan came over to cook spaghetti for Elena.

Belle grabbed the bag of bread and started smoothing over some butter, "It's been a very long time since I made human food." She smiled as it had been probably been a good ten or more years, eating human food did nothing for vampires. Older ones couldn't even stomach human food as they had been off it for so long, Belle only really ever ate human food when she was trying to fit in at a school and didn't want people asking questions about why she never ate. She could deal with eating food but it wasn't enjoyable to her anymore and she had once loved food, but that went with time and she knew it would go. She turned to look at Jeremy and watched him for only a few seconds, "Have you ever thought about leaving Mystic Falls? Getting away from everything that continues to happen?" She asked him as she would have if she was a human, she would have been scared to live in a town where bad things happen constantly. "You could have a good life somewhere far away from here," She told him although she would miss spending time with him.

But then it'd be easy to visit and Elena could easily go see him, he could finish high school and go into college in peace. Know that he wasn't going to be put in danger so often, he could make friends who were normal and enjoyed normal things. He could have a good life.

Jeremy looked to her, having not expected such a question to be asked by Belle of all people. Regardless, he lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug. "I did leave once, but that was because Damon compelled me to," he eventually said before he sighed. "Leaving here doesn't help anybody to get away from everything, though. Even when I left, one of the Original vampires found me and pretended to be my friend to keep tabs on me." It sucked, really. It had always been hard for Jeremy to actually make friends, so when he earned one so quickly when he left, it had surprised him. Perhaps he shouldn't have fallen for the trick so easily. "The thing is, whatever happens in Mystic Falls doesn't stay in Mystic Falls. It follows everybody who leaves and that's probably why everybody comes back. I mean, I'd rather be here with everybody fighting vampires and werewolves and hybrids than be out there alone fighting vampires and werewolves and hybrids." Maybe he was rambling a bit, but he wanted to make it clear that leaving didn't solve anything, that it probably never would. It surprised him that he was even this coherent after drinking so much.

Glancing at her, he offered a small smile. "Besides, if I left, then I wouldn't get to hang out with you," he reminded. And hanging out with Belle was important to him, because he cared about her, probably more than he really should, but he cared so much that he hadn't even thought about leaving Mystic Falls in ages.

Jeremy did have a good point after trouble following him, Belle guessed that if someone wanted to get to Elena then going after Jeremy would be the easiest way. And if he wasn't in Mystic Falls than no one would be able to protect him, if it ever came to that. Which she hoped never would, "I'm sorry. It still must be hard to be surrounded with all of this, but if you want a friend than you'll always have me. I'm not going anywhere," She sure hoped that she wasn't going anywhere, but she had lasted this long so she could last longer. She took the slices of vegetables that he had cut and placed them in his sandwich, she put the top piece of bread on before cutting it all in half. She pulled a plate out from the cupboard and set the sandwich on it, as she handed the plate to him. "Here you go, now Elena can't say that I don't take care of you." She smiled as she looked at him, "That is true. And everyone knows that I'm amazing to hang out with," She told him as a joke, but she hoped that he never decided to stop spending time with her. She liked him and cared about him.

"I guess no one is celebrating anymore," She couldn't hear anything, she heard Stefan and Elena talking, two phones but that was it. She couldn't hear Damon or Letha, her brother better not have said anything that would make her best friend want to leave again. She just only found out that Letha had been a vampire all this time.

“And what a wonderful friend you are, making me a sandwich and everything,” Jeremy joked lightly. “It’s not something to apologize for. It could be worse, really.” He could have permanently died, after all. Or he could have remained unaware of the supernatural beings around him, which was probably a lot more dangerous than being aware of them. At least, with being aware of them, he knew how to fight back and keep himself alive. That wouldn’t be the case if he didn’t know anything about them. He would have just gone down any time that a supernatural attacked him and he would have died a lot easier. When she gave him his sandwich, he smiled and nodded. “Thanks,” he told her as he looked down at her. “Elena doesn’t really have a right to judge who I hang out with, anyways.” Elena had surrounded herself with vampires, after all, and she was even one now. At least Jeremy hadn’t willingly started getting along with vampires – the only one that he could really stand to be around was Belle (aside from his sister and maybe Caroline, though Elena was definitely annoying sometimes.)

He was surprised to hear that nobody was celebrating anymore, but he shrugged it off, finding nothing to really worry about. “That’s because we were the life of the party.” Of course, he knew that wasn’t why everybody had stopped celebrating, but at least when they had been in the room with everybody, everything had been mostly okay and easy-going. So, he was sure that the fact that they – or, really, Belle – weren’t in there anymore and the celebrating had ended had to mean something, right?

"Exactly, I'm the best friend that you have. I give you alcohol but I still feed you," Belle smiled and laughed softly to herself, she was partly being serious and partly joking. She knew that it could have been so much worse for Jeremy, if he didn't know about vampires and everything else that had made Mystic Falls home. Then he wouldn't see an attack on him coming, he wouldn't be able to do anything to protect himself. Really if that was the case, then Elena would have lost her little brother years ago. "That's very true, but that still isn't going to make her like me anymore than she already does. And she doesn't really like me at all, but I don't care because she became friends with my brothers first. When she has them in her life, then she has me." She said honestly as it had always been that way, even when the Salvatore siblings had been human. For example, when Letha was engaged to marry Damon. She didn't just get Damon, she also got Stefan and Belle in her life because the siblings had always been close. Which had struggled over the years, mainly between Damon and Stefan which Belle couldn't fixed and she had already tried many times before.

She smiled at Jeremy and nodded, "I'd have to agree with that completely. Maybe they realised how awesome we are, and didn't want to continue celebrating without the two awesome people there." She said jokingly as she really didn't think of herself like that, the celebration probably only stopped because everyone become occupied doing something else other than drinking and playing truth or dare.

Jeremy avoided telling Belle that she was pretty much the only friend he had anymore. Sure, he was getting close to Matt since they worked at the Grill together, but they weren't particularly close, whereas he and Belle were. "You're an enabling best friend," he teased lightly, "But you're still a wonderful best friend." Besides, it wasn't as if it was rare for people to drink in Mystic Falls. Everybody he knew did so, either because they were stressed or worried, or they were dealing with another supernatural attack. It was almost as if it was expected for anybody involved with the supernatural to enjoy drinking to get their minds off of things as well - and who could blame them? "Elena hasn't ever really liked any of my friends," he said honestly after a bit. She hadn't liked Vicki or Anna and, honestly, it had been frustrating to deal with. Even when he thought Tyler had been his friend, she hadn't really liked him at the time, either. "You would think she would realize by now how ridiculous it is for her to judge my friends when there are a lot worse things I can do than have friends who care." He rolled his eyes, then, because he wished Elena would be more understanding, that she would stop being hypocritical, but he knew it would never happen.

Grinning when she agreed with him, even though she had clearly been joking, he nodded and took a bite out of his sandwich. Once he chewed and swallowed, he lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug. "Do you want to go back in there?" he asked with curiosity, looking at her as he waited for her to answer.