Damon knew that Elena wouldn’t have chosen to leave. Especially not without telling him. He did. But, there would always be that feeling deep down inside that wondered. That feeling that he wasn’t good enough for her, and that one day she would realise that. And, it was that feeling that sent him to the bottom of a bottle once he saw the notice that Elena had left. That secret feeling of inadequacy, that not many people saw. If he hadn't had that. Then perhaps he’d have been able to be strong. But, that was probably a pipe dream. Still, there was a part of him that knew that feeling like this was stupid. And, that was the part that replied to Bonnie and Caroline when they asked where he was. Even though he thought the question was stupid. He was propping the bar at Dive. With a bottle of bourbon he was drinking straight out of. The idea that he was doing anything else, seemed laughable. If he could find it in him to laugh right now. Groaning, he rested his head on the bar in front of him. He didn’t want to be human without Elena there beside him. His alcohol tolerance sucked right now.
It broke Caroline’s heart that Elena was gone just like that, she knew it hurt Damon a heck of a lot more than it hurt Bonnie or herself, but she knew she and Bonnie were dealing with the pain as well.
It wasn’t surprising that Damon had been drinking, actually, that was probably the least surprising thing about everything. That didn’t mean it didn’t worry Caroline. Damon didn’t have the tolerance that he used to. Pausing just inside the door her heart sank as she looked at him resting his head on the bar. Moving slowly she slipped into the seat next him.
“We’re going to need another one of those,” she told the bartender nodding towards the bottle Damon was holding. He wasn’t going to get any of it, but she knew trying to comfort Damon wasn’t going to help right that minute.
Bonnie slipped in just after Caroline, joining her on Damon’s other side. “Better make that two,” she said. She and Caroline had lost Elena, too, and while they were here to check on Damon and make sure he was okay, it was also about commiseration, too. They were all going to miss her.
Damon didn’t even open his eyes when the two joined him. Just groaned again. “Seriously, Bon-bon. How do you cope with being able to drink fuck all?” He hated this. He hated having them worry about him. He hated the fact that they had to worry about him. It sucked. And, he was already most of the way drunk. Which made it suck all the harder.
But, he also knew they missed her almost as much as he did. So, he didn’t begrudge them being there. Misery loved company after all.
Once she and Bonnie both had their bottles, Caroline half ignored anything Damon was groaning about.
"To shitty timing and fuck whatever it is that makes people vanish." She said sarcastically before clinking bottles with the other two bottles. Caroline knew she was lucky given she could drink a heck of a lot more.
"Do they have fries here?"
“Good question.” Bonnie tended to spend more time at Lightning Brew herself. “It doesn’t really look like a food kind of place.” Caroline could outdrink both of them, but Bonnie liked to think her tolerance was better than Damon’s at this point. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, it was really hard to say sometimes.
She took a drink from her own bottle, quiet for a moment. Losing Elena hurt. She knew they all felt that, but she didn’t really know what to say.
Damon’s smile was more like a grimace, as he sat up to look at the girls. “To Atlantis having the worst fucking timing in the multi-verse.” He agreed, as he had another gulp of his drink.
“It’s called Dive for a reason, Blondie.” The ex-vampire snarked, raising an eyebrow at his sister-in-law. “The only food they have is nuts.”
"Well, that's just stupid!" Caroline said rolling her eyes. "Everyone needs some good fries when they're wallowing."
Standing up she looked between the two of them for a moment, "I'll be right back." She meant it too. She sped away only to get an order of fries from Lightning (covering them thank you very much) before retaking her seat, she wasn't gone long at all.
"There, that's better." Fries were also better when drinking that much and she didn't want Damon to make himself too sick. Bonnie was more used to drinking at human speed. "And yeah, the multiverse timing sucks."
Bonnie rolled her eyes, but then she reached over to help herself to a fry. “Maybe you should have gotten three orders,” she teased.
Damon just rolled his eyes, before helping himself to some of the fries. “You keep doing you, Care Bear.”
Rolling her eyes Caroline popped a fry into her mouth and sat down taking another drink from her bottle.