I woke up the morning after the Founder's Day celebration to see a vampire sitting on my bed. Damon looked like he had been mulling over something unpleasant all night long.
"Look, Elena," Damon began. He refused to meet my gaze, telling me that whatever was to follow was not something he wanted to say. "I'm sorry I kissed you, I…"
"What do you mean 'kissed me'? When did you kiss me?" My voice was tinged with anger and I could feel my brow furrow in confusion. If Stefan heard a word of this conversation, he would be at my side before I could blink.
"You don't remember? Last night, when I was coming out of the house. You had just gotten home with your stuff, and…" I interrupted him.
"I didn't have my stuff. Someone stole it. I thought you knew that." This wasn't making any sense. I could see that Damon was equally perplexed. The awkwardness of the situation was almost physically painful.
"So if I didn't kiss you, then…" His eyes widened with his revelation. "Katherine. No, no, no. This isn't good. I didn't want to see her ever again, much less-" He glanced over at me as he cut himself off. If Damon had been a human, I'm sure he would be blushing right now. Hell, I was blushing right now.
"Damon, what were you thinking? If it had actually been me and Stefan found out, he would do something awful." I was mad, though I wasn't sure where that anger came from. Was it anger at Damon for kissing me or anger at myself for missing it?
"Elena, I just got caught up in the moment, all the excitement of last night, and blah blah blah. Forget the human stuff. It was nothing. Excuse me while I go cut my lips off. They deserve punishment after kissing that frigid bitch." I could see the humanity drain out of his body as Damon returned to being, well, Damon. All the tenderness and romanticism was replaced with narcissism and arrogance.
While I knew that his vampire exterior housed a very sensitive psyche—I mean, come on, he pined over the same woman for almost 150 years—he was extremely good at disguising it and reminding me why I had gravitated toward Stefan.
"Well, since it was Katherine and not me you kissed, you should probably tell Stefan you saw her last night. There's no telling what she was doing here," I said.
"As much as I would love to get wrapped up in that story, I have to go," Damon stated.
"Wait, Damon," I started to say. This conversation wasn't nearly finished, but he was already gone. Damn vampires and their super speed.
I padded downstairs to grab some breakfast. When I turned around to put the milk back in the fridge, Aunt Jenna was blocking my way.
"What was that I saw last night between you and Damon? What are you thinking, fooling around with Stefan's brother? He's way too old for you Elena. What would Stefan do if he found out? What if-" Her questions tumbled out of her mouth, racing each other to be said first.
"Aunt Jenna! Stop. Breathe. Listen to me. That was not me you saw last night kissing Damon. It was just a misunderstanding, trust me. He's so not my type." After I finished, there were a few moments of quiet in which she digested what I had said.
"So… you're saying it wasn't you who looked exactly like you. It wasn't you you who was enjoying kissing Damon. Who was it then, Elena? I know what I saw." She had skepticism radiating off her face.
"Aunt Jenna, I…" My thoughts trailed off when Jeremy walked in. He looked hung over. Again with the drinking? "Jeremy! What happened last night? I was worried about you. Did you sleep alright? You don't look so good."
"I'm fine. It's just…" he glanced at Aunt Jenna. "It's nothing. Hey, Elena? Could I talk to you on the front porch for a sec?" Jeremy pinched the bridge of his nose as if he had a massive headache.
"Uhh… sure. We'll be right back." This was odd. Jeremy hadn't initiated a conversation with me in weeks. I didn't know what to expect, but I was completely blindsided by what he was about to tell me.
Jeremy's words came out in a rush. "I turned last night."
"You turned what? Turned over? Wait… No. No! Jeremy. Please tell me you didn't…" I couldn't finish the sentence. I remembered what it had been like for Vickie when she had turned. Jeremy wasn't nearly as on edge as she had been, at least not yet.
"Elena, I need to feed. I'm not sure how to do all this. It was a rash decision and… Well, it's done now. Could you call one of your vamp boyfriends to help me? Please. My entire body is screaming. Every noise is deafening. I can't control my movements. I feel so twitchy and wired. Caffeine has nothing on this shit." He talked faster and faster.
While his words spilled over me, I called Stefan's cell phone. It rang, but no answer. I really, really didn't want to call Damon, but I had no choice. Jeremy was my brother, after all.
He picked up on the first ring. "Hey, Damon? I know this is a lot to ask, but could you come by my house please? I need your help."
"I'll be right there," he said.
"Okay, Jer. Damon's on his way. Can you sit tight for a minute? I need to go in and talk to Aunt Jenna real quick. It won't take long."
Jeremy's eyes were darting everywhere. "Uh, yeah, sure. I'll just stay right here." It looked like that was the last thing he wanted to do. His foot was tapping against the floor as I walked through the front door and closed it behind me.
"Aunt Jenna?" I called into the house.
"In here, Elena," she yelled from the kitchen.
"Hey, um, Jeremy and I are going to hang out outside for a bit. Damon's going to come over and, uh, help us with something." She gave me a knowing look. "Not anything like that. Just, please don't try to confront him or anything, okay? It's really not what you think."
"Okay, okay. I won't embarrass you." Aunt Jenna turned around to put something away, so I slipped out of the kitchen.
I could hear voices through the front door as I walked toward it.
