A/N
Hope you're all liking it so far...this chapter gives a little background knowledge, more to come in future chapters. Please review and let me know what you think :-)
So here's how the dreams usually go. They always start out with me sleeping in my bed, just like I would actually be doing in real life. The cold sudden chills wake me from my sleep, I open my eyes and he's standing next to me. We spend the entire night together, hours and hours of the most amazing sex my body could stand. Once we're both completely drained, he wraps his arms around me. I rest my head on his bare chest and I close my eyes…and that's when my alarm goes off. It's morning…I'm alone…and he was never really there.
You can't imagine the frustration of waking up and realizing that once again, the best night of your life didn't actually happen. Even worse, I wake up in the morning exhausted because I feel like I didn't get a minute of sleep! The dreams feel so real that they actually have a physical effect on me.
Maybe I should see a doctor. Like one of those hypno-therapist people that put those weird sticky things on your head to monitor your brainwaves. I would do it if my dreams weren't so damn perverted…
Going to sleep that first night in my new home was, well, I was scared!
I haven't slept in a new place in years, and you know how houses all have their own sets of weird noises, well this one is no exception. There's pipes clanking, wind blowing, something scratching against a window…I'm going to pray that it's a tree branch.
Luckily it's been a long and exhausting day, and despite the creepy noises, all I want to do is sleep…and within 5 minutes, I give in to my exhaustion and allow my subconscious to take over for the night.
"Where are you?" He asks as he stands above me looking around at the empty house.
I open my eyes feeling the chills and hearing his voice at the same time.
"I moved." I respond, and the second the words leave my mouth, I gasp.
I spoke, I was able to speak to him…I've never been able to speak to him until just now.
I sit up abruptly.
He laughs. He knows why I'm so shocked.
"How am I able to talk? I'm never able to talk around you."
"Because I'm letting you"
"So why don't you always let me?" I asked as he pulled his shirt over his head.
"Because the less you know about me, the better." He said as he pulled the blanket off and laid down on the floor next to me. "If you're able to talk then you'll start asking questions that I'm not going to answer. It's better for both of us this way…trust me."
"So do you want to talk…or do something else?" He asked, as his finger circled around my belly button.
Talk! Jeanne you want to talk! You have a million questions, now is your chance to get the answers!
That's what I said in my head. But that's not what I said out loud…and that's definitely not what my body said when his hand started to inch south of my belly button.
And that was it…I blew my chance. From this point forward all talking ceased and a lot of heavy breathing took it's place.
One of these nights I'll know more about him. If only he wasn't so irresistible, then maybe I'd be able to resist him…
Damon sat in his car and waited for the light to turn green.
He has to stop going to see her. What the fuck was he thinking last night, actually talking to her? And why did she move? Is she still in New York? If she's living with someone, he's not going to be able to see her anymore…is she living with a guy?
After a series of questions ran through Damon's mind, he realized what was going on…
He's becoming too attached.
It's been happening for a while now. He hasn't slept with anyone else since he started visiting her at night. That's unheard of for Damon. The only other woman he has ever been faithful to died sometime in the late 1800's.
Everyone notices it. The brother who was known for going through women like Lindsay Lohan goes through bottles of vodka, was now…according to everyone who knows him…celibate. Damon and celibacy don't even belong in the same language, let alone the same sentence. But as far as everyone is concerned…he hasn't so much as given any other female a second glance. And as far as he's concerned…he has no reason to.
She's the only one he thinks about, and aside from her name…he doesn't even know anything about her. It's not because he can't know anything about her. He's in her apartment almost every night, he could know everything straight down to her social security number if he chose to. But at least he's been smart about that. The more he knows about her, the more she'll take over him…and he can not let that happen.
Part of the allure is knowing he can't drink from her. Since she thinks her interactions with him are all a dream, he knows he can't leave any marks. He did one time and didn't have the nerve to go back to her for a month. Eventually she convinced herself that she somehow scratched herself in the form of two small dots on her neck. It's amazing how the mind makes logic of the illogical.
The idea that he still has a desire to see her, and her blood has nothing to do with it is an overpowering emotion for Damon. Since he's been a vampire, he hasn't really experienced that feeling with anyone else. He has to visit her less…actually he has to stop visiting her all together, but...
Damon drove quietly down the streets of Mystic Falls towards the high school. He promised Elena and Caroline he would help them take out some boxes of decorations for next week's End of Summer festival. He has to stop promising to help people…he really doesn't like to help people.
He drove by a house with a U-Haul parked in the driveway. He groaned in disgust…"God I had new people in my town." He said aloud as he drove by.
With no alarm to wake me up, I slept much later than I normally would. I didn't wake up until almost 10, and even with 8 hours sleep…I still felt like I need more.
I forced myself up and into the shower. Once I was showered and dressed, I still had a some time before Tyra, Stefan and the others would be here to help, and there was no food or drinks in the house whatsoever. How embarrassing to not even have a glass of soda to offer them…
I decided to head over to the local market to stock up on some groceries. Unfortunately, until I get a car, I'm going to have to keep my shopping light.
Get a car…that's next of my list of things to do before school starts.
Once I returned home, I started to empty out the U-haul. The stuff I was able to carry anyway. I was actually proud at how much I had gotten done on my own. All I need now is some furniture and I'll be good to go!
"What time did you say you have leave?" Elena asked Stefan as she searched through a box for some banner.
"I have to get Jeremy and be at her house at 2, so like 1:45?" Stefan answered while trying to figure out why a science text book, clown shoes, and a roll of duct tape were all in the same box.
"Where are you going?" Damon asked leaning against a fence…not really helping in the slightest.
"You know Jenna's friend Tyra? Her cousin just moved to Mystic Falls and is teaching here in September. I offered to help bring her furniture in."
"The house around the block from us with the U-Haul out front? I saw it when I was driving here."
"Yeah I think that's it…you wanna come help?"
"Um, no, I made a promise to myself on my way here that I wasn't going to help people do things anymore."
"Yeah, I can see that." Elena interjected
"Oh please, I pulled that box out." Damon said defensively
"It was empty." Elena and Caroline said simultaneously.
Damon rolled his eyes and put his sunglasses on. "Whatever, I'm leaving anyway…Mayor Lockwood is having a council lunch."
"I can't believe you still go to council meetings." Stefan said as he attempted to un-tangle a string of lights.
"Why can't you believe it? These people get turned on at the thought of killing vampires, we're vampires…if I'm going to destroy all of their plans, I need to know what the plans are in the first place." Damon said with a wicked smile…then got in his car and drove off.
"So is he still not dating anyone?" Caroline asked in her usual gossipy way.
"No one he takes out in public." Elena responded
"Ooo what does that mean?" Caroline asked, stopping whatever it was she was doing
"It doesn't mean anything." Stefan chimed in
"Well, almost every night he slips out at the same time…2:06am…and he always comes back at the same time…5:41am…it's always the same exact time, to the minute." Elena said.
"That's really weird…so where do you think he's going?
Elena shrugged her shoulders…"No one knows…"
"So why don't you follow him?" Caroline insisted
"Because it's none of our business." Stefan said, amused by the girls nosiness.
"Besides, he doesn't take his car. He just walks outside and then disappears." Elena added.
"Ok, as much as fun as it is to talk about Damon's whereabouts…I gotta get going. I'll see you girls later." Stefan kissed Elena and left.
It was around 4:30 when the truck was completely unloaded and all of the furniture was where it should be.
I couldn't thank Stefan and his friend Jeremy enough for all of their help. Without them, it would be Christmas and I'd still be unloading the truck.
The deal was that now I had to put in a good word for them with their teachers once school started. It was the least I can do.
The boys left and Tyra stayed around helping me unpack. Slowly but surely, my house was beginning to look like a home…clothes in the closet, table cloth on the kitchen table, pictures on the walls. It was all very exciting…
"So, are you dating anyone?" Tyra asked, hoping the topic wasn't as sensitive as it was a year earlier.
I couldn't help but smile at her awkwardness over the subject. "No, I'm not dating anyone…and you don't have to say it like that. I'm much better now."
"Ok, good…you know that's part of the reason I wanted you to get out of New York. It'll be good for you to meet new people, be in a different environment for a little while…I will tell you this, Mystic Falls may be a small compared to New York, but the men in this town are sexy little devils" She said with a laugh.
"And I look forward to meeting all the sexy little devils I can." I smiled back, even though I'm not entirely sure how truthful that was.
I guess you're all wondering what has me so sensitive about relationships…well, a shitty ex-boyfriend is what has me so sensitive about relationships.
My last boyfriend (and only boyfriend) was my high school sweetheart. We started dating when I was a junior and he was a senior. We were together throughout college, even though we went to separate schools, we saw each other every weekend. We were even voted most likely to get married right after college. There was a time when I would have thought so too.
One night, he went out with some friends to celebrate his acceptance to law school. I thought they went out to dinner…turns out they went to a strip club, but ironically that's the least of my concerns.
He and I were going to his families cabin the following day, so instead of leaving his house extra early in the morning to pick me up, he just decided it would be easier if I spent the night at his house and we can leave together from the same place. I didn't mind. He picked me up at about 2am. It was only a 5 minute drive. We didn't make it.
Three blocks away from my house he blew a red light and an oncoming limo slammed into my side of the car. I learned later on that his blood alcohol level that night was 3 times the legal limit. Since that's the type of thing frowned upon by prestigious law schools, he left me there. Afraid of getting arrested and kicked out of NYU School of Law…he left the scene not knowing if I was alive or not. I had 4 broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and stitches in my neck from the shattered glass. He didn't have a scratch. Even worse? I didn't hear from him until 3 weeks later, when he called to 'check up on me'.
Coming to terms with the fact that the man you have loved since you were 16 years old, the man you gave your virginity to, and the man you whole heartedly thought you would marry one day, would leave you for dead to save his own ass was a pretty big pill to swallow.
But a month of recovery and his subsequent arrest (leaving the scene of a crime is a very serious offense!) I slowly but surely started to feel better…some of my friends even surprised me with a weekend away in New Orleans once I was fully healed, which helped a lot.
Now, when I look back I can't believe I spent so much of my time on such a worthless asshole. But that was then…and now I spend my time thinking about a man that doesn't exist. But at least if he doesn't exist, he can't hurt me…right?
