Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Summer Love

PART VII

"Can we go to the beach party?" Elena asked, directing the question to Stefan.

Two weeks had passed since their agreement was created. Two weeks had passed since the Salvatore brothers arrived in America and became the girls' "masters." Two weeks had passed since Bonnie's blossoming feelings for Damon started. It was obvious that Elena and Stefan were interested to one another . . . but it wasn't obvious to the two of them themselves.

"Idiots," Damon had told Bonnie a week ago, shaking his head with a genuine smile. "My brother and that blonde are idiots."

Bonnie had to giggle because; one) Damon rarely initiates conversations with her (unless they were orders—although she likes to think of them as requests), two) he rarely smiles—in a genuine manner too, and three) he called his brother and Elena idiots. It's just funny.

Anyway, the past two weeks were fine and virtually . . . normal. The guys sometimes made them do chores and cook . . . but that's about it. They didn't make them massage their feet, cut their hair—nothing. The Salvatore brothers were complete gentlemen too. Well, except for Damon to Elena. Bonnie couldn't understand why though.

The redhead also noticed that the Salvatore brothers always stuck with one of them. Stefan with Elena, and Damon with Bonnie. The girls had talked about this and concluded one thing; attraction. Even Elena thinks that Damon is attracted to Bonnie (Bonnie denied vigorously, supporting her statement with weak evidence)! But maybe Damon is just really nice in the inside, Bonnie would argue.

In fact, the girls didn't even feel like maids. They felt like . . . they were all roommates residing in one big house. It was a nice feeling for Bonnie and Elena. And maybe Stefan too. Damon, on the other hand, they were clueless about.

"Please?" Elena pleaded, looking at Stefan.

Stefan shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."

"But I want you guys to come with me," Elena said, glancing at Bonnie and Stefan; purposefully ignoring Damon. He never liked her. And she didn't even do anything to him! The dark-haired man didn't mind the blonde's hostile attitude and only read the newspaper.

"I . . . don't know," Bonnie said quietly, swiftly glancing at Damon.

"You said it has a bar, right?" Damon asked, not looking up from the newspaper.

"Yup," Elena said.

Stefan raised his eyebrows. His brother hadn't been near a bar for a long while now (he was actually grateful for it), so he wondered what changed his mind. He hoped it was for good intentions . . . but then again, are there ever good intentions in bars?

"I'll go then," he said, turning the page to the sports section. "Holy shit," he muttered. "Stefan, look at this," he said, slamming the newspaper on the table and pointing at the sports headline. He began talking in Italian, an annoyed lilt in his voice, and Stefan replied with an incredulous stream of Italian words as well. The younger Salvatore strolled over to the table and read the sports article, with Damon muttering a few curses in Italian.

Bonnie and Elena exchanged amused looks and bit back giggles at the comical scene.

The party was at six in the evening. Damon strolled in his shower and shut the door, his teeth clenched as he thought of what he's going to do tonight.

He was going to find some fling, or flings, to distract himself from the redhead getting ready in a room across from his. Why was he doing this? Well, it's quite simple really.

He's going to leave America in a couple of weeks—by the start of August to be specific (and it was already mid-June)—which means that he'll never see her again. He could always make plans and arrangements to go here every summer. But that's just it. Summer. Damon didn't want the little songbird to get hurt; he might as well end any developing feelings tonight. Plus, she's a little bit too young for him.

Why can't everything be perfect for once?

Oh he was probably going to hell for this. Damon turned on the very hot water and cursed at the sudden shot of pain on his skin. It was for the better, he thought.

By seven o'clock, the four house-mates walked out of the beach house and took a relaxing walk towards the beach. Elena and Stefan had their shoulders grazing one another as they walked, conversing in low volumes. Bonnie and Damon, on the contrary, were walking in silence. An unusual one at that.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asked, her eyes worried.

Damon shrugged, keeping his face unreadable. "I'm fine."

Something was telling her that he's not fine, but Bonnie didn't want to pry. "Okay," she said quietly. "Well, if there's something wrong, you should talk to m- Stefan about it," she said, nearly letting the word "me" slip.

A twitch on the side of his lips told Bonnie that he caught the supposed-to-be-slip. "Don't worry about me," he said . . . a bit stern. But his smirk was saying that he appreciated her concern.

"Okay," she said again, blushing and fiddling with her hands.

When they reached the crowd of youngsters, Elena and Stefan drifted away from the other pair and walked around the beach, smiling and laughing all the while. Damon envied them. Bonnie adored their casualness. She wondered if Damon would be willing to smile and laugh like that with her.

To her disappointment, Damon excused himself from her to go mingle with the other people in the bar. Bonnie gulped and nodded, walking away from the crowd to sit on the shore. Her tunic top was probably getting ruined with sand but she didn't care.

Damon was flirting with other girls. She shouldn't be jealous because he's not even hers. Her heart ached and she fisted the slightly damp sand underneath her. But she was jealous that he would talk to other people on his own accord. He wouldn't even start a conversation with her! Did she miss something? Does he not like her? Did she do something wrong? Is something wrong with her? Before tears could escape her eyes, Bonnie blinked it away and stretched her legs in front of her, the tips of her big toes touching the water. She took her shoes off earlier. It was merely sitting beside her.

"Hey," a deep voice said, making her look up. She hoped her eyes didn't look watery.

"Hi," she said quietly, beaming faintly. She could hear her mother's voice telling her not to talk to strangers but Bonnie was too distracted to heed the warning. Plus, the guy didn't seem so bad.

"May I sit here with you?" he asked. The man has broad shoulders, tall, and muscular with dark hair and eyes. His skin looked pale in the darkness. He was giving her a friendly smile.

"Sure, I don't mind," she said absently, looking back to the sea. It looked black. Maybe it was a sign. A sign for what though? Bitter tears? Were angry tears even black?

"You sure seem lonely. Why aren't you mingling with the other people there?" he asked, indicating to the crowd of people in the party with his dark eyes.

"I don't talk to strangers," Bonnie said instead, anxiety crawling up her arms.

"Sorry, I'm Tyler Smallwood," he said.

"Bonnie McCullough," she automatically said. Damn it, Bonnie thought, why did I introduce myself?

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Tyler said.

"You too," she replied. Awkward silence ensued and Tyler glanced at the pretty redhead beside him. She was probably one of the prettiest girls he had seen so far. She didn't appear like a talkative type (at the moment), so he was surprised when she asked him a question.

"What are you doing here at the beach?" she asked, finally focusing her clear brown eyes on the tall guy beside her.

"I'm a lifeguard. Well, actually, I live here," he said. "Just down the block. What about you, Bonnie?"

"Summer vacation," she said with a small smile.

He raised his eyebrows, disappointment briefly showing in his eyes, "Oh? So you live far away from here?"

"Not exactly far-far away," she said, giggling softly.

Her giggle was sweet and pure; it was making Tyler like her even more. "Ah, like in the same state?"

"Yup," Bonnie replied, her heart aching at the thought of distance. Damon would be hundreds and thousands of miles away from her in a couple of weeks . . .

The night was spent separately; Elena and Stefan walking along the beach, Damon easily flirting with the ladies, and Bonnie talking to Tyler. By the end of the night, Tyler and Bonnie had exchanged their phone numbers, Elena and Stefan had grown closer (enough to finally make their feelings evident to one another), and Damon had eyed the tissues with phone numbers in his back pockets.

A/N: Next week's May! Dang, time sure goes by fast! I hoped you guys liked the chapter! I just finished thanking y'alls via PM; but, gosh, I can't express HOW MUCH I want to thank you guys! Thank you oh so much! Oh, there's gonna be an extra scene at the end of the story . . . about Damon's underwear. But ya know. ;)

I really appreciate EVERYTHING you guys have done for the story (reading it, reviewing, favorite-ing, etc.)!

Review? (^^) Domo arigato!