On Saturday morning I opened the knocking door to a casually dressed Damon. It was the day of the wedding and he was here to pick me up.
"Hi," I said, taking in his suit-less outfit. He wore a navy blue long-sleeved top and jeans which fit so perfectly they looked made-to-measure.
"Hi," he replied, eying the apartment through the gap in the door. "You gonna let me in, or?"
"Oh," I snapped out of my ogling daze, "Sure," I slowly opened the door to reveal my home to him. I decided I didn't really want Damon to come in, my tiny apartment was sure to look like a hovel compared to his mansion in the sky.
"Damon, this is my roommate Bonnie." I introduced as he stepped over the threshold.
"Hey," she greeted casually with a quick nod of her head from where she leant against the kitchen counter.
"Hi," he nodded back at her and his eyes quickly started roaming, taking in our sad small apartment.
"I'm just going to grab my stuff," I announced.
Damon nodded and turned to inspect the photo frames on the wall behind him. I glanced a look at Bonnie, she flicked her eyes between Damon and I. Checking out Damon's ass, she animatedly nodded her head, licked her lips and exaggeratedly mouthed to me, "Daamn!" I rolled my eyes at her and power-walked off, quickly grabbing my case and jacket from my room I made my way back to the lounge. I didn't want to leave Damon alone long enough to inspect the house and I didn't want him to get a motherly grilling from Bonnie.
I rounded the corner to find that Bonnie had sidled up to Damon, pointing out our childhood photos from the collection on the wall. "This was at the lake house, Elena wore a t-shirt over her swim suit every day that summer because she was embarrassed that she'd grown boobs." They both laughed together at my pubescent mistakes as I approached. It was disturbing how quickly they had seemingly bonded, I'd only been gone a moment.
"We should get going," I said, my cheeks burning slightly. Grabbing Damon by the elbow I pulled, encouraging him towards the front door.
"Have fun!" Bonnie drawled, wriggling her eyebrows at me suggestively as I closed the door between us blocking her out.
I shuffled with my bags, shoving the strap of my purse securely up over my shoulder. I flicked my gaze up to see Damon looking down at me with an amused expression.
"What?" I asked, my tone was snappy.
"Embarrassed of your friend?" he asked.
"No, I just didn't want you to have to make small talk," I told him as I started to haul my case down the concrete steps. "I know you don't want to have to meet my friends."
"I'm taking you to a family event, Elena. I hardly mind meeting your friend." Huh. I was shocked about how normal Damon was being about the whole situation, he didn't seem to be showing any discomfort about the fact our lives were becoming more intertwined. He smirked at my stumped face as I stood still on the stairs, taking the heavy case out of my hands he easily carried it down the steps for me as if it weighed nothing.
I followed him down to the street where he'd somehow managed to park directly at the curb outside of the door. The sleek black sports car unlocked automatically as he approached and he elegantly swung my case into the back as I opened up the door and got myself situated inside.
The leather seats were soft, internally warmed and designed perfectly so that I was guaranteed to be comfy no matter the position I twisted myself into. I thought it would be a comfy car to fall asleep in, which was good to know in case Damon and I ran out of conversation.
Damon joined me in the car and we took off onto our long journey. The expensive mechanics were smooth and near silent even in the changing speeds of the city. Blocked out by the tinted glass, the streets outside seemed quiet and far away, like we were in complete privacy.
We listened to the radio and Damon tried to conceal his road rage until we were out of the city and smoothly racing down open country roads.
"So how are you feeling about being surrounded by the Salvatore clan?" Damon asked me breaking the silence.
"Erm, I'm not sure. Nervous, I guess? Meeting the parents isn't something I've done before."
"Yeah," he agreed. "It's not something that I've done for a long time. I like to keep those two aspects of my life separate."
"Then why take me?" I asked.
"Good timing?" he said, glancing away from the road briefly to wiggle his brow at me. I couldn't deny that comment was true, I'm sure whoever Damon's flavour of the month was would have been invited to the wedding.
"At least we didn't get forced into travelling with Stefan and Barbie," he said. "We'd be half an hour deep into a game of I-Spy by now."
I laughed at the image. "What do you think they talk about?" I asked, genuinely intrigued.
"I dunno," Damon shrugged. "Boring shit like which handy man they're going to hire to paint their white picket fence?"
"Why don't you get on with your brother?" I asked.
"I get on with my brother fine," he replied, "and we work well together. We're just different people."
"Oh, I don't know. I think you're more alike than you think." I drawled, teasing him. I knew he would find it offensive.
"You take that back!" He mocked, swatting a hand in my direction.
I leant my head back against the seat, crossing my legs under me and smiling at the light-hearted banter.
"What about your brother?" he said glancing over at me. "You get on well, right?"
"Yeah, I love my brother, he's one of my best friends. He's pretty much all I've got, other than Bonnie."
Damon nodded and stayed silent for a moment. "Are you ever going to tell me about what happened there? It's not the first time you've said something like that to me."
"I don't want to bum you out," I told him, feeling suddenly embarrassed for hinting at my sad history.
"I'm a big boy, I can take it."
"There's not really much to tell. My parents died when I was sixteen, a car accident. No grandparents or cousins. My aunt took us in after the accident, but she's not much older than me and as soon as Jeremy turned eighteen she went to college too. It's just us now, and Bonnie who we grew up with."
Damon stayed silent, staring out at the road ahead as he drove.
"I'm sorry," I told him, regretting killing the fun atmosphere we'd had before. "I'm not bitter, it's just that sometimes I wish I had an estranged cousin's wedding to go to."
He nodded in understanding. "Well with any luck this weekend will be so awful that you'll leave feeling blessed for your lack of relatives."
I smiled, relieved at his ability to turn the depressing conversation back into the light one we'd had before.
The three-hour drive passed by quickly in Damon's company and before I knew it we were checking into our hotel room at the big country manor.
Judging by the size and beauty of the place this wasn't going to be a cheap wedding and I half expected most of the hotel to be occupied by the wedding party. Our room was modest but beautiful, it reminded me a little of Damon's office. Lots of dark well-built wooden furniture and plush carpets, a couple of large vases were placed around the room holding fresh flowers. Leaping down on the big queen-sized bed I sunk deeply into the soft sheets, I knew instantly that I'd be in for a good night's sleep tonight.
Damon took our cases from the bellboy at the door, quickly flicking a note out of his wallet and into the boy's hand before he nodded his thanks and left us alone. Damon turned towards where I lay sprawled out across the white cotton, arms thrown up above my head, my body lay deeply seated in the fabric.
"As much as I'd like to break in this bed," Damon said walking towards where I lay, "We have a wedding to get to." He climbed onto the bed on his hands and knees, crawling up so he was leaning over my body. He dropped his head down and kissed me quickly on the mouth, I pulled on the back of his neck bringing him back down to me for a few more moments.
"You can take advantage of me later," Damon groaned, reluctantly pulling away. "The ceremony starts in an hour," he told me pushing up strongly to his knees, he slapped me on the side of the thigh as he bounced from the bed and headed to the bathroom. "Chop, chop!" he called as I heard the shower start raining down.
I struggled out of the plush sheets and unfastened my case, taking my toiletries bag I started applying make-up to my naked face. Without Bonnie here to help me I didn't expect impressive results so I kept it light, bringing out a deep red lipstick to try and make it look more professional. I lightly wrapped my curling iron through the ends of my hair, burning my thumb in the process as I distractedly watched Damon button his shirt out the corner of my eye.
I stepped into my heels and shrugged into my dress as I sidled up to stand next to Damon in the large full-length mirror. He looked me in the eye as he professionally tied the black bow tie around his neck. "Nice dress," he complimented.
"You always say that."
"Well, that's because it's always true."
My dress was a baby-blue wrap around that fell down to below my knees and floated prettily around my arms. I didn't mention to Damon that I'd picked it out because I thought the colour would match his eyes.
He finished with his bow tie and folded his collar down into place before stepping around the back of me and lightly kissing the soft spot just beneath my ear. I finished tying the bow at my waist and looked up to meet his studying eyes in the mirror.
"We do look good together," he mused quietly in my ear, running his hands gently over my waist and hips.
I hummed a soft agreement as I studied us too. In my heels I was the perfect height for his cheek to rest against the top of my head and I was right, my dress did match his eyes, the azure orbs gleamed even more brightly out at me. I felt unnervingly safe in Damon's arms and the sudden feeling of security made my heart ache, I knew this feeling would be taken away from me soon. Damon had told me so himself that we'd never be in a relationship.
I cleared my throat and pulled out of his arms needing to break the moment, grabbing my purse from the tabletop I straightened myself out. "We should get going," I told him. He nodded, pocketing his phone, wallet and room key we made our way into the crowd of Salvatores downstairs.
As soon as we entered the swarming function room Damon was bombarded by a disarray of unknown faces. The business man in him came out in full force as he professionally made polite small talk and asked after the appropriate spouses, family members and pets. He introduced me to the various strangers as his 'friend Elena', but never as his girlfriend. Which was good, I suppose, I wouldn't have known how to behave if he'd said otherwise.
After a whirlwind of unrecongnisable faces we eventually came to some that I knew very well. Caroline quickly wrapped me in a tight hug, I hadn't seen her since the night I hadn't told her Damon was the guy I was seeing. I pulled back from her to see Damon and Stefan also pulling back from a friendly brotherly embrace, which shocked me, I'd never seen them hug before.
Damon leant down to give Caroline a polite peck on the cheek and before I realised what was happening Stefan was doing the same to me. He gripped my hip and leaned down to place a small chaste kiss on my cheek. My heart rate shot up immediately and hoped my face wasn't too flushed as he pulled away and back to Caroline's side.
Caroline smiled brightly, flicking her eyes quickly between Damon and I in interest. Stefan did the same only his gaze was less excited wonderment, more unimpressed skepticism.
Damon sensed the uncomfortable situation too, placing his hands in his pockets he bounced lightly on the balls of his feet. "Well this is awkward," he announced.
I laughed out loud at his ballsy statement and luckily Stefan and Caroline chuckled along too, tension visibly dropping from Stefan's shoulders.
"If everybody could start taking their seats, please!" A small sharp voice broke over the crowd. "The bridal party are on their way." A petite lady with tight black curls herded the crowd with her clipboard ushering everyone into the smaller room behind us where an aisle and pews of seating were gracefully laid out. Each chair had a white cover over it with an elegant floral bow wrapped around its back. The aisle was scattered with petals and subtly lit by large glass lanterns each with a glowing white candle inside. At the end of the aisle a large archway stood tall, twining with carefully placed flowers. Under it stood a waiting officiant and Zach, who I recognised from his bachelor party at Serpents.
Damon and Stefan quickly greeted Zach and a few other of the groomsmen before we took our seats in a row near the front of the room.
Stefan and Caroline shimmied in first and I followed them, Damon closing our row off at the end. Looking down the line I noticed Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore sat at the end next to Stefan. I was suddenly awash with nerves, I'd almost forgotten that they'd be here. I straightened my spine, sitting a little taller in my seat next to Caroline.
Guiseppe nodded his head at us and Lily smiled brightly as she noticed Damon and I. "Hello," she waved at me and it was impossible not to smile back at her pretty face. She stretched out her arm, leaning over Stefan to reach for Damon's hand. Damon stretched out over me, reciprocating her movements as they gripped each other's fingers across Caroline's lap.
I could see genuine joy come across Damon's face as he held tightly onto his mother's hand and smiled warmly at her, they pulled back after a moment and she blew a kiss in his direction. She looked again to me with pure delight in her eyes as Damon rested his retreated hand delicately over my knee.
Who would've known that Damon Salvatore was a mommy's boy? Not that I could blame him, I was in love with the woman already and we hadn't even really met.
The feeling of Damon's warm hand melted into my skin through my dress and I could see that Stefan and Caroline hadn't missed the interaction either. I rubbed over his wrist softly in response, looking up at him we shared a mutual moment of relieved satisfaction, so far this wedding had been pretty painless.
The sound of harps began to delicately fill the room and everyone fell quiet as the first bridesmaid made her way down the aisle towards the archway. Another four girls followed until eventually we turned to watch an elderly man escorting the bride down to her soon-to-be husband. Zach's eyes gleamed in admiration as he watched his approaching bride, they looked deeply into each other's eyes throughout the entire service as they recited their vows and exchanged their rings.
Movement caught my eye and I glanced over to see Caroline and Stefan's fingers tightly interlocked as they leant into each other. I looked to Damon's hands, finding them folded neatly in his lap. I wanted to reach for him too but I held myself back, not wanting to overstep any boundaries.
Soon the ceremony was over and we all followed the bride and groom's exit, making our way through to a large hall where the reception would take place. I eagerly took the champagne offered to me by a waiter at the entrance, taking a big sip as Damon led me into the beautiful room with his palm placed lightly on my lower back.
Large canopys hung from the ceiling making the whole room feel like the inside of an elaborate marquee, the theme carried on into this room, lots of twisting tropical flowers and candles were perfectly laid out and despite the huge size of the room it still felt intimate.
Damon checked the seating plan and led us towards our table at the centre of the room. We were soon joined by Stefan, Caroline and his parents along with two other vaguely familiar couples.
"What a gorgeous ceremony!" Lily called excitedly. "Didn't you think so?" She looked around at us all for assurance.
"It was beautiful," Caroline agreed, leaning into Stefan where she linked onto him at the arm. "They looked so in love."
"Well, maybe it will be one of my boys next!" she bounced excitedly and Caroline laughed, leaning even more heavily on Stefan's arm. Stefan reached around and awkwardly scratched at his neck yet made no attempt to correct her. I'm not sure if that meant he agreed or just chose not to comment but either way it unnerved me how fast they were moving. Lily shot a look I couldn't decipher at Damon, his response was to throw the rest of his glass of champagne down his neck in one gulp.
"Elena!" Lily cooed, leaving her spot around the table and bounding over to take my hands in hers. "First you keep my boys in check at work and then you introduce Stefan and Caroline, and now you've taken Damon under your wing! An angel must have sent you to me." She gushed, still holding tightly onto my hands.
"Oh, I don't know about that, Mrs. Salvatore," I blushed, shaking my head in embarrassment. I was hardly an angel where her sons were involved.
"Oh please, Mrs. Salvatore makes me sound like an old woman. Call me Lily," she told me. "And yes, heaven sent! I thought Damon would never find anyone else again." Again? Did that mean Damon had found someone before?
"Mom-" Damon started to cut her off.
"Ok, I'm sorry. I don't mean to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend." She apologised, laughing back at me coyly.
"Come on, Mom, I don't think they're that serious, right guys?" Stefan asked loudly from behind Lily. She turned her head to Stefan and then back to Damon and I with a slightly crestfallen expression.
Damon shot Stefan and irritated look and moved in closer to me to place his arm over my shoulder protectively. "It's new, that's all." Damon said after a moment. I could tell he was torn between disappointing his mother and straight up lying to her, his stance was tense next to me as he gripped my shoulder.
Stefan and Damon seemed to be squared off against one another, each of them looking over intensely. Caroline caught my eye and we shared an uncomfortable awkward glance.
"Ok, boys, it's not a contest." Lily said squeezing my hand one last time before dropping it and going to collect her champagne from around the table where Guiseppe had been silently regarding the entire conversation with his perpetual stoic expression.
The little pixie wedding planner interrupted us soon after, ushering the family away for photographs outside which left Caroline and I alone at the table. I took a seat and breathed a heavy sigh of relief while Caroline perched down next to me and let out a little chuckle.
"Those two can be intense, huh?"
"Yeah," I smiled at her in agreement. "I think they just like to be in competition with each other."
She nodded and we both took a few steady sips from our champagne.
"So, Damon Salvatore is your mystery boyfriend."
I looked over at her with slight guilt, in hindsight maybe I should have just told her. "I'm sorry," I said. "I wanted to tell you, I just didn't want it to change Stefan's view of me."
"I get it," she said kindly. "He is worried about you though."
"What do you mean?" I creased my brow in confusion.
"Well, Damon sleeps with a lot a women and he doesn't take them very seriously when he does," she said. "And you're naïve and clearly being swept up by him."
"Excuse me, I'm naïve?" I cut in.
"You know what I mean, Elena. It's not like you've had much experience in the 'friends with benefits' department."
"I know exactly what Damon is like," I assured her. "It doesn't make me naïve. We're just having fun." I fiddled with the stem of my glass, not looking her way.
"You keep saying that it's not serious, but it seems kind of serious to me," she said softly. "Family event. He's all over you. It may be new but you've clearly been spending a lot of time together."
I looked away from my drink and into her eyes.
"Despite what Stefan thinks, I'm team Elemon," she crinkled her forehead in concentration. "Damena?" she shrugged. "I know there's a nickname in there somewhere."
We both laughed and I reached out to give her a thankful hug. I knew I should reciprocate and tell her that I was team 'Steroline' but I didn't want to lie.
The three course meal was beautiful as were the heartfelt speeches. The newly weds were near perfect as they took to the floor for their first dance and held each other as they cut their expensive wedding cake.
The mood had lightened at our table, Damon and Stefan had seemed to bury their earlier alpha bravados and now even joked with each other across the table. I felt oddly comfortable wedged between Damon and Caroline and the champagne had hit me just enough to make me feel warm and happy.
The rest of the table were much more social than me and Damon. They all took their rounds around the room making polite small talk and meeting new people, whereas the only time we moved from our seats was to go to the bar or the bathroom. We were currently playing a game guessing strangers' occupations. If our guesses were anything to go by then half the room were Doctors and the other half were generically 'in Business'.
"Hmm, he could be a swimmer." I commented on our current selection.
"What, are you crazy?" Damon said. "You only think that because he's a dolphin."
"What?" I asked in confusion.
"If he was an animal, he'd be a dolphin." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What are you talking about?"
"Everyone looks like a different animal," he said looking over at my baffled face. "Trust me."
"Oh, whatever," I brushed off, it seemed like such a stupid thing to say.
"I'll prove it," he told me. "Okay, so this girl," he gestured towards one of the bridesmaids who stood talking with Zach's mother. "She's a fox."
"Oh, you think she's a fox? Go and hit on her then."
"Ha-ha," he fake laughed at the bad joke.
I turned my head back and looked at her properly, she had pretty red hair that was sleekly swept into a long pony tail at the nape of her neck, she had small delicate features and her large green eyes were carefully rimmed with dark liner.
"Ok, you're right, I see it," I admitted.
His eyes shone in victory and his eyes scanned the room for his next victim.
"He would be a Golden Labrador," he said nodding towards a tall, good looking blond guy in the corner.
"Hmm, maybe," I half-heartedly agreed. "Only because he's blond though."
"Wait, right there, right there," he wrapped his arms over the back of my chair and leaned into me heavily whilst he pointed sharply to a table a few away from ours. "The guy in the brown suit. Total owl."
I scanned my eyes over the table until I landed on the man in question. He had a small, sharply pointed nose, dark deep-set eyes and an unruly course looking mustache. What remained of his hair was grey and wispy and stuck out at the sides of his head. He truly was the human epitome of an owl.
A splutter of laughter escaped from my mouth. I tried to hold it back with my hand, feeling guilty for making fun of the poor stranger, but I lost all control when Damon started sniggering too. I looked behind me to Damon and the sight of his hysterics set me off even more, my head fell back and I tried to keep the wails of laughter under control. I could barely breath, my cheeks ached and my stomach felt like I'd done a hundred crunches. Eventually I wiped the leaked tears from the corners of my eyes and managed to compose myself as Damon's giggles wore off and he relaxed further into his seat next to me.
"See," he said, grabbing his drink and taking a sip. "Everyone is an animal."
"So, what animal am I?" I asked him, straightening my back and looking into his eyes.
"I don't know," he said in thought, sitting up he took my chin in his fingers and studied my face a little. "What animal is sexy?"
"None, I hope. You get jailed for bestiality you know."
"Uh oh," he smiled at my sarcasm. "You'd better not fuck the owl then."
"No promises."
He grinned down at me widely, his eyes creased at the corners. My chin was still resting in his hand and he moved it to my neck, pulling me in he brought his mouth to mine and kissed me delicately. This kiss felt different, it was the first time he'd kissed me without it being to tease or initiate a dirty encounter. This kiss was purely in the moment, sweet and honest. Pulling back, he looked me deeply in the eyes and I thought that I would drown in their ocean blue depths. I felt a butterfly flap its wing in my stomach and for one dangerous moment, I let it.
Caroline bounded over to us a little while later and forced Damon and I to join them on the bustling dance floor. It was easy to let loose and enjoy myself once I noticed that even the bride had lost her shoes and let her hair down as she bounced around with her bridesmaids.
Caroline held my hand as we swayed around and sang along to the throwback pop playlist, even Damon and Stefan knew the words and danced around exaggeratedly and completely out of character. My giggles from earlier came back as Damon mimed the words of an Usher song to me.
The four of us jumped around for a while and just when I thought I might have to remove my heels and collapse from exhaustion the DJ chose to play a slower song, around us couples started to pair up with a small clearing being made for the bride and groom. Damon took my hand and spun me into him, resting his temple against my head, his breaths were short and I could tell I wasn't the only one who'd been dancing too hard. He held me comfortably, like we'd done this a hundred times, his body pressed closely to mine and his hand rested in the curve of my waist.
"Awful wedding, right?" I asked in his ear where my head lay against his shoulder. I felt his answering chuckle against my chest.
"The worst day of my life, I think" he replied.
I smiled against him. I guess it was one of Damon's traits to be a complete pessimist.
"Seriously though," he said moving his head back so that he was looking down into my eyes. "Today would have sucked without you. Thank you for coming."
"Well, thanks for inviting me." I told him a little awkwardly. I wasn't sure how to respond to a serious Damon.
"Who else am I going to invite," he asked flashing the trademark smirk.
"Oh, I'm sure you have a long list of girls lined up." I said it teasingly but the statement couldn't have been more true.
"Nope." He replied simply. I wasn't sure if he was lying or just trying to make me feel less insecure. I didn't really care which it was when he dipped me down in his arms so my whole body lay safely nestled parallel to the floor, my hair skimmed the ground and blood rushed to my head as he pulled me easily back up to my feet. Smiling, he slowly brought my face to his and kissed me right there in the middle of the dancefloor.