DPOV

Stefan and I sat down on a bench outside the mall and I lit a cigarette.

"Want one?" I asked.

"No." Stefan said. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, Stef. He wants to put all eighteen years behind us and try to start over-"

"You look like you're actually considering this."

"Like I said, I don't know. I've never had a family and I want one."

"You have a family, Damon. You have me and Lexi and Elena and-"

"You know what I mean. I want a real family. I'm only here for a few more months until I leave for New York, and I might not come back, I might never see him again, or..."

"Or?" I sighed and looked down.

"Or it could be like J." I said. "Think about it, he was coming over, texting Anna- things he'd done hundreds of times. But that time, it cost him. He died without working things out with his mom...and even though she's a total bitch, she regrets that. I don't want things to go like that." Stefan nodded slowly.

"What does Elena think?" I didn't answer. "You haven't told her."

"I was going to...but I got distracted." He rolled his eyes. I put my cigarette out and stood. "Come on, we should go. The girls are probably itching to spend some of our money." He laughed and we walked inside.

"I think Lexi and I are finally ready." He said, trying to be smooth about it, but sounding nervous as hell.

"Really?" I asked, hoping he'd drop it.

"Yeah. I mean it's been a year, and we've known each other longer than that..."

"Well, that's nice, Stef." I muttered.

"Mm-hm. I just wanna figure out how to make it perfect since it's both our first times-" If only he knew...

"I really don't want to hear about that, man." He nodded and blushed a little. I felt kind of bad for him, he was so new to all of this, but I couldn't offer him any advice- not after what I'd done.

We walked the rest of the way in silence.

EPOV

Lexi was telling me stories about what Damon was like when he was younger, until him and Stefan joined us. Damon leaned over and kissed me when he sat down, and Stefan followed his lead, kissing Lexi.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Damon asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"You during puberty." He almost spit his coffee out, until Lexi laughed. "I'm kidding."

"You better be." He said, then looked at me. "Are you ready to start going through my dads bank account?"

"Oh, I couldn't-" But he was already taking out a credit card.

"Please, our families have so much money that it won't be missed." He said, gesturing to the four of us. "And I'm not going to let you spend any of yours." I rolled my eyes, and took the card.

"So, where are you guys going first?" Lexi looked at me, and shrugged. We sat there for a while, Damon was playing with my fingers and Stefan copied him.

"Well, let's go." Lexi said, standing up and taking Stefan's hand. "We're not leaving here without something." Damon rolled his eyes and took my hand. Lexi talked as we walked, telling us about New York, her friends, and school, then stopped outside Victoria's Secret. Damon dropped my hand.

"You guys have fun."

"Where will you two be?" Lexi asked, as he and Stefan started to walk away.

"Music store or the arcade. Buy something pretty." Damon said, as they disappeared. I looked at the store, unsure.

"Oh, come on. You don't have to buy anything sexy, you can get whatever you want." I bit my lip and nodded and we walked in.

I ignored the lingerie and went straight to the perfumes and lotions. But after a few minutes, Katherine's words came into my mind.

'Damon will get bored with you.I had him first Elena. I know what he likes and how he likes it. He'll come crawling back to me one day. And I'll accept him.'

Hesitantly I walked over and my fingers across the blue lace cami I stopped in front of. What was I thinking? I didn't know anything about being sexy. Katherine always picked out anything I had that was remotely sexy.

"Not that." Lexi said, coming up behind me. "It's not your color." I looked at her confused.

"Fashion student." She smiled. "Try black or red or pink...plus Damon doesn't like blue all that much." I shook my head.

"I don't even know what I'm doing."

"That's okay. Here" She started handing me things. "Try those on, see if you like them." I nodded and went into a changing room. I picked up a tiny pink night gown and sighed. I tried it on and looked in the mirror, and gasped. I looked good. The pink went well with my skin and brought out my eyes. I felt a little bit more confident as I tried on the rest. I put my clothes back on and went back to Lexi.

"Good?" I nodded. "Good. Now use that shiny black credit card and buy them."

"I don't know... He might not-"

"He'll love them. Go." She pushed me towards the cash register and went back to what she was doing.

DPOV

"So what's going on at your house?" I asked Stefan as I looked through some CDs.

"Nothing really. Whatever said to mom really opened her eyes. She's even letting Lexi stay with us." I looked up from the Metallica CD I was holding.

"But she hates Lexi."

"I know. I'm shocked too. Actually, she's the one that told me to call her."

"Now I know your lying."

"Nope. Seriously."

"Hm... What about your sister."

"Just as evil as ever." He muttered.

"She's not evil. She's...mischievous. She'll grow out of it."

"Like you did?" He asked, sarcastically, as I picked up a Disturbed CD.

"No, mine grew with me. She's a girl, hers will disappear."

"You know...speaking of my sister...my Mom and Eric are going out tomorrow and want me to babysit but with Lexi here, I was wondering if you would do it?"

"I have group tomorrow until seven, then Elena's coming over, but I guess I could...for a price." He sighed.

"What do you want?" I shrugged, and walked away from him.

"What kind of music do you think Elena likes?" I asked.

"You don't know?"

"I don't know a lot about her...actually, I don't know anything about her..." He looked at me.

"Does she know anything about you?" I shook my head. "Damon, if you don't open up she won't stay with you. If you can't tell her what you like, how will she know you're not lieing to her all the time?"

"You're right." I said. "I'm trying, but..." He nodded.

"I know your scared. She's not your mother Damon, and she's not Katherine." I nodded, and looked away from him at the clock on the wall.

"Come on, let's go find them." I said, walking toward the exit. "And stop copying what I do with Elena with Lexi, it's creepy."