A/N Okay so here's the long anticipated next chapter! I can't stress how sorry I am that it took me so long to update :( But hopefully I still have some dedicated fans. I hope you guys like this and if you're nice about my unofficial abandonment then there might be another one coming later on tonight. (: As always, I'd appreciate it if y'all could leave a little review. Hugs and kisses! - Simmy

Chapter 10

The day was beginning to wane. Damon had brought me to the one place I was certain I would never go to with a guy like him in all my life. Yet here I was, standing beside Damon as I held the toy gun and pointed at one of the tiny men, trying to get three down to get a prize.

Yes, that's right. We're at a carnival.

Of course I was surprised when we pulled up, Damon had been asking me questions about my past and random things like what my favorite color was. I was about to interrogate him when he parked and then smiled at me.

"We're here." Damon had said.

To my utter amazement, I was having fun. In my sixteen years I had never once had as much fun at a theme park that day. I knew why; because Damon was with me.

He added a spark- made everything wickedly interesting. It honestly would have been the metaphorical cherry on top if I could shoot these stupid toy men.

My last shot, if I got this one I got a prize … Miss. I sighed. "Guess I'm not very good."

The old guy with tattoos manning the booth stepped in front of me behind the counter. "Move aside for others."

Damon stepped up beside me. "Can she just have one more try?"

The man leaned forward over the counter, he was much bigger than Damon. "No can do. You can go to the back of the line now."

Damon smirked down at me and let out a tiny laugh, then looked at the man and his expression suddenly dropped into an intense and slightly angry stare. "I think you can," his voice was low, and dangerous.

My heart pounded against my chest, sure the big man was going to jump over the counter and sucker-punch Damon- but when I looked at the man his expression was neutral. He looked down at me. "Yeah, go ahead; take another shot."

Something didn't add up. It was strange how Damon had convinced the man to let me shoot again with less than 5 words and in such a low tone that hardly implied anything. Surely if the man was as tough as I thought he was, he would have given anyone else the old one-two if they had stood up to him like Damon just had. Instead he was looking at me with an almost dead expression and handing the gun back.

I looked to Damon with a quizzical look, he just smiled at me with glistening white teeth, then switched it off instantly. Something was definitely off about Damon, but like my mother had always told me I should never judge before getting the whole story.

I took a deep breath and then took the gun, aiming it at one of the tiny men and then holding the trigger down. Almost too quickly I let it go and it shot out. When I pulled the toy gun away from my face I was amazed to find I had actually hit one of the tiny men. "Wow." I said, impressed with myself. I held the gun up and blew on the opening. "What's next, sergeant?"

Damon swung his arm around my shoulders. "Anything you want, darling. The world is our playground."

There my heart went again, hammering against my chest. How I hoped he couldn't hear it! I giggled to myself; what an impossible thought. "How about a ride on the Ferris wheel?"

The corner of his mouth quirked up and he looked at the man. "She'll have the kitten."

The man handed me the huge kitten and I raised an eyebrow at Damon. "Why the cat?"

"You remind me of one." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Bonnie, I say we take a pledge to have the most spectacular night of both out lives combined. Agreed?" There was a humorous glint in his dark eyes when he said this, and I couldn't help but feel I was missing out on some cynical joke.

I hugged my kitty close. The look in his eyes was bringing up an antique memory inside me, of old black and white movies when the heroin finally won over the man. The man looked at the heroin the same way Damon was looking at me right now. I hadn't thought about finding true love for a while, but there was something, some lingering emotion, in his dark eyes that was making me feel weird. The feeling wasn't unpleasant, it was … magical, enchanting, fantastic. Maybe if Damon and I got to know each other better then he'd feel that way when I looked at him that way as well? Unless, he already did.

It wouldn't be too weird to bring that up on a first date, right? But is this really even a date? Anyways, I shouldn't be thinking about how I felt with Damon, I had to think about what was happening right now. First of all, I had Stefan dangling on the tip of my finger and if I wanted to maintain my rightful spot as Queen of Robert E. Lee I had to make him mine. Also I had a French essay due on Monday, I had to choose my song for the Talent Show, and things with Katherine had to chill or she'd ruin my life.

Yes, I had to wait before getting heavy with Damon. And I had to find out what his problem was. I bit my lip and looked up at Damon through my eyelashes, hiss eyes were now scanning over the crowd of shuffling people.

"Damon-" I began.

He didn't seem to hear me over the park music and babble. He looked at me. "So how about we go for a ride?"

"On the Ferris Wheel?"

He smirked, then grabbed my hand. "Not exactly." Damon looked into my wide brown eyes and whispered some nonsense to me, sending brushes of soft breath from his perfect mouth over my face. I was instantly dazed.

My heart pounded again- I could hear it in my ears. It seemed like my body was trying to tell me this could be dangerous but I didn't care; I was with Damon and he wanted to be here with me. If I couldn't have Stefan then Damon was a solid good choice. He was good-looking and he had this certain air about him that drew me to Stefan in the first place. It was wicked and mysterious- but most of all, sexy and interesting. I needed to know him, I needed to be here with him, I needed to look into those night-black eyes and feel that mysterious, yet completely significant, not at all unpleasant, tug at my heart. I needed this.

Damon pulled me through the masses of people. Random elbows and feet kept jutting out at me so I decided I would stick my elbows out to give the people a taste of their own medicine, most shot me dirty looks and others pretended it didn't happen.

My eyes whipped around, conscious of the fact that Damon was pulling me super fast and my feet could hardly keep up. He wasn't going to the entrance, I realized alarmingly, he was headed to the pitch dark exit by the haunted house. I hadn't realized how dark it had gotten. The moon was high up in the sky by now. How could the time have passed so quickly?

The bright lights of the carnival seemed to pulse out, faces of masked clowns and sinister faces of parents with their children flashed around me. Oh, god. What had I gotten myself into? I hated carnivals, and clowns, and these bright lights were giving me a headache- and why wasn't anyone smiling?

Momentarily, I thought that maybe I should run away- tear my hand away from Damon and make my way toward the actual exit. But his hand gripped mine tightly with a solid iron grip, making it impossible for me to even wiggled my hand around in his. Oh god, please god, don't let him do to me what he did to Caroline!

.

Chapter Title:

Toxic by Britney Spears