Chapter Eleven

Alexandra

'Allie,

I know you told me not to call you that anymore but you listen better when I do. I'm sorry for upsetting you, but you have to know that one, this was before I even met you, and two she begged me to do it. I know that's a weak reason for my actions but she did and if I didn't comply then she would have gone to a different vampire.

Allie, I'm sorry and that's usually a hard thing for me to say, you know that. I just want you to forgive me, but on your own time. I need you to know that. Plus that I'm over Charlotte not being in there, sure I'm disappointed but if she doesn't care about me then I don't care about her. It's only you in my life right now.'

The note hits me hard. I set it down and turn over onto my back, I let my arm fall to the side and it hits something hard. I sit up and crawl out of bed. I see Damon laying on my bed on his side, his arms on my side of the bed, his eyes barely open.

"That hurt you know, Allie."

"Were we cuddling?" I ask with fake disgust in my voice.

He looks at his arms and smirks. "I guess we were."

"Get out, please. I get that it's only me but I need time Damon." He sits up. "Please give me time."

"Allie, can I call you that now?" I shake my head, indicating that it's alright. "Can I please just explain to you what happened? Give me an hour."

I mull it over in my head. "Fine. At the usual time tonight, but I don't want you showing up at school or anything till then, alright? If I come to you, by all means, talk then. Just don't pop up and surprise me." He nods and leaves.

"Have you heard from Damon or seen him since last night?" Elena asks as she walks into my bathroom while I was brushing my teeth.

"Why?"

"Stefan said he wasn't home all night."

I groan. "Well he left me a note and I read it this morning and I laid back down and found him asleep in my bed. And get this. We were cuddling. I like cuddling as much as the next girl, but not with the vampire who murdered my mother."

"Oh my goodness. What did the note say?"

"It's on my nightstand if you want to read it." She walks over while I get my brush damp and I brush my hair so it's curly throughout the day, not frizzy. She comes back to me shocked. "That's not how I reacted. I was irritated and I just didn't want to deal with him anymore."

"Well I'm shocked that he moved on so quickly."

"It doesn't help the fact that I look exactly like her. I don't think I could ever get over that. It's too big for me to actually forget about."

"I bet. I can't really get over the fact that I look like Katherine and Stefan dated Katherine. I think I would feel more comfortable with it if Katherine just never existed."

"Me too. But anyhow, what are you doing tonight?"

"Stefan and I are going on a double date with Care and Matt. I hope that nothing will ruin it. It'll be weird being on a double date with my ex."

"I would think so."

"What are you up to?"

"Damon is coming by around ten or so to explain everything to me. I hope that it will clear the air some and we can just live our lives."

"Do you want to be with him?"

I don't say anything for a while. I'm just trying to mull it over in my head. "I'll have to get back to you on that."

School was possibly the most boring part of the day. Well, the learning part was, the part where Caroline tried to get the details of the double dated sorted was entertaining. Elena and Stefan were just being difficult because they could be. They already agreed on The Grill at eight. Now how to have Damon over and explain without being caught by Jer.

As I'm walking to my class with Elena, I turn to her and say, "how can I keep mine and Damon's meeting a secret from Jenna and Jeremy?"

"Well, sneak him through the window, make out a little, sneak him back out the window, easy."

"Everything but the make out part. Not doing that. That's you and Stefan. Not me and Damon. Besides if you see him at The Grill around when you four leave, can you tell me, or tell him to get his ass over to our place? I need to get the details." She nods. "Thank you Elena, so much!" I hug her and she hugs back. "You have to tell me everything that happens during the course of the night!"

"Will do!" I smile and we go inside the classroom and sit down next to each other.

When I get home, I text Damon.

'Do you want your jacket back?' He texts back pretty fast.

'Go look in your bedroom.'

I go up to my room and open the door. I don't see anything out of the ordinary till I walk toward my window on the other side of my room. There's two flowers sitting on the bench seat that Damon always sits on, a white frangipani and a white rose. I smile at the symbolism. The frangipani, which is a stupid name I know, means protection and the rose, white in particular, means new beginnings. Though it's usually associated with marriage, it does mean new beinnings.

'Thank you. Are you still coming by later?'

'Yes. I'm glad you like them.'

I smile and I clean my bedroom as much as I can. I vaccum and dust and make my bed. Why am I so paranoid about my room being clean, he's seen my room messy before.

Around nine or so, I was laying on my bed, trying to read one of my favorite books, For Whom the Bell Tolls, while waiting for Damon. I was still dressed incase I needed to pick Elena up or Caroline and Matt. Once I was finally getting into the story, I feel the bed dip and a kiss on my cheek. I lift my head and turn to see Damon laying on my bed ready to talk. I refrain from smiling, but fail, letting a small smile come to my face.

"Hello," I say quietly knowing Jeremy was still home.

"Hi." I set my book down next to my flowers on my nightstand and turn back to see Damon grinning. "I see you kept my flowers."

"Of course I did. I'm not cruel. So are you going to explain what happened?"

"I am. Where do you want me to start?"

"When you met her."

He nods. "What I said to Alaric was true, I did have drinks with her. I knew she was married, and I knew that she sought me out. She knew who I was and exactly how I had turned. I was shocked but she did her homework. She got me tipsy, slept with me, and she asked me to turn her. I refused and she countered my refusal."

"How?"

"She threatened to out me to the council in Mystic Falls. I got upset about it, but I refused again. That's when she started begging me. She begged and begged, said she would give me anything I wanted."

"Like what?"

"To travel, to be with her."

"There's something else Damon. What is it?"

He sighs. "She promised me Charlotte. In fact, Pearl, Anna's mother, promised me Charlotte today. That's why my eyes are so red right now. She got upset that I don't want Charlotte back and that means I won't help her so she tried stabbing my eyes to get me to comply."

"Damon that's terrible."

"I know. I don't want Charlotte anymore. Her not being in there really cleared my head, sure, it really sucks but I've realized that she's a selfish person who only cares about what she wants and that's not me so I don't want her anymore."

"Really? Are you really done with her? Or are you just saying that? You've been unreliable before."

"I'm really done."

"Good. She was bad for you anyhow. If she was selfish, and played games the way you and Stefan have been telling me about, then you'd be stuck with a psychotic vampire bitch."

"Trust me, I know."

"Is that all?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good." I lay back against my pillows.

"Allie,"

"Damon." His eyes lit up when I didn't tell him to not call me that.

"I'm aloud to call you that now?"

"Yeah, I understand now that you didn't know that she was my mom. I didn't even know. I can't be mad at you for something like that. I'd be really pissed if you just killed her. Then I wouldn't have the chance to possibly meet her." He nods. "Damon, will you do something for me?"

"Anything."

"Take me out. Just take me to The Grill and let's get something to eat."

"Alright, let's go out to The Grill."

We talk the whole way there. Talk about his life after getting turned, before, everything. We talk about me and Elena when we were younger. It's nice. We talk about all of that stuff once we get there too. We see Elena, Stefan, Caroline, and Matt there too. I wave to them and Elena looks happy that I'm there, even though it's with Damon. Stefan looks pleased that I'm happy but frowns slightly when he sees Damon. I can see the smoke coming out of Caroline's ears, she is just getting twenty new rumors ready right now.

"Hold on, I need to go to the bathroom, you know a human thing that you don't do anymore." I do what I need to do, wash my hands and walk out. The funny thing is Damon is by the door when I come out. Which also worries me. "What's up?"

"A vampire is here and he is hungry."

"Not you right?" He places his hand on the small of my back and starts to lead me back to our table. He shakes his head.

"Charlotte," I hear someone say loudly from several feet away.

"You've got the wrong girl," Damon says possesively. He leads me away and we sit down.

"He was in the tomb wasn't he?"

"I think so, Allie." We eat our food quickly, but we still talk, and leave. "We are going to the boarding house, 'kay?"

"Alright." We get there and we see that the rest of them are here too. "Let's say hi, Damon." I say getting out of the car. I walk through the door and Damon follows. He turns me around and gently presses me against the wall next to the stair case. His mouth drops to my ear

"I was thinking we could do something else." He nips at my neck and I chuckle.

"Damon, after we say hi, we can do whatever you want." He shakes his head turning down my offer to do whatever he wants and he kisses me. It's another simple kiss but it's one of those where things can quickly escalate. And they start too. Until I hear the front door open and I pull away from his lips.

"Alexandra?" Matt asks.

"Damon?" Caroline exclaims. More rumors now, awesome. "What are you two doing here?"

I clear my throat and Damon takes a step back. "Uh, well we were talking. And we were going to come say hi. But we got distracted."

"Uh-huh." Stefan and Elena make their way in at this point.

"Alright, I'm going to leave. Goodbye. I'll talk to you later, Damon." I brush past him when I walk by, my face bright red. Matt walks out the door with Caroline and Elena says she's going to drive me home. Stefan and Elena are saying their goodbyes inside and Damon comes out to see me. I rolled the window down.

"I'll come see you later tonight, Allie." I smile.

"Alright, I'll see you then."

Elena gets in the car and starts to scold me. "Were you kissing Damon?"

"Yeah."

"Why now? He just admitted to killing our birth mother!"

"After she begged him to do it, Elena! She easily could have gone to a different vampire and she might not even be 'alive' right now!"

"What about the fact that you look like Charlotte?" She yells at me.

"Elena, don't be a hypocrite," I yell back. "You look just like Katherine! You can't tell me that it doesn't bother you when you're away from Stefan. You don't think about it when your with him! That's how I feel when I'm with Damon. I don't think about the fact that I look like the girl he used to love. That's the same thing that happened with Stefan."

"Alexandra, I know, okay? I know exactly how it feels. I'm trying to save you from the hurt you'll feel if she ever comes back into his life and he's immediately in love with her again."

"What about Stefan?"

"He's completely over her, Alexandra."

"What if Damon is finally over her now? I need you to let me make my own mistakes. We may be two minutes apart, but we are the same age. Let me make my own mistakes."

She sighs, finally giving up. "Fine."

"Thank you 'Lena."

We get home and we go to bed. I brush my teeth and tell Elena that I'm going to bed. She gives me a hug and whispers in my ear to tell Damon hello. I smile and nod. I open the window when I get back to my room and go to my bedroom. It's a while before I see Damon and I'm mostly asleep when I do.

"Hey," I whisper, half asleep.

"Sorry it took me too long to get here." He lays on my bed next to me. "There was an attack at the house," he explains.

"Are you okay?" I say as I wake up and look him over.

"I'm fine. I just had to get over here as soon as I could." I lay down and reach for his hand. I bring it up and I scoot closer to him. I rest my head on his shoulder and I drape his hand over me.

"There have been no attacks here, I'm good." I close my eyes. "Elena says hello." He chuckles. I grin and fall asleep.