( ˘ ³˘)ᵏᴵˢઽ Enjoy~! (JEREMYY FEELSSSSS) also omg im nearly finished season 6 someone hold me im not prepared.

"What the hell was that?" Aria stormed out the warehouse, furious.

Damon shut the trunk with a loud slam as Aria stalked over to the car. His hands were stained red, blood dripping from his mouth. "Well no offence, I get the whole revenge thing, I really do, but the first murder you witness shouldn't be the death of someone you want dead. If I'm going to be the one to introduce you to the whole 'I've witnessed a homicide' scene then I'm gonna' do it right. Maybe have a nice sauvignon blanc ready, fancy three course meal…"

"Seriously?" Despite her annoyed tone, Aria felt her rage dissipate at his words, maybe she had been a little too eager to witness her first real-life vampire kill. Even with her realization, Aria remained determined. "At least let me see the body, I'll even help you bury it."

Damon grimaced. "I don't think thats a good idea."

"Please?"

He shrugged and stepped aside, flashing a smile all too wolfish. "All right, if that's what you want, Princess."

Aria gulped, but walked forward. She situated herself right in front of the boot. He killed me, Aria reminded herself. I would be dead, if not for Damon. Still, she hesitated.

"Want me to open it for you?"

Aria flinched at his sudden question that cut through the silence, his tone full of pity. Fuck that, She sucked in her lower lip to worry at it before nodding. Damon popped the boot open, not one to encourage fear.

A body was there, that much Aria knew, but it was too disfigured and mangled to distinguish. Aria knew though, knew it was Logan Fell right away. There was blood everywhere and Aria had no doubt Damon got a little bit too carried away with his revenge. The face was completely caved in, parts of the arm ripped clean to the bone in large chunks.

She had thought the sight of Logan's corpse would make her feel better, and it did, sorta. She knew now there was one less vampire in the world that could kill her. Except… the sight of the body made her realise that this… was all her fault. Guilt hit her like a tidal wave, dragging her under into the depths of self-loathing. Aria had been the one to suggest turning Logan, it had been her plan that lead to the man's demise.

"Don't forget he was a Grade A dick before all of this. It was our life, or his." Damon must've noticed how Aria had shut down on herself, because he slammed the boot shut again. "Turning him just revealed his true colors, the ugly brown of a sewage pipe."

It was a joke, a harmless joke, but it hit her hard. Aria let out a choked sound and spun around, burying her face into Damon's chest. "It's all my fault," Aria whispered, horrified as she relived the events that lead to Logan's death all over again. "I suggested to turn him, it was my fault he was angry enough to come after me in the first place."

"Oh don't get all weepy on me. You haven't done anything wrong Aria. He was the one who used some freaky compass to track down Stefan and brutally murder him. Some choices we make are going to be tough, Aria, you just have to be tougher."

"I'm just a girl, Damon."

He frowned. "Now that's just sexist."

"Am I going to hell?"

Damon smirked down at her, ran his fingers through her hair in an attempt to calm her. "If you are then I'll be right there waiting for you."

"Thanks, Damon." Aria did feel better after his reassurance. Maybe she'd given Logan a death sentence, but he'd brought it on himself. It didn't make her choices right, but Aria knew that because of her plan a lot of other innocent people were okay, and that included Stefan, Sheriff Forbes, and anyone else Logan wanted to hurt. Like Damon had said, it was a tough choice, one would Aria have to live with for the rest of her existence.

"So how about we go and chuck the body in a bottomless pit then go get some milkshakes and one of those cute pancakes that have smiley faces drawn into them."

Her life had become a fucking mess.

But at least she had Damon to help her out.

X

The milkshake was delicious and the pancakes were perfect.

Aria decided it was a perfect meal for a post-murder celebration.

(In the end, they'd dumped Logan's body in a raging fire that, afterwards, Damon had used to warm his hands. "At least the Buffy-wannabe was good for something," Damon had commented when they'd left.)

It was nice.

X

Aria went to the library the next afternoon, because she knew that the youngest Gilbert would need inspiration for his project, and it wasn't like Anna was around anymore to help with that. She still felt kind of off after the previous day's events, but Damon had done a good job of taking her mind off of it that morning when he'd dragged her ass to school.

"Doesn't your personal chauffeur get a kiss as his tip?" He had asked her.

She had of course, obliged.

It'd certainly lifted her mood for those first few hours, because even just kissing Damon Salvatore was a miracle in itself. It was going to take Aria forever to adjust to their new… thing, but she'd enjoy it while she could.

However much to her dismay, her mood had only worsened as the school day dragged on and gave Aria enough time to replay the sight of Logan's body in her mind over and over and over. It wasn't even the fact his body had been mangled in a gruesome fashion, but she continued to think of it all as her fault.

It was just one more thing she'd have to get used to.

Which was why it was convenient a certain young boy needed her help. It would get her mind off of everything.

Aria strolled through the various book shelves, looking for anything that caught her eyes. She headed in the general direction of the local and state history section, but kept her head down.

It didn't take her long to come across the teen, and when she did Aria worried her lower lip in thought. Hmm, what kind of first impression do I wanna make?

Aria huffed and adopted her recent motto of 'screw it'. She walked up and tapped Jeremy on the shoulder. Only… she didn't expect him to whip around so fast. His sudden reaction cause Aria to step back in response, and she crashed into the bookshelf behind her, which caused a chain reaction that resulted in dozens of books falling down on Aria's head.

"Oww," she groaned as she picked a book off of her shoulder. Her accident had ended with her butt on the floor. Nice. "Well at least this isn't the encyclopedia section…"

"Agreed," the boy said as he knelt down and Aria was glad he'd gotten her joke. It was a good start. He held out a hand in offer, tiny smile on his youthful face. Aria was humbled by the concern shining in his golden, honey eyes. "All good?"

"I think so." Aria accepted his hand, and the boy hauled her upright. She grimaced at the mess of books at her feet, but turned her attention back to her saviour. "Thanks."

"No probs." He bent down to pick up the books, and Aria knew better than to do the same. The aisle wasn't big enough for them both to be crouching down. "Name's Jeremy," he said as he handed the stack of books to her.

"Aria," she answered with a smile before focusing her attention on putting the books back in their rightful place. "Sorry for scaring you."

"Same to you. Um… so did you want something?"

God, Aria cringed in her mind, this couldn't get anymore awkward. "Well, I was going to ask if you needed help." She spun back around having put all the books away. As she was opening her mouth to continue, Aria realised how close they were and she shifted to the side so there was more space to breath.

If he noticed her subtle movement, he didn't appear offended. "I do, actually."

"This aisle is local and state history. And Civil War is one over. What do you need?"

Jeremy licked his lips, eyes darting over her face skeptically. "Local. 1860s. Do you work here?"

"Nope, I just study here way too much." She started walking towards the section Jeremy wanted. The whole situation was way more deja vu than Aria could handle. "You want reference. This way," Aria walked and listened to Jeremy's light tread as he followed. It didn't take her long to find the right shelf. She gestured in a wide arch. "Here we go. Original settlers, town archives, Founders' stuff. It's all here."

Jeremy nodded and started scanning through the labels, Aria watched him do so. It was surreal to yet again be meeting another TVD character up close. Aria would never get used to the feeling. Not wanting to drop the conversation, she spoke up again. "So, what's your topic?"

"The town's fear and hysteria surrounding the war and how it influenced certain writers of the time." Jeremy hunched down to look at the lower shelves.

Aria smirked, he was making this too easy for her. "You might want to focus that."

"The origin of local folklore and myths."

She grinned as he stood back up to face her. God, everything had been lined up just right, now she just had to tread carefully. "You mean, the vampires?"

Jeremy appeared stunned by her remark, so Aria whirled and grabbed a few books that'd be helpful then snatched onto his wrist and tugged. "Come on, let's go sit down and talk. My head's still a little woosy."

"You're kidding me, right?" Jeremy asked as they walked through the aisles. As soon as Aria spotted a secluded table, she sat them down, dumping the books on the flat surface. "There's no such thing as vampires."

"I can prove it to you." Fuck it, Aria had already spilled to beans to one of Elena's loved ones, why not add another to the list? "Vampires aren't just folklore. They're not a metaphor for the demons of the day for the union soldiers, they're real."

Jeremy scoffed and shook his head at her. "You're crazy."

"Sorry to interrupt your little tea party," Damon said, appearing out of nowhere. His sudden arrival was enough to spook the youngest Gilbert, and Jeremy jumped as he stared wide eyed at Damon. The vampire enjoyed the look for a moment before turning to Aria. "It's time. We gotta do that thing with the annoying, judgy chick."

"Wait. Before we go, do that thing."

Jeremy was still sitting there, the perfect picture of stillness.

Damon frowned. "What thing? I have a thing?"

"Yeah. The thing with the sharp protruding teeth that sprout from your mouth."

"Oh… That thing. Are you sure?" Damon asked for confirmation and Aria nodded. He shrugged. "All right," he agreed and turned to snarl at Jeremy. Aria was really loving the whole thing where Damon did what she said.

The fangs popped out, black veins squirming to life under his eyes, feeding the darkness that rose in his icy-blue gaze. He held that look long enough for Jeremy to have pissed his pants- although he probably didn't- then turned to Aria with an impatient smirk. "Good?"

"Perfect. I'll meet you in the car, did I mention you have impeccable timing?"

"A few times." Damon smirked, kissed her right on the lips in front of a fifteen-year old then went ahead and waggled his fingers at said teen. "See ya', Shaggy."

Then Damon was gone as suddenly as he'd appeared.

"That was Damon," Aria explained with a fond grin. "He's a dick, never forget that."

Jeremy gulped, face ghostly pale in his fright. Aria felt bad, but she figured it was better he found out now rather than later. Although Damon could've been a bit more gentle with the grand reveal…Eh, who was she kidding?

"He's also a vampire. So is your sister's boyfriend Stefan. The news reporter that went missing? Logan Fell? He was a vampire too, but Damon killed him yesterday." Aria winced when she noticed how horrified Jeremy seemed. "I know, it's weird. It takes some getting used to. Just know that Stefan and Damon are sorta-kinda harmless. They drink blood, as vampires tend to do. Damon drinks from blood bags though and Stefan sources his food from woodland creatures."

Jeremy remained silent.

"Agh… This could've gone better. Sorry, I just thought you ought to know what was going on in your sister's life." Aria tapped the table, picking up on the awkward tension in the air. She was the worst supernatural greeter in existence. Hell, even Damon would've done a better job than her!

It was a while before Jeremy spoke up. When he did, there was something burning in his gaze. "Why have you told me all of this?"

To keep you from finding out the hard way. To keep you from feeling even more left out and alone than you do already. Aria couldn't bring herself to say any of that though, so she settled for another truth. "Besides getting you up to date on the gossip revolving around your sister's life? Well I guess… Because you deserve to know. You're smart and loyal and passionate, we could use your help in our new 'dream squad'. Y'know, we fight for justice and all that."

He laughed, albeit a bit on the manic side, but it was a laugh none the less. All in all Aria thought he was taking it all pretty well. Huh, she'd really thought she'd balls'd it up. "And what did... Damon want?"

"Oh. Your sister, Damon and I are going to go on a road trip for a while. You can have my phone number though so you can text me all of your questions while I'm gone." Aria was starting to use her phone way too much, she'd have to get a better plan. Maybe the one with the extra data, 2GB only let you watch so much YouTube on the road.

Jeremy shook his head, held his hands up in refusal. It was a little too late that she realised she'd misread the situation entirely, and that Jeremy was in fact not handling this well at all. "I'd really rather not ever speak to you, or that guy anymore. You're both freaks, and crazy." The teen huffed in sudden frustration, shoving his chair out with a hard kick and standing up in much the same manner. "And leave my sister alone."

He then proceeded to storm off in a bit of a tantrum.

Aria pursed her lips. "Welp."

That could have gone better, she thought. Aria decided she probably shouldn't have just sprung the supernatural on him like that. He needed to be eased into it, but she'd just gone and dumped it all on him at once. Maybe next time she'd use Bonnie for the demonstration instead. Levitating feathers? Damn. She should've thought of that earlier. Nobody gets spooked by feathers.

...Unless they were creepy supernatural feathers. Ugh.

X

"To be honest, I thought you would've hidden the picture of Katherine so we wouldn't have to hit the road with Elena in tow," Aria pondered as she climbed out of the car. Damon had broken every speed limit and taken every shortcut possible to get them in front of Elena. She was abiding stop signs, Damon hadn't. Despite the law breaking it seemed to have worked, because they were on a long stirp of ride with no sight of Elena's SUV.

"Nah, road trips are awesome." Damon ambled around to where Aria stood. "Besides, it seems I've gotta save my brother's ass once again."

"Well in the original vision I had, Elena crashed because a vampire got in her way. How are we going to stop her now?"

Damon smirked. "The good old fashioned way."

It took a few seconds for Aria to catch on. Old fashioned way? Well, there could only be one. "Oh! Cool. Let me just lie down on the road then."

"Nah. I'll do it. Between the two of us, I'm the only indestructible vampire."

"Yeah but if you get on the ground then she'll probably continue driving and just crush you."

"The same could happen with you," Damon quipped. "You did mess up her and Bonnie's friendship after all. I'm not risking it, no sir-e."

Then he went ahead and settled himself on the ground. He could've blended in seamlessly given how much black he was wearing. Too bad he had perfect skin that stood out against the bitchumen.

"How do we even know if her car's going to be next? What if someone else stops?"

"Then I'll compel them to move along." Damon was the perfect image of a corpse as he waited. Even Aria would've stopped if she'd been driving the same strip and come across him. Though once she'd have realised it was him Aria would have just drove around. She was nice like that.

"We should've brought ketchup," Damon said.

"For a fake blood splatter?"

"Yeah, and maybe some ground beef to scatter around too."

Aria chuckled as she stepped back to lean against the car. "You know, the car would be more than enough to stop her. We could just park it in the middle of the lane…"

"Yes, but then we risk the car's life."

"You're insane."

Damon didn't disagree.

Before they could continue their debate, a blue hatchback rounded the corner up ahead and Aria straightened in surprise. "That's not Elena's car. Get off the road, Damon."

"What? Why? I could use a snack."

Aria groaned as the car began to slow down as it approached, and soon enough the driver was exiting the vehicle. It was a young brunette wearing a concerned expression on her face. Aria pitied the lady and walked forward to help out. "Are you all right?" The woman asked Damon's 'corpse'.

"Hey," Aria greeted, surprising the lady enough for her to jump in surprise.

"Er, hello?" The poor woman seemed confused, and only more so when Damon popped up behind her. "What's going on?"

"I'm quite all right, in fact." Damon spoke into the brunette's ear, causing her to spin around fast enough to cause whiplash. Aria watched on. "A little hungry though."

Damon's gaze flickered to Aria, and she wasn't sure whether it was her look of boredom or her utter exasperation with Damon's words, but he stopped growing his fangs and grabbed onto the woman's shoulders, holding her gaze.

"You're going to continue onto wherever you're going and forget what happened here."

Aria frowned. He'd given up so easily. Was that because of her? "Look, Damon, if you want to eat you can, I'm not going to stop you."

"Really?"

She shrugged. "It doesn't bother me."

Damon grinned and turned back to the stranger. "My sweetie buns just gave me permission to do something wicked," his face morphed into it's dangerous counterpart and Aria had to turn away. It wasn't like she wanted to watch him feed, ew. "Don't be afraid, this'll only hurt a tiny bit."

Aria listened to the horrible squelching sound of fangs sinking into flesh, but she held her resolve and waited. It must've been nice for Damon to have been able to drink some fresh blood, rather than the old stuff that blood bags provided.

"Oh my God!" Aria spun to see Elena standing there, looking utterly disgusted. "Damon, what the hell?"

It seemed Elena also had impeccable timing. Great.

"Hmm, I should add banshee to that list." Damon let go of his snack with a frustrated huff and faced Elena, mouth dripping with blood. "Your voice reaches supersonic levels."

Aria quirked a brow. "What list? You keep a list?"

"My first step on the road to getting my life in line."

She beamed at the vampire, their banter always making her feel better. Elena's shriek had reminded her how wrong it actually was for Damon to just be drinking from a person. "Oh? And what step is that?"

"Get organised, write notes." Damon stalked forward and grabbed onto Aria, both of them forgetting Elena was there. "Want to know what's on the top of my priority list right now?"

"I think I could guess," Aria replied, lost in the moment.

Elena cleared her throat, drawing Aria's attention, but clearly not Damon's because she felt him press a kiss to her cheek. "Just ignore her and the pest control will swing by shortly to pick her up."

Had Damon just compared Elena to vermin? Aria barely stifled her laugh.

"Aria, please tell me why there's a woman standing there with a gaping hole in her neck and why you're even out here in the first place?"

Should I side with Elena… or Damon? Aria asked herself, trying to figure out where to best her attention. On one hand, Damon was having way too much fun kissing her neck, on the other hand, Elena seemed to be in a bit of a mood. Understandably so, she did just find out a pretty dark secret, after all.

"Go deal with your leftovers, I'll talk to Elena." Aria pushed at Damon and he grumbled about annoying teenage drama as he strolled away. Of course, Aria noticed the wet stickiness now coating her neck and she did not want to consider the possibility that it was someone else's blood. "Hey… So… This is awkward."

Elena's lips thinned as she crossed her arms, but Aria could see the tears glistening in the girls eyes. It looked like she needed a hug, and Aria gave great hugs, but it would be a bit too awkward if they hugged right then. Y'know... cause of blood and the fact Elena probably hated her guts. "Maybe one of you could also explain why I look like her, like Katherine," Elena demanded, voice shaky.

Aria looked to Damon for help, but he was still talking to the stranger and focusing on his task, almost like he was avoiding the conversation. Well, of course he was, Aria decided. It was Damon after all. "I don't know everything-" Lie. "But from what I've overheard, I think you guys are related or something. She's a vampire, and Stefan's first love, but I know for a fact that's not why he dated you. He's dating you because you're you and you're everything he could ever want."

"Really?"

"Dead honest," Aria swore. She was an absolute pro at distracting people with sappiness and cheesy lines.

Elena considered Aria's words with a frown. "Then why does he still have her picture on his table?"

"Because he's an idiot," Damon scoffed, appearing next to Aria to join the conversation. Out of the corner of her eye, Aria spied the brunnette climbing into her car and driving off. Aria hoped she got home safely, God forbid another vampire stopped her on her way. "Leaving a picture of your ex out in the open for your current schnookems to see? Awkward."

"Beyond awkward." Aria grabbed onto Damon's shoulder, tugging him forward before he could prance off again. "Which is why big-bro Damon is here to save the day. Go on, why don't you explain to her the mystery of Katherine Pierce whilst I go bring 'round the car."

Much to her amusement, Damon looked at her with utter fear in his cerulean eyes. He was pretty much looking at her with puppy dog eyes, but Aria was immune to such things. She gave him a supportive pat on the shoulder then escaped to the safety of the car.

It didn't take too long for Aria to swing the car around, in fact, less than a minute, but somehow Damon had managed to piss Elena off in those short few seconds. The girl was giving the vampire the full-blown shouting and pointing fingers treatment. If Aria had to guess, Damon had probably insinuated that Elena was being overdramatic.

Rather than saving her helpless vampire, Aria parked the car and pulled out her phone. She took a picture of the fighting pair and then typed a quick message to Bonnie. 'You've gotta love supernatural drama,' she captioned- attaching the picture- then pressed send.

Not one to ruin an entertaining moment, Aria sat in the car and watched as Damon continued to smirk at a furious Elena, the entire thing an obvious joke to him. It didn't take long for Damon to notice he had an audience and as soon as he did he gestured rudely at Aria. She grinned and returned it with her own equally rude gesture.

Then, when after some time Elena seemed to calm down, Aria stepped out of the car and sidled up to the two warring spirits. "So," Aria clapped her hands in excitement. "We ready to hit the road?"

Elena flashed Aria a hostile glare. "I'd rather not."

"Well too bad because I already bought the matching pair of tee shirts for us all and there's no returns allowed. I burned the receipt." Damon added.

Aria feigned eagerness. "Ooo, what do they look like?"

"You two have some serious issues with staying on topic," Elena cut in before Damon could answer. "Now, please move your car so I can go."

"Go where?" Damon replied with a cynical smirk. "Currently we're the only two people you know that you can talk to about this Katherine drama."

Elena's fury returned full force at his words, and she whirled on Aria with burning eyes. "Actually, I have Bonnie to talk to since you went behind my back and blabbed to her."

"About that…" Aria said, feeling somewhat awkward. "I also may have told your brother."

Elena's eyes went wide. "What?"

"Don't worry, poor little thing got scared and ran off before we could explain," Damon added.

Aria groaned. "So not helping, Damon."

"What did you say to him?" Elena asked, already fumbling to get her phone. She dialed a number before Aria or Damon could get another word in, and then, with a strained voice, spoke into the receiver. "Jeremy? Are you okay?"

Aria tuned out their conversation and focused her attention on Damon. "You know that was so fucking rude. I totally had that, and now we're going to have to deal with a pissed off Elena."

"She was already mad," Damon retorted. "I just thought I'd add to the drama a bit more. You've gotta face your actions sometime, Ari."

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side!"

Damon smirked. "That can be arranged," he stammered and then tugged her forward so she was pinned against his, well, side. "Better?"

Aria rolled her eyes at his question, but couldn't help feeling better because of his actions. Damon was getting way too good at knowing exactly what to do to make her smile. "Just a bit," she answered after a moment.

"Good, because bigger-but-still-little Gilbert just hung up."

At Damon's words she braced herself for the worst.

"Aria!" Elena's shriek came. "Jeremy was so confused and worried, how could you do that to him?"

"Damon was the one who-"

"He said you told him vampires were real! Damn it, Aria, I didn't want him to know. You've just endangered his life, I hope you know what you've done!"

Elena was all up in Aria's face, and Aria reacted to that with her own anger. "What would you have preferred, Elena? He was researching vampires! At some point he would have found out, with you bringing the very thing you want to hide from him in your house practically every day! Eventually you would have slipped up and he would've been mad at you for keeping it secret so long. At least now he's mad at me and not you, and you get to be the big sister and comfort him instead of being the target of his hate!"

Damon, meanwhile, was relaxing against the frame of his car. "So early in the trip and I'm already getting to see my first catfight, this is going to be great. Where's my camera?"

"Shut up, Damon!" Both girls snapped at the vampire.

Aria huffed and glared at Elena again. "Now stop complaining that I've messed up, because we both know I've done the right thing for your brother. Stop yelling at me and instead maybe try comforting your brother and help him to understand what's going on, because when I left him he specifically told me to stay away from you. Which means that he's fucking scared and frightened and worried you're going to get mauled to death by a bunch of vamps, when instead you're fucking dating one!"

Elena's lips were thin, her face had paled considerably. "He was worried about me?"

"Duh, he's your brother. You guys love each other."

The elder Gilbert drew a steadying breath, before lifting her phone and dialing again, but before she called she glanced at Aria again. "This isn't over."

"Ooo, goodie," Damon commented.

Elena, rather than snapping at the vampire, turned and walked away to call her brother.

Aria watched her for a while, just considering how the girl must be feeling at that moment. Was she nervous about the fact that Jeremy knew the truth now? Or did she simply worry for her brother's safety now that he had such knowledge?

"You handled that well," Damon said as he approached. "Too bad the claws didn't come out, that would've made listening to Elena's squeaky voice worth it."

Aria huffed and then spun around to face the man she had a stupid crush on, then promptly smacked his arm. "That's for being an ass."

Her frustration didn't seem to faze Damon, for he just bent closer to capture her gaze with his cerulean orbs. "You know you're really hot when you're angry."

Aria stared at him, unimpressed. "Flattery? Really? Haven't we been through this already."

"It was worth a shot," Damon shrugged, smirking like the asshole Aria claimed him to be. "So what now, Princess? Are we going to ride off into the sunset with our gangly hostage in tow?"

"I think anything I say now will break our unspoken 'don't talk about Katherine or the tomb' rule."

The light of amusement in Damon's gaze faded somewhat, and the crinkles around his eyes tightened in the only sign of his discomfort. "I guess that's a 'sure Ken'."

"Did you just quote an Aqua song?"

"I'm a man of many talents."

Just then Elena returned looking exhausted, but calmer than before. "All right. Let's get going. If I get to torment someone with my woes about Stefan being an idiot, it's going to be you two."

Aria and Damon shared a hesitant glance, but they both reached the same conclusion at around the same time. Elena was going to join them, and it'd be a perfect opportunity to rag on Damon's 'saintly' brother. It wasn't like they were about to give that up.

"Shotgun!" Aria hurried to call.

Damon groaned as he vanished and appeared again next to the driver's side door. "No way. Both of you ladies are going in the back so I can keep an eye on you."

"But the back is so small."

"Then you're luck you're both ridiculously tiny. Seriously, I'm tempted to start a boot camp for you both." Damon pulled open his door and slid in, not bothering to continue the argument.

Aria sighed and turned to Elena. It was Damon's car after all, driver picks the music and the seating arrangements. "After you," Aria offered.

Elena scrunched her nose. "No thanks, I'd rather sit behind Damon where he can't look at me easily."

The redhead shrugged in response. "Your choice." It was a tight fit in the back, but Aria managed to wiggle over to her side and then clip the seat belt on. Damon smiled at her in the rear view mirror, and Aria couldn't help but return the affection.

The sound of an engine rumbling to life broke their moment, and Aria whirled around to see Elena's car moving. She panicked for a moment, only to frown when Elena drove off the road and parked behind a bunch of bushes.

"She's hiding the car. Smart." Damon's eyes went wide as though he couldn't believe Elena was possible of such forethought. "And here I thought she was a blondie in disguise."

"So many times I feel your words should be offensive, but then I remember you're a jackass." Aria slipped off her shoes and then propped her sock-clad feet on top of front seat, toes brushing against Damon's head. "Let me know if this bothers you."

Damon glowered at her. "It bothers me. You're feet stink and if you ruin my hair I might just get Carc to steal all of your left socks."

"You wouldn't dare," Aria challenged, eyes narrowing at his threat.

He just smirked and turned to look out the front window.

X

Elena returned to the car eventually and Damon made sure they'd both buckled their seatbelts before he sped off. He picked the music, some classic rock station that Aria found herself enjoying despite her different tastes. Elena stared out the window, sulking like the teen she was.

Damon still hadn't knocked away her feet, so when she grew bored Aria tickled his ear with her toe. His reaction was highly amusing for straight away the car swerved as he raised both hands to swat at her. "Aria!"

"Sorry," she lied.

He growled at her, a full on animalistic growl. "You did that on purpose!"

"I really didn't. Cross my heart."

He glared at her through the rear view mirror and then in the next moment his face had morphed, fangs appearing like some freaky magic trick. Much to Aria's horror, he snapped at her toes. She squealed and pulled her precious limbs back. "Damon!"

"You had it coming," he quipped and in an instant his face was back to normal, signature smirk and all. His gunmetal eyes were alight with amusement and a fondness that warmed Aria's heart. "I did warn you."

"You never threatened the life of my pinkie toe." She shifted to try and get comfortable. Stupid Elena got to rest her feet on the passenger seat, not fair.

He just continued to stare at her in mirth, blue eyes dazzling and Aria found her annoyance melting away.

X

I'm tired of asking for reviews, you guys are perfect either way (heart) Ily