Hey everyone! This is another prompt set given to me by Claude Amelia Song. Go check out her works they are very amazing! The prompt she gave me where Damon/Elena. What if Elena hadn't been forced to forget meeting Stefan. With the optional prompts of burgers meal date, and scarf. The word count for this story is 3,272 words. Warning for a slight bit out of character due to canon divergence. I hope you all enjoy the first chapter of What If.
I looked back at the raging party that Matt had taken me to. In all honesty, I hadn't wanted to go to the party but Matt had to because it was being held by one of his football teammates from last year. He'd basically guilted me into coming with him. Then he'd seen me talking to Tyler Lockwood and he just lost it. Basically getting into a fight with me right then and there. I'd had enough and apologized quickly to Tyler before storming away from the scene.
I then started rifling through my purse for my cell phone. I knew that it would basically be admitting to lying about staying over at Caroline's house but I didn't know what else to do. I opened my phone and punched in the number to speed dial home.
The phone began to ring as I felt the overwhelming feeling of being watched by someone not too far away. Maybe it was Matt coming to apologize for starting a fight over nothing but a friendly conversation. I hung up the phone before it could ring any more and turned to find that there was no one there.
"That's odd," I murmur to myself as I open my phone once more. The feeling of being watched once more making itself known to me.
"Katherine?" came an obviously masculine voice. One that I had to admit did sound rather attractive.
I turned towards the source of the voice and found myself looking at a rather tall, dark-haired boy with the brightest blue eyes that I've ever seen. I could feel myself blush as I put my phone back in my purse. All thoughts of calling my parents to pick me up gone from my mind at that moment.
"Katherine?" he asked again, looking me over as though he knew who I was.
"No," I said, smiling at him. "I'm Elena."
"Elena," he said as though testing out my name and liking the way it felt rolling off his tongue. "What are you doing all the way out here all alone?"
"Who said I was alone?" I asked, the hair on the back of my neck standing up as though I was in some sort of danger. But I couldn't be in danger, could I? This guy didn't seem very dangerous. He actually seemed very friendly. "What are you doing out here alone and who are you?"
He chuckled as he watched me. "I'm sorry about that," he said, holding out a hand to me. "I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore. And to paraphrase your own reply, who said I was alone?"
"Do you usually answer questions with questions?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Not unless there's a pretty girl involved that I want to keep talking with," he said, walking closer to me.
"Oh!" I smiled although the feeling of dread seemed to have intensified a bit more. I wasn't sure what that was about. Damon didn't seem dangerous to me. Maybe I was worried that Matt would walk by and see me talking to Damon and get into a fight with me or worse Damon. "I'm not actually alone. I was brought out to the party that's going on at Quarry. I got into a fight with my boyfriend and was going to call my parents to come and pick me up."
"I'm sorry to hear about your fight," Damon said, moving closer so that we weren't that far apart anymore. "If it's any consolation, he's an idiot for getting into a fight with you."
"He's not an idiot really," I said, feeling a need to at least defend Matt while he wasn't here to defend himself. "He just gets jealous really easily. That's all that was."
"Must not have been that secure in your relationship then," Damon said, sounding like he was speaking from experience. "After all, if you're secure in a relationship like yours you don't pick fights just because your girlfriend is speaking to another guy. Am I right?"
"How did you know what the fight was over?" I asked, not remembering having said anything about the reason for the fight. "I don't think that I ever mentioned the reason for the fight in the first place."
"I mean it doesn't take a genius to see that it must have been something along those lines," Damon said, sounding like he'd been caught in some sort of lie or something like that. "Not that you're going to remember this conversation ever happened."
"Wait," I said, feeling my heartbeat speed up. Something told me that if he erased us ever meeting something very bad would happen. Something bad enough to set off a chain reaction of bad things. "You don't have to make me forget our conversation. I know what you are. You're a vampire. They're the only ones that can control other people's memories. At least that's what the books say."
Damon looked shocked and was about to say something when I hurried on and continued what I needed to get out. I knew that if I didn't continue before he spoke he would follow through on his threat to make me forget this meeting.
"I promise that I won't say a word about you being in town or what you are," I said, looking up at him pleadingly. "I just know that if you make me forget our meeting then something bad is going to happen. Something very bad. That will lead to a chain reaction of bad things happening and a lot more deaths than just one vampire would be able to wreak in a week."
"How do you know that I'm a…."
That seemed to get him off the I'm going to erase your memory train and right on to one of suspicion. He looked at me curiously and then back towards the party where my friends and Matt were drinking and blowing off steam.
"I only know because of what I read in books and stuff like that," I said, feeling like I was cornered but not understanding why. "I read about vampires in books."
"Don't believe everything you read in books," he said, the tension going out of his voice and body. "Want to get out of here and go somewhere more….not here?"
I nodded. "Where do you want to go?" I asked, wondering if I was making the biggest mistake of my life or not.
"Where do you want to go?" Damon asked he must have seen the wariness on my face because he followed the question up with this. "I don't want you to feel too uncomfortable. After all, I'm not some monster or something."
The only place that came to mind at the moment was the Mystic Grill. It was the one place that I felt would be safe because it was more often than not busy at this time of night. But would Damon actually agree?
"I was thinking that we could go to the Mystic Grill," I said, feeling my stomach start to grumble from hunger. "I'm starting to feel a bit hungry. That is if you don't mind us going there?"
"I don't mind at all," Damon said, holding out his arm for me to take like one of those Southern gentlemen you see in those old fashion movies. Like Gone With the Wind or something like that. "I did say that it was the lady's choice after all right?"
I nodded as I looped my arm through his. As we walked away from the Quarry and the party that was going on I couldn't help but think something about being around Damon felt right.
"Is that your car?" I asked as he led me up to a nice-looking black car.
"It is," Damon said, opening the door for me. "Ladies first."
"Thank you, kind sir," I said, sliding into the seat. I heard Damon run around the car and looked through the windshield in enough time to see Matt shaking his head at me and turning back towards the party. I kind of felt bad for ditching Matt like that but I also couldn't help but think of that nagging suspicion that something worse would have happened if I stayed.
The drive into town and to the Mystic Grill didn't seem to take as long as I usually remember it taking. But then again I'd been pretty busy peppering Damon with questions about what it was like to be a vampire. He seemed to be very patient with my questions which was something that was kind of refreshing.
Once we arrived outside the Grill, he walked around to my side of the car and opened the door for me. Helping me out of the car too.
"Thank you," I said, feeling a blush cross my cheeks at having someone help me out of the car. "Shall we?" I said gesturing to the door of the Mystic Grill. The sign saying that they were open was lit up in glowing neons.
He nodded, linking our arms together once more. When we reached the door, he held it open for me too. This was something that I was used to. Matt did this all the time for me.
"Table for two?" asked the boy waiting at the front counter. He seemed bored and I could instantly tell why. It wasn't as busy as it usually was at the Mystic Grill tonight.
"Yes, please," I said, smiling at him.
"Right this way," he said, grabbing two menus from a stack was nearby. "It's not so busy in here because of those hikers that were found dead a few weeks ago."
"The ones that were killed in the bear attack?" I asked, looking at Damon who was trying to look innocent. "Why would that keep from coming to the Grill?"
"Yeah," Damon said, faking a chuckle. "Bears aren't known to come this far into town, are they?"
"Try telling that to a scared mother." The guy laughed as he placed the menus on the table along with a napkin full of silverware. "I'll be right back to take your order."
"Jack of all trades, huh?" Damon asked, watching the waiter as he walked over to a tray full of water pitchers and picked one up.
"We're short-staffed tonight because of the…"
"Bear attack," Damon finished for him, causing the guy to nod as he filled the cups already on the table with water.
"Yeah, man," the guy said, walking over to the cash register and picking up a pad and pencil to take our order with. "Can I start you guys off with something to drink besides water?"
"I'll take a sweet ice tea, please," I said, looking over to Damon.
"I'll take the same," Damon said, turning his attention back to me as the guy whose name tag read Richie walked off to place our drink order. "Now to answer some of those questions that you've got."
"How long have you been….you know….what you are?" I asked, trying to keep the curiosity out of my voice and failing miserably. "If that's not too personal a question that is?"
"My brother Stefan and I have been what we are as you say since the year 1864," Damon said, taking a sip of the water sitting in front of him.
"Who...who... you know…."
"Who turned us?" Damon asked, before putting up a finger to silence my answer as Richie returned with our drink orders. I forgot that vampires had great hearing abilities.
"Are you guys ready to place your order yet?" Richie asked, looking between Damon, me, and the unopened menus that sat on the table.
"Are you ready?" Damon asked me, nodding towards the menu. "Because I know what I want. But I'll allow the lady to go first."
"I'll take a double cheeseburger with all the fixings and an order of fries, please," I said, smiling at Richie.
"Make that a double order of double cheeseburger with all the fixings and an order of fries," Damon said, smiling at me. "I would never have suspected that someone as small as you could put away that much food."
"No one does," I said, waiting until Richie had once more left the table to put our orders in. When I was sure he was well out of earshot I turned to Damon. "You didn't answer my question yet. Who turned you and your brother?"
"That's a rather personal question," Damon said, taking another sip of his water. "One I would much rather not talk about."
"I'm sorry," I said, wondering what had gone on between Damon and this person he didn't want to talk about. Then it hit me. What had he called me before he knew my name? Katherine. "Was it this Katherine person you mistook me for?"
Damon looked up at me as though surprised that I had even remembered that little fact. "It was," he said, sounding like I'd just poked a raw nerve. "But as I said, I'd rather not talk about it."
"Alright," I said, backing away from the subject of Katherine and searching for a new one to talk about. "You have a brother. Is he older or younger than you?"
"Younger," Damon said, sounding wary about the subject.
"Do you guys get along well?" I asked, not meaning to pry into this guy who I'd just met's personal life. But also finding myself more and more curious to get to know Damon Salvatore. "I've got a brother named Jeremy and we used to get along well. But he's reached those awkward years where hanging around with your sister isn't as fun as it used to be."
"Stefan's reached that age too," Damon said, sounding like he'd rather not talk about the subject of Stefan either. "We used to be really close too. But then….."
"I'm guessing this has something to do with Katherine," I said as Richie brought our food over to us. I could see the grey eyes widen in surprise at the mention of Katherine's name and wondered if Richie knew Damon's Katherine too. "Thank you, Richie."
"No problem," he said, walking away quickly. I could see him reaching for something in his back pocket which turned out to be his cell phone.
"Damn it, Richie," I heard Damon mumble as he picked up his cheeseburger and took a bite.
"What's wrong?" I asked, concern coloring my voice as I watched Damon's face.
"Nothing," Damon said and I could right then and there that was a lie.
"What do you hear?"
"Just Richie's phone call," Damon said, sounding like that was a horrible thing to be overhearing. Then again, I didn't know what was being discussed in this phone call. For all, I know it could have been a horrible thing.
"Who's he calling?" I asked, taking a bite of my own burger and then wiping my mouth as the Mystic sauce dripped down my chin. "Can you tell? Did you notice how odd he was acting after he heard me say the name Katherine?"
Damon nodded. Looking around the Grill like Katherine would pop out of nowhere and just start attacking us. "I did notice that," he said, looking behind me where I could sense that someone was watching us. "I can't tell who he's talking to but he's…."
"Watching us?" I asked him. I turned in my seat to find that Richie's piercing grey eyes were staring straight at me.
We lapsed into a comfortably uncomfortable silence. Each of us trying not to pay attention to the eyes that seemed to be on us no matter what. When we'd finished our meals and drinks. Richie made another appearance.
"Are we having dessert tonight?" Richie asked, looking between Damon and me. "The dessert of the day is a particularly tasty peach cobbler."
"I think we're going to skip dessert and just take the check," Damon said, watching the fear cross Richie's face. "Unless you know some reason why we should stick around for dessert that is?"
"No," Richie said, face going white. "I'll be right back with your check, sir."
"Take your time," Damon said, looking tenser than paying the check should make someone look. "Elena, take my keys and wait for me in the car, alright?"
"Damon wh…"
"Trust me," Damon said, putting his car keys in my hand and nodding towards the door. "I'll be out in a little bit."
"Okay. But…"
"Elena."
"Okay." I got up and put my jacket and scarf on. I walked towards the door feeling eyes on me once more and that feeling of prey being stalked followed it. I knew that wasn't the feeling I had with Damon's eyes upon me. So, it must be someone else. Someone that I didn't know about that was stalking me.
I walked to the car and climbed in. Putting the keys in the ignition and starting it so that it was ready when Damon exited the restaurant. I could sense something bad was in the Mystic Grill and wondered if Damon had sensed it too. Was that why he'd sent me out here? Because there was something dangerous in there with him. Was he trying to protect me from something?
My thoughts were interrupted by the car door opening and closing. I looked over to find Damon putting the car into drive a look of pure concern on his face.
"What's wrong?" I asked, sensing someone watching us from the doorway of the Mystic Grill. I turned and caught a glimpse of Richie and someone who looked exactly like me standing in the doorway as we zoomed off into the night. "Who was that?"
"Don't worry, Elena," Damon said, putting a comforting hand on mine. "I've got this covered."
"Got what covered?" I asked, concern coloring my voice once more. "What's going on? Is someone coming after us?"
"Nothing's wrong," Damon said as we pulled up to my front porch. "Nothing that you'll remember anyway." He grabbed my arms and turned me to look at him. "You and I had a nice meal at the Mystic Grill. Nothing else happened besides you giving me your number and agreeing to go on another date with me. Got it?"
I blinked and looked towards my house where the lights were on in the living room. I knew that meant that my parents were up still and waiting for me. I quickly reached into my purse and pulled out a piece of paper and wrote my number on it. I then handed the paper to Damon.
"Here's my number," I said, smiling at him. "In case you want to go again this weekend."
"I would love that," Damon said, smiling and getting out of the car to help me out. "Do you mind if I walk you to your door?"
"I wouldn't mind that," I said, allowing him to walk me to the door. "Thank you for everything, Damon." I leaned forward and kissed his cheek gently before turning towards the door and going inside.
Damon's Pov:
I watched as Elena walked into the house with a sigh of relief. I hadn't expected our waiter to be one of Katherine's pawns but he had been. He'd called Katherine and told her that I was back in Mystic Falls.
"Do you really think you can protect her from me forever, Damon?" Katherine asked, from the side of the car that Elena had been sitting on. She was holding something in her hands. A soft shimmering something that was Elena's scarf.
"Yes," I said, driving towards the Salvatore boarding house. "I actually do."
I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of What If as much as I enjoyed writing it.