A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm really happy to see the interest in this story. Like I said, it's been my favorite one yet that I've written. Hopefully I can keep you excited about it through and through.

Enjoy!

EPOV

"So, I was thinking she could use a gloss on her hair," Caroline told the hairdresser. "Then trim up her ends, give her some layering, and a heavy face framing up front." Caroline looked at me a little closer. "And an eyebrow wax too."

I was appalled at all the changes she wanted to make to me, but if I was going to trust Damon, I had to trust the process. After all Caroline was the most popular girl in my grade.

"Ok," Caroline pulled up a chair in front of me, while the hairdresser mixed up the glossing treatment for my hair. "Do you own contact lenses?"

"Yeah, I just don't like the feeling. They make my eyes dry"-

"Good," She grabbed my glasses off my face, "No more glasses, ok? At least not in public."

She pulled her giant purse into her lap. "Alright, I'm going to walk you through all of this before I show you. I need her to wax your brows before I touch your face. Now… what's your make up routine?"

"I don't have one," I shrugged. "I don't wear makeup."

"Ever?" Caroline looked horrified.

I shook my head no.

"Oh… well this will be a little bit of a challenge," Caroline laughed almost nervously.

Caroline talked my ear off for a good hour and about the best products to use and how to use them. Then as the stylist showed me how to style my hair. Boy did I wish I had a notebook and pencil right now. There was so much information being thrown at me. I found conversion factors in chemistry to be easier than this.

But as I looked at my hair in the mirror, I couldn't help but be struck by the girl in the mirror. The shine, and the cut gave so much life to my appearance, I didn't even recognize myself. I couldn't stop touching and staring. I was literally watching myself transform, and it was almost dreamlike.

I bought some salon quality hair product, and Caroline dragged me out to her car where she was determined to finish off my look.

As she showed me step by step how to apply each product, I mimicked her doing my own in the passenger seat. She would tweak things here and there but for the most part I did pretty well. I was actually decent in art class, so I just thought of it as art.

I decided to take some of Damon's advice and try to befriend Caroline. His voice came into my head reminding me how. Girls love compliments.

"I really like your top," I peered over at her. I hope it came off naturally because I was actually being sincere. Caroline was beautiful. Flawless, actually.

"Thanks," She smiled. "I just bought it last weekend."

Girls love someone who listens. Ask them a personal question, and make sure to listen and engage.

"Thanks for doing this," I tried easing into this next subject as naturally as I could. "Damon mentioned you and Stefan are good friends. I've known Stefan my entire life."

"Do you like him?" She looked at me with all the insecurity in the world.

I burst out laughing. "No. Not at all. He's practically a brother to me."

She shook off the obvious jealousy quickly, "Yeah we're friends."

"So…" I looked back in the mirror behind the visor. "Is that all it is?"

Caroline took a deep breath, "I don't know. He's so hard to read sometimes. He's all flirty and sweet one minute, and then the next he keeps throwing around the word friend like he's trying to drop a hint. And it gets really annoying because I can't keep up with his rollercoaster of signals, because they are all very misleading!" She was going a mile of a minute, and I had to really focus to keep up. "Like last week him and I went to carnival just the two of us, and he held my hand like the entire time, and he even won me a giant stuffed animal. He paid for everything, and he'd put his arm around me on all the rides. But then yesterday he kept calling me a friend to all of his friends."

"Stefan is actually kind of shy," I told her. "My guess is that he likes you, but he's afraid to make a move in case you don't feel the same way."

"So, what does he expect me to do?" She scoffed. "Make the first move?"

"You might have to," I shrugged.

She sighed and then looked over at me. "You actually did really well for your first time."

"Thanks," I blushed. I wasn't used to being complimented. Especially on my looks. Not boys, not girls, not anyone. Well… maybe besides my grandmother.

Caroline drove me back home and I listened to her go on and on about Stefan. Normally I'd be bored but I actually liked Caroline. She seemed genuine. Ok. Maybe she was a little neurotic, and over the top, but she was actually a really kind person.

Girls like to feel needed.

"Thanks for the ride," I thanked her as she pulled into my driveway. I opened the door and stepped out. I leaned down to look at her. "Hey…" I could feel the nerves in my stomach. I could really embarrass myself, but here goes nothing. "I could use some help with accessorizing the outfits I bought today. Would you like to help me out sometime?"

"Of course," Caroline smiled widely.

"Great!" I was pleased with myself. I waved her a goodbye before walking inside my house.

I went straight to my room and hung up the clothes Damon left in bags on my bed. I decided to put one of the outfits on to see the complete look. When I stepped in front of the mirror, I felt like I was looking at a stranger. I liked the stranger, but if I would've seen this girl walking down the street, I would be intimidated by her. She was pretty. She was unrecognizable. I now felt like my insides didn't match the outside.

My phone pinged and it was Damon, texting me.

Meet me at our spot. -D

Our spot was a place we discovered in middle school. It was a set of train tracks on a tiny bridge that went over a little creek, with a bike path below. If you sat on the bridge by the train tracks, you could watch the sunset. It was so calming and relaxing. We often met there when one of us was having a bad day. Sometimes we'd talk about it, sometimes we didn't. We'd just sit there quietly and watch the sunset.

He must've had a bad day. I watched as he sat with his legs dangling over the edge. His arms rested on the rusty bar that served as a railing. He was preoccupied looking out at the creek, so he didn't hear me come up behind him.

I quietly sat beside him, letting my legs dangle next to his.

He looked over at me a little startled. "Holy shit!" He exclaimed.

"Did I scare you?" My eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "You knew I was coming."

"Your glasses…I never see you without them. And your hair- it's down…It looks nice. Are you wearing make up?" His head leaned in to study my face.

"That's what Caroline was for," I looked at him like he was crazy. This entire make over was on his to do list today.

"You're just"- he couldn't seem to speak. "Wow. You look really… beautiful."

"Thanks," I rolled my eyes. "It only took hours to look like this. I guess I'm not naturally pretty."

"Yes, you are," he disagreed quickly. "You just hide behind everything. You never let anyone notice it before."

"So why are we here?" I quickly changed the subject. "What happened?"

"Rebekah happened," he mumbled.

"Ah," I understood immediately. "If I had a dollar for all the times we've sat on this bridge because of that girl, we'd both be millionaires."

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "You're probably so sick of hearing me talk about her."

"I just wish it wasn't so negative all the time," I swung my legs casually. "That girl hasn't made you happy in years."

"I'm over it," he picked up a rock and threw it in the creek.

"No, you're not," I nudged him. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be here now."

"I don't even want to be with her. She just acts like she has this hold over me, and it's annoying," the amount of frown lines on his face was almost shocking.

I chuckled, "That's because she does."

"Well Miss I have the answers to everything," he mocked. "How do you suggest I get over her?"

I sighed, thinking about it. "You say fuck it!" I threw my arms out into the air.

"That's it?" He smiled looking over at me. "I just say fuck it and it all goes away?"

"Try it," I giggled.

"Fuck it," he says proudly.

"Louder!" I shout.

"Fuck it!" He yells.

"Louder!" I say louder.

"FUCK IT!" He yells out as loud as he can.

I wait for him to look at me and he has the biggest smile. "Feel better?"

"Kind of actually," he chuckles.

"I told you," I say proudly.

He stared at me silently for a long minute, "What?" I giggled, feeling weird. He's never looked at me like that. So blissful, yet intense.

"Nothing," he shakes his head still smiling. "You just always make me feel better." He stands up and gives me a hand pulling me to stand up.

Without any words, he takes my hand and starts walking. "Where are we going?" I wonder.

We walk down the grassy hill, and he doesn't say anything. Once we get under the bridge, he pulls me in front of him, "remember when we used to try and walk across, when we were kids?"

There were all these slippery rocks that were sticking out of the shallow creek. We used to try and walk across them as kids, but we could never make it across without falling. "Yeah," I nodded wondering where he was going with this.

"I double dog dare you to try it again," he looked at me devilishly.

One of our traditions from when we were younger was never backing out of a double dog dare. "Fine," I slid off my shoes. "But I double dog dare you to do it with me."

"Ladies first," he gestures, stepping out of the way.

I took a deep breath before stepping on the first rock. The water was freezing, and I shivered once my toes were fully submerged.

A few more steps and Damon followed close behind me. We strategized what rocks looked like the sturdiest and least slippery, as we carefully placed each foot. There were a few times I almost fell.

Once I got to the halfway point, I looked back at Damon, and there was a loud sound. "Shit," I cursed. A train was coming. And being under the bridge was not good. It shook the bridge and rocks would fall between the cracks. We learned that the hard way when Jeremy got struck by one when he was nine and we had to go to the hospital so he could get stitches.

Damon gripped my hips, "Hurry," lightly pushing me forward. "Just move."

I no longer thought strategically and just tried my best to get across quickly.

My heart pounded as you could hear the train get closer, as we got closer to land. Damon was on my heels, his hands still on my waist. He pushed me further, faster.

We made it to land and Damon shoved me up against column of the bridge where it was safest, because it had a tiny cement ceiling that acted as an umbrella.

Just as my back hit the column, the train sounded above us. The whole bridge shaking and rocks crumbling to the ground. But I couldn't even focus on that, because Damon was just centimeters from my face. I could smell his minty fresh breath, and his icy blue eyes pierced into mine.

My chest expanded with all the adrenaline coursing my body for more reasons than one. His hands were still gripped on to my hips tightly. He looked at me, like I had never seen before. And time seemed to stand still as an electricity flowed around us. Was it just me or was he feeling something too? I never felt this before with him. At least I always suppressed thoughts. But why now? Why was my mind wandering to territory that was forbidden?

The train finally passed, and Damon slowly backed away from me. "That was close," he cleared his throat.

"Yeah," I nodded. Something dawned on me, and I beamed with pride. "We made it!" I clapped excitedly. "We made it all the way across without falling!"

He gave a crooked smile as he realized we did it, "Only took us seven years."

Again, silence settled over us for a second as we stood smiling at each other. "Come on," he reached out his hand. "Let's go home."

A/N: What'd you think? Please let me know, and I will see you next week :)