Hello lovelies, I'm at 200 views and that's about 10x of what I expected. That's a major boost and I'm posting sooner than I was planning to.
This is slow chapter though. The excitement begins from the next.
She woke up when she sensed a presence entering the room. It took her a moment to catch up to her surroundings. She was on Damon's bed, she must have dozed off here. She did remember putting silencing and proximity wards around the room. It must be the wards alerting her, Damon was already keyed into the room since it was his own.
"Stefan?" She murmured confused. Sure enough, he was at the door, looking shocked at being caught.
"I wanted to talk to you," He told her regaining composure.
"So you sneaked in when I was sleeping, without even knocking the door? Sure, come on in." She snarked, settling against the head board.
He looked visibly chastised, "I'm sorry, making you uncomfortable was not the intention. I wanted to talk when Damon wasn't around and I had to be careful in case he was. My brother is dangerous."
"I know that."
"You don't know the extent of it."
"I know he's no marshmallow Stefan, it's no big deal." Of course, she knew what she was dealing with.
"He can and will hurt you even if he hasn't already." The utter conviction on the brother's face was sad. She wondered how they got to this point.
"I think I can handle myself fine."
"You don't get it, he's a monster and you should get away from here."
"I'm fine here, thanks for the warm welcome"
"Listen, did he ask you to stay? Did he order you to get engaged?"
"I'm here on my own volition."
"Then he's lying to you, he doesn't care about anyone but himself."
"I'm sure your brother will appreciate your endorsement, you should leave now." She stood up, motioning towards the door. It was getting ridiculous, he was a broken record about it. She appreciated the sentiment, but she was no damsel in distress, and something about the younger brother's insistence rubbed her wrong.
Damon came back with breakfast a little after Stefan left. They ate in silence, she chose not to mention her interaction with Stefan for now. Damon offered to help her move into the new room and unpack. She could do that with a wave of her hand but decided to do it the muggle way and took his help.
She walked into the room with her luggage and was surprised to see the state of the room.
"You cleaned the room?" She asked Damon.
"Mhhmm, I don't need sleep the way you do, besides, you claimed the bed as your own last night," he smirked at her.
"You could have woken me up. You seem to enjoy cleaning," she murmured the last part still shocked. The covers had been removed and curtains were changed, the place was dusted and aired, new sheets were laid on the bed. If she hadn't seen it yesterday, she would not have believed it to be the same room.
"That's the second time you sound surprised about it, should I be offended Miss Black," he jested.
"It's not my fault you don't look it," she threw back as she got to work unpacking.
Her room looked the same as Damon's, it was slightly larger. There were no bookshelves, but it wasn't like she could put her books on display here. The layout was also similar, windows spanned an entire wall she had a balcony opening into one , there was a small study area with a table and some chairs instead of bookshelves. There was a large walk in closet, her bathroom did not have a tub but it looked just as luxurious.
There was something comforting about the place. Having spent most of her life in old buildings, she supposed it was the familiarity.
She was done in less than two hours. She wandered down and found Damon with a book in one hand and a drink in another. Another perk of his lifestyle she supposed.
"Would you like a drink?" he asked as a greeting, not turning from his book.
"Too early for me. You got me breakfast, how about I make you lunch?" she offered. "Any preferences?"
"Do your magic, although, I must say, I'd never turn down tapping a vein."
"Funny. Pasta it is."
They made their way to the local bar named Mystic Grill, very original, she thought. After the relatively domestic day that they had, Damon wanted to get started with business, getting the lay of the land. It was a small town, she considered herself knowledgeable enough on the dynamics of closed communities to work around it.
They stepped in to be met with a lot of stares. No one even tried to be subtle about it. It wasn't just the outsider effect either. She saw being blatantly checked out, so was Damon. She was fairly certain her companion was actually enjoying the attention. She was no stranger to it, and wasn't above admitting she liked a certain level of attention either. It could backfire quickly if they didn't play it right. She had no stakes here, so she let the man drive this the way he wanted.
He walked towards the center, closer to the bar, slightly away from the drooling teen spirits near the pool table, she was relieved. She saw Stefan in one of the booths near them but Damon lead her away, hand on her back.
"Why don't you get seated, I'll get us a drink," he said, pulling a chair out for her. She nodded with a smile. She didn't know if it was a show or chivalry, but if they didn't have eyeballs, they definitely did now.
It was a quaint little space, larger than she would have expected from the outside but pleasantly comfortable. There was a decent crowd too, across cliques and ages. High school, college, young couples, new parents, there were figures who carried themselves with some amount of authority too, she idly noted.
She saw Damon ordering at the bar, the leather jacket and a carelessness in his step that stood out here. She supposed she did too, with her matching jacket and skinny jeans and combat boots. Dressing wasn't all either, there was always a hierarchy, a pecking order in smaller groups. New blood was rare, and there was a certain level of evaluative scrutiny till they find the place in the order.
"I got us bourbon and some fries, the waiter will be here in a bit to take our orders," he told her as he took a seat opposite to her.
"You're either a natural at this or you're very good at playing the room," she said in a low tone leaning forward.
"I don't know what you mean," he told her in a tone even he didn't believe.
"So what's your read on the room?"
"Ignoring the jocks and the beer bodies, there is the town's sheriff and the mayor's wife three tables away, we'll get our in with them and mess with baby brother who's going to break the table in stress not knowing what I'm up to. He can't hear us, can we? You're quite natural at this too." He smirked again.
A waiter placed their drinks and continued with a "What would you like to have this evening?"
"We're new here, why don't you tell us the specials," Damon asked back.
"I'd suggest a cheese sandwich or a hamburger," the waiter stuttered, clearly unused to being asked his opinion.
"I'll have a cheese sandwich, thanks Skye," she saw his name from his tag, getting wide eyed wonder in return.
"I'll have the same as my lady," Damon ordered handing back the menus as a sign of dismissal.
"Your lady?" she chuckled.
"Well, you didn't want to melt him next to our table because you picked his name, did you?"
"He wasn't so bad," she defended even as she laughed in agreement.
"Why don't we go greet our dear Stefan meanwhile?" he asked drowning the last of his second drink.
"Only if I lead," she told him as she got up, holding her hand out to him.
"Alright," he agreed not enthused at the idea but curious nonetheless.
"Stefan! I hope it's okay if we're here. Damon said you wouldn't like it, but I just got here and I know absolutely no one so I was excited to meet people even if it's your friends."
"Umm, that's alright Cassie," Stefan smiled as if he had swallowed a lemon, "Guys, this is my brother's fiancé, Cassie, that's my brother Damon." He introduced them to the group. There was visible tension with the brothers continuing their stare off.
"Brother, I thought you said you didn't have any siblings," a peppy blonde girl blurted out. A mocha skinned girl next to Stefan and facing slightly away from them hit her hand as she shook her head not at all surprised. "He said they weren't on talking terms Caroline!", she hissed out.
"Ouch, that wasn't awkward or anything," Damon joined the conversation looking anything but awkward.
"My brother and I had our differences after our parents passed away, we grew distant, but we're still the only family we have. With Cassie in picture and starting my own family, I wanted to reconcile. Little heavy for an introduction though, I'd skip it too if I were Stefan." He looked the right portions of regret, longing and love pulling it off spectacularly, it looked he even got to Stefan.
The third girl sitting on the other side of Stefan spoke up, "I'm Elena, this is Caroline and that's Bonnie, we all go to school with Stefan. Would you like to join us?"
"Oh no, you kids carry on, we'll go back to our table, don't want to bother Stefan too much in a day," Damon declined. "I'll see you around though."
"Elena, Bonnie. Caroline, love the earrings actually! It was nice meeting you all!"
"Actually, Cass, there's a party near the falls on Thursday, would you like to join us?"
She expected a better opening in the next conversation and was pleasantly surprised by the invite. She got looks from her other two girls and Stefan seemed to be doing his best not to glare at her.
"I'd take you up on it, but might be a little too old for school party, Caroline.." she turned down, but the blonde was ready even before she finished her sentence.
"But I love your dressing style and you like my earrings! We have to hang out and take notes, I love my friends but they're useless when it comes to fashion and there are so many events this year that I'm working on, I need some real and reliable girl advice."
"You have no filter, Care," Elena commented.
"Better her than us," Bonnie murmured.
The girl's face definitely fell at her friends' responses, she covered it up, but not before the others saw it. She reminded her of her own quirky blonde friend she'd come to consider a sister.
"Why don't you and I go shopping? You can help me fit in. We'll plan something," she said handing the now perked up girl her phone.
"You are lit! I'll text day after then? We'll plan a trip this weekend!"
"See you then!" We waved and moved away.
"You want to hang out with the neurotic blonde?" Damon asked as we got to our table again.
"That neurotic blonde seems to be the sheriff's daughter, I thought you might appreciate it," enjoying pointing out a detail he missed. He doubled back and looked at the woman in the uniform and Caroline again.
"You're good."
"Course, I am."
"So no touching the Sheriff and the mayor's wife?"
"Not right away, too suspicious. We just moved in, daughter's a better in and she already gave us one anyway."
Next up: Vicki's attack, brothers face off, Bennet meets Black, Cass-Care bonding.
The story is from Cassie's with Damon and Bonnie being the main characters. I'm pro Caroline too. Elena and Stefan are undecided but there's time before Stefan becomes less annoying.
What to do with Elena? Pro, neutral or bashing? I want to make her consistent and more than just a plot prop, but I'm open to what that is.
Let me know your thoughts!