Early the Next Morning…
I stretched out in bed as the light poured in through the window. This bed was so comfortable. Like sleeping on a cloud. I got up and looked out the window enjoying the view of the back garden. Once I was more settled, I was going to go on a run around the property line maybe even the woods. It was no central park but there was less smog.
Once I was showered which by the way whoever did the property upkeep while Damon was away deserved a freaking medal (RIP a century of Damon's nephews). I kept it casual and since it was a surprisingly and rare warm November morning I wore shorts for what could possibly me the last time this year, a white tank top, dark wash denim shorts and an open red and black flannel over it. Since it was boot season I wore my favorite pair of dark brown combat boots.
My hair was up in a messy bun since I was going to be cooking.
I got a bit lost trying to find the kitchen. This house needed a directory so people wouldn't get lost.
I eventually made it downstairs and after opening only two coat closets I found the kitchen. The fully stocked fully equipped dream kitchen you'd see in a magazine.
"I'm never leaving this house." I told myself before I started looking around seeing what I had to work with. I was definitely going to have to nag Damon for a grocery run but for now I had enough for a good breakfast and waffles.
I got started making the batter and I played some music to keep me company while I worked or until Damon came downstairs to show me where the coffee was.
"Something smells good in here." Someone said. I turned to see a tall blonde peeking into the kitchen.
"That's probably the bourbon maple syrup it goes on the bacon and waffles." I said.
"You're making waffles from scratch. Yum." She said before she stared at me in shock.
"You're one of Damon's friends?" I asked.
"Ew no." She said giving me a weird look. "I'm sorry I feel like we've met before."
"I don't think so. I'm new to town." I said.
"So am I. I'm just passing through to celebrate Stefan's birthday." She said.
"It's his birthday? 162?" I asked.
"Y-yeah. You know about…" She started.
"I got the coffee!" Damon called out walking in.
"I freaking love you." I said taking the cup he offered and moaning at the first sip.
"I know, I'm very lovable." He said.
"I was talking to the coffee." I said.
"Oh you." Damon said annoyed.
"Me." The blonde said with a smile. "I was just introducing myself to your friend since you aren't. I'm Lexi"
"Nora." I said opening the waffle iron to take the first one out before drizzling the bourbon maple syrup over it and the bacon. "First one up."
I handed the plate to Lexi.
"Thank you." She said with a smirk.
"What about me?" Damon said.
"She was here first and you didn't bring her coffee. Lexi gets the first waffle." I said. "Next one's all yours."
"With extra bacon." Damon added.
"Want some bourbon while you're at it?" I asked.
"Already put a shot in my coffee." He said.
"Should have known." I said. "Should I make one for the birthday boy?"
"Don't bother he's out hunting bunnies." Damon said.
"I'll leave one in the warmer then." I said.
"You know I could have sworn I've met you before." Lexi said.
"I guess I just have one of those faces." I said with a shrug while making Damon's plate.
"Yeah maybe." Lexi said giving me a weird look.
"Oh I got that." Damon said helping me juggle some plates while serving us some eggs. Lexi just looked at us even more confused as we moved around doing our usual breakfast routine.
"So how'd you two meet?" Lexi asked.
"Bar." Damon and I answered at the same time.
"Okay I'm just going to take this with me. Thanks again." Lexi said before vamping out of the kitchen.
"She's nice." I said.
"Sure when she's not being a buzz kill." Damon said.
"I'm guessing there's a story." I asked.
"Maybe there is and maybe there isn't." Damon said.
"Story where you're the bad guy. Got it." I said reading between the lines.
"I was not the bad guy. Not entirely. There was a brief time in the 80's I didn't have my humanity on and Stefan sent her to get me to turn it back on." Damon said.
"And?" I asked.
"And I made her fall for me, had a one night stand and locked her on a roof in the morning without a daylight ring." Damon said.
"Dude." I said.
"She was trying to manipulate me so I manipulated back." Damon said. "And now's the part where you tell me I need to apologize."
"You should apologize if you actually mean it but you obviously don't so I'll leave it to you." I said.
"You know me too well." He said sipping his coffee before he got a mischievous look in his eyes.. "I almost forgot it's Stefan's birthday. We should have a party."
"Oh no. I know that look." I said.
"There's no look I'm just trying to be a good brother and help celebrate my little brother 162nd birthday. You only turn 162 once." Damon said.
"Whatever you're planning I'm staying out of it." I said. "Parties in this town always end with someone dying or tragedy and I'm cursed to die a young and tragic death."
"You're being dramatic." He said.
"Am I?" I asked. "You want to do a head count? Starting with the bonfire…"
"Okay fine stay in but you're going to miss all the fun." He said.
"I have a feeling the fun you're planning isn't what I consider fun." I said. Damon didn't say anything just smiled. Yeah it was definitely not going to end well. Lucky for me I had a bunch of emails and work to catch up on. Which ended up turning into even more work when a coder on staff screwed up right before the deadline and they called to see if I could lend a hand.
That was how I ended up working late into the night on some dumb gaming app that was going to end up on the app store of a dollar but would bombard you with ads. Lucky for whoever downloaded it those ads would not make the app crash because of me.
I had just finished up when Damon walked in.
"Hey how was the party?" I asked as I finished up answering the last email of the night.
"Oh the usual. I took care of the council problem." Damon said and I noticed the mud on his shoes as he went straight for the bourbon before pouring me a glass of whiskey.
"Did you take care of them as in got them off your trail or took care of them as in you murdered them all and just came back from burying the body?" I asked.
"What?" he asked as I pointed to his shoes. "Oh I just came back from burying Lexi."
"Lexi? The nice blonde from this morning who happens to be your brother's best friend?" I said.
"Yeah. Took care of her." Damon said.
"Dude!" I said.
"What? We needed a scapegoat and she just happened to come into town at just the right time." Damon said.
"Dude!" I said
"What?!" He said.
"She was your brother's best friend and it's his birthday." I said.
"Birthday's don't mean the same when you live forever." Damon said.
"Damon." I said in my serious voice.
"We had a problem and I took care of it. Stefan will get over it." Damon said.
"Speaking as your best friend and the likely target of his revenge if he ever goes full ripper again no, he's not just going to get over it." I said.
"First off Stefan is not going to go full Ripper again." Damon said.
"Heightened emotions plus a break up plus the loss of his best friend sound like a recipe for a ripper." I said.
"It won't happen. Stefan's too self-righteous. As long as he doesn't have human blood he'll stay on the bunny wagon and even if he doesn't I won't let him touch a hair on your pretty little red head." Damon said kissing the top of my head. "Now drink your whiskey. I can feel you overthinking."
"He's going to be so pissed at you." I said.
"Eh What's new?" Damon said enjoying his drink. My laptop dinged and I opened it to check what it was when suddenly I felt a gust of wind.
"Told you I'd take care of it." Damon said.
Stefan tackled Damon and they went at it.
"Uh…" I just sat there watching them blur around before Stefan pinned Damon to the wall and it was obvious that Stefan was not happy.
"Come on, I did this for you. To get them off our trail." Damon defended.
"You never do anything for anyone but yourself." Stefan said before stabbing Damon with a stake.
"Ah!" I cried out in shock making Stefan finally notice I was there.
"You missed!" Damon hissed.
"No. You saved my life. I'm sparing yours. We're even. And now we're done." Stefan said dropping him before speeding in front of me and cupping my face with his hands.
"Don't!" Damon snarled but falling back as he tried to stand before reaching to yank out the stake. My blood went cold thinking this was it, that young tragic death I was cursed to die. As Stefan looked me in the eye Damon managed to yank out the stake.
"You're going to get up, leave and never come back. Damon isn't good for you he'll only hurt you." Stefan said trying to compel me before running off.
I was shaking when I finally stood up to go check on Damon.
"You totally deserved that." I said helping him stand.
"Yeah yeah." Damon said groaning as he stood. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." I said still shaking.
"Hey." Damon said putting an arm around me. "Nothing's going to happen to you. Promise."
"I'm pretty sure no one can make that promise." I said.
"Doesn't mean I won't try." He said. "How about we get out of here? I know a good Chinese place that's open late."
"I was craving Chinese." I said. "Let me grab a jacket."
Late night Chinese always made things seem better whether it was a bad hangover, a bad vision, stress full day or getting stabbed with a wooden stake in the stomach by your upset younger brother after you killed his best friend slash Blood Addict Anonymous Sponsor.
"You know I haven't forgotten." Damon said.
"Forgotten what?" I asked as I twirled my chopsticks around a bit.
"Your birthday is in a week." He said casually.
"I thought you'd be done with birthdays for a while." I said.
"Vampire birthdays don't really matter. Yours on the other hand I am keeping up tradition and making sure each one is even better than the one before." Damon said.
"I don't know Damon last year was pretty epic. I mean you got a limo, there was a pub crawl scavenger hunt that all led to a rooftop bar where The Killers gave us a private show." I said.
"I can top that." he said.
"I'm sure that whatever you have planned is great but you don't have to go all out." I said.
"I don't have to but I want to." He said. "Besides we could use some fun. It's not like Stefan appreciated the amazing party I compelled Caroline to plan for him."
"It was technically her birthday too." I reminded him.
"No one really cared." Damon said.
"Ouch." I said. "Can't believe Stefan actually tried to compel me."
"Same It was a waste of time considering it wouldn't have stuck even if you weren't wearing vervain." Damon said.
"Might make it a bit awkward when we bump into each other around the house." I said.
"You're probably not going to see him." Damon said. "Knowing Stefan he's going to lock himself up in his room and cry over a dead bunny."
"Those poor bunnies." I said.
"Better those bunnies than you." Damon said.
"Agreed." I said picking up my whiskey.
"Now for your party…" He started.
"Oh no." I said dreading what he was planning. "Party at the boarding house since the grill is over done or…"
"I don't want to trash the house." I said.
"Yeah the maid's been working a lot of over time." Damon said. "I'll figure it out."
"I'm sure you will." I said.
One Week Later…
I woke up the morning of my birthday at the worst hour imaginable. Early morning. My so called best friend snuck into my room before jumping onto the bed and setting off a very loud party horn.
"Ah!" I sat up with a gasp at being woken up so suddenly.
"Happy Birthday!" He cheered loudly before slipping on a birthday tiara and snapping a polaroid of it.
"Damon!" I shouted as I glared at him.
"It's your birthday." He said again and I glared at him. "Coffee's on your bedside table."
"Okay." I said reaching for it.
"And breakfast." Damon said setting up a tray with fruit, juice, and an everything bagel with bacon, smoked salmon, cream cheese and tomatoes.
"My perfect breakfast." I said smiling at the fact that he remembered what I always ordered at our favorite bagel shop.
"Fresh bagels flown in straight from New York." Damon said
"You had them delivered?" I said.
"Yeah apparently they deliver out of state no compulsion necessary." He said.
"Thank you." I said.
"Don't thank me yet, the day's just getting started." Damon said sipping his coffee and biting into his own sandwich.
Sure enough he really did have the entire day planned. Including my outfit which was also delivered from New York. I used to cringe at how much Damon would spend on clothes but now I didn't even hesitate when he handed me his credit card and told me to go nuts.
So the designer jeans, Chanel blazer and lace trimmed silk top with the price tags still attached didn't make me flinch. I put them on complete with the black leather heeled knee high boots.
Turns out it was a good thing since this was just the first of a few wardrobe changes there would be throughout the day.
Of course no birthday was complete without the time honored tradition of carpool karaoke.
"Okay we're outside of town where are we going?" I asked Damon.
"it's a surprise." He said before a thought came to him. "Though now might be a good time for a small dose of insurance."
"Insurance?" I asked before Damon bit into his wrist before offering it to me. "Seriously? What exactly are we going to do?"
"Nothing dangerous." Damon said. "Well not dangerous if you do it right."
"I'm starting to not like this surprise." I said.
"You say that every year and every year I prove you wrong. This is just in case anything happens." He said. "Now hurry up and drink and don't get any blood on the seats they're a bitch to clean."
"I prefer when you sneak it into my coffee." I said taking his wrist and drinking his blood.
"Sorry forgot to do it this morning." Damon said.
"I'm never going to get used to that." I said taking a bottle of water and drinking some to help get rid of the aftertaste.
"You will. Especially if we ever have to use that insurance policy." He said.
"Depends are you actually going to stick around for baby vamp orientation if it does happen?" I asked.
"I'm not going anywhere and if I am you're coming with me." Damon said. "Unless you decide to be a vegan vampire. Then you're on your own."
I laughed at that.
"You've seen me hangry, do you really think I'd willingly put myself through that?" I asked.
"I wouldn't want to be around if you did." Damon said as he pulled what looked like an airfield. "We're here."
"Are we flying somewhere?" I asked.
"Just for a bit. Then we're jumping off." Damon said.
"You mean…" I said.
"We're crossing off number 17." He said.
"Are you serious?" I said.
"What are you going to chicken out on me?" Damon said.
"No but now I'm really glad you gave me some of your blood." I said. "Number 17."
"Number 17." Damon said. "You ready?"
"You're doing this too right?" I asked.
"Well I was going to wait down here in case I needed to catch you." Damon started and I gave him a look. "But then I knew you were going to give me that look and tell me some fact about how the force of gravity and speed blah blah blah. So I'll just jump with you."
"You're the best." I said.
"I know." Damon said.
So one short orientation later they put up on a plane flew us up thousands of feet in the air and we jumped. There was a bit of screaming. A lot of screaming and not all of it came from me.
"You know I think jumping out of a plane does more to wake you up than coffee." I said still feeling the buzz from the adrenaline rush.
"You had your eyes closed most of the time." Damon said.
"At least I wasn't screaming." I teased.
"I didn't scream that was all you." He said.
"Well I have the video to prove it wasn't all me." I said waving the CD and a few photos of us. "Which are going to be safely put away in a box somewhere where no one else can see them."
"They better." He said as we got back into the car.
Surprise number two of the day was the three was a private bar/arcade with a lunch catered by a professional chef with the theme of elevated comfort food.
"This fried chicken is better than sex." I said.
"If that's true then I think you're doing something wrong." Damon said taking a bite of said chicken. "No wait this is better."
"Is that what I think it is?" I said.
"Axe throwing. Number 32?" He asked.
"31." I corrected running over to the axe throwing booth. "We should get one of these for the boarding house."
"I'd settle for a pool table." Damon said sipping his drink as I grabbed an axe. "Careful."
"Oh please how hard can it be." I said swinging the axe back as I prepared to throw it only for the axe to fly up hit the ceiling and bounce right down towards me. Lucky for me Damon's Vampire reflexes kicked in and he managed to move me out of the way just in the nick of time.
"You were saying?" he said.
"My fingers were greasy." I said.
"Sure." Damon said picking up the axe that almost killed me and throwing it effortlessly hitting the target dead center.
"Can I get a few pointers?" I asked.
"Sure." Damon said fixing my grip on the axe and my posture before helping me throw the axe. "There you go."
I went a few more rounds before my birthday cake was brought out. It was a simple one tired round cake frosted with buttercream frosting and decorated with dark red and orange autumn flowers. After eating a slice and washing it down with one drink I was dropped off at a spa to relax before whatever Damon had planned for that night.
I was very relaxed as I was pampered and the champagne kept on coming. I almost didn't want to get up and changed into the dress I was supposed to wear but my hair make up was done and Damon had gone through all the trouble to plan out the perfect birthday so I downed one last glass of champagne before getting into my dress.
It still had a price tag on it and it sobered me up immediately when I saw it. Though I did have to admit, it was so pretty, the Marchesa mint Ombre fringe mini dress fit me perfectly and the color was… Uh he knew me too well.
I slipped it on and made a mental note to remember not to bend down at all for the rest of the night.
As I made it outside to wait for Damon to finish up his pre-dinner snack. I stood outside by the mall fountain checking emails. One of the startups I did some freelance work for sent me a hundred dollar gift card.
"Happy Birthday to me." I said.
"Excuse me." Someone said and I turned to see a very handsome tall dark haired man in an impeccably tailored suit. "My phone doesn't seem to be working, may I trouble you for the time?"
"Oh it's quarter after seven." I told him.
"Looks like I'm early." He said. "Though it's rather dark."
"You've got to love daylight savings time." I said with a smile.
"Well it is better to be early than late." He said. "Are you here alone?"
"Oh no, my friend just had to go get something from the car really quick." I said. Normally I would be a bit weary of talking to strangers because… well stranger danger but I guess the southern hospitality and the small town life of Mystic Falls had me dropping my guard. That and this guy was really handsome and his accent… I was a sucker for a cute accent.
"He's a very lucky man." He said.
"Oh no… we're not together. Just friends." I said a little too enthusiastically and he smiled.
"May I…" He said gesturing to the spot next to me on the bench.
"Sure." I said. "I'm Nora."
"Elijah." He said taking my hand. "So what brings you to Richmond?"
"It's my birthday." I admitted. "My best friend planned this whole day starting with my favorite bagels and skydiving."
"Skydiving? I didn't take you for a thrill seeker?" Elijah said amused.
"I'm not or at least I don't think I am but every year we try to cross off at least one thing from my bucket list and this year it was number 17 and 31." I said.
"What was 31?" He asked.
"Axe throwing." I said.
"Axe throwing?" He said with a chuckle. "I should try that."
"I highly recommend it." I said.
"Nora, I'm here. Had to compel a guy at the valet to make sure he wouldn't park in a compact spot but we're all set." Damon said.
"Awesome." I said before turning around to say bye to Elijah but he was gone. "Than… Uh…"
I looked around but there was no one around.
'What are you looking at?" Damon said looking around.
"I was… nothing." I said shaking it off. "So where are we going?"
"I saved the best for last just like that dress. Wow." Damon said lifting my arm so I would spin.
"Were you looking for the shortest dress they had at the store or is there a theme to this dinner?" I asked.
"There's a theme and I didn't pick it out. I compelled the girl at the store to, though now I'm thinking I should have left a bigger tip." He said.
"Or maybe she thought she was going to model it for you." I said taking his arm as he led me to where we were going.
"That could have been fun." Damon said before making a turn into an alley.
"Is this the part where you tell me the surprise is that I'm dinner?" I said.
"No this is the part where you say I've outdone myself." Damon said opening the back door of a diner and leading me to a phone booth.
"This is cozy." I said as we squeezed in.
"Smile and say Speakeasy." Damon said putting an arm around me and smiling.
"Speakeasy." I said smiling before there was a flash of light and a polaroid of us was printed out under the phone before a hidden door was opened.
"Welcome to Lock and Key." The bouncer said letting us in before the hidden entrance closed back up I looked around revealing a Gatsby themed club with a live band playing 1920's covers of modern dance music.
"How did you find this place?" I asked Damon.
"I know a guy." Damon said. "This place is run by vampires. Does this cross off Number 25?"
"Oh yeah." I said. "And I'll say it. You topped last year and you're the best friend a girl could ask for."
"I try." Damon said kissing the top of my head. "Let's get a drink before we hit the dance floor."
A little known secret Damon loved dancing and he was really good at it. And while I was probably not the best partner he kept me in that fun level of buzzed where I could stay on my feet while wearing very high heels and had fun being twirled around and at one point flipped in the air.
I couldn't stop laughing even when we headed home and started my favorite game of drunk carpool karaoke.
"I don't think I've ever seen you this drunk." Damon said.
"I don't think I've ever been this drunk." I said as we made it into town. "But I'm weirdly hungry. Like I could eat a giant plate of fries and onion rings, onion rings and ranch."
"Whatever you want." Damon said parking in front of the grill. He opened the door for me and helped me up.
"Oh and whiskey." I said.
"You want to drink more?" he said. "I never thought I'd be the one saying that."
"I want to keep this floaty feeling going." I said. "Also I photograph really cute when I'm drunk… oh! My Tiara!"
I grabbed the plastic birthday tiara before following Damon inside. The Grill was surprisingly crowded. There must've been a football game or something.
We went to the bar and I took a seat ordering my drink as we goofed off.
At some point Damon excused himself for a late night snack leaving me alone with my fries and whiskey.
"Hi." Someone said sitting next to me. It was a girl with long brown hair and brown doe eyes.
"Hi." I said taking a bite of my fries. "Before you get your hopes up I don't swing that way drunk or sober but you're adorable and I'm sure any girl will be lucky to have you."
"I'm not…" She said getting flustered.
"There's no need to be embarrassed. A lot of people are into the jailbait look you'll find someone sweetie." I said.
"I wasn't… I'm Elena." She said.
"Okay?" I said.
"I know you're here with Damon." She said.
"Oh yeah. He's is the best." I said smiling.
"No no he's not." She said. "He's not a good guy and he's going to hurt you."
"Elena." Damon said coming back.
"Leave her alone. She's in no condition…" She started.
"Nora do you want me to leave you alone?" Damon asked.
"No how else am I going to get home. And I want a piggyback ride. My feet hurt." I said.
"You heard the lady." Damon said. "You don't have to be jealous Elena there's plenty of me to go around."
"Don't hurt her." Elena demanded.
"I'm not going to hurt her. I actually like her. You on the other hand not so much." Damon said helping me up.
"Good luck finding a girl. But find a nice one that will treat you right and doesn't like bunnies." I said before Damon picked me up and threw me over his shoulder before I said anything else. "Wah!"
"Night Elena." Damon said with a smirk as he carried me out.
The Next Morning…
I woke up in my bed with the worst headache I've ever had. The sun pouring into my room didn't help. I was still wearing my dress from last night and anything after stuffing my mouth with fries at the Grill was a blur.
Speaking of those fries wanted to make an encore appearance. I looked over at my night stand and saw a glass of water and some painkillers for my headache. I didn't think twice before taking some. I don't think I've ever been so hungover before.
I eventually managed to get up and into the shower which did help a bit. After changing into some grey leggings and a white tee I made my way downstairs to find the one thing that could possibly turn this morning around. Coffee.
My best friend was already in the kitchen making breakfast.
"Morning sunshine." Damon greeted.
"Not so loud." I groaned sitting at the counter before he placed a coffee mug in front of me.
"Rough night?" He asked.
"I'm never drinking so much again." I whined.
"Until next year." Damon said. "Do you remember last night?"
"I remember going to the Grill because I had a huge craving for fries." I said. "Then it gets fuzzy."
"So you don't remember meeting Elena? Or her trying to cockblock me?" Damon said.
"What?" I said.
"Oh yeah." He said making me groan.
"Please tell me I didn't do anything else." I said.
"No but you did talk about some hot guy in a suit you met at some point that you wanted to climb and…" he started.
"No no no. That's enough." I said and Damon chuckled before Stefan walked in.
"What are you still doing here?" Stefan asked Damon.
"We live here." Damon said.
"We?" Stefan said noticing who Damon was looking at.
"You remember Nora? You know my best friend that you tried to compel to run away because I'm bad for her?" he said.
"Hi." I mumbled with a wave as I sipped my coffee.
"How is she…" Stefan said.
"You're not really good at compelling people. I think you'd have more luck if you asked nicely. You know with a please." Damon said sarcastically.
"It is the magic word." I added.
"You should listen to her Stefan. Nora's never wrong." Damon said before he stormed out. "It's good to have a partner in crime."
"Cheers." I said lifting my mug and clinking it with his.
The next two weeks were pretty quiet. Even Damon was a bit more subdued than normal. I would even dare say he was behaving.
As for me I was getting used to the small town life. I wasn't a social butterfly per say but some faces were starting to seem more and more familiar.
As for the broodier Salvatore brother, he wasn't letting himself be seen. I knew he was around because the way some things were moved when I went into a room. It was like he was actively avoiding me which didn't bother me.
Though the feeling of being watched did. Stefan was not as subtle as he thought he was.
It wasn't until one day when Damon decided he needed to get out and visit the local tri delta house that I was left alone.
He lent me his Camaro to do some grocery shopping and when I got back Stefan was in the common room reading.
"Need a hand?" he said awkwardly.
"Sure." I said. "There's another two bags in the car."
With that I headed to the kitchen to start putting things away.
"Damon let you borrow his car? He never lets anyone drive it." Stefan said.
"Well he had a meeting with the tri-delts and the kitchen needed to be restocked desperately." I said.
"That explains it." He said. "I think we got off on the wrong foot."
"What makes you think that?" I asked sarcastically.
"My brother uses people and I thought I was doing the right thing." Stefan said.
"Damon is Damon." I said. "Though taking away a person's free will is the pot calling the kettle black don't you think?"
"You're right." Stefan said. "And I'm sorry about that."
"Well no harm done." I said. "And for what it's worth I'm sorry to. About Lexi. She seemed really nice."
"She was." Stefan said before something caught his eye and he gave me a strange look. "That's a nice bracelet. Antique?"
"I think so. It was actually a gift from your brother." I said.
"Really?" Stefan said carefully reaching for one of the charms but immediately let go as it burned him. "There's vervain in it."
"Yeah apparently for a small town you guys have a pretty big vampire problem." I said. "Though coming from Damon it's a bit ironic."
"That's one word for it" he answered as he stared at the bracelet on my wrist.
