Chapter 11 (Day 9-Day 10)
Damon drives away from the Gilbert's residence up to 120km/hour. He does not care where he is going nor does he care about getting into an accident due to the speed. All he can think about is how dare Elena treats him like a piece of shit. Like he does not even matter to her, not one bit. He realizes now that Elena has been a big part of his new life, a life that he does not even know would last. He is used to her presence, her laughter, even her snickers when he gets too much annoying or arrogant for her taste. And all she repays him is nothing. Not even a 'thank you' or 'I'm sorry for making you my makeshift friend when I'm in need'. If he was being honest, he does not care about not getting a 'thank you', he would be so comfortable if she was just answer 'I'm fine, Damon'. But no, she just has to go and ruin his mood. She has practically ruined his chance to be…
Anyway, as Damon drives away, he realizes he is getting closer to the Mystic Falls' welcome sigh, which means he has been driving for at least an hour, with that kind of speed he is not surprised. He decides to go to Georgia. Yes, three-hour trip Georgia, but he is certain he would get to his destination in under an hour. He speeds up more, hoping his friend is still alive.
"Hi, Bree," he smirks as he face to face with a brown-skinned middle aged woman with curly hair, with an empty tray in her hand.
"Damon Salvatore?" she whispers. "I thought you were dead!"
Damon jumps on one of the stools, flashes her a grin. Thankful that his former friend has apparently still alive after twenty years, "I came back."
He notices some people are already leaving since it was close to three a.m in the morning. Only some drunken girl and her two friends helping her out the door and a couple of guys on the pool ready to go home.
She chuckles, "Bourbon coming up, then."
She goes to the bar, doing her thing then a minute later, a glass of her finest bourbon is served in front of him, "I missed you, Bree."
"Oh, don't you go 'I missed you, Bree' to me, you jerk. You were lying to me," she snorts, "You told me you were going to take off your ring, I could do nothing to stop you, you said. And now here you are, fine as hell and drinking free bourbon."
"I was not lying when I said I'm gonna die," he sips his bourbon, letting the cool liquid burning his throat, "I came back," he repeats.
"What do you mean you came back? How is that even possible?"
"Ever heard about soul mate? The one mantra in your grimoire to call your soul mate even when he or she is already dead and you only got –"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. So?" she asks curiously.
"I got lucky and got called back," he winks at her, knowing she would not believe him.
"What? You're not shitting me right now, right?"
"Nope," he pops the 'p', "I am very serious."
"But then, you only got–"
"A month, I know," he drinks his bourbon, put it back down, narrows his eyes as if he was thinking hard, "I… I actually like her."
"The one who called you?"
"She's… amazing. She's kind, she's funny, she's smart but she's fierce but at the same time she seems like a lost girl and she's scared. She doesn't even have many friends. But she's willing to put everyone she loves before her no matter what. She's very selfless and she deserves better than me, I know. But," he pauses, picturing Elena's smile in his mind, "I like her, Bree."
"Wow," she sighs dreamily, "Never thought I'd see the day Damon Salvatore's in love."
"Not love," yet, "but she's very different than –"
"Katherine, I know. While Katherine Pierce is a conniving little bitch, here you are destined to be with the very opposite of her."
He nods, agreeing with her with the comment regarding his ex-girlfriend who has been dead for thirty years. "I need to make her fall in love with me in three short weeks."
"That's never failed before. Girls always falling at your feet, worshiping the ground you walk on."
"Except you," he smiles.
"Except me. I love your fangirls more than I love you," she winks, earning a genuine laugh from him. "So what's the problem with this girl then?"
"She's… very closed off. She doesn't want to tell me anything about her personal life, though I'm certain it has to do with her not living with her parents. She lives with her aunt, so I can safely say that her parents may have passed. That's the thing though; she doesn't want to open up. She doesn't want to let me in."
"So, something happened with her parents and she doesn't want to entrust you with something so personal. You can always compel her to tell you or even better, you can compel her to fall in love with you," she shrugs.
"It wouldn't work. I tried compelling her once to tell me she loved me but she wouldn't budge. I guess the universe wants me to have her heart by doing it right," he whines, getting impatient about Elena.
"So, what are you gonna do about it?"
"I don't know."
Damon is parking his car not too far away from the bakery he had been in before. Apparently, Elena's friend is the lovely Rebekah with the delicious red liquid running through her veins, which he has been acquainted before. It is only eight forty-five and he needs blood. Stat.
"Hello, Rebekah," he greets as soon as he steps into the bakery. There are only two people inside, eating their scones and drink their coffees.
"Damon?" she frowns, "Hey, what can I get you?"
Damon walks until only a counter separating them, he compels her, "Follow me to the back."
She smiles, going to the back where it is employees only can get in. Damon closes the door, feeling a bit careless as he sinks his canines into her long neck. As soon as the canines pierce her skin, Damon's left hand goes up to close her mouth, not allowing her voice to be heard by anyone. As soon as his stomach full, after four more sips, he lets go as he soon holding Rebekah who will likely to pass out soon.
"Shit."
He tears open his wrist, shove it harshly to the woman's mouth and let her have a couple sips of his blood before he roughly lets it go, "Now, act natural, forget we have been here. You only know that I'm here to buy coffee.
As soon as they come back inside and behind the register, she smiles, "I'll get your coffee right away."
Before she goes to get a coffee, a surprised voice from behind the counter shriek.
Elena.
Sitting in Mikaelson's Bakery is not how Elena has imagined speaking to Damon at. But here they are, sitting face to face with steaming black coffee in front of him and cold cappuccino in hers.
"What are you doing here?" Elena starts up the conversation, hoping they would move their conversation elsewhere soon.
"Getting a coffee."
"Why didn't you call me? Or text if it's troubles you so much," she glares.
"Who do think you are to know every little thing that I do?" Damon raises an eyebrow, challenging her.
She huffs, "You stormed out of my house yesterday without so much as a glance and you expect me to be okay with that?"
"You don't have to be okay with that, I just need you to make up your mind," he hisses, getting very annoyed that she cannot take a hint.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she feels offended, yet she knows exactly what he means.
"You know, I just don't get you, Elena. First, you want me here, then you don't wanna talk to me. Then you text me to come and I did, then you ignore me when I'm trying to help you. I cannot read your mind, you have to spell it out for me," he barks, earning a death glare from her yet he can see he has terrified him and he feels a little guilty for it.
"Don't make a scene. Let's talk in private."
She stands up, looking at him still sitting comfortably in his seat, "Why not here? Where everyone can see how immature you are."
She flashes him a dirty look before she sits back down, "Look," she takes a deep breath, "I am sorry for… everything."
His eyes go wide, shock is painted all over his face, "You don't even know what you did wrong, do you?"
"I'm…," she sighs in defeat, finally decides to let Damon know that she is really sorry, "I understand that I seemed to not appreciate your help the other day. It's just… it's so hard for me to open up to people, you know? After my parents…" she trails off, not ready to bring up the past.
His eyes softened, making his soul mate unhappy is not in his intentions at all, "Hey," he reaches out to caress her hand on the table, "What are you so afraid of?"
"Can we just go back to my house, please? I'll explain everything, I promise," she begs quietly, looking down at his thumb caressing her hand in a soothing and caring manner.
As soon as they are safe inside Elena's bedroom, she locks her door afraid that Jenna might barge in. She turns around to find Damon seems out of place, like he does not know if she was standing in the right spot or not. She does not like it one bit. He is used to consider her room as his.
"Relax, Damon," she says, throwing her keys on the vanity table, "I'm not gonna bite."
"But I will, if you're not start at somewhere," he mumbles leaving Elena giggle.
She sits down at the edge of the bed, signaling Damon to sit next to her which he obliges rather quickly but still save some distance between them, "I guess I'll start with I'm sorry. I talked to Jenna yesterday and I understand why you did what you did. I just… it feels weird for me to let people in, you know that. And when you actually asked whether I'm okay or not, I shut you out because I… I didn't know how to be open again to someone. You understand, right?" she looks at him with her puppy eyes which like it or not, it makes Damon's icy heart thawed.
He looks directly into her pool of brown eyes, realizes that she is sincerely wants to apologize to him makes him wonder, do I really deserve this girl?
"I do, I understand," he starts, "I'm sorry too. To storm out like that without explanation was an impulsive decision, but you know me, I'm an impulsive, arrogant, cocky, good-looking vampire," he earns a giggle from her and it feels so good to hear it.
"Can we just start over? I promised to tell you everything."
"Sure."
He flashes her a grin and without a second thought jumps on the bed, stretch out his legs and lean on the headboard. She does the same, as their shoulders touching one another.
"My parents died on a car crash three years ago when I was fifteen. I was in my friend's, Bonnie, house that day. Long story short, Jenna became my guardian and we moved here," she sighs softly, willing to not cry about the accident for a hundred times, "I started avoiding my friends, even Jenna. I just wanted to be alone. I know that there were people who cared about me but… after my parents died I just… I felt my life has ended as well."
He extends his arms subconsciously toward the back of her head and rests it on her shoulder as he pulls her closer, wanting her to continue as she shifts so that their thigh are touching, "And then you came. Confessed that you are my soul mate, and we became… friends. I just feel like, somehow, I started to live again. I feel more alive when you're here, talking to me, challenging me. I guess I'm just not familiar with that kind of feeling anymore."
A minute passes; they still fall deep in silence. Damon, pondering about what she has said, while Elena is thinking about how Damon would react.
"You know what I think?"
She looks up to face his crystalline blue eyes looking straight at her, "What?" she suddenly feels breathless.
"I think you are the bravest and the strongest person I've ever met."
"Damon? What are you doing here?"
Elena asks, a bit baffled when she sees her vampire soul mate leaning casually into his Camaro just in black jeans and black t-shirt, as usual.
He smirks, walking towards where Elena stands as she notices all around her where all the kids are watching them with curious eyes. "Picking you up, of course. What do you say we stop by your house, get in my car then some early dinner?"
She muses, "Best idea of the day."
She starts walking to her car when he grabs her arm softly, "I'd like to meet that girl Caroline first."
"But…"
Damon ignores her as he practically drags her to the open field where Caroline and her gang practice their cheerleader routine. Caroline's perfect face lights up when she sees Damon, but immediately turns sour when she spots Elena, ducking her head down as if she was embarrassed.
"Caroline," Damon calls, making Caroline running a little toward the pair with big smile, "How are you?"
"Hey, Damon," she greets happily, "Elena," she smiles tightly.
"I just want to let you know that somehow I think that this fake nice attitude shows when a handsome man comes."
The cheerleader drops her smile turning it into a frown, "Excuse me?"
Damon steps closer, leaving Elena behind him a few feet away, to Caroline so that they are literally nose to nose, "I would really appreciate it if you just shut up and leave Elena alone," he hisses, "And just so you know, Elena is the most beautiful girl inside and out, unlike you."
Caroline gapes, not knowing how to respond, "What… What do –"
"Nice meeting you, Blondie!"
Damon takes Elena's hand, entwining with his and dash out of the football field with laughter.
"So, where are we going?" Elena asks.
She is wearing one of the new dresses Jenna has bought for her a couple of days ago. She has chosen a navy knee length dress with lace long sleeves for her second date with Damon today.
Date?
Does she want this to be a date?
"A little Italian joint I've just found out. Romeo's. Been there?"
"In case you forgot, my social life is not that crowded I don't even know all of my neighbors names," she reminds him.
"Well, you are in for a treat, then. This app, Yelp, says that Romeo's is one of the most well-known Italian restaurants in Virginia."
"Wow," she muses, half mocking him, "A few days with an iPhone and you already acquaintance with Yelp."
"Yes, I've also been introduced to Spotify, that guessing game Heads Up, and Instagram," he chooses to ignore her insult remarks, throwing a smirk toward her way.
"Congrats, you're a hipster now."
"Now, you're really insulting me. Don't you remember that I was dead for the past twenty years?"
"That kind of reminds me," she gasps slightly, "How and why did you commit suicide? It is a suicide, right? You're not murdered or anything?"
"That heavy talk deserves alcohol drink. Besides, here we are."
Damon parks the car not too far away from the entryway of the restaurant. It is a modest Italian restaurant with its bright modest banner out front. It is pretty cozy from outside, Elena decides. Damon opens his door first, and when she comes to open hers, it is ripped out slowly, revealing Damon with his big grin and reached out hand for her to grab. She sends him one of her sweet smiles and takes his outstretched hand in hers, entwining it. He closes the door with his feet, locks it then pulls her toward the entrance.
As soon as they get to the host table, Damon walks up and says, "Salvatore for two."
The hostess checks her computer for a second, smile at them then leads them toward the back of the restaurant.
Romeo's has seating for at least twenty people inside and twenty people outside. The garden, the one the hostess leading them to, is adorned with twinkle lights everywhere and each table has a candle jar which makes it perfect and romantic for couple. Elena smiles to herself, surprised that Damon has a bit of romantic side on him. Everyday that she learns something new about Damon, she holds onto it. She likes the facts Damon throw about himself though sometimes he doesn't even realized that he was giving her something about himself.
"Here you go, Mr. Salvatore. Hope the seats are according to your liking. Your waiter, Jonah, will come in about five minutes. Here are the menus. Enjoy your night." Then the hostess leaves.
Damon pulls Elena's seat and she happily drops her bum on it, still wearing a big smile on her face, appreciating everything that Damon has done tonight, "Thank you, kind sir."
He takes a sit in front of her, "Well, after all I was raised to be a perfect Southern gentleman."
"Right, sometimes I forget you were born in 1800," Elena says, puckering her lips.
"You must never forget about this one, though," he leans in closer to her face and instinctively she leans closer to him, "I'm a big bad vampire."
She laughs out loud, throwing her head back and Damon gives himself a pat in the back in his mind.
"Anyway," Elena says after controlling her breath for a second, "What's good here?"
"Yelp says the pasta is to die for. I personally in the mood for cannelloni."
Elena grins, "Everytime you say 'Yelp', I feel like you will do whatever it says."
"Well, it is a trustworthy app. Don't judge me."
"Okay," her attention back to the menu, "I think I'm gonna go with good ole beef lasagna."
After a couple of minutes, concentrating on their respective menus, their waiter comes with a tablet in his hands.
"Good evening, guys. I'm Jonah, are you ready to order?"
Elena looks up and the waiter has his eyes widened, stuck on her beauty, which makes Damon want to rip his eyebrows out and feed it to him.
"I'd like some beef lasagna and iced tea, please."
He blinks a few times before clears his throat and writes on his tablet. Now Damon really wants to rip his throat out for looking at his girl.
"Buddy! Eyes up there, not on her chest," Damon exclaims a little too loud, earning a gasp and a glare from Elena.
"I'm sorry," he squeaks out, "Sir, what would you like to order?" he averts his gaze to Damon, silently apologize to him for ogling Elena.
"Spinach ricotta cannelloni and bring your finest wine," he orders.
In record time Jonah nods, mumbling about their orders then rushes out of their table.
"Damon," she admonishes, "You don't have to be so rude to him."
"What? I was protecting your virtue."
"It's not like he wants to have sex with me," Elena says, rolling her eyes.
"Yes, he did. Did you not see the way he was looking at you? Like you were the finest meat," he grumbles.
She smiles, taking his hand that he places on the table, in hers, "Thanks. But I can look out for myself, okay?"
He pouts but squeezes her hand, telling her okay. She pulls back but immediately misses the warmth that Damon's hand provided her a few seconds ago.
"So, alcohol coming up, why don't you tell me about your brother?"
He replies with a sigh. "Nosy."
"Come on, Damon. I told you about my parents. The only way for this to work is if you tell me about you. On a personal level."
"'This?'" he asks, "What exactly is 'this', Elena?"
Her cheeks flushes, doesn't know what to answer, "This… friendship. This trust. This soul mate thing that you've been going on about. So many 'this' I can't even explain."
He smirks teasingly, "Fine, but only because I trust you."
Elena's eyes widened slightly, "You trust me?"
"Of course," he answers without a beat of hesitation.
"Okay, then," she looks down at her hands on the table.
He clears his throat, "Stefan was my brother, he was eighteen when he turned, whereas I was twenty-four. We met a female vampire, Katherine. She was beautiful, smart, confident, seductive, but selfish and manipulative. We fell in love with her, we both did. We were blinded by our loves for her that we were willing to turn. We were a part of her games for 150 years, and we didn't care. Like I said, blinded," Damon sighs, there is a hint of regret and sadness in it, "One night she was with Stefan and the next she was with me, and we liked it as long as we got Katherine."
Elena wants to feel disgusted by it. How can brothers do that? Isn't that categorized as incest or something? But she doesn't. Rather, she feels sorry for both bothers.
"But Stefan, he wanted a life with white picket fence and family of his own, though vampires can't procreate, he'd settled with adoption. However, Katherine rejected him. She still wants me and she knew bringing a kid to our threesome would be trouble. So, he left. He left me with Katherine only to be abused emotionally every night because after all this time, she only ever loved Stefan. I was only a play thing to her," he adds bitterly, a hatred and abhorrence shine in his fiery blue eyes.
Elena gasps slightly as her eyes fill with unshed tears. How could someone do that to Damon? He is, by far, the funniest and big-hearted person she has ever met.
"One day, she couldn't take any more heartache left by Stefan, she took her own life. She drove a stake to her heart, ignoring my love for her and chose to die instead of opening up her heart for me. A few years later I started looking for Stefan. I didn't wanna be alone for eternity. Then, I found him, with his family. He was a father to seventeen year old girl. Her name was Amara. I stuck around watching them. I finally had my brother back, and he'd forgiven me for not going with him and chose Katherine when he asked me to leave years ago. But then… two years later, he was staked. Katherine's enemy from years ago wanted revenge," his knuckles turn white as he try to repress his wrath. Elena, with tears pouring from both eyes, takes his hands in hers and smiles as she tries to let him continue.
"I promised Stefan I would take care of his daughter. And I did, at least until I decided to take off this ring," he wiggles his ring finger, showing off his lapis lazuli ring. "But even when I'm dead, I became a ghost. I didn't know why I'm not going to hell or something. So, I searched for Amara, and I found out that she has a daughter now. Her name is Nadia Petrova."
Hi! So, a bit longer chapter to make up for the long wait. I'm busy with my thesis that everytime I open my laptop I always focused on a certain word document. But it is almost finished, at least one more chapter of my thesis then I'm free.
You guys, no more TVD! Up to this moment I don't have enough courage to watch the finale from beginning to the end :'( Feel free to message me about TVD finale.
Anyway, let me know what you think about this one! I'll try to update Blind date and Something Like Fate soon.
PS: Do you ever read Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro? It's the object of my thesis and I would like to know what you think about the collection ;)