Chapter 6 – Two is Better Than One (Coincidence)
Hi guys :)
I'm typing this on the old dinosaur upstairs, and I promise that the day you see this will be the day we have our laptop back again :D I'm not going to lie, this is definitely one of the HARDEST chapters I've ever written – I knew that if I did it well, it would be amazing, but if I went in slightly the wrong direction, it would go boobies up. It's one of those chapters where I actually had to think about what I was going to write next rather than let it go wherever. I think I've done an okay job, but PLEASE leave a review so I know what you think too :D
You will need to pay attention to the POVs in this chapter, they change a lot, but I thought it would be the only way to make sure it was made of awesome.
Song – 'Two is Better Than One' by Boys Like Girls/Taylor Swift. I recommend you Youtube it or something while you read this, it will make it lots better.
Thank you to FamiliarTasteOfPoison (a.k.a Georgia, my sister) for beta-ing this. Much appreciated x
Saskia xx
PS. (This is set in like, present time. No more time skipping, hooray!)
~Rhia POV~
I pushed my way through the crowded club, my fingers interlocked with Luke's, the blonde boy who'd first made me welcome when I arrived in this town. I'd been seeing him…a week?…and I was loving it. There was no promises, no guarantees, no pressure…it was simple, easy. I didn't have to be super carfeul, or worried about psychos attacking, I could just…do whatever. Admitedly, I never got tingles when he brushed my skin, or fireworks exploding as we kissed, but who cares? It's a fling – fun, short-lived. Neither of us expected it to last, but it was a perfect distraction while it did.
It was nearly a year since I left Mystic Falls.
"Here's a slow one for the couples before bed." The DJ announced smoothly, his boredom seeping into his voice. Luke stopped us, wrapping his arms around me and I rested my head against his chest as the music washed over me.
I remember what you wore on the first day, you came into my life and I though, hey, this could be something…
I suddenly found myself remeniscing about the first time I met Damon, and I could see Jenna's hallway in the middle of the club…
"Hey! I hope that you are settling in okay." Elena's voice whispered in my ear. "If you need an ear, then you know where I am." She drew back and beamed at me. I attempted a smile of my own. Not quite, but getting better. Elena turned and introduced me to Stefan. He was hot. I mean HOT. But not my type. Stefan introduced himself and was being very gentlemanly, when suddenly he stiffened. I suddenly panicked, thinking I had done something wrong unintentionally. I pulled my hand out of his where he had been shaking it and followed the direction of his gaze. Standing there in the doorway was a guy of about 23ish. He was wearing a black beat up leather jacket, black shirt (or was it dark blue? I couldn't quite tell) and black jeans. His shirt was tightly fitted, showing off the serious abs he had going. When my gaze finally reached his face, my heart skipped a beat. His piercing blue eyes seemed to go right through me and find my soul. He had black messy hair (goth maybe? There was a hell of a lot of black!) and high cheekbones. His mouth was arranged into a tight smile. And of course, he was drop-dead gorgeous. I mean, the bad guys usually are, right?
When I first saw him, I immediately was sucked in by his all-round hotness. Then he opened his mouth, crap came out, and I decided he was an arrogant prick. I thought there would be NOTHING that could bring us together. I suppose I was wrong.
Cause everything you do and words you say, you know that it all takes my breath away, and now I'm left with nothing…
I remembered Damon telling me…everything…promising not to hurt me…and then I recalled sharply how soon that had been put to the test. The first time he fed from me…the first time I let him feed from me.
He wouldn't hurt me for his own gain, that I had already discovered. With that thought in mind, I took a deep breath. I lifted an almost steady hand and brushed my hair back, exposing my neck even more than before. Then, looking directly at Damon, I very deliberately closed my eyes.
I could feel Damon coming closer. I knew it like a sixth sense. I knew that within seconds, his teeth would bite into my neck and I would know no more. I was breathing faster now and, as hard as I was trying to be brave; I couldn't stop a slight tremble in my bottom lip. Closer … closer…
His mouth was on my neck. I stopped breathing completely. His lips were there for a long time, unmoving. Then slowly, oh so slowly, his lips parted. I breathed again, but only to take one last deep breath. I thought it to be my last. To my surprise, his lips came together again, not biting, but drawing away from my neck in a sweet, sad, lingering kiss.
I pressed my face into Luke's shoulder, trying to dispel all thoughts of Damon. I'd avoided talking…thinking about him since that incident where I saw him a few months ago. Seeing him had torn down all the barriers I'd built around myself, and I spent that night crying in my hotel room. In the morning, I'd wiped my eyes and put on a brave face. I was happy now. I didn't need to pine after him.
~Damon POV~
I pressed my body against the nameless and naked girl lying on my hotel bed, and smirked when I heard her moan softly in pleasure. I lightly brushed her hair back from her shoulder and nuzzled my face in her neck. She giggled and ran her hands down my back. I won't lie, she was good. She was pushing all my buttons, and damn, she was pushing them hard. It was a long time since I'd picked up someone this…experienced. Ahh well. She was nothing more than a meal. Maybe two, if she kept up the good work.
I sank my teeth into her neck and she gave a small cry of shock and pain. I drew back and gently caressed her face, compelling her to relax, before I returned to the bleeding holes in her neck, giving them my full attention as I drank my fill.
I finally rolled off her and noticed that she'd passed out. Lightweight. I stood up and carelessly threw the duvet over her. I walked over to the open curtains and looked out the window. Early morning. An old lady was walking past the hotel, and looked up casually. She saw me standing in all my naked glory like a pornstar in the window, and stumbled. I wiggled my eyebrows and grinned at her, employing the eye-thing (as Elena so eloquently named it) for maximum effect. She shuffled away at about 90 miles an hour. I chuckled. I knew she loved it really. I turned the radio on idly and quickly found a station. A slow but happy song drifted out of it, filling the cold apartment as I grabbed my pants and jeans from the floor.
Maybe it's true, that I can't live without you, and maybe two is better than one…there's so much time, to figure out the rest of my lfie, and you've already got me coming undone…and I'm thinking two is better than one…
I snorted as I zipped my fly. Soppy, lovey-dovey crap. However, the words rang true. The two happiest times of my life were when I felt like I was truly loved by someone – first Katherine, then Rhia. It was ridiculous, but the sense of security it brought was…indescribable. I always seemed to think of Rhia at this time – I'd remember all the times I'd woken at first light lying next to her, and studied her peaceful sleeping face. I sighed and bought the image to the front of my mind. I might as well crucify myself thoroughly. Even now, after a year, I could still remember her face perfectly. Her smooth, pale skin, unblemished apart from a couple of cute freckles across her nose. Long eyelashes that brushed her cheeks, her eyes moving slightly behind the pale purple lids. Her full, bow-shaped mouth…
No. I jerked out of my reverie. Thinking about her lips would only lead to thinking about her lips on mine, which was something I'd furiously pushed from my mind. I tried to distract myself by listening to the rest of the song, deciphering the lyrics, only to find that they were just as damaging as the first part.
~3rd Person POV~
I remember every look upon your face, the way you roll your eyes, the way you taste, you make it hard for breathing…
Rhia wrapped her arms more tightly around her…could she call him her boyfriend when she felt no more for him than she felt for the loo roll she wiped her arse with? He couldn't even be called a distraction at the minute – she may be dancing with him, but her thoughts were over 100 miles away in a town called Mystic Falls, remembering the man with dark hair and blue eyes, the man who was the first and only person she'd ever fallen in love with. His face was always mesmerising – tight sarcastic smiles, eyes that were full of love, anger that seemed to radiate from him. People always said that he was an angry person, but she'd seen inside, and she knew that he could love three times as well as he could hate. His unique taste was exquisite, and without thinking it, she could almost feel him there, his lips on hers, and she could taste him on her lips…
50 miles away, and Damon was staring out of the window, at the people rising early for work or to walk the dog, but he wasn't seeing them. He was on the road around the corner from Jenna's house, where he'd first kissed her. He could feel her in his arms, and she'd never felt more real to him. Another blink, and he was sat on the sofa in the boarding house, Rhia's wrist at his lips, drinking her luscious blood, the blood that was so much sweeter and potent than anything else he'd ever consumed. He remembered the many times that he'd looked at her and caught his breath – she was beautiful, in personality as well as in looks, and he couldn't believe that she believed that he deserved her.
Back in the club, Rhia was feeling sick – why was she in the arms of another; another person who meant nothing to her but a way of forgetting what she should never forget? She felt his hands moved lightly across her hips, and couldn't stop the shiver that rose as she recalled Damon's hands on her waist as they danced in the clifftop café. It seemed like centuries ago, when in reality it was only a couple of years. Was it really that long ago? It felt like yesterday. She'd never fully appreciated how lucky she was to have someone like him.
'Cos when I close my eyes and drift away, I think of you and everything's okay, I'm finally now believing…
In unison, regardless of the distance between them, Damon and Rhia closed their eyes and smiled as they remembered what they had, and what the other meant to them. Even after being apart, even while being apart, they were still two parts of the same entity, and still echoed each other as they realised how much they needed the other. Rhia felt more at ease in Luke's arms; she was imagining it was Damon, although it felt so much more real than imagination. Damon didn't feel bad when he looked at the fragile girl in his bed – she had the same colour hair as Rhia had done, and it didn't take much for him to be seeing her in the bed.
Maybe it's true, that I can't live without you, and maybe two is better than one…there's so much time, to figure out the rest of my life, and you've already got me coming undone…and I'm thinking two is better than one…
Rhia pulled back from Luke sharply and ran across the dancefloor, deaf to his shouts of alarm and concern. She sprinted to the toilets and locked herself in a cubical, shaking. How could she be so stupid? Why did she leave Damon? He was the best damn thing that had happened to her, and she decided that the best way to get some breathing room was to run off, and leave him with nothing but a voicemail message and a couple of photobooth pictures. How could she be so stupid? She put her head in her hands, trying to force the bile back down her throat.
Damon blinked and looked at the girl in his bed, the girl who was nothing like Rhia, the girl who was just a cheap, trashy, slutty ghost of the one who'd treated him better than anyone else ever had. He was kidding himself. He didn't need free love, he needed to be loved, to be cared for. This would never be enough. He didn't have a loving girlfriend, hell, he didn't even have any friends to call his own. Even Damon Salvatore could get lonely sometimes.
I remember what you wore on the first day, you came into my life and I thought, hey…
The pair looked up, wondering where the other was. Rhia was crying, hating herself for what she'd done. Damon with his fists clenched, wondering what he could've have done better, or did wrong.
Maybe it's true, that I can't live without you, and maybe two is better than one…there's so much time, to figure out the rest of my life, and you've already got me coming undone…and I'm thinking…
Oooh, I can't live without you, 'cos baby, two is better than one…there's so much time to figure the rest of my life, but I've figured out when all is said and done…two is better than one.
Rhiannon Parker stood up, her mind set. She'd been wrong…she'd thought that she could survive without him, and she'd wanted to prove that. All she'd proved was how much she needed him, and how wrong she was. She went back to the club, and gently told Luke that she couldn't and wouldn't do this. She smiled at him as she wished him the best in his life, and told him that he deserved better than her. She kissed him lightly on the cheek and walked out of his life, feeling incredibly free and only slightly guilty. She walked quickly back to the motel she was staying in, and gathered her things almost in a trance, focussed on what she had to do. In the morning, she would go to Mystic Falls. Even if Damon wasn't there (or he didn't want her back), she owed it to her family, and her friends. It had been too long.
At the same time, Damon Salvatore quietly woke the girl on his bed, and told her to get dressed. She did, all the time looking at him flirtatiously. He compelled her to go home, and to tell whoever she lived with that she had stayed with a friend. He told her to forget him, and she walked from his life in a daze. He packed his belongings into the case that had travelled across the country with him, and checked out, going straight to his car. He would go back to Mystic Falls. He'd finally let himself go, and he had remembered her. Now he could let her go. He would go back to Mystic Falls, and help his brother, and Elena, and anyone else who cared for him. He didn't need Rhia. He could live in the company of friends without dwelling on the absence of his (ex)girlfriend.
They drove back to Mystic Falls – one ready to accept their soulmate, and the other ready to let their soulmate go. Neither knew where the other was, or what the other was doing. It was complete coincidence.
Two is better than one.