A/N Hello everyone! This chapter was written by bodenda, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 7 He is my drug

Stretching, I yawn and cringe at the bright light of the god awful sun. My head feels as though someone is constantly banging on it with a giant sledgehammer. God, why did someone invent tequila, I swear I will never drink again. Well, at least not until the time calls for it again, maybe tonight or tomorrow night. I rub my eyes as I try to remember what happened last night. Oh yeah, the decade dance. I smile as I recall the dances Damon and I were doing and all the excitement with the competition between Stefan and Elena. I smile and giggle as I recollect how Matt and Caroline kind of…. Um….. hooked up. I guess they have had the hots for each other for quite a while now. My smile falls as I think of what happened after the Matt and Caroline incident.
Damon said he loved me.
He loves me.
I touch my lips remembering the feeling of Damon's lips on mine. It was slightly awkward after the kiss and when Damon dropped me off.

The engine cuts out as Damon pulls up outside the house I have so kindly proclaimed as my own. I stare down at my hands all tangled together in my lap. Damon sighs as he gets out of the car and opens my door up for me. I force a smile and attempt to get out of the car. Damon has other ideas. He keeps both arms around my door preventing me from escaping. He looks at me with those beautiful crystal orbs and I feel myself crumble just from that one look.
"Scarlett." Damon's voice has a different tone to it. It makes me snap my head up to him and stare back at him. His voice is sad and….pleading. My heart stops as I try to formulate some words, but it seems I am currently incapable of that. "Scarlett. What's wrong? Did I freak you out with my confession? Do you…..do you not love me?" His voice chokes up towards the end of his sentence and it takes all my self-control not to kiss him right there. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, tears threatening to break loose. "Damon…."
"We can't…."
"I can't…"
"You don't understand, I have to find Klaus. I can't afford any body slowing me down." I reach up to cup his face in my hands. His eyes are heartbroken and the tears I have been holding back suddenly spill from my eyes. I rush up and kiss Damon lightly on the cheek. "I'm sorry. Goodbye Damon." I run as fast as I can inside the house and lean against the door, sobbing my heart out.

A few tears leak from my eyes as I relive the pain of Damon's dejected eyes which have now been imprinted into my mind.
I love him.
And it's because I love him that I just can't be with him. He's only known me for a couple weeks. He barely knows me. I shake my head as I try to find a solution to this problem. Of course! My smile grows as I think of Tyler. That is the solution to all my problems: hook up with some other guy who can distract me. I've met Tyler a couple times and he seems pretty cool. Caroline left her phone here last night so I guess I can just call Tyler on that. I scroll through blondie's contact list, surprised at the amount of people on it. Oh well I guess she's a cheerleader so it makes sense. The number dials and he picks up on the fourth ring.
"Hey Care. What's up?" Tyler's sleepy voice crackles through the static. God she needs a new phone.
"Hi Tyler it's actually Scarlett here. Caroline just left her phone at my place and I needed to call you anyway so here we are. Um I was wondering if you wanted to go out some time." I cringe as I think of how desperate I sound, using someone else's phone to call a guy. Smooth Scarlett, real smooth.
"Oh hey Scarlett. Sure I'd love to. What were you thinking of exactly?" He seems to perk up at my name. Hmmm, interesting.
"Maybe we could go bowling if you wanted. Unless you have something against bowling?" I tease him in an attempt to regain some ground after my not so fantastic opening sentence.
"Sure! I love bowling. How bout I pick you up around 6:00 tonight?" Tyler holds his breath as he waits for my reply.
"Actually I have a better idea. How about we go straight after school tomorrow night and then you don't have to worry about picking me up?" I subtly try to steer it to tomorrow so that one, I can cure my hangover first and two, so Damon can see me go off with Tyler. Tyler hastily agrees and we say our goodbyes. I know it is petty of me to look forward to this but I know that if Damon sees me with someone else he will think I don't like him and perhaps drop the whole subject. It's going to hurt him really bad and my heart aches at the thought of it however it needs to be done. Speaking of getting things done, I have to get back on track and focus. I came here to find Klaus and I am going to get some answers. Tomorrow. For now I'm just going to focus on curing the angry monster inside my head. Gotta love alcohol.

I hate everything about you begins playing on the radio as I make my way up to school. I texted Tyler last night asking him to meet me at the car park so we could walk into school together. I need someone to help control me or I am not going to be able to restrain myself if, or should I say when, Damon inevitably corners me. I speed into the car park almost knocking over some junior's in the process. Spotting Tyler near the entrance to school I swerve and slam onto the brakes right next to him. Grabbing my bag I rush out of the car only to be greeted by the ever charming Caroline. She babbles on about how grateful she is for the dress and how excited she was about kissing Matt and how happy they are blah blah blah. God who gives a shit. Someone should seriously break the truth to this girl. Tyler smirks as he sees who cornered me and saunters slowly over to us. He grabs my waist and gives me a light peck on the cheek making me blush. I jab him with my elbow making him grunt and glare at me whilst I return his look. 'What the hell?' I mouth. He grins and shakes his head, poking his tongue out at me. Real mature Tyler. I smile inwardly as I silently praise myself for choosing a good distractor, he will do very nicely. Tyler, not missing a beat, notices and slings his arm around my shoulders. Caroline, being the nosy bitch she is, stops mid-sentence and starts hyperventilating and jumping up and down and doing god knows what. Actually to me, she kind of looks like a rabbit choking on crack. I look up at Tyler and see he is also somewhat amused by Caroline's seizure. I roll my eyes and lead Tyler into the school. I prepare myself for reactions much like Caroline's inside the building.
Walking down the hall hand in hand with Tyler I feel like a celebrity. People are whispering and staring and I grip onto Tyler's hand for support. He, being a gentleman, notices my panic and whispers into my ear "Don't worry. I'm here. My locker is just up ahead so don't panic and just keep your eyes ahead." I smile and giggle, following his kind advice. We reach his locker in no time. I wait for Tyler to grab his books as we are going to head to first period together. Glancing over his shoulder I see the one face I hoped I would never see again. Damon.

TYLER POV

I lean against the hood of my car and grimace as Caroline begins to talk in her peppy voice about Matt and being in love. Oh god someone get me a bucket. I'm going to hurl. I smell burning rubber and screeching of tires as a beautiful vehicle enters the school gates almost running over those stupid juniors who stand in the middle of the road and expect not to die. Go figure. I recognise the gorgeous red head who asked me out last night. I couldn't even believe it when she called me. I remember how she stuttered at the beginning of our conversation and then how excited she sounded when I accepted her request. Bowling tonight. I don't mean to sound girly or Caroline-like but I can't wait! I wave in her direction and hear her muttering under her breath "Oh thank god." Grinning I wait for her to get out of her car but I don't reach her soon enough. Caroline jumps the gun and beats me to it. Poor Scarlett. I see her cringe as Caroline starts babbling incessantly about her and Matt. Scarlett seems to have the same reaction I have to this news and so I walk over to them and interrupt their conversation by kissing Scarlett on the cheek. She squirms under my grasp and elbows me in the ribs, rather hard I must say. I glare at her playfully and she glares right back at me. She blushes and Caroline notices out small exchange opening her mouth wide. I am very tempted to tell her to close it or she will catch flies but I refrain from doing so and Scarlett steers me towards the school building.
In the hallway people begin muttering and pointing, something I am rather accustomed to but apparently, judging by the tight grip on my hand, Scarlett is not. I glance over at her face and see the panic slowly appearing on her face and smirk to myself thinking how adorable she looks with her eyebrows furrowed together thinking hard. I had to keep myself from kissing her on the lips this morning and I find I am having the same problem again right now. I lean down to give Scarlett some advice about how to react in this dire, sarcasm, situations. After grabbing my books we head to first period together. She seems somewhat distracted and unhinged by something. I ask if she is alright and she simply answers with a discreet smile and a nod. Shaking off the feeling I have I lift up my head and prepare for the boring day ahead.

SCARLETT POV

I cannot express in words how glad I am every day when I hear that bell ring to say that school has ended. Tyler meets me at my locker and we head out to his car but then I suddenly remember that I drove to school. I curse internally and turn to Tyler. "Tyler, I just remembered that I drove here in my car so what if I drive home first and then meet you at the bowling centre." I smile apologetically and start to walk to my car.
Tyler pulls me back and nods understandingly. "Scarlett don't worry. Leave your car here and I can take you to school tomorrow morning then you can drive home tomorrow night in your own car. Is that okay with you?" I grin at him and whisper a quiet ok. As Tyler opens the car door for me I see Damon standing at his car staring at me with his adorable eyes that almost make me slam the door and run over there to kiss him and tell him I love him over and over again. I restrain myself and get in the car taking deep breaths to calm my rapid heartbeat.
Along the drive, Tyler keeps quiet as I close my eyes and just enjoy the small thudding of the engine. My head is swarmed with thoughts of Damon. When he smiled at me, the way his eyes lit up and how he had small dimples on either side of his mouth whenever he smiled. When he kissed me, the soft feeling of his hand stroking my cheek almost as if he knew that my heart was doing crazy things and he was trying to calm it down. When he confessed he love for me, how his eyes bore into mine and, this is cheesy but, saw into my very soul. I felt naked under his gaze his crystal eyes pushing past my barriers and leaving me feeling cold when his arms left my sides. When he asked me if I loved him, how his eyes glistened with tears and made me feel weak. I remember sobbing my eyes out and constantly replaying his broken hearted expression and my heart breaking every time it reappeared in my head. Damon. My drug and my destruction.

A/N: Thought it was going to be a fairy tale ending last chapter? Think again. I mean, we can't really write a story with seven chapters in it can we? According to my writing workshop instructor, 'There must be conflict and strife in the lives of your characters. Otherwise, you will have created a story without any dips or bumps, only smooth surface like glass. This may appeal to sappy people with a soft spot for romance, or whichever genre you are writing, but it will intrigue more, it will make them want to read, so that they will eventually get their fairy tale ending. Or not.'