The next morning after Lee had gone off to work Stefan came round to check if I was alright and to see if I needed anything. He seemed annoyed that Lee went to work when I was home with a broken arm but I made a point of telling him that two of us not working was too a good idea and he accepted it with a graceful apology.
He told me that he was concerned about me being on my own and said that I could phone him if I needed anything at all and he would be over in a flash, which was very sweet of him and as he walked out of the door he told me not to be so stubborn and independent as "it's perfectly acceptable to have to solely rely on other people once in a while." Needless to say I didn't call him, in fact I decided to drag myself down to the shops for lunch as usually there wasn't anyone home for lunch and so there was no lunch food in the house. My arm was throbbing and I was starving hungry as I made my way down the high street of the village, I grabbed a can of soup from the supermarket and was surprised to see a familiar figure leaning against the lamppost outside.
" I thought my brother told you to call him if you needed anything?" he had one of those amused smirks on his face which made me want to grin with him. "I think I can manage to walk down the end of the road and buy a can of soup. It's just one arm that's broken you know, my legs are fine," he laughed at that and took the bag with the can in from me.
"It has a ring pull on the lid- how are you going to manage that with one hand?" I laughed and again my mouth opened before my brain engaged.
"I was thinking of calling Stefan." Damon threw back his head and laughed long and loud, then with the bag in his hand started walking up the road.
"I find it rather disconcerting that I've only know you a few days and yet it seems that I've known you a lot longer."
"Is that good or bad? Or does it depend?" I asked, the vampire frowned thoughtfully before answering "I haven't made up my mind yet." We walked up the road in silence, it wasn't difficult for me not to think of anything as although my arm was plastered and in a sling it throbbed like mad.
We got to the end of my road and he still carried on to my front door where he handed me the bag, I thanked him and invited him in. Once inside he opened the soup for me and as it was cooking in the microwave he leant against the kitchen door frame watching me with a thoughtful frown on his face; "penny for them," I said. Damon looked just looked blankly at me. "Penny for your thoughts- what are you thinking?"
"I was looking at some forums today. It seems you're not that stupid after all compared to some of the people on there." I laughed briefly and gave him my best mischievous grin, "careful. That's almost a compliment Damon." He winked at me and flashed me one of those deadly smiles that could make a girl's knees go weak in 2 seconds flat, "perhaps it was meant as a compliment. I was surprised by the amount of girls who have said that they would welcome me with open arms if I were to feed from them and it seems as though there are a few who want me to make them vampires so we can be together forever." He shook his head but I chuckled under my breath as I struggled to get the soup out of the microwave one handed.
Damon was suddenly next to me and took the bowl from the microwave and placed it on the dining room table. I sat down to eat it and he sat opposite me watching my every reaction to what he said. "Why me though? I would have thought that as my brother comes across as the hero girls would be fixated on him." I grinned so much I had to stop eating otherwise my soup would have spilled.
"Well everyone loves a man who's misunderstood- you're the bad boy who isn't really all that bad. Plus a lot of people say that Stefan comes across as a whiner in the book- feeling sorry for himself a lot of the time and he has Elena." I shrugged my shoulders hoping that I came across as indifferent and not too bothered, but he stared at me as though he was trying to figure me out.
"Is that so?" he had one of those oh so amused smiles on his face so I had to be careful with what I was saying. "Why don't you just look online? I'm sure that would answer all your questions and more," he just laughed at that. "But that wouldn't be as much fun now, would it?" All I could do was to laugh and shake my head, I wasn't going to let him get to me.
"It won't work so don't even try. Anyway, I'd have thought it's more fun online because people make comments more freely online when they're hiding behind a computer." He laughed and stood up watching me with those dark eyes dancing with lights as he walked towards the front door with the posture of a dancer only infinitely more graceful. "Well I must bid you farewell for now piccolina, but I'll be keeping my eye on you and if you don't want my brother to find out that you've disobeyed him then I'd be careful if I were you." I laughed at his little mock threat and got up to make sure he got out the front door okay, "You can't threaten me or I'll tell Stefan that you think he's the hero." Damon laughed long and loud with me, when the laughter died he gave me a long sweeping bow and then opened the front door and then once he was outside in the porch he turned and frowned at me as though there was something he had forgotten and he had just remembered. "Incidentally you forgot a few things earlier when you were describing why girls like me. I believe you missed out your own description of irresistible and unpredictable, after all life with me is never dull- is it?"
My jaw dropped to the floor in utter astonishment- he had just quoted back a comment that I'd made on a forum a couple of weeks earlier in a Stefan vs. Damon discussion. "Oh! You, you- out!" But Damon was already outside walking down the road to where his car was parked laughing with that beautiful musical laugh that he had. I shut the doors and after I heard the unmistakable sound of the Ferrari's engine I finally let myself slump on the couch and go "aargh!!" in frustration and embarrassment.