Chapter 13:
Something was poking me in the head.
No, something was hammering my head.
I groaned in retaliation and snuggled my head further into the softness beneath it, using my free hand to rub my temples, before bringing it back to its resting place on the… On the what?
A nipple.
There was most definitely a small, masculine -no boob- nipple under my hand. I pinched it a little, hearing a slight squeak at the infliction.
Popping open one eye, I spotted Damon under my head, me sprawled across his chest with our bare legs mingled beneath the sheets. His midriff was bare and his jeans were slung over an old chair in the corner. I was still wearing my white dress, but it had risen almost to my bellybutton and I couldn't move to pull it back down because Damon's arm was slung protectively over my shoulder, possessively securing me to his side.
I wriggled in a pathetic attempt of escape, but his grip only tightened and he tugged me higher up his chest, until I was hovering over his side.
His hip dug into my stomach painfully and I winced a little and took a shaky breath.
In sleep, Damon looked like a whole other person. Sure, he was still inhumanely beautiful and had the same features, but he looked peaceful and innocent in rest. There were no frowns marring his forehead or twitches of the lips that formed these little dimples and laugh lines around them. His lips were parted slightly, even breaths coming from him. The softness of his features stunned me in contrast to the usual sharpness about him.
He groaned in his sleep and bucked his hips a little to the side to get comfy and thats when I felt his morning wood press against my outer-thigh. I gasped, my breath stirring his hair. His eyes blinked open in rapid succession, blinking away sleep from his aqua eyes, and then he smiled lazily, folding his arms under his head.
"Good morning to you, too." He grinned, winking. I groaned and rolled over, free from him at last.
"Where am I?" I breathed, sitting up on my elbows to survey the room.
"A motel, I'm guessing." He stated, throwing his covers off to grab his jeans and shirt off of the back of the chair. He made his way to the bathroom across the room.
Snapshots of last night played through my mind, plaguing me with both the fun memories and the embarrassing ones. They were sort of giving me whiplash. No. Not whiplash. My head was pounding and, placing two fingers on each of my temples, they throbbed under the pad of my fingers. Running my tongue over the roof of my mouth, it felt all fuzzy, like a ball of fluff had exploded whilst I was asleep in my mouth. To put it blatantly, my mouth tasted like shit and my head felt like shit, too.
I remembered him watching me dance with that girl -Bonnie?- and I recalled how he'd responded at my touch. My hands sifted subconsciously to my throat, sweeping the hair there over my shoulder, I felt the slight bump and retracted my hand immediately. He'd given me a hickey!
Still dazed, I looked up to where he'd spun around to watch me, leaning against the wall besides the bathroom with an amused grin on his lips. He crossed his arms and hooked his foot around the opposite ankle and stared at me, lifting an eyebrow as I sifted through each and every memory I managed to retain, which wasn't exactly a lot considering my state last night.
"I left you some aspirin and a glass of water on the beside last night, but you passed out before taking them." He explained, gesturing to the scratched item of furnishing in a passive sort of way. He looked a little… out of sorts, like he wasn't used to caring for people. He scratched the back of his neck and raked a hand through his chaotic hair. "Umm…" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning around to enter the bathroom.
Was Damon Salvatore shy? Well, I'll be damned…
Spinning at the last moment, he waggled his eyebrows, "Would you care to join me, princess?"
Guess arrogant ass has made a reappearance…
"Stop calling me that." I admonished, shaking my head to dispel my train of thought. I hopped out of the bed to shimmy my dress back down to cover the bare essentials.
Damon licked his lips, "Considering you didn't deny me, I take that as you want to join me?"
I rolled my eyes whilst simultaneously raking a hand through my hair, "I think I'll pass."
"You think?" He repeated, smirking, "Does that mean you're wavering on your decision. By all means, join me, Elena, because I'm-"
"All for conserving water energy. Yes, Damon, I remember." I interjected, sarcasm dripping from my words. My thoughts travelled to the boys school locker rooms and the ultimatum he'd offered me a few weeks ago. I'd taken the easier option because I'd been scared of what giving in to him entailed, including the fact that it would destroy my mums and Giuseppe's chances of an actual, steady relationship. Causal flings and a handful of dates was what my mum had spent the years since my dads death doing and I'd initially hated her for it, so how could I go ahead and ruin it after being so pissed off about her dating too much when she was starting to settle down? It was a contradiction in itself.
He threw his hands in the air and took a small step backwards, "Hey, I'm just an environmentalist, is all. You know, whoop whoop, go green!" He pumped his fist in the air, winked and disappeared into the bathroom. The door locked with a click and I listened intently as the water started up and he began whistling a tune.
Sighing, I readjusted my hair, but without the aid of a brush, it framed my face with a chaotic mess. It looked like I'd backcombed it or been attacked by a racoon.
I quickly slipped my shoes on and combed my fingers through my hair, but they just got caught and tangled in it so I gave up after a good few minutes.
Picking my phone up off of the old nightstand, I flicked through a few concerned messages off of my mum and then a dozen birthday notifications on Facebook. I thanked each of them in turn for their kind messages and then I backtracked.
Damon Salvatore posted on your timeline: Happy Birthday, Princess;)
But that wasn't what had caught my eye. Beneath the message was a picture. A picture of me… dancing on the bar with Bonnie and the redhead.
Oh, god!
I could feel the bile rising in my throat at the prospect of the whole school catching a glimpse of this. What would they think of me?!
With my phone clenched tightly in my hand, I stalked towards the bathroom Damon occupied and rapped my knuckles rather aggressively against the door.
"Damon!" I called out, seeing as he didn't reply.
The lock released with a click after a few moments and Damon materialised on the other side of the doorway, swinging it open to reveal him leaning against the frame with a white towel hanging dangerously low on his hips.
"Finally decided you want to join me?" He purred, raising a thick black brow.
"Actually, I…. Umm, I… I need to, umm…" I muttered, licking my dry lips at the sight of his magnificent physique.
"Well, spit it out."
"I need to go." I mumbled, dashing past the doorway to the front door.
"Go?" He called from the bathroom entrance. He was no longer slouched against the frame, but standing upright and looking towards me in concern.
"Yeah, I just need to get home and… sort something out." I lied easily.
"You've got to pick up your car from the garage, right?" He asked, making his way to the bathroom to get dressed. The sound of his zipper sliding home had me close my eyes in an attempt to not barge on in there and help him get dressed. Or, more likely, undressed… He'd left the door wide open, an open invitation, but from where I was standing, I could only see the upper part of his body reflected in the mirror.
"Umm, yeah, I actually completely forgot about that." I cursed myself mentally.
Now fully clothed, unfortunately, he padded towards me and when he stopped in front of me, he reached his hand forward, as if to cup my face in his hands or stroke the back of his hand across my cheek. I turned my head away and shrunk down against the door, but he only unlatched the door and yanked it open.
"I'll drop you off there."
We walked down the old-fashioned hallways in relative silence and then I remembered how intoxicated we'd both been and the inner innocent, goody-goody part of me claimed her spotlight.
"You didn't drive here did you?" I asked as we took the stairs down to the reception area.
"No, we walked. We'll have to walk to the bar to get my car. It's only a few blocks down, I think."
I hesitated a second before I spoke again, "And we didn't… you know?"
Somewhere in some justifiable part of my mind, I knew that Damon and I hadn't had sex, but I needed to make sure. I couldn't even remember walking -or, most likely, stumbling- my way here. I just needed reassurance.
He scoffed from where he was striding a little ways in front of me and rounded the corner to the exit, "No, Elena, we did not have sex." He shook his head and laughed softly under his breath and I knew that his next words weren't for my ears, but I heard them nonetheless, "At least not in the real world anyway."
I swung the cab of my truck open and walked towards the bonnet, patting it's hood. After a fretful few weeks in repair, my baby was back on the road again. As good as new.
Okay, maybe that was taking it a tad bit too far, but at least it ran smoothly. And started.
I leant back, parking myself against the side of the truck, and folded my arms across my chest. I could hear Damon's heavy footfalls echoing off of every step as he surveyed the car for me; each and every perimeter of it. Apparently, he wanted to ensure that it was of 'optimum safety' because he didn't want a 'repeat performance'. His words, not mine.
Once he was satisfied with his inspection, we went on our merry way back to my place. He said that his dad was working and he didn't have a key. Complete bullshit, but I bit my lip to hide my smirk and pushed my foot harder on the gas. It felt good to drive again.
The windows were rolled down -literally, because my truck didn't have all those latest automatic switches that controlled the windows- and the wind was billowing my hair about my face. It felt refreshing and uplifting; better than any other hangover cure my mind could conjure, so I hummed along to the familiar tune on the radio with a smile of pure ecstasy on my face.
My blissful mood didn't last for very long though.
Pulling into the driveway with my lips still tugged up into a small smile, I locked the car behind me -also using the key to manually turn the lock in the car door- and walked up the front porch with Damon behind me.
"You're sure your mum won't mind me being here?" He asked politely. He was only asking to be courteous. Something told me that he didn't really care if my mum didn't want him here, or anyone else for that matter. He just… didn't care what others thought of him, and I guess I sort of respected him in that regard.
I shunned down his concern with a bat of my hand and unlocked the front door, overlooking the sleek black Audi parked in our driveway.
I faltered when I stepped over the threshold and saw my mum and her sitting on the couch. I froze immediately and felt Damon slam into my back. Hard.
I stumbled forward a little and released a small gasp. Both sets of heads on the couch turned my way.
"Elena," Mum smiled, pleased. Her eyes told a whole other story. She was frowning and I knew that I'd probably get a bunch of abuse for spending the night out without telling her. She made her way over and encircled my arm with her hand, tugging me towards the couch next to her.
I stoically forced a tight lipped smile for the women in front of me. Internally glaring at her blonde highlights and pink, overdone lipgloss. She grinned expectantly at me and set her glass of water on the table. "How lovely to see you again, Elena. I'm sorry about the unscheduled arrival, I decided last minute that I'd come and see how you and Jeremy are. I believe a happy birthday is in order." She chuckled as if everything she'd done had been forgotten and I turned to gather my mums reaction, but of course, there wasn't anything for her to react to. She didn't know.
"Isn't that wonderful?" Mum trilled, smiling broadly as she motioned with her eyes to the perfectly put-together woman sitting with long, ample legs crossed over one another. She still had that shit-eating grin on her face and I couldn't take it anymore.
Jumping from the couch, I stalked to where Damon was waiting in the doorway, eyes wide as I bulldozed towards him.
I ignored my mums protests as the bitch tried to coax her into calming down. You caused all of this, I wanted to scream, you don't have the right to try to console her!
I slammed the door on myself in the truck and waited for Damon to quickly hop in. He still seemed a little shocked at my outburst, but didn't question it when I reversed backwards at full speed and shot down the road like an arrow.
I was pent up. I could feel the adrenaline spike rising with each passing second. My hands clenched around the steering wheel, but then my high began to fade and I could feel the angry, resigned tears building behind my eyelids.
I blinked them back and raked my bottom teeth across my lip.
"Where do you want dropping?" I spat, trying to hold myself together.
He shook his head infinitesimally and I glared sideways at him. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Yes." I answered, because I wanted more than anything to rant and rave and get it off of my chest, but that wasn't a possibility.
I remained silent and he sighed, "Are you going to talk about it?"
I sighed as well, "No."
"Where are we going?"
"I don't know. I just needed to get away."
"Are you going to the game next week?" I knew what he was doing, trying to take my mind off of things.
I'd play along. "Wednesday, right?" I recalled Caroline asking me last week.
"Yeah, its against Augustine. Ever heard of them?"
I nodded, because Caroline had vaguely broached on the subject of Mystic Falls' rivalling competitors.
It took me a while to figure it out, but I soon realised that he'd actually thwarted me. I'd forgotten all about our little visitor and the whole fiasco that she'd brought up with her return, up until now, of course.
I sighed and pulled up outside of Mystic Grill. "I'm gonna head over to Caroline's for the night," I cringed when I realised that she could be staying for a little longer than one night, "You can get your keys from your dad and I could drop you off home, if you'd like."
He was gazing out of the window, "No, that's okay, I think I see the guys in there anyway."
All I could see was Tessa with her ass hanging out by the entrance, waving seductively at Damon.
I didn't say anything as Damon jumped out. Instead, I reached over the centre console to slam the door shut as hard as I could, more tears building up as he blatantly ogled her the way he'd done to me, "Elena-," He tried to say, tapping the window in an attempt to get my attention, but I didn't give him any as I began to put my foot down on the gas. He walked alongside the truck for a few beats, but I sped off before he could get a word in edgeways.
From my rearview mirror, I could see him punch a wall.
I hoped it hurt.
The first thing I did upon arriving at Caroline's was brush my teeth to get rid of the fuzzy feeling in my mouth. I splashed my face with some cold water and borrowed a brush to subdue the tangles and knots in my hair. I couldn't exactly take a shower, because it seemed weird to take a shower at a friends house that you weren't fully comfortable with.
My stomach grumbled when I returned to her room and she offered me some breakfast, but I politely declined. My stomach was churning from disgust and hurt -not hunger- and I was afraid that if I ate, I'd vomit it all back up again anyway.
Instead, I told her that someone unexpected was here and I needed to get away and she smiled and chirped excitedly, "Well, that's worked out well because I was just about to go shopping for an outfit for the game on wednesday. The guys always go for a celebratory meal after the game. It's tradition. You can come, too, if you want."
I nodded, mustering up a smile from deep inside me, and went back to the car to grab my clutch from last night. I still had a little birthday money left that I could use to rustle up an outfit with and maybe this shopping expedition could brighten my mood some.
Who are you kidding? You just want something sexy to get a reaction from Damon!
As soon as I thought it, I felt disgusted with myself.
A/N- Okay, don't kill me guys! I know, I know, I'm a shitty updater, but I have a good reason! So… the reason is, I'm a shitty updater. Oops, I'm sorry! *Dodges a flying thesaurus and prays for forgiveness* I've already started the next chapter -big game night! Truthfully, I came to a little brick wall with this story, but I think I found a bulldozer or something and knocked it flat on its ass because nobody can stop me from writing! My brain malfunctioned, but I think I fixed it back up again. I'm still not 100% happy with this chapter, but I've messed around with the concept of it for months now and I've delayed it for far too long, so I figured what the hell. Thanks to those of you who PM'ed me urging me to update and those who even went the extra mile to help me overcome my writers block. You guys are awesome! Okay, I'll stop feeding your egos now…
You'd think that after reading and re-reading this chapter for months now, it wouldn't have any mistakes, but if there is, excuse them or, even better, tell me so I can fix them!
Any guesses on who this mystery woman is and what she's done to distress Elena so much?
