Terribly sorry for the wait! I've been working on something of my own, which has had my full attention. I made a trailer for this fic and you can find the link at the end (:
Thanks for all of the lovely reviews! You guys are way too awesome.
I couldn't get enough...
"Okay, favorite movie," Damon said, pointing at her with a french fry. "And if you say The Notebook, I'm leaving."
Elena rolled her eyes and took a bite of her burger. She had come back the next day to grab a bite to eat (okay and maybe see if she saw Damon again since they hadn't exchanged information) and he had been there with a group of people. He'd promptly ditched them when he saw her. They'd grabbed burgers and fries and sat at one of the picnic tables, where they were currently playing 20 questions.
"Hey, don't hate on The Notebook," she said. "It's not my favorite, but it is a great movie."
"So what is your favorite, Elena?" It was maddening the way he said her name. He made it sound exotic and sophisticated and sexy. Honestly, she was sure Damon could make the most disgusting of words sound sexy.
She thought about that for a few minutes, wanting to be sure in her decision. She'd seen hundreds of movies, but she tried to think of which one really stood out to her. She certainly wasn't going to just blab out a random movie and embarrass herself in front of Damon. After another bite of her burger and sip of coke, she answered, "Knowing."
"Never heard of it," Damon said immediately.
She blanched at him. "You've never seen Knowing?"
He she shook his head, his raven hair falling in his face. "Nope."
"What is wrong with you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
The smirk he gave her was positively devious. It promised of wicked, dangerous things and she found herself melting despite the warnings in her head. In the short amount of time she'd known Damon, she'd come to realize he was used to getting what he wanted. She couldn't really blame him either. With a face like that, how could he not get everything he'd ever wanted?
"Many things," he said with a wink.
"Okay," she said, blushing. She looked down at her food and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before looking back into his piercing blue eyes. "You're turn."
"Music," he said simply. "What's your favorite band?"
She didn't need to think about this one. "Easy," she said. "Incubus."
His eyes narrowed. "No they aren't."
"Are too!" she said, laughing. God, she hadn't laughed like this in so long. It felt so good, she found herself laughing again just to hear the sweet, musical sound.
"I refuse to believe that a beautiful girl like yourself listens to music that is reserved for men in their late twenties," he said.
She rolled her eyes. "Wow, sexist much?" she asked, throwing a ketchup covered french fry at him.
He dodged it easily. It fell onto the sand and a bird promptly swooped down and picked it from the ground, flying away with it in their mouth. "No, I'm just surprised," he admitted. "You seemed the Backstreet Boys type."
She blushed, thinking back half a decade earlier when she would listen to them in her bedroom, not so secretly swooning over Nick Carter. But that was a long item ago. Her music taste had changed drastically, for the better. She didn't need to fill Damon in on her musical revelations though. Some things should be kept in the confines of your childhood pink bedroom walls.
"Don't get me wrong," he said quickly, as if realizing he may have insulted her. "It's sexy that you listen to them."
She blushed for at least the tenth time in the last thirty minutes. She hoped he would think her cheeks were flushed because of the heat. By the smirk on his face, she assumed he didn't. Wanting to get the attention off of her and quickly, she said, "So you graduated a few weeks ago."
He cocked his head to the side, his lips pulling up at the edges. "That's not a question."
"I'm getting there," she said, rolling her eyes at his impatience. It was slightly annoying, but he was just too damn sexy to be annoyed at for more than a few short minutes. "You know, patience is a virtue."
"One that I don't possess," he said, waving his hand in the air. "Now, on with the question. The suspense is truly killing me."
"Smart ass," she mumbled under her breath. He raised an eyebrow, having heard her. Deflecting, she said, "Are you here with your family?"
She knew she didn't imagine the way his eyes darkened, his lips pulling down at the corner. But the next second, his eyes were light and carefully guarded, his lips pulled up in what she was learning to be his signature smirk. "Nope, just me and a buddy."
She raised an eyebrow. "What's your family like?"
"Hey, it's my turn," he said, pushing his lips into a pout.
She rolled her eyes, stored her question in her memory and said, "Shoot."
"What brought you to the Gold State?" he asked, raising his arms and gesturing around them. The nickname fit in everyday possible. Not a cloud in the sky, the sun's ray seemed to light everything up, dousing their world in gold.
"Well, my aunt comes here almost every summer and I decided to go with her this time," she said simply, not wanting to get into the personal affairs of her life back home.
"I'm sensing there's a little more to that explanation," he said, having read her as if she was an open book. Was she that obvious or was he that good?
"Well," she said, biting on the inside of her cheek. It was a nervous gestured she thought she'd ditched back in middle school. Clearly no. "I guess I just needed an escape from my world."
"With a face like yours, how do you have any trouble?" he asked. His words were teasing, but his eyes were serious.
She decided to answer instead of pointing out that it was technically her turn to ask the question. "I'm from a small town," she said, figuring that was the best way to start it. "The kind of town where you can't make any personal decisions without everyone knowing. I guess recently I've been changing and everyone just isn't ready for that change."
Damon nodded like he understood exactly how she felt. "Home isn't that great for me either," he said. "Same story basically. Small town. No privacy. Father wanting to control your every move."
"I forgot that one," she pointed out. "My parents want me to be a doctor. What about yours?"
"Father wants me to be a lawyer," Damon said, rolling his blue eyes.
"What about your mom?"
He looked down at his food, suddenly very intrigued with a french fry. "She died a few years ago."
She was glad Damon was still looking at his food because she was staring at him with her mouth hanging up. Oh god, she was an awful person. What was she supposed to say? Sorry? That was about as cliché as it came. "What was she like?" Elena asked finally.
His lips lifted up at the corners. "Beautiful, caring, frustrating, bossy, a know it all. She froze us all crazy."
"She sounds amazing," Elena said, smiling. Just by that description, Elena was sure Damon favored his mother.
"She was," he said. "Now, enough with all this doom and gloom. What's your favorite song?"
Much to Elena's annoyance and relief, Damon didn't attempt to speak to her the remaining walk to the barn. The only sound was the wind rustling the leaves and toward the end of their journey, the neighing of horses.
She found herself growing excited for the first time since she'd learned the truth about Stefan's "difficult older brother." She'd always loved horses growing up, though she was too terrified of the huge creatures to take up riding lessons. The last time she'd actually sat on a horse was a birthday party when she was eleven, but she could still appreciate the animals with both her feet on the ground.
After another few minutes, their destination was in view. The barn was large, much larger then any barn she'd ever seen and made of white wood with darker wood framing the doors and windows. Beyond the barn was an obstacle course of white picket fences, which is where she assumed they were ridden. There was also a large, open field beyond the fence.
It was beautiful.
Damon must have noticed her awed expression. "My mother loved horses," he said, surprisingly with no sarcasm or malice in his voice. "Father built it for her as soon as he could afford to."
"It's lovely," she said honestly. Her voice was civil, if not pleasant. As much as she wanted to throttle the man beside her, the only way to make this work was if they were mature about the entire situation. That meant she'd keep her snarky comments to herself as long as he did the same.
"She liked it," he said. "She wanted a horse growing up but she came from a poor family in Italy so she couldn't have one. She loved them so much she forced Stefan and I to take lessons."
Elena couldn't help the snort that followed his confession. "You? On a horse? Yeah, right."
He shot her an irritated look. "I am good at other things besides seducing woman."
So much for keeping things civil.
"Good to know," she replied snappily. "We should probably move a little faster if we plan on beating Stefan here."
"Fine with me," he said, picking up the pace.
She was out of breath by the time they finally reached the barn, though no one would be able to tell just by looking at her. She knew her cheeks were flushed, but besides that she looked perfectly fine. And people told her cheer leading and track were a waste of time.
"How many horses are here?" Elena asked, working hard to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She could be civil. She would be civil, even if it meant biting her tongue until it fell right out of her mouth. She was a mature, sophisticated adult. Not a teenager who took her problems out on the world with one huffed breath and stomped foot at a time.
"Three," he answered, his tone much less snappy than she had expected it to be.
"Does your father come here and take care of them everyday?" she asked.
He opened the door, stepping back to allow her to walk through. Despite the above average outside, the inside looked exactly what she imagined any barn to look like: a barn. It was large, that was for certain, but it was filled with horse equipment, some of which she knew the name of and some of which she didn't, just like any other barn would be. She could see toward the back where the horses were kept.
Damon snorted, an unattractive sound even for him. "Hardly," he said, bitterness lacing his tone. "I'm sure he hasn't been down here in years."
"Why?" As soon as the word left her lips, she blushed. This had been his mother's gift and she'd died. Of course Giuseppe wouldn't want to be here. "Oh, right," she added lamely.
Thankfully he didn't call her out on it. "He has hired workers who come everyday to take care of them."
She was saved from having to reply because they had approached the horses and Damon was talking again.
"This one is Stefan's," he said, pointing to a pretty golden brown horse with a white underbelly. It was tall and muscular, seeming to fit Stefan's taste precisely. "His name is Chance."
Elena smiled and rubbed the horse on the top of his head gently, loving the feel of his furry skin underneath hers.
"This one is technically my father's," Damon said, gesturing to a horse much larger than Stefan's. It was at least a foot taller and more muscled. It was as black as night. "His name is Midnight, shocker."
Midnight wasn't paying an ounce of attention to them, so she didn't attempt to rub him. Instead, she followed Damon to the last section.
"And this little girl right here is my horse. Her name is Lucy," Damon said. He made a noise she couldn't describe in words and stepped up on the door. The horse that greeted him was much smaller than the previous two, both in height and muscle. She was by far the prettiest too. Her skin was a splash of gray, black and white with a white mane and dark eyes. Damon petted her, gently pulling her ears and rubbing her back,
"Lucy?" Elena asked, unable to keep herself from smiling.
"I was like nine, leave me alone," Damon said, his lips pulling up at the corners when Lucy snorted, throwing back her head.
Elena stepped forward tentatively, not wanting to frighten her while she was so engrossed in Damon's attention.
"Don't worry, she won't bite," Damon said.
Elena nodded and placed her hand on the horse's head, only jumping slightly when she threw her head back. Elena giggled and began rubbing her hands through Lucy's mane, the hair tangle free and soft.
"We rescued her awhile back from this man in Kentucky," Damon explained. "She wasn't being properly cared for and that's why she's so small. My mother nearly choked her owner when she saw how uncared for she was."
"So you guys brought her here and nursed her back to health?"
Instead of Damon replying, a new voice answered. "He wouldn't leave the barn for days. We had to bring him food and water. He even slept here the first few nights."
They both turned to see Stefan leaning against the wall, having snuck up on them. He was smiling, though it didn't seem to reach his eyes. She made a mental note to ask him what was up later.
"I love this horse," Damon said simply.
"I'm surprised she still knows who you are," Stefan said. "It's been a long time."
An awkward silence filled the air. Elena tried to make herself as small as possible as she petted Lucy. This was clearly family issues and she didn't want to get in the middle of it.
"So what did our dear old Dad have to say?" Damon asked, his tone falsely pleasant. "Already complaining about immature, disobedient Damon?"
Stefan's face hardened. "We were just talking, Damon." His voice was harder than Elena had ever heard it. "It wouldn't kill you to talk to him, you know."
"Father and I made our separate beds a long time ago, Stef," Damon said, already moving toward the door. "I think we both know Father and I are content laying in them."
"Damon," Stefan began.
"Save it," Damon said, clapping Stefan on the shoulder as he passed. "I think I'm going to head out, revisit old times. I'm sure you and Elena will understand."
Stefan sighed. "Fine," he said. "Just be careful."
"Always am," Damon said. Before he walked out of the door, he turned around and added, "Elena, it really was lovely meeting you."
Here's the link. Replace the (dot) with an actual period.
http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=S5lCebgyYOw&feature=youtu(dot)be
Review! (: