Chapter 16
"Okay how about this one?"
Elena stepped out of the changing room of the local dress shop, heading straight for a full length mirror to see if it was the one she wanted. Jessenia thought she looked stunning, the gown really bringing out of her deep brown eyes. This was the third gown Elena had tried on while Jessenia hadn't tried on any, not finding anything that suited her style.
"You look stunning, Elena." Jessenia said, standing up and walked over to help her fluff it out a bit. "Stefan isn't going to know what hit him when he sees you in this."
"If I pick it." Elena smiled, turning around to look at the back, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "I really do like this one."
It was a black and champagne leopard print strapless floor length ball gown with a jewel encrusted waist belt. The dress had a jewel attachment on the left side, the necklace sweetheart designed. Elena looked incredible in it and Jessenia could tell she liked it more than the others, especially with the smile on her face.
"This is the one." She announced after a few more seconds of contemplation, finally turning around to stare at Jessenia. "Now, it's time to find YOU a dress."
Jessenia groaned, not looking forward to this. "Okay, but nothing too fancy or flashy. I'm not the dress up type of girl."
"Just trust me with this." Elena grinned, already sifting through the gowns while tapping her chin in thought. "We'll start with three and work from there, if you don't like any of them."
This was going to be a very long afternoon.
Elena handed over the gowns and nudged Jessenia into one of the changing rooms while she went into her own to change. Jessenia looked at the gowns, trying the first one on that she saw, which was gorgeous. She would never admit that out loud and carefully took it off the hanger after shedding her clothes, slipping into it. It was hard to believe Jessenia actually agreed to go to a school dance, having avoided them for most of her adolescence.
"Come on out, Jesse. I want to see how beautiful you look!" Elena crowed, tapping on the door and stepped back as Jessenia walked out, her eyes widening. "Wow…"
The dress was a champagne strapless gown with a sweetheart neckline. It featured a nude underlay with an embellished emerald green print top bodice and a layered tulle skirt. It was floor length and really made Jessenia jade eyes pop, which is what Elena was aiming for. Pulling Jessenia over to the full length mirror, Elena stood behind her and forced her friend to look at her reflection, beaming.
"You look magnificent, Jesse."
Jessenia didn't know what to think or feel as she stared in the mirror, slowly smoothing her hands down the chiffon material, chewing her bottom lip. She had to admit, it was a breathtaking dress and she didn't look half bad in it, but this wasn't her type of fun. Still, Jessenia appreciated the effort and decided she didn't need to try the rest of the dresses on because no others compared.
"I'll get this one then." Jessenia looked over at Elena, cracking a phony smile.
"Are you sure?" Elena asked, tilting her head slightly. "There's no rush, Jesse. If you want to try others on, you can. Though, I don't think the others will live up to this one honestly."
"I'm sure."
The girls paid for their dresses and walked out of the shop, heading for Elena's car. The wind picked up a little too strongly and Jessenia ended up accidentally dropping her dress on the sidewalk, thankful it was in a protective bag. Gathering it in her arms again, Jessenia stood up and jumped at the sight of Damon standing right in front of her, jade locking with aquamarine.
It'd been a week since she last saw him, the hurt still very fresh, but Jessenia was just taking one day at a time. Elena had really helped her by keeping her distracted with the homecoming dance and school. She also attended a small gathering in the town square and hung out with Elena's friends Caroline, Matt, Tyler and Bonnie. If they knew about what happened with Damon, nobody talked about it, just keeping the conversation calm and light.
"Hi." That was the only way Jessenia could greet him.
Damon missed her and had gone on a drinking binge the first few days before Stefan finally forced him to sober up. As much as his little brother annoyed him, Damon was thankful because he did have to get his head on straight. Kassandra and Katherine were still a threat that had to be dealt with, especially since they were still in town according to Alaric, but hadn't been back to the house.
Stefan had tried talking to him about Jessenia, but Damon wasn't budging or talking about it. He knew what he was doing and didn't need Stefan interfering, basically telling him to focus on Elena. Being the more human between the two, Stefan told Damon he didn't have to push away Jessenia to solve his problems. Damon hadn't responded and walked out, needing some fresh air.
"What's that?" He asked, tapping the huge white bag with his finger, already knowing what it was because Damon had seen her in the dress through the window.
"My homecoming dress." Jessenia answered softly, lifting her leg up to hold the dress a little more securely. "Elena's making me go."
So that's why Stefan was trying on different shirts and ties this morning. "Sounds boring, who are you going with?" Damon made it sound like he wasn't interested, but secretly he was, ready to tear out the guy's spine who was taking her.
"Elena."
Now that was an interesting response. "Elena isn't going with Stefan?"
"She said he'd have to get over it because we're going together." Jessenia said, repeating Elena's words. "Why do you ask?"
"No reason." Damon shrugged, plastering on a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Just curious if you're aware that Stefan is going to the dance."
"Of course he is, he does go to school here." Elena said from behind, causing Damon to turn to face her, smiling. "We're going as a group with Caroline, Tyler, Matt and Bonnie."
"Sounds like a big orgy to me." Damon snorted, his eyes once again on Jessenia, who looked very uncomfortable.
Elena sensed it and was by her side a second later, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Why don't you head to the grill and I'll meet you there?" She suggested, wanting a few words alone with Damon and smiled reassuringly at her friend. "I'll be right behind you."
Jessenia wasn't arguing with her and walked past Damon, heading to her car, trying to stay positive. Elena waited until Jessenia drove off before slapping the taste out of Damon's mouth, brown eyes flashing. Damon hadn't expected that and ended up dislocating his neck from the blow, having to crack it back into place.
"That's your only warning. Stay away from Jessenia or I will kick the hell out of you the way Caroline did, Damon." Elena didn't know what his game was, but she wasn't playing it and refused to let him hurt Jessenia again. "You walked away from her, you chose this. Now leave her alone."
Damon was tempted to show Elena his own strength, but decided against it, knowing she was only defending Jessenia. "Do that again and I will hurt you." He promised darkly, rubbing his cheek. "I walked away from her for a reason, Elena. Stay out of it."
"You call walking away from her, over a stupid note your ex-girlfriend from back in your human days, a reason?" Elena scoffed, thoroughly disappointed with him. "I can't believe you, Damon. That has to be the lamest excuse I've ever heard of. I thought you had a bigger heart than that, but I guess I was wrong."
"Guess you were." Damon shot back, no longer smiling. "You can thank Katherine and yourself for that too." Elena had broken was Katherine had left of his heart and Damon refused to apology for any of his actions. "We done here?"
"I can't help who I fell in love with, Damon." Elena said honestly, tired of feeling guilty over something that was out of her control. "I know we met first, but you compelled me to forget that memory, remember? It's your fault I didn't choose you. You decided that night I wasn't worth getting to know, that you didn't want me remembering because you didn't want anyone else knowing you were in town. Think about that the next time you try to make me feel guilty."
Damon watched her walk away and knew Elena was right, hating her for it. "Damn it." He muttered, raking a hand through his black hair and stalked down the sideway to his car, feeling very conflicted.
When Elena walked into the grill angry, Jessenia assumed her conversation with Damon hadn't gone well and didn't say anything. It wasn't her business what they talked about, Damon wasn't hers as much as she wanted him to be and Jessenia had to get over it. She popped a fry in her mouth after dipping it in ketchup, laughing at something Matt said.
He was such a nice guy with baby blue eyes and blonde hair, the quarterback of Mystic Falls High School football team. He wasn't like other jocks though, he actually had a brain, a job and supported himself, which Jessenia admired. Matt also had a great sense of humor and a killer smile, but it didn't compare to Damon.
Why couldn't Jessenia fall for someone like him who wasn't completely out of her reach?
"So, I heard you two found your dresses." Caroline grinned, eyes sparkling. "I can't wait to see them!"
"Yeah, wait until you see Jesse's. Mine is beautiful, but hers is going to take everyone's breath away." Elena winked at Jessenia, smiling when she flushed. "It's the truth!"
"I found my dress too." Caroline stated, everyone excited for the dance and grabbed Tyler's hand under the table, squeezing it.
"Really?" Elena grinned, sipping some of her soda that Matt ordered for her. "What color is it?"
"It's this really light baby blue, strapless with a sweetheart neckline and it has this huge silver sparkling belt that covers the abdomen area." Caroline described, looking dreamy while she did it and jumped when Tyler pinched her arm to get her back to reality. "Sorry."
"Short or long?" Jessenia asked, getting into the conversation while eating her food, starving after shopping for dresses with Elena. "Ours are long."
"Short of course." Caroline giggled, slapping Tyler playfully when he growled, sending a shiver down her back. "Behave."
Tyler smirked, bringing Caroline's hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. "Do I ever behave?"
Rolling her eyes, Caroline snorted and turned her attention to Jessenia, changing the subject. "So, who are you going to the dance with, Jesse?" She asked innocently.
"Elena and I are going together." Jessenia answered for the second time that day, twirling it around in her drink.
Caroline blinked, looking confused. "I thought Stefan was supposed to be taking you, Elena?"
"Yes well given this is Jesse's first official school dance and she doesn't really know anyone, I was thinking we could all go as a group." Elena suggested, having partially lied to Damon regarding how they were attending the dance.
"Matt doesn't have a date." Caroline pointed out coyly, eyeing Matt to see what his reaction would be. "He could always take you, Jesse."
Matt really wanted to kill Caroline for suggesting that because he knew what happened with Damon, thanks to Elena. Still, he did find the idea intriguing, wondering what Jessenia thought about it. He found her attractive and she definitely had a killer body that blew both Elena and Caroline out of the water. Of course, he would never admit that aloud, liking his genitals where they were.
"I wouldn't mind." Matt said with a charming smile, looking across the table at Jessenia. "What do you think, Jesse?"
"I think that would be great." Bonnie piped in, having busied herself with looking over her notes for a test in science. "What do you say, girl?"
"Matt is an excellent dancer, trust me." Caroline knew she was probably pressuring Jessenia, but after what Damon did to her, she had to get back into the swing of things. "Come on, you two will have a lot of fun together!"
"Yeah!"
Jessenia was looking at each person around the table and could already feel the tears stinging the back of her eyes. She didn't want to go to this dance in the first place, but Elena was making her. Now everyone was pressuring her to go with Matt, who was a nice guy, but he wasn't Damon. Not able to deal with this right now, Jessenia put her wallet in her purse and stood up from the table, shaking slightly.
"I have to go, see you guys later."
Elena went to stop Jessenia from running out, but Caroline stopped her, both of them frowning. "Well that didn't go over well…"
"Damn it Caroline, I told you to be subtle about it." Bonnie chastised, feeling horrible that they ambushed Jessenia like that. "I'm sorry Matt. We tried."
"Wait, you wanted to take her to the dance, Matt?" Elena blinked, wondering when this came about and watched him slowly lower his head. "If I would've known…"
"It's fine, don't worry about it. Look, I gotta get back to work. It was worth a shot, thanks anyway guys." He walked away from the table dejectedly and vowed to apologize to Jessenia the next time he saw her.
Elena felt awful and really wished Caroline would've kept her nose out of Jessenia's business because this was a major setback from all the progress they made. Damon had no idea what he did to her when he basically pushed her away to protect her. She wasn't stupid, that's how Damon worked.
He did things irrationally, going from one extreme or the other. Either he was fiercely protective the way he had been with her when she was human or he pushed people away he cared about most, possibly even loved. Elena had to talk to him and left the grill, heading over to the Salvatore house. All she could hope was that she could get through to him and change his mind about Jessenia.
Jessenia didn't drive home and instead headed out of town, just needing to get away for a while. She pulled over on Wickery Bridge and walked down to the water's edge, tears pouring down her cheeks. What happened at the grill was definitely unexpected and Jessenia felt terrible because she rejected Matt in front of everyone.
Nobody deserved embarrassment like that, but what was she supposed to do? Go to the dance and act like everything was fine, like her heart wasn't ripped into pieces? She couldn't do that, it wasn't fair to Matt to use him because he was genuinely a nice guy. Maybe going to the dance wasn't such a good idea.
"Well, well what do we have here?"
Jessenia turned around, eyes widening at the sight of Kassandra and knew she had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.