Chapter Seventeen

Ella was smiling when she and Damon entered the Grill. She had responded to all of her friends, telling them she was fine and she was with Damon at the Grill and that they weren't to worry. Knowing that they didn't hate her for yelling at them and throwing them out had lifted a weight off of her.

"Do you want some lunch?" Damon asked. "You didn't eat breakfast."

"That's because I had a very bossy Vampire rushing me out the door," Ella grinned. They sat across from each other in one of the booths.

"Do you want lunch or not?" Damon asked making a face at her.

"Yes, please," Ella smiled again.

A waitress appeared a few moments' later and handed them both menus. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked, taking out a pen and notepad.

"I'll have a coke please," Ella answered with a smile.

She watched closely as the waitress turned her gaze to Damon. The other girl's eyes lit up slightly as she looked at him, and Ella felt a spike in her emotions. With a deep breath Ella focused on the girl, not fully, just enough to get a taste of what she was feeling. A wave of lust flowed over Ella, but it wasn't overwhelming. It reminded Ella of a gentle breeze.

"I'll have a glass of whiskey," Damon told the girl with a grin. This caused the girl's heart rate to pick up slightly. She nodded and fumbled with her notepad before hurrying away to get their drinks.

Ella lifted her menu and pretended to read it while secretly studying Damon. The girl had definitely been attracted to Damon and Ella had to admit he was quite good-looking in that bad boy way. He had piercing blue eyes, and a cheeky grin that could probably make most women melt, but still Ella couldn't see it. She couldn't see what had made that girl practically weak in the knees.

To her he was just Damon, sure she liked him and felt a sort of bond between them even though they barely knew each other but she wasn't attracted to him. She wondered if it had something to do with the imprinting he had mentioned earlier. Could her falling in love with Jeremy be the reason she didn't find Damon attractive?

"You're staring," Damon's voice broke into her thoughts. He wasn't looking at her but reading his menu.

"I'm not staring," Ella argued. She could feel her cheeks heat up and returned her attention back to her menu.

"Sure you weren't," Damon laughed.

The waitress returned with their drinks then, saving Ella from having to say anything else. "Are you ready to order?" she asked when she had sat their drinks in front of them.

"I'll just have a chicken burger and fries," Ella answered, closing her menu and handing it to the waitress.

"And for you?" the girl turned to Damon again, but this time Ella couldn't help but notice the girl didn't meet his eyes.

"Mushroom Alfredo."

"That poor girl," Ella shook her head and smiled when the waitress walked away.

"What do you mean?" Damon asked.

"You couldn't tell the affect that you had on her?" Ella asked incredulously. "You're a vampire Damon; surely you heard her heartbeat accelerate when you smiled at her."

"How did you know her heartbeat accelerated?" Damon wanted to know, avoiding the question.

Ella shrugged. "I was practicing, like you said I should do, so I was focusing on her emotions and I guess I heard it or felt it. Is that wrong?"

Damon was frowning and making Ella feel nervous. "Not wrong no, just..."

"Just what Damon?"

"I don't really know a lot about your kind," he explained. "But from what little I do know, your abilities are all psychological. It's all in the mind, like a psychic. You shouldn't be able to feel a physical change in a person, and you shouldn't be able to hear like that either. Vampire's and werewolves, the changes they go through, are physical. Sure Vampire's have some gifts that effect the mind, compelling being one of them, but a Fae isn't like that. You do get super strength, or speed or hearing, like a witch it's all in your mind."

"What does that mean?" Ella asked. Dread was filling the pit of her stomach. "If I felt or heard that girl's heartbeat, what does that mean?"

Damon opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Matt's arrival at their table. "Hey Ella."

"Matt," Ella smiled in greeting. Damon was impressed by the way she completely changed her expression. Gone was the fear that filled her eyes, the tense line of her jaw and the frown that had puckered her brow. Her expression was now bright and open.

"How are you?" Matt asked, shooting a glance at Damon. "Bonnie had said you weren't feeling too well last night."

"I'm fine. I hadn't had much to eat and I think all the dancing and the heat just went to my head. Did you enjoy the dance?"

"I did," Matt nodded. An awkward silence descended over the group as Matt hovered at their booth.

"Was there something else?" Ella questioned.

"Erm..." Matt hesitated. "Do you have any plans for the weekend?"

"Not really, I'm supposed to be meeting Jeremy here later to hang out. What's going on Matt?"

"Going on? Why would you think something is going on?"

"Because you're sweating bullets and hovering trying to make small talk," Ella pointed out. "So spill, what's wrong?"

Matt sighed. "Fine. Caroline called me, she said that you had txt her to say you were here with Damon and she wanted me to make sure you were all right. She asked me to stay with you until she got here."

"She's coming here?" Ella demanded. "Why?"

"Because she doesn't trust me," Damon answered.

"Matt go back to work," Ella instructed. "I don't need a chaperone and you'll get in trouble if you're hovering here instead of doing your job. I'm here to have a nice lunch with my friend."

"Are...are you sure?" Matt asked, his gaze moving between her and Damon.

"I'm sure."

Matt paused for a few more seconds then turned and left. Ella waited a few moments more, making sure she could remain calm before she spoke again.

"Why would Caroline do that? Doesn't she trust me to make my own choices? How dare she get Matt to spy on me like that?"

"She's just worried about you," Damon explained. "And she has reason to be. I wasn't exactly good to her when we first met. In fact I was compelling her into doing things for me, like letting me drink her blood."

Ella's stomach lurched at the thought and if she'd eaten anything she doubted she could have stopped it coming back up. "You what?"

"I was a different person back then, I was hell bent on finding Katherine and I'd use anyone to get to her. In fact I'm not really that different, but I'm no longer obsessed with Katherine. I care about Stefan, we're nothing like we were before Katherine and I don't think we'll ever be that close again, but I'm trying. I'll never be good, I'm a Vampire, it's not in my nature, but at least I'm trying. Shouldn't I at least get point for that?"

Their waitress returned then with their food then and Ella was saved a few moments from answering while she set their plates in front of them. She asked if everything was all right and if they needed anything else, when they declined she left.

"So, are we all right?" Damon asked when the waitress was out of ear shot.

Ella answered by leaning forward and spearing one of Damon's mushrooms on the end of her fork and popping it into her mouth with a grin. Damon smiled back and took one of Ella's fries.

"We're good."

TBC...