Cannonball
Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone from The Vampire Diaries.
January 13th 2013.
Sunday 8:57am.
Mystic Falls
"Shoot, I can't find my shoes!" I watch amused as Elena scrambles around my room frantically all the while trying to get dressed while her clothes are literally scattered around my bedroom. "Damon! Help me find my shoes!"
I chuckle but don't move, perfectly content to continue to lie here while Elena rushes around in a frenzy. Call it payback for waking me up at such a ridiculous hour for a Sunday morning.
"It's not funny!" she scolds me but I can tell that she is trying to fight a smile. "I'm supposed to meet my Mom at the salon in exactly…" she looks down at her watch and her eyes widen. "Three minutes! Shit!"
"Relax." I raise my arms and link them behind my head, leaning back against the headboard lazily. "Their probably by the door…"
Her eyes widen slightly and off she goes, like a hurricane and I smirk when I hear her shout "Found them!" in the distance and soon she is back in my bedroom but this time fully dressed and I sigh in disappointment.
"Are you sure you have to go to this stupid thing?"
"It's Miss Mystic Falls." She rolls her eyes at me because she has told me about this so many times already. "You know I have too." She leans down onto the bed, hovering over me with a smirk. "You should come, see me in my dress."
"I'm sure you'd look beautiful." I comment, my hands gripping her hips and pulling her against me so she is lying flat on top of me, much to her dismay. "But I'd prefer to see you in nothing at all." I wiggle my eyebrows at her teasingly and she rolls her eyes but closes the small gap to press her lips against mine for a breath-taking but all too short kiss.
"Ok, I really gotta go." She tries to get up but I grip her tighter, my fingers digging into her skin to keep her firmly against me. "Damon."
"Nah uh, one more kiss." I smirk and I watch as she tries to hide her smile before leaning down to kiss me. She sighs against my mouth and I use the opportunity to deepen the kiss, my tongue sliding into her mouth naturally and when I feel her body completely relax against my own I use it to my advantage and roll us over so I'm on top.
"No, no, no." she murmurs against my lips in between kisses but I notice the way her fingers slide into my hair. "I really need to go."
"In a minute," I murmur and pull away from her lips to press slow open mouthed kisses to her neck. "I want to leave you a parting gift." I mumble against her neck before grazing my teeth against her skin and biting her, nibbling and sucking in the same spot over and over.
She moans loudly in a mix of pleasure and pain and I kiss the spot before lifting my head up, watching as her eyes slowly flutter open, blissfully in a daze before they widen in realization.
"Ass!" she pushes me off her immediately and I chuckle as I watch her hold her neck while she darts across to the small mirror that I have on my dressing table. "You better not have left a mark!"
"Whoops." I smirk playfully.
"Damon!" she gasps as she notices the little red mark on her skin, but her eyes are shining and she looks the happiest that she has ever looked since Christmas.
I just wish that it would last.
Elena, dare I say naively, believes that because we haven't heard anything since Christmas day from our camera happy stalker that this could mean the end of it. If anything, this amount of time that is passing is only making me more anxious and nervous because I know that our bubble is going to burst and it's only a matter of time.
Of course, Elena is using this silence as an excuse to not go on that date with Mason, and the jealous and possessive part of me has been going along with her excuses.
If it is Mason who knows about us then he's just biding his time and waiting for us to fall back into that false sense of security before he makes his next move. I can't think of anything worse than Elena going on dates with that asshole, but unfortunately she's the only one out of the two of us who can get close enough to him to try and figure out his motives.
"You better pray that I can cover this up with make-up," she eyes the mark in the mirror before rolling her eyes and grabbing her scarf and wrapping it around her neck as she gets wrapped up for the cold weather outside. "Jackass."
I chuckle and reluctantly climb out of bed, not missing the way Elena's eyes slowly trail up and down my naked body slowly. "You like what you see?" I raise my eyebrow at her teasingly.
"No." she scowls at me but I also don't miss the way he tongue quickly darts out to wet her lips. "You suck!"
"I know." I smirk before wrapping my arms back around her, my naked self in complete contrast to her being fully clothed. "But you love me anyway." I grin and watch as she tries to fight her smile, her hand running slowly down my bare back and sending silent shivers up my spine.
"I really have to go." She stresses to me. "You don't know how important this competition is to my Mom."
"But it's not important to you?"
She looks down for a moment before sighing. "No I guess not." She looks almost guilty for saying it and I raise a hand and softly grip her chin between my thumb and finger.
"It's just a silly pageant." I tell her seriously. "It doesn't mean anything."
"I wish my Mom would see it that way."
"You're Mom's an idiot." She smiles slightly and runs a hand down my side before landing it on my hip. "In fact, I know that you're the only sane person in the Gilbert family."
She immediately rolls her eyes. "Let's not start all that up Salvatore." She smirks slightly and takes a reluctant step back. "I need to go."
"I know." I nod. "I'd walk you to the door but…" I hold my arms out and she lets out a laugh.
"Right. You're naked." And there is potentially someone creeping in the shadows with a camera in hand - but those words go left unsaid.
"I sure am darlin!" I grin and she smiles before sending me a small cute wave that is just so Elena.
"I'll see you tonight?"
"You know where I live." I watch as she smiles before turning and leaving. I wait until I hear the door close shut before I grab my shorts and slide them on; walking out into the kitchen to make breakfast, tempted to take a look outside to see if I can spot anything out of the ordinary but knowing that if I do, I'll be giving them exactly what they want.
When I finally arrive at the Lockwood's estate, after major lectures all morning from my Mother for not taking this competition seriously, I have just about had enough of this stupid pageant and it hasn't even started yet.
All I want to do is go back to Damon's apartment and crawl back in his bed and stay there, but instead I had to deal with my Mom's scolding me while Mrs Harris from the salon roughly ran a comb through my tattered hair, styling it to an appropriate flare that they believe will impress the judges.
"Elena!" I turn around and stop my cringe as I spot Blair Fell heading towards me, or shall I say gliding, the way her back stays straight, her head held high just shows how much she takes this thing seriously.
She did win last year after all.
"Hi Blair." I force a smile and keep it plastered on her lips as she eyes me up and down slowly.
"Is that how you're wearing your hair?"
"Yes."
"Oh. It's…pretty." She smiles condescendingly but I keep myself together and the smile glued to my face.
"Oh thank you." I say sweetly while I also slowly look her up and down to make my own point. "You look….pretty too."
"Mhm." She makes a noise from her lips before her eyes travel past me. "I'll see you soon, Elena." She taps my shoulder and makes her way past me, probably on the look out for the next poor victim to cross her path.
"She thinks she has it in the bag again." I turn my head to see Caroline approaching me with a frown. "But she should know that red was so last year." She comments on Blair's dress and I let out a small laugh and agree.
"You look beautiful, Care." I tell her honestly, taking in her green dress and flowing curled blonde hair. Her makeup is done to perfection and she definitely looks the best here.
"Thanks." She shoots me a genuine smile. "So do you, I love your dress." I watch as her smile falters slightly as she looks almost like she is studying me. "You look happy, Elena."
I feel my eyebrows crease together by her words which do not at all match the look on her face. "Thanks…"
"No I mean…" she trails off and sighs loudly. "You look happy." She falters and I can tell that she's frustrated. "God, now is so not the time but I've been keeping this in for too long and I can't keep pretending otherwise anymore." she lets out a breath. "I know, Elena." She stares me down and I freeze. "I know."
I feel my mouth open and close, my palms start to sweat, my heart starts to pound painfully against my chest and I start to fiddle with my necklace that Damon bought me for Christmas with shaky fingers.
Was it Caroline who sent the photos?
"Caroline-"
"Why didn't you just tell me, Elena?" she looks at me sadly. "I'm your best friend! And it hurts me to think that you don't trust me with things like this."
"Care…I…" I stutter, my brain in a frenzy as I try to figure out what this all means, what this could mean. "I'm sorry."
She shakes her head immediately throwing away my apology. "All the secrets and the lies, why Elena? Why would you do that?"
"You have to understand why I couldn't tell you…I couldn't tell anyone!" I defend myself quickly, my emotions stuck in a state of panic and confusion as the reality of Caroline knowing begins to slowly sink in.
I was not expecting this today and especially from my best friend. I am not ready to deal with this.
She scoffs coldly and her eyes start to wonder briefly around the room before landing back on me and I'm shocked to see how hard and cold her blue eyes look. "Don't lie to me again, Elena. I know you told Bonnie."
"Wh-what." I stutter confused, my fingers shakily pressed against my necklace. "No…I didn't…Bonnie doesn't know."
"God Elena!" she rants in frustration, looking at me with wide hurt eyes. "Stop lying!"
"I'm not lying to you Caroline, Bonnie doesn't know!"
"Then why the hell did I find you two texting each other about it?" she accuses me and I frown, immediately falling silent. "Yeah that's right, how else did you think I found out? I saw your texts on her phone, by accident, and at first I thought maybe you just hadn't had the chance to tell me about it yet and that you would tell me soon but its been weeks! Weeks I've had to stand here in front of you and watch you lie so easily to my face every single day! Showing no signs of guilt, just lies, lies and even more lies."
It takes me a moment to catch on that Caroline doesn't know about Damon, but instead she has found out about my made up mystery guy from Richmond.
I feel an immense amount of relief flood my body that she doesn't know the truth, but that relief is soon replaced with guilt as I realize by trying to keep my relationship with Damon a secret, I have managed to alienate my best friend. It certainly explains her mixed signals that she has given me for weeks now, her moods towards me forever changing.
"Caroline this is not what you think." I try to explain to her desperately but really what can I do? It's not like I can tell her the truth is it? I'm just going to have to prove her point by lying some more.
"Than how is it, Elena? Tell me." she throws up her arms in frustration.
"Bonnie found out by accident...I didn't tell her." my brain is working overload as I try to think of a realistic story to cover my back. "She doesn't even know his name...he's not from Mystic Falls and I've been keeping him a secret. Bonnie was never meant to find out, no one was."
"Why?" Caroline asks confused. "Why would you keep him a secret?"
I shrug. "I don't know...we got together not long after I broke things off with Matt and I didn't want people to get the wrong idea. Then one thing led to another and so many weeks had passed and I just kept on keeping it a secret, call it habit maybe? Call me being scared but I promise that me keeping this from everyone is to do with me only." I offer and pray that she buys it.
Caroline stares at me long and hard for a moment before letting out a loud sigh. "So does that mean things with you and Matt are over for good then?" she almost sounds a little relieved but I don't think much of it, thankful that she doesn't seem to be questioning my story anymore.
"There is no me and Matt, there hasn't been for a long time." I finally let go of my necklace. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, but I was just scared. I didn't do it to purposely hurt you, please know that." and that is something that I do mean.
She slowly nods her head before pushing a smile. "It's ok." she steps forward and wraps her arms around me in a hug. "I'm sorry for being such a drama queen and overreacting."
"It's ok." I chuckle lightly and pull back. "I'm just glad that you finally know."
She grins. "I expect all the details later Miss Gilbert, and don't you dare miss anything out! But as of right now...I have a pageant to win, and you my dear are unfortunately my competition so I'm going to go and touch up on my makeup so I look hotter."
I laugh and nod my head in agreement while I watch her leave, feeling all the tension leave my body the second she is out of sight, trying to ignore that nagging feeling that everything is about to go terribly wrong.
"Black ball potted, I win again." I smirk as I stand up straight by the pool table in the back of The Grill and look at Klaus smugly. "I think that means you need to buy me another drink."
"Yeah yeah." he rolls his eyes as he places his cue back into the rack. "I get it mate, you're good at pool."
"I'm the best." I tell him pointedly. "You should know that by now buddy."
"You're a cocky son of a bitch, that's what you are." Klaus hits back immediately with his signature smirk plastered to his lips and I chuckle in agreement.
"And don't we all know it." I freeze at the unfortunate recognizable voice that I sadly don't even have to turn around to know who it belongs too.
"Go away Katherine."
She tuts loudly and walks around me so we are now face to face. "Is this your new way of greeting the ladies these days? I thought you were a gentleman, Damon."
"I don't see no ladies." I fire back with a fake smile.
"Good to see you still have that dazzling sense of humor of yours."
"You know me, Kat, I never change." I roll my eyes as I push past her to put my pool cue away and unfortunately turning back around to see that she's still there.
"I'll uh...go get those drinks." Klaus looks between us awkwardly for a moment before heading towards the bar and leaving me alone with the devil.
I always knew he was a pussy.
"What do you want?" I ask impatiently as she twirls her dark hair around her finger, a seductive smile on her face that I know too well.
"I just wanted to see how you were," she replies sweetly but I know Katherine and Katherine Pierce does not do sweet. "It's been a while."
"Yeah there's a reason for that." I glare at her and she sighs loudly and takes a step towards me.
"Damon, why are you so mad at me? If anything, I'm the one that should be mad at you, but I can be the bigger person and move on from your sex tape escapades and then rejecting my olive branch to take me to the winter formal."
"I'm not mad at you Katherine, I just don't like you." I tell her getting straight to the point. "So just get on with whatever it is you came over here to do because you're boring me and I have better things to do with my time than listen to you." I tell her coldly but Katherine's smirk only gets bigger.
"You're right, I did come over here for a reason." she takes another step closer so we are toe to toe and I look at her impatiently, urging her to just spit whatever the hell it is out. She moves her arm behind her and I watch with a frown as she reaches into her back pocket and pulling out what looks like a wallet. "Here." she presses it into my hand. "Return this to your brother for me, he must have forgotten it when he was leaving my bed this morning. Oh and before you ask, yes he is better in the sack than you." she smiles wickedly before turning around and strutting away with her hips moving from side to side and I literally feel my jaw drop.
"Katherine Piece! Are you out of your fucking batshit crazy mind!" I throw Stefan's wallet against him at full force as he sits back against his headrest in his bed, his Xbox controller quickly falling from his hands as he catches the wallet against his chest.
"Damon...I can explain." he makes a move out of bed and looks at me with desperate panicked eyes.
"No! I don't want you to explain! I want you to get your fucking head tested! Jesus Christ Stefan I knew you could be an idiot sometimes but Katherine?! Really? Really?!" I slap the back of his head for good measure. "What the hell is wrong with you!"
"Look I know that you and her had this thing going on but what is going on between the two of us doesn't have anything to do with that! It's not about you, Damon!" he argues immediately as he pushes away my hand as I go to slap him again.
"It's not about me?" I look at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? This is Katherine we're talking about, of course this is about me!"
Stefan's whole demur immediately changes and he glares at me angrily. "Cocky much? Believe it or not, she doesn't spend all her time thinking about you and coming up with ways to get you back! She's over you and she has been for a long time, it's not my fault if you are too arrogant and self-absorbed to actually realize that!"
"And it's not my fault that you are too busy thinking with your dick than your brain to see what a monumental mistake you are making by getting involved with her! Haven't you learned anything? Didn't you see how manipulative she was? How cunning and conniving? She's a bitch, baby bro, and you should know better!"
"Don't call her that!" he hisses at me furiously and I look at him in absolute bewilderment. Is this really happening right now?
"Why not?" I throw my arms up wildly. "That's exactly what she is. She's a bitch, no in fact she's not just a bitch, she's a slutty cheap nasty whore and your brain isn't the only thing that's going to need testing!"
Stefan throws the first punch.
Suddenly our fists are flying back and forth and before I know it we are rolling around on the floor like a couple of buffoons, punches landing anywhere and everywhere as each of us try to outdo the other.
"What the hell is going on here?!" the sound of my father's booming voice immediately pulls us apart and we both drag ourselves to our feet as I wipe some blood from my dripping nose breathlessly.
"It's nothing." I grunt in annoyance, briefly glancing at Stefan who looks just as bloody as I feel.
"I'm not one to usually state the obvious but this clearly isn't nothing." Giuseppe looks at me sternly before turning his attention to my brother. "Stefan?"
"It's no big deal." Stefan mutters quietly.
"No big deal?" Giuseppe walks further into the room. "So it's no big deal that I come home from a days work to find both of my sons fighting in my house? That's not a big deal to you?" he looks at Stefan with a hard stare and I watch as he gulps under the intense gaze. "Damon?" he turns his attention towards me. "That not a big deal to you either?" I stay silent. "What happened to a thing called respect?" he looks between us both. "Or have you both lost that too as well as your brains?"
"It won't happen again." I offer.
"Damn right it won't!" he barks back immediately, the anger clear in his tone.
"I'm gonna go." I glance at Stefan briefly before making my way to the door but not before Giuseppe grabs a hold of my arm tightly and pulls me back, his grip still there and clutching into my skin almost painfully.
"Just because you no longer live under my roof does not mean that you no longer abide by my rules." he speaks to me firmly, his voice cold and hard before he looks back at Stefan. "You both know how complicated things are right now in this family and the last thing I want to deal with is the two of you fighting like a pair of braindead morons! The Salvatore name is in question right now and my trial is only a few weeks away so people's eyes are on us! You two do not behave like this again, do you hear me?"
"Yes sir." Stefan obediently replies, his adams apple moving up and down giving away his nerves.
"Damon?"
"Yes sir." I agree reluctantly. "It won't happen again."
"Good." Giuseppe finally let's go of my arm. "Now go." I leave the room quickly, not wanting to be pulled back and honestly I actually kind of feel bad for leaving Stefan to deal with our father alone.
But then again, the idiot deserves it. Maybe it will even knock some sense into him.
I scoff loudly to myself.
I doubt it.
I get into my car and head back to my apartment, hearing my phone beep about half way and it's not until I pull up into the usual parking space outside of my building before I check it.
I frown at the blocked number and freeze when I read the text because even though I knew this was coming, part of me was still secretly hoping that deep down Elena was right and it was over.
Ouch. Looks painful. Maybe Elena can
play dress up and nurse you all better.
I throw my phone down onto the chair next to me angrily, getting out of the car and looking around but there is nothing out of the ordinary.
I slam my fist against my car, once, twice, three times before leaning against it in panting rage because now I know that we can no longer ignore this. I need to know who is doing this so I can put a stop to it once and for all.
Elena needs to go on that date with Mason and she needs to do it ASAP.
I glance at Damon nervously as he clutches his steering wheel tightly, his already red bruised knuckles turning whiter by the second and I can't even reach out my own hand to comfort him because I am feeling the exact same way.
I do not want to do this.
But I have too.
"It's not a real date," I break the awkward silence that has descended upon us and I'm not quite sure who I'm trying to convince, myself or Damon.
The thought that Mason believes that this is actually a real date makes my skin crawl, especially if he really is the person behind the photos and text messages threatening to expose our relationship.
I watch as Damon clutches the wheel even tighter.
"So you can stop being mad at me, because this was your damn idea in the first place." I huff as I check myself in the mirror once Damon pulls up behind The Grill, out the way of the public eye despite it being dark outside.
"I'm not mad at you." he replies but his tone of voice says otherwise. "And I am more than aware that this was my idea, thanks for the reminder." he mutters bitterly.
I roll my eyes and move to get out of the car but Damon reaches out his hand quickly and grabs my arm tightly, pulling me back to face him.
"No kissing." he orders me immediately and I look at him in disbelief.
"Really?" I let out a laugh because this is just ridiculous. "Sure! Whatever! I'm sure I'll be able to keep myself in check, it'll be tough not to throw myself at him at every opportunity but I think I'll manage." Did he really believe that I would actually kiss Mason tonight?
He rolls his eyes and huffs, briefly turning his head away and I watch as his jaw clenches tightly. I sigh and place my hand on his cheek, my fingers slowly stroking his skin before I tug his head back towards me so we are face to face.
"I love you." I look into his blue pools. "Remember why I'm doing this."
"I know." he sighs and leans his forehead against mine, sucking in a breath. "I'm sorry for acting like an asshole, you don't deserve it."
"I know." I smile slightly and kiss him softly on the lips ever so briefly before I pull away. "But I understand why you feel this way, I'd be the same if I had to let you go on a date with another girl."
Just the thought sends unpleasant shivers up my spine.
"Well you don't have to worry about that." he murmurs against my mouth before kissing me again. "I'm sorry that I asked you to do this."
"It's ok, we need to know for sure. I understand." I tell him again for what seems like the millionth time since he brought it up again two days ago after he received the text message reminding us that our secret is no longer safe.
I thought I had a lucky escape with Caroline at the pageant, but apparently I was wrong and I had spent the last couple of weeks kidding myself that this problem would just go away.
It won't go away.
Damon is right, we can't just wait around doing nothing while whoever this person is, Mason or otherwise, makes their next move to potentially destroy everything around us. We need to take this into our own hands and deal with the problem ourselves.
As Damon reminded me last night, this is a process of elimination.
Starting with Mason Lockwood.
I take a deep breath before I enter The Grill, reminding myself of why I am doing this and willing myself to put on a good show. Even to Mason this is just one date, I don't have to pretend that this is going to lead to anything else. I just need to see how he behaves around me, if he brings up something that could connect him to knowing about Damon.
It doesn't take me long to find Mason, he is sitting alone at a booth in the back corner of The Grill, probably the most private part of the whole restaurant and that only makes me more nervous and anxious about this whole thing. I take another deep breath as he raises his head and spots me, a smile rising to his face as he waves me over and I force one back before putting one foot in front of the other and heading over towards him.
I can do this.
He stands up when I get closer and I let him pull me in for a hug, I slowly return it, my arms wrapping around his larger body and I pull away with a presentable smile and take a seat opposite him.
"For a moment there I thought you were going to stand me up." he smiles almost shyly at me as I take off my jacket, getting comfortable.
"Sorry," I apologize while pushing some fallen hair from my face. "I was running late."
"No second thoughts then?"
"No." I shake my head and keep my smile. "No second thoughts."
"Good." he grins. "I know you were a little freaked when I first told you about my little crush on you." he laughs slightly.
"Well...that was months ago now." I hide my cringe as I'm reminded about that small incident in his backyard, I was upset about Jeremy being in a fight with Stefan and I was waiting for Damon to come and get me when Mason blurted it out. It still makes me shudder thinking about.
I mean sure, Mason is a nice guy, or at least I believed him to be, and he's not exactly hard on the eye either but at the end of the day it's quite simple really.
He's not Damon.
"To be honest, Elena, I was kinda surprised when you asked me out yesterday." he admits almost sheepishly. "I thought you weren't interested."
I shrug and force another smile. "I think you're a nice guy, always have done..." I study his reaction before I continue. "I'm single, you're single, so why not, right?"
His smile widens. "Yeah, why not?" he winks at me and I do everything in my power to hide my grimace. I hear my phone beep from my purse and I send Mason an apologetic look before I pull it out and it doesn't surprise me to see that the text message is from Damon.
Hows it goin? X
I force myself to not roll my eyes because how can I possibly give him a real answer right now? I've barely even been here for ten minutes.
I am also very much aware of Klaus sitting not too far away, acting like he is not looking over every couple of seconds and if Damon didn't think I'd realize his best friend was spying on us for him then he must be more of an idiot than I originally thought.
Ask Klaus xx
I reply quickly before shoving my phone back in my bag and looking back at Mason with a smile. "Sorry, my Mom." I put my purse down on the empty space beside me. "She's always checking up on me."
"Oh I know that feeling." Mason chuckles lightly. "I guess it just shows how much she loves you though."
"Or wants to control me." I roll my eyes slightly and Mason lets out another low chuckle.
"I think it's a Mystic Falls thing." he smirks slightly.
"Probably."
"I swear my Dad and Uncle are grooming me into becoming the next Mayor." he rolls his eyes slightly. "They don't even try to be discreet about it now."
"Is that what you want?" I ask curiously.
He shrugs. "I don't know...maybe." he looks around for a moment. "Part of me just wants to wake up tomorrow and get the hell out of here, you know? Leave this town for good...maybe go to Miami or hell, even Australia, just grab a surf board and hit the waves all day every day."
I watch him as his eyes drift off into another place and I start to question that Damon is wrong about this. Mason is a nice guy, he has always had good intentions around me and I really don't see him as the blackmailing kind of guy.
"I know that feeling." I repeat his earlier words and for the first time there is a genuine smile on my face.
Mason looks back at me surprised, a small shy smile on his face. "You can always join me if you want?"
My heart falls into my stomach slightly at the look on his face and I force a laugh and try to keep this light. "Yeah sure...we can buy a hippy van and braid each others hair too, right?" I joke, grateful when he lets out a laugh and agrees.
"Shall we eat? I'm starved."
"Yeah." I agree. "Let's order."
Once we order food, and experience a very awkward and uncomfortable encounter with Matt as he just happened to be the guy to take our order, Mason starts to talk to me about the latest events of Mystic Falls, including the pageant that has just passed.
"Oh I forgot to congratulate you, third place huh? That's pretty impressive, Elena." he grins and I roll my eyes and let out a dry laugh.
"Yeah try telling that to my Mom, you did not want to hear the lecture she gave me on Sunday night. Apparently I put in zero effort and that I disappointed the Gilbert name." I scoff slightly, even though she was partly right, the effort that I put into that whole pageant was very very minimal. I just didn't care about it, I still don't. Caroline deserved to win the competition, for a number of reasons and if only my Mom would be able to just be graceful and accept that.
"It's no big deal." Mason offers me with a half smile. "And I'm sure you looked absolutely beautiful and if the competition was about who the was prettiest, I have no doubt that you would be the winner."
I look down briefly at the table, not feeling entirely comfortable from his compliments. It just doesn't feel right, especially since my intentions here are not at all genuine.
"Thank you." I force yet another fake smile.
"I'm only speaking the truth." he winks and I let out a small laugh, briefly glancing over to my right where Klaus is still sat watching us like a hawk and I'm just glad that Mason has his back to him because he really isn't being very discreet right now.
After we eat I hear my phone go off again and I just know that it's from Damon.
Found anything out yet?
I sigh and glance at Mason who is too busy speaking to a teammate passing by to notice me on my phone and I quickly tap a reply back.
Not yet xx
Mason turns back to face me just as I slide my phone back into my purse and I send him a fake wide smile. "Sorry about that." he apologizes. "The guy couldn't take a hint."
"That's ok." I wave him off and watch as Mason pulls out money from his wallet and slaps it down onto the table.
"Want to get out of here?"
I do my best to hide my panic and briefly glance at Klaus who is still in his place and I feel my palms start to sweat. I did not expect us to leave The Grill tonight.
"Um...well...what do you have in mind?"
Mason shrugs with a smile. "Nothing yet, but I don't want to risk anyone else interrupting us. Plus we have been getting death stares from your ex-boyfriend all night." he motions behind me with his head and I turn around surprised to see that he's right, there stands Matt by the edge of the bar, towel in hand as he dries some glasses but his eyes remain firmly on us, an icy stare on full show for the world to see.
I never even noticed.
"Ok." I reluctantly agree. "Let's go."
We both stand up and I see Klaus from the corner of my eye also stand up in a state of confusion but I can't exactly do anything about that, can I?
Besides, I have been pretty unsuccessful so far in trying to get some information from Mason and I need this whole nightmare of a date to at least be for a worthy reason.
I cringe slightly as Mason's fingers slowly graze against my own, clearly attempting to take a hold of my hand and I awkwardly move my hand away, stuffing it into the pocket of my jacket trying to make the action seem as natural as possible even though I am very much aware of what I'm doing.
I ignore the beeping of my phone, knowing exactly who it's from and what it will be about but I need to make sure that I haven't done this whole thing for nothing.
Damon can be pissed at me later.
I follow Mason into his car, very much aware of Damon parked just down the street and no doubt his eyes are on us but before we can even get inside a voice calling Mason's name stops us and I turn around to see Katherine Pierce and Stefan Salvatore heading our way.
I notice the smirk that is plastered on Katherine's lips but there is a cold look as she glances between Mason and me as she gets closer. "Moved on already have you Mason?"
"I could say the same to you." Mason barks back coldly to Stefan who's smirk just widens, a smug arrogant look on his face that reminds me just exactly why I can't stand the youngest Salvatore.
"Jealous?" Katherine raises an eyebrow up perfectly and for a moment I am taken aback by her beauty. I feel a painful clench in my stomach when I realize that not only is she Mason's ex, but Damon's too and it's hard not to feel intimidated by that.
Intimidated by her.
Mason scoffs loudly and I'm brought back to the real world and I don't miss the way Katherine eyes me up and down slowly. taking me all in, a bitchy smirk on her lips. "You wish." Mason barks back.
"Actually, I'm quite satisfied with my Salvatore boy." she places her hand on Stefan's chest for good measure and I do my best to hide my scowl, knowing just how angry Damon is about this situation, and knowing exactly who the reason for his cuts and bruises on his face are from.
"I think you downgraded here buddy." Stefan smirks at Mason before sending me a short glare and I roll my eyes.
Ass.
"Right, because I'd rather sleep with an STD ridden slut like her than a classy girl like Elena." he hisses angrily and I gulp slightly wondering how this night took a turn for the worst.
This is not going to plan at all.
"Classy," Katherine smirks, her eyes firmly glued to mine. "Right. I'd be careful with her Mase, you don't know where she's been, or shall I say who she's been with." her gaze is intense on mine and I feel my cheeks start to heat up as she continues to stare right at me, her eyes burning into me unflinchingly.
Stefan laughs beside her and I tug on Mason's arm to stop him from reacting but there is something in the way that Katherine is looking at me right now which is really shaking me up.
Her words echoing around my head loudly and I everything around me is starting to blur but make sense all at the same time.
Suddenly things that Damon has told me in the past about Mason starts to come back to hit me full force in the face.
He was right.
"Whoever knows about us isn't going to stop their fun straight away, they've only just started and they are going to want to mess with us for a while yet before they even think about making us public knowledge."
"Because it's something that I'd do."
"They want to have fun with us before they blow our secret."
He was absolutely right.
Except for one thing.
Katherine notices the realization dawn on my face and the smirk on her face widens and suddenly I feel like I can't breathe as we stand on the sidewalk outside of The Grill, Damon parked discreetly just a few cars away, Mason stood tense beside me, Stefan stood smirking opposite us while Katherine's gaze continues to stare me out unwavering, her eyes never leaving mine.
Katherine suddenly showing an interest in Stefan is no coincidence, her tactically telling Damon about their relationship most likely knowing that Damon would be spoiling for a fight with his brother. She was probably waiting by the Salvatore house to watch Damon leave and then allowing her to be proven right, leading her to send her latest text. Everything that has happened has been happening for a reason and it's all down to her.
Mason isn't the threat and he never was.
It's Katherine, it's always been Katherine.
Suddenly everything feel like they are about to take a drastically larger turn for the worst, this is one of the worst possible outcome to hit us because she is one of the the worst people who could have ever found out about us.
I know it, Damon will know it and judging from the evil smirk on her face, Katherine sure as hell knows it too.
So it's Katherine! I know that a lot of you all saw this coming, and guessed correctly but it's good to finally have it out there for Damon and Elena to deal with.
I hope the chapter wasn't too much of a disappointment!
Thanks for reading :)
Until next time!