**Chapter Twenty two**

Awkward relationship limbo

*Hailey*

I felt sunlight on my face, and my eyes flickered open. The first thing that registered in my mind was that I was naked. The second thing was that I was not in my own bed. And the third was that Damon Salvatore was asleep next to me.

Last night ran through my mind, but instead of feeling guilty or like an idiot, a grin grew onto my face. I had sex with Damon. A little voice in my head that sounded a lot like Elena told me that this wasn't a thing to be proud of, but I couldn't stop grinning for two reasons. one, the people who said that sex wasn't the answer was wrong, because all my thoughts about Victoria, vampires, and death, were blocked out by my after-sex euphoria. And the second was that vampire sex was amazing. True, I only had a few experiences with an ex-boyfriend when I was fifteen to compare it to, but it was still amazing.

I looked to my right to look at Damon's sleeping figure, and ran my hand through his hair. He looked so innocent asleep, it was adorable. I smiled a little, before turning over on my side, and trying to hear if anyone else was in the house. I couldn't hear anything, so I took that to mean that the house was empty.

Carefully, I got out of the bed, as to not wake up Damon, and then looked around for my clothes. I found the remains of my tank top and jeans thrown across the room. I smirked a little to myself as I looked around for something to cover myself. I found Damon's shirt from last night still in good condition, so I put it on.

I slipped out of Damon's room, and into a bathroom. I dropped Damon's shirt, and then got into the shower. The warm water woke me up, but my euphoria didn't go away.

I heard the shower door slide open, just seconds before I felt hands slip around my wet waist. I turned around to kiss Damon, and he pushed my against the shower wall. His hands ran through my slippery wet hair, as I wrapped my arms around his neck, and we went for round two in the shower.

I Decided, as I slipped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around my body, that the only thing better than vampire sex was vampire shower sex. I ran down the long hallway to Damon's bedroom giggling with that same stupid grin on my face. I had left Damon in my wake, leaving him wanting more. I slipped into his room, and slammed the door shut. I turned around, only to face Damon, who was smirking at me.

"You didn't actually think you were getting away that easily, did you?" he asked me, as he pulled my dripping wet body to him, and kissed me hard.

As I allowed him to push me onto his bed, I caught the time on the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was 10:30, which meant I was really, really late for school.

I sighed, and tried to pull away from him. "Damon, I need to go to school." I mumbled, as he continued kissing me.

"Since when?" he mumbled into my neck, trying to pull my towel away from me

"I haven't been there in more than a week." I said, feeling my determination wavering.

Damon sighed, and pulled away from me, lying down on his bed. I pulled up my towel up, and then lay down next to him. His hand rested on my bare knee, and I kept having to hit him when it kept adventuring up. Damon had the power to keep me here all day, but I needed to see Elena, to fix us.

"Can't you just skip one more day?" he pleaded, and I sighed. I had to be strong.

"If I could Damon, I would. I would much rather be with you than in school." I said, and Damon smirked.

"Then you should stay." he said, getting on top of me, and kissing my neck.

"I can't spend all day in bed with you Damon." I said, weakly, knowing that he was very close to getting me to stay with him.

"Who says we have to be in bed?" he smirked, and I laughed. then I flipped us over to that I was on top.

"If I didn't go to school, Elena would probably think that you murdered me and buried my body in the woods." I argued, putting my arms around his neck.

He opened his mouth to argue, before sighing and closing it. He knew that I was right.

I smiled victoriously, and kissed him quickly on the lips. Then I got off of him, and dropped my towel before walking to his closet.

"Now, that's just mean." He groaned, as I took my time finding clothes to wear to my house.

I smirked to myself, as I slipped on a pair of his boxers and his shirt. My wet hair dripped onto his black shirt, as I walked over to him again.

"I'll call you after." I told Damon, kissing him quickly.

"You better." He called, as I walked out of his room, before he could convince be to stay.

~LMF~

I walked onto campus, dressed in simple jeans and a t-shirt. I was still in a good mood, it was slowly fading. I spotted Elena and Stefan talking, and walked over to them.

"Hey guys," I said cheerfully, sipping the coffee that I brought from home.

"Where have you been? You're late." Elena said, her eyes not meeting mine.

"I showed up, didn't I?" I said, not letting our obvious issues ruin my good mood.

Elena shrugged, and then turned to Stefan. "We should get to French." She told him.

He nodded. "Yeah, just give me a second. I want to talk to Hailey." He said, looking at me.

I shrugged, and Elena slowly walked away. "What's up Stefan?" I said, sitting down on the picnic table next to him.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing with the whole Victoria thing." He said kindly, and I smiled slightly. He was a good guy.

"I'm doing as good as anyone would when they find out that they look like an insane girl who killed herself." I shrugged casually, not really wanting to think about her.

"You're not Victoria though, okay? You're not going to end up like her." He told me, and I smiled.

"That's what Damon said," I said absentmindedly, and Stefan's eyebrows rose.

"I know it's not any of my business, but what's going on between you two?" he asked.

"It's… complicated, Stefan." I sighed, not really knowing how to describe Damon and I. we were friends, we were sleeping together, and I was falling for him. We were stuck in awkward relationship limbo.

"I'm not going to tell you that Damon's a bad guy, because I'm sure that Elena's going to do that enough for both of us, I'm just going to tell you to be careful." He said, and I smiled thankfully.

"He's really not as bad as either of you think." I told him, pushing my bangs out of my eyes.

"I have to say, he's a lot better now than he used to be." Stefan admitted.

"Are you saying that I'm a good influence on Damon? That's a first." I said, raising my eyebrows. People usually said I was a bad influence, not a good one.

Stefan smiled. "Yeah, I guess you are." He said, and then his smile went away.

"This is going to sound like a weird question, but did Damon say who changed us?" he asked, and I frowned. That was a weird question.

"Yeah, just a random vampire. Why, isn't that what happened?" I asked, and a torn look crossed Stefan's face.

Seconds passed, before Stefan finally said, "Yeah, it is. I just wondering." The bell rang, and he stood up. "I should get going to class. Bye, Hailey."

I watched him leave, still frowning. If that's what really happened, why did he ask me about it?

~LMF~

I walked to my car at the end of the school day, only to see Elena running up to me.

"Hailey, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Grill with me? I think we need to talk." She said, and I nodded.

"Sure, we can just take your car." I said, not really looking forward to this conversation with Elena.

The car ride to the grill was silent, while I considered what to tell Elena. A part of me wanted to tell her all about my feelings for Damon, but she wouldn't understand. She'd tell me to stay away from him, and I couldn't do that.

Elena got us a table, while I got us food. I was digging into my nachos, while Elena watched me, looking deep in thought.

"What?" I asked, swallowing some cheesy goodness.

Elena opened her mouth to speak, when her phone started to vibrate. She clicked the "talk" button, before putting it to her ear.

"Hello?" she said politely, before recognition dawned on her face, and she handed it to me silently.

"Yeah?" I said, nowhere near as polite as Elena.

"Hailey! Where's your phone? Every time I call it, it goes straight to voicemail!" my mother's voice shouted into my ear.

"Oh, I smashed it against my wall, like last week." I said nonchalantly, hoping for the love of god that she wouldn't mention that I wasn't home last night, since Elena could hear what she was saying.

Thankfully, my mom didn't care about my safety and well-being. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm going away on a trip, and won't be back until Sunday. If you throw a party, I will find out, and I will kick you out onto the streets if you do." she threatened before hanging up.

"Love you too, mom!" I said sarcastically to the dial tone.

"Hey, how long do you think it would take to get everyone at my house and have the party of the century?" I asked Elena nonchalantly, as I passed the phone back.

"I thought your mom said she'll kick you out if you throw a party?" Elena questioned, putting her phone back into her purse.

"I don't question that she wants an excuse to, but she won't." I answered, taking a sip of my coke.

"What do you mean?' she asked, a crease forming between her eyebrows.

"because it would look bad, kicking out her seventeen year old daughter for throwing an itty bitty party. People would talk, and she would look like the cold, heartless bitch she is." I said, shoving fries into my mouth.

"Besides, I wouldn't care, I'd just move in with you." I added, dipping a fry into ketchup.

Elena smiled at me, before her expression turned thoughtful. "Spill it, before you hurt yourself, thinking so hard." I said, tired with her being so lost in thought.

"Are you and Damon…uh, together?" she asked bluntly.

I raised my eyebrows, but my stomach dropped to the floor. How'd she know? "What do you mean, together?" I asked, playing dumb, and dipping a fry into ketchup, all the while my heart beating rapidly.

"Like, are you guys dating, or you know, anything like that?" she explained, her cheeks tinged with pink. This was clearly very awkward for her.

"Me and Damon? Dating? Of course not!" I said, laughing, though my heart was thumping so hard against my chest, I'm sure Elena can see it. It technically wasn't a lie, since I didn't know what we were, but I still felt guilty.

"Then explain why you told Damon you were physic before you told me!" she exclaimed.

"when I found out what he was, I figured he would understand!" I shot back, though I realized that she was just upset that I told Damon before her.

"Understand better than your best friend?" she said, her voice rising, and her brown eyes glinting dangerously.

"Yes Elena! I thought that he would understand it better than you did! And you know what? I'm not sorry I didn't tell you, because you reacted the same way I thought you would! I saw that look in your eyes; you thought I was insane! Besides, you obviously didn't tell me everything, so why should I tell you everything?" I said my temper spiking.

"That's so not fair, Hailey! I didn't tell you about Stefan and Damon, because it wasn't my secret to tell!" she yelled back. We were getting looks, but neither of us noticed nor cared.

"I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about Victoria." I hissed, and Elena's look of anger faded when she realized we were both at fault.

"Stefan said that it probably wasn't a big deal. besides, if I did, you probably wouldn't have believed me!" she whispered fiercely.

My anger at her faded and I knew that she was right.

We both were silent for a while, not looking at each other, until Elena finally said, "We both were wrong, okay? You should've told me about your powers, and I should've told you about Victoria. So I'm sorry." she said, and I looked up at her with a soft expression.

"I'm sorry too, Lena. Truce?" I said, and she smiled at me.

"Truce." she agreed.

No one said anything, and I thought that Elena and I were good, until she asked, "So, what is going on between you and Damon?"

I sighed, "We're friends, Elena. That's all. and I know that you don't approve, but I'm not going to argue with you about him, okay?" I said.

Elena sighed, but nodded. I couldn't tell if she believed me or not. Suddenly, her phone rang, signaling a text.

"It's Jenna, I have to get home." She said to me, reading the text message. "Do you want a ride?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I think I'll hang out here a little longer." I remembered that I had somebody waiting for me.

"You sure? How are you going to get home?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I'll get a ride." I said casually, finishing off my fries.

"Okay, just be careful, okay Hails?" she said, standing up.

"As careful as I can be." I said smirking at her as she walked away.

After I was sure she was gone, I walked to a payphone, and called Damon. "Hello?" he said after a couple of rings.

"Can you come pick me up?" I asked, leaning against a nearby wall.

"You said that you were coming over after school." he said, registering my voice right away. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he missed me.

"Elena wanted to talk, and she's already suspicious of us. So, can you come pick me up, and then maybe we can pick up where we left off this morning" I said flirtatiously.

"Where are you?" he said right away, and I laughed.

"The Grill and hurry."

"I'll be there in ten."

After we hung up, I swung my backpack over my shoulders, and went to wait outside. I was so lost in my thoughts about sex with Damon, that I didn't even register what a stupid idea this was.

I leaned against the wall outside the building, as more people came in and out. It was already night outside, and the cool breeze was blowing my bangs into my face. It had been about five minutes since my phone call to Damon, and I was the only one outside. Suddenly, I heard I loud noise coming from the side of the building facing the woods.

Whenever I watched horror movies, and the stupid, half-naked girl victims always went to investigate the noise when they were all alone in the middle of the woods, I thought that anyone with half a mind would run away from the noise, not towards it. but sadly, that's exactly what I did.

I walked slowly towards the noises, ready to throw anyone away from me with my telekinesis, when suddenly; I was grabbed from behind, and yanked into the shadows.

A hand was muffling my screams, and my green eyes met with hazel ones. they dilated, and I heard a voice I've only heard once before say, "Stay still, and don't scream. You're fine."

I suddenly remembered Damon telling me about compulsion, and knew that this was what the person was trying to do to me. But for some reason, it wasn't working. I could still scream, and move my body, and definitely didn't feel fine. but my common sense, which was usually pushed into a far corner of my brain, told me that the vampire shouldn't know this. so I stopped screaming, stood perfectly still, and said, like a zombie, "I'm fine."

The vampire took his hand from my mouth, and backed away, so that he could get a good look of me, and that's when I recognized him.

It was Nikolai.

He was looking at me, a soft look in his eyes. "You look so much like her." he said, as he reached out a hand and ran two fingers over my cheek, and I had to force myself not to flinch.

"They're gonna kill me when they find out." he said, pulling away, and starting to pace in front of me. He was talking more to himself than to me.

"Especially Candy. But I couldn't stay away, I had to see you." he continued, and I looked for a way to escape, while praying that Damon would show up soon.

"I should kill you, you know." he said abruptly, and my attention focused back on him.

"What they have planned for you, especially Candace, it would be much less painful for you, if I just snapped your neck right now. But I can't, I'm too selfish." he looked back into my eyes, before sighing.

"Ah, how I've missed those eyes."

Suddenly, I flicked my hand at him, and he went flying into the forest. I turned and ran as fast as I could, towards the Grill. If only I could make it inside, to people, I would be safe.

But it was too late; just as I was halfway to the door; Nikolai was standing in front of me, a look of curiosity in his eyes. "Word from the wise; never try to outrun a vampire, you'll lose." he said, walking towards me, So that I bumped into a brick wall.

He placed his hands on either side of me, so that I was trapped. I gulped, and for the second time in a week, I was scared for my life. "You can block out compulsion; Victoria couldn't." he said, sounding impressed.

I raised my hands to make him fly across the parking lot, but he grabbed them and held them above my head.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Hailey. I just needed to see you." he said, and my spine tingled unpleasantly when he said my name.

"DAMON!" I screamed as loud as I could, hoping that Damon would hear. Nikolai covered my mouth, but it was too late.

"I told you that I wasn't going to hurt you." he said, before disappearing into the night.

I shook slightly, as Damon suddenly appeared in front of me. He stared at me, concerned, as he took me into his arms. "What happened?" he asked.

I just shook my head, still shaken up. "Nicolai." I whispered, as I rested my head on his shoulder.

If he didn't want to hurt me, what did he want?

~LMF~

A/N: thank you to: colleenrawr, Samantha meyers, vdemily, jacquline, Angelfang, SomebodyWhoCares, and HawthorneTree for reviewing!

Reviews inspire me!

~Abby :)