Damon got out of bed the next morning in a sourly mood. One, he hadn't slept all night, and two, Katherine's rejection stung. OK, she hadn't straight up rejected him, but that was what would happen when she decided that it was time for her to up and leave once again. Katherine was nowhere in sight when he went downstairs and he found himself wondering if she was sleeping in or if she had left the house. Damon groaned when he immediately caught Stefan's attention upon entering the living room. "Are you entertaining Katherine?" Stefan wanted to know. "Are you judging me?" Damon returned. "Last time I checked, you're also screwing your ex, E-lena." Damon was amused that he had imitated Katherine's drawled out style of pronouncing Elena's name. "Elena and I are trying to patch things out," Stefan said. "Good for you. Now you two can have bunny babies or whatever it is that saints have," Damon retorted.
He picked up a glass and raised it. "Cheers," he said. "Cheers to what?" Stefan asked. "To screwing old girlfriends," Damon replied. "Don't pretend that this is just a roll in the haystack for you. You're too emotionally attached to Katherine, she can hurt you," Stefan implored him. Damon laid a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You worry about Elena and I will worry about Katherine, OK?" "I don't like this, Damon," Stefan voiced. "Well then it's a good thing that she's not here for you, isn't it?" Damon replied. He set the glass down, smirked at his brother, then turned and left. Outside on the porch, he dropped the carefree front he was parading and faced the turmoil that was raging inside of him. He was uncertain and that didn't sit well with him. It made him edgy which led to him being extra impulsive. Damon decided to go find his drinking buddy Alaric. Alaric partly understood how he felt since he had gone through the same thing with Isobel. Damon felt a ting of guilt at the thought of Isobel then he quickly pushed it away. No time for regret. The past was done and dwelling on it only led to redundant emotions.
Damon arrived at Alaric place in less than a minute. "Knock knock," he said as he pounded on the door. "Open up, Ric." The door was opened a few seconds later by Alaric. "Hey, what's up?" he greeted. "Something bothering you? You don't look that well." All of this was said in the space of four seconds. "Katherine," was all that Damon had to utter for Alaric to give him a pity-filled look. "Is she back?" Alaric inquired. "Yeah," Damon replied. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Alaric wanted to know. "By the looks of you, I will take it that it's the former." Damon entered the loft and Alaric closed the door after him. "Help yourself to a drink, I will be right back," Alaric said as he disappeared into the bathroom. Damon looked around the room as he waited for Alaric to reappear. "Oh goody," he said when he saw Elena Gilbert perched on Alaric's windowsill. She gave him a sour look. "Hi to you too Damon."
"You can fall out of the window you know," he told her. "It's closed, Damon," Elena replied, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "You never know," Damon said shrugging. Elena shook her head at him. "What?" he asked. "Thank you for your concern, Damon. If I ever fear for my life at the hands of a closed window, I will be sure to call you." "No problem," Damon replied, giving her a mock bow. Their attention turned to Alaric as he re-entered the room. "So, are we going to talk?" Alaric wanted to know. "I will rather have that talk later," Damon said, jerking his head in Elena's direction. "Fine, I will go," Elena said, getting down from her perch on the windowsill. "Aww, you really don't have to," Damon said with mock regret. "Bye Damon," Elena said. She went over to Alaric and gave him a hug. "See you later Ric." "Bye, be safe," Alaric responded. "So," Damon said, when it was just him and Alaric left in the loft. "Shall we talk about Katherine?" Alaric questioned.
"She came over, we slept together, and then she rejected me," Damon stated. "Why did you even sleep with her?" Alaric inquired. "Because she's hot!" Damon said. "Really Damon?" Alaric replied. "OK, she got to me," Damon confessed. "She told me that she missed me and that she returned for me and I stupidly fell for it because I wanted desperately for it to be true." Alaric handed him a drink and then poured one for himself. Damon took a swing and then set the cup down. "What can I say? I'm a sucker for love. Pathetic, huh?" Damon looked disgusted with himself. "You are not pathetic. We all fall for someone who doesn't love us at one point or the other," Alaric declared. "Yeah, love's a bitch," Damon agreed. "A toast to that," Alaric said and they clanked glasses.
Katherine was bored out of her mind; there was no other way to put it. This tendency of hers to get bored easily was one of the reasons why she never stayed in one location too long. A town like Mystic Falls was her worst nightmare. Nothing ever happened. Well apart from the vampire and werewolf drama. And Klaus. Katherine shuddered at the thought of Klaus. He'd been hunting her for five hundred years and she'd managed to stay out of his reach. Sure she'd had that one close call after Isobel's betrayal, and she'd vowed venomously to herself that it would never happen again. Katherine found herself heading into Mystic Falls Grill, another boring place in town, but it would have to suffice for now. She compelled the bartender to give her three shots of bourbon on the house before swiveling around in her stool to get a full view of the grill's occupants. Good thing she had appeased her hunger with three blood bags before heading out because she would have had no qualm about draining any of these pitiful souls. Katherine got up and walked over to the D.J. "Change the music," she ordered, staring into his eyes. "What would you like to hear?" the D.J. asked in a lifeless voice, his eyes staring back dully into hers. "Something good. I want to dance. . . Turn It Back by Nik Ammar perhaps?"
Katherine headed to the mostly empty dance floor as the music started up. The beat seemed to vibrate through her. This song spoke to her soul. She moved her body sensually, fighting to block out the images of Damon that kept filling her head. She closed her eyes as the beat of the music and memories of Damon's incredible love making heated her body up. Her nipples hardened and the sensation of them rubbing against the material of her shirt elicited a moan from deep within her. She was so lost in the song and the images that it provoked that she didn't even mind the growing crowd of men around her, dancing as close to her as they could without actually making body contact. She ran her hands up and down her body as she swung her womanly hips, encouraging a round of wolf whistles from the men.
As soon as Damon stepped into the grill with Alaric, his ears picked up on the loud cheering and whistling coming from the dance floor. He couldn't see much because it was packed with . . . men? That was definitely a departure from the usual. He nodded in the direction of the dance floor to let Alaric know where he was heading before he went off to investigate. He easily cleared a pathway for himself, casually twisting the arm of one resisting drunken individual before reaching the center of the dance floor. Shit, I should have known, Damon thought as his mind registered the wantonly moving female that had captured the attention of the Grill's male population. Katherine.