We all stayed at the pool for about another half hour before leaving to get changed.
Bonnie, Caroline, and I were laughing about how Caroline almost started drooling when she saw one of the retreat leaders talking to Stefan. He had shorter and curlier brown hair and I think he had a British accent because he called Stefan "mate".
That's when Katherine came over, giggling with her little posse of blonde girls who are all named Britney.
"Well, Salvatore did look pretty hot without a shirt on. I'll let you girls know how he looks without his pants on soon enough." She said deliberately loud enough for me to hear. They all laughed and walked ahead of us into their cabin.
Caroline gave me a sympathetic look before saying, "Ugh. Don't worry Elena, nobody would ever go for trash when he could have all of this." She said while hand motioning towards me.
"It's ok. I don't own him. And I've only known him really for a day so it's not like I can claim him as mine." I said thinking rationally. "At least not yet." I added with a smirk.
Caroline laughed and said, "That's my girl. Fighting for her Salvatore super sperm!" we all burst out laughing while we walked back to our cabins. When we got there, I put on leggings, a red shirt, and a jacket. Then I put on a cute pair of hiking boots I found in the back of my closet the day before that I bought, but never wore.
The class met at the volleyball court at 4:00. That's when Stefan and a guy who looked about 26 or 27 arrived, both wearing matching "Retreat Leader" gray shirts. The man next to Stefan had icy blue eyes and jet-black hair. I was afraid to look at him for too long because he had a permanent scowl on his face.
I heard Caroline next to me whisper, "Uh oh I think we just met another Salvatore."
I didn't even think to wonder if they were siblings, but now I could see it, the guy next to Stefan kind of looked like a mad Stefan with different hair and eye colors.
We all quieted down and they man with the black hair said, "Hi. I'm Damon Salvatore. I co-own this site with Stefan, sorry I couldn't be here earlier, but I was out of town. Stefan is in charge of you all though, so I will leave the babysitting to him." He turned to Stefan and said, "Have at it, brother." Then turned away and walked towards the lunch hall.
"Ok guys, I hope that was enough rest because we are going on our first hike right now. You all look dressed well enough because this hike will be an easy one just to get everyone in the groove of what we are doing here" Stefan said to the whole group. His hair was still a little damp from the pool.
Then Tyler yelled out, "And what exactly are we doing here, Salvatore?" Tyler really hated doing anything except sleep, play football, and hook up with girls.
"Well, Tyler is it? We're here to connect with nature and your classmates because in about 14 days you will all be graduated and going your separate ways. So you can at least try to pretend to have fun for the next few days right?" Stefan replied smoothly. There was some "oooh"s from the class. He then walked to a bin of plastic water bottles and told everyone to take a bottle to drink on the hike.
"Ok everyone who thinks they can hike pretty well can come to the front with me. Everyone else who is like Tyler can stay in the back with Alaric. Your choice" Stefan said with a pearly smile.
Immediately, all the girls went to the front, including Katherine. Caroline and Bonnie each grabbed one of my arms and dragged me to the front and pushed me right into Stefan.
When I knocked into him he turned around and held his hands on my waist, steadying me. This was feeling a bit like our encounter earlier. Except his hands were on my waist, my waist. I could feel his hands burning through my shirt. His thumb was on a little spot on my waist that the shirt lifted at. If it were any other guy I would have jumped out of this embrace.
"Whoa there, you ok Elena?"
"Oh. Yeah, sorry. Umm wow two times in one day." I said trying to laugh it off.
He looked me right in the eyes and gave me a kind smile. I mean really, this wasn't so bad. I could spend a few more minutes just gazing into those green orbs he has for eyes.
After seconds of silence he finally spoke: "It's no problem. I kind of like running into you." He finally let me go and walked ahead and left me standing there. Until, he turned around and said to me with a smirk, "Aren't you coming?"
I smiled to myself and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear before I walked towards him. He waited as I caught up.
"So, you might not remember, but I went to Mystic Falls high school." He said matter-of-factly.
"No way," I responded if he went, then I definitely would've remembered him, "I think I would've remembered you."
He smiled and bit his lip stop himself from laughing. "Yeah, you'd think you would remember me, right?" He said chuckling.
"Yeah, or maybe you just weren't as hot in high school," I said laughing.
He suddenly stopped. Then I realized what I said and I turned and looked at him. He looked me straight in my eyes, wearing a sweet but smug smile on his face. "You think I'm hot?"
I opened my mouth to explain, but nothing was coming out. I was just standing there with my mouth open while blush attacked my face.
"Well you're not ugly. So…" I said while looking anywhere but at Stefan.
He started laughing and I couldn't help but join. Until, he turned towards me with a small smile dancing on his lips. He took a step closer to me and stared into my brown eyes with his emerald ones.
Oh jeez. Then his head slowly tilted and his right hand came to my hair. But at the last second he pulled away, showing a leaf in his right hand.
He was just pulling a leaf from my hair! But did he have to do it so sexually? I mean really, he could've been very platonic about the whole situation.
"Uh sorry, there was a leaf in your hair" he chuckled with an apologetic look on his face.
"Thanks." I noticed a ring in his middle finger, "that's a cool ring." I said trying to start another conversation.
"Oh, yeah it's a family ring, all the Salvatores are stuck with them. Its kind of weird." He said.
"What about you?" he asked with his hands in his pockets.
"What do you mean?" I asked
"Well, I told you something about me, now you have to tell me something about you" he explained as we continued our hike. We were getting towards the top of the mountain.
"Well what do you want to know?"
"Well that depends," he said. I gave him a questioning eyebrow, "how much much time do you have?"
I smiled. For him, I would have all the time in the world.
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There will be more Damon in the next chapter! This was just a filler to introduce Damon and get Stefan and Elena talking. Sorry for the fakeout with the leaf, but they can't kiss just yet!
Thanks for all the support! I love you all! 3
