Chapter Six: The Chills
So tell me, tell me all the things you told me we could be
Through understanding, I tried forgiveness,
I faced the facts, it's what I witnessed
Why do I only feel the chills when I'm with you?
I only hear your words that you say are true
But you keep thinking it over, thinking it over,
You can catch me if you wanted to
I only feel the chills when I'm with you
I feel like I'm so high, I'm feeling so high
~Blue October
Nilin had made it back into the center of Mystic Falls. She was sweaty, out of breath and her feet hurt. Overall, she was cranky and annoyed at herself. She was so paranoid lately that it ruin even the calmest of moments. Even with her mad dash back into town, she was still on edge. At least she made it back, though. Always the optimist, Nilly, she thought to herself.
Walking through the streets she looked around her hometown. Not much had changed since her last visit. Nilly found that surprisingly comforting. Same stores, same old statutes, same brick buildings, even the same color of flowers planted everywhere.
People were around now, the huge clock on top of town hall said it was a quarter to eleven. Had she been out that long? She must have lost track of time.
The day was beautiful, the temperature rising enough to make Nilly take off her sweatshirt as she sat on one of the old brass benches in the Common.
The Common was an area dead set in the middle of town; too big to call a park, but too small to be called a field. Main Street wrapped around it and, usually, it was the center of one of the town's annual events. Mostly, it was just a spot of perfectly cut grass with trees and bushes evenly scattered about. A path ran through it, encircling several benches and a fountain in the middle. The Founder's Fountain to be exact, yes, very pretentious.
Here you could see joggers in bright colored spandex, businessmen noisily talking on the phones, people walking their dogs, children in strollers, and some playing 'King of the Castle' in one of the trees. It was all very picture perfect small town looking.
Nilin quietly watched the people around her. They were just simply going about their day. The normality of it made her happy. She reached down an unlaced her converses, removing her sore feet from them and wiggling her toes. The sun was warm on her face, she closed her eyes and lifted it towards the sky, soaking in the warmth.
The smells coming from the local bakery across the street hit her nose. Her stomach rumbled in response. Nilin wondered if she had a few bucks on her to spend on a fresh blueberry muffin. When she riffled through her bag though, she came up empty handed. Her stomach would have to hold out for just a little bit longer.
Pouting a little, she pulled the Edgar Allen Poe book out instead— it was an attempt to keep her mind off of food. She flipped to a different page and silently read. With the motions of others' life happening around her and her mind wandering the pages of one of Poe's stories, time seemed to slow. This was how she wanted the day to go, not her stupid paranoia running amuck. Too bad the peacefulness didn't last long.
"Boo!" a voice said so close to her ear it made Nilin jump out of her skin. The book went tumbling to the ground. It never hit the dirt though, a hand had shot out and caught it before it could.
Nilly held her chest and said breathlessly, "Jeeze."
"Did I scare you, again?" Damon asked with a cocky smile on his face.
She snatched the book out of his hands and placed it back in her bag. "What did I tell you about that?"
He laughed at her response, taking a seat next to Nilin. Damon leaned his arm on the back of the bench, resting it behind Nilly, and shot her a heart stopping smile. The sense that she had known him before came over her again, but she brushed it off. She scooted back a little from him. He made it hard for her to breathe.
"Sorry, I wouldn't want you to drop dead or anything," he said mockingly, still chuckling at her.
"Ha, ha," Nilly grumbled, "Real jokester, aren't you?" She intended to sound bitter, but her words came out too soft. She cleared her throat, trying to get rid of the butterflies that had fluttered up there.
Damon leaned in towards her and smiled, "Oh, I do more than just joke."
That sent her heart pounding in her chest. She laughed nervously, hoping he didn't notice. The haughtiness that appeared on his face told a different story though. Nilin attempted to give him a nonchalant smile, trying to keep her cool. "Oh really?" she challenged.
"Really. You should see me at pool," he winked, obviously enjoying Nilin's awkwardness.
His smile widened as he stared at her, causing her thoughts to go blank and her heart to skip a beat or two. Again, they watched each other silently, just like they had the night before. It was as if he was as entrance with her as she was with him. There was something she was forgetting, though, something important she should be remembering. Something Elena said...
"You know, I'm not supposed to be talking to you right now," she said, forced to break eye contact, running her fingers through her hair to give her hand something to do. She was starting to feel jittery, as in if he didn't back up a little and let her breathe she might go mad.
"Oh," he said, not so surprised, "And why's that?" Nilin could hear the humor in his voice. He leaned back a little and raised his eyebrow.
She took a breath, and calmed herself. "Well," Nilly said, leaning slightly towards Damon, as if to tell him a secret, "Apparently, you're dangerous."
He started laughing, and she couldn't help but laugh with him. Now that she said it out loud, while he was sitting right next to her, it sounded ridiculous. How can he be dangerous? He was just a normal guy living in Mystic Falls. Nothing bad ever happens in Mystic Falls.
Damon's laughter cut short though as he capture her stare again. He got closer to her, his face only a few centimeters away. Nilly sucked in a breath. His lips, close to her ear, whispered, "What if I am?"
Then he pulled away again, and started to chuckle. Nilly couldn't breathe, she couldn't move. Her heart, her breathing, her mind has ceased to work properly. She let out the breath she was holding and along with it a nervous laugh.
"You see Nilin, I'm supposed to stay away from you, too." Damon admitted.
Nilly blinked, the stun wearing off. She stared at him with confusion, "Oh, and why's that?"
Damon just smiled, and leaned towards her again. Not as close as before, but enough to cause her stomach to flutter. "Well according to my brother I'm going to, quote, 'Screw your life up'." Damon said, lifting his hands to make air quotations.
Stefan said that? Nilly wondered. Why? Could Elena have put him up to it? Or vice versa?
Very simply, and somewhat surprisingly, Nilly looked up at him and asked, "Well, are you?" She stared at him, a calm look on her face. He stared back at her, his dark elegant eyes taking in her expression. A second or two passed in silence.
"Well it seems like we both got a stern talking to last night," he said, smiling and completely dodging her question. Nilly didn't know what to make of Damon not answering her. The uneasy feeling she got last night started to sink back into her.
Right then, she should have listened to Elena's warning and left. She should have known she was setting herself up. Her choice in men had always been horrible, her luck was ten times worse, but she was still sitting there.
None of this was making sense to her. Why would someone like Damon Salvatore want to talk to her anyway? There had to be something more behind it. Elena was always the pretty one with the charming personality, not Nilin. He was up to something and Nilin wanted to find out what.
That wonderment kept her there, talking to him. Or maybe it was her naivety that kept her... either way she pivoted herself on the bench to get a better look at him as they talked. "Well, it's clear how everyone sees us. They've made their opinions known. We're just ticking time bombs, aren't we?" she grinned, raising her eyebrows.
Damon laughed, he genuinely laughed. Not his normal mocking dark chuckle that she usually got. The sound made her stomach take off with butterflies. She still couldn't figure out what it was about him that caused her thoughts to scatter, her face to turn red, or her heart to skip out of time. He had this unknown effect on her and it made her nervous. Nilin played it off as his charm, but her gut was telling her that it was something more.
Or are you just being a paranoid freak, who's about to screw up a normal conversation with a normal guy, the voice of reason in her head yelled.
"Clearly," he said, a grin still lingering on his lips, then he paused, "Tell you what, I won't tell my brother that we were talking, if you don't tell your cousin."
"Deal, I mean, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with Stefan or anything." Nilly said sarcastically.
"Oh trust me, Stefan can be very scary." She chuckled and tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear.
Feeling his fingertips brush against her skin cause Nilin to forget how to speak for a moment. She realized her mouth was hanging open and quickly snapped it shut. Sitting up straighter, she wiggled to put more room between the two of them. "Elena's very frightening too, you know?" she sputtered out, clearing her throat.
He looked at her questionably. If he noticed her reaction, he didn't give it away. "Really?" Damon wondered.
"No," Nilly laughed a little. "She's a saint. You'd have to do something pretty terrible to get her to hate you. She pretty docile, but when she's not…" she shook her head. "Nuh-uh, you better run."
"Well, I wouldn't want to be the person to go against Saint Elena." Damon said leaning towards Nilin with a crooked smile on his lips. He was testing the waters.
"No, you wouldn't," she replied, determined not to show him any reaction, even though her senses were screaming and her thoughts intoxicated by just his scent alone. He smelled like old leather and smoke and fresh cotton sheets.
Damon leaned in farther, "That would end badly, I presume."
She wasn't going to be the one to pull back first, she wasn't going to give in to this spell he had on her. Nilin wanted to push him like he was pushing her. "Very bad," she found herself leaning in towards him now, drawn in by some unknown force, "Blood, fire, plague. All that good stuff."
The grin she wore turned the corners of her lips up, as her eyes locked with his. Something silent passed between them for a moment, but it was too quick to recognize what it was. He continued to stare at her, his strange dark eyes so beautiful to her that she understood what that cheesy romance novel line— "she could just get lost in them"— actually meant.
Suddenly he pulled away, sitting up straight. "I should leave then," he teased.
Surprised by his quick movement, Nilly jerked backwards, not realizing how close they actually had been sitting. She looked around quickly to see if anyone had been watching, but no eyes lingered in their direction. With little difficulty, she managed to stand, too.
"Oh, um..." she mumbled, nervously playing with the silver bracelet on her wrist. He caught her hand and held it between his, slightly squeezing her fingers. "It was nice seeing you again, Nilin. You're much more interesting than these town folk." Damon said, then very gently he touched his lips to the top of Nilly's hand.
A shock went through her arm just like the night before, electrocuting her nerves and turning her cheeks bright red. Damon didn't seem to notice as he released her hand.
"See you around, Nilin," he smirked at her and walked away.
He left her standing there, her hand still suspended in air, her mouth open, her cheeks burning and her heart racing. So much for not reacting...
"Maybe I should call her again," Elena said, pacing her bedroom floor. She'd been on edge ever since she woke up to find Nilly gone, and with little explanation as to where. Even after her phone call to Bonnie, who tried to reassure her, Elena still had an uneasy feeling.
The feeling only grew worse when Jenna left for work and Jeremy went to the library to finish up homework. Unable to relax she called the one person she knew who could calm her down. "You've already called five times, Elena." Stefan said, perched on the edge of her bed. "You're still going to get her voicemail."
"Then what should I do?" she asked.
"You should sit down, before you give yourself a heart attack," he told her, holding out his hand toward her. Elena stopped and looked towards Stefan, whose face held worry and concern for her.
He was right. The only thing Elena was doing was getting herself more worked up. She took Stefan's had, allowing him to pull her over to the bed where he sat. She slowly sunk down next to him. She put her head in her hands, trying hard to keep the scream of frustration from escaping out of her.
"What's keeping him from doing to Nilly what he did to Vickie or what he might be doing to Caroline?" she said, through the frustration.
A strong arm wrapped around her and a comforting hand locked its fingers with hers. "Me," he swore, "I am."
Elena looked up at him, "Stefan..."
"I'm not going to let anything happen to her, Elena," he took both her hands in his, his brilliant green eyes capturing her gaze, "I promise."
She nodded slowly then laid her head on Stefan's chest. "I'm not going to let him hurt her, either," she said, finally felling comfort in Stefan's words.
"Elena, I don't want you between this—"
"She's my family, Stefan. There's not many of us left. I can't let something happen to her too," she said, looking him straight in the eye.
He knew her too well. Stefan knew the determined look that came over her face. There was no deterring Elena from this matter. "I know, I know," he sighed. "I just don't want you to get hurt."
"I won't." Elena promised and leaned her head back on his chest again.
He ran his fingers through her hair, and quietly said, "I can't lose you."
Elena shut her eyes, her hand found his, "You won't."
Nilin grumbled to herself as she pulled her hair out of its ponytail and slipped her shoes back on. Stupid Damon Salvatore with his stupid face. She hated the fact that she could still feel the tingle where his lips touch her hand. Getting sideswiped by someone like him was not her reason for coming back to Mystic Falls.
Elena would be furious at her if she found out that Nilin was just flirting with Damon. How'd she even pull that one off? Nilin sucked at flirting, that was putting it politely. That whole girly-girly flip of the hair, bat of the eyelashes thing was never learned by Nilin. Anytime she attempted it, it was a sad sight to see.
A sudden wave of panic hit Nilin. Maybe she wasn't flirting, maybe she was just making a fool out of herself. With that horrible thought rolling around in her head now, she turned to grab her bag off the bench and leave.
Suddenly, she heard someone behind her. "Oh, I see how it is," said a voice, "you come to town and don't even bother to say hi."
Nilly turned around, recognizing the voice. "Tyler?" she asked.
"Who else?" he said, smiling.
The smile on Nilly's face got even bigger, because in front of her stood Tyler Lockwood. The football jock, the Mayor's kid, but more importantly, to Nilly, the best friend.
"Holy shit, Tyler," she laughed and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tight. She was probably squeezing the life out of him, but Nilin couldn't help it. Tears threatened to burst out her eyes because of how elated she was.
He gave her a husky laugh. "I've missed you, too." In response he warped his arms around her waist, hugging her just as hard.
She had to stand on her tippy-toes to hug him, because he had gotten so much taller than her. Tyler had dark brown hair that looked black most of the time. It was cut shorter than Nilly could remember. His eyes were still that same rusty-brown that reminded her of the forest, though. She did notice, while they were hugging, that he definitely bulked up. No awkward teenage Tyler anymore, that's for sure.
She pulled away from him, still smiling.
Tyler looked her over, his big hands on her shoulders. "Not that I'm not glad to see you or anything, but, uh, why the hell would you decided to come back here?"
She laughed, knowing him for way too long to take any offense from that. It was just how Tyler was, blunt and to the point. One of the reasons she liked him so much, he wasn't the one to be fake or screw with you.
Nilly shrugged her shoulders. "I needed to come home for a little."
"Well how long is 'a little'?" he asked, putting his hands in his front pockets.
Nilin grinned at him. "Enough time for you to buy me lunch."
"Oh, well then lunch it is," he laughed, "This way madam." Tyler directed her as they began to walk, nudging her hip. She gave him another hug before she walked down the side walk, still smiling like an idiot.
She had known Tyler since they were little, they had shared the same playpen for years. Their mothers used to do business with each other a lot, so she and Tyler usually ended up together. Forced to be nice to one another, Nilly grew to love him.
Eventually he was the only one— other than Elena, of course— that she'd talk to. She'd even talk to him about things she wouldn't tell Elena about. And he'd listen to her, he even stood up for her like a big brother would.
It was actually comforting to have someone look after her like Tyler did. They grew closer over the years, but when Nilly moved out of town she had lost connection with him. The last time she had been in town was her aunt and uncle's funeral, and she had only seen Tyler for a short while. Most of her focus was on Elena and Jeremy, so she didn't get the chance to talk to him, and then she left town again. But now she was back and she could talk to him again, like they use to.
"Oh Nilin Gilbert, you don't know how much I've missed you," he said as they began walking to The Mystic Grill.