AN: I know I'm so sorry it's been so long. It's true this story is being rewritten however aside from the first three chapters I've been doing a complete overhaul of the storyline and timeline.
I was out of commission for a short while but I'm hopefully back and better than ever please be kind! Let me know what you guys think :)
DAMON
He took a moment after having seated himself to be amused between Isabella staring at him with the same wide eyes stare as this morning and cock-block watching Isabella as if at any moment she'd burst into ash. The image the three of them put on was almost laughable.
After a short moment of silence, and once the alcohol has been brought to the table, Damon slid a shot each towards Isabella and cock block.
"Angela, green? Such a good color on you I must say." His charm seemed to be working, since she took the shot with a small nod.
"Isabellaa," he turned his attention to his wife, who's expression had gone from contemplating diving off the small balcony into the crowd below to what Damon couldn't be sure but might actually be annoyance. Ignoring that fact he continued on "you are, as always, breathtaking. However, might I suggest for our next game of cat and mouse you don't make it so hard for me? We've lost nearly half a day of wedded bliss to my search."
A lie, of course, since Damon had known exactly where she was since she walked into her hotel and had spent most of the morning amusing himself in the casinos and… snacking.
Since neither of them cared to speak he continued, destined to get a reaction from one of them eventually. "I must say I thought that after everything last night you weren't the type to just up and-"
"What's everything??" The choked squawk coming from Isabella made him unable to hold back the grin that spread. "We didn't- did we? Oh god ange I mean we did get married," her attention had turned ,annoyingly, to her companion "oh my god I'm married, to this, this random guy!" he watched amused as she gestured frantically at him.
"Bella, BELLA, " Angela had to nearly shout over Isabella's nearing frantic ranting. "You need to breathe. Here just, just take this." She handed the shot to Isabella and continued on. "We're in Vegas for another four days, just calm down and you and," she paused and looked to Damon finally who was watching with amusement coloring every feature.
"Damon." He supplied.
"You and Damon have plenty of time to figure it all out and get the next steps taken care of."
"Plenty of time.." Isabella nodded to herself as she repeated the phrase. Damon watched as she looked between Angela and himself, his brow twitching in surprise when she suddenly threw back the shot from earlier. Damon raised his own shot to Angela, who ignored his extended arm and tossed hers back as well.
Once everyone had taken one he watched as Isabella sat up straighter and ran a hand through her hair, an action that caused Damon to inhale slightly deeper than necessary so he could savor the scent. Delicious.
"Okay, so why don't you each say what you remember of the night and we can go from there." Angela was already stepping into the role of mediator it seemed. Damon was more amused than ever wondering what all Isabella remembered of the night given that he himself was able to recall every moment from her first loud challenge to the moment he'd left her sound asleep in his bed to get her fresh clothes and the ring.
He pretended to shift uncomfortably and look out over the street. His gaze lingered on his new wife, who was staring at the passing crowds and bouncing her leg nervously, a moment before his eyes found Angela's once more "I mean it would be tough since so much of it is missing… but maybe you're right. Ladies first?"
He sat back in his chair, settling in with his legs spread casually just so, his right legs proximity to Isabella not lost on her as her own leg stilled its bouncing finally and a deep blush began to spread from her cheeks across the rest of her face.
BELLA
He couldn't be serious, could he?? How were the both of them so impossibly calm??
Bella took a much needed deep breath before taking her lower lip between her teeth as she looked between Damon, who was watching her with a mixed expression of amusement and confusion, and Ange who was watching her with the same earnest wide eyed encouraging look she always gave their friends when she was being supportive of whatever drama was going on in their lives.
Their friends- oh god their friends? How was she going to explain she needed to bow out of the rest of the weekend? Surely she couldn't continue partying on while this needed to be sorted?
"Bella," Ange's voice broke the spin out that was Bella's inner monologue and she waited to speak until her friends eyes were on her. "Look, we could spend all four of the next days freaking out, or we could pretend this is a normal problem with a normal solution and it's all just *normal*." Her friend said with finality that soothed Bella's frayed nerves.
"Besides it's not like we haven't found our way out of crisis and acted like everything was normal before. Just imagine it's highschool again." Angela laughed and missed the way that Bella tensed, years of traumatic memories flooding her brain. From the ballet studio to the awful 18th birthday party and her extreme depressive episode. It was true that during all of these extended absences and strange injuries Angela had been the one to give Bella space to decide if she wanted to share, which obviously the shallow cover stories for most of them she accepted while the rest of their group had been weary, and if she hadn't said a word like after her depressive episode that was okay too by Angela. Bella nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear,smiling at her friend. "True enough." She hoped the teasing tone she was putting on matched her friends.
She didn't realize Damon had noticed the shift in her, smelt the sudden spike in fear and heard the falter of her heartbeat.
It did not escape her notice, however, that as Bella reluctantly began giving the new details she remembered that Damon's playful air was marred by the heavy gaze he kept on Bella.
Sorry all! I know it's shorter than I usually post. I don't have a computer and have been writing much of the story on my phone. I'm picking my computer up next week however so I'm excited to be able to hit a groove!
