Imagination is the key (stefan, Damon love triangle)

Chapter Seventy-Eight.

Damon's shirt slid over my arms easily and hung loosely around my body, falling to just a few inches above my knees. Unfortunately, all I had to wear was the dress from last night and as much as I adored it -wearing it once was more than enough for me, so I opted for Damon's clothing. It's not like he'll care much...Hopefully.
Just as I was working on the buttons, the bathroom door opened and steam wafted out followed by Damon. His hair was still dripping water down his body and he had a towel slung lowly on his hips. He smirked as he eyed up his shirt.
"That's mine." He commented, walking over to stand in front of me. I looked away from him back down at the buttons, doing a few more up.
"Not anymore it isn't." I replied cheekily.
I finished the buttons and looked up at Damon.
He rolled his eyes and gave an over exaggerated sigh. "I suppose I can deal with losing one shirt."
I stood on my tip-toes pressing a kiss to his lips. "Yes you can." I agreed.
His hand quickly moved to the back of my head, fingers tangling in my hair as he held me close. He pulled away. "I could get used to this."
"Me too."
"Are you hungry? I am, I'm starving-" Damon was saying as we walked into the parlour, but he cut himself off when our eyes landed on Stefan. He was sat on the couch, a glass of bourbon in his hand and a near empty bottle beside his feet.
"Stefan," Damon said, surprised
Stefan ignored him and instead his eyes kept flickering between Damon and I before settling on Damon's shirt I was wearing. I started fiddling with the hem self-consciously and I couldn't look at him, not after his confession last night.
Stefan quickly swallowed back the bronze liquid and stood up. "Elena's in the hospital -In case you were wondering. She's got my blood in her system so she'll live."
My eyes widened...How could I forget about my sister?!
"She's in the hospital?" Damon asked.
I nodded. "Yeah," My throat had gone dry. I forgot my sister. "She was attacked at the ball last night by a vampire."
"Was it you?"
I turned to Damon in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"
He held his hands up. "I'm just asking."
"Yeah, well, don't." I snapped.
"It wasn't Lillie." Stefan said.
Damon turned to him, brows raised. "And you would know?"
"Yeah, I would because she was with me."
Oh, god. This was getting uncomfortable.
"Can we not do this right now?" I asked.
"Do what, Lillie? We're talking, that's it." Stefan said, moving to pick up his discarded bottle.
A buzzing sounded around the room.
"Is that...My phone?" I asked slowly.
"It's not mine." Damon said, walking away from me.
I followed behind him and my cheeks flared as he crouched down picking up my forgotten dress. My phone fell out the bottom, the screen glowing with Hollee's name flashing across the screen.
"I really did like you in this dress last night, but it suited the floor better." Damon commented beside me.
"Damon!" I hissed, completely aware of Stefan watching us.
"It's not like he didn't know." He replied easily.
"That's not the point."
I turned my back to him and pressed the green button on my phone. "Hey, I'm sorry I left without you last night."
Hollee was silent on the other end of the phone for moment. "Can you come over? We need to talk." She said quietly.
I paused. "Hollee, are you alright?"
"No."
Damon looked over, not even trying to hide that he was listening in and Stefan just left the room but not before sending me a look.
"I'll be over soon, okay?"
Hollee let out a sigh. "Thank you...Just know that I'm sorry."
"Wha-" I was cut off by the dial tone. She hung up on me.
"What was that about?" Damon asked.
"Does it look like I know?...She didn't say but it sounded important."
I looked around me. "Right...I need pants."
"You don't need them." Damon commented.
I threw him a glare. "Do you still have those clothes I left here that time?"
"Maybe."
"It's a yes or no question, Damon."
"Fine, yes."
"Great." I said with a smile.
"You're not leaving, are you?"
I looked at him and grinned. "Yup."
He smirked. "But i thought that we could go back to bed and i could do that thing you like, where i-"
"Shut-up!" I cried, blurring over to cover his mouth. "Stefan can hear everything that you're saying!"
I kept my hand firmly covering his mouth. The way his eye had lit up made me hesitant to take it away. I gave him a stern look. "Not another word. Understand?"
He nodded, although he didn't look very convincing. His lips moved under my hand and kissed my palm.
I watched him and very very slowly pulled my hand away. His lips were stretched in to a smirk. "You should go and get dressed." He said. "Before i convince you too stay."

It didn't take too long to make myself presentable. Damon, surprisingly, behaved himself and instead of bugging me, just got back into bed and watched. I didn't have as many clothes here as I thought I did and just about managed to find a pair of old jean shorts, shoved toward the back of one of his draws, but that was it. I mean, I had tops but none that I really wanted to wear – they were all far too uncomfortable and revealing. I pulled a shirt out.
"I'm borrowing this." I slid the . It had been so long since I had been able to wear one of Damon's old tops comfortably. It smelled like him. I tucked it into my shorts and pulled my hair up into a tight ponytail and then grabbed my only pair of shoes from the corner and then took a seat on the edge of the bed.
The bed moved and Damon's chin rested on my shoulder. "I was meaning to ask; you were barefooted last night when you turned up; why?"
I pulled on one boot and then the other. "Not important. But my shoes are in a bush in the Mikaelson's garden, in case you were wondering."
"I feel like this could be a good story." His breath tickled my ear and he quickly pressed a kiss to my cheek.
"It's totally embarrassing and I don't want to talk about it."
"Did you fall over?"
I looked at him, his nose nudged mine. I frowned. "How did you know?"
"I know you," he replied. "I was a little surprised to see you in such high heels." His eyes dropped to my lips.
"Blame Hollee." My voice had fallen to just a whisper. "She forced me into them."
"I'm glad she did." His lips pressed to mine in a gentle kiss. "I love you," he whispered against me.
"I love you too."

So, I take back my earlier statement – Damon was very, very distracting and because of that I feel like I could possibly be late to Hollee's. At least forty-five minutes had gone past before Hollee's house came into view. Damon was nice enough to drop me off outside, after a little bribing of course.
I thought about knocking for a moment, my hand was raised but Hollee hadn't exactly sounded like herself on the phone. She sounded upset and stressed. So, I just waltzed in. "You called, I came."
Elijah was with her in the living room, practically joined as Hollee had her legs thrown over his and he had her hands clasped in his own.
"You took your time, though," she replied carelessly. She pulled away from him and twisted around to look at me.
"I was busy." My bag fell down my arm and I dropped it into the corner of the room. "But I'm here now, that's gotta count for something, right?"
"Well, I suppose. What were you doing?" She questioned.
"We're here to talk about you," I chided teasingly, "not me. What's up?" I wasn't too sure what to say about Damon to her yet. I already know that they had spent the majority of the summer together looking for Stefan and I, but still, last time I was around they despised each other and didn't care to make that a secret and I also knew about her favouritism toward Stefan – not quite sure why.
Elijah suddenly stood up and I couldn't help the roll of my eyes as he almost self-consciously straightening his jacket. Not sure why, it's not like I walked in on something inappropriate, or he had anything to even sort out – like always his suit was impeccably neat and stylish. No wonder him and Hollee are such a good pairing. Really it makes me sick. "I think I should leave you to it."
"Are you sure you wanna go?" It was strange watching the two, Hollee's voice noticeably changed when she's talking to him, it was softer; gentle. And the same went with Elijah, except his was more noticeable. Especially with the way he looked at her. His eyes were less shielded than hers. He looked at her like she was his reason for living, a light in his dark, dull life.
"I'm sure. You'll be fine, darling. I'll come back later, alright?" He kissed her forehead.
"OK. I love you."
"I know you do." My lips twisted uncomfortably as they quickly kissed.
"Disgusting," I muttered as Elijah finally left.
"Oh shut up." She swung her legs around to take up the space that Elijah had been occupying a moment ago, and leant over the back of the sofa.
"Sorry, but it is." I totally wasn't sorry.
"I know you don't like us together," She sighed.
"It's not the two of you being together that's sickening, it's all the 'I love you' stuff."
"But that's us being together," she argued.
"Okay," I said with a worried sigh. "what's wrong with you? You don't normally care." I walked around the room and plonked myself down in her arm chair.
"I'm not going to hesitate around it," she said, "I died."
My brows shot up and I stared at her sharply. "Huh? I'm sorry what? I thought you just said you died."
"I did. Klaus killed me and turned me into a hybrid."
"What? When the fuck did this happen and where the hell was I?" She was alright yesterday for god sake! Human and alive. How could this have happened so quickly – and how the hell did I not know. Oh god, I shouldn't have left the ball without her last night. I should have grown a pair and stayed. For her.
"It happened after you left me alone with Klaus," she said.
"I told you not to provoke him!" I exclaimed. That should not have been something that left my mouth! I wanted slap myself for sounding like I was blaming her. As someone who had recently spent months with the Hybrid, I knew from experience just how impulsive and uncontrollable he was. I should have known that his intentions were exactly nice, especially when Elijah came asking around for her. That should have been a clue in itself. Elijah wouldn't have necessarily spoken to me otherwise.
"I didn't! He's been wanting to turn me ever since he realised I was a werewolf."
"Why didn't you tell me this?! I wouldn't have left you alone with that bastard."
"Your self-degrading need to feel guilty about everything that you've done in the past two-or-so months was more important," she said.
"No it wasn't!" I snapped. "You had someone wanting to kill you. And just a question; are you a fucking retard? Who goes to a ball hosted by the dude who wants to kill her and turn her into a super-slave? No one fucking sane!"
"You know I'd do anything for a chance to dress up like I did last night. And," she added hesitantly, "Elijah doesn't think I'm entirely sired to Klaus."
"Entirely still implies that there is a part of you sired to him and his crazy ass."
"Well yeah, I suppose there is. I do feel really grateful that he took away the pain of turning into a wolf every full moon, but Elijah thinks he doesn't have as much power over me as he does the others," she explained.
"And why would that be?" I questioned. I had to stop myself from snapping at her. Does she enjoy drawing things like this out just to piss me off?
"I died with Elijah's blood in my system - he thinks I might be sired to him, too."
"You and Elijah are into some kinky shit," I commented. I wanted to be angry at Hollee about this – not sure why it was my anger I wanted to focus on but I couldn't do it. This wasn't Hollee's fault and there was nothing that she or anyone -including Elijah- could have done to prevent it from happening. Klaus is strong and as I've notice, very clever in getting his own way in some form. If it wasn't last night, it would be at some point in the future. I guess now it's done with and Hollee doesn't have to worry as much about him. Not that Elijah would let her anyway, way too over protective.
Hollee's cheeks flushed slightly. "Shut up, it was an accident."
"Accident?" I scoffed out a laugh. "I'm sorry that I'm a bit confused, but how the hell do you 'accidentally' drink someone's blood?"
"Elijah gave me his blood to heal me after I got shot with wolfsbane bullets." It bugged me just how casually she was able to say that.
"You know, you're shitter than me at telling people things. You were shot? when? By who?"
"As I said, you were more important. I was shot just before I came over to you, and Elijah healed me. We've got no idea who did it, but wolfsbane bullets were used by my family a lot, so there's a chance it was my mother."
"How did she find you?"
"Lord knows. I just hope that she's content with shooting me three times and leaves me alone - though I doubt she's expecting me to be a hybrid."
"That would definitely make the whole situation with her worse."
"You think?"
"Obviously. You're not just one thing she hates, you're now two."
"Cheers, Lillie, that really makes me feel better about it," she said, sarcastically.
"Sorry," I apologised, "that was harsh of me."
"It was." She nodded.
"But true"
"Well of course it's true, but you didn't need to point it out. She didn't even like me that much when I was human."
"That's 'cause your mom's a freak. No offense."
"I knew that. It's why I'm so proud I'm like my dad."
"Good thing to be proud of," I said. Her and her dad really were like two peas in a pod and I think because of their close bond, not having such a loving mother didn't affect her as much as I think it could have.
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry Klaus did this to you."
"Me too. Though, not as much as Elijah wants me to be. I'm just so happy that I don't have to deal with full moons ever again."
"That's the only benefit Klaus gave you though. Other than that you're now kind of sired to him."
"Only by half. I think."
"But that's still restraining your freedom."
"I know it is. At least I know Elijah won't make me do anything horrible."
"I wasn't worried about Elijah," I said seriously.
"I doubt he'll let Klaus make me do anything horrible, either." She tried to assure.
"Since when did Elijah have control over Klaus' actions?"
"Well, considering Elijah has physically fought with him twice over me, he's got some degree of control."
"Considering Klaus has daggered him more than once says he's the one in control," I retorted.
"Why are we even talking about this? It doesn't matter. If Klaus really wants to make me do horrid things, he will."
"You seem strangely alright with it."
"Well, yeah. He stopped me from ever turning again. And I'm really powerful, and I can't die. I won't have to get old while you and Elijah and everyone else in this town doesn't."
"You're beginning to sound more and more like Tyler," I pointed out, warily.
"I can't help it."
"Try," I said. "You're kinda freaking me out with your gratitude."
"Well wouldn't you feel the same?"
"Not if I knew I could be controlled."
"Only by half. Last night, they were both telling me different things, and I was fighting with myself... it was like my mind was listening to both of them and couldn't decide what to do."
"Sounds tiring."
"It was."
"What were they telling you to do?"
"Um. Well, Klaus was insisting that I feed from Elena, and Elijah didn't want me to."
". . . What did you do?"
"Klaus made Elena bleed," she revealed, "and told me to choose for myself. You know what bloodlust is like when you can smell it."
My jaw dropped and I exclaimed, "It was you!"
"What was me?!"
"You attacked Elena and left her to bleed out in the garden."
"Elijah said she was going to be looked after." She said, softly.
"He lied!" I snapped, angrily. "Bonnie found her dying -she was rushed to hospital."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" I could almost laugh in disbelief. "She could have died!"
"What else do you want me to say?!" Hollee suddenly snapped, her gaze fire-y and sharp. "I had just been turned into a hybrid! If I didn't drink from her, I would have died."
"She's your friend. You should have known when to stop or at least make sure she was properly taken care of."
"I don't think you're one to tell me how to act after turning, Lillie," her voice was cold and defensive.
I leaned forward in my seat. "I'm trying to help you to not make the same mistakes as I did."
"I don't have the option to turn my humanity off, I think I'm safe."
"It's just as easy to do with your humanity. You just think about it more, it took everything I had last night not to kill everyone at that ball and at one point I wanted to kill Bonnie. So don't downplay it." She doesn't understand this yet. She doesn't get just how easy it was to snap, to hurt people – to kill. I don't want her to have to go through that. She shouldn't have too.
"I'm not downplaying anything. I just think that I deal with stuff better than you do," she said. I bit my tongue and ignored the 'I'm better than you' tone to her voice.
"Obviously that's what a dying Elena shows."
"But she's not dead."
"That's why I said 'dying'."
"She was fine."
"No she wasn't. Did you even give it chance to see how bad you left her?"
"Yeah, and she survived."
"No thanks to you and your boyfriend."
The front door opened and, it was like the universe had it out for me, because Elijah's voice called through the house, "Hollee?"
"In here!" she called back.
I fell back into the chair and crossed my arms over my chest, kind like I was sulking. "He doesn't leave for long, does he."
"I can hear you," Elijah said, walking into the room. He didn't even spare me a glance, his gaze locked solely on Hollee.
"I'd be worried if you couldn't. Maybe your old age was catching up with you," I muttered.
"Be quiet, Lillie," Hollee scolded.
"What? He's old," I said, defensively.
"Shut up."
"Oh-kay."
"Thank you."
I looked between the two a couple of times and suddenly felt extremely awkward and unwelcomed. I didn't like Elijah and Hollee and I didn't seem to be seeing eye-to-eye right now either. "I should really get going," I said, after a moment.
"Okay, bye." I guess that was definitely my cue to leave.
Elijah cleared his throat, "Do you want me to leave again for a while?"
"You don't know what awhile means," I said
"Lillie..." Hollee trailed off warningly.
"What? He asked."
"I doubt he was talking to you." She looked at him, "Is that alright?"
He smiled down at her and once again, kissed her forehead. "Of course. Why don't you call me when you're ready?" Seriously, is he that much of a prude.
"Okay," she agreed. "I'll see you later." The room was silent as she watched walk back out the way he came in before rounding on me, a slight scowl on her face. "Why don't you like him?"
"Why doesn't he like me?" I retorted.
"I'm sure he likes you just fine."
"That was him liking me?"
"He didn't say anything to you."
"It's all in the eyes."
"You looked him in the eyes? Don't be weird."
"Only briefly."
"Still weird. He's mine."
"I don't want him. Not my type."
"There's no way you have a type. Stefan and Damon are too different for you to have a type."
"Stefan has nothing to do with this."
"Why not?"
"Because there is no Stefan."
"Yes there is. You had sex with him twice. Once is a coincidence, twice is habit." It was like our disagreement just a moment ago never happened. We were back to our usual selves. Typically talking about a subject I'd rather we didn't, but I guess this is Hollee's way of getting back at me. It was nice though, to know that even after everything, we could disagree and just moments later fall back into usual pattern of things.
"But I didn't feel anything!" I argued.
"You must've felt something. I mean, he can't have been that small." By this point she was grinning widely.
"You know what I meant."
"Yeah, OK, I did. Still, twice."
"Okay, I may not have felt anything but he knew what he was doing. Who wouldn't have gone back." My argument was weak, but very valid. I didn't feel anything for Stefan emotionally when I slept with him, but having over a century of experience, as disturbing as that thought is, it was definitely a benefit.
"Me. He's not my type," she dismissed. I don't believe her. She might not have been attracted to Stefan, but I'm putting all the blame down to Elijah, perhaps had she not fallen head-over-heels for the old guy she might have given Stefan a try. I mean, there are certain resemblance between him and Elijah, I guess if you look hard enough. Very, very hard. But that was an argument I already knew that I would lose.
"They don't always have to be your type for you to have a little go." I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively.
"Trust me, they do."
"Really? Because Elijah and Toby don't have any similarities."
"They look pretty similar."
"No they don't!"
"Have you seen Toby?!"
"Not in person."
"Exactly."
"A photograph still shows a lot."
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. Toby is long gone."
"We're not exactly talking about who's current or not."
"Yeah we are. Stefan and Damon are basically competing for your love."
I shook my head. "No they're not! This is irritating. I'm not getting anywhere with this."
"They totally are. They're in a testosterone-fuelled battle for your affections and you've got no clue. It would be annoying that you're so unaware if I didn't think it was so funny." Hollee stretched out even further on the sofa and chuckled when I threw a cushion at her.
With a roll of my eyes, I needed to put this to rest. "Hypothetically," I said, "if this were true -which it's not- then it doesn't matter anyway, I've chosen Damon."
That hit Hollee and she sat up. "You have?! When did this happen?"
"Yesterday."
"When? You were with me all day."
"After the ball."
"Oooh! What happened?! Tell me everything." Totally gossip Hollee is.
"We talked, made up. Everything's good now."
"That's good."
"Yup."
"The only annoying thing about you choosing Damon is that we can never double date. Ever."
"We could never double date either way. Elijah hates me, remember."
"No he doesn't! And anyway, even if he did - which he doesn't - he would come with me just because I asked."
"You sure have him on a tight leash."
"It's not a leash. He just loves me a lot. It's kind of intense sometimes," she said.
"Not just sometimes by the sounds of it."
"Well, true. But the intensity's good in bed. Other times, not so much."
I laughed, "I really don't doubt that. He looks too composed to not have a wild side."
"Well, you're definitely right there."
"I like being right." I grinned.
"Don't get used to it," she teased.
"I know. You tell me that every time."
"You're not right that often."
"Enough to have gotten sick of the same sentence."
"I'll come up with something different then."
"That would be greatly appreciated." I slipped my phone out my pocket and glanced at the time. "I should really get going. I have people I need to talk and apologize to."
"Alright." Hollee smiled. "Don't be a stranger, I missed you too much."
"I'm sure I missed you too. Somewhere deep, deep down." I stood and grabbed my bag.
"That's as much as I could ever hope for from you." She followed my lead and got to her feet.
"If it helps, I miss you now."
"I'm right here." She said, smiling.
"Still, I was trying to be nice."
"Well don't. It's weird."
"Fine. I hate you." I quickly wrapped her in a hug.
"That's more like it. See you later, Lils."
"See ya. Have fun with Elijah, when he reappears."
"Don't worry, I will."