New York || Damon Salvatore [1]

Chapter Sixteen

   "Don't you say that about your mom," Joseph laughed. "Even though it was bad, there's nothing compared to that."

   "Easy for you to say," Akil scoffed. "Your mom probably didn't burn the food. My mom burned even water."

   "Whenever you want a meal, just come by," Robert chuckled, nodding. He sat on an old reclining chair, slowly moving back and forth as he looked around the room.

   Damon noted how his eyes were slightly glossy, his smile small. It was then when he realised that his house hadn't been so full since, maybe, when his wife died. As Damon watched the old man look around the room, he noticed that his smile was different. And then, the old man's eyes landed on Freya, on her finger to be exact. The small smile widened as his eyes moved towards Damon.

   "Damon," he softly said, causing the conversation around them to pause, "would you please come with me to the kitchen? I need you to help me with something."

   "Uh, yeah, sure." Damon patted Freya's hip twice, making her stand and move to the side while still speaking to Reginaldo's sister. He followed the old man to the kitchen, where he suddenly stopped when the man turned around and looked at him. 

   "Did you propose?" Robert asked. 

   Damon scratched the back of his head, glancing around until his eyes landed on the old man in front of him. "Uh, yeah," he smiled. "I proposed."

   Robert laughed. "Damon!" He spread his arms and pulled the vampire in for a hug. The old man patted his back as they hugged, a laugh coming from his mouth. At first, Damon felt strange as the old man hugged him, as if... No. He shook his head and hugged the old man, gently patting him in the back as well. 

   "How did you propose?" Robert asked when he pulled away. 

   "I took her to Rosy's Dinner at dawn," he told him, "and I told her that I had a proposition."

   Robert furrowed his brows. "And what was this proposition?"

   "I told her that she'd be able to spend the rest of her life with me, but only if she marries me."

   The old man stared at him for a couple of seconds, then he laughed. "That was the best you could do?"

   "Well, she did say yes, so yeah." The vampire shrugged his shoulders and nodded. 

   "Not a nice dinner?" Robert continued to ask, almost as if he were helping the vampire plan his proposal. "Not even flowers?"

   "There were flowers on the table."

   "Did you buy her flowers?"

   "No..."

   "You should've bought her flowers, Damon!" Robert hit the vampire in the back of the head. At the sudden hit, Damon spat out the mulled wine he was drinking and let out a groan.

   "Okay, first of all, ouch." He rubbed the back of his head as he glared at the old man. "Second of all, Freya doesn't like big things. I once got us reservations at this fantastic French restaurant in Midtown and she made me turn around. We ended up having dinner at McDonald's. Robert, I was wearing a suit. Do you know how often I wear a suit? Never!" He almost spat how the last time he wore a suit was when it was a casual outfit for the day, but he bit back on his tongue. 

   "But, still," Robert nodded, "you can never be wrong with flowers."

   "I'll remember that for another time," Damon chuckled, rolling his eyes. 

   Robert laughed and patted the boy on the back. "Just a little reminder, Damon," he told the vampire with his hand on his shoulder. "Flowers will always be in the hearts of women—personal experience, son."

   "How many flowers have you gotten Betty?" Damon teased, mentioning the name of his current girlfriend. 

   "So far? Two."

   "Two?" Damon laughed. "It's been like two months since you began to date, how many times could you have gotten her angry?"

   "Some women have anger issues," Robert responded with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders. "Betty has a few. I wouldn't doubt that Freya has a few."

   "I'm yet to see an angry Freya."

   "When you do, make sure you know your local florist," Robert grinned. Once again, he patted the vampire on the back as they walked back to the living room. 

   Damon took a seat on the sofa. Freya took a seat on his lap, grinned at him, and laid a gentle kiss on his lips. He smiled, happily laying his hand on her waist. As she turned to continue talking, he inhaled her scent. She smelt like cinnamon—brown and dry and sweet and warm.

   He then wondered what did he smell like to her. Did he smell of old leather and dead leaves and bracken and a corpse that had been rotting for too long? He wondered if he smelt like death to her. Maybe, he did. And maybe she enjoyed he horrible stench he emitted. Maybe that was the reason why she was with him, because he was Death and she was Life and they were so irrationally in love.

   In love. Now, those were two words Damon Salvatore never thought to himself, never thought about himself. He had always thought of himself as worthless, as a good-for-nothing punk that deserved nothing, but then came Freya, Life. He still thought of himself as worthless and a good-for-nothing punk, but a better one. Well, slightly better. 

   "When's the wedding?" Robert asked out loud, causing everyone to stop talking and stare at him. He had a knowing smile on his lips.

   "No date," Freya said, running her fingers through hairs in the back of Damon's head. "I mean, we just got engaged a few days ago."

   "You in a hurry to walk me down the aisle?" Damon mused, smirking at the old man. 

   Robert scoffed and shook his head. "You wish, Damon."

   "But, you are invited to the wedding," Freya smiled. "That I know."

   "Are we?" Armando asked, smiling with a mouthful. "I mean, we better be because we might just crash the party."

   As soon as Damon opened his mouth to say no, Freya said yes. They looked at each other, Freya being the one with the big grin on her lips She looked back at the boys and gave them a nod. "You're all invited. I'll give you the invitations myself so that Damon can say nothing about it."

   "This is why we prefer her over you," Joseph joked, laughing.

At that moment, Damon thought that maybe an early Christmas wasn't so bad, that being engaged to Freya Beauchene wasn't so bad.