After Caroline finished lecturing Stefan about his break up with my sister, she dragged me with her where Elena is arranging flowers in a vase at a table for tomorrow's Miss Mystic Falls. "Look, I'm your best friend and I would never pick sides, but are you sure that this is what you want? Because Stefan is your soul mate." Caroline tells her as we approach her.
"That's picking sides, Care." I tell her.
"Sorry."
"It's not like I don't love Stefan anymore, but I can't deny that ever since I turned, my feelings for Damon have become more intense." Elena explains to us.
"Yeah, I know. Stefan filled me in on all the gory Damon details."
"He did?" Elena and I ask at the same time. I am honestly surprised, considering I didn't know they are so close.
Elena looks at her worried before asking. "Is he okay?"
"No, he's heartbroken." Care informs her.
"Well, what was I supposed to do? Lie to him?"
"No, but you weren't supposed to let Damon weasel his way into your confused newbie vampire heart."
"Not helping Care." I tell Caroline.
"Well, he did and that's exactly what I am. Confused. I need to figure out what these feelings actually mean." Elena tells us.
"Well, I'm team Damon."
"What? Why?" Care asks me with a betrayed look on her face.
" Stefan is safe and a nice one when he's not off the wagon but Damon he challenges Elena, he's better because of her, they challenge each other. They are great for each other. And plus he doesn't care if you are human or vampire hell he wouldn't care if Elena was an alien while Stefan prefers the human Elena. The point is, Damon loves you no mater what." I explain and Caroline scoffs while Elena stares at me while the words sink in.
"Ana!" I turn around and see Shane walking towards us. "Hey, I'm a little lost. I'm here to interview contestants." He informs us.
"You're Professor Shane." Elena says.
"Yeah, that's right. Professor by day; pageant judge by other day." He jokes. "In spite of being absurdly unqualified, I'm apparently awarding a scholarship."
"Uh, inside by the parlor." Care instructs.
Shane points towards the house. "Right in here?"
"Mhm."
"All right, I'll just follow the scent of hairspray and world domination." Caroline laughs quietly. Shane walks away.
"He's creepy." I comment.
"I thought you started to like him?" Elena asks.
"I do think he is an alright person but that doesn't make him any less creepy.
"He's the one who told Damon how to break the hunter's curse." Elena tells us. "He's also the one that has Bonnie so obsessed with practicing magic." I tell them.
"That she bailed on pageant prep." Care adds.
"That's not the point. " I tell her. "And now he's judging Miss Mystic Falls?"
"Jack of all trades or kind of creepy?" Elena asks.
___________________________________
Caroline went inside to check on the number of bottles of champagne and that they aren't damaged, leaving me with her clipboard making sure no one messes up anything while she's gone. Three girls walked in my direction with flower arrangements. "Woah, woah, stop, stop!" I called the girls. They turned around and walked towards me. "Sorry for stopping you, but Caroline is inside and she left me with her chart and according to chart those flowers go in the back. So could you please.." They nod, turn around walk away. "Thank you, girls!"
I look at the chart again and a few seconds later I hear a familiar voice saying. "Now, how did I know I'd find you at the helm of the ship?"
I turned around and smiled at Nik before saying. "I'm doing this for Caroline. My bossy, a bit judgy, perfectionist of a best friend can't do everything alone as she originally thought, so I'm her slave for the day." I tell him and he looks at me amused.
"You're a wonderful friend, love." Nik tells me as he smiles at me.
"Thank you."
"I came here because I was wondering what time I should pick you up tomorrow." I look at him confused.
"Pick me up? What for?" I ask him.
"For the pageant of course." Nik says then adds. "And you don't have to worry about others, if they ask tell them that you promised me a date in return for one of my hybrids."
"Well then, it's a date. And you can just meet me here, I'm supposed to help April get ready for the pageant so I'm coming earlier. Two p.m. Black tie optional. I'm not sure yet what I'm wearing so no corsages or anything similar, you understand?" I send him one more smile before turning away and going back to work.
"I'll see you tomorrow, love!"
_________________________________________
As I promised I arrived earlier to help April prepare for the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant. April held up two dresses, one blue and one red, for Elena, Care and me to pick for her to wear.
"Blue." All three of us said in union.
"Really? The blue seems a little safe." April frowned.
" Safe is good when it comes to the judges." Elena points out.
"She's right. Gracie Lockwood had a three-foot slit her year and practically got laughed off the court." Caroline points out and that's when Damon enters the room.
"She got my vote." Damon says.
Caroline throws a black object at him. It hits him in the chest. "Get out, lurker!"
"Ouch." Damon whispers sarcastically. "Where's Professor Shane?"
"Check the judges' table." I respond and Caroline starts to close the door on him, but Damon puts his hand up and pushes it back open. Caroline starts to walk back towards Elena and me.
"Red one, definitely." Damon tells April.
"We've already agreed that the red one is a little bit too showy." Care crosses her arms.
"It's a pageant. That's the whole point." Damon retorts. Caroline looks at Damon and places her hands on her hips and speaks up.
"Did you win Miss Mystic last year? No. I don't think you did."
"Neither did Elena and she wore blue."
"Nobody cares what you think." I tell him.
"I care." April cuts in.
"See? April cares." Damon smirks. "Red, right, Elena?"
Caroline and I look at Elena, she turns to April and says. "The red is pretty."
Caroline's face falls. Damon smirks again.
"And my work here is done." He walk out, Care and I turn to Elena.
"Uh, what happened to thirty seconds ago when you hated the red one?" I ask confused.
" What happened to safe is good?" Care adds.
Elena shakes her head and turns to April. "Whichever one you want to wear, April." Elena walks out of the room and we just watch her leave confused.
"What just happened?" Care asks.
"I have no idea." I answer and then turn to April. "So, what are we doing with you hair?"
________________________________________
I was outside picking up empty champagne glasses from tables. "Hey, why am I bussing your tables? Caroline said no empty glasses." I scold the bus boy after plopping the glasses on a tray he is holding. I walk over to the music players. "Will you guys pick up the tempo?!" I snap my fingers at them. "This town is depressing enough."
I turn around and see Nik walking towards me. He's dressed in a dark blazer and pants, blue dress shirt, light grey tie and dress shoes. "And how am I doing?" He asks.
"You're...perfect." I respond.
"As are you."
Before I can say anything Caroline suddenly storms over looking furious.
"Care, are you okay?" I ask confused why she's angry.
"Tyler and that werewolf slut didn't waste any time, he always told me he hated pageants and now he is here with her." Caroline explains.
"I'll go get us some drinks while you two talk." Nik says and leaves us to talk.
______________________________________
After we finished talking Caroline left to go onto the stage to introduce the court while I went to stand next to Nik. "Hi, everyone, I'm Caroline Forbes. As the reigning Miss Mystic Falls, it is my honor to introduce this year's Miss Mystic Court." Everyone claps for the girls. Music starts playing for the introduction of the girls. "We begin the procession with Valerie Fell accompanied by Dylan Clark." There is a round of applause for Valerie as she walks down the stone steps. "Next, we have Amber Wolvertine accompanied by Hector Lindsay." Another round of applause is given for Amber.
Another girl had been introduced and more applause was heard. She took the arm of her escort and they walked off together. "And finally, we have a last minute entry, April Young accompanied by Jeremy Gilbert." I look over where escorts stand looking for my brother but I don't find him and instead I find Matt in his place.
I turn to Nik. "Do you mind if I go talk to my sister, I need to ask her something?" I ask.
I walked over to Elena who is on the phone at the same time as Caroline.
"Hey, what's with the last minute escort change?" Care asks.
"Where is Jeremy?" I ask.
"I'm calling him right now." Elena tells us and Damon walks up to us. "He's not picking up."
"Do the math. Emo teen, open bar, it's fine." Damon shrugs.
"Matt said that Jeremy's been having nightmares about killing vampires and he's been hiding it from us." Elena informs us and I look at her surprised and worried.
"Relax, I'm sure he's fine." Damon shrugs it off.
"I don't know. I have a bad feeling." Elena tells us.
"If I'm not worried, you shouldn't be worried. Let it go. I'll go look for him."
"Okay." Elena sighs and Damon walks away.
"Okay, you go home, Jenna can take you and we're gonna start asking around here." I tell Elena.
"Maybe Damon's right." Elena shrugs. "Maybe he grabbed a bottle from the bar and snuck off to the woods."
"No, Damon is never right." Caroline argues. "Damon is sneaky and manipulative and rude, but he's never right. How can you not see that?"
"I don't know, but why do I think that you won't hesitate to tell me?"
"Fine, friend and sister-tervention. I think your so-called 'feelings' for Damon are really starting to cloud your judgment and I don't like it." Caroline says. "And the thought of you two together really makes me want to barf.""
Easy, Care, you're making a scene." I tell Caroline.
"Wow, Caroline, thank you for making this very difficult time so much easier." Elena walks away. Caroline stands there with a blank look on her face.
"How did I become the bad guy?" Caroline complains and I sigh. After Caroline leaves Nik walks up to me.
"Let's get you a drink. You look like you could use it." Nik says.
__________________________________
We were walking next to the pond on the Lockwood property. Klaus was carrying two glasses and a bottle of champagne.
"I don't know what's gotten into Elena lately. I mean I want her and Damon together but not like this. She's hanging onto his every word, listens to everything he tells her to do, she's always taking his side. She's acting like... loyal puppy of his." I tell him.
" So, being a vampire's changed her?" Nik asks.
" Yeah, in a way it did." I answer. "But I don't understand, being a vampire the only thing it does is amplify who you already are, it doesn't change you, not right away at least. I mean I understand it amplified her feeling for Damon but it shouldn't of made her a complete different person.
"It's very peculiar." Nik smirks and looks as if he knows something I don't.
"What?" I ask
"It'll all make sense eventually." Nik says cryptically and I scoff.
"Why won't you tell me?"
"It would ruin the surprise."
"Come on, please tell me."
"Fine I'll tell you later."
"Thank you and please just – just hurry up and find the cure." I sit down on a stone bench by the pond. Nik places the champagne down next to me and looks at me.
"I'm working on it." He tells me.
"Would you ever take it?" I wonder.
"Now, why would I want to cure myself of being the most powerful creature on the planet? Hm?"
"So there's not one single moment in your whole life that you wanted to be human?" I asked and he looked away avoiding the question.
After a few moments of silence he finally says. "Life used to be a lot easier."
"I can relate to that." I tell him. "But really has there be any moment when you wanted to be a human?"
"Yes there was a few times, I was on a trek in the Andies, and a hummingbird flew up to me. It just hovered there, staring at me, its tiny heart was pattering like a machine gun. And I thought, what a thing, you know, to have to work that hard every day just to stay alive. To be constantly on the verge of death and how satisfying every day must be that it survived. And that was the only time I thought about being human." I look at him astonished not expecting this answer from him.
_______________________________________
Carol Lockwood and Caroline were standing on the stage. Carol was speaking through the microphone and Caroline was holding an envelope with the name of the winner Miss Mystic Falls.
"And now, the moment you've been waiting for. Caroline, would you do the honors?" Carol says. Caroline walks to the mic. Elena stands behind her with the tiara and sash.
"This year's Miss Mystic Falls is...." Caroline opens the envelope. "April Young." Caroline announces. Everyone in the crowd applauds. April smiles and looks as if she's about to cry. Caroline takes the tiara off the cushion Elena is holding and walks over to April. Caroline places the tiara on April's head.
________________________________________
After the pageant was over Nik and decided to spend the rest of the day together. We arrived at his house and spent time just talking. We spoke of many things, he told me about his time living in New Orleans and his life in generally.
"Wait, I just remembered you never told me what is happening with Elena. So can you tell me now?"
"Right." Nik nods his head. "Elena's recent transition feels peculiar to me in an all too familiar way. You said she's been hanging onto his every word, does everything he asks regardless if she wants to defy him, following him like a puppy. Sound familiar to you?"
I pause for a moment thinking about what he just said and realization hits me as I start to put pieces together. "Elena is sired to Damon."