𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐈𝐕
⏤ The Aftermath ⏤
❝That's what I get for dating an introvert.❞
𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 the Boarding House after the others, Olivia barely had time to take in the quizzical or intrusive glances from the collection of people inside who were each engaged in a thoughtful silence as she was instantly pulled into someone's arms.
"Hey, I heard about what happened, are you alright?" Jeremy asked, hugging the shorter girl warmly before he pulled away so she could answer.
"More or less." She returned, a small convincing smile on her lips before her gaze moved to the others currently in the room.
Alaric and Elena were both standing near the couch, the brunette clearly expressing agitation as she fidgeted with her fingers. Stefan, meanwhile, had moved to the back corner of the room where he leaned back carelessly against one of the bookshelves, waiting for the conversation to commence. Damon seemed to have passed Olivia once they entered, distancing himself from her considerably which some of the others found notably strange. Finally, Caroline and Bonnie were already there waiting for them, both seated restlessly on the couch despite standing as they walked in. Bonnie moved to check on Elena whilst Caroline threw Liv a concerned look.
Both girls had already heard the entirety of the story from Elena who had called the young witch whilst they walked through the darkening forests. Bonnie and Elena more or less exchanged stories briefly despite many holes being left in the explanation ⏤ mostly on Elena's part as she was still thoroughly confused as to what the hell was going on with Olivia; they all were.
"So..." Olivia began, filling the laundering silence that consumed the room. "How's Tyler?" She addressed Caroline awkwardly, the tension still thick and unresolved between them and at this point, Olivia suspected it would never fade. Every time Caroline was in the same room as her and Damon, Liv would notice her strange looks and awkward behaviour and she wasn't sure if Caroline could ever move past it.
"Fine, aside from the overwhelming guilt and how freaked out he is." She returned, sending Olivia a small smile which the tribrid somewhat returned.
"What's going on? Why did we all need to meet here?" Bonnie spoke up, moving her eyes across the small gathering.
"Yeah, and what's he doing here?" Caroline added as she shifted her gaze to Stefan, making Elena shift her shoulders uncomfortably. "Isn't he supposed to be on team Klaus?" She murmured the last part in a quieter tone of voice, almost as if she forgot Stefan could grasp every word she muttered because of his enhanced hearing.
"I do live here." He returned simply, making Caroline smile fakely at him ⏤ she wasn't particularly a fan of the emotionless care-free Stefan and that wasn't an uncommon opinion amongst the group.
"Anyways," Alaric drifted off, "I think you owe us an explanation." He said turning to Olivia, everyone's eyes following to the tribrid who seemed to be too caught up in watching Damon in confusion. His emotions at this moment were strangely hard to read and for a second he seemed to be lost in his own mind. Though he eventually snapped from his thoughts, peering back over at the blonde and exchanging what could only be described as an empty look with her.
"Explanation?" Bonnie repeated, not fully being clued in on the past occurrences and causing Olivia to tear her gaze forcefully from Damon back over to the remaining cluster stood beside the selection couches, aside from Jeremy who was still next to her and Stefan who purposely distanced himself in the background, somehow being overlooked amongst the others.
"How did you see her, Liv? How did you see Vicki?" Elena's voice brought up a question that would force an inevitable explanation out of her; one she didn't particularly want to give.
"You told them?" Jeremy cut in, shifting his body to the blonde beside him. No matter his previous pleas for her to tell someone, he wasn't at all expecting her to actually listen to him.
"You knew?" Elena resorted in disbelief. Both she and Bonnie felt similarly; hurt that he'd kept something like this from them and In bonnie's case, even lied when the Anna situation came up.
Damon's eyes simply refocused on Olivia and the tribrid didn't miss the flash of betrayal present in his eyes. He was hurt and angry ⏤ that much she could easily pick up on.
"Knew what?" Caroline queried.
Olivia briefly skimmed over all their prying and intense gazes, eventually allowing a sigh to leave her lips, realising she might as well be honest for once. She was backed into a corner and lying at this point just seemed obscure and meaningless. "I've been seeing people; dead people."
"Like Jeremey's has?" Alaric asked, making the tribrid nod. Majority of those in the room could hardly be surprised at her confession, there was no other explanation as to how she saw Vicki. Caroline, however, was in complete shock for a moment, even Bonnie's eyes widened.
"For how long?" Stefan quipped in making the others turn their heads to him. Despite initially planning just to listen and observe silently, emotions or no emotions, he was confused and curious and found himself in search of some answers. Liv was the one person he barely knew anything about, someone he couldn't read. The first time he really saw her was during their encounter over the summer.
"A while after I got back." She answered. "At first, I could only see the people Jeremy saw and it only worked when I was around him so it was mostly just Anna." She added as they all listened intently.
"That's why I called her when we were out looking for that vampire hunter dude." Jeremy briefly interjected, making Damon curse himself inwardly for not questioning either of the two more on the matter before, he didn't even pry on what she and Jeremy were being so secretive about.
"But I thought you said it only worked when Jeremy was around," Bonnie pulled their gazes.
"I was wrong." She replied simply, purposely avoiding mentioning the spell she cast to channel the Gilbert. Now that she thought of it, that spell could have potentially been the reason everything went wrong, that spell must've triggered something else entirely.
"That's how you knew that Elena's blood was the cure," Stefan said in realisation, making the girl nod once more.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Damon finally spoke up, forcing the word us from his lips when in reality he and everyone else in the room knew he was wondering why the girl didn't tell him specifically.
The girl shrugged, thinking of a response. "I didn't want to add to the list of problems." Damon sighed, turning away from her as his irritation heightened for a second. "Besides things started to get a little crazy after a while."
"What do you mean crazy?" Alaric asked with furrowed brows.
"Is that why you freaked this morning in class?" Caroline asked, remembering the strange event they'd never received a real answer about in which she'd abruptly left the room and how jumpy she was ⏤ that being evident by how much her hands were shaking.
Liv simply nodded again as Damon's eyes moved back to her in fearful curiosity. "What happened in class?"
"The same thing that's been happening on a loop since the first time I saw them."
"Them?" Alaric questioned her use of words, beginning to query who else Olivia had seen or talked to.
"People; strangers. Some from my past, some I've never seen before." She explained before deciding to expand further before anyone could ask any further questions. "They just started showing up; in my room, in my house, everywhere I went, they were there. I couldn't shut them out like Jeremy could and the things that they said..." she trailed off uncomfortably, noticing the sympathetic and pitiful glances she was getting from the group. Upon noticing them, she immediately hoped to deteriorate the concern in their eyes and bring a sense of lightheartedness to the confrontation. "It's kinda funny now that I think of it. I must sound like a lunatic." She laughed off all the discomfort seeping through her body.
No one shared her expression however or her short-lived humour, she noticed Alaric attempt to give her a comforting smile and briefly felt Jeremy squeeze her hand.
"But that doesn't make any sense." Bonnie's voice broke the exterior of the sorrowful atmosphere. At first, Olivia was thankful for the interruption to break the tension in the room but as she continued she only wished the witch never spoke up to begin with. "I resurrected Jeremy and that's why he started seeing people from the Other Side. The same thing happened with Matt."
Those words were the beginning of the inevitable confession she'd be forced to make. She couldn't tell them. She didn't want their pity. She didn't want to talk about it.
Jeremy, however, being the only one who actually knew, shifted his gaze in her direction and sent her a look ⏤ one that everyone else in the room, unfortunately, seemed to notice.
Momentary feelings of hurt were inflicted in Elena who would've thought her own brother would tell her something like this, though she easily dismissed those thoughts as she found herself turning to Damon, seeing his own gaze hiding his jealousy and slight anger. Elena knew Damon well; she knew that Liv telling her brother and not him hurt him, angered him even and Elena couldn't deny that it bothered her.
"Maybe you should tell them." Jeremey eventually spoke up causing everyone's eyes to move between them quizzically.
Olivia couldn't help but feel a wave of small anger erupt in her, making the blonde shoot him a glare. "I told you I didn't want to talk about it." She resorted bitterly. He may have only had her best interests at heart but the girl couldn't bear to go through the story again.
"Talk about what?" Stefan asked, his interest quipped once more.
"Liv, maybe you should ⏤" he began to say but the girl instantly cut off the boy beside her.
"No, Jeremy, you don't understand it wasn't the same for you." The irritation and cold undertones seeped through her voice but she soon sighed seconds after upon realising, she had just slipped up on her own words.
"You've been resurrected before," Bonnie breathed out as her eyes widened in realisation.
Everyone else in the room was rendered speechless for a moment, lost and confused as they waited for Olivia to continue. Damon's head bolted towards Olivia, unsure if he wanted to hear her next words.
"It was a long time ago now. I barely remember it. I mean it happened when I was still human and I guess something must've triggered when I was around Jeremy." She murmured, hoping they'd leave it at that. Hoping she wouldn't be forced to relive the dreadful memory that marked the start of her existence and the start of her emotion deprived life, ripped away from all things warm and human. "I hope that fills in a few blanks for you and explains why I'm so..." she drifted, shaking her head slightly with a laugh as the words came to her. "Messed up."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Liv heard Damon's voice sound from directly beside her and she slowly turned to meet the Salvatore's pained eyes, feeling the pain herself as she stared into them.
"It's not the type of thing that comes up in conversation," she answered. "Or something I particularly like talking about." She then added with a sadder tone to her voice that she immediately corrected as she continued. "I mean I've never told anyone before." She replied, her eyes pulling from Damon, almost making him want to sigh at her actions. "Besides Jeremy and Anna," the tribrid then added, briefly looking over at Jeremy before turning to the others, in hindsight unsure if she should've muttered her next words or not. "And then... Katherine." She murmured the last part, resulting in a rise of surprise and confusion amongst those in the room.
"Katherine?" Damon repeated incredulously. "You told her and not us? Not me?" He asked; the anger clear in his tone, making Jeremy want to defend her but Olivia instantly shook her head to stop him ⏤ an action which Damon noticed and only made him angrier.
"I've known her a lot longer than I've known any of you," she answered truthfully. "And I... I can relate to her almost." She added, making his disbelief surface once more, causing her to change her gaze to the others. "Listen, it happened a long time ago and I wanted to move on from it." She noticed the concern in their eyes still present and almost grew frustrated at their gazes.
"But I'm fine, I've made peace with it, really; so there's no need for all the sympathy or pity." She added quickly making them forcefully hide their expressions. "I'm... I'm good." She nodded, forcing a smile that almost everyone in the room believed. Everyone besides Damon, who knew the girl too well and surprisingly Stefan. Ironically out of everyone it was probably him she had the most in common with. Complicated past, difficulties with emotions, an inner monster...
"How did it... How did it feel...?" Elena's voice made Olivia pull her curious gaze directed at Stefan and turn to the brunette. Her voice was quiet and soft, a sense of reluctance depicted in her words. "I mean what did it feel like when you were... dead?" She said the word hesitantly.
"Well, it wasn't exactly like what happened with Jeremy or Matt."
Alaric shifted his position, curiously listening to her words. "What do you mean?"
"I umm..." she began. "I wasn't dead for a few minutes... or an hour... or even a day."
"How long?" Caroline asked her, attempting to hide all her concern but her voice almost faltering at how... horrifying it all was.
Olivia hesitated to reply, even Jeremy was confused at this point.
"Olivia, how long?" Damon asked, his voice taking a serious tone.
"A year." She choked out with, trying to diminish any sorrowful feelings rising from the abyss within her. Her voice was so quiet, some of the humans in the room initially didn't pick up on it. " I um... I think it was a year." She spoke again, louder this time. "I can't be completely sure, there was no time where I was. Where I went. It... it felt endless." She laughed at how depressing it all sounded but still, she continued. She wasn't completely sure why but she did, the words pent up inside of her for so long leaving her effortlessly like a breath of fresh air.
"I felt empty... lost, confused, weak. It was all just black and darkness was slowly taking over my soul, piece by piece and I couldn't do anything to stop it because I was dead..." she paused, forcing a sad smile onto her face. "Eventually, when I woke up my soul was already too corrupted to be fixed. I was too far gone to be saved and the emptiness never left me... I was never the same."
Immediately after the words left her lips, she regretted them, the very sympathy she didn't want to see present in their gazes, illuminated their entire expressions and she hated it. She could barely look at the others, Stefan's blank stare being the only one she met with.
Her attention was drawn to Damon however, feeling his hand gently grasping her own. His gaze wasn't sympathetic, but warm and embracing. The tribrid dared a single glimpse into his ocean eyes. Her pain slowly draining out the longer she looked at him, washing away with each crashing wave that reached her, breaking her yet saving her all at the same time.
"I... I uh... I'm going to go." Olivia then said, reluctantly pulling her hand from Damon's and shifting her gaze to the others who forced themselves into some form of causal composure. She didn't wait for a reply, simply grasping the handle and pulling open the door.
"Liv," Bonnie's voice called out to her. "I'll try to find something. A spell maybe that can help you." Olivia gave her a small forced smile and a nod in return before she left. She didn't really think the girl would find anything, she'd already completely ransacked every spellbook she owned for something that would help to diminish the people she was seeing. Nothing worked.
"Hey, Liv, can I talk to you for a second?" Caroline's gentle voice pulled the girl from her daze. She was currently standing on the front porch, about to make her way back through the familiar tree-lined route of the forest when she heard her voice.
"I really just want to go home, Caroline," Olivia responded hopelessly. She hadn't slept peacefully in days now. She needed a way to fuel out her exhaustion somehow and engaging in another bicker with Caroline wouldn't do her any good.
"Please, I hate fighting with you." She said, making the tribrid finally turn back to meet her eyes.
"We're not fighting." Liv returned with a strange amount of certainty that perplexed the vampire.
"Yes, yes we are." She reaffirmed. "You've barely talked to me over the last few days."
"Why do you even care?" Olivia sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"Because you're my friend, Liv." She said, her eyes glistening sadly making Olivia retain another sigh. She desperately needed to say something to irk Caroline enough that would evidently force her to simply leave her be.
"Didn't seem that way a couple of days ago." The words may have been cruel and cold but Olivia was unsure how else to react at this point ⏤ she'd rather Caroline be angry than hurt.
The taller blonde only bit down firmly on her lower lip. "Liv, I'm sorry about how I reacted with the Damon situation." She told her, making the tribrid almost cringe realising Damon was inside and most likely listening to all of this. "I didn't know the whole story and whilst Tyler filled me in considerably, I'm still entirely clueless... and honestly... I really don't like him... but I also get that you do like him and it was wrong of me to go off on you like I did and for that, I'm so sorry."
Olivia nodded as she finished her rant, seeing the genuine feelings of guilt and remorse cloud her aura. "It's okay, I get it."
"That's it?" Caroline stifled shock at her simple reply.
"That's it." She nodded once more. "I don't hate you, Caroline and I was never mad at you so there's no need for you to apologise."
"Then why have you been ignoring me?" She resorted cluelessly.
"I just..." she paused, already foreseeing her reaction and almost not wanting to say the words she knew she had to. "I don't think it's a good idea if we're friends anymore."
"Liv ⏤"
"You look at me like nothing's wrong but you obviously view me as someone... broken." Olivia began, continuing as Caroline's lips parted to cut in. "Someone you can fix or change; like every person I've killed can be amended for by turning me into someone else... Someone I can never be" She saw regret shaft over the girl's features once more and so thought to shift her words. "Trust me, I completely understand that, people have expectations for others. They want them to be good but... I can't be that person, Care. I can't be fixed... I'm too broken for that."
"Liv, I don't think that. I don't want to change you." Caroline denied but Olivia forced herself to ignore her words. She knew Caroline was a good and kind-hearted person, no matter what anyone else said about her and so, in a way, it hurt the tribrid to inflict any pain on her.
"Look I'm not doing this because of our fight or what you said. Believe it or not, I'm more messed up than you know," Olivia forced yet another smile, an ache almost forming at this point for the number of times she'd had to do so today. "I'll um... see you around." The tribrid finished, turning and heading through the woods before she could object or say anything more.
Caroline was better off this way. That's what Olivia told herself repeatedly in her head. They'd all be better off. She should have never grown close to them in the first place. Ironically, death and overflowing emotions followed her everywhere she went. Someone would end up hurt, or broken, beyond the point of saving and it would be because of her. Before she wouldn't have given it a second glance, she wouldn't have cared, but this time... This time she did.
Not long into her walk, she found a set of footsteps beside her and she didn't even need to turn her head to know who it was.
"You feeling alright?" Damon asked, trying to maintain a sense of casual nonchalance to his words. If anything he understood the annoying feeling of being pitied and constantly seeing unwanted sympathy in the eyes of others. He could see how much she hated it, but at the same time, he needed to make sure she wasn't breaking.
"Not really, no." She smiled back and strangely enough, the expression appeared to be genuine ⏤ Damon had a way of doing that to her.
"Anything I can do?" He quirked, tilting his head in her direction.
"Do you know a way to prevent random dead people from following me around and popping up at the most inconvenient moments?" She asked with a sense of playfulness to her tone that she'd been lacking recently; a playfulness Damon missed.
"Hey, we'll find something." He said reassuringly. "And you're not in this alone, all you have to do is be honest with me." He told her, hiding any anger or pain that he previously may have felt.
"I'm sorry I didn't try telling you sooner." She stopped in her tracks as she turned to him. "The only reason I told Jeremy was because I thought he and Anna could help figure out what the hell was going on with me."
He nodded forcefully. "And Katherine?" He asked unable to hide the bitterness from his tone. He didn't like the brunette. She was his manipulative ex-lover after all but more importantly, he didn't like the fact she seemed to be so close to Olivia.
"Damon..." she sighed.
"Yeah, I get it. I'm sorry. I just would've thought you'd come to me first." He resorted.
"I'm sorry, It's just... it's hard for me to let my guard down." She replied. "I've had these walls up for... well forever and I can't just break them down instantaneously." She went on, Damon's expression visibly softening. "I have some serious issues when it comes to trusting people or letting them in or showing I care... And I lie... a lot... And I hide so many secrets about my life and my past because I'm afraid of what people will do if they know the truth." She didn't know why she told him all of that; the words just seemed to escape her before she could control them.
"One day, Olivia Campbell, I will find out every secret you have and then I'll show you that I don't care. Whatever your hiding, no matter what it is... I'll look at you the same way I always have." He told her with full sincerity. "I may even like you a little bit more." He added with a light-hearted smirk.
"How did I find you, Damon?" She joked playfully but a serious edge underlined her words as she spoke making him smile and as he wrapped his arm around her affectionately as they continued walking.
For a while, a peaceful silence erupted between them. A silence Damon soon broke. "Liv," He said her name gently making her hum, awaiting his next words. "Today made me realise, I don't really know anything about you."
"There's not much to know." She revealed casually.
"Come on, Liv. You know everything about me, tell me something about you; your life." He resorted intently.
"My life was mostly bland and uneventful. Human... Vampire... It's all a confusing blur of... nothingness." She smiled faintly in amusement as Damon watched her intensely. "My parents abandoned me. I had no other family, friends were a no-go, acquaintances were kept to the minimal, decades, centuries dragged on uneventfully and then I winded up here."
"Sounds lonely." He murmured to which Olivia nodded. "How did you die?" He immediately regretted that question leaving his lips upon noticing her body stiffen and discomfort flood through the girl. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ⏤"
"It's fine." She quickly cut him off reassuringly, bearing another strained smile. "I don't really remember. I guess it was all the trauma and disorientation that blocked out the memory."
"And how did you know the witch that brought you back?" He continued to query curiously.
"Can we not talk about this please?" Olivia blurted out in response, pulling away from Damon considerably so the arm he previously had around her fell to his side. "Sorry, that was... really hostile... I just... I'm in desperate need of a subject change."
"Yeah, sure," Damon responded, falling back in line with the girl, deciding to bring something else up that had been lingering at the back of his mind for a while now. "What's up with you and vampire barbie?" He asked causing Olivia to sigh. "Let me guess, she's still mad about us being an us."
"It started before that actually."
"Really?" Damon turned to her with a confused smile.
Olivia rolled her eyes before replying. "During the founder's event, she began going on a rant about how you weren't good for Elena and that you could never change."
"What? You got jealous?" He interjected with a smirk.
"No, I got annoyed. She was talking about you like you were a crazy murderer and Stefan like he was a saint when he's done things that are equally as bad." She confessed to him. "And so have I." She then added, her voice quieter but she shrugged off the lingering sadness absent from her voice, only to be slightly taken back when Damon lightly grabbed her arm and pulled her in front of him to a stop.
"Hey, look at me," he told her softly yet firmly. "You're not a bad person."
"Let's not do this Damon," she shook her head back at him. "This make-believe thing. I'm not a good person, I know that." She nodded back, the words effortless and carelessly spoken despite being completely genuine. "And I'm not good enough for you, I know that too."
"Wait, is that seriously what you think?" Damon cut her off abruptly, sparking momentarily surprise in Liv. She was unsure why he was getting so worked up about something she perceived to be common knowledge. "That you're not good enough for me?" He repeated, his words tinged with disbelief. He was so used to believing he was the one not good enough, the one that needed to change. That's how he felt with Elena and how he even felt now with Liv. He would've never expected her to feel the same way.
"You think it's the other way around." She stated in confused realisation. "Why?"
"Why? Have you met me?" He resorted. "I'm so used to feeling that way with Elena and everyone else. I even used to think my own brother was too good for me."
Olivia surprised the Salvatore by letting out a laugh at his words. "You've made mistakes, sure but so has Stefan and arguably Elena has as well. They may not see it, but it's obvious. You sacrificed so much, you let your own brother live on happily with the girl you were in love with because you saw that they were both happy and you thought you weren't good enough for her. For me?" She asked back. "Damon you are more than I deserve. How can you not see that?"
Damon couldn't help but be mildly irritated by her final words. "How can you say that? Liv, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"No, I'm the thing that's going to ruin you." She denied, shaking her head and taking a single step away from him. "You deserve someone who can commit to you fully instead of running and lying and keeping secrets and hurting you over and over again." She explained.
"Damon, I'm not the type of girl that you can take out to a movie and dinner, or go for a walk along the beach with. I'm not the type of girl to confess my feelings or tell you the truth about where my head is out, no matter how much it kills you not knowing. I'm not the person to look at the long term or the future or to even understand my feelings. I'm not the right person for you and I can't help that. You need a girl who can give you everything; someone like Elena... not me." She finished, finding herself pouring out every innermost thought to him over the course of several seconds, unable to control herself from telling him everything she felt she needed to.
"That is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard you say," Damon announced, momentarily dumbfounded by her words. Did she really think he'd be better off with Elena than with her? "Screw those other girls. I choose you, I want you, and I know I'll be happy with you." He told her, re-taking the step she previously took away from him and grabbing her hands. "I am happy with you. I don't want Elena, whether or not she was with Stefan I couldn't care less. I'd choose you every time."
"Damon ⏤" Olivia began to pull away as she spoke but he didn't let her finish and he didn't let her go either.
"No, Liv, you may not be the conventional everyday perfect human girl but I don't want that girl. And I'm not that type of guy. I've killed people, I've hurt them, physically and emotionally, you're the only one who doesn't look at me like a monster... like I need to change."
"But that's the thing, Damon." She began, frustrated that he didn't understand. Why did he have to be so stubborn all the time? "This isn't the life you asked for. You just got to a good place, you were helping people, you fell in love, you were beginning to return to the person you were when you were still human. I don't want to ruin that for you."
"Olivia... you don't understand." Damon began once more. She may somehow seem to know everything about everything or be incredibly smart but sometimes she could be so oblivious to what was right in front of her. "You're not forcing me to change, you're not asking me to, you like me for who I am, but despite all that... you make me want to change; to be better. I want to be better for you." He finished and Olivia paused for a second, feeling the words consume her in a way she never thought was possible.
Still, being the person she was, she couldn't accept his words. She couldn't. Olivia shook her head as she spoke. "I don't deserve that from you." She began making him sigh. "I can't... I can't do the same. I'm not a good person, you need to understand that."
In response, Damon let go of one of her hands, placing it gently on her cheek. "We've both killed people, hurt them, ruined ourselves... you helped me when I was at my worst, let me help you." He told her softly. "You stopped me from killing Bill Forbes, saved Tyler time and time again, you saved Caroline when you barely even knew her. You've risked your life for us. For me." He went on. "Admit it or deny it, I just need you to listen to me when I say it." He paused, moving his other hand to her cheek as well, ensuring she'd meet his eyes and hear his next words clearly. "You are not a bad person."
Knowing Damon wouldn't let her leave without some form of acceptance she nodded her head reluctantly, letting him pull her in for a comforting hug and staying that way for what felt like forever before she finally, against her own will and despite her growing reluctance pulled away from him. "I should get home."
"Want me to come with you?" Damon asked, feeling a compelling need to be with her. He didn't want to leave her alone and selfishly, he didn't want to be without her. "Stefan will hardly miss me for the night."
Olivia smiled but shook her head. "I just need to be alone right now."
He nodded despite feeling vaguely annoyed. "Well, that's what I get for dating an introvert." He quipped making Olivia laugh. "I'll see you first thing in the morning," Damon then said, knowing he should probably get going, not because he wanted to but because he wanted her to go home and sleep peacefully for once.
"Your place or mine?" Olivia asked, a small smile present on her delicate full pink lips.
"Yours, I don't particularly want a repeat of this morning," Damon added, thinking back to the unfortunate dismal encounter with both Rebekah and Stefan. "Besides," he began, pulling her closer to him and wrapping his arms around her waist. "That way we can finally get some alone time and I can diverge you from all your current stresses."
Olivia hummed, leaning in teasingly towards him as his eyes focused on her lips. Olivia did the same, feeling the sexual tension grow between them; their bodies pressed against each other, a breath away from their lips connecting; but before they did, she pulled back, a smile tugging on the corners of her mouth as she took several paces away from him. "I'm not that easy Salvatore." She returned with a playful smile before turning around and continuing through the woods.
Damon groaned, rolling his eyes in amused irritation despite being unable to fight the smile spreading across his features. "One of the many things I love about you." He murmured to himself quietly, watching the girl longingly as she walked away.