Chapter 13
I didn’t see him again until the weekend. Bonnie and Amelia pretty much had me on lockdown. I was being forced to study Latin every minute I had alone. I still went to school every day but still, Bonnie kidnapped me helped me with spells in the art rooms which meant I hadn’t really had a chance to talk to anyone but her and Caroline all week.
“So what did you do for fun on the weekends back where you come from?” Caroline asked me with a smile.
We were sitting in the grill sipping soft drinks. Bonnie was there with me although she barely spoke to Elena. Actually the only person who spoke to Elena was Caroline.
I shrugged and smiled. “I don’t know we went to basketball games, parties, normal stuff like that I guess.”
Elena shot me a look. “Do you assume that what do we here isn’t normal?”
I rolled my eyes. I’d grown comfortable enough around Bonnie and Caroline and Mystic Falls that I was starting to function like I used to. “I didn’t say that, did I? What I meant was what I did back home probably wasn’t much different to here.”
I’d learnt how to sense vampires and other supernatural beings and I’d learnt that Elena was never usually this catty, possessive and jealous but since her transformation into a vampire that side had come out in her. Apparently she has to be around a vampire at all times, just in case she decided she was…hungry.
“So assuming you do actually do the normal things that I did back home, is there anything happening this weekend?” I asked them. “I need to get out the house and do something other than Latin and making feathers float.”
Bonnie looked at me with a warm smile. “I know how you feel; I’ve been with you the whole time.”
I laughed and tapped my fingers on the table before throwing my head back to stare at the ceiling. I kept my eyes closed. I could feel the heat radiating from the light bulb above my head and I liked the feeling. Caroline, Elena and Bonnie were arguing about a party that was going on and how Elena couldn’t go when I felt the heat disappear.
I opened one eye to see Damon grinned down at me.
“Hey Annie, I’ve missed you. What’s been going on?” He asked me with a cheerful grin.
I shrugged as best I could while laying back, staring up at him. “Well Amelia calls it training, I call it detention?”
He frowned slightly. “How so?”
I grinned. “She’s keeping me away from the real fun.”
He chuckled and pulled a chair from the table behind us and sat on it beside me. I was trying my best to completely ignore the other three but then again they were making it pretty easy. I could tell Caroline had given up on keeping me away from him and Elena was awfully jealous at whatever Damon and I had going on. But Bonnie, she didn’t mention it.
“So I heard a rumor that she promised she’d give you freedom when you needed it.” He whispered.
I nodded once and crossed one leg over the other. “You heard right.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I also heard that you’ve pretty much mastered basic witchery.”
“Also true.” I told him. “What’s it to you?”
He laughed and shrugged. “Just curious, next thing you need to learn is how to sense when evil is close though because a lot of the time I watched in on your little sessions. You never noticed.”
I smiled and sighed. “So I’m not really that great at it yet.”
He waved me away. “It doesn’t matter, give it a few weeks and I reckon you’ll be an exceptional, bad ass witch…right Bonnie?”
Bonnie looked up at Damon and nodded. “Yeah, it’s true.”
I smiled at Bonnie.
Elena cleared her throat. “Bonnie, will you stay at mine tomorrow night?”
Bonnie gave her a look but nodded anyway. “Who else will be there?”
“Elijah.” Elena replied simply. “As much as we get along I’d feel better if you were around too.”
Bonnie looked to Damon. “Where’s Stefan then?”
Damon chuckled and shrugged. “At home, drinking or something…beats me.”
“Stefan doesn’t always have to be the one to babysit me Bonnie.” Elena told her. “It’s not his job to protect me anymore. And Caroline wants to take Annika out so…”
I looked at Caroline and grinned. “Really, what are we going to do?”
She bit her lip and smiled excitedly. “I don’t know yet, something fun though.”
Damon looked in between Caroline and I. “Oh fun, I’m in.”
I laughed and turned to Damon. “We might go and get our nails done.”
“Okay as great as that would be, that’s not what we’re going to be doing. And yes Damon, you can come.” She coughed and looked away for a moment. “Because Klaus will be coming too.”
Damon made a noise and gave me a look. “That sounds like a double date, are you sure you can handle that?”
I laughed and pushed him gently. “Bring it on, Salvatore.”
I noticed that Elena was glaring at Damon and me. I tried not to enjoy it but she looked so angry that I couldn’t help but smile.
Caroline jumped up, dragging Elena with her. “We’re leaving, I’ll see you tomorrow Nika.”
I smiled and waved goodbye before looking to Bonnie for a second. “What about you? You’re not going to drag me off home are you?”
She shook her head. “No but I’m your ride home so if you don’t leave with me now then you’ll have to walk.”
I liked Bonnie, to some point. We were pretty alike and I felt like I could talk to her about anything. We’d been through the same thing really. She had to grow up without her mother and her father was a lousy dad but she was really close to her grams…my grams. She said I would’ve liked her and I could tell she was still gutted about her passing.
I groaned and stood up, ruffling Damon’s hair. “Oh well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“No, I can drive you home if you’d like.” He offered with his eyebrows rose.
I bit my lip and turned to Bonnie. She just shrugged. I sighed. “I don’t want to be home too late though.”
He waved me away and grinned. “Don’t worry about it, it’s only seven o’ clock and it’s Friday night. She won’t mind and if she does I’ll talk to her.”
I laughed. “No I’m not worried about her, I need sleep. I’ve barely slept all week.”
Bonnie gently put a hand on my shoulder and I turned to look at her. “I’m going; I’ll probably see you tomorrow but if not definitely Sunday.”
“Okay, see you then.” I smiled and watched her leave.
Damon and I sat down again and I sighed. Jeremy started walking over to us and he smiled happily. He was wearing an apron and holding a notepad. He must’ve been working.
He stood in front of us. “Hey Annika, how’s everything?”
I shrugged and smiled. “Great actually, I’m exhausted but I’ll move on.”
He knew about my training. Bonnie and he were really close friends. Bonnie had gone into little detail and told me that they’d dated once and she’d broken it off but that was all. Apparently they were becoming close friends again even though Bonnie had a boyfriend; I still saw the way she looked at him.
“Well that’s good. You’re lucky to have Bonnie though, she’s been through a lot and she’s seen a lot. She’s great at what she does.” He promised me with a smile. He stilled loved her too. I made a mental note to get to know Jeremy better. “Can I get you guys anything?”
Damon butted in now. “Just because she’s the pretty girl doesn’t mean you get to ignore me Jeremy.”
Jeremy laughed and shrugged. “Sorry Damon but I actually care about how she’s doing.”
Damon smirked. “That hurts, Jer.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled at Jeremy. “Yes, just make me a sandwich or something please.”
He nodded. “Okay, I’ll be back in a bit.”
I watched him walk away and turned to Damon again. “I like him.”
“He likes you too.” He told me with a smile. “So have you not been sleeping because of the nightmares?”
I bit my lip and shrugged. “Well yeah, they’re just the same ones over and over though.”
He clicked his tongue and leant back on his chair. “Well if your mother weren’t a witch I could come into your room and make you dream of pretty things.”
I sighed. “That’d be nice. I’ve never had someone willing to make me dream of nice things. Too bad my mother’s a witch, hey?”
He laughed. “Maybe we can try and work around it if they get really bad.”
I watched him curiously and shook my head. “I don’t get it?”
He sipped at the drink I’d had before. “Don’t get what?”
“Why you act like such a dick to everyone.” I laughed.
He frowned slightly. “I don’t act like a dick to you, do I?”
I sighed. “That’s exactly my point, why don’t you let everyone else see how…good you are?”
He held up a finger. “Don’t. I had this conversation with Elena and I’m not doing it again, okay? Look, it’s just who I am. Remember when you told me you’d never question me?”
I laughed and stood up. “Okay, touchy subject…I get it. Come on, let’s go play pool or something.”
He let me drag him along and arched an eyebrow. “What about your sandwich.”
I pushed him towards the pool table and then left him and leant up against the counter. Matt was standing there taking orders and when he saw me he made his way over.
“What can I get you?” He asked with a small smile.
I shook my head. “Jer’s on it, can you pretty please tell him I’m at the pool table?”
He nodded and looked over at Damon. “Is he annoying you?”
I frowned. “No, why would you think that?”
He shrugged and sighed awkwardly. “I don’t know, Damon doesn’t really socialize with people…well more accurate people don’t socialize with him.”
“Why not, you should give him a chance.” I said with a little smile.
Jeremy walked out behind Matt and handed me a plate with a toasted sandwich that smelled like chicken. “You’re right; he’s not that bad Nika. He’s done a lot to help Elena and me but he’s also done a hell of a lot to screw us up too.”
I bit my lip and glanced at him before turning back to the boys. “Well I think he’s great. I need someone like him in my life now, you know?”
Matt shook his head. “No, not really but I’ll let it go.”
Jeremy looked up and chuckled. “Hey Matt, your original bitch of a girlfriend is here.”
Matt rolled his eyes and greeted Rebekah with a smile. “Hey Rebekah, how are you?”
She glared at Jeremy but ignored him pretty much.
I laughed and waved goodbye to the boys. “I’ll see you around.”
“You know, Annika, we could be great friends.” Rebekah said just as I was about to leave.
I turned slowly and frowned. “Are you serious?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t act so surprised. I see the way you flaunt around town, acting as though you own the place after a week. You’re quite fascinating. Nick thinks so too.” She peered past me to Damon. “So does he by the look of it. Don’t be fooled by him though, he’ll sleep with you and then take away your pride, leaving you hanging.”
I smiled sweetly at her and put my sandwich aside for a moment so that I could cross my arms over my chest. “See the difference between you and me is that you would lower yourself to sleep with a guy who clearly just wants to use you.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits and she handed me the plate. “I’ll remember that when you want to tear his insides out when he ditches you because he got what he wanted.”
“Aw, did you attempt to tie him to a chair and torture him?” I smirked. “That’s cute.”
She laughed bitterly and leant forward. “I hung him from the roof, actually.”
I smiled, turned around and walked back over to Damon. I pulled myself up to sit on the edge of the table right beside him. He looked up at me and grinned, shaking his head.
“You’ve got fight in you, it’s hot.” He told me before setting up a triangle of balls.
I shrugged and took a bite. “I’m just defensive.”
He nodded slowly. “I’ve noticed.”
I grinned and offered him a bite of my dinner and he took it, staring at me as he took his bite. “So is she like that to everyone?”
He stood up straight and crossed his arms. “Yep, pretty much.”
I jumped back off the table and dusted myself off. “So, are you up for a game?”
“Are you any good?” He asked me, arching an eyebrow.
I laughed and grabbed the stick off him. “Play me and you’ll find out.”
He grinned and removed the black triangle that kept the pool balls together and winked at me. “You can break then.”
So I did, I aimed and sunk at least three balls in one go. I held up my hand waiting for his praise.
“Not bad Bennett, I have to admit I didn’t believe you when you said you could play.” He said with his smoldering face.
I licked my lips and shrugged before going to line up to take my next shot. “My dad and I played, once every month.”
He came up behind me. He placed a gentle hand on each of my hips and pressed them against his, framing them a certain way. He put the pool stick in my hands and leant against me so that his lips pressed against my ear.
“Now shoot.” He whispered.
I grinned and made the shot, sinking another two in one go. “Well thank you.”
He chuckled and stepped away. “It was my pleasure, really.”
I handed him the stick and smiled. “You know it’s not going to happen.”
“What?” He challenged.
I bit my lip and leant against the table. “You know what. I don’t want to be like Rebekah. I’d like to think I’m not the naïve.”
He sighed and put a hand over mine. “You are not naïve. And don’t let Rebekah get under your skin. What happened with her was strictly business. Besides, I’d be way too scared to play you like that. You wouldn’t hesitate in torturing me far worse than she did.”
I grinned and stood up straighter. “Great, then we’re on the same page.”
His eyebrows danced and he looked me up and down with a sexy smile.
I hit his chest and pushed past him. “I think you should stop with the flirty little comments and that eye thing you do.”
He laughed and raised his arms. “What eye thing? I don’t have an eye thing. Do I have an eye thing?”
I just shook my head at him, laughing more. “You’re horrible.”
“You live for horrible.” He whispered huskily.
I smiled and took my shot.
He was right, at the moment I did.