3. An Uninvited Nuisance
Since Elena and her friends got me curious about the mysterious guy I was destined to keep away from, I pestered her about him the moment we stepped through the door. Elena immediately tried to brush off the topic by either pretending to ignore me or switch to other topics; I was getting flustered by her evasiveness.
When dinnertime inched closer, Elena called on my help to make dinner. In truth, when at my grandparents’ house, I never cooked. She let me take charge of cutting the lettuce and whatnot for the salads. At least she gave me an easy task.
“You know, if you wanted Stefan for dinner, there’s always the option of going out,” I suggested as I was cutting the lettuce on a cutting board. “You don’t need Jeremy and me to hang around. I mean, I don’t want to leave the house so you two can have your dinner date. I still don’t know Mystic Falls well enough. Then again, I’ve only been here a day.”
“True,” Elena mused. She was washing the small tomatoes in her hand. “But I figured it could be a chance for you two to get to know each other a little better. You really didn’t bond earlier at lunch.”
“Hey, I’m not outgoing around strangers, even if you know them,” I retorted lightly. I jumped, nearly slicing myself with the knife I was handling. That was the last thing I needed, to harm myself on accident. “Besides, I was eating, and then I got distracted by the pool table.”
“Speaking of that…that guy seemed odd to me.”
“Did you see him before he came over?”
“Yeah. I thought Caroline knew him maybe, but I could tell she didn’t.”
“She got protective,” I explained. “She went all guard-dog on him.”
“Well, Caroline is getting better at detecting shifty people.”
“Is Trevor the one I should be looking out for?”
“He’s not, but he’s one to take into consideration for that. He may seem friendly, but something about him—I don’t know. I’m with Caroline, I don’t like him.”
“You and Caroline think alike,” I snorted, shoving the lettuce into a huge bowl, starting on the next few leaves. “I’ll admit he seemed a little too friendly. And he scared the hell out of me, appearing out of nowhere!”
“Guys tend to do that sometimes.”
“Is that how you and Stefan met? He snuck up on you at the Grill, commenting on your aiming skills?” I snickered.
“Ha ha, funny,” Elena snapped evenly. “But no. I noticed him first. I don’t remember exactly how we got talking and ended up together. It’s been a while.”
“How long is ‘a while’, exactly? Ouch!” I hissed. I hadn’t focused on what I was slicing and slit my palm. I dropped the knife, instantly grabbing my sliced hand.
“Faith!” Elena cried. Panicking, Elena grabbed a washcloth and wrapped it around my hand. In her eyes, I could tell she was uncomfortable. I never remembered Elena being queasy around blood. Then again, we hadn’t really been around each other long enough for me to really know that.
“Are you okay?” I asked her carefully.
“Mhm.” Elena inhaled deeply. “Sorry, the smell of blood makes me want to gag sometimes.” She pulled her hands away from mine. “I think you better get that washed upstairs. If you can’t find anything to wrap that with keep the cloth on it, okay?”
Still a little freaked out by Elena’s immediate reaction, I stomped up to the bathroom. Jeremy poked his head out into the hallway.
“What was that down there?” he asked. I showed him my wrapped hand. “Oh, cut yourself did you?”
“Yeah. I can’t be trusted with cutting lettuce.” I sighed. “Elena might still need some help. I’d go back down there myself, but I don’t think she’d want me down there until this is taken care of.”
I sauntered into the bathroom, digging to find some gauze if at all possible. All I found were large bandages, but they weren’t big enough to cover my cut. I pursed my lips, digging further with one hand. There’s got to be something to sanitize this, I thought determinedly.
I heard the door open downstairs. Stefan was already here. And here I was, trying to find something for my cut hand. This was going to be a fun dinner—ha ha, definitely not. I stomped my foot in defeat when I couldn’t find anything. It looked like I was going to have to stick with the cloth. I made sure it was snug on my hand before I went downstairs. I looked down at my wrapped hand.
“You need to find bigger bandages, Elena,” I called as I strolled into the kitchen. “None of them can cover—”
I stopped dead in my tracks. There were three pairs of eyes on me, but Jeremy’s wasn’t one of them. I was only expecting Stefan to be joining us, not someone else along with him. Elena looked uneasy since the stranger kept staring at me.
It was hard to not stare back at him; his blue-gray eyes were big and hard to look away from. It was like Trevor all over again, only my heart wasn’t freaking out like before. I mean, it was, but it was definitely from nerves.
“I-I didn’t know you invited someone else too, Elena,” I stammered, backing up a step.
“Faith?” I heard Jer call behind me. He stopped right behind me. He put a hand on my shoulder. I grabbed my wrapped hand. I really wanted to duck back into Elena’s room.
“I didn’t,” Elena admitted. “He just decided to show himself in.” Her eyes narrowed on the stranger.
“Well, do you know him?” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“He’s my brother,” Stefan said flatly.
But they both looked so different from each other. Where Stefan had the brown hair, his brother’s was either a really dark brown or black. It was mussed, not shaped like Trevor’s was. He looked like more of a badass than Trevor did, all dressed in black with a leather jacket to top it off.
“I didn’t even know you had one,” I confessed.
“That’s because they wanted to find the right time to introduce me to you,” Stefan’s brother said, smirking at me. I took another step back. “Relax, I won’t bite you. I’m harmless.”
“So he says,” Jeremy muttered.
“What is with everyone and saying that they won’t bite?” I moaned. “Is that a popular catch phrase here or something? And by the way”—I looked at Stefan’s brother—“who the hell are you to barge in like this? The last time I checked, people were nice enough to let others know when they’re coming. But I guess just waltzing into people’s houses is normal for you.”
I had no idea where that shot of boldness came from; I think my annoyance beat out my shyness around Stefan’s brother.
“She’s spunky.”
“Damon, back off,” Jeremy snarled. “You’re making her uncomfortable.”
“If you don’t mind, Elena, I think I’ll just sit out on the porch and eat,” I said gently.
“I’ll get you a plate,” Elena told me. “Do you want me to join you?”
“Oh, no, you don’t have to. I’ll be fine.” My voice cracked. “Don’t let me spoil the evening—though of course, it’s already been spoiled.”
Jeremy didn’t leave my side. Damon didn’t stop glaring at me. It was a very awkward silence in the Gilbert household. Day two and I met so many people: Trevor, Caroline, Tyler, Bonnie, Stefan, and now Damon. Who else was I going to meet?
I was more than happy to scurry out to the porch to eat my food, leaving the tension in the house. It was obvious Damon wasn’t welcome in the home. Was this the person Elena wanted to keep me away from? I mean, yeah sure, he seemed like a cocky person…but at the same time, he fascinated me. There was something about him that made me interested in him.
I ate my food slowly outside in the warm August weather. I would’ve thought Jeremy would come out to make sure I was okay and not all by myself, but he never did.
“Oh, you’re still here,” a voice said. I yipped and jumped, nearly tumbling over the porch railing. The paper plate and utensils I used fell to the wooden floor. I put a hand over my heart, Damon scared me to death.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” I spat, bending down to pick up my things.
“I thought you were using eating out here as an excuse to run off.”
“That’s the stupidest theory I’ve ever heard.”
“Funny, I thought you were one of those quiet types.” Damon leaned against the doorframe, watching me intently. “I guess I was wrong.”
“And you’re one of those annoying types. I guess I was right.”
“What happened to your hand?”
“You’re not curious about that,” I growled. “But, if you really want to know, I sliced my hand open by accident.”
“So you wrapped a cloth around it?”
“There were no bandages big enough. It’s not a deep cut, but it’s long.”
Damon’s gaze left me to look out around the house. I looked over my shoulder, trying to see what he was seeing. “What?”
“Nothing,” he said distantly, but his brows came together. Did he see something I didn’t? Was someone lurking near the house, ready to do a home invasion? “I must be hearing things.”
“Why are you out here anyway? You couldn’t have just come out here to make sure I was okay. I don’t see you as the type of person who seems to care for anyone.”
“Ouch. You can be a bitch at times, can’t you?”
My mouth dropped, but I quickly picked it back up. “How dare—” I gritted my teeth. My body quaked.
I didn’t know why I did it, but I did. I carefully set out the utensils and paper plate, balancing it on the porch railing, my eyes daggers towards Damon. I slapped him hard across the face. It wasn’t a smart idea to smack him with my wrapped hand, but I did it without really thinking it through. Damon was taken aback by my retaliation, he rubbed his cheek.
“You’ve got a hell of a slap,” he admitted, testing his jaw. I didn’t expect myself to have such power that I’d hurt his jaw. Still, the idea of me actually causing damage to him seemed nice.
“Don’t piss me off,” I snarled. “You don’t know a thing about me.” Holding my head up high, I grabbed my things, knocking into Damon on my way inside.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Elena asked when I stomped into the kitchen. I tossed my things away. Was my face that emotional that I wore what I felt?
“Nothing,” I said thickly. “Sorry, Elena, but I think I’ll go upstairs. I’m not feeling great. Sorry, Jer, Stefan.”
Without even stealing a glance at the open doorway, I hiked upstairs to Elena’s bedroom, gently shutting the door behind me. I pulled the blinds on the window instantly. This dinner turned out swell. First, Stefan’s brother crashed the occasion, then he got on my bad side so I slapped him. God, he knew how to get a woman pissed off.
How could Stefan handle Damon? He was definitely a handful, having no respect for anyone. Well, I was assuming that. For all I knew, he could respect some people. He didn’t seem to respect those in the Gilbert household.
I confined myself to Elena’s bedroom, long after Stefan and Damon left. Once I knew they were definitely gone, I’d reappear. I didn’t want to be in the same room as Damon.
It took a while, but I waited a few hours to make sure Stefan and Damon were gone. Once I deemed it to be safe, I tiptoed out of Elena’s bedroom and downstairs. I peeked into the kitchen to find Elena drumming her fingers against the counter, looking rather bored.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Elena mumbled, watching her drumming fingers. Damn. I didn’t think I’d stomped down the hall.
“What makes you think something happened?” I retorted.
“Faith, you wear your emotions on your face. You need to learn how to have a poker face.” She sighed. Her brown eyes looked at me. “Did Damon upset you?”
“Elena, I don’t really want to discuss him.”
“Why not?”
“I’ll go on a verbal rampage,” I mumbled under my breath.
“By all means, rant. Jeremy’s up in his room, so it’s just us.”
“I don’t get how Stefan deals with him!” I paced into the kitchen. “He’s so ignorant and cocky, he’s just—ugh! It makes me wonder how you can deal with him since you’re dating his brother! He thinks he’s all badass because of the way he dresses. He makes me feel uncomfortable—and his snarky remarks make me want to backhand him!”
“But you already hit him.” I stopped pacing, startled by Elena’s claim. “I saw him testing his jaw a few times. How hard did you hit him?”
“I guess hard. I didn’t think I got him that bad. I used my wrapped hand—I know it was stupid. I didn’t think it through.”
“Does it hurt still, your hand?”
“Not really.” Consciously, I rubbed it. “Elena, was Damon the person you didn’t want me to meet?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Well…” Elena walked away from the counter to me. “He’s unpredictable for one thing, and a womanizer. I don’t want you to be a victim of his. And yes, he’s got an attitude and he doesn’t have much respect for a lot people.”
“Is it his goal in life to piss everybody off?” I asked her seriously.
“No, but it does seem like that, doesn’t it?” She laughed. Her face became serious. “In all seriousness though, keep away from him, okay?”
“I plan to. If I ever come across him again, I’ll make sure I wear a boxing glove or something.”
“You really don’t like him, do you?”
“No. I’ve met him for only a day and he pissed me off.”
“How about you go relax in your room? You know, settle down a bit. If you keep going, you’ll want to rant all night, and then you’ll be wiped out in the morning.”
Considering Elena’s advice, I slunk up to the bedroom, shut the door, and then plopped on the door, glaring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to take me.
***
“Elena?” I called. The house was completely empty. Nothing made a sound. “Jeremy? Where are you guys?” Slowly, I moved up a few steps, hoping to see Jeremy or Elena at the top. Neither of them were up there.
“They’re not here,” a voice said casually. I turned around, falling harshly on the steps. My ass was going to feel sore after that. My mood dropped. What the hell was he doing here?
“What do you want now, Damon?” I snarled, rubbing my back which also collided with the stairs.
“I want nothing.” He shut the door behind him. Wait, when had that even been open? “I’m here because you want me here.”
“Ha, I don’t think so.” Using the railing, I got myself on my feet again. “What did you do with them?”
“What makes you think I did anything to them? Do you honestly think I’d kidnap them or even murder them?”
“You could. Elena said you were unpredictable.” My voice was losing its stronghold. I was now trapped with the fact that Damon was possibly a murderer, and that he was the reason Jeremy and Elena were gone.
“I didn’t hurt anybody. Nobody is here except for me because you want me here.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
“It’s true.”
“Oh yeah?” said a new voice. Damon and I both looked to the top of the stairs to find Trevor standing there. Okay, how the hell did he get here? “If that’s true, then how come I’m here?”
“Hmm, why indeed.”
I looked back at Damon, then at Trevor. I was puzzled. Why were they here? I hated Damon for so many reasons, and I wasn’t really that fond of Trevor either. So why were they here? I knew this was just a dream, but I felt it slowly becoming a nightmare.
“We’re on your mind,” Trevor crooned, clomping down the stairs.
“No, you’re not,” I retorted.
“Then how come we’re here?”
“Ugh, both of you get out!” I smacked the railing irritably.
“She’s in denial.” The hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end. Trevor was right behind me. “She won’t admit she’s into us.”
“Ugh, I think I’m going to barf,” I spat.
“Make as many snide comments as you want,” Damon chuckled. I shot him a look. “It won’t help you keep yourself in denial forever.”
“I am not in denial!” I roared.
I got the feeling this would never end—Trevor and Damon, harassing me from both sides, getting me to accept something that wasn’t even true.
***
Damn those boys. Damn them both to hell. I sat up sluggishly in bed, rubbing my blue-green eyes. I could tell it was the middle of the night, no light shone past the blinds on the window. I yawned, feeling irritable. Why were they in my dreams? Why were they trying to make me admit something that wasn’t even true? Ugh, the two boys I don’t like end up in my dreams. Lovely, I thought bitterly.
Now feeling really drowsy and groggy, I slipped back under the sheets, trying to erase the dream, Trevor, and Damon from my mind. I was going to make sure neither of them starred in any other dreams I had tonight.