Rare || The Vampire Diaries

Founder's Day Part One

I was drying off from my shower when Damon walks in. "Damon!"

"I have a negotiation for you." He ignores my exclamation. "And you have to do it while I'm naked?" I pull the towel tighter around my body. "I didn't even notice." He grabs the end of the towel and tugs gently. I give him a warning look. He wiggles his eyebrows jokingly at me. Fine. I let go of the towel and it falls on the floor. "How about that negotiation."

His eyes wander up and down my body. "Hello. Eyes up here Romeo." I wave a hand in his face. "Right. Negotiation. I want you to be my date to the Founder's Day Parade." He throws my towel back at me and I wrap it around myself. "First, why? Second, what about the Gilbert Invention? We'll die there." 

"First, because I don't have one. Second, Bonnie deactivated it. We won't die." He mirrors my statements. I raise a brow in shock. "Bonnie helped us? Why would she do that? She hates everything that we are."

"Don't know. Don't care. We're free vampires. Why not enjoy the day?" He asks. It's either this or what? Spend the day with Katherine? "Okay. What do I get out of this? You said it was a negotiation." 

"You get to spend the day with your favorite Salvatore." He replies after a beat of thinking. I raise an eyebrow at his obviousness. He'll just never understand. "Right. Well, if that's all." I smile and open the door to lead him out but Stefan's standing there. "Um, hi."

"Sorry, buddy. She's got a date." Damon says but Stefan doesn't seem to notice that he's being talked to. "Stefan?" 

He snaps out of his stare and walks away without saying anything. Damon winks at me and then follows Stefan out. Okay then. 

I jump out of my window after getting dressed and run far until I know they can't hear me. I retrieve my phone out of my back pocket and call the she-devil. "This better be good, you're interrupting my drink." Katherine says and I roll my eyes. She's only telling me that because she wants to intimidate me. "Did you keep any of our old clothes? Like from 1864?" I ask her. "Are you going to the Founder's Day Parade? How mundane of you." Her smirk radiates from the other end of the phone. "Did you or did you not?" I huff. "What's in it for me?"

"Okay, I'm not negotiating. I'm just asking for your help but obviously, you can't help me. I'll figure it out." Sometimes the petty revenge tactics are just so damn annoying. She kidnapped me yesterday but I'm not holding grudges even though I should be. "Fine. Meet me at my house." 

I don't thank her, just hang up. She doesn't deserve my thanks. 

When I get there, Isobel opens up the door with a grin. I ignore her and walk past her, bumping into her shoulder in the process. "Up here." Katherine says from the second floor. "Yeah, let me go upstairs so that you can push me out the window." I say sarcastically. She walks down the stairs with a green dress in her hands. The green dress I wore when I had my first kiss with Stefan. She did this on purpose, no doubt. The dress is thrown at me and I catch it. I stare at the cloth for a second. Those were simpler times.

"You can go now. Wouldn't want Stefan to miss you too much." Katherine smiles at me bitchily. Oh, I would love to wipe it off her face.

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I walk down the sidewalk with my heels in my hand. Believe it or not, I hate walking in heels. "Hey." Elena says from behind me. I turn around and choke my gasp back down. She looks just like Katherine. "Hi." 

We keep walking down the path and I stop in my tracks when I see Stefan and Damon. I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. They look exactly like they did in 1864. I don't think I can do this. Too much could happen tonight. I'm not ready for this kind of commitment. It's all too... familiar. 

Elena holds her arm out for me to hook onto and we walk up to them. They look at us with wide eyes, Stefan at me and Damon at Elena. Elena curtsies at them and tries to pull me along with her but I let her arm slide out of mine. My feet are taking steps to them without my permission and before I know it, I'm right in front of Stefan. Neither of us says a word.

"This is kind of awkward. Should I step away?" Damon interrupts. I turn to him and smile. "I'm sorry. Hi." I curtsy in front of Damon and fight myself not to look back toward Stefan. Damon grins and takes my hand. "Hi." 

We link arms and leave Stefan to himself. "So, Uncle John is Elena's dad." Damon says out of the blue. I raise a brow. "John Gilbert and Isobel? Ew." I shiver dramatically. Damon shrugs. "When are you planning on telling her?" I investigate. I don't know who should even tell her. If I tell her, she might slap me and tell me I'm lying. If Damon tells her, I assume the same. If Stefan tells her, she might never stop crying.

"I'm not telling her. That's not something I need to touch. Ask Stefan. Well, when you see him, words might escape your lips and you'll just stare." Damon means to be playful but I glare at him. "I didn't know that I was going to be wearing this, okay?"

"What's so important about that dress anyway?" He asks me with his face laced with uncertainty. I look away from him. "Fine." He gets serious again and starts walking away. "It was our first kiss, Damon. Why are you so upset? Something like that just doesn't go away. Every time the topic of Stefan and I comes up, you're all of a sudden so sensitive." 

He stops in his tracks and turns. I can't read the look on his face. Seems dangerous.