His name is Damon.

The Parade

Wow, corsets are really tight. We were getting dressed for the parade. Elena had on a puffy green dress, along with a green hat to match. Her hair was in dark curls. Bonnie was sporting a pink dress and bonet. Caroline was wearing a poufy (of course they were all poufy) white dress with lace in the details. I looked really good, I must say. I had a small hat-thing pinned near my left side of my head. Matt, Damon, and Stefan were dressing in old uniforms. (Yes, well look who showed up who Caroline couldn't trust to help). They were going to be walking in front of the float while we ride on it. Us girls headed for the float, where we met up with the guys. I smiled as Elena and Stefan cooed at each other's good looks. Still smiling, I glanced around and caught Damon's eye. My breath fell short. His jaw was slightly open and his eye brows were a bit furrowed. I quickly looked away, hot and bothered, and definitely blushing.

             "Wow," Bonnie whispered. "Did you see that look? He thinks you look beautiful."

 "No he doesn't," I denied.

  "Yes he does. Look at him. You make him feel uncomfortable because he's bad and you're good.

I stole a look at Damon. He tugged at his outfit collar to give himself airflow. He did look uncomfortable...and handsome. As I looked away I caught Matt's eyes. He looked hurt at the way I stared at Damon. I felt bad and walked onto the float stairs. Lots of people stood along the street, cheering and hollering. The men had buckets of candy to hand out to kids. I felt so wonderful. Dad couldn't be here to see me but me and the girls are taking plenty of pictures to post on Facebook and Instagram and to send to mom and dad.  I want to get a picture with Matt or Damon. Damon, because he's drop dead gorgeous, and Matt...partially because I want to show him off (we both looked good in our outfits).

The float started up when it was our turn to start going. We smiled and waved and I kept watching Damon and Matt on the street. I was really surprised Damon is doing this. From what everyone else says, he's the biggest pain in the ass. At that moment, he looked up at me, saw me smiling, and grinned. I looked away, getting butterflies in my stomach.

We hit the end of our destination. The boys joined us on the float as the driver drove back to the shed to park the float. Matt smiled as we all laughed and joked. Some part of me thought he was faking or forcing it. I announced, "I want tons of pictures this week! So here," I gave my iPhone to Matt. "Take some of us." Me and the girls got together doing some serious poses and some goofy ones. "Ok I want one with all the guys." Bonnie took my phone from Matt and I stood in between Matt and Damon. Damon slung his arm around my shoulder and the other on his brother. I saw Matt's subtle disgusted face out of the corner of my eye.

We reached the shed and filed into the dressing rooms. Us girls had to help each other out of the dresses and corsets. I felt like I could breathe again! My torso has been released! "We should all grab lunch at the grill," I suggested.

"The boys too?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah!" I paused. "Even though it'll be awkward with Matt and Damon..."

"Why invite Damon anyway? Isn't he too 'cool' for us?" She mocked him by putting air quotes around 'cool'.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "You know he did show up to help today."

The girls exchanged looks before Elena non-chalantly added, "It's Damon."

I frowned. "I told you guys I like him! He's funny and nice."

"Nice?!" Caroline shouted. "Damon's not nice! Are you crazy?!"

"Seriously?!" I bellowed back. "Would you guys stop?! I like him!"

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. I grimaced at her. Caroline spoke calmly and softly, "Ok, fine. I'll try to understand what you see in him."

"Forget it. Let's just not even go to the grill or do anything," I stated, angry.

"Hey, come on. Let's just see if they even want to go before we make a big deal out of this," Elena suggested.

We stepped out into the hall and my heart dropped. Damon was walking down the hall leaving. "Damon!" Elena called. He turned. "Do you want to go to the grill with all of us?"

I saw Damon's eyes dart to Matt's face. It was easy to see Matt didn't want Damon to join. Looking a little hurt, Damon cleared this throat, "I'll pass." He met my eyes. "But thanks for the invite." I stared on as he turned his back on us and walked down the hall.

We had fun at the grill! Matt lightened up a lot. I was loving life! I bid my goodbyes; I needed to go home and start on my baking for tomorrow. I was going to make my famous pumpkin gems with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, along with some chocolate chip cookies. But first when I got home I posted pictures online and sent them to mom. I instantly got likes and comments with questions like 'where's that?', 'who are them cuties?', and 'what are you dressed up for?' I was satisfied.