Damon Salvatore: I will always choose you.

True Lies

Although I kept staring at Damon my mind wandered off elsewhere. Images of when we first met at the Boarding House flashed across my mind followed by the Miss Mystic Falls dance then our first kiss. Our last kiss... All these bitter sweet moments were soon replaced with what I had spectated whilst being on the other side. Elena kissing him in front of the fireplace, them dancing at the Mikaelson ball - them just being happy together. Elena and Damon.

It was too much.

My eyes began to tear up.

No.

I would not cry. Especially not in front of Damon.

I sucked in a deep breath and managed to calm my emotions, the tears not having a chance to escape. With all the will power I could muster I diverted my eyes from Damon and towards James who was still staring at me with concern.

When we made eye contact he moved his focus to where I had been staring. He tensed. I didn't dare look at their exchange. He turned back to me a moment later.

"Come on. We should head back inside." I said impassively, grabbing James's hand tighter and pulling him in the opposite direction - away from Damon.

I practically marched back to the door to my room with James struggling to keep up with my fast strides which were powered by anger and frustration.

I think James knew who we saw our on the courtyard because once we stopped he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I honestly felt like I could tell James anything... just not this. Hell, I don't think even I knew how to describe everything involving Damon. Even after all this time.

"Nope." I told him quickly, hoping he'd drop it.

Thankfully - after giving me one last concerned glance - he did.

"So... party tonight? It's a bonfire really."

"Sounds good." I managed to muster up with some enthusiasm.

"Great." He smiled, the action almost making me forget everything that had just happened. "I'll pick you up here at 7:30?"

"Okay." I nodded. "See you then."

"See ya Lil." He winked and kissed the top of my hand before sauntering off down the hallway.

I quickly entered my room once James was out of sight and locked the door behind me, giving myself a few minutes to compose myself as I tried to remain calm by taking lots of deep breaths.

Once I felt as if my heart rate had steadied to an almost normal pace I checked my phone for the time. 4:30pm. I had three hours, which meant I had plenty of time to scurry off to Caroline's room to tell her all about my afternoon.

I sent her a message asking if Elena was there/coming back any time soon, which I had been doing since we got back from Europe, and received a reply almost instantly saying I was fine to come over.

Without a second thought I hurriedly exited my room and made my way back outside to the courtyard, scanning my surroundings just in case I saw Damon again - I didn't thank God. I was almost at the other block of dorms when a tall figure intercepted my path.

I knew instantly that it wasn't Damon. However, my interest piqued when I lifted my head and saw the infamous quiff of brown hero hair and the chiseled face of my best friend.

"Stefan?" I asked, stunned.

"Hello, Lily." He replied cooly and gave me a small smile.

How was he so chill? He's literally been MIA all summer and now he suddenly decides to show up out off the blue and act as if nothing happened.