The Bourbon Diaries ✢ The Vampire Diaries FanFiction ✢ TVD FanFic ✢ TVDU FanFic

Chapter Four - Damon Salvatore

Three and a half years ago

Charlottesville, VA

New Year's Eve, 10:05pm

"Caroline, I really don't care," Damon groaned, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. This was not how this evening was going to go. Caroline would not stand outside the car rambling on about the injustice of her failed car rental while he silently wished he was under the car's wheels instead of in the driver's seat.

"All I'm saying is that if I reserved it first, they should have held it for me instead of giving their final car away to some last-minute, bar-hopping city boy," she complained, shoving her cabin bag onto the rear seat.

Damon wrapped his arms over the steering wheel, laying his forehead upon it. He tried to tune her out, putting all his focus on waiting for the sound that would finally confirm she had entered the car. The sound came as a slam, her vampire strength causing the vehicle to shake. He turned and scowled at her, having a brief mental image of dragging her out of the car and sticking her in the trunk instead. Unfortunately those days were long gone.

"Let me tell you what I learned from this: never loan out your car while you're out of town," she stated. "The trip will always---always---be cut short."

"Got it," Damon confirmed absently, pulling away from the terminal.

Damon had it all planned out. Or at least as much planning as could be done by a desperate man in the seconds it took to reach the highway. He was going to give Caroline a generous five minutes of all-out complaining time before turning on the radio. Then he was---even more generously---prepared to increase the volume in increments in order to acclimatise her to his much-needed recovery time. However, when the moment came, this didn't go unnoticed and Caroline batted his hand away from the dial without even stopping for breath.

It was still a twenty-minute drive back to town, but it was going to feel a hell of a lot longer if he didn't divert her attention. Turning Caroline's grievances into confused protests, he reached across her, flipped over her fuchsia micro purse, spilling both everything and a pointless amount of hardly anything onto her lap. He grabbed her phone, dialled Elena's number, and passed it back to her. He was pretty sure he couldn't have done that more quickly if he were still a vampire. It was impressive how efficient being surrounded by talkative women had made him.

"Care, are you okay?" Elena's concerned voice immediately poured through the loudspeaker. "Is Damon there?"

"Oh, he's here. Physically---if not emotionally---present for me," Caroline confirmed dryly, side-eyeing Damon's smirk.

"How was the flight?" Elena continued.

Caroline straightened in her seat. "Flights---plural---and don't get me started!"

"Yes, honey, please don't get her started," Damon cut in, realising with regret that he was about to relive the entire experience.

"You wanted out of the conversation, Damon," Caroline reminded, "so stay out."

"Remember the good old days when I was fast enough to snap your neck?"

"Remember the good old days when I could snap yours without making my best friend a widow?" Caroline replied tightly.

Elena spoke softly on the other end of the line. "Do you two really want to spend New Year's Eve fighting?"

"Why not? My original plan was to spend New Year's Eve licking champagne from my wife's naked body---"

"Too much information, Damon!" Caroline declared.

"---Then someone I don't know---but now hate---called in sick at the hospital, forcing my dear, sweet, compassionate wife to cover. So a fight might be just what I need right now."