FRANCESCA. ( the vampire diaries)

Chapter Eleven

The next day, I was helping Bonnie and Elena hand out the flyers we had finished doing yesterday at the Grill. I don't know why I still stuck around when I would much rather stay home, but I kind of liked hanging out with the girls. The town square was filled with people talking to each other, and some children were even getting their faces painted for the festival. My hands were filled with flyers and I handed them out to the people who passed by.

I noticed Elena hadn't said a word since she had joined Bonnie and I, and I wondered what Stefan had told her to make her act like this. I was about to ask, but Bonnie beat me to it.

"He didn't call, huh?"

"Or text." Elena groaned as she handed a flyer. "Then I realized, we didn't even exchange that stuff. We never got to the texting part."

"That's an important milestone in any relationship," Bonnie told her.

"Isn't it?" Elena asked.

"Well," I started saying, "Stefan sometimes forgets important stuff. Don't take it out on him."

Elena sighed then turned to me. "I met your brother yesterday. Why didn't you tell us you had another one?"

I internally rolled my eyes. I wished to spend just one day without mentioning Damon. "Because I don't like him?"

"Why?" She asked.

I opened my mouth for a good answer but nothing came out. "Well...It's just family drama, y'know? The usual."

Elena nodded and looked at the ground. "Stefan seemed upset yesterday when I went to see him, he didn't even want to talk." Then she looked up at me. "He doesn't want to talk to me anymore, does he?"

I furrowed my brows. "What? No! Stefan likes you." Oops, oh well.

Elena shrugged. "The timing was wrong anyway."

"When is it ever right?" Bonnie asked her.

"I'm not ready, Bonnie."

"Who is?" Bonnie whined.

"At least I put myself out there!" Elena defended herself, poorly if you asked me.

"Is that what you're calling it?" Bonnie tilted her head.

"What do you mean?"

"All I'm hearing is reasons why you can't. Even Francesca said it, Stefan likes you."

Elena nodded slowly and looked at me. I gave her a reassuring smile. The girls started walking, and so I began following them too. But then my eye caught Caroline from afar. She was smiling towards someone with a knowing smile on her face. I looked over and saw Damon, standing there like a total creep.

He seemed to have noticed me staring and smirked. I only glared at him in return and when I noticed Caroline walking towards him, my eyes widened and I approached her quickly.

"Hey, hey. Caroline!" I called out, quickening my pace to catch up with her.

Caroline turned with a curious expression, not expecting to see me. "What's up?"

"Don't go over there," I said, reaching out to gently grab her arm. "The guy you're heading towards--he looks like a creep if you ask me."

Caroline frowned slightly, glancing over at Damon who was now glaring at me, having overheard what I said about him. "I don't know, Franny. He looks pretty harmless from here."

"Trust me," I insisted, my voice urgent. "He might seem charming, but he's not. Just stay away."

Caroline shook her head, clearly not convinced. Why was she so damn stubborn?  "I appreciate the concern, but I'm just going to say hi."

Before I could say anything else, Caroline pulled her arm free and started walking towards him. I watched in frustration as she moved away from me.

"Stay the hell away from her," I said under my breath so only Damon could hear. My brother didn't say anything, but only smirked. I knew he heard me, he just didn't care. "I will snap your neck again if you don't." His smirk disappeared.

Just as Caroline was about to reach the spot where Damon had been standing, she stopped abruptly, her face falling into an expression of confusion and irritation. "Wait, where did he go?"

I quickly scanned the area and saw that he had vanished, leaving no trace behind. I chuckled. He was scared to get his neck snapped again.

"Great, thanks a lot," Caroline muttered under her breath, turning back to me in annoyance. "He disappeared before I could even say anything."

I nodded, relieved that she was safe and hadn't had a chance to get caught up in whatever Damon had planned to do with her. "Let's get back to the others before they start wondering where we are."

As we walked away, I couldn't help but glance back, half-expecting to see him reappear. But for now, at least, he was gone, leaving us to get back to our evening without further interruptions.