Love Thy Neighbour (a Vampire Diaries fanfiction)

Chapter 11

A week after, I was back to my anti-socialising self, married to my laptop, and the only drama allowed in my life was the one that involved Shakespeare. It was a month until finals and I had to step up my a-game. When I wasn't in class or working at the library, I was either hidden behind walls of books at the university's study room, or locked in my room with the curtains drawn so that a particular balcony neighbour wouldn't interrupt me.

It was all going well, I had my mind set, I had blacked out everything except my notes, and Enzo had even volunteered to spend as little time as possible at home, so as not to get in my way. He knew what I was like when I was stressed, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

Today, however, was a different story. My concentration decided that it wanted an off-day, and chose today for its holiday. Try as I might, I just couldn't concentrate, and the more I tried, the more the peeling paint on my wall became interesting. Finally admitting defeat, I opened the curtains to let in a bit of sunshine and fresh air. It was now mid-May, meaning that most days were now sunny and bright, practically begging you to just forget everything and go outside. Just forty more days, and I will be free, I thought.

Playing with my pen, I was aimlessly staring into nothingness, lost in my own thoughts, when something caught my eye. Someone was enjoying the bright, May sun, alright. As it were, Kol had been testing out his pool, and seeing that beautiful turquoise colour made me wish even more that summer would just arrive already. There he was, glistening in the sun, soaking wet as he grabbed a towel lying next to the pool, roughly drying his hair before finally patting himself dry and throwing it around his shoulders. He made his way to the deckchair, where a drink was waiting for him, beckoning him to just relax and soak up the sun.

I was brought back to reality when my mobile phone suddenly vibrated, signalling that I had a text message. Shaking my head back to consciousness, I opened it:

Hot, isn't he?

Knotting my eyebrows in confusion and heart racing, I looked around, almost expecting to find a hidden camera somewhere in my room. Of course, there was none. There was, however, an annoying neighbour in my midst.

I looked out again, and saw Damon, who was sitting down in the balcony, casually resting his legs on the railings. He waved at me, wiggling his fingers, with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

Not wanting to yell, I glared at him as I grabbed my phone to text back:

Don't you have anything better to do?

I watched him as he looked at his phone, chuckling to himself. I waited for the reply as I saw him tapping away.

Bleep. Stop stalking our neighbours, Maya. That's not neighbourly and, might I say, creepy. O.O

I raised my eyebrows at him, wanting nothing more than to wipe that cute-but-oh-so-annoying-at-times smirk off his face. Not wanting to waste more credit, I simply shrugged him off, closing back the curtain, determined to start something.

Unfortunately, all I managed to get through was "Two households, both alike in dignity" before my mind started to wander again. Looking back at the direction where Kol would be, I couldn't help but think about what Caroline had told me earlier. She had said that when she was out with friends last weekend, Kol was there, and he had hit on at least three girls, according to her. Maybe that's why I couldn't concentrate.

Maybe Kai was right. Maybe Kol couldn't be trusted. After what had happened at the café, and what Kai had told me, I had been avoiding him. Why, exactly, I didn't know. My subconscious hadn't cleared that up yet. I liked him; that was pretty obvious. Kai obviously saw something that I didn't... right? Did I like him enough to feel jealous that he was flirting with other girls? Why was I avoiding him? Did it annoy me? Did I want to see how I really feel? What was I so confused about anyway? He could do whatever he wanted, it's not like he was mine...