The Other One

Three

                   

It's only been twenty minutes and I can already feel an anxiety attack coming on. I've lost Matt somewhere in the crowd and he isn't answering his texts. I start to head to an empty room where I'm stopped by Tyler.

"Hey gorgeous. So, I can see you lost the golden boy." He smirks, his breath reeks of alcohol.

"Actually, I'm just looking for the bathroom, do you mind?" I'm trying to avoid any kind of confrontation.

"Sure, sweet thing, follow me." He grabs my hand and forces me to follow him through his house.

We end up in a room that is not the bathroom and I begin to get a little worried.

"Hey. This is not the bathroom." I say looking for an easier way out.

"Yeah, it isn't." He says moving closer towards me. I hear that damn crow again.

"Tyler, you're making me uncomfortable." I say putting distance between us.

"Maybe we should get to know each other then." He says backing me into a wall.

"No, I'm good, really. You're drunk." I try to reason with him.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." He says brushing my hair from my face.

"Tyler please." I shrink down as much as I can.

He goes to lean in but someone pulls him off me.

"What the hell man?" I hear Tyler say.

"She asked you to leave her alone." It's the strange man from the bar, holy shit. He's hot.

"C'mon man. You can't have everyone, just one night." Tyler tries to get his way.

I have moved to the side of the strange guy, as he was called.

"I suggest you leave." He says giving a threatening smile. Note to self, he is not one to mess with.

Tyler gives up, reluctantly, and leaves the room.

Now I'm left with the not-so-strange savior, and in a very awkward silence as he turns and gives me that look again.

"So, thanks, for that." I say not making eye contact.

"Anytime, Raegan." He smirks and exits the room, leaving me a little confused as to how he knew my name.

I find myself following him out of the room and into the party where I lose him.

I spend some time making my way to the kitchen where the drinks are and pretend to be a bartender mixing my own drink. After downing a few I make my way to the back yard attempting to find Matt.

After a few failed attempts, I feel the alcohol taking its effects, I decide to sit down on the lawn and look at the stars with the music and sounds of the party in the background.

I'm joined by the strange guy.

"Hey, Raegan, was it?" He says handing me a drink. I know I shouldn't take it but I'm already drunk.

"Yep, and you're hot." Shut the hell up Rae, you sound needy.

He smirks and raises his eyebrows a little.

"You're not too bad yourself." He takes a sip of whatever he's drinking. I can feel myself blush a little.

"So, I have a question?" He raises his brows again, as if giving me an 'okay' to speak.

"What's the deal with the Salvatore brothers, are they really bad news?" He chuckles a little, looking amused.

"Well, the younger one is not as hot as the older one, and they have this weird lifelong feud that varies in intensity. Oh, they also have this huge secret that not many people know about." He tries to explain, while sipping from his cup.

"Gotcha, I wonder what they look like?" My dumb, drunk self asks.

You can tell he is amused by this, if only I knew why.

"Well, the younger one has this weird hair, and he's, actually standing right over there." The strange man points out the younger one. I recognize him as Stefan, the guy dating Elena. So that's Matt's ex/best friend, got it.

"Then the older one, he has this dark hair, and all the girls swoon." He does this weird thing with his eyes.

I giggle, mainly because I'm intoxicated.

"Well here comes Matt, so that's my cue to exit. Watch yourself there Raegan." The guy gets up to leave.

"Hey what's your name?" The drunk courage inside me comes out.

"Damon Salvatore." He says with a smirk, disappearing into the crowd again.

I can feel my face pale slightly, but not out of fear, more of embarrassment.

I just told Damon Salvatore he was hot, that's his first impression of me. Way to go Rae.

As I mentally beat myself up over the encounter, I feel a hand touch my shoulder.

I'm a little worried it's Tyler again so I turn around slowly.

It's Matt.

"Hey, I've been looking for you." He gives me a small smile.

"Matttttt," I slur, "let's go party." I stand up, grab his hand, and head in to the house.

"Raegan, you seem a little drunk. Do you need to go home?" He yells over the music as we make our way to the crowd of people dancing.

"Oh, come on Donovan, let's live a little." I smile at him, a big cheesy smile. If I were sober, I would have jumped at the chance to leave, but it's too late for that now.

I begin dancing with Matt, in a completely non-sexual way, and we're dying laughing at how bad our dancing is.

Next thing I know another drink is in my hand, and I'm downing it.

As I'm dancing with Matt we get closer, and some...dirty dancing...kind of takes place, only because of the close quarters.

I look up and notice Damon watching me from the top of the stairs, a drink in his hand. That's not creepy.

I feel hands around my waist and see Damon's jaw tighten, then he takes another sip. Still, not creepy at all.

I take my focus off of the gorgeous, staring man and look behind me to see that cute kid with the nice smile from the Grill. I did not even realize I wasn't near Matt anymore.

"Woah, who are you, what are you doing? Where's Matt?" I try to ask, acting as sober as possible.

"Relax, we're just having fun. I'm Jeremy. Matt had to go talk to Caroline, he told me to keep an eye on you." He says in my ear. I know he's probably lying.

Since I'm drunk, I go with it. Nothing that bad can happen, we're in a huge crowded room. Plus, this Jeremy kid isn't bad looking, a little young, but not ugly. I cut my losses and decide to try and enjoy my time.

I look up once more and see that Damon is gone.