Save me from myself (Damon Salvatore)

Chapter 13: Second thoughts

         After finding out that nobody gave me a call while I was downstairs with Damon, I put my cell phone on the nightstand and snuggled under the blanket. Anyway, it was too late to call Jeremy. At least he already knew that I wasn't mad about what happened the night before.
         I closed my eyes and fell asleep with a dumb smile on my face while thinking about how kind and protective Damon has been ever since Jeremy confessed his feelings for me. I even felt kind of guilty for acting cold towards him after everything he did for me and decided to tell him how much I appreciated his carefulness.
         When I woke up in the morning, I got off the bed and walked near the window to admire the beautiful view as the sun gently warmed my face. I stood there for a while, thinking about everything and nothing when I finally decided to call Jeremy. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and dialed his number, but it went straight to voicemail. After leaving him a message, I went to the bathroom to take a shower, then changed into the clothes I wore the night before and walked around the house to find Damon and Stefan.
         The house had so many rooms that it was very easy for me to get lost in it. Damon and Stefan were nowhere to be found, but luckily I found a huge library with hundreds of books that could keep me entertained until one of them finds me. I was looking through some old writings when one of them kept my attention. It was a book about vampires and when I looked carefully I discovered that there were more of them on the same shelf. I took the first book and began to read it curiously. There was a lot of nonsense written in that book, but one fragment really made my burst into laughter:
 
         'Humans who have consumed vampire blood and died with it in their system will rise undead. In order to complete the transition, within the next 24 hours the person must consume an exceptional amount of human blood or else they will die. Vampires can only feed on human blood to complete the process.'
 
         "What's so funny?" Damon smirked while leaning against the doorframe.
         "Nothing, just a book about vampires." I shuddered to the sound of his voice, since I didn't hear footsteps on the hallway.
         He quickly walked towards me, took the book from my hand and asked with big blue eyes: "Where did you get this?"
         "It was between the other books." I murmured a little scared of his reaction.
         After seeing the look upon my face, he let go of the book and put a hand on my left shoulder as he replied with a soft voice: "Breakfast is ready. Let's go to the kitchen."
         Damon put the book back on its shelf, then headed to the kitchen and I followed him.
         "I hope you like cheese toast." he said as we sat at the table.
         "Cheese toast is fine." I murmured with a little smile.
         We sat there eating in silence while awkwardly avoiding each other's glance. I really felt like he was upset with me about searching through his house and reading his books.
         "I'm sorry for being so nosy. That wasn't my intention. I couldn't find you or Stefan, so reading a book seemed like a good idea at the time." I broke the silence.
         At the hearing of my apology, his piercing blue eyes stared into mine for a few seconds, then he replied with a smile: "Don't worry, I'm not upset. You can read as many books as you want."
         "Even the ones about vampires?" I sneered.
         "Sure, but why are you so interested in them? You don't believe in supernatural, do you?" he wanted to know.
         "Of course not!" I laughed a little. "I was just curious. My neighbor Kyle believes that a vampire killed that girl, Dianne Hastings." I explained.
         My answer really shocked him and he remained speechless. I guess he just didn't see it coming. He frowned and looked at Stefan who entered the kitchen and interrupted our conversation.
         "Good morning, Maddy! What plans do you have for today?" Stefan asked with a cheerful voice.
         "Good morning, Stefan. Nothing interesting, I'm just going to do some cleaning at the apartment." I sighed.
         "That's too bad. It's such a beautiful Sunday morning!" he replied with a smile. "Do you need help with the cleaning?" he asked kindly.
         "No, we got this." Damon replied sharply before I could answer.
         "Call me if you change your mind." Stefan replied as he walked out the kitchen door.
         I stood up from the table, giving Damon a questioning look while turning to the sink to wash my plate.
         "What?" he shrugged his shoulders.
         "Why do you always have to be so rude to everyone?" I asked accusingly.
         "Why do you always have to see the bad in me?" he retorted with sad blue eyes.
         "It's not like that. I don't see only the bad in you. I also see a lot of good things, like when you offered me your jacket while we were standing in the rain or how you took care of me the other night." I said looking him in the eyes.
         "You do?" he asked with a smirk.
         "Of course I do. You even let me stay at your place. You're not a bad person, but you have to let other people see the good in you, not just me." I added with a smile.
         He smiled back as he stood up from the table with his plate in his right hand. I reached out my hand for his plate, but he didn't let me wash it.
         "Don't worry, I got this. Go get ready because we're leaving in 10 minutes. We have a lot of cleaning to do." he stated and I nodded.
         "Damon?" I added before leaving the kitchen.
         "Yes?" he looked at me with big blue eyes.
         "Thank you for everything!" I said gratefully.
         "You're welcome!" he replied with a little smile.
         I went to my room and grabbed my backpack along with my keys, then went downstairs to meet Damon. As soon as I got to the hallway, I heard Stefan talking to Elena while sitting on the living room couch.
         "They seem to be pretty close. How come you're not worried?" Elena asked really concerned.
         "Believe it or not, I think he really likes her. He even gave her a bracelet with vervain in it." Stefan replied.
         "So all of a sudden he's over Katherine?" Elena raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
         "This is Damon we're talking about. I wouldn't be surprised." Stefan shrugged before taking a sip from his cup of coffee.
         I tried not to make noise and turned to the kitchen to look for Damon, but I was really confused. I was pretty sure they were talking about me, but who is Katherine and what the hell is vervain?
         I was still lost in my thoughts when I bumped into Damon who was leaning against the kitchen counter and I literally stepped on his toes, causing him to grown in pain.
         "Ouch, I had no idea I was invisible." Damon frowned.
         "Sorry..." I replied awkwardly, trying to avoid his glance.
         "Is everything ok?" he looked me in the eyes a little concerned.
         "Yes, everything's fine." I assured him. "It's pretty late, we should get going." I murmured.
         We took his car and got to my apartment in about 10 minutes.
         "Are you sure you're ok? You didn't say a word since we left the house." he asked as I unlocked the door to my apartment.
         "I'm fine, I was just thinking about how we're going to get this done within a few hours." I replied as I stepped inside.
         "Good, I was beginning to think that it has something to do with the bracelet. You kept staring at it the whole time." he replied with a smile.
         I pretended like I didn't hear his last comment and began to clean the living room. I threw the broken vase in the trash can and mopped the floor while Damon hung the paintings back on the walls. Then we moved to the kitchen and after that I went to tidy my bedroom while Damon cleaned the hallway.
         As soon as my bedroom was spotless, I went back to Damon.
         "I need a break." I stated while stretching my arms above my head.
         "Let's watch TV for a while." Damon suggested before grabbing the remote control.
         "I'll go to the kitchen to make us some sandwiches. I'm starving." I replied as I left the living room.
         I made a few sandwiches with cream cheese and vegetables and two cups of hot chocolate and I was heading back to Damon when I heard him shouting from the living room: "Hurry up, you're missing the best part of the movie."
         His voice made me shudder, causing me to spill some hot chocolate on the tray. I walked to the living room, put the tray on the coffee table and took a sit on the couch next to Damon. We ate while watching a comedy movie and before we knew it was already night. I was so tired that I easily fell asleep on the couch with my head on Damon's shoulder.
         When I woke up I found myself lying in my bed without remembering how I got there. 'Damon must have carried me up to my room.' I thought to myself as I got off the bed and slowly headed to the living room. Damon was lying on the couch while reading one of my old magazines.
         "Good morning, sleeping beauty!" he looked at me and smirked.
         "What time is it?" I asked with a sleepy voice while trying to find my cell phone.
         "It's a little past 9." Damon replied calmly while browsing the magazine.
         "What?" I widened my eyes really surprised. "Great, I'm late for work." I rolled my eyes as I grabbed my cell phone from the coffee table and saw that indicated 9:11.
         I quickly changed into some comfortable clothes, then Damon drove me to the high school. We got there in less than 10 minutes, but I still was half an hour late for work. The girls were on the practicing field working alone on their routine.
         "Good morning, girls! I'm so sorry for being late. I promise this won't happen again." I apologized.
         "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Elena asked and I nodded, then we stepped away from the other girls. "Stefan told me about the robbery. If you need anything..." she added concerned.
         "Thank you, Elena!" I replied with a smile. "I'm fine, I'm just staying at the Salvatore house for a while, but I guess you already knew that." I stated.
         "Yes, Stefan told me about that too." she replied. "Can I ask you a personal question?" she asked.
         "Sure, go on." I smiled.
         "What's going on between you and Damon?" she asked curiously.
         "Nothing, we're sort of friends, I guess." I replied awkwardly while scratching my head and she just stared at me with a raised eyebrow. "Don't look at me like that. It's not like I'm doing anything wrong." I sighed.
         Fortunately, before she could answer, Jeremy walked up to me and Elena and interrupted our conversation.
         "Hey, I just got your message. Elena told me about the robbery. How are you? Is there anything I can do?" Jeremy looked at me concerned, ignoring Elena.
         "I'm fine, don't worry about it. Thanks for asking, though." I smiled lightly.
         "Why aren't you in class?" Elena rolled her eyes and scolded him.
         "Isn't it obvious? I wanted to talk to Maddy." Jeremy snarled.
         "Please, don't argue!" I rolled my eyes at them and sighed. "Elena's right, you should go back to class. We can talk later." I added on a motherly tone.
         "Before I leave... Will you still help me write the essay I told you about a few days ago?" he asked with puppy eyes.
         "Of course! A promise is a promise." I assured him.
         Jeremy smiled, then waved me goodbye and headed back to his classroom. Elena and I joined the girls and began to work on some new cheerleading moves.
         When I finished working with the girls, I decided to go back to my apartment to finish cleaning, so I called for a cab and got there in about 10 minutes. Thanks to Damon's help, the apartment was clean, except from the bathroom that was looking awful. I couldn't understand why a thief would destroy the bathroom wallpaper and disassemble the toilet tank… unless he was looking for something, but what? The thought that the murderer of Dianne Hastings was wandering around really gave me creeps, so I just hoped that he had already found what he was looking for and that he was never coming back.