Loving Damon

| 17 | The Reason

| Damon |

The rest of the night was spent avoiding our attraction for each other by speaking about literally anything else we could conjure up in our minds, it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable but we both knew what we were trying to avoid; the floating desire.

She hardly ate anything and I took notice but said nothing, I didn't want to make her uncomfortable with that either but if I saw it continue or get worse I would say something, I have a feeling she's not telling me the whole truth. She may be eating healthier but it seems like she's slowly starving herself, thats what Im afraid of, and its all thanks to her dumbass ex who brainwashed her into thinking things about her that were the furthest thing from the truth. My blood boiled with rage at the thought, I wanted fate to bring us together, just once so I could beat the living shit out of him, giving him only the slightest amount of pain he has given Ariel. He toyed with her heart and her mind silently, it was disgusting and I wanted to do everything in my power to change Ariels view on herself.

Slowly but surely, I've already seen her confidence spike but I want more, I know her insecurities are still there, I can see them. I wish I could be the one to take them away.

I sighed not even realizing that my hand was at the small of her back and leading her out of the restaurant. The cool night air whipped us in the face, which was quite a shocker for a summer night in July. She was taking a few steps ahead of me and was about to reach for my car when I leaned forward and wrapped my fingers around her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.

She glanced back at me, stood straight and sent me a smile.

"Wait," my lips turned up into a smile of their own. "Theres one more place I want to take you." I looked down the street momentarily before looking back to her "Its not too far, we can walk."

She took in a deep breath and looked down the same street I did, then back at me. She nodded her head and took a few steps closer to me "Okay. Sure."

We started walking together, our steps isync with one another, I felt her eyes on me before she even spoke. "So, where are we going?"

I glanced up her way with a small grin "You'll see. You'll love this place." And I knew she would, it had her name written all over it, the second I saw it next to the restaurant I knew I had to take her there, she was the one girl I knew would really appreciate it.

She narrowed her eyes at me playfully "Mhmm, we'll see. Just how well do you know me Damon?"

My grin turned into a full blown smirk "Lets find out."

A hint of blush shown on her cheeks as her head fell forward with a shy smile.

I let out a chuckle at her sudden shyness but couldn't help but love it. Her arms dangled at her sides as she walked, my hand slid out of my pocket and as it fell to my side, my pinky brushed against her finger. Her head shot up and her eyes looked my way. I didn't make any move to look at her though. From my peripheral vision I could see her biting her lip and then her hand got closer to mine, brushing against it even further.

I finally cut to the chase and held her hand in mine, interlacing our fingers together and squeezing tight.

She blushed again, I smirked again right before rubbing the back of her hand with my thumb and continuing our walk in comfortable silence to the secret place.

It only took us a couple more minutes to reach the store front and when we did, I stopped in my tracks, spinning her around and facing her towards our destination.

She gasped and her eyes went wide, lighting up like a kid on Christmas morning opening up the present they have been wanting all year. I couldn't help but chuckle at her happy expression, something so simple made her so happy.