DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS // CHRISTMAS CALENDAR 2020

Tuesday December 1st

The field trip to Italy had been two weeks long, but we barely noticed that. It had passed by so fast that soon we were on our way back to Virginia and Mystic Falls. I left Mystic Falls as one person, and came back as another. I'd like to think that Stefan came back as another person too, but I knew that it would be a lie. Stefan has had a million girlfriends and friends. I wouldn't change his life. Not now nor ever. Even though I would like to be someone who changed him for the better.

"You got us a jack plug splitter?" I asked with awe as we sat in the plane, and Stefan talked about watching a movie on Netflix. Stefan blushed in embarrassment and I kissed his cheek.

"You're so sweet," I said and plugged my headphones into the plug splitter. He put on Twilight, just for the fun of it. He then whispered all the vampire facts in my ear, although I knew them all already of course. Stefan and I had been best friends since freshman year. I had known his secret for years.

"His skin is like diamonds though," I said and Stefan chuckled.

"Well, that's not how it's supposed to be," he said. "We're vampires, not lamps."

When we finished watching the first movie, we moved on to the second one. I'm pretty sure Stefan even put on the third, but I wasn't awake by then, and Stefan was probably not even paying attention to the movie. He was probably too busy watching me sleep; an activity that he had enjoyed every night at the hotel, taking great use of the fact that vampires rarely needed an entire night of sleep. He had been crushing on me for a while. And I had been crushing on him, but it wasn't until our school trip to Firenze that he actually confessed his feelings towards me. Now we were heading home, facing the biggest problem of ours; Damon.

Sure I had come to love him over the years. He was both a friend, family and a brother to me. He had taken care of me since my parents died. He had supported me and hadn't been as annoying as he could be. He had also agreed to picking Stefan and I up at the airport so we wouldn't have to take the bus that the school had rented back home. It was late and luckily our principal had decided to give all the seniors a day off to recover from our travels.

Stefan wanted to keep our relationship a secret. Especially towards Damon, but I wasn't sure how good of an idea it was. We had gone behind Damon's back before, and he always feels betrayed when he finds out. This time would be the same.

When the plane landed and we had gotten our luggage, I stumbled tiredly towards Damon's blue 1960 Chevy Camaro Convertible. Stefan swept me off my feet halfway there an carried me to the car. And I just fell asleep.

When I woke up, Damon was driving through the town square of Mystic Falls, Stefan was out in the front seat and I was wrapped up in blankets. I yawned bringing Damon's attention to me.

"Morning, Sunshine," he smirked. "Nice trip?"

I nodded my head a little and rubbed my eyes with my fingers.

"I didn't think vampires needed sleep," I said referring to Stefan's head against the window.

Damon shrugged.

"Stefan isn't as strong as the rest of us. He's a little more... Human."

I nodded and thanked Damon for picking us up in the airport, but I was too tired to notice if he responded. He pulled up into the driveway and woke Stefan up. We got out of the car and headed to each our rooms.

"You're not coming tonight, Luna?" Damon called from the stairs. I had been sleeping with him since my parents died. Not anything sexual of course. I had just been staying in his room, seeing how he had a way of comforting me at all times. Even in the middle of the night when I woke him up with my screams from nightmares.

It would be suspicious to not sleep with Damon tonight. Christmas was my favorite holidays and it was the first time that I was celebrating without my parents. I would be vulnerable this month. I already was. And Damon knew that.

So I told him that I just had to get my pajamas and then I would come to his room. I saw Stefan's jealousy and disappointment when I walked past his room.

"I'm sorry," I mouthed to him. I didn't have anything to apologize for. It was his idea to keep us a secret, I was just doing what it took.

I laid under Damon's huge comforters and closed my eyes. Felt Damon's arm wrap around me right before I fell asleep.