Eat Your Heart Out

Around 5:45pm, my brothers and I left with Stefan and Elena to go eat. We all piled into Stefan’s extremely small car, but it was quite entertaining. They pointed out different main points in the town and the high school and then we finally reached the Grill. When we stepped inside, I was almost thrown off by how many people were there.

“I thought that this was a small town?” I asked carefully, looking around.

“Oh it is, but this is basically where everyone comes and hangs out,” Elena explained as we walked over to a table.

I made a small ‘O’ with my mouth and sat between my brothers when we came to a booth in the corner. Glancing through the menu, I realized how hungry I was.
A boy with sandy colored hair and green eyes walked over to the table, smiling and asked what we wanted to eat. He looked at Stefan and Elena and then looked at us with a strange glance.

“Matt, these are the Carneils. They just moved into town.” Elena explained. His response was a short nod and an awkward smile. “Guys, this is Matt Donovan.”
My brothers nodded and I gave a small hello. He seemed nice enough. After taking our meals, he left the table and Elena dove into everything about the small town. I liked listening to her talk, it meant that I didn’t have to explain about why I moved.

~*~

Dinner was pleasant, even my brothers seemed to enjoy it. Elena and I were surprisingly a lot alike, however Stefan rarely talked so I wasn’t positive about him just yet.
Elena excused herself to the restroom for a moment and we all stared at each other awkwardly.

Aiden cleared his throat and Eric broke the silence. “Maybe you could get a job here,” he said glancing around. “Seems nice enough,”

I shrugged, “I don’t know if they have any openings,”

“Well you better find one if you want a car,” Aiden stated, giving me a nudge. I saw a slight smirk appear on Stefan’s face.

“Go ask,” Eric said nudging me the other way.

I sat there for a moment, contemplating if I wanted to work here. It seemed that I didn’t really have a choice because Aiden slid out of the booth, dragging me with him and shoving me toward the bar. “Go.”

“Fine!” I snapped back as he sat down, Eric and Stefan were trying hard not to laugh.
I walked off, seeing Matt in the corner and decided to ask him if they had any openings. “Hey,” I said, stepping up to the table he was cleaning.

“Hey,” he replied turning to face me. “I didn’t catch your name earlier,”

“It’s Kris,” I replied with a small smile, “and you’re Matt, right?”

“Yep,” he replied, setting down the rag he was holding. “How can I help you?”

“I was actually wondering if you knew of any job openings here? I’m hoping to find one before school starts up,”

“Yeah, I think so – go talk to David, the guy at the bar. He’s also the manager.”

“Thanks!” I told him before heading off to the bar to find David.

~~

The Grill? This was the big secret they were hiding? Sighing, I watched as the girl broke away from the table and walk up to Matt. Something about the girl was sticking out in my head. Brown hair was wrapped in a messy bun, with a few blonde streaks running through it. Her entire torso was hidden under a black hoodie, but tight jeans showed off her slender legs all the way down to her black boots.

She turned and headed my direction, and I realized that she didn’t recognize me nor was that her intention in the first place. Sipping my scotch, I watched as she got David’s attention and quietly they talked about a job opening.

He disappeared in the back for a moment and re-appeared with a small stack of papers, which he handed over to her and they quickly scheduled an interview date. When they finished, I reached out to tap her to introduce myself, but she turned toward me before I even could tap her. Odd.

Carefully she raised an eyebrow at me, and then looked at my hand. I turned it, offering it to shake. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Damon,”

Her blue-green eyes grew bigger for a moment before she casually leaned on the counter, tipping her head partially to the side with a sudden realization. “Oh, so you’re the older brother.” A smirk played on her lips as she completely ignored my hand.

“You’ve already heard about me?” I asked, letting my arms cross.

“Some,” she replied, “But I figure out people pretty quick on my own.”

“Oh really?”

She nodded, quite confident in herself.

“So what do you think of me, based on the little you’ve seen and heard?”

“That you’re an ass,” she stated bluntly.

I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at the statement. Her eyebrows furrowed, but not at me, directly. I went to turn around to see what she was looking at – but whoever they were came up first.

The set of twin boys, the ones who seemed to always be with her, were standing between us – one dragging her to the side and one in front of me, extremely pissed at something.
The one with her started whispering quickly, and it was too easy to hear their conversation.

~~

“What are you doing?” Aiden hissed at me, his fingers digging into my shoulders.

“Talking,” I replied watching his eyes, trying to figure out why he was so upset.

“You were supposed to talk to David – not to random people –“

“I did,” I replied, cutting him off and showing him the papers in my hand. “I have an interview next week and you two need to chill. Damon lives next door. We saw him this morning, remember?”

Aiden sighed, finally loosening his hold on me. “I would prefer it if we stuck together as a group.

“Really?” I growled back “I’m not two. Besides, you aren’t going to be at school with me and I will talk to people.”

“I realize that, but I would prefer that you were a bit more cautious, Kris.” He sighed.
Rolling my eyes, I pulled away from him, gave Damon a small wave, and grabbed Eric’s sleeve and pulled them back toward the table.

~~

“You two need to calm the fuck down,” she hissed at them as they walked away. I watched them travel back to the table and caught Stefan glaring at me. I lifted my drink at him before turning around, keeping an ear on them. Kris, huh? She had spunk, and I liked that.