Eat Your Heart Out

At about 9 or so, the group of us got up to leave and my brothers locked me in between them and Stefan stood beside Eric. Elena managed to wiggle herself beside me so that we could chat. The parking lot had very few lights and multiple areas of shadows and I found myself straining to hear sounds that weren’t there.

“So do you think that you’ll get the job?” Elena said looking through the papers and pulling me from my thoughts. “I mean, these are a lot of drink mixes he’s asking you to know.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I worked at a restaurant back in New York for a few years and I turned 18 last year – passed the exam and was a bartender for a bit, so I’m sure I’ll be okay.” I replied flashing a smile.

“Well, well – fancy running into you once more,” a silky voice said, before Damon came into full view in front of us.

Raising an eyebrow, I crossed my arms as my brothers stiffened beside me. “Why do I feel you followed us out?”

“I didn’t catch your name earlier,” he replied with a small smile.

“You don’t need to know it,” Aiden hissed, pulling me back a little.

I sighed, looking over at my brother, a bit confused why he was being so rude. “It’s Kris,” I replied.

He cocked his head to the side, looking at me from another angle, but didn’t say anything.

“Back off, Damon,” I heard Stefan state from behind me.

“Calm down, little brother. I’m just figuring out who are new neighbors are,” he replied, stepping forward and brushing hair behind my ear.

I pulled back, a bit startled by the action and Aiden flew forward and punched him in the jaw.

“Aiden!” I yelled, getting in front of him and pushing him backward. “What the hell?”

Growling slightly, he looked down at me, grabbed me, and shoved me behind him. But when we both looked up, Damon was nowhere to be found – odd.

I smacked Aiden’s shoulder as hard as I could, even though I know that it didn’t do anything to him. He turned around and stared at me. “Why the hell did you hit him?”

“Something about him I don’t like.” He hissed.

“So? That doesn’t give you the right to go and throw punches at people for no reason.”
“He touched you,”

“He moved my hair, Aiden. You need to chill out, now.”

“I’m trying to protect you –“

“You’re acting like an idiot!”

“Am not-“

“Yes you are! We aren’t back in New York, we are somewhere completely different where we can start over and you just pissed off one of the neighbors!”

I turned toward Stefan and Elena and began to apologize for what my brothers did. They insisted that it was fine, no harm done – but I still felt bad.

After they had dropped us off and we bid each other a good night, we entered the house, my mind still on the actions that had happened tonight. I could not believe how Aiden just punched him with no reason. Even though Stefan had been okay with it, I think there were brother issues there, I was not. As I climbed into bed I decided that I would drop by the house tomorrow and apologize directly to Damon.

I quickly changed into shorts and a tank, brushing out my hair, and was about to climb into bed when there was a knock at my door.

“Come in,” I called, digging through boxes and trying to find the blanket and pillow I wanted for tonight.

“Hey sister,” I heard quietly behind me.

“Aiden,” I replied, moving onto the next box.

“Look, I know you don’t like what I did – but I don’t want you to go near him. I get this bad feeling from him and I don’t want to take chances.”

I gave up on the box and turned to face him. “What you did tonight was wrong.”

“I’m sorry, I just want you safe,” he said instantly standing beside me, pulling me into a hug. “You’re my sister, and I can’t let anything happen to you,”

I sighed – not really in the forgiving mode. “I know,”

“Just…stay away from him, okay?”

“Fine,” I mumbled, not really meaning it.

Slowly he pulled away, and placed a kiss on my forehead. “Night, shorty.”

“Night,” I replied, pulling away. Then I shouted “Night Eric!” over his head to which a quiet ‘night’ came up from downstairs. Aiden left quickly and I continued my hunt, and was successful about twenty minutes later. Switching off the light, I lie down in my bed and fell into a rough sleep.