Save Me from Myself

"What? No, of course I wasn't spying on Stefan." I blushed under his gaze. "I just wanted to close the window, that's all." I defended myself, making Damon smirk.
"Calm down, I was just kidding." he said with a smile. "Why are you up at 4 in the morning?" he asked a little concerned.
"I was thirsty and I really had to come downstairs and drink a glass of water." I replied on a casual tone.
"Is everything ok?" Stefan asked as he joined us in the living room.
I couldn't help myself but stare at him for a moment, still shocked about discovering that he knew Dianne and didn't want Damon to find out about it.
"Yeah, we're cool." Damon replied with a smile. "Let's get you a glass of ice-cold water." he said before putting a hand on my shoulder and leading me to the kitchen.
Damon poured me a glass of water from the fridge, then hopped up on kitchen counter, looking at me with a smile while I drank up the ice-cold water and poured myself another glass.
"Wow, you really were thirsty." he smirked before taking a bite from a big red apple.
"I told you I was." I replied with a smile. "But you didn't tell me what kept you awake until 4 AM." I added curiously.
"I hung out with some friends." he replied casually.
"Thought you didn't have any friends." I pointed out.
"He has some imaginary ones." Stefan replied for him as he entered the kitchen.
"Look who's talking, the guy who doesn't talk to anyone except his girlfriend." Damon taunted him.
"At least I have a girlfriend." Stefan smiled sarcastically, making Damon to give him a dark glare.
"Seriously? You sound like two little kids from the kindergarten who fight over toys. Grow up!" I rolled my eyes at them before walking out of the kitchen.
None of them followed me as I headed to the stairs and then to my room. I closed the door, threw myself on the bed and stood there with my eyes closed. If at first I struggled to fall asleep, hearing Stefan talking on the phone about Dianne made it even harder. A few moments later I heard a knock at my door and told the person to come on inside.
"So that's what happened to my rose." Damon smirked while he entered the room and looked at the petals that I previously scattered on my bed.
"Oh... I was just bored since you took away my book and I didn't have anything else to read." I scoffed.
"Don't worry, it looks a lot better this way. A little romance can't hurt, right?" he grinned while throwing himself on the bed next to me.
"Haha, very funny." I mumbled at his gesture before getting off the bed.
Damon grabbed a pillow and playfully threw it at me, making me burst into laughter. I took the pillow from the ground, getting ready for payback, but before I could hit him back he quickly got off the bed and pulled me close to him, forcing me to let go of the pillow. I struggled to get out of his grasp, but the next moment I tripped over the pillow and I ended up falling on the bed with Damon on top of me. My smile slowly faded and my heart was racing while his piercing blue eyes were staring into mine. I knew that he was about to kiss me, so I quickly broke the silence.
"I think you should leave." I said with a weak voice as I looked away.
Damon stood up visibly disappointed and walked off without saying a word, slamming the door behind him. I tightly hugged the other pillow, then closed my eyes and sobbed. 'I'm sorry, but I can't let you get closer until I find out what you're hiding from me.' I whispered to myself.
I stood there in silence until the alarm clock let me know that I had to get ready for work. After taking a quick shower, I quickly got dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast. As I was walking down the stairs I bumped into Stefan who was heading to his bedroom.
"Your eyes are red. Have you been crying?" he asked me a little concerned, then looked suspiciously at Damon who was lying on the couch emotionless.
"No, I got shampoo in my eyes, that's all." I shrugged, then I continued to walk to the kitchen.
"I don't buy that. Why was she crying?" Stefan whispered to Damon.
"I don't care." Damon replied bluntly, making sure that I could hear him.
Anger took over my body and I suddenly lost my appetite, so I quickly grabbed an apple and a banana, then rushed out the front door without looking back. I put my headphones on and listened to loud music, trying to cool off and forget about Damon's behavior. In some way I knew he was right to be angry at me because I always pushed him away, but it still bothered me to hear that he didn't care about how I felt.
As soon as I got to the high school I tried to forget about Damon and focused on the cheerleading choreography. When the work was done I went for a long walk in the park and then back to Damon's house. Nobody was home, so I had the entire house for myself. After cooking dinner I watched TV in the living room, then headed to my bedroom and read a few magazines until I fell asleep.
The rest of the week dragged on quite boring and I even began to question myself why I was still staying with the Salvatore brothers. Things were awkward between me and Damon, since he was still upset with me and I barely saw him at home. On the other hand, I wasn't trusting Stefan at all. I knew that he was watching me after what happened that night when I spied on him, so I had to take a break from my usual digging and concentrated on my work. I helped the kids with the fundraising for their charity projects and I even offered to organize the Halloween party, just to keep myself busy and forget about the daily drama.
I had nothing to do on Saturday, so I went out for a jog with my headphones on and later I went back to the Salvatore house, grabbed my backpack and headed to the park. I stood there until 8 PM, writing poems while watching the kids having fun on the playground and I even played basketball with them for a while. When I headed back to the Salvatore house, Damon was in a good mood and apologized for neglecting me the whole week and told me not to make plans for the next morning because he was taking me out.
The next morning we were about to leave the Salvatore house and go to a picnic with Elena and Stefan when my cell phone rang. Elena and Stefan were already waiting in the car, so I quickly answered without looking at the number.
"Hello?" I asked the other person, trying to figure out who that was.
"Hey, sis! What's up?" my brother's cheerful voice greeted me.
"Oh, Robert! It's so good to hear you, man. I started to think that you were eaten by a huge kangaroo. How's Australia?" I teased him a little.
"Actually, we came back a little earlier from our honeymoon. Mom gave me your address and we headed straight to Mystic Falls to see you. I knocked at the door, but you're obviously not here. Where are you?" my brother asked.
"Wait, you're in Mystic Falls?" I asked really surprised, not knowing what else to say.
"Tell him you're at the supermarket." Damon whispered in my right ear.
"I... I'm at the supermarket. I'll be home in 20 minutes." I babbled, making Damon chuckle.
"Ok, hurry up!" my brother replied before hanging up.
"I can't believe this! Why does my family always have to do this to me? Can't they just give me a call before coming to Mystic Falls?" I sighed.
Damon smiled and started to fill in a shopping bag with food from his fridge.
"What are you doing?" I raised an eyebrow.
"You were at the supermarket, remember?" he snickered. "Come on, I'll drive you there." he added while leading me to his vehicle.
"Wait, what about the picnic?" I asked a little disappointed.
"I'm sure that Stefan and Elena won't mind. They'll have much more fun without us, trust me." Damon tried to comfort me.
We told Elena and Stefan that we had to go to my apartment, then took Damon's car and arrived at my place in about 15 minutes. "There you are! Call me as soon as they leave and I'll pick you up. It's not safe for you to be here alone." Damon said with a soft voice.
"You're not coming inside?" I asked surprised.
"Do you want me to?" he grinned.
"You emptied your fridge because of me, then you drove me to my apartment. Plus, I ruined our picnic. So, yes, I do want you to come inside and meet my brother and his wife." I replied with a joyful voice. "Anyway, I could use a little backup. Those two can be a pain in the ass when you less expect it." I grinned and he smiled.
We got out of the car, entered the building and climbed up the stairs to my apartment. Surprisingly, Robert and Corinne were nowhere to be found. I called my brother to find out where they had left and he told me that they were waiting at the café from just across the street. While we were waiting for them to join us, me and Damon had time to put the food in the fridge and prepare a little snack. We made a few sandwiches with salad and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.
Damon was still in the kitchen and I was decorating the living room table when the doorbell rang. As soon as I opened the door, my brother and his wife hugged me and greeted me with cheerful voices. I told them to leave their bags in the hallway and invited them to take a seat on the couch, then I headed back to the kitchen to Damon.
"We made some sandwiches. I hope you guys are hungry." I yelled from the kitchen.
"We?" Robert and Corinne asked in unison.
"Yes, I want you guys to meet someone." I replied as we were bringing the trays with food and drinks.
"Hi, I'm Damon Salvatore." Damon introduced himself with a smile.
"I'm Robert, Maddy's older brother and this is my wife Corinne." my brother replied while they shook hands.
"Your mother already told us about Damon." Corinne snickered.
"Did she? Why am I not surprised?" I rolled my eyes playfully, making everyone laugh.
"I thought you were supposed to spend one more week of honeymoon. What happened, didn't you like Australia?" I asked curiously.
"Well, um… we..." my brother babbled. "We're moving to New York." he awkwardly replied.
"New York? What's wrong with Arkansas? I thought you enjoyed living close to the family." I shrugged.
"Since you didn't take aunt Genevieve's job offer, we talked to her and she gave the job to Corinne." Robert replied a little uncomfortable.
"We hope you don't mind." Corinne smiled.
"What about your job?" I asked looking at my brother.
"I transferred. I'm a NYPD officer now." he replied proudly.
"Well, in that case I wish you the best of luck." I replied sincerely.
We all stood there a couple of hours, talking about everything and nothing. My brother and Damon seemed to have a lot in common and I was glad that they were actually bonding. On the other hand, me and Corinne were like oil and water. To be honest, I never liked her, but I always tried to keep a good relationship with her. I owed that to my brother, since he has always been kind and protective towards me.
It was about 4 PM when Robert and Corinne left. They headed straight to New York because the real estate agent was going to show them a few apartments to choose from.
As soon as they left I started to wash the dishes. Damon took a seat at the kitchen table, watching my every move. He could see that something was bothering me and couldn't help but ask me about it.
"Are you sure you're ok with them moving to New York?" he asked a little concerned.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I shrugged. "I don't care that she took the job. I didn't want it anyway. What bothers me is her attitude. She didn't come here to tell me about it or to see if I was ok with it. She wanted to brag about it. She always does that." I added bitterly.
Damon looked at me thoughtful, but he didn't reply, so I continued to give him details regarding my relationship with Corinne.
"Ever since she started dating my brother I felt like she was trying to compete against me. She always seemed to want what was mine, so I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she took the job only to make me feel uncomfortable." I continued.
"But that doesn't make sense. You didn't want that job." Damon shrugged.
"You're right, maybe I'm just being paranoid." I sighed.
"No, you're just being a woman. That explains a lot." he grinned.
"Shut up!" I mumbled and splashed him with a little bit of water, then we both began to laugh.
After washing the dishes and cleaning the living room, Damon took me back to the Salvatore house. After dropping me off he remembered that he had to meet up with someone, so he left me alone with Stefan and Elena.
As soon as I stepped inside the house, the delicious smell of roasted turkey and chocolate pancakes dragged me into the kitchen where Stefan and Elena were having fun while cooking dinner. While Elena was chopping the vegetables for the salad, I went to my room to change into something more comfortable. When I headed back to the kitchen, Elena and Stefan were picking up the pieces of a broken glass that were scattered all over the floor.
"Maddy, be careful!" Elena warned me with widened eyes.
By the time I heard her shouting it was too late. I had already stepped on a big piece of glass that cut through my left slipper and stopped in my heel, causing me to groan in pain.
Stefan helped me to move to the nearest chair and Elena carefully removed the slipper from my foot. The big piece of glass was stuck in my heel and a large amount of blood was dripping on the floor, so I started to panic. My heart skipped a beat when I looked at Stefan and I saw that his face was suddenly changing, his eyes quickly becoming unusually dark and rimmed with bulging blue veins. He closed his eyes and turned away like he was trying to get back to normal again and the next moment the demonic face was gone.
Stefan wanted to call an ambulance, but I protested, so we finally ended up taking Elena's car. We got to the hospital in less than 10 minutes, but for me it seemed like an eternity. A nurse took me to the emergency room and told me that the doctor was on his way. I stood there in silence for a few moments, lying on the bed, forgetting about the blood and the pain and thinking about Stefan's creepy face. The same image of his black hungry eyes staring coldly at me was haunting me over and over again until the nurse and the doctor rushed into the emergency room.
"Dr. Price, this is the patient I was talking about." the nurse informed the doctor. "Don't worry, you're in good hands." she smiled at me before leaving the emergency room.
"Kyle?" I widened my eyes in surprise when the man wearing a white robe approached me. I had no idea that my neighbor was a doctor.