03. Friday Night Bites

Aria got out of the backseat in Bonnie's car and turned to Elena, "Listen I'm not saying don't date the guy, because you know I'm all for team Stelena, all I'm saying is take it slow".

"Aria you are the one who said to go for it" Elena reminded.

"And now I'm saying you should take it slow" Aria retorted.

Elena narrowed her eyes at Aria, "Why the about-face?".

Aria turned her face away from Elena, "What about face?".

Bonnie stepped out of the drivers side of her car, "Look Elena, maybe you should listen to Aria, you're single for the first time in your entire high school career, it's the perfect time to play the field". 

"Oh, because I'm so that girl" Elena teased, "Seriously you both, what are you not saying?".

"It's stupid" Aria mumbled, looking down at the grass, knowing Elena wasn't going to believe her.

Elena grabbed Aria's hand and forced her to face her, "Aria".

"What?" Aria asked, looking everywhere except at Elena.

"Spit it out" Elena demanded.

Aria sighed, "Okay, so I accidentally touched Stefan last night when I was giving him your number, and I got this really bad feeling from him".

Elena looked at Aria in confusion, "Is that it?".

Aria threw her hands up in frustration, "No that's not it Elena, because I wasn't the only one who got the bad feeling".

Elena looked at Aria confused, "What?".

"She's talking about me" Bonnie said.

"So you also touched Stefan and got a bad feeling?" Elena asked Bonnie.

"Not exactly" Bonnie clarified.

"What?" Elena asked, looking between Bonnie and Aria in confusion, "Guys spill it, now".

"Look, when Aria touched Stefan, I felt the same feeling Aria felt, it was a bad, bad feeling Elena" Bonnie explained.

"What, so you guys can sense each other's emotions now?" Elena asked the two girls.

"No, not at all" Aria said, "When I touch Stefan, I was handing Bonnie her pen back and our fingers touched the same time as I accidently touched Stefan's hand, the feeling that vibrated through me, vibrated through Bonnie as well, I'm guessing because of the whole witch thing Grams told us about".

Elena looked between Aria and Bonnie in slight shock, "You guys are actually buying the whole witch thing?".

"Look we don't know what's happening to us Elena, we don't know if we are witches or if we are just paranoid" Aria said, frustrated with the fact that Elena was taking her so lightly, "All we know is that right now, we are expressing our concerns about our best friend's new boyfriend".

"Did you get the same feeling with Damon?" Elena asked.

"Seriously?" an annoyed Aria asked, "Again with Damon?".

"I'm just asking Aria, did you or did you not?" Elena asked again.

"No Elena, because if you forgot then let me remind you that the moment I touched Damon something happened, like a spark or something, I didn't get a chance to feel anything else from him" Aria snapped.

Seeing that Aria was starting to get really annoyed, Bonnie decided to take over, "Elena look this isn't about Damon, this is just about us being concerned for you".

Elena sighed, "And I love you both for that, I do, but guys I feel good, it's been a hard year and I'm finally starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again, and you know what, Stefan is a big part of that".

Aria and Bonnie said nothing, just looked at each other and after a moment nodded at Elena, letting her know they understand, but that didn't mean the nagging feeling in Aria's mind was gone, something just wasn't right here.

"Morning Elena" Stefan said, walking up to the three girls, "Morning Aria, Bonnie".

Bonnie quickly turned to Elena, "Hey, I gotta find Caroline, she's not answering her phone, so see you guys".

"Bonnie wait!" Elena called out to a leaving Bonnie.

"Bonnie hold up, I'm coming with you" Aria said, running after Bonnie, completely ignoring Stefan.

Stefan looked at Aria's retreating figure and knew his suspicion was right, even if Aria didn't know it yet, she had sensed that Stefan is a vampire just by merely touching him.

***

Aria sat in Mr Tanner's class, while zoning her history teach out, Aria kept herself busy by writing the same three numbers over and over again in her notebook, not knowing why, but for some reason today she has been obsessed with the numbers 8, 14 and 22.

Looking to her side Aria saw Bonnie writing the same numbers down, Aria frowned, she tapped Bonnie's shoulder, breaking her trance like state, and showed Bonnie her notebook. 

Bonnie glanced between her and Aria's notebook in confusion, she then looked at Aria and mouthed, what do they mean, Aria just shrugged, letting her know, she had no idea what these numbers meant.

"Miss Gilbert?" Mr Tanner asked, making Elena look at him, "Pearl Harbor".

"December 7th, 1941" Aria said, not looking up from her notebook.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert" Mr Tanner said sarcastically.

Aria finally lifted her head up and looked at Mr. Tanner, "You're welcome Mr Tanner, but it's actually Miss Connor, not Gilbert".

"Very well" Mr Tanner said, "The fall of the Berlin Wall".

"1989" Aria said, a smirk forming on her face, she loved proving Tanner wrong, "You know that I'm very good with dates, sir".

"Are you?" Mr Tanner asked, not believing Aria even though she has never failed a test in his class, instead she's the one whose always topped, "How good? Keep it to the year"

Aria nodded and sat up straighter in her chair, all ready to kick Mr Tanner's ass for not only embarrassing Elena the other day but also for telling her Aunt Jenna she wasn't doing a good job in taking care of her, Elena and Jeremy, something Elena told her the night she returned home from the Grill.

"Civil Rights Act".

"1964".

"John F. Kennedy assassination".

"1963".

"Martin Luther King".

"'68"

"Lincoln".

"1865".

"Roe v. Wade".

"1973".

"Brown v. Board".

"1954".

"The Battle of Gettysburg".

"1863".

"Korean War".

"1950 to 1953".

"Ha!" Mr Tanner yelled, glad to finally prove Aria wrong, "It ended in 52".

"Uh, actually, sir" Stefan interrupted, "It was 53".

Mr Tanner glanced between Aria and Stefan, clearly agitated, "Look it up, somebody, quickly".

"It was 19..." someone said, looking up the date on their phone "53".

Everyone around Aria started cheering and clapping for her, Aria turned to Stefan who was already looking at her and gave him a small smile, grateful to him for sticking up for her, but that didn't mean her feeling about him was gone.

***

"How did you know all that?" Elena asked Aria, while walking out the class with her and Stefan.

"I read Elena" Aria replied, she then turned to Stefan, "Hey, thanks for having my back in there".

Stefan nodded, "No problem at all".

"And I'm also sorry".

Stefan looked at Aria in confusion, "Sorry for what?".

"For ignoring you this morning, I know it was rude but it was just one of those weird mornings, I'm really sorry" Aria said, making Elena smile, she was glad that Aria was back on Team Stefan.

"No need to be sorry Aria, we all have those mornings" Stefan said, making Aria nod at him in appreciation for understanding and not hating her for her cold behaviour.

Thought the weird feeling in Aria's heart hadn't disappeared when it came to Stefan, Aria just couldn't be cold towards him, he hadn't given her a reason to be cold to him, all he has done is be nice so till Aria had solid proof that Stefan wasn't what he showed, Aria was going to be nice to him as well.

***

Aria and Bonnie were currently stretching at cheer practice, when someone behind them cleared their throat.

"Oh my god" Aria said standing up from her spot and rushing over to hug Elena, "You're here".

"Yep, I can't be sad girl forever" Elena said, "Plus if you can come back, then so I can".

"That's the spirit" Aria said, high fiving Elena.

"Yeah, only way to get things back to the way they were, are to do things that were" Elena said sitting down to stretch, she then turned to Bonnie, "Oh, and you're coming to dinner tonight".

"Am?" Bonnie asked, as her and Aria joined Elena in stretching.

"Mh-hm" Elena replied, "You, me, Aria and Stefan", Bonnie gave Elena a look, clearly not happy with her plan, "You have to give him a chance, plus Aria is also back on liking Stefan".

Bonnie looked at Aria questioning if that was true, Aria just shrugged in response, letting Bonnie know she had no idea what she felt towards Stefan, she was clearly on the fence about him.

"Tonight's no good" Bonnie said, "You seen Caroline, I texted her a hundred times".

"True" Aria said, looking around for her blonde best friend, "Where is Caroline? She's never late to cheer".

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett" Elena said, "You're going to be there".

"Okay enough, Bonnie you're coming to dinner, end of discussion" Aria said, "Now someone tell me, where the hell is Care?".

"Seriously, where is Caroline?" Bonnie asked, equally as worried as Aria.

Elena shrugged, "I don't know, it's not like her".

"I'll try her phone" Aria said, grabbing her phone.

Suddenly the three girls heard loud rock music, turning around they saw Caroline in the passenger seat of a blue camaro, she got out of the car and after waving to the driver, walked over to her clearly shocked friends.

"Who is that?" a confused Bonnie asked.

"That's Damon Salvatore" a shocked Aria revealed.

"Salvatore?" Bonnie asked shocked, standing up along with Elena and Aria, "As in Stefan? Wait Damon Salvatore, as in your Damon, Aria?!".

Aria didn't say anything, she didn't know what to say.

Caroline walked over to her best friend, "Don't be so shocked, he's still yours, he just gave me a lift to school".

"Where the hell did you meet him?" a confused Aria asked.

"Last night at the Grill" Caroline informed, "He was looking for you but you had gone home so he talked to me instead, granted it was mostly about you".

Aria looked at Caroline wide eyed, "What did you tell him, Caroline?!".

"Nothing that isn't the truth" Caroline shrugged, before walking over to the rest of the cheer squad.

Once Caroline had walked away, Aria looked back at Damon, who smirked at her and after giving her a wink, drove away.

Aria would be lying if she said her cheeks didn't heat up because of that wink, shaking her head Aria went back to the cheer routine, trying to rid her mind of all and any thoughts of the blue eyed Salvatore but it was just too damn hard.

While Aria did the routine gracefully, Elena struggled big time.

"Elena, sweetie, why don't you just observe today? Okay?" Caroline asked, seeing Elena struggle.

Aria gave Elena a sympathetic look, while Elena gestured her to keep going, Aria nodded and went back to nailing the routine, while Elena walked away to watch her new boyfriend play football.

***

Stefan entered his room, only to see Damon sitting at his desk, reading his diary.

"How were tryouts, did you make the team?" Damon asked, his eyes still on Stefan's diary, "Very emerson, the way you reveal your soul with so many--", before Damon could continue, Stefan used his vamp speed to snatch his diary from his brother, "--adjectives".

"What are you doing here?" an annoyed Stefan asked.

"I've come to apologise, I've been doing some thinking, some soul searching and I want us to start over, we need to put the past behind us" Damon said, standing up and walking towards Stefan, "You're my little brother and if you wanna live a normal, happy, human life then I want that for you, maybe I can do it to, if I can learn to be a non-living living person maybe there's hope for both of us".

Hearing Damon's words, a hopeful look appeared on Stefan's face but that look disappeared as soon as Damon started laughing.

"You know, it doesn't have to be this way, Damon" Stefan said.

"Of course it doesn't" Damon replied, grabbing a feather from Stefan's desk, "I saw Aria today, BTW, that means by the way, she was at cheerleading practice, she looked so perky in her little short shorts, just--", seeing Stefan's glare, Damon quickly put his hands up in surrender, "Simmer down, I didn't even go near her, I've got my own cheerleader now", Damon checked his watch, "Ooh, that reminds me, I gotta run, I have a date", Damon placed the feather back on Stefan's desk and rubbed his palms together, "Sweaty palms, wish me luck".

***

"You explain it, last night, I'm watching 9-0, commercial break comes on and I'm like, I bet it's that phone commercial" Bonnie said to Aria and Elena, who were preparing everything for the dinner with Stefan tonight, "And sure enough, it's the guy and the girl with the bench, he flies to Paris and he flies back, they take a picture".

"Oh come on" Elena laughed, "That commercial's on a constant loop".

"Fine, well, how about this?" Bonnie asked, "Today both me and Aria are obsessed with numbers, three numbers--".

"8, 14 and 22" Aria finished.

"How weird is that?" Bonnie asked Elena.

Elena turned to Aria and Bonnie with a serious look on her face, "Maybe we should play the lottery".

"Not funny Lena" Aria said.

Elena chuckled, "Have you both talked to Grams?".

"She's just gonna say it's because we are witches" Bonnie replied, "I don't wanna be a witch, do you?".

"I don't want to be a witch" Elena stated.

"I want to be a witch" Aria said.

"Of course you do" Bonnie said, playfully pushing Aria, she then turned to Elena who was putting the takeout food into bowls, "And putting it in a nice bowl isn't fooling anybody".

"Okay, serving spoons, where are the serving spoons?" Elena asked, looking around her kitchen.

"Middle drawer on your left" Bonnie said, making Aria look at her weirdly.

Elena opened the middle drawer and sure enough the serving spoons where there, "Okay so, you've been in this kitchen a thousand times".

"Yeah, that's it" Bonnie said, but both her and Aria knew that wasn't the case.

Suddenly the door bell rang, Elena took a deep breath, "Okay, he's here" Elena turned to Bonnie, "Don't be nervous, just be your normal loving self".

After Elena left, Aria took a deep breath and looked at the drawer she has never opened in her life, she wasn't a kitchen person, and the only reason you'll see her in the kitchen is because she's here to steal something from the fridge, "Birthday candles", when Aria opened the drawer, her and Bonnie were shocked seeing the birthday candles there, Aria turned to Bonnie, who was already looking at her in worry, "We are definitely something Bon Bon".

***

Stefan, Bonnie, Elena and Aria were now sitting in the dinning room, eating their dinner in awkward silence.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked Stefan, finally breaking the silence.

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right" Stefan said, making Elena laugh.

"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today" Elena said, "Tyler threw a ball right at him, and--".

"Yeah, I heard" Bonnie interrupted.

"Hey Bon, let's tell Stefan about our cool family background" Aria said, having enough of the awkwardness and just wanting to have a conversation, Elena looked at Aria, thankful for trying to break the ice.

"Um, divorced, no mom, live with my dad" Bonnie said simply.

"No, about the witches" Elena said, making Stefan look at her in shock, he knew all about Aria but had no clue about Bonnie being a witch as well.

"Yeah so apparently mine and Bonnie's family come from a lineage of witches, it's so cool" Aria explained, excitement shown clearly on her face.

"Cool isn't the word I'd use" Bonnie clarified.

"Well it's certainly interesting" Stefan said, "I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic Druids that migrated here in the 1800s".

"My family came by way of Salem" Bonnie explained.

"Really?" Stefan asked, Bonnie nodded, "Salem witches?".

"Yeah" Bonnie confirmed.

"I'd say that's pretty cool" Stefan said.

"Told you" Aria said to Bonnie.

"Really?" Bonnie asked Stefan, "Why?".

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity" Stefan said, making Bonnie smile.

"Yeah, they are" Bonnie said, a proud expression on her face.

Aria looked at Elena and gave her a thumbs up, letting her know the evening was going just as she planned, Bonnie and Stefan were bonding.

Suddenly the doorbell rang, making Elena look at Aria in confusion, "Were we expecting someone?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah, I hope you don't mind but I invited Caroline" Aria informed, standing up to go open the door, while a guilty Elena looked down at her plate, realising she completely forgot about Caroline.

As Aria opened the door, she was fully expect Caroline to be standing there, but who she was expecting was Damon as well.

"Surprise!" Caroline yelled, "We brought dessert!".

Caroline stepped forward and pulled her best friend into a tight hug, "Care, what is he doing here?" Aria whispered into the hug, not knowing that Damon could hear her very clearly.

"It's a dinner party to introduce the boyfriends to your friends, figured your future boyfriend should be here as well" Caroline whispered back.

Aria let out a forced chuckle, "I'm going to kill you".

"No, you're not" Caroline said, breaking the hug, "You love me too much".

"Hope you don't mind that I tagged along with Caroline" Damon told Aria.

"No, no, not at all" Aria quickly said.

Caroline smiled and nudged Aria with her shoulder, in return Aria stepped on Caroline's foot, "Ow!".

Before Aria and Caroline could continue, Stefan walked up to the door and immediately he was shocked seeing Damon here, "What are you doing here?".

"Waiting for Aria to invite me in" Damon replied, looking at Aria.

"Oh yeah sorry, you can--".

"No, no, no" Stefan interrupted, "He can't--he can't stay"

Aria looked between the two brothers in confusion, there it was again, the tension.

"Can you, Damon?" Stefan asked, causing Damon to stare at him.

"Get in here" Caroline insisted.

"We're just finishing up" Stefan clarified.

"We still have dessert, Stefan" Aria said, turning to Damon, "So, come on in Damon".

Damon smirked looking at Stefan, he then stepped into the house, "You have a beautiful home, Aria".

"Thank you" Aria replied, smiling at Damon, while Caroline tried really hard not to squeal in excitement.

***

"I cannot believe that Mr Tanner let you on the team" Caroline chuckled, "Tyler must be seething, but good for you, go for it".

"That's what I always tell him, you have to engage" Damon said, "You can't just sit and wait for life to come, you have to go get it".

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today, it's only because you missed summer camp, I don't know how you're ever gonna learn the routine" Caroline said, "Aria knew all the routine as I taught her whenever she visited my house".

"My savior" Aria said to Caroline, "And don't worry me and Bonnie will work with Elena, she will eventually get it".

"I guess we can put her in the back" Caroline said, making Aria shake her head at her.

"You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena" Damon said.

"It's just because her parents died" Caroline said, causing Aria to suddenly go stiff, a movement not gone unnoticed by Damon, "Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase, she used to be way more fun".

Both Bonnie and Elena looked towards Aria, they both know she was the one who was most effected by the Gilbert parents death, and whenever anyone mentioned their death Aria would lose it.

Aria's hold on her cup was so tight that her knuckles were going white, Damon frowned seeing Aria like that.

"Hey Aria, you okay?" Damon asked, genuinely concerned, making Stefan look at him in suspicion.

Aria suddenly stood up, "I, um, am going to go do the dishes", seeing Elena and Bonnie also about to get up, "Don't follow me".

After Aria left, Bonnie turned to Caroline, "Caroline".

Realising her mistake, "I meant it with complete sensitivity" Caroline said, regretting hurting her best friend.

***

While Aria was loading up the dishwasher, Damon walked up to her.

"One more" Damon said, showing Aria the glass.

Aria gave Damon a small smile, "Thank you", Aria went to grab the glass, but it slipped, luckily Damon caught it, making Aria laugh, "Nice catch".

"Nice laugh" Damon said, winking at Aria, "I like you, you know how to laugh, and you and Elena make Stefan smile which is something I haven't seen in a very long time".

"Hey um, earlier did you mean Katherine?" Aria asked, having heard Damon talk about the people he and Stefan lost.

"Mm-hm" Damon said, grabbing the plate from Aria and putting it in the dishwasher.

"How did she die?" Aria asked, a curious tone in her voice.

"In a fire, tragic fire" Damon informed.

"Recently?" Aria asked.

"It seems like it was yesterday" Damon replied.

"What was she like?" Aria asked, wanting to know more about Katherine.

A thoughtful expression came over Damon's face, "She was beautiful, a lot like you in that department, she was also very complicated and selfish, and at times not very kind but very sexy and seductive".

Aria looked at Damon keenly, "So which one of you dated her first?" Aria asked, handing Damon another plate.

Damon chuckled, "Nicely deduced, ask Stefan, I'm sure his answer differs from mine" Damon said, closing the dishwasher, Aria nodded her head in understanding, realising that Damon wasn't comfortable to say anything else, so she just let it go and went on to folding the table cloths, Damon walked over to her and sat on a chair and started helping Aria, "You should tell Elena to quit cheerleading".

"What why?" Aria asked confused.

"Oh, I saw her at practice, she looked miserable" Damon replied.

"You saw that to?" Aria asked, "I thought I was the only one".

"You however, are an excellent cheerleader" Damon praised.

Aria smiled at Damon, "Why thank you good sir, I try my best", Aria suddenly stopped folding the cloths and looked at Damon, "I'm sorry", Damon looked at Aria in confusion, not knowing why she was apologising, "If my deduction skills are correct, then Katherine was someone you loved, and you lost her, so I'm sorry".

Damon looked at Aria, at this moment he wanted nothing more to tell Aria about Natalie, but he knew with Stefan being nearby it wasn't the right time, so instead he simply gave her a small nod, Damon and Aria stared at each other for a moment, both wondering why was a person they just met suddenly effecting them so much.

"Hey, need some help?" Bonnie asked, entering the kitchen and breaking Damon and Aria's little staring contest.

"Sure, why not?" Damon asked, giving Bonnie a forced smile, clearly not happy with her presence, but neither Bonnie or Aria realised that.

***

Next night, Aria gathered with all the other cheerleaders, minus Elena who quit the team, and cheered for Timberwolves for their game tonight.

"Let's be honest here, in the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us" Mr Tanner said into the microphone, everyone in the crowed started booing hearing Mr Tanner's words, "But this is about to change", everyone cheer, "We've got some great new talent tonight starting on offense and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these, let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!", Aria and the other cheerleaders cheered and clapped for Stefan, "--that have been waiting for us to put a check in the win column I have only one thing to say to you, we're Timberwolves, we're hungry", the crowd to abrupt into loud cheers.

Suddenly everyone heard someone fighting, Aria looked around confused, wondering who was fighting, she followed everyone to see what was happening, as Aria ran up to the commotion, she was shocked seeing it was Tyler and Jeremy that were fighting.

Stefan ran up to Tyler and held his hand to stop him from hitting Jeremy again, "Hey, he's down, enough".

Tyler turned around and punched Stefan in the stomach but he didn't even flinch, causing Aria to frown.

Elena ran up the commotion just as Jeremy picked up the broken glass bottle and went to attack Tyler.

"Jeremy no!" Aria and Elena yelled simultaneously.

Stefan pushed Tyler out of the way, which caused Jeremy to instead cut Stefan's hand.

Both Elena and Aria ran to Jeremy, "What the hell, Jeremy?!" Elena yelled.

"Are you okay Jer?" a worried Aria asked.

Elena grabbed Jeremy's head and tilted it upwards, "Put your head up, you're bleeding".

"I'm fine" Jeremy said, pushing Elena off of him.

"Yeah, you smell fine" Elena retorted.

"Just stop, okay?" Jeremy said, frustrated with Elena.

"Jeremy" Aria said, grabbing his hand.

Jeremy ripped his hand away from Aria, and pushed her back into Elena, "Stop!".

Elena helped Aria stand up straight, "You okay?".

Aria nodded, after making sure Aria was okay, Elena ran to Stefan, "Oh my god, your hand".

"No, no, no, it's fine" Stefan said, quickly hiding his hand from Elena.

"Is it deep?" Elena said, grabbing Stefan's hand, "How bad is it?".

"Come on" Elena said, when Stefan won't show her his injury, when Stefan finally opened his hand both Aria and Elena were shocked when they saw no injury, "But I saw it, it was--".

"He missed" Stefan said, "It's not my blood", Stefan rubbed his hand against his pants, getting rid of the blood, and showed his hand to Elena, "See? I'm fine".

"No, no, no, I saw it" Elena said, extremely confused, "The glass cut your hand--".

"It's okay, I'm okay" Stefan said, "It's almost kickoff time, all right? So I'll see you after the game".

After Stefan left, Aria slowly walked up to a confused and shocked Elena, "Elena I swear to god Jeremy cut his hand".

"I know Aria, I saw it to" Elena said.

Both Elena and Aria looked at Stefan's retreating figure in confusion, both not understanding what just happened, but the bad feeling that Aria had decided to not think much about suddenly became strong again.

***

After the confusing events that had happened tonight, Aria decided to distract herself through cheerleading, she didn't want to think about anything anymore, the more she thought about it, the more bad her headache got, and she didn't want that so she decided to just forget about it.

While Aria was standing with the other cheerleaders, a worried Elena walked up to her.

"Elena, what are you doing here?" Aria asked confused.

"Aria can I ask you a question?" Elena asked, "And you give me a really serious no-joke response?".

"Of course, what is it?" a confused Aria asked.

"The bad feeling" Elena said, "When you touched Stefan and you had that reaction--".

"Forget about that, Elena" Aria said, not wanting to speak about the horrible feeling she got from Stefan, she didn't want to speak about it because the feeling scared the shit out of her, "I was just having a bad day, that's it, nothing else".

"No Aria seriously, what was it?" Elena asked, "Did you see something, or--?".

Aria sighed, she knew Elena wasn't going to let it go till she got her answers, "It wasn't a clear picture, like today I keep seeing those same numbers me and Bonnie told you about 8, 14, 22".

"Yeah?" Elena asked, gesturing for Aria to go on.

"When I touched Stefan, it was a feeling, and it vibrated through me, and it was cold, and--" Aria hesitated to continue, she was terrified to admit what she felt.

"And what Aria?" Elena asked, insisting for Aria to go on.

"It was death" Aria said, finally coming to terms with the feeling she felt from Stefan, "It's what I imagine death to feel like".

***

After speaking with Elena, Aria's headache just got a hundred times worse, so she decided to go to her car and get some aspirin.

Grabbing the aspirin, Aria turned around but gasped seeing Damon standing behind her with his usual smirk on his face, "Holy!" she yelled, holding her chest "You scared me, what are you even doing here Damon?".

"Checking up on you" Damon replied.

Aria looked at Damon in confusion, "Checking up on me?".

"I saw that boy push you, are you okay?" Damon asked.

"Oh" Aria whispered, realising Damon was talking about Jeremy, "You saw that?".

Damon nodded his head, "That's Jeremy, right?" he asked, "The boy you're in love with?".

Aria looked at Damon in slightly shock, "Who told you?".

"Caroline" Damon replied.

"I really need to tape her mouth shut" Aria whispered.

"Personally, I don't think he deserves you" Damon stated.

"You don't know him" Aria retorted.

"And does he know you?" Damon asked, "The real you?".

"I'm pretty sure, other than Caroline, no one knows the real me" Aria stated.

"But is he willingly to try to know you?" Damon asked, "From where I'm standing, his a dick, who doesn't realise what he has, let him go".

"Letting go isn't that easy" Aria whispered.

"Trust me, I know" Damon whispered, a distant look on his face as he remembered something, "But sometimes it's for the best".

Aria looked at Damon, a curious look on her face, "Will you let go of Katherine?".

Damon looked at Aria, he then took a step closer to her, causing Aria to take a step back, they continued this till Aria was trapped between her car and Damon.

Damon lifted his hand and pushed a strand of hair behind Aria's ear, he hand then lingered on her cheek, "If I find someone who can make my cold hearted beat again, then absolutely".

For a moment both Damon and Aria stared at each other, they then slowly started to lean in, however before their lips could touch, Aria put her hands on Damon's chest, stopping him from leaning any further, "I'm sorry Damon, but this is too soon for me".

Though disappointed, Damon nodded his head in understanding and took a step back from Aria, after giving Damon one last glance, Aria turned to leave but before she could Damon grabbed her arm and pulled her against him harshly, he leaned closer to her ear, making Aria close her eyes tightly, "Don't ignore the feeling you get whenever me and Stefan touch you Aria, find out what it means, find out what we are".

When Aria no longer felt Damon's touch, she opened her eyes to see herself standing at the parking lot all by herself, even though Damon was no longer here, his touch and words had left a huge imprint in Aria's mind.

"What the hell did he mean?" a confused Aria whispered to herself.

***

After her moment with Damon, Aria quickly rushed away to go find Caroline and inform her about everything, but as she was looking for Caroline, she suddenly came across a crime scene.

A shocked and shaken Aria looked at the crime scene infront of her, the police were taking Mr Tanner's body away, Aria looked around the scene, her eyes stopping at the number eight on the building, the number fourteen on a car plate, and the number twenty two painted on the floor.

Immediately breathing seemed difficult for Aria, she knew she was on a verge of a panic attack and there was no Caroline nearby to help her, Aria didn't want to admit that she predicted Mr Tanner's death, before it even happened.

As Aria stumbled back, she nearly fell to the ground but before she could two hands grabbed her.

"Aria" Aria heard someone call out her name, but she couldn't tell who it was.

"Oh my god, Aria!" another voice called out, "Damon, she's having a panic attack, we have to get her out of here".

Damon, who was the person that saved her from falling, quickly picked Aria up in his arms and proceeded to take her towards his car, "Come on Aria, breathe".

"I--I can't--I--" Aria cried.

"Shh, I've got you" Damon assured.

***

Damon carefully laid a now sleeping Aria on to Caroline's bed, while they were in the car, Caroline, who was with them, had managed to calm Aria down but the panic attack had exhausted Aria causing her to fall asleep very quickly.

"How long has she been having these?" Damon asked Caroline, sitting on the side and staring at Aria.

Caroline walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down, "Since she saw her parents dead bodies when she was just ten".

Damon looked at Caroline, "And you're the only one who can calm her down?".

Caroline nodded her head, "Me and Aria have been attached to the hip since we were babies, we understand each other more than anyone in this world".

Damon nodded his head in understand, "Why did she have a panic attack tonight?".

"Mr Tanner's body might have triggered something, I guess" Caroline replied, making Damon feel slightly guilty, knowing he was the cause of Tanner's death.

"Well, um, I should go before you mom gets here" Damon said, standing up from the bed.

Caroline nodded her head, Damon turned to leave, "Thank you" Caroline said, making Damon turn and look at her in confusion, "You didn't run away after seeing Aria have a panic attack, most people do, they claim that they don't know what to do, not understanding that if they just stayed and supported Aria, it would make a huge difference".

"Take of care of her" Damon simply said, not knowing what else to say.

"I always do" Caroline assured, after giving Caroline a small nod and glancing at a sleeping Aria, Damon finally walked away, once she heard the door shut, Caroline looked at her best friend, "He's definitely the one for you, Aria".

***

Presenting 1x03 of Cold Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts Aria and Bonnie warning Elena about Stefan?

Thoughts on Aria being vary of Stefan?

Thoughts on Caroline inviting Damon to the dinner party with her?

Thoughts on Damon and Aria's nearly kiss moment?

Published: 23rd August 2020
Edited: 31st January 2024