Written 2012 by VeGirl

"Damon, you're not dressed yet!" Stefan and Elijah met us later that afternoon, and I noticed they were all dressed up.

He cursed. "I have had other things on my mind." He smiled at me and I blushed. "Emma, how fast can you get ready for a party?" Damon asked.

"Sophisticated!" Elijah commented.

Stefan just snorted, "Wow, slick move!"

Damon rolled his eyes and asked me again. "Emma would you like to accompany me to the founders party this evening?"

I looked surprised at him. "But I'm not even from this town... I'm just visiting."

"I'm from this town and I can bring a date if I want to." He seemed irritated. "So how fast can you get ready?"

"Stop snorting at me!" He was in a bad mood and it rubbed off on me. "I need to know how formal this event is supposed to be; I didn't bring my entire closet, you know."

"Oh, look at the time, it's well overdue for a drink, don't you think, Elijah." Stefan smiled and they left us to deal with our discussion.

I pulled out my phone while glaring at Damon. "Elena, I need help!"

By the time I got out of the shower, wrapped up in one of Damon's luscious towels, she arrived.

"Elena!"

"Towel-girl," she replied and we both snickered, fully aware that I knew that line's origin.

"Please, what am I supposed to wear for this party? You look beautiful, by the way!" She really did, with her gorgeous brown hair flattened and in a short champagne coloured dress, both slim and billowing with a v-neck and spaghetti-straps. It complimented her figure perfectly.

"Come on; let's see what you've got." She rummaged through my clothes while I put make up on and dried my hair. I thanked my lucky star for my natural curls that held perfectly even though I'd blow-dried my hair.

First she only found jeans and tops, since I wasn't a dress kind of girl, the first dress she found was a black; a really low v-neck chiffon dress and she shook her head. It was more of a club-hopping wear. I hadn't really expected to go on a founders party in Mystic Falls as much as clubbing in Covington, Georgia. Finally she held out a slim blue dress with a round neck and no sleeves. It was short and had cut out details on the lower part of the dress, with a chiffon layer on top.

"You should definitely have this one! It's the same colour as your eyes." I hurried to get it on and that was just the moment Stefan called for Elena.

"Thank you for all help." I hugged her and she left as I put on a pair of strappy high heels and took out a small clutch for a lip-gloss and some other lifesaving equipment.

When I got downstairs Damon stood waiting for me, all dressed up in a suit and dark grey shirt. "Excuse me miss, have you seen my Emma?"

I slapped him playfully on the arm and he snickered and kissed my cheek. "You look fabulous, that blue colour dress really make your eyes say; look at me."

I smiled shy and mumbled a 'thanks'. He offered his arm and we walked to his car and headed for the party.

A lot of people had already arrived at the Lockwood Mansion when we got there and walked up the front stairs to greet the hostess. I thought about that last time I had been to this estate, with the vampire stalkers; I liked this event much better. Anna flickered through my mind though, and I wished she had been there.

"Damon!" I looked up at the voice and recognized Tyler's mom, the Mayor immediately.

"Carol!" Damon dropped my arm, took a step closer to her and kissed her on the cheek. "You look smashing!"

"Oh, Damon..." She snickered with false modesty.

Damon was by my side again; his arm around my back. "I'd like to introduce you to Emma, my girlfriend."

My eyebrows flew up in surprise and a smile spread on my face. I reached my hand to Carols. "It is so nice to meet you, Mrs Lockwood."

"Oh, please, call me Carol. I feel so old when they say that." She smiled warm and genuine at me. "It would be different if you were my son's age. But you're...?" Her question was left hanging.

"I'm older than your son Carol," I chuckled. "I'm actually a history teacher," I explained.

"Oh, lovely! I hope you'll enjoy the party; this is a town with a rich history." After that, we left for her to welcome other guests.

"So... I'm your girlfriend now?" I muttered quietly as we went into the house. "Aren't you supposed to ask first?" I commented with suppressed laughter.

"Since you have put up residence in my bed; ergo!" he simply said and held me close to him.

I snickered. "She still doesn't know that you're a...?" I didn't want to say the word vampire out loud in a house where people was looking for vampires.

"Carol and Liz knows," Damon revealed and that was all we said on the matter.

Inside the house they had just like earlier parties, a collection of historical items from the founding families. Even though I grew up in a country with such a long history, it was still almost a religious feeling to walk into the room with all the old artefacts on display. I stopped by the guest registry for the inaugural founder's council, eager to read Damon and Stefan's names from 1864.

"Yes, I'm slightly older than Tyler," Damon whispered in my ear.

I snickered quiet. "It's kind of gross," I whispered back.

"But you're twenty-five? I'm only twenty-four," he stated.

"I would say 'Bite me', but..."

"Just say when," he replied in such a flirtatious way, that it should definitely have been about something completely different than sucking the life out of me.

"Damon, Emma; hi." Elena's voice made us turn and watch her, Stefan and Elijah walk in and meet us. "You look amazing Emma," Elena said and hugged me.

"Thank you; it's all your work," I replied while twisting discretely with a smile on my face.

"Good evening Emma, you look astonishing." Elijah kissed me on my cheek. "Very posh frock."

"Thank you!" I smiled and curtsied slightly. "And you; dressed to the nines with the dj." I gave his suit an appreciative look.

"You better stop, or your boyfriend might think you're flirting with me." He smiled and crocked an eyebrow.

"I'm really more for the younger guys," I whispered and Elijah laughed out loud.

Since we already had studied all the founders' items in the room, we went outside and left our three friends for a while.

"So, you're looking for a younger guy?" Damon whispered as he saw me gaze around.

I laughed. "I think around two-hundred is my limit, so you're okay for another twenty-five years or so," I said and kissed his cheek.

He smiled and we started to mingle. There were a lot of people who knew Damon, and he introduced me to quite a few of them. Everyone were really nice.

Alaric came up to us; he was by now also a member of the counsel of this town. "Hi Emma." He kissed my cheek. "Nice to see that you're still alive."

Damon glared at him.

"Hi Rick! It must be a good day, Damon hasn't killed you today." I smiled.

"Yet!" both Alaric and I filled in since we guessed it coming. We laughed and Damon looked annoyed.

"I think it's time for us to get something to eat now," Damon said sourly and cut Alaric of. He took my hand and dragged me along to the generous buffé-table that was set up on the patio. We picked up plates with delicious finger food and mingled with our wine glasses among the other people in this beautiful garden. We barely noticed the curious looks from people around, as we laughed when Damon was putting little pieces of food in my mouth.

I had a wonderful time.

Elena, Stefan and Elijah joined us and Caroline came with Tyler to talk to us for a while. Caroline seemed to bit by bit start to trust that I wasn't here to cause trouble.

There was a dance floor out in the garden and when the sun set, all the lights in the garden lit up; it was almost a magical feeling. Damon and I went to the dance floor, and with his arms around me, we moved in beat with the slow music.

I saw Elena and Stefan actually sharing moments on the dance floor, and I was so glad to see things getting better for the two of them.

Alaric came by and asked Damon to come to the council meeting. I felt a bit abandoned, but Elijah was soon by my side, asking me for a dance. He was so correct and polite, that he swept me off my feet a bit. I almost tingled as he led me to the dance floor and put his arm around me.

We had danced for a little bit when he leaned very close and whispered. "Am I scaring you? You need to calm down," he said slowly.

I let out a little nervous laughter. "I'm sorry. No, not scared, but you're making me a bit nervous," I revealed and he laughed.

"Just a little bit?" He snickered. "So... how high does your pulse go when you're really nervous?" he asked with a challenging smile.

I laughed. "I'm sorry! Damon said something about meditation-training to lower my heart-rate," I joked, making him laugh. We danced in silence for a little while.

"So you were friends with my sister, you said?"

"Yes, we studied in Oxford together," I replied smiling, relieved for something to discuss. "But I had no idea that she was a..." I looked around at all the people around who didn't know a bit about vampires.

"Post-graduate?" Elijah suggested and I exhaled relieved.

"Exactly!" I said smiling. He was really good at serving appropriate lines, I guess he had long time to practice. "She was really fun to be around, nothing like the scheming girl I've got to know now." I frowned. "But I guess we all have a need to get away from our ordinary life once in a while." I was of course thinking about my own life.

Elijah looked considerate at me. "You are quite smart for such a young girl." He smiled and I laughed.

"Well, I have got myself a whole new prospective on aging."

I could feel Elena's curious look at us, but Stefan had of course heard every word of our conversation. Surprisingly I found myself not caring about that, I didn't have anything more to hide.

Damon showed up and Elijah thanked me for the dance with a polite bow and left us.

"So, did you miss me? It looked like you had a nice time with gramps'." He put his arms around me and kissed me.

"No need to be rude, my dear. Like I said before, around two-hundred years is my limit."

"Good."

I glanced around and saw a lot of people watching us. Many of them looked like they feared that he was going to attack me right there and then. "So, people around us seem to be waiting for me to find out what you are?"

"Gorgeous?"

"No, they already know that, sweetie."

"You're such a charmer, but you just want to get in my pants, don't you?" he whispered in my ear.

I just glared at him, but then I started to think about him and his well fitted pants and maybe there was a slightly dazed look on me, because he started to chuckle.

"Is it time to go home?" He had such a smirk on his face I rolled my eyes. But when I started to think about him and me, naked between the sheets, I glanced up at him and bit my lower lip.

That was the answer he needed. He took my hand and we left the party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope you like it!
/VeGirl.

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