Andie woke up with a hammering head but the soothing scent of herbal tea made her startled. She peeled open her eyes to see Alyssa on a chair by her bed and she had made the tea for her so that she could recover from the terrible hangover.

"Thank you so much, sweetheart," she mumbled sitting up as she took the cup from her.

"You got very drunk last night," Alyssa asked in concern, "is everything alright?"

"Yeah... Just having troubles with my boyfriend again," the woman sighed, rubbing her throbbing temples, "I'm sorry I was such a mess."

"No it's okay. We're friends and I couldn't have left you alone in that state," she smiled slightly and Andie's eyes softened.

Her eyes were exactly like Damon's, she thought, but by nature she was nothing like the hotheaded Salvatore.

Her phone rang startling her and she was about to reach for it but Alyssa got to it first, eyes narrowing to see the caller ID.

"Is your boyfriend named Damon?" She asked skeptically letting the phone ring.

"Yeah. Let me talk to him, please."

She shook her head, "I'll talk to him. He has no right to make you feel so bad that you have to drown your worries in alcohol. You should have told me this sooner."

Her face drained of color and she tried to stop her, "Alyssa, you don't understand. He's not usually like this, he's going through a rough time too..."

But the young woman gestured her to be silent as she picked up the call.

"Andie," a deep voice sounded and she paused, feeling that she had heard that voice before, not once but many times.

But then she reminded herself of what she had to do as she spoke in a firm tone, "it's not Andie. And Mister Damon, whoever you may be, you have no right to make Andie feel so bad that she gets drunk to deal with the pain. If things are not working out between you two, you should end it instead of leeching on her toxically."

Damon had been stunned into silence, not expecting to be met with her voice instead. The word Melanie was right on the tip of his tongue but he swallowed it, not speaking up just yet.

He could hear Andie protesting in the background, trying to tell her that it wasn't as bad as she had assumed and Damon wasn't toxic to her. But everything else was fading into blankness as only her voice resonated in his head.

After so long, he had heard her say something to him directly, although she no longer remembered who he was.

"She's my friend and I can't see her destroy herself for a man who doesn't deserve her. So unless you can prove yourself worthy of staying with her, you are very welcome to leave."

He took in a deep breath to keep his voice steady as he spoke up, "I think you've misunderstood. Can you put it on speaker? I have to talk to her."

Alyssa did as she was told but it was clear that she wasn't buying his excuse.

"Andie," Damon's voice sounded from the speaker of her phone and the woman straightened to listen, "I'm really sorry for being harsh to you. I know I've put you in a compromising situation but you've still stood by me. I promise I'll never do anything that worries you again."

Alyssa didn't know whether he was being sincere or just saying that because she was listening in. But the relief that spread on Andie's face to hear that made her relent.

It seemed as if she truly loved him and if that was the case, then Alyssa didn't want to be the cause of their breakup over a stupid misunderstanding.

"Can I pick you up for lunch tomorrow?"

"Sure," she replied eagerly, "I'll see you then."

The call disconnected and Alyssa gave her the phone back. But her eyes were focused on her suspiciously.

"You've never told me anything about him," she remarked.

Andie nodded, "I know and I should have... It's just that I didn't want to burden you with my personal life as well. You were just starting to get better so I didn't want to cause you any trouble."

She let go of the investigation at that remark but asked one thing that was bothering her. "Have we met before? I mean this Damon, he sounded very familiar..."

"No you haven't met him, he's shy," she came up with an excuse, "and very busy too. The main problem with us is our long-distance relationship. He can't leave his work and town while I can't leave my job here."

Something clicked in her head as she voiced out, "Does he by chance live in Mystic Falls?"

Andie was shocked to hear her make that connection. But she didn't give a reply to it.

"Have you had breakfast yet? We should fix something up together," she shakily got out of bed to head to the bathroom.

But the question that Alyssa asked next made her halt in her tracks.

"Andie, you're not keeping any secrets from me, are you?"

She took in a shaky breath, holding onto the wall for support. "Of course not, sweetie. Why would I lie to you?"

Alyssa wasn't convinced she was telling the truth but she spoke up, "I have started to trust you because you were the only friend I had when I was going through the worst time of my life. Please don't break that trust."

The words cut through her and she took in a deep breath as she turned to face her, "Aly, I value you as a close friend too. I promise I'll never do anything that could hurt you. I just want you to be safe and happy."

Her words were genuine, she could see that quite clearly. So she nodded her head and walked off to go out to the kitchen, "you can freshen up in the meantime I'll make us some pancakes. I'm going to the kitchen."

There were still a lot of questions on her mind regarding Damon, the suspiciously familiar boyfriend, and the locked room that held memories of her childhood.

But Andie wasn't in the right state to answer all those questions so she decided to ask her some other time.

***