It's in the way that she posed. It's in the things that she puts in my head.
Her stories are boring and stuff. She's always calling my bluff.
She puts the weights into my little heart,
And she gets in my room and she takes it apart.

.

.

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January 1, 1956
The Falls

As the party begins to wind down, I walk away from Jeremy's corner since he's clearly occupied with a couple of skirts. And frankly, I'm just not in the mood for that sorta thing. Ever since my fling with Isobel, I've been put off by making out with randoms. I firmly stand by opinion that Isobel is plain as day crazy. Unfortunately, this armpit of a little town is cursed with girls that don't respect personal space; yuck, I hate getting with a girl in front of everybody. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around, that guys like me were the fast ones.

Lately, I find myself wondering what it would be like to go with other types, you know, girls that wear decent length dresses and don't swear too much. It would be nice to meet a girl like the nurses that I met during the war. Now, they were cute and made me feel good.

Dare I say it, could a square hold my interest? I don't know. The only squares I ever see regularly are Stefan's teammates and Jeremy's sister. Jeremy's sister, Elena, she's a pretty kid, but I can't seem to figure her out. I always see her running out of the house in all types of fancy outfits. She must be pretty popular in town or whatever. I shrug off the thought, because even considering to go out with my best friend's kid sister is a bad idea. Plus, she's practically jailbait, like she's gotta be no more than sixteen.

I continue walking until I grab a beer out of the ice chest. The temperature has been dropping, so all of the beers are still cold even though the ice has long ago melted. It's been a chilly New Year's and I'm surprised it didn't snow. I thought it usually did this time of year. I was hoping to see some, since this is my first winter in Virginia. In Atlanta, pigs are more likely to fly than to wake up to a white Christmas.

I casually sip my beer while I walk around the falls. I greet a few people with a nod, but I mostly keep to myself. My ears are still ringing from doing the countdown earlier. I had to wipe loads of lipstick off my face, it wasn't pleasant. I'm starting to regret not driving out here myself. Because at the moment, I'm stuck here, since I came with Jeremy.

"Did you see his face when I said that?" I hear a girl playfully exclaim in the distance. She's laughing, her laugh is an infectious sound and I look around wondering where it's coming from.

I see the laughing girl clinging to a guy's back as they sprint past me in a blur toward the bridge. She's squealing saying that she'll kill him if he drops her. There's something about her that's got me interested. I growl, assuming she has a boyfriend, meaning I won't get the chance to chat her up.

"Logan! You can put her down now!" A girl with auburn hair and a yellow bird mask says approaching them on the bridge.

The couple laugh as he sets down the Mystery Girl.

The girl with auburn hair begins to make out with the guy. Huh - I guess I was mistaken about the Mystery Girl having a boyfriend.

I watch Mystery Girl as she runs to greet the other squares on the bridge. She's definitely a square too, judging by her fancy blue dress and mask, it looks like she just got here from celebrating the countdown at the Lockwood masquerade. I didn't attend the masquerade because Jeremy said it was full of phonies and catty girls. When I asked Jeremy why he allowed Tyler to work at the shop and be in the gang, he explained that Tyler was nothing like his parents. Rumor has it that Tyler has the worst life at home out of all of us. Well, I can sympathize with the kid in that respect after dealing with beatings from my own old man for so many years.

With a grimace, I push away the bad memories and direct my attention back to the Mystery Girl. I can't stop watching her animated body as she converses. I look around to check if anyone from my group would miss me and I decide to walk closer to the bridge to hopefully find out her identity. I don't care if she's a square, she could be what I've been looking for.

She gets more and more beautiful as I get closer. As she happily talks and bobs her head, her chocolate brown curls toss around in the air. Her blue mask looks like some kinda bird. Her olive skin looks silky soft to the touch and from where I'm standing, I can tell she's shivering.

I watch as a square runs over to her and wraps a long black coat around her shoulders. He's apparently annoyed that she left it in his car. I squint in shock realizing it's my baby brother. I can't believe Stefan is lucky enough to spend time with such a spirited girl.

I try and look away, but I can't, instead I keep walking closer to the bridge - closer to the people that don't want anything to do with 'no good' types like me. I toss my finished bottle of beer in a trashcan.

The, no, Stefan's Mystery Girl is now completely covered by the coat. All I can see her is her beautiful curls and the blue mask. Stefan has his arms around her neck as if they were slow dancing. The scene is making me sick, now matter how illogical it may sound. It's not like I have any claim over the girl since she's with Stefan! But I know she's not his type at all. She's not sweet and docile. She's got a spirit and a fire in her that Stefan wouldn't know what to do with.

I continue to watch them talk, still in the same slow dance position. She's laughing hard again, I find it hard to believe that she finds Stefan that funny. I watch him move in for a kiss, but she turns her face away.

"Enough of that!" She exclaims. "I wanna play a game!" She runs down the bridge at a full sprint.

Stefan stands in the same spot looking completely startled. Like I said, Stefan doesn't know what to do with a girl like her. Now I'm not even sure if they're actually going together or not.

She walks to stand with a group of squares and grabs a large bottle of tequila, holding it in her hands. I hear various guys teasing her for being a lush and in response, she shoves then. It's actually quite hilarious to watch considering how tiny she is compared to the guys she's shoving. In the end, the guys settle her down and agree to play a drinking game.

"Whatever the Bee wants, the Bee gets." One of the guys says laughing, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

"Don't you forget it!" Mystery Girl says with a pointed finger.

All of the squares including my brother sit down on the bridge in a circle. There's eight people total.

I wonder which game they're going to play. Even though I gave up smoking, I would love to light up right now, so I would appear more inconspicuous. I'm starting to feel pathetic, standing out here, by myself and staring at the squares on the bridge. Regardless, my curiosity gets the better of me and I continue to walk closer until I can hear their conversation.

"Jenna, it's way too cold to play Blackjack." Mystery Girl protests with a pouty expression.

I wanna poke my eyes out as I watch Mystery Girl lick, what I is assume, salt off Stefan's wrist before she takes a shot of tequila. I'm quite impressed, for such a tiny girl, she didn't even flinch as the hard liquor hit her throat.

"What about questions?" Stefan suggests a drinking a game.

"When can I play the game?" Mystery Girl coos in appreciation, going along with the game.

The group sets up a shot of tequila for everyone and each player has to quickly continue the conversation by using only questions - no hesitations and no rhetorical questions.

Just as the game becomes interesting with more personal questions, my eye catches Jeremy stomping over to the bridge. By this point, I have no idea how long I've been standing over here. I assume he's coming to get me to leave, but he doesn't. Instead he passes me and goes to the bridge. He yanks up Mystery Girl by her forearm. I can hear him yelling and suddenly realize Mystery Girl is Elena. I'm shocked to learn that I've been watching her this entire time! I didn't recognize her because of the mask and curly hair. Her hair is usually styled straight.

"What the hell, Jenna?" Jeremy yells at the girl with auburn hair. He's going ape on her.

They get into a heated conversation about how Elena got to the falls.

"I don't care if you're my aunt, she's my sister!" Jeremy continues on. "How many times do I have to tell you to not bring her to parties?"

"Big Deal! Elena is safe and this is 'your' party, calm down. We're just having a good time." A square interrupts the conversation.

"Shut up, Logan." Jeremy replies.

"Don't tell my boyfriend to shut up!" Jenna says annoyed.

The entire time Elena stands to the side, she's simply amused with the saltshaker. She's clearly bombed. She probably doesn't even know what's going on.

Jeremy makes a move to grab her arm, but Stefan stops him. It looks like they're gonna fight and I know it's time for me to step in and help cool down the situation.

"Easy, easy." I say walking up to them.

"Damon?" Jeremy asks confused.

"How did you get here?" Stefan asks equally confused.

"I think it's time to go." I suggest in a firm voice.

"I'm not giving you a ride home." Stefan scoffs.

I roll my eyes. "Not you pea-brain." I say motioning to Jeremy.

I watch as Jeremy registers that Stefan is my little brother and he relaxes. They haven't exactly been introduced, but they've seen each other around.

"Jenna. I swear, this isn't over!" Jeremy warns.

"Whatever, loser." Jenna laughs and gives him the finger.

"You can't protect Elena forever." Logan chimes in. "It's better she does these type of things with us than with strangers." He shrugs casually.

"That's not what this is about." Jeremy replies roughly. "You're all a bunch of phonies. None of you even know her."

Jeremy simply glares at Elena. "I'm sure I'll find you an all-girl's Catholic boarding house, somewhere nice like upstate." He threatens in a whisper, grabbing Elena by the arm and dragging her in the direction of the car.

I follow behind them at a reasonable distance.

"People are gonna stop giving you breaks, Elena." Jeremy says. "You can't continue behaving like some kinda lush. That's not who you are and drinking isn't gonna bring her back."

Elena laughs in reply.

Jeremy grabs her more roughly in annoyance. "People don't remember that our mom died, they have their own lives to deal with. The rest of the world has moved on. You should try to."

Elena continues to laugh.

I would have never guessed that a girl like Elena would act out by drinking away her troubles. But I guess real grief, like losing a parent, can do that to anyone - I know better than anyone.

"You're not even listening to me, are you?" Jeremy asks aggravated.

As we approach Jeremy's car, Tyler appears out of nowhere. We stop in place to greet him. He doesn't look well and asks to spend the night at the Gilbert's. Jeremy shrugs and tells him to come along because we're leaving now.

In the car, Tyler rides shotgun, so I have the pleasure of sitting with Elena in the backseat. I watch her as she plays with something in her hand and squint to see that it's the saltshaker. She's been holding it this entire time.

Elena laughs and continues to lick the salt off her fingers. She hasn't said a word to any of us since we 'rescued' her from the bridge. It's like I'm not even sitting next to her in the car.

She sighs deeply and moves to remove the mask from her face. It gets tangled in her curls and in her drunken state, it becomes a serious frustration. I reach over to help her untie the band. My fingers work through her curls, a warm sensation fills me as I touch her.

As I slowly remove the intricate mask, my hands for a second touch her perfect skin and I take a breath, handing her the mask. She's staring at me with a serious expression on her face. I have no idea what she's thinking, but it's like she's not even the girl I was following around all night. Unconsciously, my thumb moves to wipe the salt off her lips, but she flinches away from me. I return to my seat feeling incredibly foolish. We've never even had one real conversation and here I am trying to touch her lips. But I couldn't help myself, she looks delicious while knowing this is dangerous territory. For the rest of the ride to the Gilbert house, I refuse to look at her and look out the window instead.

When we finally pull up to the driveway, Elena jumps out of the car and runs into the house without saying a word. Remarkably, she seems pretty sober now. I'm not sure how that's possible given the number of shots she's consumed, go figure she might have a high tolerance.

Hours later, I can't sleep because Tyler won't stop snoring and, oh yeah, I can't get Elena out of my head. I know it's ridiculous, but I have every frame from our 'moment' in the car replaying in my head. I wish I could will her out of my head, because I know it's wrong. You're not supposed to want your best friend's kid sister, this is doomed.

Feeling incredibly restless, I decide to go downstairs to get a glass of water. As I walk to the kitchen, I can see the faint glow of the refrigerator. I brace myself seeing Elena's legs, knowing she's in there. I walk up to her to say something, anything really, I just have to talk to her.

She sees me and screams bloody murder. I feel horrible for scaring her, it wasn't intentional.

"What's wrong with you? Sneaking up on me in the dark!" She exclaims with wide eyes, catching her breath.

"I thought you heard me come in." I say lamely, trying to not choke.

She rolls her eyes at me and digs through the refrigerator to get the bottle of orange juice. She shuts the door, places the bottle on the island and turns on the lights.

My eyes flutter at the sensation of the brightness and I look over to her. She's wearing a small shirt and boxers. Her hair is straight now. She looks incredibly different than a couple of hours ago. Yet now that I have the opportunity to really study her, I admit that she's too beautiful for her own good.

"Cute PJs." I say, followed by my best flirtatious smirk.

It falls flat.

She didn't even see the smirk.

She doesn't even see me.

She continues drinking her orange juice like I'm not in the kitchen with her.

And just like that… she places her glass in the sink and runs back upstairs.

I grumble, putting my elbows on the island feeling bummed out. I don't know what I'm thinking anymore. She isn't affected by my presence in the slightest. I even acted agreeable! So, now I'm gonna be stuck with trying to get her out of my head. I don't want to be gone for her, geez, I'm already losing sleep over her! I curse, turning off the kitchen lights and leave without getting the unimportant glass of water. It's gonna be a long night, most likely followed by a long day tomorrow. Damn.

.

She puts the weights into my little heart,
I said she puts the weights into my little heart.
She packs it away.
It's in the way that she walks.
Her heaven is never enough.

The End
1/1

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A/N: This is the prequel to "You Know I'm No Good" as narrated by Damon. Any mentions of Stelena were due to alcohol. They are platonic in the main story. Be Good & Review!

Song: Obstacle 1 by Interpol