(1) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Seven

Elena closes the Gilbert house door as she and Cassandra leave for school. It was a long night for both of them. Elena spent most of it talking with Stefan. Cassandra let her guilt eat her up. She is still bothered by her thoughts on Vicki the night before.

"I thought you would be happy about this" Elena points out as they head down the porch steps. Elena waves to where Bonnie is waiting in her car, Bonnie waves back.

"Yeah, I thought I would be too" Cassandra agrees. "But turns out that I'm not a monster" She adds, Elena gives her a look. "I hate her, Elena, but not enough to want her to be attacked" Elena gives her a small smile, because that is so Cassandra. She never hated anyone before, and even now, the person she hates, Cassandra is still a good enough person to not want to see that person hurt. It says a lot about her character. "It's Tyler I'm mad at anyway....it was his dick that went into her vagina" Elena snorts out a laugh and shakes her head. "And I get it, it takes two to....you know...have hardcore sex, but...yeah, he has most of my rage..." She digs out her keys and shrugs. "I'll see you at school" She offers, veering off to her jeep whilst Elena hurries to Bonnie's car.

.....

Cassandra turns the car key in the ignition of her jeep. It clunks. Loudly. Almost as if it is dying. Before she stops, and the noise stops. She worries her lip before trying again. It groans and stutters but doesn't start. Cassandra slams her hands against the steering wheel of the jeep and lets out a frustrated noise. This is just what she needs. She's already going to be late for school. This is a nightmare. She leans forward and presses her head to the wheel before she pulls back and fumbles under the dash for the hood release. Then climbs out, adjusting her jacket as she moves around to the front of the jeep. She pushes open the hood of her jeep and then sighs as she peers down into the engine. She has no idea what she is doing. She knows nothing about cars. Absolutely nothing. This is usually something she would turn to her dad for. And she can't do that now. This is the first time her jeep has failed her following their death and she is stuck. She leans on the jeep and closes her eyes.

"Hey, car trouble?!" She jerks up a little and looks across at the source of the voice. Damon stands on the pavement with his hands in his pockets, watching her. He pulls a hand out and waves his fingers at her. She narrows her eyes at him.

"Urm...yeah, I guess" She answers and shrugs before turning back to the jeep. He moves closer to her.

"I can take a look if you want" He offers. "Do you know what you are doing?" He asks with a small smirk, she glares at him and then huffs, because no, she really does not know what she is doing here. "Let me see"

"No, thanks" She argues and pulls her cell phone from her pocket, she's going to need a mechanic not some stranger from the street.

"A mechanic is going to cost a fortune and will likely take time...." He tells her, seeing where she was going to go. "And I am right here....no charge..." She glances at him, trying to work out what the right thing to do is. He's not wrong about the mechanic. It is going to take time, and cost her money she doesn't have. She won't be able to afford to fix this. She lets out a breath.

"Urm...yeah" She answers, cautious and defensive. "Yeah, I guess so..." She shifts her weight on her feet and moves out of his way as he joins her, eyes moving to look into the jeep's engine.

"It's Cassandra, right?" He asks, she gives him a look. "Damon Salvatore" He offers. "My brother and your sister...kinda have a thing going.." She scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"For now" She mumbles under her breath as he looks down into the engine. He probably knows as much about cars as she does, but he knew that when he messed with her jeep. He wanted an excuse to talk to her. A ploy really. Stefan can get to know Elena, he can get to know Cassandra. No harm in it. But he knows it is definitely going to come out that he knows nothing about cars.

"I should probably tell you...that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing here" He admits, her eyes widen as he pulls back from the engine to look at her.

"Why didn't you say that to start with?" She argues, crossing her arms over her chest. Annoyance very clear in her voice, he shrugs back at her.

"You never actually asked" He points out with a look, she clenches her jaw and shakes her head, then looks down at her phone.

"I'm going to be so late" She complains as she types a text out to Elena to tell her what's going on. He should have done something to her jeep that was an easy fix, but he doesn't know cars like Stefan does. 

"My car's just down the road....I'll give you a ride" He offers, she glances over her shoulder at him and narrows her eyes a little. "It's five minutes" He adds.

"I don't know you" She counters. He shrugs.

"Well, what's the worst that can happen" He teases a little. She sighs. She has no other options. She taps her nail against the phone screen and then closes her eyes.

"Fine" She grits out of her teeth and turns to him. "Fine..." She adds. He nods and watches as she drops the hood on her jeep and leans into it to grab her bag, he smirks a little but schools it when she turns to him. "Let's go"