Authors Note: Ok, this is my first fanfic ever so I'm quite nervous about it. It takes place after Damon kills Lexi in episode 1x08 in The Vampire Diaries. Peyton moves to Mystic Falls after she tells Brooke that she is in love with Lucas in Season 3 (but there isn't a Naley wedding).
Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters in either show. I also do not own the song Boston by Augustana, from which the chapter title is taken from a lyric in the song.
Damon was bored. Damon Salvatore didn't do bored. Stefan was still not talking to him since the night he confronted Damon about killing Lexi. But there was something else as well. An emotion he hadn't experienced for almost 150 years; the night Katherine died. If he wasn't mistaken it felt a lot like guilt. Deciding he couldn't stay in the house anymore, he grabbed his jacket while mentally deciding which bar he would hit first tonight.
When Peyton called her father saying she needed to leave Tree Hill for a while, his mind went into overdrive thinking about what had happened. Peyton was not the kind of person that ran from anything. Are you okay? Did something happen between you and Brooke? What about Lucas. Was he the cause of this sudden desire to leave? Truthfully, Peyton didn't know the main reason for her desire to leave Tree Hill. She grew up in this town; it was where she had her first kiss, her first love. But for as many good memories that Peyton had in Tree Hill, there were equally as many bad memories. This is where she lost her two mothers, her best friend and, she was slowly beginning to realize, herself. With a newfound resolution she posted the letters, the first addressed to Lucas and the second to Nathan and Haley's house and, packed her bags, jumped into the Comet and drove.
She had finally passed the signpost labelled "Mystic Falls" and drove slowly through the town, trying to find the address of the apartment her father had rented out for her indefinite stay. She instead managed to find a bar and considered her options. She could spend her first night unpacking her bags of clothes and belongings or spend the night having a couple of drinks to try to calm the nerves accompanying her decision of moving into a new town, starting a new school and making new friends all over again. With that she parked her car, leaving the keys in the ignition, and headed into the bar.
As Damon walked into the smoky bar, he looked around before his eyes settled on the girl sitting alone at the counter. She was wearing a black mini-skirt and simple white tank-top. Maybe this night wouldn't be so boring after all, he thought to himself before moving over to the bar, occupying the seat next to hers and ordering himself a drink. For the first time he looked at her properly; she had legs that seemed to go on forever, wild blonde curly hair and stunning emerald green eyes. She was beautiful, undeniably, but there was something else about her. He felt drawn to her.
Deciding he was done just staring, he introduced himself. "I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore". She took one long look at him before going to back to drinking. "I said…" Damon started again.
"I heard. I'm not interested." She replied. She had already decided that she was not going to get involved with anyone, especially not someone as good looking as this guy. Hot guys, experience taught her, were not the nice guys.
Well, this girl is going to be fun. "I don't think you understand. You are interested." He started again, determined not to give up. "Me, I'm a catch. I guarantee that I'm going to be taking you home tonight".
"Excuse me?" she replied, shocked by his cocky attitude. And she thought that Nathan used to be arrogant…
"I mean come on, I'm hot and funny." He then gave his signature Damon smirk.
"You are not as funny as you think you are, Damon Salvatore". Peyton replied, looking into his eyes. This was when the alarm bells started ringing for her. He had the most mesmerizingly blue eyes she had ever seen, and Peyton was all too aware of the last blue-eyed guy that she had fallen for. Walk away, Peyton, she thought to herself.
Damon laughed at her slip-up. "Ah, so you do think that I'm hot?"
She laughed in spite of herself, he definitely was good. "Oh, you were being serious, see I thought that was the joke." She smirked at him, raising her eyebrows waiting for his reply.
He grinned, holding her gaze for what she felt was forever, before turning to the bartender ordering them both a drink. "So are you new in town, Kate?" he asked, handing this mysterious, extremely intriguing girl her drink.
"I just got here today. And it's not Kate." She said, turning to face him subtly; of course she was interested in him, but she wasn't about to let him know that.
"Do you have any family here…Kendra?"
"No and not even close, Damon Salvatore." She paused, before continuing. "I moved here from this small town in North Carolina, called Tree Hill. My dad recommended I move to Mystic Falls, because he used to live here when he was a kid and so he rented an apartment for me and I enrolled at Mystic Falls High School and start on Monday".
"Well, I'm sure that you will have a very good time here." He smiled at her and she had to admit that he was even more attractive than she first thought.
Several hours later, and Damon learned about her family, interests, her quirky albeit freakishly close-knit town and still he was no closer to a name.
"Can I ask you a question Damon Salvatore?"
He also noticed that every now and then she would address him using his full name, as if to boast at her knowing his name, and he had to admit it was working. He had never met someone who so persistently rejected his flirty attempts and he had definitely never worked so hard to find out a girls name. Most times they were practically begging him to take them back to their place. This girl was refreshing.
"Go ahead, Kaitlin"
"Who was she?" Upon seeing his face full of confusion, she elaborated. "So far every time that you have guessed my name, you've guessed names that begin with K; Kaitlin, Kiki, Kylie and my personal favourite Kristin… So I was just wondering who she was." Now he was averting her eyes, which means that she definitely must have hit a nerve. "I have to say I have heard a lot of names that start with K, and the only obvious one that you haven't said yet is Katherine." She finished, looking up at him, questioningly. At this, he looked up at her, giving her one of the most intense stares she had ever seen. For a second, she almost felt like she had crossed a line, until Damon began to grin again. "Observant."
"Did you love her?" She asked intrigued by the suddenly more withdrawn Damon she was witnessing tonight.
"Yes". He was almost regretting coming out tonight. He did not want to be reminded of Katherine. Not tonight, not any night.
"What happened?" Peyton asked, hoping not to be probing too far.
"She died. In a fire, it was all very dramatic".
"I'm sorry, Damon" She replied.
"I don't need your pity" he said looking at her with tortured eyes that she knew all too well.
"It's not pity, Damon. I just… I know what its like to lose somebody you love." He looked at her and realised what she had realised just a few moments before; they were both tortured, lonely souls. Looking into her eyes, he realized that he had had enough of the flirty banter; the only thing that was on his mind was kissing her. His eyes lingered on her eyes before moving to her lips and then back to her eyes. Before he could do anything else, she broke their gaze looked at her watch.
"It's almost 2am… It's late. I should get going" She whispered, still unable to get his eyes out of her mind, even as she was finishing her drink and getting up from her seat to leave.
"Wait, let me drop you off." He said grabbing her arm, whilst both of them tried to ignore the sparks that were ignited from skin to skin contact. "Look, you still haven't found your apartment and like you said it's late, I can help you. I can help you with your bags and then I'll leave…Scouts Honour" He finished, grinning at her. She smiled at him, replying "You were never a Scout. They definitely wouldn't suit you".
"And Kristin doesn't suit you". She smiled, and nodded permission. Ok, so she was inviting him back, but she definitely was not going to invite him in…
Once they arrived at her apartment and Damon had finished unloading her bags from the car, she opened the door and stepped inside, carelessly shoving the bags on the sofa. Hello new home, she thought to herself.
She turned to find Damon waiting outside her door, leaning against the door frame of the apartment opposite to hers.
"Do you want to come in?" She asked looking up at him, expectantly.
He grinned, and began to follow her, thinking how this had actually been a little too easy. So much for the thrill of the chase, he thought to himself.
"What are you doing?" Peyton asked, slightly taken aback.
Damon was thoroughly confused; maybe this girl wasn't as mentally sane as he had naturally assumed. "You said…" He began.
"I asked you if you wanted to come in, I didn't say that you could…" She said, grinning at him in a way that he could only describe as hot and equally irritating.
Damon smirked, completely impressed by her. He turned to leave, deciding that maybe this whole pursuit thing wasn't for him.
"It's Peyton." He turned to look at her. "My name…Peyton Sawyer."
"Peyton", he said more to himself than her, "I would never have guessed that."
"You know, just because you know my name, it doesn't mean that anything else is going to happen between us" she said, hoping that she sounded surer than she felt about what she had just said.
"Sweetheart, I told you I would be taking you home tonight. Trust me when I say, there is a lot more that's going to be happening between us".
She laughed. "Unbelievable! You spent the entire night trying to find out my name, and then when I tell you, you decide that I'm sweetheart?"
He smiled at her and took one last long look into her eyes. "Good night, Peyton Sawyer."
"Good night Damon." She smiled and closed the door on him and spent the rest of the night trying to get his eyes out of her mind.
Okay, so that was the first chapter. In the next chapters I will be introducing more characters. Please review if you would like to give me any feedback or if you have any questions about the story so far. xx