you and me, forever.

10. Tension

The past two weeks had been action packed, to say the least. Klaus had realized that Elena's blood was the key to making hybrids, and almost bled her dry because of it. Tyler had been his first successful hybrid, causing lots of concern for Caroline and her boyfriend, and Katie concerned for her sisters safety. Klaus had fled to find more werewolves, leaving Stefan behind to guard his human blood bank, Elena. Most shockingly, Katherine had called Stefan, informing him that she found the famous vampire hunter, Michael, who could kill Klaus. She was going to wake him and bring him back to mystic falls to devise a plan with everyone. Tensions were high for everyone, except Damon and Katie.

Besides having to deal with the chaos going on, they really had become best friends. Granted, Katie was still deflecting his flirty comments from time to time, but they really had been simply enjoying each other's company.

They would drink the nights away at the grill with Ric, who was happy to have a third drinking buddy in the mix. They would even return from those nights and have dance parties in the living room of the boarding house until early hours of the morning. Days were spent dealing with supernatural dilemmas, but nights were strictly dedicated to friend time.

Some of the nights they would just sit outside on the porch, or have another rooftop stargaze while having hour long conversations, just as they had before. Anything from the most stupid conversations, like debating on whether cereal is considered soup, to talking about what he would have done with his life before he turned into a vampire, and where she would be had the incident at school not happened.

Damon and Katie both found themselves enjoying having a best friend again. They forgot the feeling of having someone to go to for anything and everything, and they found immense comfort in that.

Caroline and Liz both found the new friendship confusing. When Katie would say she was going to hangout with Damon, they would try and interrogate her, but never got answers. All of the sudden they would find Damon barging in to go talk to Katie about something, or pick her up to go to the grill more and more frequently. Elena, who was spending most of her nights at the Salvatore house to gain protection from Klaus, despite her protest knowing Stefan was there, was also confused by their new relationship. Damon was never home, or when he was, he was either asleep or Katie was there.

Katie was in her room, submitting her project for a class, when Caroline and Their mother came to her door.

"Heyyyyy!" Caroline said, and Katie immediately knew she was up to something.

"Yes?" She says, closing her laptop and turning to face them in her chair.

"The Lockwood Masquerade Ball is this Friday," their mother says, "and I would love for you two to come, I technically am working it but that doesn't mean I can't spend time with my daughters," she smiles waiting for Katie's response.

"I don't know, I don't have a dress or anything, plus-" she goes to make up more excuses before Caroline interrupts.

"Well that's the perfect excuse for us to go shopping" she grins, clearly excited by the idea. Katie couldn't help but smile too, knowing that shopping was both of their guilty pleasures.

"Okay, let me get my shoes on," Katie smiles, causing Caroline and their Mother to cheer at her compliance.

•••

"So, you really aren't going to tell me what's going on with you and Damon?" Caroline pries as she gestures to a dress on a hanger next to her.

"No to that dress, and no to your question. Nothing is going on, we are really good friends despite the weird start," she replied before grabbing another dress to try on.