Damon was confused. Scratch that, he didn't think there was a word readily available in the English language to describe how he was feeling. His head was reeling, his fingers trembling, and there was this funny feeling in his stomach, kind of like when the plane you're riding on takes an unexpected but completely exhilarating plunge. And Damon would know that feeling quite well – he had after all been one of the first people to fly in one... compelling the Wright brothers had been far too easy.

He paced up and down Elena's bedroom pondering the night's events. He had kissed Elena, really kissed her, going out on the line to expose his heart and soul to her, and she had kissed him back. After 145 years of thinking he loved Katherine – that bitch – Elena had opened his eyes. He hadn't been in love before, he had been infatuated. It had been a schoolboy crush. Damon smirked; 'schoolboy' was not a term he easily applied to himself. Yet his human self could be described like that. Damon had seen Katherine, this exotic looking beauty, and suddenly he had something to latch onto. He felt suffocated by his father trying to get him to fight for a war he didn't believe in, a cause he didn't feel invested in, and wanted out. Father only had eyes for Stefan, Stefan who had his mother's eyes, his mother's smile (in the rare occasions he did smile... even though he had the perfect girl). Of course Stefan could do no wrong in father's eyes, even when he did absolutely nothing at all. Docile, passive, perfect Stefan. And there was Katherine, seeming an angel to Damon, promising him an exciting and eternal life where he would no longer have to prove himself to anyone, where he could just be himself and that would be enough. It made sense that Damon would learn to associate this life he so badly wanted with the woman who was offering it to him. He started to love Katherine by association. Never having been loved and cared for, how would he know that Katherine's obsession with having him as a pet was not true passion?

But then there was Elena. She was compassionate, pure... feisty. When her chocolate eyes looked into his, Damon felt like she could see straight through his charade and actually saw him. She knew who he was and she was stillthere. It was all too easy to get girls to notice him, Damon thought as he smiled, I mean, he was quite hot. But she didn't just fall for that. She cared enough to interact with him as a human being... something no one had ever bothered to do, not even when he was human.

And now she had kissed him back. Damon hadn't remembered planning the kiss. All of a sudden he had just felt his body bending towards hers, almost as if she was pulling him in through pure magnetism. The kiss started gently – the most gentle and chaste kiss Damon had ever given – and he felt almost like it was his first ever. Her lips were so soft, and she soon melted into his embrace.

Damon walked up to her cabinet and picked up a scrap of paper lying there. You will meet a tall dark stranger who will take your breath away. Damon chuckled and pocketed the tiny fortune. How ironic, maybe he should start eating more Chinese food.

Damon's brow furrowed. Then it furrowed some more, he really was not the brother who was into this who tortured brooding thing. Damon was the one who knew what he wanted and then went for it. Hungry? Bam, go hunt. Annoyed? Bam, go snap someone's neck. Horny? Yeah...

But somehow Elena changed all that. All of a sudden he cared about people. He was thanking Bonnie, helping the police, hell, he even had a heart-to-heart with fucking Jeremy earlier the night. She made him a better person, and it scared him to death. Again Damon held back a laugh. "Damon you are dead already you idiot."

"What are you doing here Damon?"

Damon whirled around and saw Elena standing there in the doorway. How was she so beautiful? Her lips were puckered in cute confusion and her hair fell gracefully to her chest, gently touching her bosom. Damon took her in for a minute, how in the world had this gorgeous creature decided to kiss him back?

Elena observed Damon's face morph right before her eyes. She had just got back from the high school peeved that someone would steal her clothes and bag. Honestly, she was so done with this shit and just wanted to go to bed, so she'd stormed right up stairs, only to find Damon Salvatore deep in thought in her room. It had been a rough couple of weeks for them, this she knew, which is why it scared her when he turned his gaze to her. His cobalt eyes went from worried to worshipping, seemingly drinking her in entirely in a way even Stefan's never had. In that moment Elena felt completely naked before him.

"Damon?" She repeated. She took a tentative step forward. Of course she felt for this brother, more than she cared to admit, but he was always so unpredictable. She would not soon forget how he had manhandled her when he thought Stefan was sabotaging his chances of saving Katherine at his father's grave and how he'd even fed her his blood. But she also remembered how he had ever so gently kissed her head before he had released her.

At first, when Isobel had told her that Damon loved her, she had been in shock and denial. But now it was starting to make sense... of course he would latch onto the person in his proximity that reminded him of his real love.

Without warning Damon zoomed across the room, closing the space between them. Elena startled and took a step back into her doorframe. He was still far too close for comfort.

Damon gazed in her eyes watching all the emotions flicker across them. Without thinking his hand rose up to her cheek and he let his fingertips graze the soft skin there. He smiled as a blush spread across both.

Elena was so confused. The way he was looking at her, the gentle caress he was now bestowing on her face, she had to stop this at once. She broke their eye contact, swatted his hand away and closed her door while saying, "Damon, whatever your doing, stop it."

Damon was hurt. Okay, so he wasn't expecting her to drop everything now that they had kissed, but at least acknowledging she had some sort of feelings for him would be nice. Elena saw it in his face and regretted her harsh tone immediately. "I know you had a rough day today... are you okay?"

Damon looked down at Elena incredulous. "Elena, you're killing me here..." Admit it, he thought. Please, for once in my life let me know that I have earned the love of something good. Let me believe that I can deserve this...

Elena took a step forward; the pain in his face was undeniable. She put her hand delicately on his arm. "Damon... I'm here for you. I'm your friend, you know that."

"Come on Elena, you know I want to be more than friends."

"Damon... I told you at The Grill, you had to stop doing this-"

Damon huffed. This was ridiculous, she had kissed him god dammit! "No, stop doing that. Don't cut me out, you know you feel for me too, as much as you hate it, part of you needs me just as much as I need you." Just as Elena opened her mouth to protest, Damon brought his crashing onto hers, claiming her with all his pent-up frustration. He could no longer deny just how badly he wanted her, all of her, all to himself.

Elena pushed back on his chest, trying to move herself away from Damon, but his hands gripped desperately at her face keeping her there. Elena felt her door slam against her back as they moved up against it. Damon's tongue tasted hers as he fervently deepened the kiss. Elena could feel her resolve drifting away as her mind turned to butter. How did he learn to kiss so well? Oh right...

"Stop, stop, stop. Damon, please stop." Damon pulled his face back so it was hovering inches from her own. He breathed in her intoxicating scent, letting his fingers trail through her curls. He preferred her hair straight, but he was too euphoric right now to deem any part of this moment any less than perfect. Well, other than the fact that she had stopped the kiss short.

Elena took a moment to regain her breath, bringing her hands up to his on either sides of her face. How had she never taken the time to take in how breathtakingly handsome he was? The curve of his lips... the height of his cheekbones... the way there was always light shining from his eyes. Normally that light only shone out of mischief, but now the fire burned from something else.

"Yes?" Damon asked. Dammit, Elena thought. Control yourself.

She didn't know who did it, but all of a sudden Elena realized that her fingers had become intertwined with his. "We can't do this... I can't do this... to Stefan."

Damon gently tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. "But you want to, right?"

Elena squirmed, finally getting a grip back on reality. She had a boyfriend that loved her, whom she loved, what was she doing with his brother? She wasn't that girl, she freed her hands and pushed Damon away with all the force she could muster. "No Damon, I don't. That was a mistake. I won't hurt Stefan that way. I love him."

Damon ignored her fists with their tiny human strength on his hard chest. Her words angered him, what they had just done was no mistake. "And earlier, that was a mistake then too, huh?"

"What? Earlier? Damon, I don't know what you're talking about -" but Damon put out a finger to silence her.

"No, Elena. I have to tell you this." Elena watched as his adam's apple bobbed up and down nervously, she had to stop what was about to come out of his mouth – she was afraid of what he was about to say. What line he was about to cross. They were friends, they had to stay just friends.

"Stop. Don't say it." Elena said looking for an escape. She ducked past Damon, but he caught her wrist and spun her back to face him.

"Why not? I need to tell you that I - "

"No! Damon please, don't put me in this position!" Elena clapped her hands over her ears, willing him to go away, for this whole mess to just go away. She didn't care if it was childish, she just could not bring herself to hear the truth she already knew deep down.

Damon pleaded with his beautiful soul-revealing eyes. "Why? Elena, why are you so scared to hear the way I feel about you?"

A tear slipped from the corner of her eye, slowly leaving a wet trail on her burning hot face. Her gaze was still downcast as he wiped it away. "Elena?" His voice was pure honey. Damn him, why was he being like this? He was supposed to be an arrogant asshole, it would make pushing him away that much easier.

"Because then I can't pretend anymore." She said in a whisper only a vampire could hear.

"Pretend what?" He soothingly pried.

She brought her eyes up to meet his. "Pretend that this," she pointed between them, "whatever this is... isn't real."

That was all the encouragement he needed. Damon kissed her again, this time trying to make her feel all his love and devotion. Elena slowly began responding, her heart beat quickening as she wrapped her arms around Damon's broad shoulders. He began sucking her lower lip, causing her to moan. He smirked at this, but simultaneously felt his body reacting to her obvious pleasure. Never before had someone else's happiness mattered so much to him that just hearing it actually turned him on. This girl was definitely his weak spot.

Elena knew this was wrong, knew that she was going straight to hell, but she couldn't stop herself. The way he was looking at her, his smell, everything about him was intoxicating to her. It took nearly losing him today to realize that she loved him, actually loved him, and all of a sudden acting on that just felt right. But she still knew it wasn't.

Elena gasped and broke the kiss. "No." Damon leaned in again but Elena turned and walked to the window.

"Come on..." Damon tried to muster up a teasing comment, "you're giving me whiplash here."

"This isn't funny Damon." Elena crossed her arms over her chest refusing to look back at him. She had decided his eyes were what made her come undone. Well, the most emotionally undone. At the time being.

"I know." He replied seriously, taking a step closer. They stood in silence for what felt like an eternity (Damon would know). Finally he couldn't take it anymore, "Please Elena... tell me what you're thinking."

Elena took a moment before answering, "About Stefan."

Damon balled up his fists, anger cruising through his veins. Of course, how could he be so stupid as to think any of it would matter? So what if Elena had feelings for him? She was still the good girl, the good girlfriend, and she would stay with his brother. Damon walked up to her desk and tossed a picture frame on it across the room.

Elena jumped toward him as it shattered, sprinkling glass across the floor. "Damon!" She strode towards the mess but he stepped right in front of her and she bounced off his chest. He easily caught her and helped her regain her balance.

"Look, Elena, I get it, you love him. But you love me too. I know you do." Again his eyes bore into hers. "I wasn't ready to let anyone else in before... I..." he stuggled, "I thought I was in love with someone else, but that's changed. You changed me."

It all sounded so appealing, the reformed bad boy begging her for a chance; the same boy who had shown her again and again that there was no end to his loyalty and charm. "I may not be the best guy for you, hell, there's no way that I could ever deserve you... but I'm just trying to tell -"

She slapped him. Hard, right across the face. "Don't you ever kiss me again Damon Salvatore. I have absolutely no feelings for you and never will. Now get the hell out of my room." Sure it was harsh, but she needed to get away from him, now. She was on the verge of giving in.