Numb

Chapter 1

People say that having emotions and feelings is a good thing, that when you have them it makes you feel more alive, but what happens when all the emotions a person could feel is taken from them at such a young age. What happens when pain, heartache, and anger is all that a person could feel? It would be a pathetic life now wouldn't it? Well that was the life Elena Gilbert had been living ever since she had been sent to this pathetic foster home when she was the mere age of three years old.

Sighing Elena sat on her bed trying her best to do the homework the program had given them as the door opening made her jump slightly as Mrs. Fell, the owner of the home, came into her room narrowing her eyes slightly at her. Great not this shit again.

"What?" she asked with an exasperated sigh that she knew would piss Mrs. Fell off.

"Don't give me that shit Elena, the school just called, why didn't you go to school today?"

"Maybe I didn't go to school, because it's useless for me to get an education when I'll do nothing with it overall."

Mrs. Fell fixed her with a stern and disappointed look hoping to initiate fear in Elena. Unfortunately for her, Elena had trained herself to perfectly mask her emotions from other people. No one would see her weak. No one had the right to.

"I don't care what you think about your studies or not. You will go to school and you will serve the two weeks detention that they settled on as your punishment. Do you understand me, Ms. Gilbert? You will be a sterling student, or you will no longer be a part of this establishment."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I don't make threats Elena. Only promises. Here's all the homework you missed I'm sure you won't mind doing it in the safety of the community room."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would. Now get a move on."

Grumbling while she did it, Elena gathered her things and walked through the bright yellow halls that were supposed to promote happiness and prosperity but did the exact opposite as Elena headed towards the community room to endure her punishment when her eyes landed straight on him.

He was obviously new around here, because Elena would remember seeing as gorgeous as him. Normally most guys did nothing for Elena because they all just wanted one thing and one thing only from her. Not that she minded that at all, because sex was one of the best feelings in the world, but she did admit that getting laid did get tiresome after a while especially when Guys thought they were Gods in bed and all they turned out to be were peasants, but this boy right before her could as a matter of fact consider himself a God and back it up without any trouble at all proving that claim. If sex was all that this guy was after if he saw her, she wouldn't mind breaking every God damn rule in that fine institution just to be on top of him for a single second.

She felt herself tighten at the thought as her stomach did a flip flop when she gave him a once hoping that she had imagined just how exquisite this man was, unfortunately the word exquisite didn't so him justice as Elena smiled to herself tempted to go over there and start a conversation with him just to get close to him. She wouldn't drop the offer right there and now. She would have to warm him up first to show him that she was interested and find a way to work it in later in the conversation, but for right now saying hello to him would defiantly help increase chances.

Gathering all of her courage, Elena planned out exactly what she would say to him as she did her most confident walk over to him demanding his attention and boy did, she get it as she saw his eyes travel up and down the length of her body. Yes. Go ahead and stare. He would have her soon enough anyway. Unless MS. Fell found them and punished Elena further for her indiscretions, but she thought this guy would be worth that risk. She was wondering what he tasted like when she fell straight to the ground hitting her nose hard against the tile as a shrill and annoying laugh sounded in her ears. Fucking Caroline Forbes back at it again.

"Whoops. I guess you should watch where you're going next time. Wouldn't want to mess up that face any more than it is, but I guess in a way the bashed nose makes you look better."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" a voice said beside her as she looked up to see the guy, she had been trying to talk to was now kneeling beside her to probably check if she were okay. Little did she know that Caroline helped her out more than she had thought. Thank God this guy seemed more like the compassionate type then the laugh at your discretion type. She admired that about him and she hadn't even got a chance to properly meet him yet.

"Not a damn thing sweetie. I am the epitome of perfection as you'll soon find out. Now if you don't excuse me, I have better things to do with my time." She said as she passed them heading out of the community room with a ruthless smile on her face. Something told Elena that Caroline wasn't quite done with her yet, but she could care less right now as a drop of blood splotched on her pants causing her to swear in agitation. God her nose hurt like a mother fucker.

"Bitch." The guy said turning his head away from Caroline's retreating form to focus on Elena. "Fuck that looks bad. Does it hurt?"

Elena nodded her head wincing slightly at the pain as the guy helped her up leaning her body towards him so that she wouldn't lose her balance.

"Do you need me to take you to the infirmary? I'm pretty sure there's someone there who could give you a once over and make sure that your nose isn't broken."

"It's not broken, at least I don't think it is or else I would be able to tell. Besides the infirmity is closed by this point, let's just say the on-duty nurse doesn't like to stick around longer than she has to."

He nodded as he turned towards the door to make sure they were alone and leaned towards her ear to make sure no one could hear them. Her breath caught at his proximity, but she remained quit to see what he had to say.

"In that case I have a bottle of vodka and a first aid kit in my room if you want me to patch you up. You can say no if you want to, but I would hate to leave you like this,"

Elena knew that if she got caught in his room, she would be punished severely for it, but something about being closer to him made her think that the punishment would be worth every minute that she spent with him. She had to get to know him. Even if it was just for a moment. Maybe they would even have a little fun if her nose didn't in the way of that.

"I would like that thank you." She said as she walked with him realizing that she never caught his name. "I'm Elena."

"Damon." He smiled at her revealing a flash of blue-green eyes that could make any girl melt.

"Well Damon I was coming over to properly introduce myself unfortunately I ran into a problem on the way there." She said with a smile which hurt her nose a little.

"I saw. If that hadn't happened, I would have loved for us to meet the way you initially intended us to, but I guess I'll take what I can get. It's over here by the way." He said pointing to a door that she assumed was his room.

Stepping inside his room, Elena was shocked that it was bare besides a backpack full of clothes and the items that he said were in there along with a few toiletries that the center provided them when they first got there. She wondered what had brought him here as he grabbed for his first aid kit and a water bottle that she assumed was vodka patting his bed to signal her to sit down on it so he could take care of her. This hadn't been her initial plan to get into his bed, but she guessed she would take what she could get by this point even if it was talking to him for the length of time it took him to fix her nose up.

A burn spread through her nose as she winced when Damon put the vodka on her nose. Shit. That burned.

"So, remind me again why you're using vodka on my nose."

"Because I ran out of hydrogen peroxide. It tends to happen when you have to cover up your old wounds."

"Say no more I completely understand." She said with a sad smile.

"Well the good news is that your nose isn't broken bad news is that it's slightly bruised, so you might have to put concealer on it for a while."

Elena shrugged like she couldn't care less as Damon tossed the waded tissue with her blood on it in the trash and put a bandage on her nose to clot any further blood. She was sad that he was almost done, and she had barely said a word. So much for getting to know him and vice versa. Now if she stayed any longer in his room, she would seem desperate.

"So, what were you coming over to say?"

"What?" she asked caught totally off guard by his question.

"Whenever you were coming to say hi to me. Do you want to start over seeing as how that girl ruined your chance to?"

"Caroline."

"What?" he asked suddenly confused.

"Her name is Caroline. The one who tripped me. She thinks she's such hot shit that I can't stand it sometimes."

"Well if it's any conception she's not as hot as she thinks she is. She's probably just jealous of you because you're hotter than she is."

"You think I'm hot?" she grinned as a blush settled across his cheeks.

"Of course. How could I not?"

"Do you honestly want to know why I walked up to you?"

"Yes."

"I thought that you were so hot that I just had to talk to you."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She said getting closer to his lips. She was so close that she was tempted to kiss him right there and then.

"What were you going to say after that?"

"I'm pretty sure you could figure that out." She said closing the distance between them in a too short, but passionate kiss and boy could this guy ever kiss. Where had he been all her life?

A loud cough caught them both off guard as they sprang apart to see who had interrupted them. Great. The last person she needed to catch them was Mrs. Fell herself.

"What the hell is going on here?" she questioned in a stern voice that usually meant she meant business.

"I was helping Elena with her broken nose Ms. Fell. I didn't think that was against the rules." Damon challenged.

"It's not but fraternizing with other dormmates is strictly prohibited. You understand don't you Mr. Salvatore?"

"A kiss is hardly fraternizing." Elena stated earning her a sideways glance from Ms. Fell.

"Still it is way past curfew for dinner and I would hate to see you two starve because you were well-being self-involved."

Elena rolled her eyes jumping off Damon's bed as she turned in the door frame to see him one last time.

"It was nice to meet you, Mr. Salvatore." She said with a wink.

"The pleasure was all mine Ms.- "he said with a pause when she realized that she never said her last name.

"Gilbert." She said giving him another wink as she left the room wondering what the future held for them.