Disclaimer: I don't own TVD.
D/E
AU/AH
Song: State of Grace - Taylor Swift
Chapter Two: Never Saw You Coming
Now all we know is don't let go
We are alone, just you and me
Elena sees him again exactly a week after he walked her home that night.
He's draped over a seat at the Grill, dark good looks enhanced by the dark clothes he's wearing, surveying the regular crowd of high school students, young families and older groups of friends with a cynical smile that suggests he's seen this all before.
She's in the middle of her shift when her boss indicates for her to go over and see if he wants anything other than the tumbler of bourbon he's been toying with for the past half hour.
She nods once at her boss and prepares herself to go over and greet him when she sees his brother walk in, his arm slung around a blond with straight swinging hair and a proprietary arm wrapped around his waist.
Instantly, she grimaces as she realizes that if she goes over she'll have to converse with Stefan Salvatore and Rebecca Mikaelson.
It's not that she doesn't like either of them; she doesn't really have strong feelings for the pair either way. At least, that's what she tells herself whenever she sees them.
Truthfully, despite a friendship with Stefan that had lasted right up until he had met the blond girl, she stopped having time for him when high school was over and she'd discovered that Stefan had stopped maturing right around the same time.
The younger Salvatore was an infuriating mix of self-righteousness and selfishness she'd never really been able to deal with. Though she knows he loves his brother, Stefan had never been quick to defend his brother from any of the gossip that had constantly circled about Damon in high school even as he chose to party harder and cut a swath through girls that put anything his brother had done to shame.
It had confused her and, often when they'd been closer, she'd questioned whether or not he thought his actions were just a tad hypocritical.
Now, with in a relationship with the British blond, he'd become almost unbearable as he seemed to have developed a superiority complex in the time they'd been dating.
She has no doubt that when she goes over; he'll politely ask why she's still working at the Grill when he's doing something so much better like managing that kitschy old bookstore around the corner from campus that everyone just has to go to.
Bex, well, Elena doesn't like Bex simply because the blond has never liked her.
She's never really enjoyed being hated on the principle that Stefan might have had feelings for her once upon a time.
Either way, Elena finds herself wishing that Damon had been alone because she figures it would be less awkward then if they're with him.
Mainly because she's still trying to figure out why he'd chosen to walk her home the week before and she really would rather not bring that up in front of his brother.
"Elena. Table eight. Go." Her boss barks the order at her, nodding towards the table Damon is sitting at, now full.
Wrinkling her nose slightly at her boss, who grins a little because he knows exactly why she doesn't want to go over, she picks up the menus and weaves her way through the crowded restaurant, skilfully dodging running children and waving arms as she goes.
Damon spots her before she has actually reaches them, lowering his glass and watching her with an appreciative gleam she's sure she missed the first time.
She catches a glimpse of the tattoo running up his forearm as he lowers his glass and forces herself to not bite her lip at it.
She feels that tug of attraction as she approaches and knows that she was right when she thought seeing him in a fully lit room would be different.
He's devastating without shadows.
He has a five o'clock shadow staining his jaw and sweeping down his chin, his hair is messy and those blue eyes continue watching her as she approaches.
He's dressed in black again and she spots a leather jacket draped over the seat he's occupying and forces herself not to bite her lip because she knows it will give away the fact that she finds him really attractive.
She's almost at their table when Damon folds his arms, rests them on the table and leans forward, causing the arms of his black t-shirt to strain over the muscle that bulges.
Elena tries hard to make a point of not looking at them and knows she fails miserably when she catches his smirk as her eyes snap away from them.
God, it's not fair that a smirk like that could make him even more attractive.
"Hi, would you like a menu?"
She stops in front of them, making a point to not look at him only to discover that she's standing a little too close to Damon as three pairs of eyes turn to her.
"Elena! Are you still working here?" Stefan sounds surprised when he sees her and she nearly rolls her eyes because she is obviously psychic.
"Yes. I like it." She kind of hopes the conversation stops there but knows it won't.
"Wow, you've been working here almost as long as I've been at the book – "
Damon's smooth drawl cuts his brother off. "Menus would be great, Elena. Thank you."
Her knees go a little weak at the way Damon says her name. There's something about the way he draws it out, like he's savouring it that makes her want to swallow. Hard.
She doesn't. Instead, she hands them the menus. Bex takes it with a look of barely concealed distaste and it's all she can do to not roll her eyes.
"Would you like some drinks before you order?"
Her eyes touch on Stefan who is watching her a little too closely, then Bex who is examining the menu with the same look a fussy child looks at their vegetables, to settling on Damon who is simply watching her.
"Actually, that'd be great. Bourbon on the rocks." He doesn't smirk at her this time and she discovers the steady look is more effective without it.
Horrifyingly she feels a blush start to creep up her cheeks as she pulls out her notepad and scribbles it down before looking expectantly at Stefan.
"Heineken. Babe?" Stefan seems to interrupt Bex's musings and she glances up briefly.
"I suppose the house white will have to do."
There's a resigned tone to her voice that would have annoyed Elena if she wasn't so aware that Damon was still watching her steadily.
She nods once, flustered because Damon meets her gaze unashamedly when she glances at him.
"Okay. I'll get back to your – I mean, with your drinks and to take your orders."
"Thanks, Elena."
Again with the name, she thinks. It makes her knees wobble a little as she spins to head back to the bar with their order. As she weaves back to the bar, she throws a glance back over her shoulder only to find Damon still watching her even as Stefan leans forward to engage his brother with an irritated look.
"That Damon guy's watching you." Her boss comments as she leans over the bar to place their order.
"Mmm." She murmurs noncommittally.
She's so not going there.
"Looks like he's interested." The smile is knowing and Elena feels her face heat as she leans back.
"Who's interested?" The voice in her makes her jump in surprise.
Spinning around, she squeals a little to find her best friend Caroline Forbes standing behind her, blond curls bouncing and blue eyes sparkling.
"Caroline!"
"Elena!"
Her boss shakes his head at the shrieks even as Elena's throwing her arms around Caroline's neck to squeeze her tightly.
The blond has been away in New York since high school. Attending New York University and acquiring the big city sheen which Elena can only be jealous of.
"What are you doing here? I thought your semester didn't end until next week!"
She pulls away as Caroline does and her friend's blue eyes twinkle at her and Elena notices there's softness in them that she's never seen there before and wonders at it.
"I lied. I wanted to surprise you! Are you surprised?" Caroline's practically bouncing as she steps away from her.
"Yes! Though I can't talk I have – uh, hi." She breaks off in mid-sentence as Caroline's hand wraps around the arm of a tall blond man standing a little ways behind her.
He offers her a smile that is touched with just a little bit of knowing and frowns a little at it. The hand Caroline has on his arm slides down so she can slip her hand into his and their interlocking fingers makes Elena feels like this is something she's never heard about before.
"Hello." He replies, his accent carrying a wisp of England that reminds Elena how much she wants to go there.
"Elena," Caroline starts her eyes bright with nerves. "This is Nik. He's my boyfriend."
The softness she caught in Caroline's eyes is now in her voice and Elena can only think she never saw this coming.
Because her best friend is in love with the man who's holding her hand and it's something that she never, ever saw coming.
It's also something Caroline hasn't told her and Elena can't help but feel betrayed because she doesn't know how to react or what to do and it makes her just a little angry.
"Drinks, Elena. Sorry Caroline, she has to work."
Shaking her head a little to clear it, Elena turns to take the drinks her boss has served up onto a tray and gives Caroline a smile she's pretty sure doesn't reach her eyes, "I'll talk to you after, okay?"
Caroline bites her lip and nods as Nik's other hand comes up to slide a curl back behind her ear and Elena neatly sidesteps them carrying the tray and heading back to the table with Damon. She glances up as she approaches to see him studying her again and takes a deep breath as she sees he's watching.
Carefully, she balances the tray in one hand as she skirts around Stefan's chair to place the wine next to Bex only for the next second to be something she really didn't see coming but should have expected.
"Is that Klaus?" Bex's voice is higher pitched than normal, surprise tinging it as she pushes her chair back without a cursory glance back and knocks directly into Elena.
The tray she has balanced precariously high above her head, crashes down at the loss of balance and Elena suddenly finds herself covered in alcohol, the yeasty smell of beer invading her senses as the blond turns to her.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Didn't see you there."
As far as apologies go, it's probably the most insincere one she's ever received and she glowers at the blond even as she realizes that the entire restaurant is quiet and watching to see what she does next.
Elena knows she should probably smile, accept the apology and then tell them she'll be back with more drinks after she's changed her now soaked shirt.
That isn't what she does.
Instead, she glares at the unconcerned blond, shaking a hand to free it of moisture and lets the surge of anger brought on by many things, including this, shoot through her and guide her actions.
"Of course you didn't. Why would you? I'm the help." She sneers and is pretty sure she hears someone choke back a laugh at her words even as Bex blinks a little at the venom in her tone.
With that, Elena turns on her heel and stomps away, knowing she should probably not have said what she'd said and should also be clearing up the mess Bex has caused.
It surprises her when her boss doesn't say anything to her as she stomps past the bar and her best friend's wide eyes and into the storage room at the back of the Grill where she knows they keep spare shirts just for this type of accident.
Though, she supposes it's because they're all in a state of shock. Not only do things like this not happen to her, she often doesn't become irrationally angry over them.
Shutting the door firmly behind her, Elena stomps to the sink sitting in the corner of the storage room. She pumps liquid soap into the palm of her hand, yanking on the tap and shoving her hands beneath the spray of water to scrub away the alcohol covering her hands.
When her hands are clean, she yanks off her shirt and drops the sodden white cotton to the floor. Reaching for the paper towels that sit in a stack by the sink, she picks up a few, wets them and then begins to wide at the wet sheen on her chest. The tank top she was wearing beneath her shirt isn't too badly wet, yet Elena knows that it smells like beer and figures she'll have to put up with it.
She reaches up to yank out the hairband keeping her long hair in its high ponytail when the door to the storage room opens and she spins to tell the person who has come in to leave.
She stops short when she sees the person entering the room isn't Caroline, as she'd suspected, but Damon Salvatore.
Seeing him was something she hadn't seen coming after he'd watched his drink spill down the front of her shirt.
Her hair falls to the wayside as he closes the door behind him and his blue eyes survey her with a startling combination of concern, amusement and approval.
The storage room suddenly seems a little bit too small for her and Elena shakes her hair back as a distraction to the disconcerting feeling.
"What are you doing here?"
He smiles a little at that. "Just thought I'd see if you still smell like a frat party."
"I do. Bye."
Elena turns her back to him and concentrates on the mirror she has yet to look into. A frown mars her forehead as she realizes that the alcohol has hit her face as well, she grabs another paper towel to wipe it and the black residue of her mascara away.
Damon stands by the door silently, watching her as she wipes away the alcohol and carefully smudges under her eyes to control the running mascara.
"It wasn't your fault, you know that right?" He asks conversationally when she throws the paper towel away.
Turning back to him, she gives him a look that suggests she knows exactly whose fault it was and then shrugs.
"Whatever, I don't care. I have to get back out there and clean it up." Elena responds, moving over to the box she knows hides the spare shirts.
Opening it, she discovers that the only shirts left are in large and she bites back a groan. She'll look like she's drowning in white if she puts it on but she has absolutely no choice.
"Are you aware your leg is a really attractive shade of red?" Damon asks again, telling her something she actually hadn't known. "When the wine glass shattered, a piece caught you across the leg."
Yanking out the shirt, Elena slams the box shut, turns around and sits down on it dejectedly. Sliding her leg out in front of her, Elena suddenly registers the stinging of the cut as she looks at the gash halfway down her shin, oozing blood.
"Excellent. Just what I needed." She grinds out and then blows out a breath, unexpectedly drained from the anger that had kept her going right up until this point.
"Looks like it. Here," Damon says, taking another paper towel and crouching down in front of her. He folds the towel up into a strip and presses it to the cut, in quick efficient moves that have her eyeing him curiously, as if she's just really registered that he's here.
"Why are you here?" She asks cautiously, her eyes straying to the back of his head and her fingers itching to reach out and touch the raven locks at the nape of his neck. "I don't actually know you."
"Figured you'd appreciate me more than my brother or the blond you went cold on at the bar." He tells her, looking up with a smirk even as she appreciates what he's saying. "Besides, I wanted to see if you were walking home again."
"Why?"
He shrugs. "Need someone to walk home with you?"
Elena sighs. "Again. Why? You don't know me."
Damon carefully pulls away the towel from her leg, wiping away the blood beneath the cut before looking up at her with a strangely cocky look, as if he knows something she doesn't.
"No. I don't. But you want to know me. Otherwise you wouldn't have let me walk you home the other night." He smirks a little at her expression. "I don't blame you. Everyone wants to know me."
Damon says it as he runs a gentle finger over the cut on her leg and Elena feels that one touch in every single bone in her body even as she feels her blood heat at the barely there heat of his fingers.
Elena feels the heat as his eyes shift back from where he's been eyeing her cut to meet her own.
Elena has heard about the moment when you meet someone's eyes and everything disappears, she's heard about the moment when looking into the eyes of that one person makes the world stop spinning and you feel and see more in that one long look than you ever will with someone else.
She has heard about it but she never thought it would ever happen to her.
It happens.
In that one look following the cocky knowledge that she wants to know about Damon Salvatore, that moment happens and Elena feels the reaction creep up into her cheeks, the blush spreading as he holds the look.
Deliberately drawing it out as she notices that the blue of his eyes is akin to the colour of the summer sky, there are crinkles around his eyes that tell the story of his laugh and his stubble is darker than his hair and Elena fists her fingers in the shirts she's holding, in defence against the sudden urge to run the backs of her fingers against his stubble, just to see what if feels like.
The look heats her blood and almost in a daze, Elena finds herself leaning forward, so that she's closer to him than before.
His lips start to curve even as Damon raises his hand to push away the hair that has fallen over shoulder when she'd moved.
For a second, Elena thinks he's about to say something and the doorknob rattles. Jerking back, Elena stands up quickly, yanking the fresh shirt over her head as the door opens and Damon slowly rises from where he'd been crouched.
Elena sees her best friends worried albeit curious expression as Caroline enters the room.
Tucking the large shirt into her skirt, Elena looks at Caroline and then glances at Damon who seems to be waiting for her to say something.
"My shift finishes at eleven."
The smirk that flashes across his face makes her swallow and raising her arms to tie her hair back again, Elena sidles past him and Caroline – with only a tight smile for the blond – and back out into the restaurant where she's supposed to be working.
Hoping that the next few hours won't bring her something or someone she never saw coming.
Hoping it won't bring someone that could, potentially, have her know that she'll never be the same afterwards.
Because she doesn't think she could have ever seen Damon Salvatore - or what he could possibly change in her - coming.
Even if nothing has happened.
Yet.
And I never (never) saw you coming
And I'll never (ever) be the same
A/N:I'm supposed to be doing a Religion essay. Which is late. By a day. But I didn't want to, also, I didn't think I was going to get a chance to post next week. The joys of exams. Not. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter and I hope you enjoy this one. Drop me a review and let me know mostly 'cause it makes me happy. Mainly because it'll help me avoid studying tomorrow and I want to crack on with chapter four and it'll help! Again, I really hope you liked it!
