Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Seriously. Nothing. Don't sue.

A/N: Wow, what an overwhelming response to the first chapter! I fully intended it to be a one-shot and just slowly make my way back to fanfiction, carefully testing the waters, but you've all been so wonderful and kind and…seriously, those reviews motivated me to write this. So thank you to all of those who left a review. They made me smile and they gave me the confidence to keep writing for this fandom! It's a continuation from the first chapter and I have no idea if this is the end of it or if I'll get inspired to write more of these little moments between Damon and Elena. We'll see how it plays out. However, I do want to stay around and write some more for the Vampire Diaries, so maybe I'll start a new story soon or, like I said: turn this into a series. Or maybe both. Who knows. ;-) Well, I hope you'll enjoy this. It wasn't easy to write. Let me know what you think!

"Friendship is a cozy shelter from life's rainy days."

-x-x-x-x-

Fun, distraction & a perfect friend

Elena emerged from the basement, bringing her hand to her forehead as she tried to figure out where to go from here. She'd never seen Stefan so depressed. The guilt was almost literally consuming him and she knew something had to be done in order to fix this. There had to be a solution. There always was. Right? She closed the door behind her and was surprised to hear two different voices coming from the hallway. The first one was easily identified as the older of the two Salvatore brothers. He had a very distinct voice, filled with just the right amount of natural charm to make many girls weak in the knees, Elena knew that much. She herself even had to admit she wasn't always immune to it. The other, female voice was unknown to her though. She frowned as she headed towards the front door and when she entered the giant hallway she shook her head, holding back a small smile when she realized what was going on. It was so predictable, yet it still amazed her.

"Don't tell me you were a cheerleader back then." Damon's seductive voice sounded through the hallway as he was leaning against the doorpost, legs crossed, and even though Elena couldn't see the look on his face, since his back was turned to her, she could very well imagine what kind of look it'd be.

"I was! Cheerleading Captain actually." The cheery (how appropriate) female standing in the doorway answered excitedly. "How did you know?"

Elena could no longer hold back the smile as she came closer to the front door. The girl delivering their Chinese food was a tall, blonde girl in her early twenties that couldn't be described as anything other than 'bubbly'. The exact type of girl Damon supposedly had his eyes on for 'dinner' earlier today at the High School. She could only imagine the rush Damon was getting out of this. It was almost too much of a coincidence.

"I have an eye for those things." Damon announced to the girl. "And you, Tara, are too beautiful to not have been a cheerleader in High School."

Elena rolled her eyes at the cliché, but the girl, Tara apparently, giggled at Damon's compliment the way Elena always thought only High School girls could giggle. Well, she was wrong.

"That's a really nice necklace you've got there." Damon continued charming the already smitten girl, reaching out to her neck and Elena was close enough now to see exactly what Damon was focusing on and it wasn't so much the necklace as the body part the necklace was hanging from. She knew Damon had become aware of her presence a while ago, thanks to his heightened vampire senses, so she was convinced all of this was partly just to find out her reaction to his provocative behavior. While she knew this, her reaction was still mostly instinctive as she reached the door and ducked under Damon's arm, crawling through the opening between the doorpost and his body, so she was standing in the very limited space between him and the girl. Elena realized she had not thought this through when she felt her back touching Damon's chest. They were close. Real close. She instantly pushed back those thoughts and focused on her task.

"Food! Finally." Elena exaggerated, taking the paper bag from the girl. Without looking up at Damon she held out her hand in his direction. He instantly got what she wanted though and after several loud, sarcastic sighs and no doubt some rolling of the eyes, he placed the money in her hand. Elena quickly handed it over to Tara who seemed more surprised than anything else, unsure of what had just happened. "Keep the change." Elena smiled, taking a step backwards, pushing against Damon who voluntarily did the same thing, making it possible for her to take the doorknob in hand. She shut the door and instantly turned around to face Damon with an accusing look on her face.

"A little jealous now, are we?" He asked, obviously amused, his usual devilish smirk present, which somehow annoyed Elena. This wasn't about jealousy. He was playing games and this time a girl's life was at stake. Sure, the obvious inspection of the girl's neck was part of an act to get a rise out of her, but he was still a vampire and even jokingly looking at a person's neck was not okay with her.

"I just saved that poor girl's life." Elena countered, giving him another glare, not entirely sure why she was an annoyed as she was. She walked off in the direction of the kitchen.

"Well, that's a bit of an overreaction, don't you think? We were just talking." Damon objected, following her into the kitchen.

"You had your eyes on her neck the entire time, Damon." She sighed, placing the food on the counter as she opened the cupboards in search for some plates.

"And you think I can't contain myself?" Damon spoke up. "I'm hurt, Elena! What am I? A monster?"

She easily picked up on the sarcasm in his voice and stopped what she was doing for just a second to give Damon her most obvious 'duh'-look.

"Alright. Fine." Damon shrugged. "That was a rhetorical question. But I haven't fed on a human in months. Why would I start now?"

"Maybe because it's been months? Because she's the exact kind of girl you were 'in the mood for' earlier today? Blonde, bubbly? Cheerleader! And because you would rationalize that it couldn't be a coincidence that the same type of girl you passed up on this morning in the schoolyard is now standing on your doorstep and therefore it'd be okay to kill her? I mean, it's practically as if the universe sent her to your doorstep, wanting you to eat her. And it's obviously beyond your control if the universe demands it…" She rambled sarcastically, trying to imitate his train of thought, looking Damon straight in the eye. The amusement in them was replaced by a flicker of surprise for just a second.

"It's like you know me." He smirked, but it wasn't genuine. The smirk was short and was quickly followed by a darkness in his eyes. He really seemed offended for just a second and Elena could only imagine that her words had some truth to them. The exact thoughts she had just voiced had probably gone through his head at some point while talking to the girl just now.

"Scary, isn't it?" She shot back, turning back to the counter and continuing what she was doing. She picked out the food she was in the mood for and put it on her plate, hoping Damon would just go away and leave her alone. Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down her spine and she already knew what was going on before she felt his breath on her neck. He had used his vampire speed to end up directly behind her in less than a second. It was supposed to be a sudden move to throw her off, but he'd used the same trick on her before and she wasn't affected anymore. She hated herself for having to catch her breath though, showing Damon that she still wasn't entirely indifferent to this tricks.

"Someone's in a bad mood." He whispered in her ear. "There's no shame in admitting you were a little jealous, Elena."

Elena forced herself to turn around and not get caught up in his seductive voice. She realized this was a bad move when she ended up face to face with Damon, closer to him than she'd ever been. She knew that simply taking a deep breath would make their lips involuntarily touch. And even his current shallow breathing caused her to feel a soft breeze against her lips and she knew this worked both ways. His breath slightly tickled her lips. His eyes were on hers and she tried her very best to hide how uncomfortable she was with their current pose. She took her time to fully regain her composure, not wanting him to get any more satisfaction out this.

"I'll be eating my dinner down in the basement with Stefan." She then announced, thankful her voice didn't crack, turning back around and taking her plate from the counter.

She truly expected Damon to just let her go, at least for the time being, until he came up with another trick, but she felt his hand around her wrist as she tried to walk away. It wasn't an aggressive touch, it was actually gentle and caring, causing her to look up at him in surprise.

"You've been down there for hours now, Elena. Take a break. Stefan needs his rest too."

There was a sudden sincerity in Damon's voice that Elena didn't think she'd ever heard before. She didn't think she'd ever heard him speak without at least a little sarcasm in his mesmerizing voice. She swallowed, taken aback by his serious and kind words. Damon continued to look at her as he stepped aside a little and motioned to the dining room table. She hesitated, but eventually found herself walking over to it, holding her plate of food and sitting down. Damon was still standing in the same spot, just looking at her.

"I'll be in the living room if you need me." He spoke, starting to walk away.

Elena was surprised by these words. Despite the sincerity in his voice just now, she still expected an old-fashioned ulterior motive. Him wanting to have dinner with her for instance. She felt ridiculous for even thinking it and allowing her ego to be that big, but wasn't that his M.O? Taking every opportunity to try to seduce her? To annoy Stefan? To make her uncomfortable? Didn't he get a kick out of that? She opened her mouth to stop him (she wasn't even sure why), but it was already too late and Damon had left the kitchen. She took her time trying to arrange the conflicting thoughts in her head, pushing away the ones that hit too close to home, before taking her plate in hand, getting up from her seat and walking straight into the living room where Damon, as promised, was sitting on the couch, a full glass of scotch in his right hand. He looked up when she came in, obviously surprised.

"You're not making a lady eat alone, are you?" She then spoke, a small smile forming on her lips as she walked over to the couch and seated herself next to him. She kicked off her boots and threw her legs on the couch, her back against the side of it. She bent her knees so her toes were touching his thighs and she wiggled them slightly. She threw a daring look his way, smiling almost seductively as she took a bite from her food. Damon looked at her for a second, obviously somewhat surprised, then he took her legs and gently stretched them so her feet ended up in his lap. His hand moved to her right foot and his fingertips slowly started tracing small circles on it. All the while their eyes were locked, Elena doing her very best to not allow herself to get pulled into the moment too much. Her mind was rapidly coming up with reasons why this was okay, why this wasn't wrong. She was surprised she was able to come up with a lot of them. Perhaps rationalizing something wrong wasn't that difficult when your eyes were caught in the breathtaking gaze of Damon Salvatore. In fact, right now she couldn't even think of anything that was wrong with this moment. Nothing else mattered. Not right now. His fingertips slowly moved up and down her foot, from her toes to her ankle and back, touching her so lightly that it gave Elena goose bumps, but not in the bad way. Not at all. Suddenly his fingers moved further down and started teasing her, no longer on top of her foot, but underneath it. Elena immediately pulled back her legs, her eyes growing wide as she sat up straight.

"No tickling! Or I'll be back in the kitchen before you can even blink!" She warned him, breaking the silence and with that, breaking one of the most heart-stirring, overwhelming and somehow thrilling moments of her life. But there was also relief in breaking this moment, because it created the possibility of going back to normal. Or as normal as things got with them.

The trademark smirk immediately appeared on his face, accompanied by the spark in his eyes she'd been wanting to see since she walked into the room.

"So you're ticklish, huh?" He then said, raising his eyebrows in a seductive manner. "I'm gonna have to remember that."

Elena couldn't help but chuckle slightly at his words and at the relief that the tense situation was now really over. The annoyance she'd felt with him before, had completely disappeared now and even the odd, unfamiliar, yet thrilling sensation that had taken over her body just seconds ago when his light touch had caused her heart to race, was gone. They were back to being playful and right now that was exactly what she needed. She didn't need bickering, she didn't need games and she sure as hell didn't need anybody to make her doubt her feelings for the younger Salvatore brother who needed her so much right now. She just needed distraction. Fun. A friend. And she counted on the man next to her to give her all of that. He reached out to her legs again, pulling her feet back in his lap. This time he didn't touch them and instead he reassuringly squeezed her leg. It was short and gentle, but it caused Elena to look up and when she looked him in the eye she knew she really could depend on him. Her distraction. Her fun. Her friend.

"Thanks." She murmured so softly she didn't even hear the word escape her mouth. She knew he picked it up though and that was enough for her.

The silence spread through the room once again and Elena was worried that 'fun and playful' had been replaced by 'dark and serious' again. Damn. She didn't need serious. She didn't need dark. She needed…

"Did anybody ever tell you that you have smelly feet?"

Thank God.

"Damon!"

"You do. They smell like cheese and not the good kind. We're talking full on blue cheese here."

Elena smiled as she tried to come up with a good come-back. Life as it should be. Thanks to Damon Salvatore.

"My feet smell fine, thank you very much. It's just your creepy vampire senses. But I suppose your feet smell like roses all the time then?" She asked, sarcastically.

"Alright. I'll take that as a challenge." He smirked, leaning over to take off his shoes and socks.

Elena sat up straight, placing her feet firmly on the ground as she watched what he was doing with sincere disgust on her face.

"Ew. Damon, no! You know I hate feet. Please don't…" She pleaded, but she couldn't hold back a smile as she carefully set aside her plate of food, pretty sure of what was coming next.

"You asked for it." He shook his head, not giving in. "So now you're going to smell them and admit out loud that roses have nothing on my feet. In fact, you'll admit you've never smelled anything better than my feet."

"Never…"

A few seconds later she was shrieking and laughing as she was on the run from a barefooted Damon Salvatore who was chasing her through the big house. Yup. He'd done it again. The perfect amount of fun. The perfection distraction. Her perfect friend. She knew nobody would believe this side of Damon Salvatore existed. And truth be told, she kind of liked keeping him to herself.

-x-x-x-x-

A/N: Alright. Hopefully this wasn't horrible. ;-) And I'd just like to point out that reviews really motivated me to write this, so...I'm just saying, that might work again. ;-)

This was kind of a challenge to write, considering I really do hate feet. As in, I can't even look at feet. And I don't get the appeal of feet either. They're gross and weird. So I have no idea what has gotten into me to write this. No idea, whatsoever. Just so you know.

Thank you so much for reading!

Steffanie