A/N: Hi :) I'm finally back with the next chap! Sorry it took so long I just had exam week so I haven't had time to post!

Anyway, this one is a little longer than the prologue. I spent a lot of time editing so I hope you like it (thank you to iwantyoudamon for all you have done for this story!) There are a LOT more flashbacks which you hopefully like! - the flashbacks, like in the prologue, are in italic and are separated with forward slashes.

Also, wanted to bring up all the reviews I've been getting. I love that a lot of you have reviewed, but I'd just like to remind you all to stay optimistic about the plot! There have been a few speculations, but I'd rather just keep everything within the chapters for now :) Thank you xo Enjoy!


Elena had been sitting in her car for at least twenty minutes. She tried to talk herself into going back inside and being the strong girl she had wanted to be all night, but after crying all the mascara off her eyelashes and onto her cheeks, she figured it wouldn't end well. Hopefully by now, the alcohol would be out of her system and she could finally ditch this stupid reunion completely.

As she turned the key, she hoped she would start up. By she, she meant Lyla. Elena was never big on naming cars, but that's something she picked up from was never reliable. She still loved her though. She had picked her up for less than a thousand at some sketchy car place in Manhattan, using her sexy smile and boosted cleavage to convince the disgusting old man to give it to her. It was all she could afford and she sacrificed six months pay for it, so she learned to love the shitty blue car. You get what you get, right?

"Fuck!" She howled, banging her right fist against the steering wheel. Lyla, was being a bitch right now. And when she needed her most. "Fuck me!" She groaned, repeating her last action again and again. She was hitting the wheel right on the horn. Not that she cared too much anymore, but she was probably drawing everyone's attention. "Fuck him. Dick head. Why did he have to come and ruin everything?! Fuck! Fuck me." She yelled continuously, getting out of the car and slamming the door harder than she ever had. She was surprised it didn't break. She stomped on the ground in a raging fit, and her cheap heels broke instead, sending her stumbling against the small vehicle. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." She finished under her breath as she slipped both her heels off and held them up with two fingers. She roughly scanned the parking lot with her now dry eyes for someone she knew and trusted to help her home, but without a single soul in sight, she figured she'd have to sort herself out. She stormed over to the front of the car and popped the hood open, holding the heels over her shoulder as she bent over and searched as well as she could in the dark for the problem.

"Need a hand?" A low voice asked. She raised her brows, turning around to identify the owner of the voice. Of fucking course. Merely ten meters away a smirking Damon leant against his car, glaring at her. His unmistakable sky blue, 1969 Chevy Camaro Convertible. She laughed dryly. He still had that car.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

"I hate you." She panted as they finally reached the top of the hill.

"Oh, shut it." He panted back, bending over with his hands on his knees. "You're lucky I'm letting you pick the colour."

"You're lucky I came with you." She rolled her eyes as they slowly walked into the biggest mechanic in town. It was a twenty minute walk from school, but Elena wasn't letting Damon go by himself. The Mikaelson's lived close and she didn't like the idea of Damon being alone with them. One of them in particular. So she had to come, but she'd make it sound like she was doing him a favour. "I can't believe you're buying a car. You're only sixteen and don't work, I don't know how you came up with the money."

"Hey, my dad won't let me drive his car, so this is the only option." He shrugged.

"You make it sound like you don't want one." She laughed, nudging him as a man walked over to serve them.

"May I help you?" The man asked, wiping his greasy forehead with an almost black towel.

"Yeah, I'm here to buy a car. My friend Tyler's father owns the place, so he said I could get a discount." Damon replied extending his hand for a shake. "I don't have much, but I'm flexible."

"Any friend of Tyler's is a friend of mine." The man smiled, accepting his hand. "I'm Mason, Tyler's uncle."

"Damon."

"What kind of car are you after?" Mason asked.

"Well, I promised Elena" He started, throwing his head towards her in introduction. "she could choose the colour."

"Alright, what will it be?" Mason turned to her smiling.

"I'm thinking like a sky blue?" She grinned at Damon.

"I should've known." He rolled his eyes.

"Um well the only ones I can think of in that colour that we have are a Chevy Convertible and a Ford Hatch." Mason explained. "Both second hand and in good condition."

"Chevy." Damon nodded quickly.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

He stood there, leaning against it in his usual — or what used to be his usual — tight jeans, white tee and black leather jacket, just glaring at her as she made a fool of herself again. To her surprise, he hadn't laughed while she had her fit or was bent over the hood of her car. He probably heard her screaming and honking too, but he hesitated to laugh.

"Stop following me." She scowled, leaning against Lyla. Hadn't he realised she wanted nothing to do with him? He may have not been the best student at school, but he always had common sense.

"You're the one in my town." He sung, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.

"Our town." She corrected, slamming the hood shut.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

"You may be a good best friend, but you're a shitty chauffeur." She smirked, kicking herself up off the porch steps and jogging to his car.

"Hello to you too, Judgy." He smirked back, leaning over to open the door. She hopped in his car, tossed her bag in the back and strapped herself in thoughtlessly. They had been doing this same routine every day since Damon bought his car.

"Step on it, Mr. Tanner's going to nail my ass." She laughed, giving him a playful nudge.

"Elena, don't be inappropriate." He raised his brow at her, accelerating.

"You have the dirtiest mind!" She groaned, nudging him harder this time. "Seriously, Tanner will kill me."

"Us." He corrected, grinning at her.

"Sorry, us." She sleepily smiled back, feeling warmed by it.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

"This isn't your town anymore. There's no our anything anymore. No us. Just me and you. You made that clear." He stated. His tone made him seem unaffected by what she told him inside, but surely he wasn't.

"Leave me alone, Damon." She huffed calmly.

"Stop deflecting everything." He rolled his eyes rudely. He used to do that all the time, but it was never to hurt her. Now, she felt like he was trying to get under her skin. After a solid minute of silence, he spoke up; "So you drive a Ford, now?"

"You still drive that Chevy." She replied, ignoring his question. She was not in the mood for his jokes. She hadn't been since before she left. Hell, she wasn't in the mood to talk to him. She'd never be.

"Yes," He laughed dryly. "and you drive a dolphin blue Ford."

"So?"

"So it's a Ford." He shrugged. "Loser's drive Fords."

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

"Why were you so quick to decide before you even saw the cars?" She whispered as Mason handed over the keys and they hopped in – he had already paid. Even though the Chevy was a default choice, Damon quite liked it. Actually, he loved it. He always wanted to own a convertible and this one was gorgeous.

"It was an obvious decision." He replied loudly now that Mason had gone.

"Why? What's wrong with Fords?" She asked, raising a brow.

"Everything." He stated. "Losers drive Fords."

"I guess." She shrugged as he turned the key.

"Besides, it's a convertible." He grinned.

"You and convertibles." She giggled, rolling her eyes. She stared at him for a bit as he closed his eyes and sat back listening to the car. "What are you doing?"

"Shhh." He hushed her, sticking his finger up to his lips. "June 20th, 2010. The day I was blessed with Chelsea."

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Wow. That hurt. Why? Because she was a loser. He didn't know that though. He didn't mean it that way. Still, it burned. Bad. Mainly because she thought she'd thrive without him, but boy was she wrong. "Wow." She sighed, opening her car door again.

"Where are you going?" He asked, finally pushing off his car and supporting his own weight.

"Home." She told him, sitting in the driver's seat.

"You can't drive to New York in that." He shook his head, slowly walking towards her car. She could deal with talking to him from a distance, but up close flustered her. She couldn't think right when his intoxicating scent flowed through the air. She used to feed on it like it was sweet honey. Now all she wanted to do was shut it out. Kill it. Because if she breathed it in, it would hypnotise her. It was detrimental to her health. It picked away at her and made her weak and the last thing she wanted to do was be weak in front of him.

"Why not?" She asked, slamming her door closed before he could get to it. She could still hear him through the glass, but she was protected this way. From him trying to hold her close again or defuse his deadly scent.

"Isn't that why you had your little...fit a few minutes ago?" He trailed, leaning down to the glass of her small window and cocking his head to the side. The glass wasn't making a big enough difference. He was still way too close for her liking. So close, that if the glass weren't there, his breath would be colliding with her cheeks right about now. Heating them up until she blushed. She didn't answer him. She didn't really want to. What was she supposed to say? "Hop out, Honky McHonkerson. I'll give you a ride to wherever you need to go."

"Go away, Damon." She exhaled, turning her head to look out the passenger window. She didn't like looking at his face up close. It's beauty affected her. Jesus, how many things would affect her?

He huffed heavily and the breath that would've hit her cheeks spread across the glass of the window. He raised a finger and started to trace a shape. After about thirty seconds, he tapped on the window with his knuckle. She was hesitant to turn around, but she knew if she didn't he'd never leave. He was persistent like that. She slowly twisted back around. A dog?

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

"You want my painting?" Damon questioned, turning to Elena completely like she had before previously.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Rainbows and unicorns." He stated sarcastically.

"Really?" She jumped up, peering over his desk.

"No, it's my dog." He chuckled, looking up at her. "Well, not yet. I want a dog. But my Dad said when I'm older I can get one."

"That's nice. Don't you want to hang it in your room?" She asked, picking it up and admiring it. Damon was quite the artist for his age. He had a steady hand. It was much better than Elena's painting.

"I can make another one tomorrow." He shrugged, taking it back from her. "Do you want it?"

"Okay." She grinned.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Probably with his fingernail, he had traced a round body, four small legs and a little head with ears. She finally looked him in the eyes and sighed heavily. He still knew how to get to her. How to reach her core and flood warmth.

"Come on, E." He mouthed, wiping the cute drawing he had done off the glass with the side of his hand. Even on a window, he knew how to draw. And fucking well too.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

He curved his hand around the page, running the lead in a smooth motion as she sat in the corner of the floor length window in the library. She was sitting with her knees tucked into her chest as she read. Damon would never voluntarily read, but then again, she was into that stuff. School and all that.

He watched her as she read for about twenty minutes until he decided to use the opportunity to capture her moment. His fingers gripped the pencil loosely as he alternated between glancing up at her and looking down at the stark white art paper on the floor in front of him. Some of her hair was neatly tucked behind one ear, while the rest was swept over her shoulder. She was biting on her bottom lip – something she always did when she read –, her eyes darting from line to line as she analysed the text. Her little nose occasionally twitched and her brows sometimes raised. She looked so pretty when she read. She always looked pretty, but he especially liked admiring her when she read. She was his best friend, but he had always thought she was pretty. Prettier than all the other girls. In a way, he wanted to keep her beauty to himself. Not that he was special, but to him, no one else deserved to witness the sight that was Elena. Especially Reading-Elena. No one was worth her time, her affection, her laugh, her beauty – not even him. She was like a magnet; everything draws you to her and you can't get away no matter what you do. She's inescapable, and yet, you never want to leave. At least Damon didn't. Elena was pretty much his entire life. Or the only non-shitty thing in it. Only she was worthy of the time he spent sketching her.

As he rounded off the buttons on her cardigan, he swayed his pencil away from her cleavage. He felt horrible even trying to draw it. Because then, he'd have to look at them. Analyse their curves. That would be rude. Not that they weren't...Fuck it. He was quick anyway. After three glances, he had finished on the area. However, he couldn't help feeling guilty. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her in a bikini or anything. Regardless, it was violating her. Even if he did like looking at them, it was rude – which he did. Lucky she didn't catch him. She'd disown him as a friend for at least a week if she did.

He quickly finished the missing parts when he noticed the time. Football practice started in fifteen minutes and he needed to get changed.

"E." He whispered – library and all. She raised her eyebrows at him as she finally detached her eyes from the pages. "Time to go."

"Shit, cheer practice." She mumbled, flicking her watch up to her field of vision. She quickly gathered her things and began to pack his stuff up too. They were going to be late if she didn't help. He grabbed all his pens and shoved them in a little pencil case as she gathered all his textbooks. He had shoved his little sketch of her into a black folder. As she swiftly picked up the stack, the artwork fell out face down onto the floor. "What's that?" She asked, placing the books on a table and bending down to pick it up.

"No, that's–" He started.

"You drew me?" She asked, gazing up at him, then back at the drawing. She was beyond flattered. They were best friends, but he'd never done something that thoughtful before.

"Yeah, well I was bored...I know it's not good but–" He trailed.

"It's amazing, Damon." She interrupted, running her fingers over the intricate sketching as she analysed it. They were only in the library for about an hour and a half. This was something she'd take months to draw. More. Her features were so spot on and his precision was almost photographic. "I mean, I knew you could draw, but this...this is art."

"It's not that good." He laughed.

"Damon, it's that good." She stood up, glaring right into his eyes. "You need to share this."

"Elena…" He whined.

"I'm not gonna let you not submit this to the art department." She told him sternly. Fuck. He could never say no when she did that. "They need a good artist for the founder's day piece. I doubt they won't be interested in you once they see this. Submit it."

"Not that one." He shook his head. "That was a rough one. I'll re-do it."

"Well, what are you gonna do with this one?" She asked, admiring it again.

"It's yours." He shrugged.

"Really?" She asked, her eyes lighting up. He nodded, smirking. She threw her arms around his waist and pulled him into a warm embrace. "Thank you."

"Anything for you." He grinned. "We're gonna be so late."

"Oh well, it's only Sophomore year. It doesn't matter." She shrugged, slipping the sketch into her bag and handing Damon his books.

"Elena Gilbert, breaking the rules?" He teased, raising his brows playfully.

"I'm a few minutes late, don't stretch it."

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Without words, she closed her eyes and swallowed hard. How else was she going to get back to Jeremy and Dylan? She could always catch a ride with Caroline or Bonnie, but he was offering. One drive. That was it. She didn't have to talk to him ever again. Despite her better senses, she pulled the handle and stepped out, lightly closing the door behind her. "You drive me where I need to go, and then you leave me alone." She told him sternly, clenching her jaw in hesitation.

"Okay." He pursed his lips, waving her towards his car.

"Seriously Damon, there's no catch up session. We drive in silence." She made herself clear, following him.

"Okay, princess." He repeated, rolling his eyes and hopping in the car. Before she could change her mind, she joined him and quickly buckled up.


"So–" He started, pursing his lips as they drove through town. The high school was a ten minute drive from Elena's old house, but Damon went the long way, meaning they had a twenty minute drive. He hoped Elena wouldn't notice. Maybe she didn't remember the streets correctly after five years?

"I told you, we're not talking." She interrupted, keeping her arms crossed tightly against her chest. They'd been there since she first got in the car and she wasn't planning on moving them.

"Alright snappy, I was going to ask where I should drive you, but fine. I guess it's my house." He shrugged, rolling his eyes. Couldn't she at least be amicable? She didn't have to touch him or talk to him, but a few words would be nice. Especially since he missed her voice so bad. Five whole years without that sweet honey coated tone almost killed him. Any word he could get out of her, he would. At least if he never saw her face again, he'd get that to hold onto this time.

Even though he was used to it, it still wasn't easy seeing her. Now he'd have to let her go all over again – assuming she was leaving. Whether she hurt him or not, he still cared about her. He never stopped and never would stop.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

"Damon?" She asked, turning onto her side to look at him.

"Yeah?" He answered, looking at her in his peripherals. He had his hands behind his head as he lay on her bed.

"Do you ever feel like nobody at school really cares about you?" She swallowed, her voice cracking noticeably. She wasn't trying to hide it.

"All the time." He nodded, smiling sadly. "Why do you ask?"

"Yesterday, Banana and Feather had a play date without me. I asked why and they said it's because I'm always with you and they can't invite you because of girl stuff and so they didn't invite me either." She explained, frowning. "They don't care about me, do they?"

"That doesn't mean they don't care about you." He told her, sitting up. "They just thought you'd rather play date with me."

"I would." She sat up too. "But they didn't even invite me."

"Elena, they care about you." He rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Doesn't feel like it." She sniffed as hot tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Even if they don't care, I do." He smiled softly, reaching over the nightstand to grab her some tissues.

"Promise you won't ever stop?"

"Pinky promise." He chuckled, sticking his pinky out. "I won't ever stop caring about you."

"Neither." She beamed, accepting it.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

He made that vow when they were eleven years old and he never broke his vows. Especially with Elena.

"No!" She answered quickly, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets. "Do you remember my parent's house?"

"Of course I do," He claimed, glaring at her for a second. Did he remember her parents house? Really? He drove her to and from school everyday and practically lived there half the time. This wasn't his Elena. This Elena was different. "I'm not a goldfish."

"Just drop me off there." She exhaled, pinning a stray hair behind her ear and turning to look out the window. All her makeup had been cried off and she looked like she hadn't slept for days. In the darkness, he couldn't see her face and she was glad. Even though he used to see her like that all the time, she was embarrassed. She didn't want him judging her. Still, he had every opportunity to do that already and he hadn't.

"Okie Dokie." He hummed.

"Sorry." She apologised, her eyes darting to the side to view him in her peripherals. After all he did, she really shouldn't have been apologising, but she couldn't help it. Besides, she was always one for common courtesy and he did offer to drive her despite their differences. Well, they never used to have differences.

"For what?" He asked.

"For yelling at you."

"Huh, for a second there I thought you were apologising for leaving me on my birthday." He stated nonchalantly, turning to see her reaction. She didn't react. Instead, she stayed silent. "What? Is that so crazy?"

"Yes, it is." She replied as calmly as she could, clenching her fists against the sides of her ribs.

"Why?"

"You know why." She said evenly.

"Fuck, Elena. No I don't." He bit back, gripping the steering wheel tighter as he drove through the center of the town. This was a bad idea. He should've taken the quick way.

"Drop me off here." She sternly stated, biting on her inner cheek. Being stuck in a car with Damon was torture enough, she was not going to go through this shit again. She knew he knew what he did. How could you forget something like that? She wasn't trying to rekindle a flame and she definitely wasn't trying to be civil. She gave him that chance already and he hadn't even acknowledged it. She was simply here for the car ride, that, she needed to take. No talking, no interacting. She'd never have to see his face again after this.

She wanted to get out and cut it short. She wasn't going to sit in his stupid blue car and argue with him for ten minutes when she didn't even want to fix anything anyway. Or at least she didn't need to. Truth was, all she wanted was to be in his arms again. Feel the fire of his skin on hers and be enthralled in him like she used to be. But she couldn't be and she couldn't ever trust him again.

"What? No. I'm not leaving you in the middle of town." He argued, ignoring her request. As much as he hated arguing with her, he wasn't going to leave her outside. Especially when it had just started raining.

"Why not?!" She growled, grinding her teeth.

"Because I care about you!" He yelled, choking slightly. Suddenly, she felt hot. She had been here before.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

"You ready to talk now?" He asked lowly, quickly glancing at her before returning his focus to the road.

"What's there to talk about." She shrugged, keeping her stare fixated on the passing trees.

"Nothing to talk about?" He frowned angrily. "He hurt you, E. And you're okay with it."

"I never said I was okay with it, I just said he didn't mean to." She explained, shrugging it off as if it were nothing.

"He didn't 'accidentally' hit you, Elena." He rolled his eyes, tightening his grip on the wheel. That son of a bitch didn't even deserve to be in Elena's presence. He was lucky Elena stopped Damon from killing him. Literally, murdering that asshole. For some reason it didn't bother Elena though. "I don't understand why you defend him."

"I defend him because I understand why. He's had things on his plate, you don't know about." She tried to justify herself. It wasn't working on Damon. Now that they were together, he had a say in who comes near her or touches her and he was going to take advantage of it. "It's okay, Damon, I'm fine. We're over anyway so why does it matter?"

"It's not okay." He snapped. "It's never okay."

"Just leave me here." She huffed, picking her school backpack off the floor of the car.

"I'm not leaving you in the middle of town." He laughed dryly. She had to be joking. "I'm taking you home."

"Why not?" She grunted, clenching her fists tightly.

"Because I care about you!"

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

The way the words strung out of his mouth, almost exactly the same as the last time. His hoarse tone was raw and heavy, filled with what she used to call passion and love. She finally turned to look at him and his face overwhelmed her. He kept his eyes on the road, but his jaw was clenched tightly, almost locked, and his eyebrows stretched down to his eyelashes. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought he was being genuine. That he did still care about her. She always knew he did, but in their case, it wasn't enough to keep him from fucking everything up and it definitely wasn't enough to fix everything.

She blinked in thought at him a couple times before finally saying; "Thanks for the ride, but I can get back from here." She bent down, grabbed her broken shoes and shoved her phone in her back pocket. She swiftly popped the door open and jumped out, slamming the door shut.

"Elena, get back in the car." He called, rolling the window down and following her slow pace down the street.

"No. I'm fine." She replied, raising her hand over her head to block the rain.

"It's raining; you're going to get sick." He shook his head.

"It's not far. I'll walk."

"Listen, I know you hate me," He started, following her closely. She exhaled loudly. Everyone kept saying that. She far from hated him. Far from. Resentment and hate are completely different things, though there's a fine line between them. She did try to hate him. She tried so damn hard, but she never could. How could she hate her first friend, her first love. The one that always knew how to lift her mood and make her feel wanted. The one person who could sway her with one look. She couldn't, no matter what he had done to hurt her. But that didn't mean she didn't resent him. Or that when it came down to it she couldn't live without him. Because she had done that already and even though it was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, she survived. Yet still, even though it shouldn't, it hurt her that he thought she hated him. It was probably for the better he thought that way. Besides, he wouldn't bother trying to repair all he had broken if he believed she hated him, right? Hopefully not. She really didn't need that right now – or ever. Elena had other things to worry about and this wasn't even on her list. She may have missed him like hell, but that didn't change the fact that she needed him out of her life for good. She had Jeremy and Dylan to worry about and saving up enough money for an actual house. "...but I'd rather you not get pneumonia."

"I'll survive."

"You asked for it." He shrugged, suddenly stopping the car. He quickly hopped out and ran over to her, grabbing her broken heels and tossing them.

"What are you doing?" She asked, raising a brow as he bent down and picked her up by the knees.

"Putting you back in the car." He told her, gripping her tightly. The rain drenched them and he could hardly see as he waddled over to the car.

"Fuck, Damon! Put me down!" She screamed, squirming in his grip. She did not like being this close to him or being vulnerable around him.

"Nope." He replied.

"I swear, if you don't put me down I'll–" She started.

"You'll what?" He asked, clicking the door open and gently placing her soaked body onto the car seat before running to the other side and jumping in the driver's seat. "Not talk to me for five years? Don't worry, it won't be as hard this time."

"That isn't fair." She muttered as he slammed his door shut.

"Sorry."


As Damon pulled into Elena's old street, she sighed in relief. That was the longest ten minutes of her life. She didn't remember the trip from school to her house being that long, but then again, she hadn't been back since senior year.

As he rolled up and parked right in front of the house, something hit her. The lights were on, but her parents weren't here. They hadn't been here for eleven years. Since the accident when she was only twelve. She had tried to forget when she left. Start anew and move on from everything, everyone and every memory...completely forget.

Now, sitting in front of the home she grew up in without her parents, it all came back. She tried to keep the memories in, but when it came to family, she was never strong. A few tears rolled down her cheeks as she peered out the car window.

"Elena?" Damon asked, leaning forward to catch a glimpse of her face. If she was so desperate to get away from him, why hadn't she left the car yet? "Elena, are you crying?"

"No." She sniffed, scraping the tears with the side of her palm.

"E, you don't have to lie to me." He sighed, stroking her sticky wet hair from behind.

"Um…" She started, slowly unclicking her seatbelt and opening her door. The rain had died down a bit so she could make it to the front door without getting completely drenched again. "Thank you for the ride."

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked with concern as she walked up to the porch with her phone and purse in her hand.

"I'll be fine." She shook her head.

"E?" He called.

"Yes?" She answered dryly. She hated him calling her E. It made her want to get closer to him.

"Sixteen." He looked at her with hope.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

"Vicki is annoying." Elena whispered over Damon's shoulder as they sat in the sandbox. "She stole my blue fluffy pencil."

"Shhh!" He raised his finger to his lips. "She's right there."

"She can't hear me." She rolled her eyes, shovelling sand into her bucket.

"You don't know that." He shrugged, standing up. He dusted himself off and clapped the sand out of his fingers. He began to walk to the desks, before he turned around to see Elena still building. "You coming?"

"What are we doing?" She asked, repeating Damon's steps and following him over to their desks. He tugged her one up close to his and sat down.

"We need to make a secret language." He stated, pulling his pencil and some paper out from his tote tray and writing the words 'D + E's secret language.'

"Why?" She knitted her brows, placing her chin in her palms.

"So Vicki doesn't know that we're talking about her." He explained, proceeding to etch 'By Elena and Damon' in the top left corner of the paper. "What's the date?"

"Um...sixteenth of August." She stated, glancing over at the calendar on the other side of the classroom. He nodded before messily writing '08.16.2003' in the top left corner. "What are we going to do?"

"First, names for people we might talk secretly about." He told her, writing down the left side of the page everyone that was in their class. "Vicki can be...Donut."

"Why Donut?" She asked, crumpling her face. "Donuts are nice."

"Because her last name is Donovan." He winked, thinking he was clever.

"You're an idiot."

"Say that louder and Mrs. Pierce will call your parents." He threatened playfully. She just brushed him off with another eye roll. "Bonnie and Caroline can be…"

"When would we talk bad about them?" She asked, shaking her head quickly. "They're my friends."

"If we ever need to talk and there's someone we don't want to know it's about them, duh."

"Fine." She huffed. "How about Bonnie is Feather and Caroline is Banana."

"Why?" He questioned, scrunching his face like she did before.

"Bonnie always uses feather pencils and Caroline's hair is yellow like a banana." She explained. "You choose all the boys and I'll choose the girls."

"Okay, Stefan can be...boring because he's boring," He started. She giggle-frowned. Damon often disregarded his brother, but Elena didn't really see what was wrong with him. He seemed nice and friendly, but then again she didn't know him well. "Matt will be Donut 2.0 and Tyler can be Key because his last name starts with Lock." Damon rambled, pointing to them as he named them, then writing them down in a list. Once they had gone through their whole class and added some other people they knew. They decided they also needed some basic communications as part of their language. Things only they knew and could say.

"I think we have everything we need." Elena said, scanning through the list.

"We need something for bye."

"What should it be?"

"I don't know." Damon shrugged.

"Elena. Honey, time to go." Her mother called as she walked into the classroom. In their grade, their parents had to pick them up from the room to ensure safety. She was always the first to leave at the end of the day since her mother finished work early.

"Alright, Mom." She said as she shoved her copy of their language code in her bag and threw it over her shoulder. She leaned over and hugged Damon goodbye as usual, then ran into her mother's arms.

As she edged towards the door, he called out; "E."

"Yeah?" She smiled, turning around.

"Sixteen." He stated. That was it. That was goodbye. Sixteen was their number. The day they met, and coincidently today.

"Sixteen? Why sixteen?" She asked.

"Well, today is the sixteenth, and we met on the sixteenth of February." He explained.

After a few seconds of confusion and weird looks she thought about their language and the one word they hadn't chosen yet; bye. Then she blushed he remembered the day they met. "Oh...Sixteen."

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

If she said it back, there was a sliver of hope that he could fix whatever he fucked up. Not that he knew where to start, but this would surely help. That one word could mean this was salvageable. They were salvageable no matter how late it was.

Nothing.

No words.

Just a hurt look on her face and a flood of memories in her head.

She blinked at him once before turning around and entering the old house.

"Dyl?" She called as she closed the door behind her. She was still dripping wet and looked like she had been hit by a car. "Jer?"

"Hey, how was i–wow." Jeremy started, sipping on a beer as he walked out from the kitchen. "What happened to you?"

"Damon." She mumbled, dropping her bag and taking her drenched and now ruined phone out of her pocket. "Damon happened."

"Can I as–"

"No." She interrupted, looking down to see the muddy puddle she created at the door.

"Okay." He nodded, knowing not to push it. "Well, Dylan's gone to sleep in your old room and Jenna's upstairs if you want to see her."

"I miss Jenna." She whispered to herself. "I'll go see her later." She spoke up. "I need to shower."

"So how is Damon?" He asked, finishing his drink and helping her clean up the spot she made. Damon and Jeremy used to hang when Elena was busy, and since the…incident, Jeremy couldn't see him. So naturally, he was asking.

"I don't know." She shrugged, remembering Jer didn't know what actually happened, just that they had a falling out. "Didn't ask."

"Why not? you guys used to be so close." He scrunched his face.

"Key word being: used to." She sighed.


Thats the first chap! Hope you all enjoyed and the story is making a bit more sense. I want to reveal things slowly as you can see hahaha so please be patient!

Please don't hesitate to leave a review! And thank you all who have already or are writing one xxx Or anyone who's even reading hahaha

See you in a week or two xx

- Jasmine