"So, where do you want to go?" Damon asked when I walked out of the bathroom. I'd taken a shower and was now dressed in dark skinny jeans and a black halter top, which I figured I could wear just about anywhere. He had arranged to have clothes waiting for us in the dressers and closet.

"Well, I'm sure you've been here before. What's there to do?" I asked, sitting on my bed.

"Everything," he said with a wicked smile.

"Alright, then. Show me everything," I said, with a twinge of anticipation.

"We'll start with nightlife," he said and got to his feet.

By the time we'd left the airport and gotten to the hotel, it had been very late at night, so the nightlife would be in full swing.

I pulled on black high heels and left my hair down, and I'd already done my makeup, so I was ready in no time.

"Are we ready?" I asked as he pulled on his jacket.

"Absolutely," he said and guided me out the door.


We walked into an elite nightclub that Damon got us into with no problems at all. I looked around at my surroundings, and multicolored lights danced off of my skin.

We walked over to the bar and he told me to order whatever I wanted.

"Strawberry daiquiri," I said, making Damon lift his eyebrows.

"You said whatever I wanted. And if we're only going to be here for 'five minutes,'" I air quoted the words, "then I won't even have to time to get drunk," I said as the bartender handed me my drink.

"I like your logic," he said and clicked his glass against mine.

"So do I," I said and turned up my drink. He laughed and downed his drink in one shot.I probably drank one too many daiquiris , but for the first time in a long time, I was having fun. Damon was also well on his way to hammered, and we were having fun together.

"Let's dance," he suggested and held out his hand. I bit my lip and eyed it doubtfully. I shouldn't be dancing with anyone besides Stefan, but since I was furious with him and Damon was my only other viable option, I couldn't resist.

I smiled and took his hand and he guided me to the center of the floor. We began dancing to Swithfoot's "Dare You To Move," and I found my body easily falling in tune with the song.

What happens next? What happens next?

Damon pulled me to him, his hands on my hips. I began to move my hips, and he mirrored me.

I dare you to move, I dare you to move. I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor.

I put my arms around his neck and found myself entranced by those blue eyes. He wasn't compelling me, but I felt trapped by his gaze.

I dare you to move, I dare you to move. Like today never happened.

I realized that at some point, the tiny area of space between our bodies had closed. I could feel his every movement against my body, and I knew it was the same for him. I could feel the alcohol in my system trying to take over, but I fought it tooth and nail.

Today never happened, before.

We danced that closely for many songs, but after a few, things started getting hazy.


I woke up tired and with a killer hangover.

"Ow," I moaned, putting my hand to my head.

"I'm glad vampires don't hangovers," came a voice beside me. I turned over and saw Damon, under the blankets with me, looking exhausted.

I screamed and flung myself off the bed, landing in a tangled mess on the ground.

"What - are you - in my bed?" I shrieked, panic shooting through me.

"Sleeping, as of ten minutes ago."

"Oh my god… no, no, no," I said, wrapping my arms around myself and getting to my feet. I gave a little start when I realized I was still in my jeans and halter top.

"What did you expect?" Damon asked, lifting an eyebrow at my over relieved reaction.

"Damon, I woke up and you were in bed with me. What did you think I expected?" I spat, folding my arms.

"You thought we slept together?" He asked, and then doubled over laughing. I flushed to what I was pretty sure was the roots of my hair and marched into the bathroom.

"It's not funny!" I called through the door as I closed it.

"Yes it is!" He replied, and I heard him start laughing again. I shook my head, stripped out of my clothes, and stepped into the shower.

I got out after washing my hair and skin, and grabbed a soft white bathrobe off of a hook on the wall. I belted it tightly and walked out into our room.

What I saw made me yelp and turn around so fast that I ran back into the door. By the time I righted myself, Damon was zipping his jeans and looked thoroughly amused.

"What-why, um, where were your clothes?" I rambled, and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. Something I did when I was nervous.

"Right here," he said and held up the clothes he'd worn last night.

"Right. Well, next time, would you please give a girl some warning before you start changing clothes in the middle of the room?" I asked, trying to calm down. That was way more of Damon Salvatore than I had ever wanted to see in my life.

"I'll keep that in mind," he laughed and pulled on a black button down dress shirt.

I sighed, grabbed some clothes out of the closet, and went back into the bathroom. I locked the door behind me and threw the clothes on the counter. Even as I dressed, little images still danced in my mind. A completely bare chest, an all too well defined abdomen, a dusting of dark hair around his navel that led in a little trail down - I brought my thoughts to a halt and went back to getting dressed. I was so not finishing that train of thought.

"So, did you like what you saw?" Damon asked through the door.

"I didn't see that much," I lied, taking a deep breath.

"Then why did you run into a door?"

"Because you startled me."

"What part startled you? Wait, never mind, I'm pretty sure I know what part startled you," he said in a cocky tone of voice.

I unlocked the door, opened it, slapped him across the face, and closed the door back.

He just laughed. Seething, I opened the door back after I finished getting ready for the day.

"Don't make me regret coming with you," I said, sitting on my bed.

"How about I make it up to you," he said, grinning mischievously.

I lifted my eyebrows in question, which only made his grin widen. He pulled something out of the closet and tossed it to me, and I held up what he'd thrown me. It was a dark red bikini.

"The beach?" I asked, unable to keep the excitement from my voice.

"Yep," he said, pleased with my reaction.

As angry as he made me sometimes, I couldn't help but to look forward to it. I went into the closet, grabbed a cover-up, and went into the bathroom to change clothes.

When I came out, Damon was wearing jeans over his swim trunks and holding out his hand.

"Let's go," he said and took my hand. I wanted to shake his hand off, but I didn't feel like fighting with him again.

Downstairs, a pack with everything we needed was waiting on us, and our rental car had been pulled up in front of the hotel. Damon grabbed the canvas bag with our stuff in it and held the door of both the hotel and the car. He told me that our hotel wasn't far from the beach, and sure enough, five minutes later we were finding somewhere to park.

I had to bite my lip to keep from dropping my jaw when the beach came into view. It was beautiful. The water was a clear blue and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

We walked out onto the sand and kicked our shoes off, and Damon started pulling stuff out of the bag. He laid out two towels, and pulled out some very expensive looking sunscreen.

"Lay down," he instructed, and I laid down on one of the towels. A moment later, I felt him start applying sunscreen to my back.

I closed my eyes and found myself relaxing at the feel of his hands moving across my skin. I also felt a strange shiver when his hands rubbed my lower back.

"Turn over," he said, and I turned over to where I was on my back. He started to rub the lotion into my arms, but I sat up somewhat abruptly.

"I, um, I'll take care of the rest. Thanks," I said, and he handed me the bottle of lotion. I don't know why, but the thought of him putting his hands on my stomach and chest did very funny things to me.

He leaned back and watched my every move, making me feel more than slightly self conscious. When I was done, I stretched back out under the sun and closed my eyes.

"So, can vampires feel temperature changes like humans can?" I asked Damon, keeping my voice low.

"I can feel the sun and heat and such, but it doesn't effect me the way it does you. I don't tan, obviously."

"Huh. One more question. Can you…eat?" I asked, knowing how stupid I must sound.

"As long as I keep a healthy amount of blood in my system, my body functions… pretty normally," he said, not seeming offended by my asking or seeming to think I was silly for asking.

I just nodded and went back to sunbathing. I had just started relaxing again when I felt arms go under me and lift me off the ground.

"Damon, put me down!" I said, glaring up at him. He just smirked and suddenly there was a blur of movement.

"As you wish," he said and lowered me to where I was on my feet. And because I was expecting solid ground, it came as a slight shock when I fell in the water. I yelped slightly and quickly righted myself. When I tried to plant my feet on the ground, I simply ended up slipping under the surface of the water. I flailed and grabbed on to the first bit of leverage I could find, scrambling to cling to it.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself wrapped around and clinging to Damon. My hands were on his shoulders and my legs were wrapped tightly around his waist. My breath caught in my throat, and I untangled myself immediately.

I knew how to swim, I just had lost my balance when I'd first hit the water. I swam deeper in, and found it easy to swim because the waves weren't especially high. I swam with my legs stretched out behind me and my arms out in front of me, and I found my eyes closing as I relaxed.

Suddenly arms wrapped around me from underneath and I jerked as Damon pulled me off the surface of the water and against him. He pulled my head against his chest and I felt a huge pressure of water hit my back.

I felt him swim backwards, not letting go of me.

"You okay?" I heard him ask, though it was slightly muffled because my head was still buried in his chest.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said as he swam us to shore. He let me go and we walked over to where out towels were laid out.

"Sorry I startled you. Big wave coming. You had your eyes closed. I didn't want you drowning," he said and shrugged.

"Thank you," I said, a small smile curving my lips as I stretched out. He sprawled out his back, folding his arms behind his head. We laid contently out in the sun until he noted that I was probably starving. I hadn't eat breakfast, and it was noon.

"I'm not ready to leave yet," I laughed, but I was hungry.

"We won't for long. Let's go get lunch and I'll bring you back," he said and helped me to my feet.

"Great," I said, happy we were coming back.

After eating lunch at a very nice restaurant not far from the beach, spending all day at the beach, we finally got back to the hotel.

"That was so much fun," I said as we walked in. I was awake and wired from laying on the beach all day, and I was not ready to sleep by any means. It was about seven p.m., and Damon seemed just as wired as me.

"We could change clothes and hit another nightclub," he said as we went into our room.

"Thanks but no thanks. I do not want another hangover tomorrow," I said, remembering the awful headache I'd had this morning.

"Alright, how about we spend the night in?" He suggested.

I felt my eyes widen and I drew back.

"That's not what I meant," he said, almost doubled over laughing.

"With you it's hard to tell," I said and kicked off my sandals in the closet. I grabbed a tank top and sleeping pants and disappeared into the bathroom to get ready for the night.

"I was talking about watching a movie," he said through the door, and I heard the soft rustle of fabric as he got dressed for the night as well.

"What do you want to watch?" I asked as I washed my face.

"Do you want to watch a horror flick?" He asked.

"Sounds perfect," I said and ran the brush through my hair a few times.

"We have some DVDs in the living room, I'll go see what kind of horror movies we have," he called as he left the room.

When I walked into the living room, he was turning off the lights and turning on the flat screen TV.

"How about The Messengers?" I said, looking at the horror DVDs he'd pulled off the shelf and stacked on the coffee table.

"Sounds good," he said and slid the movie into the DVD player. He sprawled out on the couch and slid against the back of the couch to make room for me.

I walked over and perched on the edge, not totally comfortable with our closeness.

"Come here," he said, beckoning to me with his finger.

I hesitantly laid down and rested my back against his chest. He draped one arm over my waist and his hand rested on my stomach. I flinched, but I didn't move.

When the movie went off, I was relaxed against him, and my head was resting on the free arm that wasn't across my waist. I was drowsy and would have been content to go to sleep right there, but he picked me up and carried me to my bed.

"Damon, I meant to ask you something this morning," I murmured sleepily. He lifted his eyebrows questioningly.

"Why were you in my bed this morning?" I asked, almost laughing when I remembered my reaction to finding him there.

"Because you asked me to stay with you," he said to my surprise.

"I did?" I asked, brow furrowing. A slight smile tilted up the corners of his mouth.

"Yes. You're exact words were 'stay with me,' if memory serves," he told me. In my sleepy, half awake state, the thought of asking him of all people to crawl in bed with me seemed only half crazy and slightly inviting.

"Will you stay with me again?" I said the words before I realized what I was saying.

He smiled and slid in beside me, opening his arms. I slid into them, burying my face in his chest.

This was only for five minutes. After this was over, I would go home to Stefan and… well, I wasn't sure what to do about Stefan yet. All I did know was that for five minutes, I would stay with Damon and for the first time in awhile, be myself.

Just as I started to drift off, memories assaulted me. The feel of Damon's bare chest against my face was what made me remember. Oh lord. This was not good.

I blinked several times, trying to make the images disappear. All of last night flashed through my mind, and I felt a headache creeping up. I tried to say that in my defense, I had been drunk, but deep down I knew that it had been more than that. I finally fell asleep worried and confused.


When I woke up, Damon was awake and still in bed with me.

"Morning," he greeted me as my eyes opened.

"Morning," I replied, the images of the night before last still flashing behind my eyes.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, seeming to pick up on my preoccupation.

"No. That's the thing. This should be wrong. I should hate all of this. But no, I asked you to sleep with me for the past two nights. I'm the one that laid on the beach with you all day yesterday. I shouldn't be enjoying walking away from my life for a little while, but I am. And I don't feel like I should," I said, the words coming out of me in a blur. I had to tell him the truth, the truth about the fact that even though I shouldn't be, I was loving every second of this "five minutes."

"Elena," he said my name gently, taking my face in his hands.

"Don't you realize how much you've went through recently? Your best friend is a witch. You're a dead ringer for Katherine. Your brother's not exactly on top of the world. You need this, Elena. You need to walk away and be yourself and remember that under all of this hurt and confusion, you are still there." His speech shocked me, and I blinked a couple of times, taking in his words. Scarily enough, he was right.

"Look, about what happened at that club a couple nights ago…" I found my voice trailing off and I grew uncomfortable.

"You were drunk. It wasn't real," he said, though something in his tone suggested that he wished it had been real.

"No. It wasn't real," I said to as much convince me as to convince him.

"Well, let's get ready for another day of California," he said, and my mood brightened instantly.

"What are we going to do today?" I asked, getting off the bed.

"Not going outside, apparently," he said as he looked out the window. I walked over, and sure enough, it was raining.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to amuse ourselves here," I said with a sigh.

"I think we can manage," he said with his cocky smile.

I glared when I realized he was making an innuendo, and smacked him on the arm.

"Not funny, Damon."

"Really? I found it rather amusing."

"I bet you did."

I shook my head and grabbed something comfortable to change into for our day in, and went into the bathroom. As I dressed, I knew that no matter how much fun I was having here, Hell was waiting for me when I got home.


"These violent delights have violent ends."

~William Shakespeare