Thanks for the lovely reviews, guys! I really had no idea how this is going, it's just kind of falling out of my head. So it's nice to know something's right somewhere! xD Just to answer a semi-question, although this story is pretty much unplanned, I think some other members of the Mystic Falls crew will return back into Elena's life, yes. Although it would be nice to just have a little D/E bubble, I think it's a little unrealistic. ;) Again, let me know if you have anything to say about the chapters! I'd love to know what you think.
Of everything that had changed, Elena's house hadn't. Elena could still remember the first time Damon had been inside, using Caroline as his pass. He'd slipped into her life from that moment on. Of course, back then, he'd only been trying to irritate Stefan. To annoy him and get under his skin, and apparently, his arrival into her house that night had been one way of doing so. Even after all this time, Elena didn't try to understand the relationship between Damon and Stefan. It ran on so many levels, she just didn't get it. But of course, she didn't have to worry about that anymore. Stefan was gone. This return was probably just a blip on Damon's moral compass, and then he'd leave again too. She'd be alone again, and everything could go back to normal. Back to trying to forget. Back to being alone in a world of strangers. And analysing Damon and Stefan would be the very last thing on her to-do list.
After everything that had happened, Elena thought she might have had some reward for surviving. For being alive. For struggling through the drama. But instead, things were worse. Elena had lost everything she'd had. Everything apart from her looks, Elena amended, as she gazed at her reflection in the mirror. She still looked the same as she always had. The blue dress she wore was vibrant sapphire against her cream skin, and her makeup highlighted her features in just the right way. To her own view, she still looked sad. But she looked good at the same time. The blue dress was flattering, though. Yet even despite it all, she was alone. She couldn't attract new friends at Duke, even on the shallowest of reasons. Elena didn't know how to feel about anything anymore - it was all too hard, too confusing. It was easier just to shut it off. It wasn't like it was doing anyone any harm. She functioned. She smiled and talked and made all the right moves. But she just felt so sad, all the time. It was easier.
She remembered the days when she had used to get mad Damon for flicking the switch. For shutting down his emotions, for living a guilt free, reckless life. But that was before she understood why. Before she understood that sometimes, it was just easier to give up and hit an emotional shutdown, rather than trying to suffer through life. Yet Elena would never admit to herself that she was in a shutdown. After all, her level of shutdown was different to Damon's. She didn't run rampant, killing everyone in sight. So there was nothing similar at all, so they couldn't be the same. That was her theory. That she was normal, fine even, because she wasn't how Damon had been. She wasn't like him at all.
Elena lifted her mask from her dresser - an elegant blue lace creation that matched her dress - making for the bedroom door. She was finally happy with how she looked after twenty minutes of tweaking. She couldn't hear Damon downstairs, but she knew he was there. He wouldn't leave without her. Not now that she had agreed to going. Well - she hadn't agreed, precisely. But it was clear she had been forced into going. Besides, she was relatively sure Damon wouldn't leave this house without her.
Elena quietly left her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She was slow to descend the stairs, due to the height of her shoes. It had been a long time since she'd had a reason to wear heels like the ones she wore then. But she made it down the stairs without major event. And when she reached the bottom, Damon stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for her. He smirked casually as she eyed him. Elena wondered if he was happy now, satisfied he'd forced her into the dress and going to the stupid party.
"See, that's not so bad, is it?" he told her in a tone that was insultingly patronising. She hated it.
"I'm here. So can we go already?" Elena asked. She truly was unwilling, but she figured it was a torture that she had best get over with.
"I thought you didn't want to go anywhere," Damon pointed out, still smirking. Elena was becoming more and more irritated with Damon by the second.
"I don't. But you won't let me live in peace, so what choice do I have?" Elena argued with him. Damon's amusement seemed to only deepen.
"So sorry for the inconvenience," Damon apologised insincerely. Elena sighed, making for the kitchen and the spare door key. She wondered what Damon's plan was. Why was he insisting on taking her to some silly dance? Who knew? Elena however, was aware that she was just going to have to go with it. It wasn't like Damon to explain his plans before he executed them. There was always a surprise in store with Damon around. She grabbed the door key and headed back to the entrance hall where Damon still stood. She made for the door, not even pausing. But Damon wouldn't let her go.
He grabbed her forearm, and Elena turned round to face him, her hair swishing with the movement.
"What?" Elena asked him, frustrated.
"It is a Masquerade Ball," Damon pointed out.
"So where's your mask?" Elena asked, trying not to lash out. Damon reached inside his suit jacket and held a simple black mask between his fingers, leaving in the air between them. "Great. So what's your point?"
Damon made no verbal response. He simply put his own black mask down on the nearest flat surface, and prised Elena's blue lace one from between her fingers. Holding her gaze, he held the mask up to her face before tying a neat bow at the back of her head with the blue ribbon, holding the mask in place. As Elena stared into Damon's eyes, she again wondered what he was doing. Three months away and he came back into her life and swept her off her feet. Who was he? What was he even thinking?
"Let's go," Elena said, trying to break the tension somehow. It was a futile attempt, she knew, but she was desperate. She'd forgotten how Damon used to make her feel. She had felt like she was moving on with her life, moving forward, forgetting about the past. Damon was too much a part of that past. The past that she was dying to forget. She'd lost Stefan already - she wasn't sure she could take the fact that Damon and Stefan had traditionally been a package deal. In her mind, she knew she'd be waiting for Stefan to arrive and start a futile argument with his brother over nothing. She couldn't take the waiting that her mind would being - with Damon back, Elena wouldn't be surprised if she started expecting Stefan to arrive back in town and sweep her off her feet - make her fall in love all over again. Elena just wasn't sure about anything anymore. That was what Damon did for her.
Just what she needed.
The party was electric. The atmosphere was alive and the Lockwood house glowed with life and music. People swarmed around the dance floor and the wine flowed. As Elena walked around, she was feeling like a rabbit in headlights. People were greeting her and smiling at her and Elena could barely work out who they were behind the masks. The music was drumming against her head as she was trying to push herself through the small spaces in the crowd. She wished she'd stayed at home. She wished Damon hadn't made her come. She couldn't handle all the people and the atmosphere. She couldn't handle the memories this house brought back to her.
Elena was treating Damon's hand on her back like a lifeline. She knew if she was left alone, she'd be lost. She'd be drowning in a sea of faces. She found herself completely unable to relax. Behind every mask she saw a threat, another vampire coming to kill her. In every glass she saw poison, or vervain that would destroy her sole protector. She was jumpy. She couldn't handle it. She'd been avoiding all the parties at Duke. But this was different. This was familiar, and the familiarity made it feel like insanely dangerous. Damon guided her to a relatively empty part of the room, and left her less than a minute. He returned with two crystal glasses, full of clear liquid. It could have been water, but Elena knew better. Damon gave Elena a glass and she drained it before Damon could say a word against it. Elena immediately gagged as the dryness hit the back of her throat, and Damon arched an eyebrow in surprise as Elena recovered.
"Steady there. Can't have you drunk before nine, now," Damon chided. Elena glared at him.
"Shut up. You made me come, so I'm here on my terms." Elena replied viciously.
"Hey, you're the one who's been moping," Damon said, sipping at his drink. Elena glared at him from the corner of her eye.
"Who says I've been moping?" Elena accused.
"I do. Every time you come back here, you sit at home mourning the past. I have news for you. The past is dead. You need to get up and move on. So if I have to drag you to a party to do that, then I will," Damon instructed her. Elena could already feel the alcohol taking effect - she knew it was by the words that fell from her mouth next, before she could even think about what she was saying.
"Who do you think you are? You don't get to just walk back into my life and start telling me how to live it. Three months, Damon. You haven't so much as said 'hi' to me in three months." Elena told him. She realised what she'd said a moment too late, and had to stop herself from quailing at Damon's stone cold gaze. She wished Damon had given her something weaker to drink. The alcohol was obviously going straight to her head - and her tongue.
"At least I came back," Damon shot at her, and Elena could feel the pain throbbing in her chest. He was right. At least he came back. As much as she loved her friends and respected their need for space, they'd all more or less abandoned her. Bonnie had walked away without a backwards glance. She'd severed all ties. Caroline barely even kept in touch any more. Their relationship wasn't like it used to be, anyway. Even Stefan had abandoned her when she'd said she couldn't go back to him. But Damon came back. It made her grateful. But she was far too angry to show it. Why had he decided to come back, anyway?
"Yeah, well, thanks a lot," Elena said venomously, before striding away, forcing her way through the people. She didn't hear Damon following. She was glad. She needed some space, some time to process. Honestly, she wouldn't put it past Damon to push her to her limits tonight. But maybe he had a point. Maybe she had been moping. She hadn't felt happy in ages. She hadn't felt like doing anything, to be honest. She was just pushing herself through university, forcing herself to wake up each morning, putting herself through the motions. Sometimes, it didn't even feel like it was worth it. So maybe Damon was right.
Maybe he was just trying to rescue her.
Damon watched her walk away. It took everything in his power not to follow her, not to go after her and drag her outside before telling her exactly what he thought. But he managed it. He downed the rest of the alcohol to try and distract himself. Stupid human girl. Why had he brought her here? What was the point if she was going to be so damn stubborn?
Before Damon could think it over too much, he found he had company. This mask thing wasn't really much of a disguise. It hadn't taken much for the kid to find him.
"Damon," Jeremy said by way of greeting.
"Jeremy," Damon responded with a kind of patronising levity. Jeremy ignored it.
"Thanks." Damon gazed over at Jeremy like he was crazy. The silver mask the kid was wearing was slightly skewed. He smelled like a girl's perfume. Damon smirked. At least Elena's brother wasn't as out of it as she was.
"For what, saving you from your date? I'll have her if you don't want her," Damon told him seriously. Again, Jeremy ignored Damon's baiting.
"For Elena." Jeremy clarified.
"For Elena? I haven't done anything but drag her ass out of the house and get her mad."
"Yeah. Thanks," Jeremy told him again. Damon raised a single brow in questioning.
"You're happy about that?" Damon checked.
"She's been pretty bad since everyone else left town. Nothing helps her. You make her feel again, even if you make her feel pissed," Jeremy explained. Damon considered Jeremy for a minute.
"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure she's not happy about it," Damon told him.
"Being mad and upset at you is a few steps up from not feeling at all," Jeremy told him. Damon rolled his eyes at Jeremy.
"Go on kid, get back to your girl before she realises who she's been kissing." Damon told him. Jeremy grinned before wandering off. Damon would have sworn the kid might even have been blushing. But Damon had to admit one benefit of Jeremy's little confession.
It told him he was doing some good for a change.