I can't believe it. This story has only been posted for two days and it's already gotten the fourth most reviews any story of mine ever got. It shot up the ranking list so to speak and I'm completely overwhelmed. Thank you all for your wonderful and kind comments, and please keep them coming. Nothing spurs me on like hearing the sound of my email-account announcing I have a new message.
This is a very short chapter and you may not like it much, it's mostly Stefan/Elena and it's not funny… but once I'd written it I knew it was necessary, right here, right now. Before the real fun begins. Sorry, but I promise, after this one it's gonna be hot Delena fun only.
Dinner For One
Damon stole a piece of chicken from the casserole and washed it down with a big mouthful of whine. The food was starting to cool off already and, well… it was a shame, really.
All his work in the kitchen would go to waste, since he didn't think Elena or his brother would have a taste for it. Not after what had just happened.
Or, was happening still. If he strained his enhanced hearing Damon could make out the heated voices coming from upstairs where he knew Elena and Stefan were currently arguing in his room.
Damon rested his elbows on the table and cast a bored glance around the empty dining room.
After he'd so casually dropped the ball on his little brother that Elena would be sleeping in his room and not sharing with Stefan… well, things had quickly gone down after that.
And, Damon thought with a sly smile when he remembered Elena storming from the table, Stefan on her heels, enjoying self-made roasted chicken and salad had been the last thing on the girl's mind right then. And so Damon had been left to enjoy the food, or rather the whine, all by himself.
Dinner for three had promptly turned into a mock-version of the old TV sketch comedy that had over the years become a famous classic in some parts of the world, aired every New Year's Eve time and again, while in others it hadn't reached any popularity whatsoever.
Which was a shame because, Dinner For One was really worth a good laugh.
But so was the heated discussion taking place upstairs right now. The muffled voices rose and fell steadily and it didn't seem like an end was in sight any time soon.
"Better save me a seat in the first row then," Damon chuckled and, with the grace of a black panther ready to stalk his prey, slid from his seat. He quickly snuffed the candles and emptied his whine before he left the room.
For this show he'd indulge in something a little stronger.
Damon sauntered through the hall and entered the spacious parlor. He poured himself a glass of Bourbon, took his seat in front of the burning fire and listened in on Elena and Stefan having their first real fight since the girl had moved in only this morning.
"Stefan," Elena sighed for perhaps the tenth time and turned back from the window to look at him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but, this has nothing to do with Damon!"
Stefan had stood close by the door the whole time, shoulders hunched and hands buried in his pockets. But now he moved a few steps further inside, casting a wary glance around before his eyes came to rest on Elena again.
He'd always hated this room, well, not hated but… he'd always felt uncomfortable in here, even during the times he'd stayed at the boarding house without Damon anywhere near. So, it wasn't just the fact that this room belonged to his brother that gave him a strange and distrustful feeling whenever he was here.
It was more than that.
The scent that clung to every piece of furniture inside, that radiated off the floor and even seemed to ooze from the walls… Stefan had never been able to put a name to it but it was something… something big and overwhelming.
It seemed to breeze in through the open windows every day anew and, combined with the huge amount of light that steamed in by day, it always managed to crawl up on him, inside Stefan's skin, and it made him want to scratch an itch he knew wasn't really there. Even by night, when no sunlight was floating in, Stefan longed to close the blinds, to draw the curtains and stop the windows from staring at him, through him.
He felt naked and exposed in this room, like there was no secret, no part of him, that he could keep to himself, away from prying eyes.
There was nothing this room couldn't read from him, wouldn't take from him… nothing this room didn't know.
And that was what Stefan couldn't bear.
But of course Elena couldn't understand that, and Stefan knew better than try to explain his feelings to her now. How should she be able to understand when, Stefan looked at the girl again, when she seemed to be made of exactly the same?
This room fitted Elena like a glove would fit her delicate hand.
Like a priest in his church, like a rose in its garden…
Elena was at home here. She belonged.
And that realization scared Stefan more than anything else ever had.
Because… Elena had been wrong in her attempt to soothe him. She'd said this had nothing to do with Damon when in reality it had everything to do with him.
Everything in Stefan's decades-long-life seemed to be connected to his brother. It all started and ended with Damon.
And Stefan was afraid that Elena would soon realize that, too.
"Stefan," Elena walked closer when no answer had come from her boyfriend's lips after her last statement. "I mean it, this isn't really about the room being Damon's, is it? You're upset because I don't wanna share a room with you yet."
"No, Elena," Stefan shook his head in defeat. "It's not that. I understand, believe me. I do. And it's okay. After all, your reason for moving in with me was so that no other attack like last night would happen again. I get it, really."
"I love you, Stefan," Elena felt the need to reassure him for some reason. "But I'm only seventeen and really moving in with you…"
"It's fine, Elena." Stefan's voice sounded off somehow. "I just wished that you'd chosen a different room, that's all."
"But, Stefan, apart from it being Damon's, don't you think this is an amazing room?" Elena couldn't quite ban the delight from her voice. "Don't you love it, too? Can't you feel it? This room, it's alive! And it makes me feel alive, too."
"I know," Stefan replied. He had to turn away from her, he couldn't stand seeing the obvious joy and excitement in her eyes.
Elena must have noticed his unease, because she hopped up to where he stood, pulled his hands from his pockets, and began twirling them around in some sort of dance to a music only she could hear.
"I love this room, and I love you!"
Stefan had to smile despite the tight knot that had settled in his stomach. He pulled her small form close and put a chaste kiss onto her forehead. "I love you, too!"
Elena's smile was bright and gentle when she looked up to him. "You know what, Stefan? If it truly bothers you so much, then," she shrugged indifferently but Stefan could see the smile fade from her eyes. "Then I'll move to another room first thing in the morning, okay?"
Stefan let his gaze sweep around. His eyes fell onto some of Elena's clothes draped over a chair, her hairbrush on the sideboard and a framed picture of her, Jeremy and her parents on the nightstand… and then he let go of her.
"No, you won't," Stefan stated softly and turned to the door. "Goodnight, Elena."
The firmness in his voice stopped Elena from replying and she simply stood, motionless and silent, and watched him leave the room.
Damon was just about to fill his glass with Bourbon for the third time when he heard Stefan leave Elena's room. For a split second he thought his brother would come downstairs again and Damon smirked at the prospect of rubbing it in to him some more.
But then Stefan's footsteps trudged up the small staircase to his own room and Damon let out a disappointed sigh. He'd really have loved to rile up his brother with Elena's obvious choice.
Because, even if she didn't know it yet, it hadn't been just a room Elena had chosen today. Damon knew that it had been far more.
Unaware of the fact that she'd been standing in front of a fork on the road for quite some time now, Elena had unconsciously taken the first step down one path, leaving the other option behind without a thought.
And now that Elena was on the road to 'Damon-City', the vampire was determined to make sure she'd not be led astray again. He'd make sure it was a one-way-street she was on, and he had just the right thing in mind for that.
"I may even be able to show her a short-cut," Damon grinned and stood up from the couch to saunter back into the dining room. After all, Elena hadn't had any dinner tonight, and she should be hungry by now, right?
Well, and what kind of host would let his house-guests starve on their first day, huh? Certainly not Damon Salvatore!
Damon quickly filled a plate with food and went into the kitchen to heat it up again. And then he made his way upstairs, dinner for Elena in hand and a predatory smile on his face.
Dinner for one, indeed. Or would it be dinner for two?
TBC
Please don't hate me for leaving you with yet another cliffhanger. I'll try to do better next time, promise. In the meantime… review please?
