Surprise! All of your wonderful reviews and birthday wishes had me feeling super grateful. So I forced myself to sit in front of the computer and write this chapter last night.

Hope you like it! :)


I pulled up to my aunt Jenna's two story house and took a moment to compose myself before stepping out of the vehicle. The structure looked exactly like it had from when my parents had resided it. From the white siding and black shutters to the swing on the left side of the porch; everything was the same. It had that eerie sense about it that suggested my parents had just taken a long vacation and would be back to reclaim their property when they felt the time was right.

Unfortunately, I knew this wasn't true and as I pushed back the building surge of liquid threatening to impair my sight, I headed up the path to my old front door. I'd just lifted my hand to knock when Jenna threw it open.

"Welcome home sweetie," my aunt greeted as she threw her arms around me and pulled me into a full on bear hug.

Her tight grip was squeezing the air straight out of my lungs, but I managed to get out in between chuckles, "Hey, Jenna."

"It's so good to have you back," she exasperated as her arms finally left my side, allowing me to catch a quick breath.

"It's good to be back," I responded simply for her amusement.

But Jenna knew me too well to actually believe the lie. She understood my reasons for hating this town and knew it had nothing to do with her. I'd spent too many nights, after the death of my parents, cradled in her arms and bawling my eyes for her to actually believe I enjoyed coming back to the place that held so many memories of them.

So, she extended her arm behind my back and gave me a slight squeeze as she sympathized, "Oh, Elena, I know it's difficult." She then guided me through the door and into the familiar living room as she added, "But hopefully with all of the wedding planning going on in this place, you'll be too preoccupied to fall into your memories."

It was then my eyes managed to take in the state of my once cozy living room. All of the original furniture, photographs, and artwork still decorated the place, but they were hardly noticeable amidst the mess of wedding stuff. Stacks of invitations lined the mantle of the fireplace, half tied pew bows were scattered along the floor, and engagement pictures littered the coffee table.

All in all, the place looked like a tornado had just ripped through it.

"Holy shit, Jenna," I proclaimed as my eyes drifted around the room. "How many people are invited to this thing?

"Oh, just a few people from town," she nonchalantly replied as her hand snapped through the air. "And Ric's entire family."

"And that's our problem," a male voice interrupted from the stairwell. "My family just can't seem to stop reproducing. There are at least 60 of us now."

My head whipped around just in time to see my aunt's fiancé Alaric step into the living room. "Good to see you, Elena," he greeted with a warm smile on his lips.

"You too," I replied awkwardly as my hand slipped into his, accepting his shake. His skin was rough like a construction workers, which was weird since he was a history teacher, and he kept contact for a few seconds longer than I would have preferred, before he finally released me.

This wasn't the first time I'd been introduced to Alaric, but it was pretty darn close. I'd seen him twice during my stay over winter break, before he 'moved-in' with my aunt. They'd just recently gotten engaged at that point, so he'd kept his distance, allowing my aunt and I the much needed girl time we required during my stays.

Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case this summer. From what Jenna had informed me over the phone, Ric still had his own apartment, but more times than not, he stayed with her. They were in the gradual process of moving him over, which seemed appropriate. But that shattered any hopes I'd had of spending quality time with my aunt without the interference of my soon-to-be-uncle in law.

And considering my stance on most men, this made our relationship a bit uncomfortable. I wasn't sure how much my aunt had filled him in about me, but given the uneasy expression on his features, I'd say she'd pretty much covered the gist of it.

"I'm just going to start unloading you're thing," Ric suggested as he pointed his hand towards the door.

"I'll help you," I offered because it was the polite thing to do; not because I was at all eager to help.

"Nah," Jenna intercepted before I was able to take a single step in Ric's direction. "Let the man do the heavy lifting."

"Yeah, I've got it," Ric said, supporting Jenna's decision. "You girls go catch up and I'll just toss everything onto your bed," he added before opening the door and shutting it behind him.

Jenna then led me into the kitchen, where I instinctively made my way over to take a seat in the chair I claimed growing up. I sat in comfortable silence a few moments while she filled a metal tea pot with water and set it onto the stove burner.

But that was when she finally turned on me. She made her way over to take a seat beside me at the kitchen table and stressed, "I know it's going to be difficult for you being here with Ric, but I'd really like it if you gave him a chance."

At that, I had to hold back my biting refusal because by no means did I want to give her fiancé a chance.

I mean, maybe my opinion might have been different if this wasn't Jenna's second preoperational trip to the alter. Her first had been with high school sweetheart, Logan Fell, or as we liked to call him now, Logan SkumFell. He'd broken things off two weeks before the actual day insisting he wasn't ready for that type of commitment. She'd been broken and tattered for months to follow and it was a constant reminder to me of why I keep my guards up.

But for Jenna, it was simply an opportunity to start over fresh. She'd met Ric a year later and claimed that this time, it was the real deal. Honestly, I wasn't sure how it was possible for someone to come back from what she went through and still have the faith in someone to follow up on their promises. The first time had left her burned and Ric held the potential of doing the very same thing.

So, no, I didn't want to give this new guy a chance, but for the sake of keeping a friendly atmosphere in the house, I held back my disdain and instead muttered, "If that's what you want."

"It is, because the two of you will be spending a lot of time together this summer," Jenna said, "and I'd really like it if my Maid of Honor actually approved of the man I was marrying."

If he actually shows up this time, I thought to myself. But aloud I replied, "If you like him, I'll like him," with a forced smile on my lips.

"You forget who you're talking to," Jenna retorted with a playful roll of her eyes. "I'm not stupid enough to believe that line. But, just promise me you'll be nice."

We both giggled at her statement, knowing how difficult that simple request was going to be for me, before I shot her a devious smile. I then made the symbol of a cross over my heart and declared, "I'll try my best, but only because it's you."

She nodded her head and appeared satisfied as she stated, "Thank you," in a chipper voice. But then her hand waved spastically through the air, almost as if she was separating the tension of the previous topic, before she suggested, "Now that we have that out of the way. I need updated on everything that's going on in your life!"


A few hours later, Jenna and I had officially gotten caught up on each other's lives. She told me all about the fiasco's that went with planning a wedding the second time around and I filled her in on all of my boy drama. She took special interest in the mystery guy that had heroically come to my aid this morning, but before I was roped into offering up any more details, I was saved by my cell phone.

It had been Bonnie with details about the evening's bonfire and the precise time she'd be swooping by to pick me up. Thankfully, it left me only enough time to unpack my things and sit through a quick dinner before she'd arrive, which allowed me a easy exit from my conversation with Jenna.

I hastily made my way up the stairs and swung the wooden door of my room open. As I took a step inside, I closed the door and let my eyes wander over its familiar content. The light yellow walls were still as soothing as ever as I scooted over a few articles of clothing and flopped down on my comforter.

I closed my eyes for a second, finding it oddly comforting that my room still held the slight scent of pumpkin spice, before I made my way over to my dresser. Beaded necklaces still hung around the mirror, falling over the photographs of my adolescent years, but only one remained untouched by the jewelry.

My hand instinctively reached out to stroke the glossy photograph of my parents. The tip of my finger stroked the side of my mother's cheek as my thumb played with the lower left hand corner. I felt the familiar moisture creep into my eyes as I studied their faces; finding them both as beautiful as they were the day they'd died.

I thought to myself how ironic it was that my love for them had managed to permanently lock itself into my heart, while also acting as the barrier to keeping my love for others out. It was easy to see that their accident was the reason I was incapable of opening myself up to love, but I didn't blame them. None of this was their fault.

They hadn't chosen to leave me stranded and if any of this had been up to them, they wouldn't have wanted me to lock up the way that I had. But none of this had been up to them. That responsibility had been stripped from them and placed in the hands of the driver whose car smashed into theirs and pushed them over Wickery Bridge.

He was the reason I'd become the person I had and he was the sole person I blamed; not the two angelic figures staring back at me now.

My thoughts drifted to how different my life would be if the accident hadn't happened and I'm not really sure how long I'd been studying the picture when Jenna's voice shouted at me from the bottom of the staircase.

"Are you alright with burgers for dinner?" Jenna asked.

"Sure," I shouted back, my eyes still transfixed on the image of my parents. The longing for them to be here and make everything a bit easier was flowing through me at an unbearable level. But after a few more seconds, I finally peeled my eyes from their photo and pulled myself from my personal black hole.

I then swiveled back around to take in the pile of clothing, on my bed, and narrowed my eyes at the sight. It was certainly going to take the majority of my afternoon putting everything away, but I was welcome for the distraction. And after rummaging through one of my bags for my Ipod, I clicked it into my stereo and got down to work.


"How was your family dinner?" Bonnie asked in a teasing tone as she pulled the car off of the main road and onto the dirt path.

"Uncomfortable," I deadpanned from the passenger's seat. And uncomfortable was an extreme understatement. Oddly enough, Ric was apparently even more distressed about my joining their happy home for the summer than I had been. Our conversations had been forced and the pauses had been excruciatingly long, even with Jenna's attempts at lightening the air.

"Jenna wants me to give this guy a chance, but I just don't see how I'm ever going to be able to like him if he's too wound up to have a solid conversation with. I mean, he practically spat out his meat when I asked Jenna where she kept her tampons," I complained.

"Maybe he just needs some time to adjust," Caroline reasoned from behind us. "You said he was still in the moving-in phase, so it might take a little while before he's comfortable will full on girl talk."

"I did lay it on pretty thick," I admitted; a sly grin lifting the edge of my lips upward. "But it was too funny watching him squirm to stop."

"You're terrible," Caroline reprimanded as her head shot forward between our seats.

"Well, personally, I would have loved to watch the scene play out," Bonnie countered with a smirk. "It had to be entertaining."

"Yeah, when it wasn't uncomfortable," I retorted as my friend maneuvered her vehicle between two trees and threw it into park.

"At least it's behind you," Bonnie reasoned before she switched off the ignition, threw her door open, and stepped out of the car.

"Until tomorrow," I muttered, repeating her actions.

"Elena, darling, tomorrow's another day and you can worry about it then," Bonnie suggested. "But right now, I need you to just relax and enjoy the party."

"Done," I said with a huge smile lighting up my face because frankly it was what she wanted to hear. And besides, people with red plastic cups were everywhere. Laughter filled the air, mixed in with techno beats blasting from the stereo someone had brought to Duke's party and the place generally looked like it was having a good time. So naturally, I would too.

"Fantastic," Bonnie cheered with a dramatic clap of her hands. "Because I forgot to mention I found you a replacement guy earlier today. He said he was going to be here tonight, so I'm gonna find him."

And before I could interject, she had turned on her heels and headed into the crowd, shouting, "I'll be right back," as she did.

"Great," I muttered under my breath because this was the last thing I needed tonight. I'd banked all of my faith on the fact that my friend would have long since forgotten about her mission to find me a man, only to have it thrown back in my face.

I shook my head back and forth, reprimanding myself for ever agreeing to let her drag me into her summer games, when Caroline leaned against my shoulder.

"I didn't want to bring this up around Bonnie since we know how she is, but I wanted to ask, how are you doing with what happened this morning?"

My mind instantly transported me back to the incident on the side of the road where I'd found myself drooling over some dark-haired demon that was certainly off limits. "I'm fine," I dismissed with a shrug.

"Are you sure? Because I know how much it hurts being cheated on," Caroline sympathized.

"Oh," I spat out before I could help myself. I'd completely forgotten about my episode with Elijah and momentarily wondered how I had so quickly. I shook my head and refused to acknowledge the answer to my personal question as I assured, "Yeah, I promise. I'm fine, but thanks for asking."

"Of course," Caroline reassured as she laced an arm around my back and squeezed. "Just know; I'm here if you need to talk about it."

"Okay," I replied as Bonnie reappeared from the crowd with her hand looped through the arm of an attractive guy.

"Elena," she started with a satisfied grin, "I'd like you to meet Klaus."

I had to hold back the laugh building in the back of my throat because seriously, who the hell named their kid Klaus?

"It's nice to meet you," Klaus stated as his arm extended and waited for mine.

"And that's our cue to go," Bonnie insisted as she laced her arm through Caroline's and dragged her away.

I shot my blonde friend a desperate look, but she merely shrugged and mouthed, "I'm sorry," as she faded into the crowd.

"Your friend could stand to be a little less obvious," Klaus assessed with a chuckle. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Sure," I succumbed because really how terrible could this guy be?

I got my answer after being cornered against a tree for nearly an hour. I'd successfully learned that other than his looks, Klaus has nothing going for him. Yes, his dirty blonde hair, high-cheekbones and velvety accent were appealing, but that was as far as the appeal went.

Honestly, the guy was a straight up snoozer and at one point, I almost fell asleep and drowned in my red cup. He blabbered on about himself, as well as his family and their business. Apparently, Klaus, his father, and sister had just opened up a local bookstore called Simply Originals, where they only carried first editions of favorite bestsellers. And if his name wasn't any indication, he was a snob; a terrible on in fact.

So much so, that I chugged the second half of my beer so I could excuse myself to fill it back up. But as I made my way to the keg, I felt something magnetic. And my eyes were pulled towards the bonfire like sonar as they landed on him.

Damon was sitting on a log around the edge talking with some blonde that could hardly be considered attractive. They were roasting marshmallows and when Damon accidently lit one on fire, she laughed and placed her hand on his thigh. It was obvious the girl was into him; hell, her arousal was practically dripping down her legs, and instantly I felt angry.

"Who are we staring at?" Caroline interrupted just as my hand balled itself into a fist. I jumped at her question before I took a deep breath and sighed.

"No one," I answered dismissively before her eyes followed the direct path of mine and landed on Damon.

"Oh, he's cute," Caroline commented beside me. She then laced her arms over her chest and questioned, "But why are you just standing there? Go talk to him."

"It's not like that," I tried to reason.

"Sure it's not," she sarcastically responded.

"He was just the guy that helped me with my car this morning," I explained as my hand floated through the air.

"All the more reason to go over and thank him," she suggested with a quick flick of her brows.

"But then who's going to stand here and talk to you?" I tried to argue as an innocent smile slid across my lips.

But she snorted at my attempt and countered, "I'm a social butterfly and perfectly capable of finding someone to spend my time with. So you, Elena, will not be able to use me as an excuse."

"You're not an excuse," I started, but she'd already started walking away. Her back was to me, but that didn't stop her from glancing back and shooting me a conniving grin as she left.

I rolled my eyes because this was just like my friend. Both she and Bonnie always seemed to push me towards men. Bonnie, at least, followed my rules. She always brought the guy to me so that it never appeared like I was chasing after him, but Caroline chose to ignore my rules completely.

Don't fold into Caroline, you'll be breaking your own rule, I lectured myself. But as my eyes drifted back over to where Damon was seated, he appeared so bored that I found my feet involuntarily leading me towards him. I quickly assured myself that I wasn't going over to for my own benefit; I was going over to save him from the chatty blonde, that was all.

I reached the bonfire just as the blonde released a deafening cackle into the air. Her head titled back and her resemblance to a giant mouthed pelican was almost too much to handle. I giggled softly to myself because frankly I couldn't resist, as the blonde's eyes narrowed in on me.

There was enough heat behind them to match the bonfire against my back, but if this girl thought she could intimidate me, she had a big letdown coming. Because Damon was also staring at me now and the curiosity in his eyes was enough to give me any amount of strength necessary.

The blonde just opened her lips to speak something snarky, or at least that's what I assumed, when I focused my attention on Damon and declared, "I wanted to say thank you for helping me out earlier."

His eyes widened at my sincere tone. He appeared equally impressed as shocked when he replied, "That was unexpected."

I flicked my shoulders into the air and threw my hand onto my hip as I gushed, "What can I say; I'm a bag of surprises."

The blonde was still staring at me and if she was capable, I'm sure she would have released daggers straight into my heart. She was thoroughly pissed that I'd interrupted her moment, but after a second she finally pulled her eyes from me and whined, "Damon, the smoke is irritating my eyes, so I'm gonna go for a walk. Do you want to join me?"

She batted her eyelashes a few times to gain his attention, but his never left me as he brushed her off. "I'm good."

With a scoff, the female rolled her eyes and lifted herself from the log. With her arms crossed over her chest, she slammed her stilettos against the dirt and stomped off.

"Well," I began as I released a small laugh, "you practically had her drooling all over you and your marshmallows."

His eyes narrowed in my direction. "Is that jealousy I hear coming from your mouth, Elena Gilbert?" he questioned, emphasizing the B and T of my name, making them pop.

I was about to tell him how absurd his rationalization skills were when I realized there was a more important issue at hand. "How do you know my last name?"

He appeared amused with himself as a grin slid over his lips. "People tend to know everything about everyone in a small town," he answered easily.

I scoffed and muttered, "Figures."

"But, considering this is a small town, you can understand why I'm surprised to see you here all of a sudden," I challenged as I took a seat on a spare log beside him. "I grew up here and most people are dying to get out, not get in."

"I'm going to bypass the obvious fact that you're attracted to me from your observation, and skip right to your question," he started with another amused smirk on his lips. "I wasn't dying to get into this town. I was born here and sent away to boarding school. That's why you haven't seen me around."

"But why would you come back?" I asked; disgust trailing its way into my question.

He leaned forward a bit on his log, closing the much needed space I'd placed between us. "Well, why are you back?" he countered.

I hated the fact that he'd answered my question with another question. It was one of my signature moves and it felt demeaning having it used against me. So, I threw a little attitude into my voice and answered, "You know why I'm back and it's just temporary. As soon as I'm finished with school, I plan on getting as far away from this town as possible."

At that, he rocked back on his log and rubbed the base of his chin between his thumb and index finger. "For being your hometown, you seem to really hate this place," he mused. "I wonder why that is."

It was easy to see he was fishing for answers, but I had no interest in making it easy for him. So I simply replied, "Well, nostalgia can be a bitch sometimes."

"Oh, so you're damaged," he assessed as his eyes narrowed in my direction; clearly interested in figuring out why. I was momentarily taken aback by how easily this guy saw through my vague lines. Because most men didn't even try, but with Damon he always seemed to look straight through them; as though they were simply a clear top coat of paint, and into their real meaning.

But thankfully he didn't push the issue any further and instead remarked, "And here I thought it was just because there weren't enough guys to keep you interested in this tiny town."

I huffed at his accusation because that simply wasn't me. I was picky when it came to guys; yes, but I wasn't Bonnie. "You talk about me like I'm some heartbreaker," I shot back.

"Well aren't you?" he pushed as his brows drifted towards the night sky. His face started to lean in again, as if he was eager to break through my personal boundaries.

"Come on," I exasperated as my eyes rolled beneath my lids. "Don't pretend like you don't make breaking hearts look easy." My hands were whirling haphazardly through the air as I heatedly added, "What, with this whole bad boy image you've plastered onto yourself; I'm sure you've broken more than you can count."

"Don't pretend like you know me, I hate it when people do that!" he shot back in a high voice, clearly imitating my outburst this morning. He then chuckled at his own joke before slashing that stupid grin across his lips. "You know for someone who doesn't like to be judged at first sight, you sure do a lot of it yourself."

I acknowledged the fact that the guy was clever, but that didn't mean I had to give him the credit. So instead, I lowered my voice and imitated him, "You're deflecting."

"I'm just choosing not to respond to your comment," he teased.

I couldn't help but smile slightly because it appeared I'd met someone equally as skilled at deflection as I was. It was rare and I found the quality rather endearing. He noticed the smile immediately leaned in even closer, obviously intrigued by our back and forth. I noticed the lack of distance immediately, but pushed it aside and got back to the issue at hand.

With a devilish smirk gracing my lips, I challenged, "What? Are you nervous I can't handle your answer?"

The corner of his lips edged slightly upward as he replied, "I'm fairly certain you could handle anything I throw at you."

My heart fluttered at bit at the compliment, but I refused to acknowledge it. "Then just answer my question," I urged.

"Fine," he responded with a sigh. He leaned back slightly as a shrug ripped over his shoulders. "I can't say I haven't broken a few hearts, but we all have a past. It doesn't mean that we can't change."

"Yeah, but sometimes the past has a way of catching back up with you," I muttered before I could help it. I resisted the urge to throw my hands over my mouth to keep from spilling anything else about myself, but it was too late. He'd already caught on.

"Is that what's happened with you?" he asked; all remnants of his previously smug demeanor had vanished leaving only a serious sincerity that was truly breathtaking to behold.

"Excuse me?" I spat out defensively because honestly this guy was just too quick for me. He seemed to catch every piece of information I let slip and place it into the appropriate spot of my mysterious puzzle.

It didn't make sense because the mystery was usually what kept guys around. They traditionally liked that about me, but Damon seemed genuinely interested in uncovering my enigmas. I'd never had someone so interested in figuring me out before. It was flattering and I hated the way my cheeks burned when I thought about his interest because that meant I was in dangerous territory.

He was insisting I break cardinal rule number one and that was something I most certainly couldn't afford to let happen. Deflection in the past had always been easy, but with someone like Damon, I could find myself in a shit load of trouble.

"Your past;" he clarified, stressing its importance, "is that why you've surrounded yourself in this icy shell?"

My finger was tapping nervously against my leg now and I could see the reflection of the fire in his blue irises. It was a reminder that he represented the hottest portion of a flame; the section capable of burning you the most.

And it was that image that had me spitting out defensively, "I don't know what you're talking about."

But he inched forward again, his hand stretching over to rest on the log beside my leg. He was only inches from my face and the look he was shooting me almost had my breath hitching in my throat. "You know exactly what I'm talking about," he reasoned softly. "C'mon, Elena, I answered honestly; now it's your turn."

His eyes were staring at me now and the effect was almost blinding. They pierced into me and clutched around my truth, yanking and pulling it out of the deeply hidden compartment I'd stored it. I tried to resist, internally grasping again for the upper hand that he'd successfully managed to strip me of over the course of our conversation.

I felt it clawing and scratching to make contact with something that would keep it contained, but his eyes were so intently focused on mine that I felt myself wavering. I couldn't believe this was happening, but just a few more seconds and he'd capably rip my truth, I'd so easily kept from everyone else, from my lips.

But then a log cracked in the fire, momentarily breaking Damon's line of impact. His eyes left mine for the briefest second, but it was all I needed to release myself from the hold his eyes previously held over me. He instantly turned back and tried to reclaim the upper hand, but I'd already started lifting myself from the log; desperately trying to keep my eyes from meeting his.

"I've gotta go," I declared as my body landed upright.

There was the briefest second where his eyes revealed just how disappointed he was, but it wasn't in his failed attempted; he appeared disappointed in me. It didn't make sense, but he didn't offer me much time to contemplate the look before the conceited grin appeared on his lips and he assured, "That's fine. I'll figure you out eventually."

"Good luck with that," I retorted as I turned on my heels and started to walk away.

"We've got a long summer ahead of us, and with the way we keep running into each other - I don't think it's going to be difficult," he reasoned and I could almost imagine his brows flipping up into the air. Funny how after only a few conversations, I already seemed to understand his physical reactions.

When I'd managed to take a decent amount of steps away, I finally released a breath of air and realized the situation I'd thrown myself into. Damon was most certainly right, and we still had a long summer ahead of us. And unfortunately for me, he seemed to be smashing right through my personal barriers. They'd been so successful in the past, but there was just something about Damon that had me feeling nervous, slightly off center, and certainly not my composed myself.

I knew the sensation was dangerous and I most certainly didn't like the effect he had on me, but as I slowed my pace and pondered the feeling, I honestly couldn't admit I hated it either.


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