Chapter four

Stefan got home and to his surprise Damon wasn't in the living room. He got upstairs and got in his brother's room without knocking. He found Damon lying on the floor, who looked up with a bottle of scotch on one hand.

"You know doors are there to knock, don't you?" He said, Stefan was serious, though.

"I don't want you around her, Damon." Damon frowned staring at his brother, narrowing his eyes. "I think I made it clear before, I don't believe there's any need to repeat it."

"I told you I went to her house because I heard her screaming, what if a vampire had attacked her? Do you think I shouldn't have gone?"

"You could have called me."

"Oh yeah, and maybe by the time you arrived she had her throat ripped off." Stefan opened his mouth to speak but realized that probably he was right.

"What were you doing near her house, anyway?"

"Can't I go there, anymore?" Damon drank directly from his bottle and then left it on the floor, then he got up with effort. "Listen, Stefan, you're acting too jealously and possessively."

"Because you kissed her, Damon! She is not Katherine."

"Thanks God she's not." He grinned but there was no happiness in his face. "I know she's not Katherine, I perfectly know that." His voice sounded softer when he spoke those words. He frowned suddenly. "Listen, you have the girl. What else do you want? My pride?" He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his hand. "She loves you, so what else can you want?"

"Why didn't you tell me about the kiss? I can understand why she didn't but you… You could have bragged about it. It surely wasn't because you were afraid I got mad…"

"Look." Damon replied holding his bottle again. "I don't feel like talking right now. I just want to get drunk. So I'm going to ask you to leave my bedroom."

"Damon…" Stefan tried to continue, he was really angry at his brother and pissed off and jealous. But right now he was trying to understand Damon's motives, which it didn't no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't. Why was he so depressed?

"Just go, Stefan, go and enjoy your perfectly happy life. And don't worry, I'll be far too drunk to cause any trouble." He almost pushed Stefan off and shut the door close again.

Elena arrived at school on Monday feeling terribly tired. She had hardly slept the last days, she had been busy at the hospital with Jeremy and when she finally had the chance to have a rest she thought of Damon, of the kiss they had shared and of how badly she had treated him afterwards. This made her feel guilty on the two sides, as if she was betraying both of the Salvatore and she asked herself in which moment she had stopped knowing what her feelings were.

She saw Caroline with Matt and precipitated to them, she hadn't seen her friends since a long time.

"Caroline, how are you?" She asked.

"I'm alright." She smiled. "I just have to go to the hospital today to be checked but normally everything is okay. How is Jeremy, I heard he was in the hospital, what happened?" Elena's face darkened remembering the empty bottle of pills.

"An accident." She lied, she wasn't really going spreading the news that his brother had just tried to kill himself… no, wait – had just tried to become a vampire. "But he's much better."

"I'm glad to hear that." Caroline said.

"You look tired." Matt commented and Elena smiled weakly. A hand grabbed her shoulders gently and she turned around to find Stefan behind her with a smile on his face. Matt and Caroline waved goodbye and left them alone.

"How are you?" Stefan asked.

"I'm okay." She lied and it was very obvious, but he probably didn't want to notice that, it wasn't possible that he truly hadn't noticed it. Maybe he just wanted to convince himself that everything was okay, that everything was just the way it should be.

"Last days of school." Stefan smiled. He grabbed Elena's hand and directed their steps to the history class where Elena literally fell asleep. She woke up when someone shook her and she looked up to find a smiling Bonnie.

"Hi."

"Hey." Elena replied getting up, everyone had already gone out of the class including Stefan, she supposed he had left her alone with Bonnie so that they could talk.

"How's Jeremy?"

"He'll be home soon." There was tension between them, she could feel it, it was true that Bonnie had finally helped Damon but from something that she had created in the first place. Elena felt deceived that her best friend had lied to her, but at the same time, could she blame Bonnie for doing what she thought was right?

"And how are you?" She was her best friend, she had probably noticed that something wasn't right.

"It's nothing, it's just that so many things have been happening lately that I've just hadn't had enough time to assimilate it." There was a brief moment of silence.

"I'm sorry I lied to you, Elena. I just…"

"It's okay, Bonnie. I just hope you don't lie to me again. But you were doing what you thought was right, and you saved Damon." When she spoke his name she noticed Bonnie's rigidity and she herself felt tension.

"I did that for you, Elena. Not for him, I would have let him burn to ashes in that fire, but I knew you wouldn't, that's why I helped him." Elena smiled feeling truly grateful. "But there's something that troubles me, Elena. Why do you care so much about him?"

Elena opened her mouth to reply but immediately closed it again. She didn't know what the answer to that question was, she probably had to figure it out herself.

After a week Jeremy was back at home right and Elena had had the chance to talk to him and they were not alright as they were before he had read her journal, but at least their relationship had improved a lot.

"Why did you do it?" She asked.

"I didn't want to feel anymore, life sucks so much Elena. First mom and dad, then Vicky, now Anna."

"And why would you want to live an eternity without them?"

"I suppose it wasn't wise, Damon told me you could switch feelings off. But maybe it would have been wiser to just kill myself."

"Don't even think about it, Jer. I'm here, okay? I don't know if that means much to you right now and I know that you hate me, but I love you. And I am your sister, and I'll do anything it takes to make you happy. That's why I got Damon to compel you in the first place, I didn't want you to suffer." He didn't answer and she hugged him and to her surprise he hugged her back.

Elena dialed Stefan's number and when she was about to hang up because there was no reply, someone answered.

"Yes?" It wasn't Stefan's voice, though. Elena frowned.

"Damon?"

"Oh, damn it." He said and sounded pretty wasted. He had probably not looked at the phone's screen before answering and was now regretting having done it.

"Damon, are you okay?" His voice had worried her.

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" There was sarcasm in his voice and it made her feel like a needle in her chest, she was the one who had caused his pain, she thought.

"Because you don't sound okay." She heard a tired sigh.

"Perfect saint Stefan is not home and has abandoned his phone, so please leave a message before the…"

"Damon, please." She said and he sighed.

"What?" He snapped, there was a brief moment of silence, she didn't know what to say to make him feel better, to make him hate her a little less. But maybe trying to make him hate her less was a selfish thing to do, maybe it was better this way. Her silence created tension and she felt the change in his mood. "Is something wrong?" He asked worried and his voice sounded serious now. She wanted to tell him that something was wrong, something between them, something with her, with her feelings. But what for? Where would that lead to?

"No, everything's fine. Just tell Stefan I called."

There was no answer, he simply hung up.

I didn't want to leave all the other characters simply forgotten. I know there was little Damon in this chapter but there will be more in the next, promised. What did you think?