Chapter 4
By the time Damon got to the boarding house, the place was empty and Stefan's car was gone. Good. He had at least a good 30 minutes before his brother would be back with a disapproving look in his eyes and questions on his lips.
Damon marched through the door, slamming it shut and flicking on the lights with more force than was necessary. He was livid. White-hot anger made his body tense and the blood under his skin boil and sizzle. He wanted to break something, anything. Maybe anyone.
No.
He quickly chased the thoughts of blood and bones breaking under his fingers out of his head. He wasn't that guy anymore. He promised…
He promised Elena.
The frustration built up inside him like an air balloon about to pop. He grabbed the first thing his hand came in contact with – a vase – and threw it across the room, smashing it into a dozen pieces that he knew Stefan would scowl and complain about when he got home.
'Why are you so angry?' A voice in his head asked him. 'Because you lost Elena again? Probably for good this time?'
He thought about Elena as he walked over to the bar to pour himself a drink.
He loves her, there's no denying that. He loves her more than he ever loved Katherine. Because she was like Katherine, but so much gentler. So much… brighter in contrast to Katherine's darkness. Softness, compared to her hardness.
He told her he'd wait however long it took to completely get her heart. He told her he'd even wait until she was old and grey and needed a walker to go out on dates with him. Elena laughed when he said that. A real honest laugh that made his heart swell a little because he put that smile there.
That was a year ago. Klaus is long dead and his family is long gone. The remaining hybrids that they could find who would definitely pose a threat to humans were personally killed by he and Stefan. Life went on and during the 11th month or so, waiting forever seemed to be an impossible task. Especially since he and Elena seemed to have drifted away. They barely spoke these days. Their conversations were reduced to texts and the memory of how they used to lie in bed and comfort each other when Stefan went wayward seemed like a distant dream and not something that actually happened.
Somewhere along the line, he got tired of waiting. And even the sight of Elena these days didn't make him have those annoying, pesky lovey dovey feelings anymore. But he still loved her. You never stop loving someone like that. He'll never stop loving Stefan, no matter what. And his feelings for Katherine will never go away, despite him knowing that he'd never go down that fucking road ever again. His father was a dick and he's as dead as a doornail, but he loved him just as much as he hated him.
But Damon knew that when you fall in love, you can fall out of it. It's not a one way tunnel and some people don't keep falling forever. Sometimes people fall out at the end and they hit the ground, snapping them out of it.
"Are you still waiting for Elena?" Bonnie's voice echoed in his head. "And what if she decided that she wanted you right here, right now?"
He was conflicted. Damon didn't like being conflicted.
He thought about Bonnie, then, and the months preceding to this night. Damon knew he didn't love her and he knew that she didn't love him. But he did care for her. He'd known that fact since the moment at the 60's dance where, for a second, he thought the spell didn't really work and she was really dead.
He also respected her a great deal. At first, he had no choice but to respect her because while he was quicker and stronger, she was a witch. A Bennett witch at that. That made her more powerful than more than half of the witches he'd encountered.
Now, he respected her automatically. After seeing what she had done for him, Elena, and his brother, how could he not? Damon was a dick, but he wasn't that much of a dick. He had to give credit where it was due.
She still annoyed him, though. Not as much as she used to a year ago, but still. It's Bonnie. They're too different to attract and too alike to repel.
Sometimes he catches himself thinking about her. In a non-sexual way. Like what she was doing, or if he was doing something stupid, he'd wonder what snarky comments she'd made if she was there to see him. When Stefan went into one of his guilt ridden recluses and refused to talk to him (he did that sometimes when the nightmares of screaming faces and hot blood in his throat wakes him up in a cold sweat), he'd wonder what advice Bonnie would give him if he wasn't too proud to ask.
He thinks about her sexually, too. Of course he does. Those thoughts came before the sentimental ones, naturally. Whenever he catches a whiff of her shampoo on his bed, he thinks about what they did to get her smell there in the first place. When she wears skirts, he imagines walking up to her, whether it's in public or not, and sliding his hands up her thighs and between her legs and just bringing her off right there. When they fucked, he imagined biting her, getting that one intimate sip of the hot blood rushing under her skin as she tangles her hand in his hair and begs him to continue.
He doesn't think Bonnie knows how hard he's been trying not to bite her lately, whenever they had sex. That her breathy panting and the sight of her smooth, naked skin made his fangs ache and pulse to get out and just sink themselves into her and make him – both of them – fall head first into oblivion.
"When did this happen?" Damon asked himself out loud as he drained his 3rd glass of brown alcohol.
He had no answers for himself and it made him want to pull his fucking hair out.
On the 6th glass, Stefan came through the door. He threw his keys in the key bowl and stopped when he saw the shattered vase across the room.
"Really, Damon?" Stefan asked as he turned to get the broom. "We're breaking things again?"
Damon only shrugged and closed his eyes and only opened them again when Stefan returned with a broom and a dustpan and began sweeping up the mess while shaking his head and probably chiding Damon like a child in his head. When he was finished, he dumped all the trash in the kitchen waste bin and came back to lean against the couch and stare at Damon.
"What?" Damon asked lazily. He knew 'the talk' was coming.
"Bonnie seemed pretty upset when I dropped her home." Stefan said as he folded his arms.
Damon turned to look at him. He wasn't nearly drunk enough to pour his heart out, but he wasn't sober enough to tell Stefan to fuck off and mind his own goddamn business. He weighed his options.
"She had a fight with Elena." He said finally.
Stefan nodded and calmly sat down on the opposite couch. "And you didn't have anything to do with it, Damon?"
"Of course I did." Damon snapped. "Just like you said I would. You were right, Stefan, are you happy?"
"No, I'm not happy." Stefan said before he leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees. "Of course I'm not happy, but I warned you…"
"How was I supposed to know Elena was going to find out about it?" Damon said, growing increasingly fed up with the conversation already. "Besides, what happened between Bonnie and I is our business. Not yours, and definitely not Elena's, so I'd appreciate it if you stay out of it."
"You know how I hate to pry, Damon, but Elena is important to me and I consider Bonnie a friend and it won't sit right with me to stand by and let you hurt them."
Damon sputtered and stared at Stefan who was sitting annoyingly calm and collected while Damon's skull was starting to burn. "Hurt them?"
He laughed then, because the alcohol made it funnier and he couldn't believe the nerve of his fucking brother right now.
"What, do you think I'm trying to be Damon Salvawhore, The Vampire Gigolo?" Damon asked as he reached to pour himself another drink, but the bottle was now empty. "You think so low of me."
Stefan frowned and his eyebrows knitted together. "So Bonnie isn't one of your conquests?"
"There doesn't need to be a dark ulterior motive to everything I do, brother." Damon sighed. "I didn't plan on sleeping with her, it just happened. And kept on happening."
"That night." Stefan said, averting his eyes a little, showing that he was a little uncomfortable. "The night it stormed and you guys…"
Damon narrowed his eyes and looked at his brother. Really looked at him. Taking in his rigid shoulders and twitchy eyes. "You mean the night when you found out?"
"Yes." Stefan said, staring at the wall behind Damon as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Why did you do it?"
Damon smiled like a Cheshire cat. "Do what?"
Stefan rolled his eyes and looked at his brother exasperatedly. "Why did you say those things while you knew I could hear?"
Damon shrugged, still smiling. "I don't know. She seemed to like it."
Stefan's eyes widened and he looked so uncomfortable that Damon thought his cheeks were going to catch fire.
Such a prude.
"You weren't saying those things to prove a point or anything?" Stefan asked. "Or to, I don't know, annoy me?"
Damon furrowed his eyebrows. "Uh, no. I was just using you to see how far she'd let me go. It was pretty far since she went off like a rocket. You should be proud that your name has that affect on women."
Stefan looked away and Damon felt like saying more, just to watch his brother squirm, but he didn't. He only sighed and got up to get another bottle of liquor.
"But don't worry, Stefan." Damon said. "You never have to hear the grownups have sex again because we're not doing it anymore. I got dumped."
"You didn't technically get dumped because you were never dating." Stefan said in a way that Damon thought was either condescending or trying and failing to be helpful.
"Right." Damon said as he poured himself a glass and another for Stefan. "Now, I wouldn't be pissed if you played Savior Stefan tonight and dried Elena's tears like I assumed you did Bonnie's when you picked her up."
"Bonnie wasn't crying." Stefan said as Damon walked towards him and handed him the glass. "And you know as well as I do that Elena and I are apart for the foreseeable future. Why do you still bring her up when you know how much I don't like to talk about her?"
Damon regarded his brother silently for a moment before he lifted his glass to his lips and took a long sip. They drank in silence for a while before Stefan spoke up again. "I agree that's it's none of my business what you and Bonnie do with your lives, but if you're leading her on to only drop her soon, you should stop while you're ahead."
"I wasn't leading her on. We were just having sex." Damon responded flatly as if he was saying a repeated and rehearsed line that he was tired of.
Stefan turned to look at him before he placed his hand on his shoulder. "You keep saying that, but I'm your brother, Damon, and I know you better than anyone else in this entire world. I know you have feelings for her. They may not be strong feelings, but they're still feelings."
Damon opened his mouth to deny, but Stefan interrupted him.
"You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me." Stefan said. "I think you should talk to her and talk to Elena."
"How am I supposed to voice my feelings to them if I don't even know how I feel, Stefan?" Damon asked. He wanted to sound annoyed, but a small part of him hoped Stefan had an answer he could work with.
"It's better than nothing." Stefan said with a shrug. "We know better than everyone what a lack of honesty and communication can do to people."
"I cannot be you." Damon said, agitated and not nearly as drank as he'd rather be. "I don't talk about these things."
"When has burying your feelings ever helped you, Damon?" Stefan asked.
Damon stayed silent because he was so done with this Oprah moment.
Stefan got the hint. With a long, drawn out sigh, he patted Damon on the shoulder before he got up to leave him sitting alone in the living room.
Damon pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through the contacts. He hovered over Bonnie's name for a few seconds before he switched off the screen.
For the next week and a half, Damon didn't hear anything from Elena or Bonnie. It was like they'd both fallen off the face of the earth.
"Do you want to tell me what's going on with you and Elena?" Alaric asked one evening when he met him for a round of drinks. It was a Friday and the bar was full to the brim. Alaric had tons of papers to grade, but he needed a break and since drinking alone was depressing, he invited Damon.
"Nothing." Damon replied and it wasn't far from the truth. They weren't speaking and they haven't seen each other since the party.
"Really?" Alaric asked as he ordered two drinks, both for himself. "She's been moping and I've learned that since there are no life or death situations to cry over anymore, there must be boy troubles."
Damon sighed and took one of Alaric's drinks when they arrived. "Maybe she's going through one of those teenager things. How do you know I have anything to do with it? She is into Stefan, too, you know."
"I overheard her talking to Caroline." Alaric said. "I didn't hear anything about Stefan, but I heard a lot of 'Damon this, Damon that'."
"You eavesdrop on teenage girl conversations?" Damon asked as he shook his head. "Creepy."
"Damon." Alaric prompted. "Don't change the subject. Whatever it is, I can probably help."
Damon drained his glass and was about to tell Alaric that he wasn't up for girl talk, when he spotted an unmistakable blonde head coming through the door.
"I'll be right back." Damon said as he put his glass down and made his way over to where Caroline was searching the evening crowd.
"Caroline!" Damon called out and she turned around with a big, bright smile that quickly faded when she realized who had called her name.
"Oh, it's you." Caroline said as she frowned and folded her arms. "What do you want? I'm busy."
"Who are you looking for?" Damon asked, only mildly curious.
"Matt." Caroline said as she walked off towards the sitting area. "His shift starts in a half hour and he's usually here a few minutes early…"
"Are you stalking the jock again?" Damon asked.
Caroline frowned at him and sat down at an empty table. "What do you want, Damon?"
Damon sat down in the opposite chair without being offered. "Just wanted to chit-chat, that's all."
"Bullshit." Caroline said bluntly. "You're just here to quiz me on Elena and Bonnie and before you get started, I feel like you should know that I don't support your conquest with my two best friends."
"Ouch." Damon said, and then narrowed his eyes. "I'm not on a conquest."
"Yeah, right." Caroline mumbled. "Look, it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, things would be better for them if you just left them alone."
"You make it sound like I'm a leper."
"Do you plan on being with Elena?" Caroline asked abruptly. "Because if you do, then you're an ass for fucking her best friend."
Damon glowered at her.
"And if you don't and you plan on being with Bonnie, then you're a dick for giving Elena false hope... and fucking her best friend."
"You don't know the whole story." Damon snapped, causing Caroline to flinch. He lowered his voice again. "She keeps me dangling by a thread for a year and when I'm ready to move on, she gets hurt? Look me in the eye and tell me that's not selfish, I dare you."
Caroline stared at him for a while, then sighed. "I can see where you're coming from. But honestly, Damon, if you don't want to be with her anymore, then you should tell her. And if you want to be with Bonnie, you should tell her that, too."
"But, I don't want to be with Bonnie." Damon said and he honestly couldn't tell if he meant that or not.
"Good, because she doesn't want to be with you, either." Caroline said with a backhanded sweet smile.
"She told you that?" Damon asked, suddenly mildly offended.
"Maybe." Caroline said. "Look, I don't care and I'd really like to not be talking to you about this right now. This isn't my soap opera."
Damon sighed.
"Thank you, Caroline. You're been a huge, judge-free help." He said sarcastically.
Caroline waved him off as Damon headed back to the bar where Alaric was sitting, nursing his glass of scotch.
Damon put a few bills on the counter as the bartender walked up to him to get his order. "Bourbon, neat."
Damon went straight to the Gilbert residence as soon as he left The Grill.
All the lights were on, but he didn't expect Elena to answer the door when he knocked. She was dressed in her PJs and looked as if she was just getting ready for bed. She looked at him with a distant expression when she wordlessly invited him in, closing the door behind them.
Damon hadn't been to Elena's house in about a month and some things were new, but all together everything looked the same and had that same domestic feel that his own house seemed to lack. He wondered what Bonnie's house looked like. He'd never been inside, of course, so he wouldn't know.
Elena was staring at him, her expression carefully guarded, but Damon learned to read her like a book. She was a little hurt, a little angry, and very apprehensive.
Damon didn't even know what the fuck he came here for. All he knew was that they needed to talk about whatever this was and they needed to do it tonight.
"I'm sorry." He said after a long silence.
Elena shook her head. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Damon, you didn't do anything wrong."
Her voice said one thing, but her eyes said another.
"I know you're upset that I slept with Bonnie." Damon said, taking a seat next to her on the couch. "And it's not her fault. She didn't know about the promise I made, Elena."
"You don't have to defend her, Damon." Elena said, shifting a little in her seat and drawing her knees up until it was under her. "We spoke about it already. Two nights ago. Everything is fine."
"No it's not. You're still angry." Damon said, turning to face her. "If you're not angry at her, then you're angry at me. And I can understand that, Elena. I do."
Elena stared down at her hands.
"Are you in love with Bonnie?" She asked.
"No." Damon said.
Elena looked up at him again, her eyes a little damp. "Do you still love me, Damon?"
"I do, Elena." Damon said honestly, reaching over to take her hands. "I really do. You know I do."
"As much as last year?" Elena asked, squeezing his hand. "Are you still in love with me?"
Damon hesitated and Elena caught it. She gently removed her hands from his and folded them in her lap.
"I'm sorry Elena." Damon said again. He didn't know what else to say. He was usually the one getting the 'I don't love you like that anymore' speech. Not the other way around. He tried to think about the things Elena used to say to him when he was crazy on his pursuit to get her for himself. He couldn't remember.
"You kept me waiting for a year." Damon said, staring at the side of her face.
"You told me you'd wait as long as it took." Elena replied. "I needed time to sort my life out before I even thought about being with anyone."
"We drifted apart, Elena, and you know it." Damon said. "I don't know when or how it happened, but we did."
Elena said nothing for a long time. She just kept her eyes down and refused to look up at him.
"At the end of the day, I chose you, Damon." Elena said finally.
"I think you chose Stefan and you were waiting for him to get over his guilt to let you back in." Damon said. And he wasn't mad. A year ago, he would have been angry and hurt, but tonight, he wasn't. He just felt like he was stating facts. Like this conversation was long overdue.
Elena finally looked at him, then. "That's not true."
"Even if it wasn't," Damon said. "And even if we did start a relationship, I'll always wonder if it was my brother you wanted and not me."
Elena looked away again. "Well, that sounds like a personal insecurity, Damon."
Damon nodded and stood up. "Maybe it is."
Elena said nothing, her eyes downcast, hiding her face under her blanket of chestnut hair.
"Did you fall out of love with me before or after you started sleeping with Bonnie?"
"Before." Damon said automatically and truthfully. "This doesn't have anything to do with Bonnie."
She fell quiet again and the silence swirled around him and stifled him. He felt like she was judging him or blaming him for her unhappiness and it irritated him a little. And it made him feel more than a little guilty.
Damon felt like snapping at her because even if he was in love with Bonnie and still in love with her, she had no right to hold it against him. She was still in love with Stefan. She loved them at the same time. She kept him waiting…
Damon let his anger deflate.
He waited until Elena looked up at him to speak again. "I am sorry if I hurt you, Elena."
She stared at him, but didn't say anything as he turned and left. Damon walked out the front door, waited until he heard the lock click on the other side, and made his way to his car.
It had started raining a little by the time Damon had made it to Bonnie's house. Damon sat in his car wondering what he was even doing here. He came here basically on autopilot. Like he was under some sort of mild compulsion.
He turned off the ignition and stepped out into the drizzle. He walked slowly up to Bonnie's front porch, taking his sweet time as he thought about the different ways the upcoming scenario could go in his head.
Bonnie could slam the door in his face or she could not answer at all. She could invite him into her house for the first time and they could have a long awkward conversation about feelings and other lame chick-flick things.
Or they could have sex again, but Damon figured that was one thing that was definitely not going to happen tonight.
When he reached the front door, he rang the doorbell and only had to wait a few seconds before Bonnie answered the door. She looked surprised to see him.
"Damon." She said as she looked back into her house. "What are you doing here?"
"Can we talk?" Damon asked.
"Um, ok." Bonnie said as she stepped outside and closed the door behind her.
Damon looked at the door, scratching the idea of an invitation inside off his list. Bonnie must have noticed him looking because she spoke up. "My dad's inside. I don't think he'd take kindly to me bringing dark and mysterious men into the house."
"Right, of course." Damon said.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
Damon thought it was good that she was willing to at least speak to him as appose to the night at the party where she didn't even want to look him in the eyes.
"I spoke to Elena." Damon said, and watched Bonnie's face for any clues as to what she was feeling. She wasn't like Elena, though. He couldn't read her so simply.
"I did, too." Bonnie said. "She's still mad at me."
"Well, if it's any consolation, after tonight I don't think she's as angry with you as she is with me." Damon said.
Bonnie frowned. "What did you say to her?"
"I told her I wasn't in love with her anymore."
"Why would you say that?"
Damon sighed. "Because I'm not."
Bonnie was silent for a while, then she uttered out a quiet, "Oh."
When Damon was finally able to read her expression, he noticed it was conflicted. Just like he was conflicted earlier and still was right now.
"Why are you telling me this?" Bonnie asked. "What happens between you and Elena is your business, not mine."
"I just wanted to answer your question from the night at the party."
Bonnie folded her arms and a standoffish expression covered her face. "And what was the question?"
"If I was still waiting on Elena." He said. "The answer is no. Not anymore."
"Well, that doesn't change anything." Bonnie said. A slight wind blew and a few droplets of rain hit her, making her shiver. Damon wanted to offer his jacket and, seriously, was he turning into Stefan tonight? "Even if you don't love her anymore, she probably still loves you and I can't…"
"You can't what?" Damon prompted, finding a thread and holding onto it. What can't she do? Sleep with him anymore? Admit her feelings if she had any? Be his friend? Talk to him? What?
"Nothing." Bonnie said, closing off as abruptly as she had started to open.
Damon took a few steps forward until he was towering over her. "You can't what?"
"What did you come here for, Damon?" Bonnie asked, looking up at him. She looked genuinely confused. "I'm not doing the 'sort of friends with benefits' thing with you again."
"I'm not here for that, Bonnie." Damon said, cutting her off her train of thought before it could build momentum.
"Then tell me what you're here for!" Bonnie said, taking a step back and beginning to look frustrated. The sudden fire in her eyes is what made Damon reach out and grip her arms to keep her from moving away from him any further. He just wanted to touch her and to keep her from backing away.
She tried to pull away from him, but he held on tighter and before she could lay a verbal smackdown on him, he pulled her flush against him and kissed her.
For a few moments, Damon honestly thought Bonnie was going to give him an aneurism or set him on fire. But she didn't do anything. She didn't kiss him back or push him away. He pulled back and searched her face. Her eyes stayed closed as if she didn't want to open them and something inside Damon's stomach burned at the sight of her serene expression. Their breaths mingled together, warm and soft. He leaned in closer to graze their lips together again and Bonnie made the tiniest movement towards him. That was all he needed. He backed off, giving her a little space.
When her eyes fluttered open, he searched them, looking for more clues as to how she felt.
"Damon…"
"I like you, Bonnie." Damon said, interrupting her. "I'm not sure what I want here and I don't think you do, either. But I do know that I like you."
Bonnie didn't say anything, but she shivered again and Damon wanted to imagine that it was his admission that made her shiver and not the cool wind.
"Elena is my friend, Damon." Bonnie said quietly.
Damon let his frustration run through him like molten lava, but he exhaled long and steady through his nostrils and moved away. Damon wasn't good at speaking his feelings and when he finally did so, he didn't take rejection lightly. He suddenly became annoyed with Elena. And Bonnie. And Caroline. And Stefan for telling him to talk this out.
He felt Bonnie's hand on his shoulder and with a slight tug, she got him to look up at her.
"We can be friends?" She tried, and Damon wanted to laugh from giddiness and scream out of anger at the same time. But he decided that this was a step up. He doubted Bonnie ever considered him to be a friend, even though he had her on his very short list of 'People I Actually Care About'.
"For now." He said, and it caused Bonnie to give him a hint of a smile.
"I do like you, Damon." She said as she looked up at him from under her fringe. "I figured I owed you that truth since you told me yours."
Her movements were hesitant as she spoke; almost shy. Damon wondered how that was even possible since he'd seen her naked more than a dozen times and fucked her sideways for 2 months.
"Is it a 'he's so hot' like?" Damon asked, letting his arrogance slip back into his features. "Or a 'Damon's pretty damn awesome, I like him' like?"
Bonnie smiled and bit her lip and Damon wanted to kiss her again. "Goodnight, Damon."
"You can't do the sexy walk away anymore." Damon said as she turned to walk away. "We're just friends now."
"I'm not trying to be sexy." Bonnie said as she opened her front door.
"All this time I thought you were putting effort into it." Damon said with faux-realization. "Turns out it's all natural."
Bonnie rolled her eyes and stepped into her house before she turned to look at him. "Like I said before, goodnight, Damon."
"Goodnight Bonnie." Damon said and he watched as she stepped back further into her house and shut the door.
When Damon got home, Stefan was sitting on the couch, reading a book.
"Good evening, brother." He greeted him as he took off his wet jacket and hung it up by the door.
"You're in a cheery mood." Stefan said without looking up from his book.
"I took your advice." Damon said as she walked over to where his brother was sitting and leaned over the chair to stare into his book. "Everything went better than expected. Except Elena probably won't talk to me ever again."
"And you're ok with that?" Stefan asked, looking up to stare at him.
"Of course not." Damon said with a frown.
"What about Bonnie?" Stefan asked.
"We're friends." Damon grinned again, and added, "For now."
"Good for you." Stefan said as he stared down at his book again.
"You don't sound too happy for me."
"Well, knowing you, you're still going to pursue her." Stefan said as he turned a page. "And knowing her, she's going to reject you."
Damon stood up straight and glared down at the back of Stefan's head.
"And you'll become bitter and I'll be the one to keep you for doing anything stupid. History repeats itself, brother."
Damon walked around the couch to grab the book out of Stefan's hands. "Someone's in a sour mood tonight. You're sounding like the Ripper again."
Stefan sighed and shook his head. "I know. I'm sorry, I'm just tired."
"Well, go to sleep." Damon said and tossed the book in the seat next to Stefan.
"I was asleep." Stefan said.
Then Damon noticed his paler than usual complexion and came to the conclusion that he might have had another nightmare. They were becoming scarce, but every time Stefan thought the one he had that night would be the last, he'd wake up on a random day a few weeks later, fangs out and pillows ripped while he tried to block out the memories of blood and death. On the nights when Damon heard the muffled noises from Stefan's room, he would bring him alcohol and talk his ear off about everything until the sun rose, just to help him get his mind off of whatever dream he had.
"I'm glad you worked things out with Bonnie." Stefan said as he stood up and picked up his book. "I'm going to try to go back to sleep."
"You sure you don't want to, I don't know, talk about it?" Damon asked. "I mean, I've been having sentimental conversations all day. One more isn't going to hurt."
Stefan looked like he honestly wanted to take Damon up on his offer, but instead he shook his head. "I need to deal with this alone, Damon."
"Why?" Damon asked. "You've helped me in the past, now it's my turn to help you."
"I've come this far by myself. This is the last obstacle and I'm going to get through it, no matter how long it takes." Stefan said. "I depended too much on Lexi's shoulder and Elena's love. I need to stand on my own two feet now because if this happens again, I need to have to strength to pull myself back in."
"If you go wayward again, Stefan, I'll be here."
"You're not always going to be here, Damon." Stefan said as he turned to leave. "This is a quiet, boring town and forever is a long time. Sooner or later, we're going to go our separate ways again."
Damon watched as Stefan disappeared up the stairs to lock himself in his room and prepare for another sleepless night where he'd sit up alone in the dark and think about things that should probably be tucked away and forgotten.
Sighing, Damon made his way up to his room. It's been a stressful day, and he'd honestly want nothing more than to fall face first into bed and wake up to have his brother back to his normal, broody self and to have his cake and eat it too.
Literally.
A/N How was I with Damon's POV? Was he in character? Please let me know what you think! I'm eager to hear your opinions! :)
Also, thanks to the people who pointed out that Damon did lock the bathroom door in the last chapter before Elena and Caroline barged in. Plot hole! I'm sorry!
And, as always, thanks for reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome!
