"I gotta say, Stefan. That took me by surprise."
Damon sauntered into the living room like a lion stalking its prey. Stefan whipped around at the sound of his brother's unsettlingly carefree voice.
He was immediately on guard. "What are you talking about, Damon?"
Damon plopped down on the couch and let his arms rest behind his head. He rolled his eyes. "Like you don't know; giving Elena vervain. It was annoying, actually," he stated matter-of-factly and began observing one of his hands.
Stefan narrowed his eyes and Damon continued. "So how'd you do it?" he taunted. "Slip some in her water? That'd be a shame – she looks absolutely delicious, wouldn't you agree?"
Stefan tensed. "What do you want with Elena, Damon?"
Damon leaned forward on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees and intertwining his hands. "I'd ask you the same thing, but I already figured it out. You want to relive your doomed romance with Katherine," Damon droned dramatically, putting a hand over his heart. "With a nicer look-alike. Don't you think it's time to move on, brother?"
"Elena is nothing like Katherine," Stefan bit out resentfully. "It's you who needs to move on, Damon."
Damon snickered. "Oh, I've moved on Stefan." It was true, too. Although Damon sometimes felt pangs of emotion when he thought about Katherine, they were the normal feelings one has when a touchy memory comes to mind. He only wanted to get her out of the tomb now out of obligation. He was no longer in love with her, but he couldn't let her rot in there. He didn't hate her. That, and he had nothing else to pursue at the moment in his eternity of existence.
Damon continued. "I just think it would be fun to play around a little with Elena. I mean, she's practically a human version of Katherine," Damon said animatedly. "An anomaly... Imagine what her blood would taste like."
Suddenly, Stefan came at him, fangs bared. Damon effortlessly flipped them so that he had his brother pinned up against a wall. His fingers pressed into the younger Salvatore's neck.
"You forget, brother," Damon tisked. "I'm stronger than you—or maybe you didn't forget and you're just that stupid." Stefan sputtered as Damon pressed against him, his eyes red. Damon continued with ease. "So how'd you do it? I'm still curious. How'd you manage to give Elena vervain? You don't even know her."
When Stefan refused to answer, Damon pressed harder into him. "Don't test me, Stefan."
Stefan coughed as he tried to speak. "I—I compelled her boyfriend to give her a necklace with it," he gasped, clutching at Damon's fingers.
"Hm," Damon started light-heartedly. "Clever. And stalker-ish. I like it." He released the other vampire, who fell to the floor. Damon shrugged. "Well, that's all I wanted to know. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around soon. I mean, we practically live together again."
Damon watched Stefan flinch upon hearing this and smiled. "See you around, Stefan."
He departed, leaving his brother on the wooden floor of the room.
xx
Her phone beeped. Once. Twice.
Elena peered down at the caller ID: Love of my life, it read, with a heart attached at the end.
Elena cringed every time she read it; it was Matt. Months ago, Caroline had changed his title in her phone to its current sickeningly sweet state. Apparently, she was heavily supportive of them as a couple and couldn't contain herself. Even more uncomfortable, Elena and Matt had never spoken the damning words I love you, and had yet to murmur them.
"Hey," Elena answered on the third ring.
"Hey," she heard Matt's voice. "Where'd you go? Sorry that took so long – the guy just wouldn't stop talking."
"I'm in your car. I got bored sitting in there."
"Well, I'm coming. See you in a minute."
Elena heard a beep and closed her own phone. As she waited for Matt, her thoughts wandered to Damon. After this last encounter, he was truly plaguing her mind. She didn't know what to make of him. Something about him was unnatural—alluring, yet at the same time, frightening. Self-protection—and in other cases, annoyance—trumped her curiosity towards the man. She had other things on her mind, anyways.
She jumped when the car door opened. It was Matt. She let out a breath and smiled at him. "How'd it go?"
"Great—he hired me on the spot," Matt informed proudly, a smile gracing his features.
"That's great, Matt." Elena tried to force enthusiasm into her tone.
He leaned in and kissed her. "I know. Hey, do you want to go grab something to eat? And Jake is having a kickback later tonight, his parents are out of town for the week."
"On a Tuesday?" Elena asked as Matt started the car. She bit her lip; it had already felt like an over-exertion to accompany Matt here. Hanging out with him all day—once a normal thing—now seemed equivalent to running a marathon. And she was wildly unprepared.
"Yeah. Senior year, this is how we do. It's time to live it up," he exclaimed animatedly. "Between now and college, this is the only time we have to have fun."
We have weekends, Elena thought. And summer. "I think I'm just going to head home. I told Jenna I'd cook dinner tonight," Elena coughed halfway through her lie, "She's been taking this pretty hard," she struggled to say casually. She didn't want to address the elephant in the room – her parents' absence – but it was sometimes harder not to.
That, and it was the easiest way to get out of things. And yet ironically, their death was the ultimate reason for her dodging situations and people.
"Oh—yeah, I understand." Matt's words were genuine, but his face had fallen.
A few seconds of guilty silence passed. "I'm sorry, Matt," Elena said quietly and evenly as she stared out the window. The two plunged into a more serious level of conversation; they both knew she was apologizing for more than leaving him today.
She felt Matt look at her, and then he clasped her hand. "It's okay, Elena—you know that."
Her throat constricted, and though her affection towards Matt resurfaced in that moment, her frustration with herself increased. They drove in comfortable and forgiving silence the rest of the way to her house.
xx
Two weeks passed without event. The new kid in school – Stefan – had worked his way into her group of friends. Elena thought he was a nice guy. Good-looking too, and for reasons she couldn't explain, he reminded her of the dark-haired stranger that lingered in the back of her mind: Damon.
Elena thought of this has she watched the football team practice. He was good. He even outshined Matt, the school's star quarterback.
"Elena!"
Elena whipped her head towards Caroline's voice. "Yeah?"
"Did you hear me? I said we begin on the count of eight this time." Caroline's voice was as frustrated as her too-tight skirt.
Elena cleared her throat and forced herself to re-focus—a task that seemed impossible these days. She readjusted her feet. "Sorry."
It was her second day back to cheer practice and her heart wasn't in it. It sometimes felt as if she didn't have a heart these days, so how could she wholly commit to anything? She wondered if she would ever get that spark back.
After a few more practice routines—ones that winded Elena drastically more than they should have—the cheerleading coach called Elena to the side.
She half-jogged, half-walked up to Jessica, a graduate from their school who had cheered in college and insisted that the team call her by her first name. She was approaching her thirties now and even had small children.
"Elena, can I talk to you for a minute? It would be easier if we went to my office, as well."
Within ten minutes, Elena discovered that she was flunking half of her classes and barely passing the rest. And to participate in extracurricular activities, according to Jessica and school policy, one was not allowed to do "so poorly." Elena felt like she was suffocating in the small office.
"Now, Elena…" Jessica's face softened as she started, and Elena prepared to sit through another uncomfortable sympathy speech. "I know that you recently lost some loved ones, and I'm very sorry for that. I want you to know that I'm here for you if you ever need to talk, okay? I know it's been a month, but I understand what you're going through must be difficult. I'll also try to talk to the athletic director about extending the time you have to raise your grades."
Elena blanched—it had been a month since her parents died? That was the only thing she heard Jessica say. She hadn't even realized… It felt as if it happened a week ago. With the realization that time was leaving her behind, anxiety filled her stomach. She wasn't moving on—she was stuck. Time couldn't heal this one.
"Elena?"
Jessica's voice shook her from her thoughts and Elena put on the blank mask again. "Yeah, that'd be helpful. Thank you, Jessica."
Her voice was detached—she appreciated Jessica's words, but she couldn't address the subject so openly.
Angst settled in—it'd been a month—and she couldn't shake it. When Jessica told her she was free to go, Elena didn't return to cheer practice. Instead, she went to the locker room, changed into her normal clothes, and started to go home early.
She had left her car home today and instead walked to school. She had been doing that lately. She would wake up at five in the morning after a restless night of sleep, and with too much time on her hands, she would get ready slowly and leave before Jenna or Jeremy woke up.
Now, though, the sky was dark and cloudy, and a quarter through her walk home, water began to lightly sprinkle her face. Then, drops began to fall at a steady rhythm, unforgiving as they seeped through her jacket and into her hair. She clutched her books closer to her chest.
"Need a ride?"
A smooth voice to her left interrupted her thoughts. A beautiful black Mustang followed slowly by her side, with Damon in the driver's seat.
Elena tried to be snarky and off-standish. "No, thanks." She barely looked at him and forged ahead.
"How long do you have to go? Five, ten minutes?" she heard him ask, and she tried to ignore him.
However, she had about forty minutes left before she'd arrive home. The number pulsed in her mind several times and she wondered if he had planted the thought on purpose. She took in an icy breath.
"You know those seat warmers the warm your butt? Well, I have the ones that warm your back, too."
If she was the old Elena, she would have laughed at the way he said it. She continued to ignore him.
"Alright, suit yourself," he dismissed, completely unaffected. He seemed like he was about to leave before he mentioned, "Oh, by the way. The sidewalk around the corner up there is blocked off."
It was another time-bomb, because it made Elena think. If the sidewalk was closed, her walk would be longer—she'd have to walk around the entire block to get back on track. After fighting the urge to acknowledge his words for a few seconds, she finally gave in.
"No, it's not. I just came from that way this morning."
She watched him shrug, a smug look on his face. "Have a nice walk."
He sped off, and Elena watched as his car zoomed with ease around the corner.
When Elena herself turned the same corner, an "Open Trench" and "Closed—Take Detour" sign greeted her. A clap of thunder followed. The gods had to be laughing at her. She nearly cursed, feeling foolish, and looked around to see if Damon was waiting to laugh at her, too. The black Mustang was nowhere in sight.
A/N: Sorry for the late update, but I'm just so happy I got something up. It's crazy—you don't write for a few weeks and you totally fall out of touch with your story. Anyways, I'll probably be updating again within the next two weeks. I'm digging where this story is going.
