Hello sorry that I haven't updated in awhile and the story is really going to take off soon I promise. Thanks for reading and drop a review.

Elena

"I cannot believe they are getting married. I mean they just started dating." I tell Damon over the phone as I lie down in my bed soundly.

"Beats me, but hey, don't you think it is like tradition for the best man and the maid of honor to shack up?"

"I am going to pretend you didn't just say that." I giggle lightly, even though there is nothing more I want then his lips touching mine and his hands roaming every square inch of my body. Being around Damon is like torture, unbearable torture. His soft pink lips tempt me every time I get a glance at them, and his gorgeous body makes my head go nuts. Everything about him is so electric and exciting, bringing chills to my skin when I see him. But the first time I met him I hadn't known him, now I do. Now I know him and since I do I can't sleep with my best friends soon to be brother-in-law.

"I was only stating the facts." He manipulates like he is a horny, fifteen year old boy.

"Well, I am not so sure your facts are accurate Salvatore."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"So has Caroline already gave you all the dates? That woman is absolutely nuts. The fact that my brother wants to spend his whole life with her is beyond me."

"Hey! That crazy woman you're referring to just so happens to be my best friend, so no judging." I warn him as I stick up for my truly crazy best friend, but only I can say that.

"Okay, okay. You two are complete opposites just so you know."

"And you and Stefan aren't?" I question because I have come to learn that the Salvatore brothers have a countless number of differences and a very slim number of similarities. Not just their looks differ but their personalities too. Stefan is always concerned with everyone else while Damon couldn't care less about everything and everyone, at least that's what he says. The only similarity between the two is how much they love one another, that I certainly don't question.

"Well, no one is like me Gilbert, you should know that by now."

"Right, because you are just the definition of perfect." I let out sarcastically as I smile into my phone. If anyone saw me right now they would think I am a foolish idiot smiling helplessly over a guy I barely even know.

"Why don't you meet me tomorrow night? We can have dinner and talk about the wedding, of course."

My smile widens at the thought and I am nodding even though he can't actually see me. "Sounds great." I answer simply.

"Goodnight Elena," Damons husky voice sends chills up my spine as I hold the phone tight against my ear.

"Goodnight Damon," I tell him softly before shutting my phone off and placing it on the night stand beside me. The world around me feels light and still when suddenly a loud pounding sounds through the apartment.

"Hello?" I call out as I grab my robe and clutch it tightly against my body.

"Elena it's me."

"Tyler?" I question the familiar voice before opening the door for him. He appears to be beat down and tired as he rests against the door frame. "What are you doing here? It is one o'clock in the morning."

"I know, but I just needed to see you."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to say I am sorry, I am sorry for how I acted in the past and for yelling at you the other day." He speaks persuasively as he takes an uninvited step into my apartment.

"Tyler." I breathe out his name as I wrap my robe around my body more fittingly.

"I want to just forget everything that happened in the past." He tells me before stepping closer with hopeful eyes. "Okay? Lets just move on Elena. I know that after all of these years that I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He speaks softly before taking an unexpected drop on one knee.

I gasp in shock before bringing my trembling hands to my mouth. He's proposing? What? This can't be happening.

"Marry me." He doesn't question it, he just flat out tells me to marry him. His eyes are romantically hopeful and the ring inside the velvet box is sparkling out in front of me. My hands are trembling against my lips as I contemplate everything that has happened in the past six years of my life, the six years I spent fawning over him. He's right, we've been through a lot together. He became my boyfriend my sophomore year of high school. Then my parents died, and a part of me died along with them in that submerged car. Tyler tried to help, but he was only a sixteen year old boy, what could he have done? I was so consumed by my own guilt that I forgot about him, that was my wrong doing in the relationship. Then came college, he went to Whitmore back in Virginia while I moved to Connecticut, but the problem with us is we never actually broke up. When I was in college I was so focused on school that I didn't party all that much, and we kept in touch enough for me to consider him my boyfriend. I knew he was cheating, but I never really cared. As long as I had someone to lean on, I didn't care that he was sleeping with other women. That is our problem, I never loved him enough to care, I still don't. We are just on this continuous cycle of toxicity that never ends. About two months ago I told him we were done, but somehow I got pulled into the Tyler Lockwood current every time he knocked on that door. That day I had lunch with Damon he mentioned me not wanting to be alone and he is right. After my parents died, I was so afraid of being alone that I overlooked all the wrongs in our relationship. He has used me for multiple reasons, but then again so did I. I used him for backup, someone to fall on when I lost everything. The thing is, I am not alone. I have my Aunt Jenna, and my brother Jeremy, and Caroline, and even Damon has somehow snuck into my life. All of this time I relied on this toxic relationship, when it really only brings me hurt in the end.

"No." I finally whisper almost inaudibly.

"What?"

"I'm sorry Tyler, but I can't marry you."

"What do you mean you can't?" He pulls himself back up and I can hear the loud closing of the velvet box.

"We've been through so much, but I don't want to go through "so much" anymore. I'm done." I finally reveal and I have never felt so liberated in my entire life. Tyler stands in front of me speechless, but I don't feel guilty, I feel freed.

"I will always love you Tyler, but not in the way that you want your wife to love you. So this is goodbye." I tell him as I push his shoulders lightly and lead him toward the door once more.

"You can't be serious." He shakes his head in disbelief as he steps back out into the hall.

"Goodbye Tyler, and I hope you have an amazing life." I whisper out before shutting the door. There it is, I did it. I finally said no to the one person I was immune to declining. Luna, my dog, then begins barking at me as I stand here with a shocked yet uplifted face. "Shh." I hush her as I plop down onto the couch with her between my legs. Maybe my life is taking a turn for the better now.

##

I examine the people who fill the restaurant before my eyes land on those crystal blue orbs staring off at a menu. A smile unconscionably appears across my face as I make my way over to him.

"Guess who?" I question as I cover my hands over his eyes playfully.

"Mom?" Damon jokes.

"Haha." I let out dryly as I remove my hands and take a seat across from him.

"You look-" He trails off as he stares at me deliciously. My hair is pulled back into a tight pony tail while my black blouse hangs over my jeans and my pointed stilettos give me a sexy pop.

"Thank you, you don't look to bad yourself." Not to bad? More like breathtakingly sexy. His hair looks the same, but those eyes and that leather jacket just really does something to me.

"So how are you?"

"I'm great actually." I smile widely with my teeth shown.

"Because you're seeing me?" He winks with one eye brow raised.

"Maybe, and I finally broke up with Tyler like for real."

"Really? When was this?"

"Last night after you called he showed up and he asked me to marry him." I tell him the truth and his eyes widen at my confession.

"He proposed to you?"

"Yep." I nod before taking a sip from the glass of bourbon in front of Damon.

"And you said no? Ooh I feel sorry for him." He lets out a dry laugh before I see that signature smirk once again. "So you're single then?"

"Yes but we are here to talk about the wedding remember?" I smirk wittily before setting his drink back down in front of him. The amused smile doesn't fall from his face as he just gazes at me with this stomach clenching look on his face. "What?"

"Nothing, let's order." He waves it off as he looks back down at the menu.

We order and hold light conversation for the rest of dinner. The air between us is filled with lust, but I try to contain my thoughts as we talk about work. His smile lifts softy, and a single part of black hair is hanging over the edge of his eyebrow, how can I not want him when he constantly looks so breathtakingly handsome.

"You want to take a walk?" I mention as he pays the bill, which he insisted on.

"Sure."

We walk out of the restaurant shoulder to shoulder and I think I feel his pinky lightly dance around mine. The brisk air meets my skin refreshingly as I glance over to see him looking at me.

"So Caroline is insisting that I figure out her bachelorette party as soon as possible." I giggle as we walk along the sidewalk of Manhattan.

"Male stripper and some shots, what more is there to it?"

"Shut up." I nudge him lightly. "So Caroline told me that Katherine was back?" I question even though I have no right to pry into his life. We are friends, but I still don't know that much about this woman other than the fact that she broke his heart.

"My brother really does tell her everything, doesn't he?" He chuckles but I can see the hurt lying behind those stoic eyes.

"Yeah I guess so." I respond awkwardly as I walk to his pace.

He shrugs and lets out a sigh. "I really shouldn't care but her presence just drives me crazy."

"It makes sense, I mean you were going to marry her." I say, the jealousy accidentally seeping out of my being.

"Yeah I almost did. After the night I found her cheating on me I began to think that maybe we could work it out, I called her and everything. It was Stefan who convinced me that she would only hurt me and he was right. Katherine likes to mess with people's lives, its how she enjoys hers. She was always so seductive and I was young so I just leaped forward and proposed to her. Now that it has been a couple years I can finally realize how terrible she was for me."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, but I get it." I nod in front of me before our eyes meet once again and I swear I see him take a quick glance at my lips.

"You do." He states like it's a revelation.

"Would you ever get married?" I question, but I don't look into his eyes as I stare down at our syncopated movements.

"I don't know maybe."

"I thought you weren't that into marriage." I quote his earlier words as I smile falsely up at him.

"I'm not, but not because of what you would think. I love woman Elena, but I don't not want to marry someone because I don't want to settle down."

"Than why?"

He gulps hesitantly before meeting my eyes once more. "Because I don't want to be left alone. After my mom died my father practically broke down. He turned into this horrible, crude man who no longer cared about anything and anyone because he lost the woman he is in love with."

I blink twice at his vulnerability and I admire the fact that he tells me such personal information. I may not know much, but Damon Salvatore isn't one to openly express his emotions, and the fact that he feels comfortable enough to do it with me flickers a light on in my heart. "Yeah but if you don't let people in and let people love you, how are you ever going to be happy?"

"Money." He chuckles but I can see the vulnerable expression still lying upon his face.

"Money can only buy so much. It is people who really make life livable, and when we lose those people sometimes it makes life unbearable to live." I reveal deeply as I think of my parents and the life I could have had if they were still here.

"You should be a poet." Damon chuckles softly.

I smile but the shiny tears present in my eyes are trying to fight there way out when I notice Damon take a cautious step back. My movements continue until I realize that he is no longer walking and instead he has stopped completely.

"I am sorry 'Lena."

I smile forgivingly before I put my hand out silently, wanting him to take it. He eyes me warily before entangling his fingers through mine like a lock that finally found its perfect key. Damon's thumb brushes against the top of my thumb, and just that minuscule movement sends butterflies into my stomach. The brush of the wind against my face and my fingers entangled with this amazingly smart, witty, arrogant, sexy, unpredictable guy makes me feel alive. Like a breath of fresh air that I hadn't known I needed.

"You look beautiful just so you know."

I blush at his words before an embarrassed smile cracks onto my face.

"Thank you."

A comfortable silence falls over us as we walk towards my apartment building with our hands intertwined with each others. The cold air is inviting yet bitter and before I know it we are stopped in front of my building. Damon slips his hand out of mine before turning so he is now directly in front of him. I lean up slowly to kiss him on the cheek before he is reeling back.

"Elena I just want to say that I don't want to mess this up. I don't have a lot going for me and I don't want to mess everything up by doing whatever it is that we are doing here." He tells me with sorrow filled eyes. Am I getting rejected?

"What do you mean?" I question with a timid yet cautious voice.

"My brother is getting married to your best friend and he told me not to go near you. I didn't see it until now, but I am so wrong for you in so many ways. You just got proposed to last night and you are probably confused and I don't think that this would do any good for anyone." He points between the two of us. "You are so smart and young and I just don't want to mess up everything for my brother like I always do, and I'd like to consider you my friend and I don't want to hurt you either and that's all I will do Elena. I mess up everything and I don't want to mess up our friendship."

"Okay then."

"I don't want you to think that I don't-"

"No, I get it Damon, you don't want anything to do with me, I get it." I sigh and grab my keys from my purse. "Well, goodnight thank you for dinner." I blurt out quickly before I open the door and shut it swiftly behind me. If that was Damon's way of telling me he is not interested than he is the biggest idiot I have ever met. If he didn't like me like I thought he did all he had to do was tell me, and now here I am feeling like an idiot too. I feel like that girl in high school who tells the hottest guy in school that she likes him and then he just laughs at her in response. The worst part of this all is the fact that I thought he felt the same way, by the way he looks at me and what he says, I thought that he liked me as much as I like him, guess not.

Well that was unexpected. Does Damon really not want her or is there another reason for his sudden rejection? Next chapter you will find out. Thank you for reading and I hope you like my story so far. Leave a review if there is anything you think I could work on or something you liked.