A/n- So this is the new chapter and the one that I should probably be really begging that nobody kill me for but hey remember there is still a lot of stuff that needs to happen before we can have our happy ending! As always thank you to everyone that has read, reviewed, favorite and followed…they really make me a happy camper and inspire me to keep going with a story that I'm not sure if anyone but me really likes! Sorry that this chapter got up so late this week, exams sucks. Next chapter should be up earlier in the week. If there are any suggestions, please feel free to let me know, I am always willing to listen. Until next time, happy reading.
Who's Crying Now?
Chapter 7- Elena
When the tears had finally subsided I was left feeling empty, the cold bark of the tree against my back drawing me in from my thoughts. I felt exhausted and like I couldn't cry anymore, there were no more tears to cry, but then again when you feel like that, that's always when things go from bad to worse. Rubbing at my arms, the cold of the early winter evening started to seep into my skin. Shaking myself out of what I was feeling I reached down on the ground next to me for the backpack that wasn't there. cursing myself I realized that I had left it on the floor in front of my locker when I had acted irrationally and ran out of there...hopefully Da- I stopped myself right there, I had just been lord knows how long crying over him and I didn't want to think about it anymore. If my backpack had been dropped off at the house then great and if it hadn't then oh well, I would try and find it in the morning at the school- hopefully someone had been kind enough to drop it off at the lost and found. swallowing I composed myself as best as I could before making the short trek back to the house, the whole time my arms curled around myself in hopes of keeping a little warm. It was starting to get dark when I got there, the winter days already giving in to the early nights. Jenna looked worried when she saw my red eyes, but she didn't question me, just like I never questioned her on the nights that she didn't come home- we understood each other that way. Ric however was a different story. The moment that I stepped into the living room he was hopping to his feet and crossing over to me in a few strides, his hand reaching up to cup my cheek in a movement so familiar to what Da-
Don't even think about it Elena!
Forcing myself to smile I tried to ignore it as Ric took hold of my arms and started to demand an answer about what was going on with me.
"What happened are you okay?" I nodded, completely bullshitting it, but technically I wasn't lying, I hadn't actually said that I was okay, "was it something that happened at school," Again I nodded, this time in the negative, technically it didn't just happen at school, it had happened over a matter of day in several different places, so once again I wasn't technically lying to him, "Was it something Damon did?" And just like that, the floodgate that I had been trying so hard to keep at bay broke and the tears completely unbidden started up again. Ric looked at me for a moment, his lips thinning into a line, his eyes hardening into a glare, "I thought so." He pulled away from me and reached for his jacket, "I'm gonna kill that bastard when I get my hands on him." He swore. Panicking I grabbed his arm and jerked him back towards me, using the momentum to push both of us onto the couch.
"Please Ric don't, I'm sure that it's just a misunderstanding..." but even as I was saying the words I felt sick with the weight of them, the hysterical tone I had and the lie behind them which from the look on Ric's face, my lie sounded just as bad to his ears as It did to my own. I didn't want to cry anymore so angrily I reached up to swipe at my cheeks, silently swearing at myself, and at him. How could he be doing this to me...I had decided that he didn't matter to me anymore and that was going to be the end of it- but who was I kidding, Damon had always been a huge part of my life and always would be no matter how much I denied it. "We'll figure something out eventually, it just might take us a little time is all. I can handle it." I swallowed after I said those words, feeling even sicker to my stomach, I didn't think I could handle it and I didn't think that we would be able to fix things, I didn't see things in the future being fixed at all, I wouldn't even know where to start. Chewing roughly at my bottom lip I climbed to my feet, leaving Ric sprawled awkwardly across my bed. "I think I had better go up to my room." Ric nodded in understanding even as I was walking through the living room towards the stairs. I had barely made it to the hallway when Jenna was shoving past me, her lips drawn into a thin line her hand already reaching for the doorknob.
"Damon is outside on the steps." She warned, looking over her shoulder at me, this fierce, determined, I'm gonna kill him look plastered over her face.
"Jenna please," I begged softly, walking past her and planting my ass on the bottom step, just out of site of the door, feeling like all the energy had been drained out of me, "Don't do anything...stupid...just tell him to go away, I don't wanna see him right now." Ric was across the living room and sitting next to me the second that Jenna said that Damon was standing outside, his arm curled around my shoulder in a show of support. Leaning into his side I held my breath as Jenna opened the door.
"What are you doing here Damon?" I heard her ask as she disappeared outside the door, blocking Damon almost completely from my view, her back rigged. Ric kissed my temple and let out a slow breath, whispering words of comfort into my hair as I wanted to break down again. Damon was his friend, but I was his girlfriend niece, he would protect me before he protected Damon.
"I brought this home for Elena..." The second that he said my name, I whimpered pathetically, burying my face in hands, calling myself an idiot over and over again as Ric tried to assure me that I wasn't, that I was a normal teenage girl, that it happened to everyone, "And I was hoping that I could talk to her..."
"She doesn't want to see you Damon." Jenna's voice had lost all its caring tone to be replaced be a coldness that had shivers running up my own back, she was more than a little angry, "Thank you for bringing back her belongings but I think it would be best if you went now." And then she was walking back into the house and closing the door in his face. It took Ric's arm around my shoulder and the look on Jenna's face to keep me from bolting up, flinging open the door and begging that Damon stay. Maybe it would be best if I didn't see him for a while- especially with how badly things were going between us, and how badly he had made me feel. Sighing softly I reached for the bag that Jenna held out to me, thankful that I would at least have my journal again, that I could at least escape for a little bit into my head and not have to think too much about what was going on. I could already see the journal entry now...
Dear Diary-
How much do I love Damon...? Let me count the ways...
Or better yet...
Dear Diary-
Damon's such a dick and yet I still want him...what the hell is wrong with me.
Sighing I stood up, shrugging Ric's arm off my shoulder. I had sat there moping long enough. A hot shower and then off to bed was what I needed, I could face everything else in the morning...I could deal with Damon in the morning.
"I think I'm gonna hit the hay, it's been a long ass day and I'm tired." Smiling a fake smile I let out a breath, "Goodnight..."And then I was escaping up the stairs to my sanctuary. It wasn't until I walked into my room, and flipped on the lights that the tiredness zapped out of me, so quickly it left me reeling. There sitting on my window seat was Damon, looking completely out of place and like I had just caught him with his hands down his pants.
"Christ are you a stalker or something?" If only he really would stalk me, then I could have something to look forward too, "I said I didn't want to see you right now Damon." I growled out, knowing that I didn't mean the words at least, hell I had almost gone after him. How pathetic was I exactly?
"Please Elena," He begged, shoving his fingers back through his hair, "It's not what you think, just let me explain..."
I cocked an eyebrow folding my arms over my chest and glared at him. He could smooth talk his way out of anything and I knew that, it would be interesting to see what he could come up with this time.
"I doubt that there is anything that you can say that will fix it Damon. You messed with my head," Can you say understatement! "You made me worry, and you didn't care at all." He flinched slightly as I said that last sentence but by that point I didn't care, I was on a war path, "But whatever...Wow me." Damon shifted back and forth for a few moments, worrying his bottom lip, looking for the life of him like he was nervous before he blurted out six words that had my heart feeling like it had stopped.
"Elena, I'm in love with you."
WHAT ?!
Swallowing, I leaned back against the wall, feeling like all the air had been kicked out of my body in one sudden rush, like I was going to collapse if I didn't rest back.
"What did you say?" I demanded, trying to catch my breath even as my heart kicked itself back into gear.
"I said I'm..."
"I know what you said!" I snapped, shoving myself away from the wall so I could go closer to him, "do you think that's funny?!" I yelled, pushing at his chest, "Let's play with Elena some more, she can take it. It doesn't matter what she's feeling as long as I get the last damn word in." I was hysterical by that point, pushing at him more and more...unsure whether I should be ecstatic that he had finally said he loved me or hurt because I wasn't sure I believed it. "You don't love me. I'm not more than the little sister Damon, you said that yourself." I was crying by that point but I couldn't have stopped the tears if my life depended on it. Swallowing I tried to shove everything that I was feeling deep down inside of me, at that point he wasn't worthy of my tears, of the pain I was feeling. "You don't fall in love with the little sister." I swallowed again before I stepped back from him, shutting down a wall as fast as I could on everything that I was feeling until I was cold inside and I could do what I needed to do, "You need to leave."
Damon looked like I had slapped him, like he wanted to protest, but he didn't say anything, instead he nodded and dejectedly walked towards the window.
"Elena I- "He began turning back towards me, but I didn't want to hear it, didn't want to feel it so instead I folded my arms across my chest.
"I said leave Damon." the words were clipped, they were cruel and they needed to be...or I wouldn't be able to come back from everything that had happened. Damon nodded and swallowed, one leg already out the window before he spoke again.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow..."
Shaking my head I tightened the arms that I held across my chest and gave him the coldest glare that I could muster up.
"For your sake and mine, Damon, I hope you don't." And then I was turning my back on him and walking into my bathroom, slamming the door shut behind me. I went through my nightly routine methodically and it wasn't until I laid my head on my pillow, thirty minutes later, that everything actually hit me. For all of the time that I had said things couldn't get any worse than they already were, fate really had a way of coming back to bite me in the ass, and at that point, I really wasn't sure what I was going to do anymore.
