A hand clamped over Elena's mouth and a deep chuckle had her rolling her eyes and elbowing her boyfriend in the stomach.
"Damon!" She hissed at him.
He laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist. "How was lunch with Bonnie?"
"Good." She smiled up at him. "And how did you spend your afternoon?"
"You know." He shrugged. "Trapped inside the house with nothing but boring St. Stefan."
"Hmmm." Elena narrowed her eyes at him. "You didn't bother him, did you?"
"Of course not." He smiled in a way that made it hard to tell if he was lying or not. "Now, can we please get out of here?"
She rolled her eyes playfully and kissed him before they got into her car and drove to the boarding house.
Stefan woke up the next morning after listening to a night of Elena and Damon rolling around in bed all night; Damon had been tickling and biting on Elena's neck and she couldn't help but giggle.
All of their "foreplay" eventually turned into something more. Stefan had pressed his pillow against his face to hopefully muffle the sound of Elena's moans and Damon's small little laughs. He could practically hear the blood rushing to Elena's cheeks as she tried to hide the sounds of pleasure, but Damon would revel in it and make her call his name louder.
"It's been eight weeks." Stefan said to himself. "How could they POSSIBLY be so…physical?"
He sighed and got out of bed, getting dressed. He walked out of his room and knocked on Damon's door.
"Damon!" He called. "Get up. Elena and I have school." He waited for a few minutes, but heard nothing.
He groaned and walked back to his room, into the bathroom and back over to Damon's room. He kicked the door open and threw a bucket of cold water on the sleeping couple.
"What the hell?!" Damon growled, glaring at Stefan.
Stefan smirked, not caring that he had just woken Elena with freezing water in the middle of winter. "Morning, brother."
"What are you doing?" Damon stood up from the bed and looked down at his wet pants. "I. am going. to kill you." He grit his teeth.
"I'm sure you will." Stefan laughed. "I just thought Elena would like to get up and get ready for school."
"You know what?" Damon smirked. "I still love you, brother." He spread his arms out. "Let me give you a hug."
"Get away from me!" Stefan yelled, darting downstairs with Damon following.
Elena laughed as she stood up from Damon's bed, wringing out her hair and listening to all the commotion downstairs from the two brothers fighting. She grabbed a towel, a change of clothes, and stepped into Damon's shower.
"Damon!" Elena whined as he refused to let her go. "I'm going to be late for school."
"So, be late." He mumbled into her neck, kissing it.
"Let's go." Stefan sighed, walking to his car and getting in.
"Goodbye, Damon." Elena laughed, pulling away and kissing him before making her way to Stefan's car and getting into the passenger side.
Damon watched the car screech out of the driveway and rolled his eyes, knowing it was Stefan's way of throwing a fit.
In the car, Elena and Stefan were quiet, neither really knowing what to say. She reached over and turned on the radio.
"So." Stefan cleared his throat. "I hear, uh, you and Damon are doing well."
Elena blushed at his mention of "hearing" they were doing good. She knew he was in the house last night, but Damon was…convincing.
"We are." She confirmed. "And you? How have you been?"
"I've been better." He mumbled bitterly as they reached the school parking lot. He opened his door roughly and got out of the car, slamming it behind him.
"Stefan!" Elena called, getting out of his car and jogging up to him. "Stefan, this isn't fair."
"Fair?!" He snorted. "I'll tell you what's not FAIR, Elena. You being with my brother after we-."
"After we what?!" She cried. "After you broke up with me?! After you left town then came back and did whatever Klaus told you to?! Or maybe after we broke your sire to Klaus, but you STILL kept your humanity turned off!"
Stefan looked at her in surprise. He grabbed her shoulders gently. "Listen to yourself, Elena. This isn't you."
"It's not?" She glared at him, pushing him away. "Maybe you don't know me, Stefan. Maybe you wasted half your time treating me like a child, like I couldn't make my own decisions!"
"The decisions you made would have gotten you killed!" He yelled, thankful the parking lot was practically empty. "You think Damon, of all people, is going to keep you safe?!"
"I don't think." She sneered. "I KNOW."
"Damon can only put you in more danger." Stefan shook his head. "I just don't understand. Why him?"
"Because." Her voice went soft. "Stefan, you NEVER trusted me with the secrets from your past because you were afraid of what I'd think. Damon…he told me everything. He TRUSTED me, Stefan. He didn't care what I thought because by the end of it all…he knew I would still love him. I'm sorry that things turned out the way they did, but I really do hope you can forgive me and your brother one day. Because, believe it or not, he cares about you. We both do."
Stefan simply turned and walked away from her without saying a word.
She sighed heavily; things would only get worse before they got better. Maybe one day, they could all get past this. No, they could never go back to normal, or what seemed normal anyway. It would be a long, emotional ride, but she knew in the end it would be worth it.
