Chapter 8.
Baby don't come back this time
Don't wanna have to say goodbye, all over again
So if you think there's still a chance to make it right
And I'm the only one you want tonight
Change your mind
Damon slammed his car door closed and walked towards the beautiful mansion in front of him. He should have known she'd live somewhere like this, somewhere so stunningly elegant. A wall of glass that was as sharp as it was weak, and the stone that was unbelievably strong but given a certain amount of pressure would crumble.
Just like her.
He remembered easily where she lived from the last time he had picked her up and they went on their little date. Date. God, she'd kill him for using that word. But Damon didn't care, that's what it was. And unlike her, he preferred to be honest.
He had high tailed down here after his second bourbon of the evening; thinking that he could either sit at home and get drunk or go an talk to her. And he needed to see her, so he just hopped in his car and prayed that she would be at home. He decided that if he called her in advance she'd never answer the door. But now that he was standing in front of her house all his bravado seemed to disappear.
And he really couldn't afford it to. If he was really going to go through with this then he needed to fight for this, needed to be strong. Because it was going to take a lot more strength from him than from her.
She was far too weak to give into this, especially when she was angry at him.
He knocked on the door and took a few deep breaths. He could do this. He had to do this.
"Look Care, I'm really not in the mood to talk today-" She cut off abruptly when she was him standing there.
Damon let his eyes trail over her body, in her tiny pyjama shorts and a tight tank top. Her hair pulled into a messy bun at the top of her head. She was the most beautiful thing he had even seen and here she was in her sweats and without a spot of make up on her.
"What are you doing here Damon?" She snapped coldly and brought him out of his day dream.
Why did she have to ruin everything by talking?
"We need to talk, Elena." Damon replied as she rolled her eyes,
"We really don't."
Elena didn't even know why he was here at this time in the evening; or any time at all. She really didn't want to talk to him right now. Actually, she was pretty sure he was the last person she wanted to see.
"We're going to whether you like it or not, sweetheart." Damon pushed past her into her house as she was rooted in her place.
"What do you think you're doing?" She shouted as he casually strolled through her hallway.
She hated to admit that it looked like he almost belonged there. Almost.
"It's a nice house you've got for yourself. I like it." He winked at her while leaning against the wall, knowing how angry he was making her.
He knew he should be buttering her up right now, but he couldn't help himself from teasing her at least a little bit. There was something about knowing that he mattered enough to get her all wound up.
"Get out." She demanded with her hands placed on her hips.
This was her house. She could kick him out if she didn't want him there. And she really didn't.
"You know what? I think I'll stay."
"So help me God if you don't leave right now I'll-"
"You'll what, Elena?" He antagonised, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling.
"Call the cops? Please honey, we both know that won't happen. And I'm not leaving here until you agree to talk with me."
"We are talking." She huffed and shut the door walking past him, over to the kitchen where she slid herself up on the island.
"But there's one specific little topic I came here this morning to talk about." Damon clarified and stalked over to her.
"And what would that be?"
"The night we broke up."
Her eyes snapped up to his, with more emotions in those doe eyes than he could count. But the main one he saw? Pain.
"You need to leave now, Damon. Before we both do something that we'll regret." She breathed out and went to slide off the table, but he stood directly in front of her so she couldn't move.
"Elena you could at least try and get along with me. After all, it is your fault that we broke up in the first place." He spat at her.
And then she did something that Damon really hadn't expected. She got mad.
"How dare you! How in Hell was any of that my fault? God you're so self-absorbed that you don't even realise how much you hurt me!" She screamed and pushed at his shoulders.
"How can you look me in the eye and say that? After everything you did how can you honestly think that this was my fault? You're the one who screwed me over." Elena hopped off the island and was brave enough to look at him.
Damon laughed without any humour. She really was in denial.
"Don't play innocent with me Elena. I wouldn't have done what I did if it hadn't been for you and your little thing with him." Damon growled while she shook her head at him, not understanding.
"What are you talking Damon?"
Did she honestly forget? How she had broken his heart into a million little pieces? If she hadn't done what she'd done, then they would still be together. There was no doubt in his mind about that. He had loved her more than anything.
"Don't play coy. You know exactly who I'm talking about."
Elena bit her lip hard and practically ran in the sitting room, with Damon not far behind. She hadn't done anything. It was all him and his selfish need to have more than her, and when she found out he had acted like it didn't matter.
Like their whole relationship hadn't meant a thing to him. It had killed her.
"Really? Nothing? Remember that night, Elena. Then tell me that I wasn't your fault."
. . .
Flashback- Three Years Ago.
"You know, there's going to be a day when someone is smart enough to see your talent and realise that you're a little star. And then they're going to take you away from me for a record deal." Damon whispered into Elena's ear after the finished their set at the Bluebird.
It was one of the few rare nights when she wasn't working and he wasn't busy working out his own record deal. He would never tell her, but he'd kind of put it all on hold for her at the moment. She meant more to him than anything.
Even his music.
"I'm far from a star. And besides, no one could ever take me away from you." She rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Is that so?" He teased as she bit her lip.
God he loved it when she did that.
"Mmmhmm." She purred before leaning up to kiss him.
They stood like that, locked in each other's arms before one of the bar men told them to get a room.
"You know what 'Lay? I think we should take his advice." He whispered in her ear as she giggled lightly.
"I'll be a few minutes, I need to check my schedule for next week." She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before skipping off into the crowd.
Damon sat down at his table and sipped at the bourbon he had left there before going up on stage with her. She really did underestimate how beautiful her voice was.
How beautiful she was.
"Damon Salvatore. I always knew I'd find you again."
Damon's blood ran cold. He knew that voice from anywhere. Miss Katherine Pierce.
"What do you want Katherine?" He bit out as she took the seat next to him.
"I kind of miss you. I definitely miss the sex. How about you and I go around the back and I can show you exactly how much I missed you." She trailed a hand over his thigh but he pushed it off of him.
"I have a girlfriend, Katherine. I found something real, more than just a sex toy like you."
She laughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard and flicked her curls.
"You really think you're in love with her, don't you? People like you and I Damon, we're not capable of that. We just end up hurting the people we're closest to."
Damon would never could have realised how true her words would come to be.
"I'm nothing like you. And I know I love her. More than you can understand."
. . .
"Elena Gilbert?"
Elena spun around to face a very attractive man, with warm brown eyes and tousled hair.
"Yes?" She answered carefully, and took a glance at the man in front of her and almost wanted to laugh.
The Bluebird was now place for a suit.
"I'm Elijah Mikealson. Co-owner of Mikealson Studios, I wanted to talk about signing you."
Elena's mouth dropped open in shock. This was Elijah Mikealson. The Elijah Mikealson. Mikealson Studios was like the Holy Grail of music.
"You want to talk about a- a record deal?" She stuttered out and he chuckled slightly.
"That's exactly what I want to talk about. Do you mind sitting down with me?" He offered out a chair as he spoke and gladly sat down in it, feeling like she was on cloud nine.
"You have a lot of talent Miss Gilbert. And exceptional amount, actually. It would give me the greatest honour to sign you up before someone else does. This might be a lot to take in." He smiled brightly at her and she let out a girlish giggle.
"I'm very young Mr Mikealson-"
"Elijah please, my dear." He interrupted and she smiled back at him.
"Well, Elijah, I never really thought about singing professionally. I sing here because I love it, and I love music, but as a career? I never thought." She trailed off and played with her edge of her skirt.
"Elena, if I may call you that, your voice is far too beautiful to waist. You could make millions."
"Millions?" She looked up at him with wide eyes and he nodded his head.
"More money than you can even imagine."
Elijah Mikealson was smart, he took after his father. And he had just been singed over to co-owner a few months ago by his father and this was his chance to prove himself.
He believed that a beauty with the voice that Elena Gilbert had would do that and more. He had struck gold.
"I'm not sure, Elijah. I mean this the first time something like this has ever happened to me and-" She cut herself off and leaned her arms against the bar.
"Let me just talk to you about everything. And by the end you can decided if you want to consider or not. Does that sound like a fair deal?" Elijah smiled at her and placed a hand over her small one.
"That sounds perfect." She smiled sweetly at him and used her other hand to nervously pull at her hair.
Elena Gilbert didn't know two things at that moment. Two things that were very valuable. One, was that Elijah was very clearly taken with her from the moment she had smiled at him, and the second was the two pairs of eyes staring at them from across the room.
. . .
"So that's your girl? She seems to be having fun. With Elijah Mikealson none the less." Katherine whispered in Damon's ear.
He ignored her though, he knew that mind games were Katherine Pierce's speciality.
"I know who he is. Everyone who is even slightly interested in music knows who he is. And if it's about a record deal then I'm happy for her, God knows she deserves it." Damon smiled slightly and Katherine let out another one of her irritating laughs.
"I take it you haven't heard the stories then?"
"What stories?" Damon replied quickly, worried that someone would hurt Elena.
"Elijah has a reputation for only singing pretty young girls who are willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top. I think you know where I'm going with this, Damon." Katherine smiled evilly at him and he felt something break in his heart.
"He sleeps with them, doesn't he?"
"No points for that, genius." Katherine snarked and sat back in her seat.
"She won't do that. She loves me just as much as I love her." Damon said strongly, but couldn't tear his eyes away from his girlfriend and the man at the bar.
He watched as he placed a piece of her hair behind her ear and Elena smiled gently, gigging at something he had said.
She wouldn't sleep with him. She wouldn't cheat on him. She loved him.
"Are you so sure?" Katherine asked him as Elijah placed a kiss on her cheek and Elena placed a hand on his knee.
"I don't think your girlfriend is as innocent as you'd like to believe. I can help you forget." She whispered in his ear and took his hand.
Damon knew it was wrong. But he had been waiting here for half an hour now, and not once had she so much as looked his way. She was looking at Elijah with those big brown eyes of hers and had the charm up full scale.
Elijah was looking at her the way only he should, and she shouldn't be giggling and touching him either. By the looks of it, she was going to completely forget about him and carry on flirting with Elijah; maybe even go home with him tonight.
Any besides, Katherine was always the best distraction.
"If we're leaving, we're leaving now. I can't look at them anymore." Damon growled and Katherine eagerly grabbed his hand and strutted outside with him.
"You never could resist me Damon."
He would have. He knew he would have. But Elena was the one who threw it all away.
. . .
Elena turned her head quickly when she saw Damon leave with a dark haired girl, almost knowing who it was. He had told her a long time ago about his previous girlfriends and she had heard all about Katherine Pierce, and there was something about that girl that screamed the stuck up bitch that Damon had explained.
"Could you excuse me for a minute Elijah?" She asked quickly, needing to see him.
"Of course Elena." He replied and with a small smile she shot up from her seat and ran out the door.
"Damon!" She shouted, looking over the parking lot for him.
She turned her head a little and she knew she had spotted him. There he was. Her boyfriend. The man she loved. With his tongue down another girls throat.
"Damon?" She asked with a small catch in her throat, she couldn't stop the tears that were falling from her eyes.
She watched him pull away from the girl and to face her with angry eyes. Why was he angry with her?
"What are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Damon chuckled darkly and she shook her head, wondering how he could see her tears and not give a damn.
"Why are you doing this?"
"I suppose I got tired of you and your games Elena."
What games? Tired of her. He was bored, just like she was always scared he would be.
"Well then I won't feel guilty about doing this," She slapped him then.
Harder than she had ever slapped anybody.
"We're over Damon. I don't ever want to see you again." She added before turning on her heel and really letting the tears fall from her eyes.
"Same goes for you, sweetheart." He said mockingly, only breaking her heart more.
They were over. Just over. It all happened so quickly and for no apparent reason. Maybe Damon saw the little slut he was with and realised that he didn't want her anymore. It was possible, she never had that kind of relationship with anyone before him.
But none of that mattered anymore. Because he clearly didn't love her anymore and she needed to start convincing herself she felt the same way.
. . .
"That night, I had no intention of sleeping with Elijah. And when I came back inside I told him that I wasn't going to consider his record deal and I left. So maybe I'm not as much of a selfish slut as you thought I was." Elena choked out, and kept her eyes from the man beside her.
"You didn't?"
Damon wanted to kick himself. Hell, he wanted to do a lot more than kick himself. He had single headedly ruined their relationship because of his own jealousy and petty need to seem over her. Like it was his choice.
"No." She sighed.
"Elena I'm sorry." He looked up at her through watery eyes and tried to take her hand, but she moved it away.
"You should be," She whispered and found the strength to look at him.
"You know I stopped singing after that? I didn't sing a note for months. And then Alaric found me in the Bluebird, he had been there every night, listening to you at the start I think, but then he found me. He wanted to sign me, it took a lot of convincing, but Alaric can be very persuasive." She laughed slightly and he chuckled too.
"Yeah, he can."
"And I haven't looked back since. Until now, that is." She sat back on the sofa and curled her legs up around her.
"God, I'm so stupid. I was just a kid, 'Lay. I had no idea what I was doin'. You know, that I would take it back if I could."
"It's over, Damon. It doesn't matter." She shrugged it off and stood up from the seat.
"How can you say that? It matters Elena, and you know it. There is a part of you, not matter how small; that still feels something for me. I know it. Because I feel it too." Damon grabbed her hand and pulled her to him.
He wasn't going to let her go this time, not after what he had learned.
"I can't feel something like that. It'll ruin me." She turned her head away from him but he grabbed her chin and forced her to look into his eyes.
"Let go of me!" She shouted but he made no move to do what she wanted.
"Do one thing with me, Elena. And I'll drop all of this, if that's what you want." Damon said softly and let the hand that wasn't holding her face trace small patterns over her waist.
"It depends on what you're thinking about."
"Sing with me."
Elena managed to pull away from him and paced the room.
"Damon I don't know if I can right now-"
"Please, Elena. I'll leave after."
She stopped pacing and turned to look at him,
"Fine. Just one song. I'm sure we can get another hit out of what we're feeling right now anyway." She sighed and pulled her guitar from its place on the windowsill and handed it to him.
He sat there, playing a few chords that caught Elena's attention and she began writing. The words seemed to flow, and she knew why. After all these years, all that emotion was finally being released.
When you wake up wanting me
And you can't go back to sleep
Change your mind
When you're weak and alone
And you're reaching for the phone
Change your mind
Keep on going 'till you're gone
Even when you think it's wrong
When you look back in regret
The moment that you left
Change your mind
Baby don't come back this time
Don't wanna have to say goodbye, all over again
So if you think there's still a chance to make it right
And I'm the only one you want tonight
Change your mind
Change your mind
In the early morning haze
When my kiss is all you crave
Let it go
'Cause I don't wanna do that dance
The push and pull, the second chance
I already know, yeah I know
You'll just promise me forever
And then you'll take it back, just like that
Saying you can't live without me
Then you'll...
Change your mind
So baby don't come back this time
Don't wanna have to say goodbye, all over again
So if you think there's still a chance to make it right
Change your mind
Cause I don't wanna have to say goodbye, all over again
So if you think there's still a chance to make it right
And I'm the only one, the one you want tonight
Change your mind
Change your mind
Change your mind
"That was," Damon trailed off, never taking his eyes off her.
"Intense." Elena finished for him and looked down at her hands.
"What now?"
"What do you mean?" Elena asked him,
She wasn't entirely sure what to do. Just because he had thought that she was willing to sleep with Elijah didn't make it any better for him to run off with Katherine. But it changed something inside of her, the part of her that thought he was purely a selfish dick. Maybe she was wrong after all.
"Do you really want me to leave?"
Damon didn't know what he would do if she said yes. He knew he deserved it, but it that didn't mean it would hurt any less. And that song, God it had only made him more confused.
"I don't know. I shouldn't want you here-"
"But you do?" Damon asked hopefully while she flicked her gaze to him.
"You can stay here tonight, it's too late for you to drive home. You can sleep here." She said quietly.
Damon was right, Elena thought. There was a part of her that still wanted him around, that still craved the love he had given her. But he had blown it. They both had.
"Thank you 'Lay." He whispered and grabbed her hand before pressing a kiss to it.
"Goodnight, Damon." She pulled her hand away quickly and ran up the stairs.
Damon watched her go and found it hard not to be distracted by those long legs. She doesn't want you, he reminded himself, not after what you did. He wasn't giving up though, he was going to make her see how much he had changed. He wasn't a stupid boy anymore that was consumed by jealousy.
He wasn't over her. He never had gotten over her. And now Damon didn't think that he could hide that anymore.
. . .
Elena sat on the bathroom floor, letting the tears fall freely like she had wanted to do for the past few hours. Everything that happened, all of the pain and hurt of Damon, it was all because of her. All because she had thought that Elijah's intentions were far more honourable than they really were. She had been so innocent, far too innocent.
She wasn't like that anymore. She hid it away from the rest of the world, from Alaric and Caroline. From Damon. She couldn't even touch on how she felt about him right now. It was all far too much.
Elena stood up and wiped away her tears, reaching for her pill bottle. She placed two on her palm and then bit her lip, she needed to forget. To really forget. Every emotion she had hidden for years was rising up to the surface, and she couldn't handle it. She put out two more pills and swallowed them all down. Double the amount she would have took.
She felt the drowsiness begin to take over her already and she climbed into her bed. Praying that tomorrow her life would hurt a little less.
A/N: Hey y'all! I seriously think I have the best readers in the whole entire world! Thank you all so much for the reviews, follows and favourites, they mean the world to me! Seriously you guys are the best.
One thing, to the person who said that this story got them into country, oh my God you have no idea how much that review meant to me! So nice to hear that my story could do that, even if they are beautiful pieces of music.
So, we finally know what happened with Damon and Elena. Rough wasn't it? But now that they have it out in the open things can get better right? We'll see ;).
Okay, the song used is Change Your Mind performed by Clare Bowen and Sam Palladio as Scarlett O'Conner and Gunner Scott on the TV show Nashville. It's a beautiful song and I think you should all go check it out!
Please let me know what you think about this chapter! I love you all so much! And there is one little thing that can give me a little inspiration, and you know what that is? REVIEWS! Thanks for reading. All my love, xxx.
