So at first I was sad because of the little amount of reviews I received from the last chapter but then I realised I'm grateful I have any reviews - and they're all such lovely reviews, I barely receive anything bad which is sweet. I'm sorry for long updates but I'm afraid I don't know when my next update will be. It was only three chapters ago or something that I was like "yay summer, I can write lots!" But alas, Summer ends in 6 days. I may try to update before then but my birthdays on Thursday and I still have to school shop so idk if I'll have time.
Anyway if I don't update within 6 days then it may not be for a while unfortunately but I promise I wont ever abandon this story, I just may take longer to update!
Enough rambling, enjoy! - Jessica
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Damon had accepted her friends request on Facebook immediately and she was alerted that her inbox had a new message less than a minute later.
"Elena." was all it said.
"We need 2 talk." She typed back.
"Definitely. When?x"
"Friday. Dinner."
"Ok will I pick you up?x"
"No. I'll mail you with the place and time later; I have to go Elijah's here." In fact that was a lie, Elijah was not here but Elena couldn't bare to talk to him anymore, Friday felt so long away and they'd only planned the meeting seconds ago; if she spoke to him any longer she'd probably want to meet him sooner, probably tomorrow or something. No, that would never do. She had to be strong. She had to show that she was over him. "But you arent over him" Elena's inner voice chanted though she rejected the thought immediately.
Next Elena was faced with a dilemma, should she tell anyone her plans? Even though Bonnie and Caroline were her best friends and she would want them to tell her she was suddenly afraid, Bonnie was too judging, Miss Judgey as Damon would say - "Stop thinking about Damon!" Elena reminded herself - and would never accept the idea of this dinner, in fact Bonnie had barely empathised with Elena when she'd discovered the bet; apparently she'd saw something like this coming although she'd thought he'd cheat on her. She claimed it was her witchy-psychic sense but Elena had just rolled her eyes; Bonnie really needed to get over the fact that she was not a witch.
Caroline, though. Elena was really stuck on whether she should tell her blonde haired companion. Elena knew that she would never even dream of judging her and under normal circumstances Elena would tell Caroline without question, even going as far as to ask Caroline what to wear. But things were different now… Caroline was dating Klaus. Elena felt that the brother of her current boyfriend wouldn't be too happy if he found out she was going to meet her ex boyfriend, and even if Caroline told him to keep it a secret Elena doubted Klaus would. The Mikaelson motto was that they stuck together, always and forever, something that Elena had always respected.
This brought Elena on to her second dilemma, the one she'd been trying to avoid thinking about: should she tell Elijah? He was her boyfriend and he deserved to know, sure, and besides he'd wonder why she was blowing him off on a Friday night as they usually hung out together, dinner and then a movie was their usual routine. This would mean Elena would have to lie to him, could she do that? Could she lie to this man who'd always respected her and who deserved so much more than his girlfriend sneaking around behind his back to meet a man who'd broke her heart? Maybe she should just finish their relationship sooner rather than later, Elena thought to herself, it's not as if it was going anywhere anyway. Elena pushed the 'Should I Shouldn't I' debate to the back of her mind and tried to think of something else. Anything else.
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So by Wednesday Elena had decided to avoid complications and not tell Elijah she was going to have dinner with Damon. Elena figured that the dinner with Damon might not even lead anywhere and leaving Elijah in the dark would be the best thing to do. Instead she faked a family party and then prayed he would stay uptown on Friday night so he wouldn't see Jeremy at the Grill. She was meeting Damon at a restaurant in Chester at 8 o'clock; Elena assumed that it was far enough out of town nobody they knew would see them together. Since Monday night Damon had tried to make contact with her several times but she'd never replied and the only communication she'd had with him was mailing him the name of the bar and the time before she'd logged out of her Facebook account and she hadn't been back on since. Elena had even decided what she was going to wear. A simple white dress, black heels, a leather jacket and a chunky silver necklace that hung long; an outfit that said 'Screw you asshole, I don't care about you because I'm wearing leather.' Although the outfits message would backfire if Damon was wearing his own trademark leather jacket since then they'd more likely look like a couple dating; Elena couldn't even admit to herself that deep down she was secretly hoping he was wearing the jacket.
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The next day passed by smoothly, Elijah seemed content with her family party excuse and she showed him what she was planning to wear minus the leather jacket, he told her she would look beautiful which only sprung pangs of guilt that she was deceiving him. On Friday night Elena, with butterflies filling every ounce her tummy, got in her cherry red Ford Fiesta - a gift from her Father for her birthday that past June - and begun driving at a reasonable speed to a small Italian restaurant called Fratellies in Chester. She had stumbled across it on Google and had chosen it because even though every review had said the food was delicious, most of them had agreed that they had came across it under accidentally and would never have found it under normal circumstances. Perfect. And even though Elena was the first to arrive at the restaurant, it didn't faze her at all and she couldn't help but smile as the waiter led her to a table for two in the middle of the room; the longing for Damon that had been built up inside her ever since the school dance - one that had vanished when he'd kissed her that day uptown - had disappeared completely since she knew she would see him soon. Maybe, Elena pondered, she and Damon could work everything out. Maybe they could get back together. Maybe everything would be okay. Elena grinned to herself, life was alright again. She felt as if she could breathe properly. Well, that was until the clock struck 9pm and Damon still hadn't turned up.
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"Damon honey, are you okay?" Elizabeth Salvatore peered into her son's bedroom. It was 8 o'clock on a Friday night and if this was last summer Damon would have been out God-knows-where doing God-knows-what. But this wasn't last summer and something had changed in Damon this summer. She'd learned recently from Stefan, after a long pleading session of him to admit to his mother what was really wrong with his big brother as she really did not believe you could be sick for 6 weeks, that Damon had fallen for a girl, a girl she'd yet to meet. It had been plain all over her sons face that he was smitten, though now, in early September Damon mooched around a lot, he was at the gym or out running several times a day but other than that never left the house, and he seemed miserable. Through her son Elizabeth had leaned that Damon and his mystery girlfriend had broke up but after only dating a few months Elizabeth couldn't understand for the life in her why he was so upset, Stefan, of course, had not betrayed his brother quite as much by telling her the reason for the break-up but Elizabeth had made a rational guess that one of them cheating might have been the cause. Still though, Elizabeth couldn't stand to see her son so down in the dumps any longer, so tonight she'd gone for the head on approach: ask him directly.
"Wha-" Damon, half naked and lying topless on his bed, drops of sweat running down his abs after just returning from another running session - his third of the day - jumped at the sight of his mother. Grabbing the first t-shirt in sight he yanked it on.
"I said, are you okay?" Elizabeth repeated and came into Damon's room, perching herself on the edge of his bed.
"Yeah Mom, of course l am. Why?"
"You've not been yourself all summer hon, you barely leave your room except to run and go to the gym. You never see your friends anymore, you barely even talk to Stefan."
"Just trying to keep in shape Mom, besides I thought you hated my friends anyway. You should be glad."
"That is not true!" Elizabeth protested though quickly shut up at the sight of her oldest sons raised eyebrows. "Well okay maybe it's a little true but not all your friends, I just think that Lockwood boy is a bad influence. I know his daddy and he ain't a nice man."
"Don't worry about that Mom, Tyler and I haven't spoken in months."
"Why ever not?" Elizabeth was relieved she was finally getting somewhere with her usually so reserved son.
"It's a long story Mom, you wouldn't be interested."
"Of course I'd be interested! You're my son; I'm interested in your life."
Damon hesitated for a moment, he wanted to tell his mom all about Tyler - of course he did - but by doing that he'd have to talk about Elena, he'd have to admit his feelings for her and he'd have to go way back to the beginning and tell his mom what a jackass her son was by telling her all about the bet.
"Son, whatever you've done I won't judge you." Elizabeth smiled at Damon as she noticed his inner conflict to tell her.
"Promise?" Damon practically begged. She nodded. And so he told her, he told her everything, well everything bar Elena and him sleeping together, there were some things you just couldn't discuss with your Mom. Instead of saying the bet was to sleep with Elena Damon pretended it was to make Elena fall for him, a lie that was as near to the truth as you could get. Elizabeth didn't interrupt him, she didn't show any emotion as to how she felt about Damon's predicament, she waited until he finished and then the only thing she said was:
"So if you were supposed to meet her in Chester at 8 o'clock why are you still here at 8:30? You do realise it's at least an hours drive there?"
"Yes Mom but I'm scared." Damon whispered. "Scared that when I explain things to her she'll still hate me, scared that she'll have changed her mind and she won't show up, scared that she'll never forgive me Mom, I think I, no I know that I love her."
"Are you sure son? You're only 18 years old; do you even know what love is?"
"If love is wanting to be with her every second of the day, feeling upset when she's upset, willing to do anything for her no matter what, and mom I would die for her. It hurts when she's not around, this entire summer has been killing me. I know I'm young and I know I've only known her for a few months but this has been the worst summer ever and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, it's been the worst two months of my entire life. You know what? I'm even thankful to Tyler because without the bet I'd have never got to know her." Damon jumped up from his bed and dived towards his wardrobe, grabbing his leather jacket and shoes. Pulling the leather jacket on and cursing to himself that he didn't have time to change out of his sweaty t-shirt, he didn't even say goodbye to his mom as he charged towards his car and prayed Elena wouldn't have given up on him by now.
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Of course Elena didn't know any of this, all she knew was she had been stood up. She had been sat at the restaurant table for over an hour, people were starting to whisper around her and Elena felt herself blush.
"Are you sure you don't want to order yet mia bella?" The handsome young Italian waiter charmed her with his strong accent.
Elena shook her head. Eat alone? Oh god that was more humiliation that walking out of the place without eating at all!"
"Very well Madame," the waiter, Massimo, smiled kindly. "But, if I may, I do believe that, the man who stood you up, is how you say... molto molto stooopid."
Elena giggled. "Mile grazie. You are very kind."
The waiter winked. "My shift is ending, would you mind if I joined you cara?"
Elena paused for a moment. To say that she was shocked would be an understatement; this Italian waiter was beautiful as she assumed most Italian men were. He had tanned skin and a lean body, he was wearing a tight white t-shirt and a black apron tied round his waist, his arms looked strong and his muscles just rippled out, a hint of stubble around his face, his eyes glistened with charm. His hair was sleek and black. This absolutely gorgeous man wanted to join her for a meal? She could barely respond; all she could do was weakly nod her head and the waiter smiled.
"In that case I will be back, ah how do you say it, 'in a jiffy' with our pasto."
Elena smiled and watched him walk away. What the hell? Damon sure as hell wasn't turning up, it was after 9 and she was hungry, why not have a little fun?
Massimo returned several minutes later with three large dishes of food. "This is, on me, bellissima." he smiled. "I hope it is, tasty."
Elena took a forkful of the unknown pasta dish and literally had to force herself not to moan out loud. It was amazing!
"This is delicious!" she exclaimed, swallowing quickly and taking another mouthful.
"I am glad, that you enjoy it cara. It is, the specialità del giorno."
Elena nodded, a smile stretching from ear to ear as she pretended to know what she was saying and dug into her meal, complimenting Massimo on the two other dishes that were almost - but not quite - as delicious as the first one. At one point during the meal, though Elena couldn't be sure exactly when, Massimo leaned over and took her hand and didn't let it go.
"Signorína, you are, so, perfetto."
Elena blushed. "Thank you, um I mean, grazie."
"This man, the one who did not come, I hope he knows, what he is missing."
Elena smiled sadly and opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by another voice.
"Of course I do but care to inform me anyway?"
The Italian's relaxed posture was destroyed instantly and his head whipped to the side. "So, you are, the stooopid idiot who did not show." He didn't exactly glare at Damon but his mouth was set in a firm line; he was not happy.
"And you are?" Damon rolled his eyes.
"Damon," Elena sighed, avoiding eye contact with the blue eyed heartbreaker. "This is Massimo, he saved me from eating alone tonight."
Damon opened his mouth, Elena thought he was going to make a snarky remark but no sound came out. Instead he came over to her and dropped to his knees, grabbing her free hand he stared at her. "I am so sorry baby; I didn't mean to be late. Let me explain, please."
Elena rolled her eyes. "First, I am not your baby. Second, this night was for you to explain yourself about last semester and now you have to explain why you're late? That's pretty pathetic Damon, no in fact that's really pathetic. If you really cared about me you'd have been here early not two hours late!"
"I know, I know." Damon grovelled not caring that most people in the restaurant had turned their heads to witness the little show that was going on with Elena's table. "Please though, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me"
Elena just sighed; she yanked her hand from Damon's grasp and turned to Massimo. "Thank you for a lovely evening." She smiled at him. "I appreciate it."
"Mia bello, feel free, to come see me anytime here." He stood up as Elena did and kissed her hand. "I also had, as you say, a lovely evening."
Elena smiled and then, completely ignoring the broken man on his knees, brushed past Massimo and made her way out the little Italian restaurant and towards her car.
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"Elena." A velvety voice called behind her but Elena didn't pause for a moment, she heard the slam of the restaurant door in the background.
"Elena." The voice was nearer this time, the footsteps became louder and faster.
"ELENA!"
"WHAT DAMON?" Elena spun around to face him, to confront him, to tell him to leave her alone once and for all, that he'd had his chance and blew it, but she didn't even have time to catch a breath. His lips were on hers, one hand intertwining in her hair and the other capturing her waist; their bodies moulding together as it they were made for each other. This was the second time he'd kissed her unexpectedly and without her permission but this time was different; this time she didn't pull away. Forcing her backwards against the hood of a car Damon's lips began to move more urgently against hers almost as if he was afraid she was going to disappear. Elena's hands came up to cup his face and pull him closer and this seemed to relax him; she wasn't going to push him away anymore. Gently and reluctantly breaking apart both Damon and Elena stared into each others eyes, panting heavily.
"Elena, I-" Damon begun speaking in a hushed tone, not wanting to ruin the moment, rubbing his hand gently on her cheek.
Elena lifted her hand to lightly hold onto his wrist. "You hurt me Damon." was all she said, twisting away from him and walking towards her car. What had she just done? She'd kissed him back, she'd been selfish and horrible - she had a boyfriend for God's sake! Elena had just reached the little red vehicle when she felt her body getting flipped around, it was like a movie moment and one she'd always dreamed of, he had one arm placed strategically on the car and the car's mirror was on the other side; she was trapped. She tried to avoid his gaze but with his free hand he tapped her chin up towards her eyes, mesmerising her.
"Elena, I, I, I know. I know what I did, it hurt you," he stammered, an honest and sincere manner to his voice. With the speech he'd rehearsed in his head so many times, he opened his mouth to pour out his entire soul to this girl who had captured his mind, body and heart but he didn't even get the chance.
"You hurt me so much Damon. Humiliated me to the point where I just wanted to curl up on the spot and die, you, you... oh there's so many things you did but the worst thing you did? Do you really want to know what hurt the most?"
Damon nodded mutely, of course he did.
"You gave up on me, Damon. You didn't try."
Damon shook his head violently, was she serious? Did she really think he didn't try? "I didn't try Elena? You think I fucking didn't try? I tried Elena! I tried my hardest and every time I got nowhere, what was I supposed to do?"
"You weren't supposed to give up!" Little tears over spilled from Elena's doe eyes and she made no attempt to wipe them away. "You gave up on me; you left me miserable this full summer. I thought you didn't care." The few tears that were slipping down her face had now exploded into a waterfall, pouring down Elena's cheeks, sliding over her lips, dripping off her chin, slightly smudging her make-up. She looked more beautiful than ever.
"You thought I didn't care?" Damon whispered. "I DIDN'T CARE? Elena I thought you hated me, I thought, I mean you and Elijah, I uh, I thought-"
"You think I could move on from you that quick? You don't think that every time I looked at him I thought of you, every kiss, every touch, every-"
"Elena," suddenly Damon's face went chalk white, a thought struck him that hadn't occurred before, why hadn't he thought of this before?! "I mean, you didn't, not again, you and, Elijah, you didn't..." he trailed off; his eyes were desperately seeking some kind of confirmation in Elena's own, his forehead creased in worry.
"He was my boyfriend all summer Damon." Elena spoke quietly, understanding immediately what his query was. "And it wasn't as if it was something we hadn't done before."
"Right." Was all he could reply, and Elena swore she even saw a tear form in his eye, he turned away from her gaze and dropped his arm from the car, a look of defeat overshadowing his features.
"But that doesn't mean we did." Elena finished causing Damon's head to instantly spin around.
"You didn't?"
"No."
A full blown smile broke out over his face, his eyes were practically shining because, surely... surely this meant something for them? That she still liked him, that there was still hope?
"Good." he muttered gruffly as he composed his face though joy still seeped through his tone.
"Why is that good, Damon?" Elena whispered her mouth dry as she waited for his response.
"Because I love you." Damon turned back to face her, staring intently into her eyes. "And I can't bare the thought of someone else holding you because you are mines."
This time Elena didn't shout at him like last time, she didn't walk away or tell him she wasn't his, no. Instead she did the thing she'd been dreaming of doing all summer, she kissed him.
It was a different kiss that the one several minutes ago; probably because Elena was in control of this one. She locked both her hands in his hair pulling him roughly towards her, Damon's hands slid so one was resting on her waist and the other grasping the back of her neck. It was a kiss that left them both panting at the end and a kiss that caused Damon to envelope Elena in a bear hug once it was over simply because he wanted to be close to her.
"I've missed you." he whispered to her.
"I've missed you too."
"Come on, let's take a walk." He held out his hand which she accepted without hesitation, the thought of Elijah never even crossed her mind for a second.
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Back home Elena had no idea of the event that had been unfolding in Elijah's life all week, all these phone calls Elijah had been faking were from Klaus or his father, Elijah only worked three days a week but he never informed Elena of what he did with the extra day, all his sneakiness was about to unfurl after tonight.
"I must ask once again, are you sure you want to do this, Mr Mikaelson?" the man asked.
"Yes I'm positive Mr Harvey; I've never been so sure of anything in my life."
"Well if that's the case, then so be it. We would be thrilled to have you here."
"Thank you, sir. I look forward to seeing you very soon."
"Until then."
Elijah Mikaelson walked out of the office with a big smile on his face. Elena had been complaining recently that after summer ended she didn't know when she'd ever see him, it was her last year of high school and she would have way too much studying to do. Elena had also been upset over having to see Damon every day, she didn't have any real friends at school so she couldn't hide behind them and besides, she sad everyone would still be laughing at her from what Damon had did to her last semester. It was inevitable that at one point he would find her and humiliate her again. Elijah couldn't bear the thought of that - so he'd fixed it. Elijah Mikaelson was now an official student of Mystic Falls High. He couldn't wait to tell his girlfriend.
Whatcha think? Enjoy? Shocked? Happy that Delena are reunited or sad because she's cheated on Elijah and he's been such a gentleman? OoOoOo and what about Elijah joining Elena's school? What will that do to Damon and Elena? Review please!
Anyway, follow me on Twitter if you want, I don't usually follow back but if you tell me you read my fan fiction I'll probably be all jolly and follow ya back :') It's _ohmySalvatore