A/N: Here's where we left off. Enjoy

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used in this story.

An announcement blared through the speakers in the ballroom, inviting guests to enter.

Dinner was served and people started to go to their tables. Damon took a minute to check on Elena. "How are you doing? Everything good?"

"Oh yeah, yeah I'm great…" she sipped her white wine, feeling a little tipsy.

'This is some expensive bubbly!' she swirled it in her mouth to savor the taste until the next time she get to enjoy this kind of lavish drink..which is never again!

"How bout you?"

"My mouth hurts from talking too much. Not sure if I can chew later…" he rubbed his square jaws.

"I think you're doing great…" she patted Damon on the back like a little league baseball coach and then realized she was losing control of her reflexes from all the alcohol. "Just bare with it a little bit more until after we meet Mr. Frederick…" Elena encouraged on and offered him a sip from her glass.

'Wow, she's really into this… Elena's a real sport…she has her game face on. Must really hurt to even be standing for so long in those shoes…she's like the best wingman ever!' Damon mentally applauded her.

"Hey Daaymon!" Dean's voice alerted them. He and Alaric came towards them only to slow down and hesitated when their eyes bulged out after spotting Elena. Their macho stride suddenly turned into clumsy zigzags, racing to reach her first.

'Idiots!' Damon helplessly watched as his two best friends embarrassed themselves.

"Elena, these are my colleagues…Alaric and Dean" He introduced.

"So..aaaa, is this your date, Damon?" Alaric had the goofiest smile plastered on his face.

"Hi, I'm Elena…" She held out her hand and Dean took it in his for a bit longer than what a hand shake usually lasted for. "Hi, I'm Dean. Nice to meet you Elena…"

And then he did the most horrible flirting process ever known to men

Step 1: He winked…

Step 2: He pursed his lips…

Step 3: Narrowed his gaze…

Step 4: Wiggled his eyebrows…

"OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH DEAN!" Damon pushed his face away with his palms. "Elena, you don't want to see the rest of that ridiculous flirting technique; and there's like a hundred more steps of it…"

"You're the one who taught me that!"

"Hey, you're neighbor Elena? Damon told me about you. So, you guys are dating now or what?" Alaric finally recalled her name.

"No, I'm just doing him a favor…"

"Yup, I'm reeling in the big fishes with some sexy bait…" Damon twirled her for display. "…and guess who got invited to sit at the big table? Not you two…" they gave each other a high five while Dean and Alaric felt really shitty inside.

"See, I told you we should have brought dates, Ric!"

"Whatever man, we walk in dateless but we'll walk out of here with dates…you'll see Damon. We'll be walking out as winners, that's our game plan…living it up at the singles' table…" he broke out some moves right there in the middle of the hallway.

"Real classy Alaric…now do me a favor and jump out that window right there. Seesh…" But Damon was completely ignored.

"Woohoo… enjoy your boring night at the senior's table…"

"Thank you…I think we will…" Damon smiled smugly before entering the ballroom.

After locating their table, they took their seats as the lights dimmed. A spotlight was directed on the podium where the MC started to welcome the guests. They looked around and saw Mr. Frederick at the table just in front of them. Mr. Rogers and his fiancée sat a couple of seats away so Damon and Elena greeted the people on their sides, a Mr. and Mrs. Berenson-something.

As the introduction carried on and on endlessly, Damon and Elena was the only pair at the table that lost interest and got bored. That was something they both had in common; 'short attention span'.

"Hey look, it's the kid's table…wave at our kids" she saw Alaric and Dean sitting on the furthest table at the back of the hall. They couldn't help but sneered when they saw the guy's envious faces and waved secretly. "Yeah they sure look like they're 'living it up'"

It was hard to be excited around a table full of dicks since most of the single girls were seated in another table. As lively as a zombie, they could tell it was boring way over there. Dean looked like was trying to bend a spoon with his mind by staring at it while Alaric glared at them in jealousy…there was way more expensive wine served at Damon's and Elena's table.

Another person was called up by the MC to give a speech but it was just as long and boring and monotone as the previous introductions.

"Urrghhh"

"Oh maann!"

"Jesus…" They both groaned.

Damon forced himself to focus while Elena fiddled with the event tentative card on her plate. It said that there was going to be award winners…interesting.

"Damon, they're gonna give out awards around 10pm…" she whispered by his ear. "Yeah, they do that every year…it's bogus. Doesn't really mean anything…" he kept his eye on the stage and registered the words he'd been listening too, no matter how close his ears were to bleeding.

"So these awards are meaningless?" Elena tugged at his sleeve.

"Yeah, it's as pointless as alcohol at an AA meeting…"

"But you're name is on it…"

"Where?" Damon turned his head so quickly; he almost ripped a neck muscle. He searched through the card in Elena's hand.

Best office clown and Jack ass

~Damon Salvatore~

Hand written in blue ink when everything else was printed black.

"Ha..ha..very funny…Elena" Damon poked the side of her ribs and Elena scwrimed away from his hands, trying hard to muffle her laughs.

"You two remind me of how I was with my husband in our younger days…" Mrs. Berenson-something suddenly said to them with a loving look on her face as she reminisced the days when her tushie didn't sag. Damon and Elena just gave the sweet old woman a smile and sat straighter in their chairs.

They looked like a couple of misbehaved kids who just got lectured and reminded themselves that this was the serious adult's table, the serious Senior Manager was two seats away from them and the CEO sat less than 3 meters away.

When all the speeches were over, they finally get to eat. But instead of stuffing their faces like their intestines were telling them to, at the adult table, you only eat 0.1% of the food and spend the rest of the time talking.

Elena nodded and smiled as the old lady next to her spoke; her food had been dangling at her fork for a good 10 minute but just couldn't reach her mouth.

'I'm so hungry…please stop talking…please stop talking …please stop talking so I don't have to starve…' Elena's fake smile was wearing off.

"…and that's how I met my Howie..So how did you two meet?" the woman asked.

'Oh thank god, she paused!'

Elena took the golden opportunity and yanked Damon to her, "Doodie poo, Mrs. Berenson here wants to know how we met. Why don't you tell her all about it…" she batted her eyelashes sweetly.

'Did she really just called me doodie…as in shit?!' Damon raised his eyebrow at her.

But something in her eyes shouted 'You better talk to this woman or so help me God…I will shoot laser out of my eyes!'.

"Aaah..okay…sure" Damon confusingly looked back and forth between her and the old lady.

While he tried to make up some story, Elena munched a few big bites out of her grilled chicken and salad.

'Oohhh…so good!' she washed down her food with some red wine.

"….and then, as I was about to board the plane, I heard someone calling my name like a crazy person. And it turns out she was chasing me around the airport with this huge sign that wrote 'I can't live without you, Damon'… she was begging me not to leave her…" Damon finished his story while Mrs. Berenson's eyes glistened, falling madly in love with the chick flick Damon spun out.

"And she chased you around bare footed too? Oh, that is so romantic…" The old lady clamped her hands together and Elena gave her a shy smile while Damon patted her arms 'lovingly'.

Internally though, she was ready to stab Damon's thigh with her butter knife.

All joking aside, the award giving ceremony on the stage finally ended and the MC invited couples to the dance floor as slow music started to play. Elena didn't mind dancing when Damon asked; they were both really tired from sitting so long, their muscles needed to stretch.

She didn't think too much of it when he took her hand and placed in on his shoulder, then casually placed his hand on her waist as they started swaying to the music. They were more focused on complaining,

"My back is killing me…"

"I know...I've been crossing my legs for so long, it cramped up…I'm sorry Damon, but I don't think I'll be attending this again next year"

"I don't blame ya…" he spun her around and they both laughed, feeling light headed.

Suddenly they ran out of things to say and instead caught gazing at each other. Silence fell between them.

Damon tightened his grip and pulled Elena closer to him, letting her scent mingle with the tingling feeling from all the wine he'd been drinking. He loved the feel of her body against his and rested the side of his head next to hers.

Moving in lazy but intimate swaying, Elena exhaled and let her body relaxed in Damon's arms, his strong frame supporting her. She had no idea how or when they had gotten really comfortable with each other but the way they were dancing didn't bother her at all, it was so….natural. She can't deny how much fun she was having with Damon.

There was no pressure, no expectations and she felt free to be who she was when around him. A warm unfamiliar feeling crept up her body at their nearness.

Damon was enjoying the company of a beautiful woman and ran his hand up and down her back without knowing what it did to her heart rate. He felt Elena clung tighter to his shoulders and then pulled back to see her face, hauntingly gorgeous.

"You're so beautiful Elena…" he said without much thought.

Elena blushed and her body stiffened. Damon didn't know why he said that, but he didn't regret it either especially when it's very true. He ran his gaze over her.

Her brown hair was held up in a sexy up do with some tendrils loose around her face, her thick lashes fanned out against her satiny skin and her lips were tainted soft pink. Beyond that, her petite waist fitted in his arms perfectly…

'…like two pieces of puzzle that matched together. Urrghhh…that was so cheesy' Damon shook his head.

But his compliment had made the air between them a little tensed and Elena quickly cleared her throat. "We should…ermm…find Mr. Frederick so you could get a chance to talk to him" she pushed uneasy thoughts from her mind and concentrated on their goal.

She led him off the dance floor and toward a crowd of men. She figured Mr. Frederick would be somewhere there. After searching on tip toe, they finally spotted him alone by the tables and too Elena's surprise, it was him who called out to Damon.

"Damon, how are you? Good to see you again…"he took Damon's handshake and gave a heavy slap on the back. Mr. Frederick was a medium sized man in his late 50's. He had a cool but powerful vibe to him, like he could snap his fingers and have all his workers rolled over.

"And who's the lovely lady?" He took her hand and landed an old style kiss on it.

"I'm Elena. It's such a pleasure to meet the CEO. It's not every day I have the chance to…" she had successfully hypnotized Mr. Frederick with a wide smile.

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine Ms. Elena. You know Damon here is a very persistent guy. He never fails to find me in this big crowd every year with some new ideas. He's very enthusiastic about what he does…a dedicated worker. I like it." He kept squeezing Damon's shoulders and shook him.

Damon just smiled and watched Elena giggled at him. Mr. Frederick was going to drag on about what a great guy he was, which is not really a problem but Damon was hell bent on discussing his new project. Now all he has to do is change the subject. It was harder than expected when Mr. Frederick can't stop talking.

Damon sent an S.O.S signal to his wingman by blinking crazily at Elena. She was confused for a moment.

'What the hell is going on with Damon's eyes… looks like something flew into his eyes…yeah like a pigeon!'

And then she finally caught on, "Oh, oh yes…errr, he is a very persistent man. In fact, did you know about the latest project he's been working on? I think it would be a great success…"

"If you think so my dear, that it must be true…" Mr. Frederick chuckled.

"Oh yes, it's all I hear about every day. Damon has been working really hard on it…" She saw curiosity bubbling up in him.

"This European company in Amsterdam agreed to look into a huge collaboration with your company. They seem really interested so Damon jumped on it straight away. According to the stats I see every day at my work place, it's a 100% guaranteed successful deal. So I think Damon made the right call…"

Damon and Mr. Frederick looked at her speechless. "100%?" the older man asked.

"Okay okay…maybe not 100%. Just 95% guaranteed…"

Mr. Frederick was really pleased with the information and shook Damon's shoulders harder until his insides turned into a smoothie while laughing heartily. "That's a smart move Damon; I've been hearing about companies there for a while now but never got around to it. Tell you what…come by my office next Wednesday before I fly back to HQ and we'll run through the project plan. No appointments needed…"

Elena felt so excited for Damon and clapped her hands gaily although it was probably not the right reaction… while Damon's mind left his body and went to his happy place where a celebration party was already in full swing.

Damon was paralyzed and stared into the distance blankly with a grin. He was probably riding a unicorn on a rainbow deep in his mind so he was unable to speak. Elena was the only one left to say goodbyes and thank yous' to Mr. Frederick.

The night is still not over..stay tuned.