So here is another unhappy chapter. The next one is already written so it's just a matter of reviews to see if it gets posted tomorrow too...
Damon
I drove over to her house and paused in my car for some time before I managed to make myself get out. Hopefully the rumours hadn't gotten as far as her parents yet but I wasn't hopeful. I walked slowly, dreading what I was going to find on the other side of the door. I was hopeful not to get an angry parent speech since I didn't see either of her parents cars outside. I didn't see Elena's SUV either but that didn't really mean anything. I knocked on the door and waited a couple seconds before I heard footsteps on the stairs. The door swung open and I was almost immediately greeted with a fist to the jaw. Jeremy Gilbert had excellent reflexes, if I wasn't so blindsided I would have been impressed.
"I take it you've heard the rumours?" I asked with my hand on my jaw where there would definitely be a bruise tomorrow. I'd been hit harder but this was my girlfriends brother. I knew he was simply looking out for his sister, and I was glad for that.
"You're a dick. You broke my sisters heart." He said angrily.
"It's a misunderstanding. I did not cheat on her. I would never cheat on her. It looks worse than it is, but the only thing I did wrong was be nice to Sophia when she needed. You can bet that will never happen again." I insisted.
"Of course you would say that. You're realizing what you don't have and you know you've lost her forever." Jeremy said as
harshly as he could.
"I need to see her. I need to explain." I pleaded. My jaw hurt but that was the least of my worries right now.
"She's not here." He told me and I sighed.
'Well where is she? I need to see her. She needs to understand that I would never do anything that would hurt her. Cheating on her would be impossible because I don't even notice other girls anymore." I told him. I was telling him what I needed to tell her, but I wouldn't be able to unless he told me where she was.
"She's not here." He answered again. He was being the opposite of helpful.
"Can you tell me where she is?" I asked again.
"I don't know. She came home long enough to drop off her school stuff and then she left. She didn't say where she was going or when she would be back." He responded with a shrug.
"That's very helpful." I muttered.
"She's hurt. She needs to be alone so she can lick her wounds. I know she'd go somewhere she could be alone." He told me.
"Do you have any ideas?" I asked hoping he'd be willing to help me.
"Why should I help you? You're the reason she's hiding." He demanded.
"I'm in love with her. That should be reason enough. She loved me too and it's all a misunderstanding." I told him and Jeremy sighed audibly.
"For your sake and hers I hope it is. I don't know where she would go, but I do know that she would go somewhere she could hide and be away from people. I know she wants to be alone because she said as much. If you can think of a place that's easy to get lost at then that's where she would be." He told me and I knew that was all the help I was going to get. But something was better than nothing so I nodded at him and ran back down the front walk. I got back into my car and sped away from the house, the tires squealing against the pavement.
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Elena
I was alone. It gave me the freedom to cry my eyes out without an audience. I didn't want to talk to anyone, I ignored every call and text from Caroline knowing she was worried about me. Jeremy had called half a dozen times but I couldn't talk to him yet either. I didn't want anyone to help me down from this. I just wanted to wallow in my grief so when I went back to school tomorrow I could smile no matter how fake it would be. I slid down the trunk of the tree I was leaning against until I was sitting against it with my head between my knees. It was too much. The pain was too much. No I understood why some people just refused to fall in love. It was painful and overrated. You just ended up hurt. It was wonderful up until that point, but people eventually disappoint you. Even the ones that you think will always be there for you. I continued sobbing into my knees, I was sure that eventually my tears would have to stop. I wouldn't be able to cry forever, I had to run out of tears eventually. I knew the significance of the spot I had chosen to stop, it was one of the first places Damon and I had kissed. It was stupid to pick this spot, too many memories but I couldn't move any further. It was too hard and I was so hurt. I couldn't believe that he would cheat on me, I especially couldn't believe that he would cheat on me with Sophia of all people. Did he really hate me that much? Sophia is the one person on the planet that I legitimately hate and he had to choose her.
I heard a twig snap and I lifted my head to look around. I didn't know what was more unwelcome at the moment; a stranger stumbling across me or someone I know looking for me.
"Who's there?" I called, not sure whether or not I should just get up and leave before the person finds me. I didn't really feel like being spoken too or taken home.
"Don't leave please." Damon called to me and I sighed. I knew it was only a matter of time before he came to find me and start to spew excuses about what happened. But none of them would be the truth and I would want to believe him. But I couldn't because once a cheater always a cheater. He would never change and I had to steel myself against what I knew would be the hardest conversation of my life.
"I want to be alone Damon." I called back hoping he would just accept that and leave me alone. I didn't think that would happen but I hoped it would. As predicted he kept walking until I could see him. He looked completely destroyed like his entire life was being ripped out from underneath him. He had no right to feel that way. He wasn't the fool who thought he could change someone. I was.
"I can't let you be alone. I need to talk to you." He begged.
"No! No I know exactly what you're going to say and I don't want to hear it. I don't want you to defend what you did. There is no defence. I don't want you to apologize and tell me that I'm the one you love because it's not true. If it was you wouldn't have done what you did. I don't want anything from you besides you leaving me alone." I pleaded with him. I needed to be strong.
"Elena, you don't understand... you have to listen to me." He begged and my heard splintered a little more. I didn't think it was possible for the pieces to get any smaller but it continued to break.
"I can't listen to you. I know what happened, or at least I know enough. I just don't understand why Sophia of all people. You don't have picked someone less insulting to me?" I asked him.
"I didn't..." He started before I cut him off.
"No, I don't want to hear it. I just want you to leave me alone." I told him standing up and brushing the dirt off my jeans.
"You can't leave without hearing me out." He tried again and I shook my head sadly.
"I wish I could but I have to go. I can't look at you without breaking and right now I can't break anymore. I already broken beyond repair." I told him and I moved to walk by him but he grabbed his arm.
"Don't leave." He pleaded, his voice smaller than I had ever heard before.
"I don't have a choice." I said trying to walk by him again. This time he pulled me against him and kissed me. I stayed still under his lips, not doing anything until he finally finished.
"Please." He begged and I shook my head, numbing myself to the effect of his watery blue eyes. If he cried I would break again and I couldn't have that.
"Just please leave me alone. I can't see you anymore." I said pulling my arm free from his and running away before I broke down.
I made it to my car without breaking down and them from there I made it as far as my house before I couldn't keep it in any longer. The tears started falling and I couldn't stop them. Ugly sobs tore from my chest as I rested my head against the steering wheel. There was a knock on my window and I saw Jeremy out there. I opened my door and let him pull me from the car into the house. I immediately went up to my room and fell onto my bed sobbing.
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Damon
I sat in the woods for a while after Elena ran before I decided to go home. I couldn't see anyone, I just needed to get away from here. Normally if I had a problem I couldn't solve I would go to Klaus or someone, but I didn't want to see anyone. I just wanted to lock myself up in my room and not see anyone until Elena decided to forgive me. I didn't want to see a single person until Elena came back to me. I loved her more than anything. I cleared my throat and walked back to my car, I had been sort of hoping Elena had stayed, but her car was gone. I couldn't blame her, I just wished she'd let me explain. She needed to know the truth but I knew she would never accept it. I parked in front of my house and reluctantly went inside.
"I knew you would fuck it up. I knew you would" Stefan called from the family room when I walked in.
"Shut the fuck up Stefan I am not in the mood." I hissed. I didn't need him bragging about shit that didn't concern him. He would readily accept the worst of me, just because he was too selfish to see that Elena brought the good in me out. The good in me was the problem. If I hadn't been good last night I wouldn't be in this mess right now. Being good got you nowhere, but Elena liked it when I was good so that's what I would continue being.
"You broke her heart, but at least you two are over now. There's nothing stopping me from swooping in and being the hero." He said gleefully.
"I will literally kill you if you go near her. It's not over." I hissed.
"Damon it's a good thing. I know just what you need, a trip to Italy to get over this mild breakup. You'll feel so much better around all the art." My mother interjected and I had never wanted to scream so much in my life.
"I am not fucking going to Italy and I am not letting anyone get close to Elena. Not even my fucking brother." I yelled at them both.
"You burned that bridge brother." Stefan called after me and I fought the urge to throw him through a wall. I knew I would regret that later so I didn't do it. I just walked upstairs and slammed my bedroom door. I picked up a pillow and threw it as hard as I could against the wall. There was a knock on my door and I wanted to tell whoever it was to go away but I knew my family. They wouldn't go away so I knew I had just better get it over with. My door opened and my dad came through with a concerned expression on his face.
"Are you okay son?" He asked me and I shook my head not sure if I could get my mouth to work.
"Stefan told us you cheated on Elena, but judging by how you're reacting to everything I'd say that's not true. So what happened?" He asked me.
"I made the mistake of being nice to Sophia because she was having a bad day. We talked in the Grill and then I walked her out to her car. The girl who saw us decided we were leaving together and spread the rumour. Now Elena she broke up with me." I said my voice catching on the part where Elena ended things with me.
"Are you going to fight for her?" My dad asked me.
"There's nothing I can do. I've never seen her so broken before. I hurt her and I just know our relationship will continue to hurt her no matter how badly I want it not to. She deserves so much better than me." I told him trying to fight back the tears that I knew were coming. I was trying to act like a man and not cry but it was hard. I hadn't cried since I was about ten years old and I was trying really hard not to change that now.
"There's always something you can do." He told me and I shook my head.
"You didn't see her face." I said shaking my head.
"I know and I know it seems bleak right now but you'll work it out. If it's meant to be you'll work it out. You just need to give it time. She'll come around. I've seen how that girl looks at you, she'll decide she wants to hear your side of the story. Just you wait and see." He told me patting my back.
"I don't know. I think I finally lost her." I said shaking my head trying to force back my tears.
"I don't believe that. It's not over until it's over Damon. You just have to hope." He told me patting my back one more time before leaving the room. When he was gone I got up and flipped the lock not wanting any more visitors. I sat back down on my bed and for the first time since I was ten years old I let tears fall.