Crying Lightning

Disclaimer: I don't anything or anyone from the vampire diaries.

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone had a great day and didn't eat too much turkey like I did :) here's my gift to you all, hope you like it!

"Mmm, stop it," I mumble against Damon's lips as he presses his mouth against mine in another searing kiss "We're going to be late…"

Damon pins his body further against mine, pinning my entire body against my locker as the second bell rings signalling the start of class. I cling onto his sweater tightly as he pulls away and starts pressing open mouthed kisses down my neck. "It's only health class, we're healthy enough." He mumbles against my neck and I giggle at the sensation and wrap one of my hands in his hair and bring his head back up to mine and kiss him.

He's right. We're healthy. So, so healthy.

I run my hand down Damon's back and grab onto his ass causing him to groan against my lips, a hand running up my side.

"Um shouldn't you two be in class!" I push Damon off me at the familiar voice and turn my head to the side guiltily to find an unimpressed looking Alaric standing a few feet away across the hall.

"Sorry, Ric." I mumble awkwardly and watch as Damon huffs in frustration and takes a step back.

I watch as Alaric rolls his eyes slightly and walks towards us "You're lucky it was me who found you, you both could get in trouble for public displays like that!"

I feel my cheeks burning red with embarrassment and look at Damon who barely seems fazed; he just seems annoyed to be interrupted.

"Well don't just stand there! Get to class!" Alaric urges us and I send him another apologetic glance before grabbing my bag from the floor. "You too, Damon!"

"Of course, Mr Saltzman." Damon rolls his eyes but there is a linger of a smile on his lips and he grabs my hand and pulls me along the corridor. We turn the corner and I'm about to walk towards our classroom but Damon keeps on walking, his hand gripping mine tightly and pulling me along with him.

"Damon what-"

"Like I said before, Elena." He turns his head to face me and smiles cheekily "I think we're healthy enough." He pushes open the janitor's closet and pulls me inside, locking the door behind us.

"You can't be serious?" I ask in astonishment.

"Why not?" he smirks at me before reaching his arms out and grabbing my hips, pulling me against him.

"Um we could get caught…and then suspended!" I point out but gasp as he starts to press kisses against my neck, his teeth grazing against it slightly causing me to shiver. "Damon." I close my eyes, willing him to stop but knowing I don't actually want him too. "Urgh, fine!" I give in and push his head away from mine and grab the end of his sweater and pull it over his head revealing his bare chest. "But if we get caught, I'm blaming it all on you!" I warn him before crashing my lips against his.

"Elena!" I turn around in the hallway just in time to see Caroline and Bonnie walking quickly towards me. "There you are, you've been AWOL all day!"

"Sorry," I try to hide my smirk when I remember the reasons I have skipped my full morning of classes. After our experiment in the janitors closet, Damon insisted we broaden our horizons and see where else can do it without getting caught. Of course that led to us finding an empty classroom, the weights room in the gym and the showers in the girl's locker room. To say I have had a productive morning would be an understatement but it's all part of the fun and danger of dating Damon Salvatore and I love it almost as much as I love him.

"I had lots of homework to catch up on…" the lie rolls off my tongue far too easily.

"We've barely seen you these past couple of weeks," Bonnie frowns slightly "We miss you."

"Yeah, especially since you quit the cheerleading squad!" Caroline huffs and I cringe slightly. A couple of weeks ago I finally decided to just bite the bullet and quit the squad once and for all, I explained to Caroline that I just wasn't enjoying it anymore and that it wasn't for me. She was upset, of course, but she got over it, or at least I thought she did. "We barely see you anymore, Elena! You're always with Damon!"

"He's my boyfriend," I defend myself immediately "Of course I'm going to spend most of my time with him."

"Well when you were dating Stefan you still found time for us," Caroline tells me in annoyance and I don't know how to explain that when I was Stefan there wasn't a physical push inside of me to want to spend every waking moment with him like there is with Damon.

"Look I'm sorry, I've been busy but I promise we can hang out sometime this week, or the weekend?" I offer up but I can tell she's not happy.

"She's in her honeymoon period," Bonnie tries to act reasonable and I'm grateful. "I understand, Elena." She offers me a smile and I return it. "But I still miss you."

I start to feel guilty because they do have a point. For the past few weeks since Damon and I got together, publicly, I have barely spent any time with my friends. Most nights after school Damon and I usually hang out all night and then we spend the weekend together too. We have been living in our own little bubble recently and as much as I don't want to leave it, reality is calling.

"Ok, why don't we all go to my parent's lake house this weekend?" I suggest and I watch as Caroline's eyes light up with excitement. "It'll be great for everyone to hang out all together again plus it will give you both a chance to get to know Damon."

I watch as the smile falls from Caroline's face. "Seriously Elena? You're going to invite Damon?" she asks me in disbelief.

"He's my boyfriend, Care, he's a big part of my life and I love him. The sooner you get used to that the better, I know you don't like him but that's because you don't know him. Do you think it makes me happy to know that you guys don't like him? It doesn't."

Caroline goes to argue but Bonnie places her hand on her arm to stop her and turns to face me with a smile. "Well I think it's a good idea, Elena." She tells me with a nod. "You're right; we haven't really given Damon a fair chance."

"Thank you." I reply gratefully.

"Who else are we inviting?" Caroline asks and I'm just thankful she's dropped the whole Damon thing for now.

I shrug. "Matt? I'll ask Jeremy too and he can bring Anna."

"What about Stefan?" Caroline questions and I cringe slightly. "Oh come on, Elena! He wants to be your friend; don't you think you've hurt him enough by dating his brother? Imagine how he's going to feel if you've invited the entire gang on this trip except for him? He hasn't done anything wrong here."

I guess she has a point. "Fine," I sigh giving in "You can invite Stefan." I tell her reluctantly, knowing that Damon will not be happy about this. "But will you promise to make an effort to get to know Damon?"

I watch as Caroline huffs a little before reluctantly giving in. "Fine, I promise to not be so judgmental towards him."

"Thank you!"

"Great," Bonnie grins "So do you want to go and get lunch?" she asks and I immediately cringe. "Ah, you have plans with Damon?"

"Sorry, I promised to look over college applications with him and Mr Saltzman." I tell them apologetically "But I'll see you in Math later? We can discuss the weekend." I tell her before quickly saying my goodbyes and leaving.

"Hey, there you are," I smile at Elena when she rushes into Alaric's classroom. I stand up and walk towards her, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her against me to kiss her. "Mm, where you been?"

"Sorry," she leans up and kisses me quickly again "Got caught up with Bonnie and Caroline." She looks around while pulling out of my grasp to put her bag down on a desk. "Where's Ric?"

"Bathroom break, coffee break, whatever he said..." I explain, watching as she pulls out some college brochures from her bag and I immediately frown. "Do we really have to do this?"

"You promised, Damon." She tells me pointedly and I groan and look at her with a pout.

"But I can think of so much more better things we can be doing than this…" I reach out to grab her hips but she swats my hands away and shakes her head.

"Nah uh, don't even bother trying, Salvatore! We're doing this whether you like it or not, you promised."

"Fine," I huff just as the door opens and Ric walks in with a mug of steaming coffee in his hands.

"He still moaning?" he asks Elena with a smirk and I roll my eyes before sitting down "Ah come on, Damon, I promise this won't be anything painful, we're just going to look into some colleges and discuss your options, that sorta thing." He explains while leaning against his desk, Elena pulling up a chair next to me and placing the booklets, brochures and pamphlets on the table in front of me. "Is there anywhere in particular you've thought about going?"

I shrug with a frown because I have never really thought that much into college.

"Ok…" Alaric tries again "Do you want to stay in the state?"

I glance at Elena who is looking at me expectantly "I uh, I don't know." I mumble out awkwardly, starting to feel really out of my depth here.

"Hey it's ok," she reaches out and runs her hand along my arm. "You don't have to make a solid decision anytime soon, just throw some ideas about."

"Ok…" I muse to myself for a moment. "I've always enjoyed New York."

"New York huh?" Alaric nods his head thoughtfully "You thought about applying to NYU? I think if you work hard for the remaining of the year, improve your attendance and make sure there are no more…setbacks," he tells be purposefully "Then it could be possible."

I glance at Elena again nervously who is smiling encouragingly "I mean that's just one place, right? There's California? I wouldn't complain about the weather there, and the beaches." I think about it "But then I could always just stay here in Virginia."

I look at Elena again, trying to work out which option she would prefer and then I realize like the idiot that I am that I haven't even asked where she is thinking of applying too. Because honestly, if she'd let me, I'd go wherever she goes.

"Where are you going to apply too?"

"I'm thinking of applying to Columbia, Emory, and maybe Hollins if I want to stay in the state. I've looked at some more but I would prefer to stay on the east coast. Columbia is my first choice though, if I can get in." She admits honestly and I nod my head before turning back to Ric.

"You really think I could get into NYU?" I ask seriously.

"I don't see why not, Damon." He sounds sincere "You're a smart kid, your test scores are great, it's just your performance in day to day classes that let you down. Oh, and your behavior of course, but that has improved."

"But would they really accept someone who has to retake their entire senior year?" I ask skeptically.

"If they know the circumstances of why you did, then yes, I'm sure they'd be reasonable. Plus, I would write you one hell of a reference." He grins and I let out a dry laugh.

We are interrupted by the ringtone of his cell and he quickly excuses himself from the room and I turn to look at Elena who is smiling widely.

"You want to go to NYU?" she asks excitedly and I shrug casually.

"Maybe?"

She almost squeals with excitement and it makes me laugh and I have to wonder yet again what I did to end up with such an amazing and stunning person like Elena.

"If you go to NYU, I could go to Columbia! We will be living in the same city!" My smile widens at her words and she wraps her arms around my neck and leans forward to kiss me. "Oh my god, this is so exciting!"

I chuckle and run my hand through her hair "I need to get in first…" I try to calm her down because I really don't want to get her hopes up.

"You'll get in! I'll make sure of it! Besides, you heard Ric; he's going to write you a kick ass reference! All you need to do is study really hard for our finals and get the scores I know you can get and you'll get in."

"Why are you so confident that I can do this?" I ask her seriously.

"Because, Damon, I know you." She tells me firmly with a sweet smile on her face "I believe in you and I know you can do this!" she places her hands on each side of my face before pressing a slow kiss against my lips.

I reluctantly pull away when I hear the door open and look up to see Alaric walk back in, a smirk on his face when he realizes he just interrupted us. "Oh hey, don't mind me! It's only my classroom!"

I roll my eyes and lean back against my chair, Elena doing the same and I pick up one of the many brochures Elena brought with her. "Now I just need to decide what to major in then." I muse as Elena's words echo around my head.

If it means both Elena and I being together in New York in September, then I will do everything I can to get there.

I walk into The Grill with my hand wrapped tightly in Damon's, noticing that it's pretty busy and this probably wasn't the best place to bring him to break the news about the lake house trip at the weekend. I figured I best tell him today before he hears it from someone else, and I just know how much satisfaction Stefan would probably get from mentioning it to Damon and finding out he doesn't even know.

"Go find us a table I'll go get us some drinks," Damon mumbles into my ear but I immediately shake my head.

"No, no, tonight is on me." I tell him with a smile and watch him look down confused "What?" I ask innocently "I can't treat my boyfriend to dinner?"

"Fine, fine," he holds his hands up in defense with a smile before kissing my forehead and wondering off to find a table.

I go to walk towards the bar to get us some drinks but I Matt steps in front of me. "Hey, don't worry about that I'll get drinks for you." He offers kindly.

"Oh, thanks Matt." I smile gratefully. "Busy tonight, huh?"

"Yeah, always like this around this time of day though." He shrugs before continuing "Caroline mentioned the lake house this weekend? I spoke to my boss and I've got the weekend off so I'm up for it!"

"Brilliant," I smile and glance back at Damon who is sat flipping through the menu "Do you know if Stefan…?"

"He said he'll think about it," Matt smiles sympathetically at me. "Caroline is pushing him to come though."

I sigh and roll my eyes "I thought as much."

"What does Damon think about it?"

"He kind of doesn't know about it yet…" I trail awkwardly "I'm going to break it to him now."

"Ahh, I see." Matt smiles "Well, I best let you get on with it then, I'll be over in a minute with some drinks."

"Thanks," I wave a little before turning around and walking to the booth, sliding in next to Damon who immediately wraps his arm around me. "Matt is coming to bring our drinks over," I explain and he nods his head before looking back at the menu, moving it along so I can share it with him, the thought of just reaching over and picking up another one to look at for myself never even entering our minds.

Matt soon comes over with our drinks and we order our main course before we start talking about random things and I realize that I'm letting myself get distracted.

Maybe I should tell him after we eat?

"Elena!"

I turn my head in my seat to see Caroline walking towards us with Stefan trailing slowly behind looking unhappy. Great.

I glance back at Damon nervously, because if Caroline breaks the news about Stefan coming right now, he is not going to be happy with me.

Why is her timing always so freakin awful?

"Can we join you? It's too busy in here and we can't find a table." She says without really asking as she slides into the booth anyway, a reluctant Stefan following.

"Actually we're kind of in the middle of something…" I trail hesitantly but I'm surprised when it's Damon who speaks up.

"No it's ok, join us." he forces a smile.

"Thanks," Caroline eyes him for a second before turning her attention back on me and I try my hardest to communicate with her through my eyes but she doesn't seem to be getting it.

"How's it going, brother?" Damon starts up conversation and looks at Stefan who leans his elbow on the table and sends a fake smile back.

"Oh you know, perfect." He hits back with a cold tone despite the smile on his face.

"Fantastic."

Caroline starts talking to Stefan about what they should order and I turn to look at my boyfriend in annoyance.

"What?" he whispers at me innocently "I thought you'd be happy I was making an effort?"

"I am," I whisper back "Just not tonight…"

"Why not?" he asks confused and I shrug and turn my head away to watch as Stefan waves Matt over to come and take their orders and he tells us he will inform the kitchen to make sure that all our orders will come at the same time.

Great.

"So, we need to plan out the weekend!" Caroline begins loudly and I immediately groan.

"Not now Care…" I raise my eyebrows at her but she's just not getting it.

"Why not? We need to organize Whose cars are we taking? Stefan said he will take his." I guess that answers the 'is he coming?' question. "Are we going on the Friday after school or Saturday morning? Also someone needs to get alcohol! And enough to last us the whole weekend."

"What's happening this weekend?" Damon asks confused and I immediately cringe.

"The lake house?" Caroline looks at him as if he's stupid and he turns to face me expectantly.

"I was going to tell you…" I trail awkwardly and watch as a frown crosses on his face. "I was planning on mentioning it after dinner."

"Tell me what?"

"We're going to Elena's lake house this weekend." Stefan interrupts and I turn to glare at him, getting even more pissed off by the smirk on his face. "She didn't mention it? The whole gang is going, just like old times. We used to go there all the time back when Elena and I were dating, it was kinda our place." He sneers and I groan because this is not turning out how I wanted it too and Stefan is just making things ten times worse!

Damon turns back to look at me expectantly and I immediately place my hand on his knee. "It was Caroline's idea; we thought it would be a chance for you to get to know everyone…"

"Oh so I was invited then?"

"Of course you were!"

I hear Stefan chuckle from across the table and I turn around to glare at him. "Will you stop it?!"

"What?" he asks innocently "I'm just amused that you seemed to have asked your ex-boyfriend to come before asking your current one." He shrugs. "Good to know you two know how to communicate but hey I can't blame you, I know that house has a lot of great memories between us." He looks back over at Damon. "It was there where she first told me she loved me, it was very romantic."

"Why do you have to be such an ass?" I hiss at him angrily.

"Oh maybe it has something to do with the fact you dumped me for my brother!" He hits back, his voice cold and bitter.

"Ok can we please not do this? I hate it when you two fight!" Caroline interrupts with a pout.

"We're going to fight, Caroline! We're broken up!"

"Don't take this out on me, Elena! I'm just trying to help!"

"No, you're trying to interfere!"

"Well someone needs to point out all the crappy decisions you have been making lately!"

"Here, here!"

"Shut up Stefan!"

"What? I'm sorry that I agree with Caroline. Sue me!"

"Why can't you both just back the hell off?! I'm happy! I've moved on!"

"Yeah, to Damon Salvatore!" Caroline sounds disgusted.

"Ok, I have two cheeseburgers, one with chili fries, and one without pickles…" Matt places down two plates on the table and we all snap our heads towards him quickly.

"Not now Matt!" Both Caroline and I snap at him at the same time and I watch as Matt realizes he's interrupted something and immediately goes to take a step back.

"No you know what," Damon speaks up for the first time in a little while and I hear the annoyance in his voice, "Now is perfect, Matt. But Stefan can have my meal, I'm suddenly not hungry. Let me out, Elena."

"What?" I ask shocked and turn my head to face him. "No." I shake my head with a frown. Is he seriously going to bail on me and leave me with these two? I know he's mad but if he'd just let me explain!

"Elena," he pushes me along the booth a little as he tries to get out but I don't move. "Let me out. I'm done with this teen drama."

"Damon!"

"That's my brother, always running away when there's a problem!" Stefan throws in a snide remark.

"One more word from you, Stef, and I'll make sure you don't play football for a month!" Damon snaps at him furiously before turning to look back at me. "Elena, let me out. Now."

"Fine," I huff and reluctantly slide out of the booth and onto my feet. I watch as Damon slides out right beside me and instead of storming away alone like I thought he would, he grabs a hold of my hand tightly and pulls me away from everyone and else, towards the exit.

"Damon what are you doing?!" I ask confused and try to pull my hand out of his grasp but he doesn't let go until we are outside. "Damon!"

He lets go of my hand and breathes out into the fresh air before turning around to face me "If I stayed in there for one more second I was literally going to bang their heads together!"

I can't help but smile at the thought because they deserve it. "I thought you were going to leave me with them." I tell him honestly and watch as he lets out a dry laugh.

"Not gonna lie, the thought crossed my mind."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you! I was going too, I swear that I was but then they joined us and well, you know what happened after that."

"I know, Elena." Damon smiles softly at me and reaches out for my hand and pulls me closer to him. "I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?" I ask surprised.

"Nope, I just wished I had a heads up that's all." He shrugs "It's not nice to be reminded that you were with Stefan first…but we can't rewrite the past, and I can't be mad at you for something that's already happened. So you dated my brother…I'm sure there have been weirder situations that have happened in people's lives." He offers.

"What he said about the lake house being our place? It's not true." I watch as Damon turns his head away but I immediately wrap my hands on his cheeks and pull him back to face me. "Sure, I may have told him I loved him there, and we went a lot of times when we were dating but everyone else came with us too, and besides, I know now that I was never in love with Stefan. The lake house has so many more memories there than my ones with him, trust me! And I can't wait to make loads more with you." I stand up on my tip toes to kiss him softly and I'm relieved that he returns it. "I am so in love with you Damon, I can't even function properly when we're apart." I move my hands through his hair. "You'll come, right?"

I watch nervously and hold my breath as he lets out a loud sigh before slowly nodding his head. "You know that I will, Elena."

I smile and kiss him again before falling back onto my feet, thankful when he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me in for a hug.

"I love you," he mumbles into my hair and I close my eyes feeling relieved and cling onto him tightly, content with being wrapped in his arms as he holds me tightly against him like I'm the most precious thing in the world.

I can't wait to make real memories with Damon, at the lake house and so many more places.

And unlike with Stefan, I hope these memories won't end and that we keep on making new ones and more new ones for the rest of our lives.

I don't care how young we are, and how we haven't even been dating that long, when you know you want to be with someone for the rest of your life, you just know.

Hope you liked it! The next chapter will be them at the Lake House, some things coming up there...

Thanks for everyone who reviewed the last chapter, very much appreciated and I always look forward to reading them and seeing what you all have to say!

Oh and a quick question, would you prefer it if I started writing whose POV it is before each section or just keep it the way it is? I try to make it obvious whether it's from Damon or Elena but sometimes I do wonder if it can get confusing and if I should put a quick POV alert beforehand? Let me know please! :)

Until next time, and Merry Christmas! :)