Wednesday morning came in the blink of an eye. Damon had been awake all night with the realization that he had no time left to put it off any longer. The dance was tonight and he would have to tell Stefan this morning. It was 6:30 AM and he knew Stefan would be getting ready for school. He rolled easily out of bed and stood in front of the mirror above his dresser for a few seconds. He hated the person he saw for the coward he had become; but he also hated that this would be the last time Stefan looked at him the way he always had. He walked over to his closet and went inside to grab a shirt before heading downstairs. On the back of the closet door hung the suit and mask that Elena had picked out for him during their secret shopping trip in the city on Sunday. He could feel its presence taunting him and he fought the urge to tear it down from the hanger and throw it out of his second-floor window. The suit represented the public outing of he and Elena's relationship, and as the days had ticked on since Friday night he was not only still skeptical but also even more miserable about the prospect of humiliation for he and Elena both.

He closed his eyes, rolled his head from side to side to stretch the stiffness out of his neck and started downstairs, pulling the T-shirt over his head as he walked. Stefan was in the kitchen sipping on a steaming cup of coffee. He looked up at Damon as he entered the kitchen. Damon forced a smile and walked to the fridge; he grabbed a carton of orange juice and took a few long swigs, playing over in his mind what he had wanted to say. He had rehearsed it several times throughout the night but now the right words would not find him.

"Are you still going to the dance tonight?" He began; maybe if Stefan had changed his mind about the dance he could delay the inevitable another day.

Stefan sighed dramatically, looking at Damon with a painful expression. "Yes. I'm graduating soon and it's my last high school dance. I can't really pass it up. I just hope she doesn't bring her new boyfriend," he shook his head and continued to sip his coffee.

Damon rolled his eyes behind Stefan's back thinking how that may have just been the worst answer he could have hoped for. "About that," Damon closed his eyes, still standing back to back with his brother. He could feel Stefan turning around and he hesitated a moment before turning to face him.

"What?" Stefan's eyes were wide and his lips were parted slightly, "Do you know who she's seeing? Have you seen him?"

Damon breathed in deeply through his nose and exhaled, doing his best to maintain expressionless. "Stefan, you need to understand something. Elena wasn't meant for you. She's moved on, and you need to move on too."

Stefan's shoulders relaxed as he took in his brother's words and he walked to the other side of the kitchen to get his car keys. "She may have moved on but I don't believe she's not meant for me. I'm telling you Damon; I know it sounds immature. I feel like she's the one for me and just like I told her the other day - I'm going to wait for her until she figures it out. I don't care how long it takes."

Damon felt like he had been punched in the gut. He felt his jaw dropping open and he closed it quickly, turning back to the fridge to avoid eye contact with Stefan. He opened the door to cover his face and pretended to be searching for something inside. There was absolutely no way he could tell Stefan now; he would have to tell Elena he couldn't go tonight.

Hell, maybe I should just break up with her altogether, he thought to himself. Maybe Stefan was right and she was meant for him; maybe he was just standing in their way. He could not deny the betrayal he felt that Elena had omitted the part about Stefan saying he would wait for her. He wondered how such a romantic notion had made Elena feel. Perhaps the reason she did not tell him that part was that she wanted Stefan to wait for in case things didn't work out with Damon; at least then she would still have someone else on the back-burner.

All of the anger, confusion, and jealousy he had begun to feel made his thoughts become unreasonably suspicious and he wanted to remove himself from the situation more than ever. He was angry with himself, with Elena, and now for some reason with Stefan. Why couldn't his brother just move on and let her go? If she was meant for Stefan that meant she obviously was not meant for him, and despite the fact that Stefan was his brother he hated the idea of anyone standing in the way of him getting what he wanted. He had not been this confused since the night that Elena confessed her feelings to him and he had begun to second-guess everything that had happened since then.

He waited until Stefan was out of the kitchen before retreating back into his room. There he went straight to his closet, yanked the suit off of it's hook and threw it into a metal wastebasket by his dresser. He fumbled around for a few minutes inside a junk drawer until he finally found a lighter. He stood above the trash can and flicked the switch, exposing the flame into the air. He stared at it for a few seconds contemplating his actions and depicting what all this represented. After a minute or two he finally released the lever to extinguish the flame and threw the lighter into the wall. He stepped backwards and collapsed onto his bed, running his fingers over his face and through his hair. It had been a long time since he had needed his medication to calm his thoughts but he feared now that it would be necessary to get through the day without getting into trouble.

He walked cautiously into his bathroom and stared at the medicine cabinet on the wall, approaching it as if it were a venomous snake. He opened it slowly; the pill bottles stared back at him as they always had, reminding him how weak-minded and out of control he truly was. As anger continued to boil inside of him he reached for a familiar bottle on the back of the shelf and shook several pills into his hand. He popped them into his mouth and splashed some water from the sink to his lips to wash them down. Afterwards he stared at the stranger in the mirror, already feeling different than the way he had when he had looked at himself earlier in the morning. He decided on one last momentary lapse in judgement and he reared his fist backwards then slammed it into into the glass before him. As the mirror shattered and fell into the sink he stared at what remained of his reflection. Blood had begun to drip down his knuckles; droplets decorated the shards of glass in the basin and for the first time in days he smiled honestly, content with himself and his actions once again.

...

I awoke very nervous on Wednesday morning. As the hours ticked on my nerves turned to excitement; but as soon as I saw Stefan in first period my excitement turned to guilt and I could barely even look at him. He looked a little more upset than normal but continued to smile at me when we made eye contact. Based on this reaction I knew that there was no way that Damon had told him about us and I was beginning to get angry. Did he expect to just waltz into the dance with me tonight and hope that Stefan would not make a scene? Then again, Damon did have a flare for the dramatic so maybe that was exactly what he had planned on doing.

I sent him a text message when I had not heard from him by lunchtime and by the time the dismissal bell rang at the end of the day I still had not received a response. My anger had succeeded in causing me to lose concentration in the majority of my classes throughout the day and I believed that I even failed a test during fourth period because of it. As I walked to my car I decided I did not care who heard my conversation; I dialed his number and waited very impatiently as the phone rang. After the fourth ring, just as I prepared myself to leave an angry message, he finally answered.

"Hello?" he sounded distant - either tired or drunk, and I was willing to bet which explanation was the culprit.

"Are you drunk?" I demanded, receiving a couple of strange looks from some sophomores as I stormed past them in the parking lot.

Damon was quiet for a few seconds. "No," he answered eventually and made no further comment.

"Why haven't you answered my texts all day? You didn't tell Stefan, did you?" I had so many questions I could barely wait for him to respond before spitting them all out.

"I've been busy," he sounded as if he was bothered by my call and for a second I wondered if I was overreacting.

I paused, waiting for him to answer my second question. When no answer came I assumed he had meant his response to be an explanation for both. I heard a female's giggling voice in the background followed immediately by the deeper voice of a male. "Where are you?" I asked nervously.

"I'm out, Elena. I'm allowed to go places without telling you, right?" I could hear the sarcastic undertone in his voice and there was no mistaking the intoxication in his slang.

"You're allowed to do whatever you want, Damon. You've made that perfectly clear," I closed my eyes and ran my hand over my forehead in contemplation. I could not believe this was happening right now; but then again, why was I even surprised?

"Glad we're on the same page," he laughed and I could hear the voices of the others in the background joining along with him.

"Damon, are you coming tonight?" I had a feeling I knew what his answer would be now but I needed to hear him say it.

"You just don't get it, do you? I'm a fucking mess, Elena. How can you still want me?" He was quieter now and the sarcasm was only remotely noticeable. The slur, however, was unmistakable.

"Maybe I'm a mess too," I whispered, hoping that maybe he wouldn't even hear my response. It was the truth; I was a total wreck, and it was all because I had suddenly realized that no matter what terrible things this man did in his past or how many different ways he tried to hurt me, I was falling in love with him and I was powerless to stop it.

"I gotta go," he said after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"Wait-" I could not let him hang up without answering my question. If he did not give me a definite response I knew that I would spend the entire night waiting for him, hoping he would show up but knowing deep down that I would be disappointed.

It was too late; the sound on the other end of the line stopped abruptly and I lowered the phone, staring at it as if I expected the screen to have all of the answers I so desperately craved. I looked around me at the students laughing, discussing break plans, and planning dance time lines - a subtle reminder that I was on a different planet emotionally from the man I loved. As I saw Caroline exit the school and spot me across the lot I quickly scrambled into my car and started the engine. I pulled out of my parking spot and rolled up to where Jeremy was standing on the curb by the road with some friends. I motioned for him to get in and we drove away. As I got closer to home a few silent tears escaped down my cheeks unnoticed and I could not wait to be in the privacy of my room - the only place where my secret relationship and all of its flaws could truly be exposed.

...

Damon awoke from a nightmare - the first dream he could remember having in at least five years. He jolted upright and looked around, studying his environment as he usually did upon awakening. He was in his room and it was dark outside. He had a pounding headache and his mind was spinning from the combination of mood-altering drugs and alcohol that he had consumed throughout the day. His thoughts shifted to panic mode as he fumbled around for his phone. He found it on the floor beside his night stand; he picked it up and checked the screen for any explanation of time or how he had ended up here. It was 7:00 and he had no messages or missed calls. He reached for his bedside lamp and illuminated the room. He saw the suit in the trash can by the dresser and stood up to approach it. The room spun slightly for a moment while he gained his bearings but he was eventually able to retrieve it from the wastebasket. He laid the suit out onto the bed and held the mask in his hand, turning it over and over in deep reflection.

After he had hung up with Elena earlier he pounded another drink and two more pills to try to wash away the empty feeling that had suddenly consumed him again. When it refused to go away he sought advice from the strangers he had met at the pub. Their drunken wisdom taught him that he had already known what he wanted to do; all he needed to do was grow some balls and do it. They cheered for him happily as he stumbled out of the bar to his car. After that things were blurry; he could not quite remember getting home and he certainly did not remember getting into his bed. Yet here he was, and as fate would have it the dance had only just begun - he might still have time to make things right.

He knew he would not have time for a shower so he cleaned up in Stefan's bathroom, remembering upon entering his own that his sink was not in working condition. After thirty minutes he was dressed and he stood in front of the full-length mirror in his bedroom, studying his reflection once again. He had certainly had better days; for this he was thankful for the dance theme and he added the mask as a finishing touch. Elena had been right, it really was the perfect disguise. Behind the mask he could be whoever he wanted to be for Elena. It was when the mask came off that the truth would be exposed, and although he knew it would not take Stefan long to connect the dots he would at least have a short time to talk to Elena before he would need to deal with his brother. He took one last look and grabbed his keys off of the floor, making a bee-line for his car before his thoughts had a chance to catch up with him.

...

"Would you quit being so depressing?" Caroline grabbed my shoulders and gave me a gentle shake, "Coming to a dance alone is not that big of a deal. I told you you can dance with Tyler whenever you want!"

I continued to stare at the door to the gymnasium and forced a smile. "I'm just not having the best day," I admitted, finally meeting her stare.

She poked out her bottom lip and pulled me in for a hug. As she pulled away she reached for my hand and twirled me around in a circle, causing me to smile uncontrollably despite how miserable I felt. "A woman this gorgeous should never be unhappy," she announced loudly.

Cheeks red and having gained the attention of several onlookers at this point I looked down to glance over my outfit. Damon had picked out a black sequin dress for me to wear; it was flowy and backless and my mother's necklace and earrings went flawlessly with it. The mask that I wore had a combination of black, white, and silver feathers and shimmering jewels. Caroline was right, and I vowed in that moment that I would not let Damon ruin my night. I grabbed her hand and spun her around as she had done to me, then we danced together for several minutes until Tyler finally stole her away.

Out of breath and still smiling from ear to ear, I walked to the refreshment table for a drink. I lifted my mask to my forehead and sipped on a glass of punch, instantly refreshed.

"I find it very difficult to believe that someone so striking should ever be left alone," a familiar voice whispered loudly over the music into my ear. I turned around and studied the man before me; a black suit with a skinny black necktie and a plain black mask. If it weren't for the white undershirt beneath the jacket I would have been convinced that this was Damon; but we had decided on an entirely black ensemble for the occasion for him on Sunday and I knew instantly that I was in Stefan's presence, not his brothers.

"Hey Stef," I felt instantly nostalgic at the sound of his voice and the way that his compliment made me feel. "You're dateless too?"

He laughed and his eyes shone brightly from behind the mask. "Did you forget what I told you about waiting?" He answered.

I wished that I still had the mask over my face to hide my embarrassment. After a few seconds a slow song began to play overhead and suddenly nothing seemed more appropriate to me than a familiar embrace. "Well, there's no sense in both of us standing here like wallflowers. Would you like to dance?" I lowered my mask over my eyes and held my hand out.

He smiled happily and took my hand without hesitation. "Easiest question I've been asked in a long time," he laced his fingers through mine and pulled me to the floor beside Caroline and Tyler. Caroline raised her mask to wink at me over Tyler's shoulder as he spun her around to face me and I shook my head at her, the smile never leaving my face. I looked up at Stefan for a brief moment as we danced, bent arm's length apart. He was staring down at me with the most content expression I had seen him possess in weeks. Unable to avoid returning the same look, I decided on pulling him closer so that I would not have to hide my contentment. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes to allow the moment to consume me. For the first time all night I forgot about how miserable I had been all day and I wondered how long this might last.

...

Damon stood in the doorway of the gymnasium and looked around. He recognized one slight problem with his current situation; every woman in the room was disguised and there were so many wearing black dresses. Fortunately it did not take him long at all to spot Elena on the opposite side of the room; unfortunately, however, was what he saw when he found her. She was wrapped tightly in another man's embrace, eyes closed and smile visible even from this distance. Of course he knew that the man behind the mask was his brother. Stefan's head was against the top of hers, his eyes closed as well and expression reflecting one who had found something he had been missing. Without considering the implications Damon slowly removed the mask from his face and let his hand drop to his side. He stared at the sight ahead of him and waited for the anger to consume him. Nothing came to the surface and all he felt was an empty, sinking feeling of nothingness. He continued to stare at the scene unfolding before him, watching as the song came to an end and the two slowly pulled away from one another.

Elena looked up at Stefan and he back down at her. Their smiles had disappeared and their arms remained entwined as another faster song amplified through the room. Couples around them broke apart and began dancing in much less intimate ways, but they continued to stare at one another for what felt to Damon like hours. He knew very well what was about to happen but he could not look away. Finally Stefan leaned down; Elena stayed precisely where she was but she did not move away when his lips touched hers.

Damon blinked as the reality of what was happening before him sunk in. He looked away quickly and down at the mask in his hand. He stared at it for a few seconds, unable to think of another move to make. Finally he decided there was nothing more to see and there was nothing he wanted to say to either Elena or Stefan. He dropped the mask and turned to walk away before it had even hit the ground. Still unsure of how he was able to remain so calm, he got into his car and drove away. As he pulled out of the school parking lot he looked at his eyes in the rear view mirror and spoke out loud to his reflection: "So this is love."