*peeks out from behind a rock*
Heyyyyyyyyy readers….long time no see.
There are no excuses. Truth is I just wasn't prioritizing this, and some days I even forgot about it. But then I get random reviews or follows and I feel guilty and I remember my love for this story. For these characters.
So here I am and here is a promise: I will finish this story. I sat down and planned out the rest of the chapters, 17 to be exact. So this is the first of many to come.
There are only two quotes in this chapter, find both to get the next chapter early!Hope you're still with me, love to you if you are.
Atheris xo
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EPOV
A month after she said yes to Damon, summer was in full swing and Elena was upstairs with her "girls" finishing her look for the evening. Tonight is my engagement party. I am getting married…I am marrying Damon Salvatore…she thought to herself as the makeup artist was finishing her makeup.
"Miss, I'm sorry but I need you to keep your face neutral for me. I don't want any creases on your face," the makeup artist said kindly.
"Yeah Len, what are you thinking so hard about anyways? It's your engagement party!" Caroline shouted from where another employee was putting the finishing touches on her hair.
"I'm just in awe… I still can't believe this!"
The girls all rolled their eyes at one another and laughed at her.
"The 'getting married' part, or the Damon part?" Aunt Jenna asked knowingly.
"Both!" Elena exclaimed exasperatedly. The girls laughed again.
"Come on, you must be used to it by now! Its been months. That boy worships the ground you walk on. I've never seen him so whipped in his life!" Anna stated dramatically.
"And plus, he told you a million times that he wants to spend forever with you. So obviously you knew marriage was coming at soooommmme point!" Bonnie adds.
"I guess….I guess I just feel so lucky everyday, that sometimes its as though I'm not the one living my life. I feel like I'm hovering above it all, watching this incredibly lucky girl meet the man of her dreams. Hell! Of everyone's dreams, and fall in love. Watching him somehow love her back. Watching her get a million times more than she ever thought she would get, or thought she deserved. Then all of a sudden it hits me like a freight train. BAM! That girl is me. This is real. I dunno…does that make any sense?" She asks her friends, suddenly shy at revealing so much. I must sound like an idiot…she thinks.
"Not at all Len. Actually, your mother described being with your father that way. She didn't get the added bonus of the fame and fortune of course," Jenna waggles her eyebrows before continuing, "but she felt the same out of body happiness. The same disbelief that someone could love her so much. The same shock day in and day out, over the fact that she would get this happily ever after. I remember her describing it almost the same," Jenna finishes.
Elena sniffles a little, trying not to cry and ruin all the makeup artist's hard work.
"I wish she was here. I wish she could meet Damon, and all of the new people who add to my happiness," Elena says softly, looking at Anna in particular.
They all nod in understanding, and rise to come and envelope her in a group hug.
Bonnie pulls away to look her in the eyes, "she would want you to be happy Elena. And she is here, just not in the way you hopped. We are all here, all of the people who love you and Damon, and who want to celebrate you both. So stop your crying and let's get out of here! The driver will be here in five!"
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DPOV
Damon arrived at the NoMad Hotel Rooftop at 8pm sharp. He wasn't surprised to find out his fiancée had not arrived yet, he knew the girls always ran late.
He looked at each of the guys that now made up his "entourage" and he couldn't be happier that he had changed his ways, and began to surround himself with people who actually care about him. Stefan, Alaric, Jeremy, and of course his father, looked around the space as they walked in. Stefan had really turned around the past 10 months, and had admitted he acted out of pure fear. He had even gone to therapy and they got regular reports about his progress. He had not only patched up his relationship with Damon, he had also jumped through hoops to win Elena over. He had yet to completely accomplish this second task, but she was cordial with him at least.
Damon looked around the venue admiringly. He had to admit it was decorated wonderfully, and the security team had done an excellent job of keeping out party crashers. There were few media granted access, so it was a not the zoo he had come to expect at many of his functions. It was perfect…or at least it would be when Elena arrived. He could see Jeremy and Alaric checking their phones obsessively, and smiled to himself knowing they were waiting on their women as well. Just as he was about to make a joke about their womanly obsessions, the crowd parted and he saw her.
She literally sucked the oxygen out of the room she was so damn beautiful. She wasn't dressed overly fancy as the event didn't call for it, and yet she was the most downright stunning woman he had ever laid eyes upon. He watched a blush grace her beautiful cheeks as she walked towards him smiling softly.
She was wearing a top and shorts set done in what he would call "modern tye dye". Splash of cobalt blue, soft pink, and gold swam around her enticingly. There was a tantalizing strip of her toned stomach showing between the two pieces, and the short hit her mid thigh. Her amazing legs somehow looked even longer tonight, as thought they stretched for miles. She walked towards him gracefully on her matching pink heels, holding a gold clutch. Her hair was done up in an intricate fishtail braid that was swept to the side, and her eyes were pools of molten honey hidden amongst the smokey eyed make-up. All in all she was radiant, and he truly didn't know what he had done to deserve her.
"Good evening Mr. Salvatore," she said teasingly as she eyed him up and down. He was wearing dark charcoal dress pants, a black jacket and a white dress shirt. He had left the top three buttons undone and wore no tie. He knew he looked good, and by the twinkle in her eyes, so knew it as well.
"Good evening future Mrs. Salvatore," he said as he took her arm.
"Still a liiiiittle weird to think about," Elena said as she laughed softly. God he loved her laugh.
"Weird good I hope?" He asked with a mock pout.
"Weird, great," she clarified as they stepped further into the party.
He turn towards her to ask her about a drink, but he saw her brow furrow and followed her gaze to where he could see Stefan approaching with a seductively dressed woman on his arm. Her dress was a black lace spaghetti strap number, that left little to the imagination. After all, she wore nothing under the see through lace aside from a black bra and full bottomed (he hoped) panties. She had extremely high gold heels on, and red lips to boot. All in all, Damon thought she looked like she was trying way too hard.
She is probably another one of his one-night stands…why would he bring her to such an important event? Damon thought to himself as the duo approached.
"Damon, Elena, there you are!" Stefan exclaimed rather exuberantly. "I wanted to introduce you to my girlfriend Katherine. Katherine, this is my brother Damon and his wonderful fiancé Elena," Stefan said proudly.
Damon and Elena raised their eyebrows at one another questioningly, but managed to hold it together and politely greet the newcomer.
"Its lovely to meet you. I'm sorry you took us by surprise, Stefan hadn't mentioned he was seeing anyone," Elena stated obviously.
"Ah well, that's my fault I'm afraid," Katherine said after shaking both of their hands. "I saw everything you went through at first, and I didn't know if I could handle it all. So I asked Stef if we could take it real slow to be sure I wanted to actual be in a real relationship," she said sweetly looking at the man in question.
"Well errr…I'm glad for "Stef's" sake, you decided to give him a chance," Damon said awkwardly.
"Well brother, now that we are acquainted should we grab our beautiful women some drinks?" Stefan asked clapping Damon around the shoulder and steering him away.
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EPOV
The two brunettes were left to make awkward chit chat.
"Uh…how did you two meet?" Elena asked politely.
"At a Bon Jovi concert actually. I was there for work at the time, and Stefan had treated his friend for a birthday. I would ask the same, but of course everyone in the world knows how you two met," Katherine said knowingly.
"Yes I suppose they might. What do you do for work Katherine"
"Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that…" she trailed off, providing no real answer.
Elena looked towards the bar to see the guys laughing boisterously with Alaric about something. She knew it would be a while before they returned with drinks.
"Excuse me, I'm going to visit the ladies room," Elena said hoping to excuse herself from the unpleasantly forced conversation with the other woman.
Much to Elena's disappointment, Katherine decided to join her.
The two girls went into the elaborate bathroom together silently. Elena walked quickly passed the couches and into the nearest stall. When she flushed, she almost immediately heard Katherine's flush follow. The two of them exited the stalls together and began to wash up. As Elena dried her hands and then checked her makeup, she could feel Katherine watching her. She met her eyes in the mirror, and quirked an eyebrow as if to say, "What?".
"I give it 6 more months. Tops."
"Give what 6 months?" Elena asked curiously.
"Your relationship with Damon. Marriage or no marriage, I give it 6 months." Katherine said with a smirk.
Elena was flabbergasted at her audacity. "How dare you! You don't even know us!" she said angrily.
"Oh come on. Don't you think he is going to realize that you aren't good enough for him? That you really are just some crazed fan girl? That he can do a million times better?" She asked snidely.
"Damon loves me," Elena said half-heartedly. Katherine was getting to her as much as she hated to admit it. She was preying on fears Elena already had.
"Oh please. Love? Love is a sham. I've been in love. It's painful, pointless, and overrated. One day soon he is going to wake up and realize that too. Realize he is not satisfied with the boring small town girl, and he never will be."
Elena turned to storm out of the bathroom and away from the wretched woman in front of her.
"It's not too late for you to end it yourself Elena. I will always look out for myself, if you're smart you'll do the same," Katherine called after her as the door swung closed.
Elena was once again enveloped by the atmosphere and noise of the party. Her party, she thought angrily. I am not going to let some lying, gold digging….BITCH, ruin my engagement party. I will tell Damon and Stefan about her after tonight is over, Elena decided.
The rest of the night passed blissfully for Elena. The food was wonderful, the drinks were strong. Damon looked at her like she was everything. Jeremy and Anna were sickeningly happy, as were Jenna and Alaric. Elena tried to steer clear of the brutal beauty that was attached to Stefan's arm the whole night, and succeeded. The more she drank and the more she danced, the less real her conversation with Katherine even seemed, until she had almost completely put it out of her mind.
As Elena crawled into bed that night she was so tired and tipsy she didn't notice the shadow watching her from within the darkened master bathroom. She didn't hear as that shadow tip toed quietly from her room and proceeded down the hall, click clacking her gold stilettos the entire way.
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Well there is folks, chapter 29.
I am a couple chapters ahead writing wise, so I should be releasing another soon after editing.
If you wanted to see their outfits, they are all real. Just search "Nina Dobrev 2014 TCA's" to see Elena's (its sooo cute!) Search "Ian Somerhalder Beyond Hunger Gala" to see his. And for Katherine's dress search "Lea Michele Glee 100th Episode Celebration". Also, NoMad Hotel Rooftop is a real place in Manhattan, and it is beautiful.
Also for those of you that asked, Elena and Katherine are not identical in this fic. Katherine is just another brunette, no resemblance. I should have clarified that earlier.
Reviews please, they are my fuel!
Atheris xo
