Damon clutches her shoulders, urging her to look at him. "What's wrong?"
"We can't do this anymore, I...I," she shakes her head, pulls out of his grip and runs away from him.
Brick by brick, her walls came tumbling down. As she puts more distance between herself and Damon, the tears in her eyes turn into a whirlwind of grays and yellows. She slams through the front door of the mansion and runs across the neatly manicured gardens to where her car is parked.
Having been looking for her, Vincent catches a fleeting glimpse of her wiping her eyes. He goes after her but she's already exiting into the flow of traffic when he reaches the parking area.
"What is it Vincent?" Bonnie and Caroline catch up to him.
"I saw Elena running out of here as if Satan himself was chasing her."
"I wonder what happened?" Caroline looks at the two of them.
"Damon?" Vincent says matter-of-factly.
"Did you say something to him?" Bonnie forces him to look at her.
"I told him to take a beat from her. I'm not blind. He's only 17, she's lonely and vulnerable...I won't allow him to take advantage of her."
"You accused him of taking advantage of her?" Caroline steps next to him now, her eyes blazing.
"No, I did not. I simply told him that he needs to stand back. Now if you'll give Bonnie a ride home, I'm going to go after Elena."
"I'm going with you," Caroline demands.
"No, I want to talk to her alone. If you want to drop by later, that's your business," he raises his chin at her, then walks away from the women...
Elena's eyes are red, puffy and her vision is blurry by the time she turns into her driveway. As soon as she's inside, the sobs punch through again, ripping through her muscles, bones, and insides. As she drops to the one of the kitchen chairs, she presses her forehead into her hands. Her heart yanks in and out of her chest like a yo-yo.
"Elena," the door slams open. Vincent appears and pulls her into his arms for a hug then lets her go to make a pot of coffee.
"What are you doing here?" she sniffles, and attempts to regain her composure.
"I saw you leave in tears. Did Damon do something?" he looks over his shoulder as he fills the carafe with water.
"Why is Damon the first thing out of your mouth?" she glowers at him.
"I told him he needs to take a beat. I won't allow him to take advantage of you."
"You did not!" Angry now, she snaps at him. "If anyone took advantage it was me. You owe him an apology."
"What would Aaron think of his wife starting a relationship with a boy?" he aims the dagger right for her heart.
"That's a low blow, Vincent!" she dabs the corners of her eyes. "I believe that Aaron would want me to be happy. And you should know I told Damon that we had to stop. I'm going to make arrangements to spend a little time with Jeremy and Anna."
"I think that'll be good for you," he takes a step towards her.
She raises her palm to stop him. "I will let you know when I'm leaving so you can watch the farm if you'd be so kind."
"Of course," he takes another step forward and she takes one back.
"I love you, Vincent, you're my family but right now I don't want to look at you so if you'd please leave..."
"If that's what you want?"
"Yes," she nods.
Vincent takes a deep shuddering breath, and after kissing her forehead he leaves without saying another word.
Walking around the mansion's gardens, Damon's shoulders are slumped and his eyes downcast when Enzo catches up with him.
"What's going on?"
"Do you have any weed, anything to drink?"
"Yeah, what happened?" he looks at Damon while he looks at the property, wondering if Elena is still around.
He kicks a rock along the sidewalk and it clinks against one of the planters.
"I don't want to talk about it. Let's get drunk."
"Sure, my car is over there," the two guys leave the festival for a party of their own.
Damon is pretty docile by the time Enzo reaches the Salvatore home. He grimaces, hoping that Giuseppe and Lillian are asleep so he doesn't have to explain why their son is shit-faced drunk.
Enzo scrambles out of his car and lugs him up the front steps to his house; he fishes the keys out his jeans pocket and unlocks the door. They make their way clumsily upstairs and into his room.
Damon collapses onto the bed with an exhausted sigh and begins to doze almost immediately.
"Hold on, at least take off your shoes and..." Enzo sits beside him and tries to pull his jacket off. Damon groans reluctantly and forces himself into a sitting position.
"If you wanted to see me naked all you have to do is ask," he speaks with a garbled tone and a stupid grin.
"You're not my type," Enzo rolls his eyes.
Damon flashes him one of those signature half-smirks.
"You're drunk." Enzo dismisses him and reaches down to undo his boots.
"What cologne is that? You smell good."
"Remind me never to let you get this drunk again. Now lay down, you need to sleep it off."
Damon's smirk quickly fades. Without fanfare, his eyes close and he drops back so he's half laying on the bed.
Enzo lifts his legs onto the mattress. Sighing, he goes downstairs, grabs a bottle of water, a few aspirin and after setting them on Damon's bedside, he pulls the door shut with a light snap...
Damon wakes up to harsh rays of sunlight streaming in through his open window.
"Fuck," he mumbles and buries his head under the pillow. From his pounding head to his lips coated in dried saliva and the overall feeling of malaise, he knows he drank and drank heavily.
Although he doesn't want to get out of bed, he'll piss himself if doesn't get to the bathroom.
Once on his feet, the room begins to spin, his vision blurs and the next thing he's aware of is that he's lying on the carpet.
When his bedroom door cracks, he opens one eye to see the disgruntled look on his mother's face.
"Mom!" he flashes her a big toothy grin.
"You wash up and meet me in your father's office in twenty minutes."
"What for?"
"You know what for, now get up," she claps her hands next to his face.
"Stop," he groans, clutches his head and rolls onto his side. Damon knows she means business when she slams his bedroom door closed.
Somehow he gets to his knees and crawls into the bathroom...
Although he feels like hell warmed over, Damon enters his dad's office with a light rap.
"Have a seat," his dad points at a chair. His mother hands him a big glass of orange juice on ice and some aspirin.
"What's this about?" he throws back the aspirin and chugs a mouthful of his juice.
"We had a chat with Enzo last night after we caught him dragging you to your room," Lillian stares at him.
"Well what did he say?"
"He said you and Ms. Gilbert have been..." Giuseppe clues him in.
"I'm going to kill him," Damon's hand curls into a fist.
"Don't blame Enzo. We wouldn't let him leave till he spilled the goods," Lillian explains and adds, "You are not going back to that woman's farm."
"I am not going to leave her high and dry," Damon raises his chin in defiance.
"You will if you want to keep her out of prison for molesting a child."
"I'm not a child!" his jaw tightens.
"Are there any charges we can file on his behalf?" Lillian looks at her husband.
Damon jumps to his feet fuming. "I made the first move, not Elena."
"Calm down, son. The age of consent is sixteen in this State. There's nothing we can do to her legally."
"You will do nothing to her. I'm not going to discuss this anymore," he turns around and walks out of the room, slamming the door so hard, the echo reverberates behind him and through the house.
"I want you to give this to Damon," Elena hands a letter to Vincent. "It's his last check along with a bonus."
"Is that all?"
"That's not your business. I'll text you my return flight information."
"Alright. Don't worry about the ranch, it's in good hands."
"I know," Elena hugs him then moves to Bonnie. Tell Caroline I'll message her when I arrive."
"Of course. Have a safe flight," Bonnie blows Elena a kiss as she walks away.
When they arrive back at the car, Bonnie pauses for a moment with her arms crossed on the roof above her open door.
"She's right and you know it. Elena can make her own decision about who she wants to be with. If it turns out to be Damon or another younger man, I would advise you to support her choice or prepare to lose your friendship..."
Vincent stares at Bonnie for a hot minute then slides behind the wheel. Bonnie blows out a puff of air then slips into her seat. The two of them drive in silence back to their home.
Thanks so much everyone. Love you Eva.
Chapter title: 'If You Leave Me Now' by Chicago.
Have a wonderful day everyone.