Damon Salvatore usually never had nights like this. He might be impulsive and not as calculated as Elena Gilbert but he made sure that he had it together.
Right now, he had three boys in the car. Klaus, Mason, Stefan and then he was the one driving as they smoked he illegal and imported cigars that Stefan stole from their father's study.
They were on their way to Stefan's stupid party and he was determined to not think of her despite thinking of her every second.
At the game, all he could hear was that she hated him.
When he drove home, he heard her voice telling him she really meant it this time.
Even now as he was driving, he was thinking about the sound of her sobbing. Why didn't he console her? How could he make her cry?
"Woah, what the fuck!" Mason yelled and Damon had to quickly brake for the person in a hoodie, that had seemingly try to jump in front of their car.
He cursed getting out of his car and going towards the guy probably with the intention to punch him, he needed an outlet for his anger anyway. But as soon as he grabbed the guy by his hoodie, he realized he knew him.
"Jeremy? Jeremy Gilbert?" as if her memory wasn't torturous enough, her brother now stood trembling before him.
Seeing it was Damon, the kid relaxed, back to his dead in the eyes expression and grumbled, "Dude who's into my sister, yay me."
"What the fuck was that? Were you trying to get killed? You stupid piece of shit." He spat.
His friends too came out of the car as Jeremy groaned, "No. I wasn't. I don't know- you wouldn't have killed me at that speed."
Stefan too took a step ahead offended that their night was being ruined further "Oh you wanna be hurt, huh." He said rolling his sleeves up.
Damon stopped him, "Hey, back off. He's fourteen, he's practically a minor in dog years too."
"You think just because I am a 'stupid' kid that I don't deserve to have any feelings? Go call my fucking sister to get brownie points- I don't give a shit about anything." He hissed
Damon huffed and looked back at his group before holding Jeremy by the back of his hoodie, "Okay, get in the car."
"What-where are you taking me?" he was suddenly worried when Damon began to shove him in the backseat, "To a party where you're too young to be at so you can get over the crisis that interrupted your Xbox time."
They drove for thirty more minutes, blasting music so no one asked questions or talked, smoking and drinking beers before they reached the party spot.
It was obvious because they could hear the music from miles away and saw people here and there before they closed in on the property.
A huge mansion that was some rich asshole's vacation home was now the party ship.
"This is obnoxiously exclusive." Mason said, impressed and already prepared to act like a frat boy. They passed the crowds of people waiting to get in.
Stefan's 'friend' Trevor was outside to get them in. Damon knew this guy, and though he didn't approve of him in Stefan's company at all, tonight he would stand it.
As soon as they went in, the drinks started coming. After a certain point it wasn't even a game.
There were an excessive amount of girls at this party. And some of them didn't resemble Elena in the slightest. But that didn't stop her from being on his mind.
Ever since he figured out he was falling for her she was stuck in his head like a song that he detested but couldn't stop listening to over and over.
He could tell Stefan was going through something as well by the way he was doing a shot of a girl's belly, looking like his old 'reckless' self.
For both of them the only solution to any problem that was remotely human was ignoring it, thanks to their upbringing they had learned to shove it down to the point where they forgot the problem existed.
"Stefan." He said once his brother was on his next round of drinks, Jeremy too was in a corner, sulking while Damon was sure his friends were hooking up with someone at this party.
"Slow down. You're going to regret it tomorrow."
His brother downed another shot, "So that's how long you last? I thought we were bonding."
"You're clearly bonding with Black Russians more than me." He said sarcastically.
Stefan gritted his teeth before snapping at him, "I thought you weren't going to babysit me."
"You're gonna tell me what happened or just keep throwing a tantrum?" Damon asked sitting next to him.
"Tell you what happened ? Who are you? My mother?"
"Cut the bullshit, I know this is about the head cheerleader." He scoffed.
"No, Damon. This isn't about Caroline. This is about me." He bit his lip, "If I don't care, I am the asshole, but if I do care- I am even worse. To you, to Dad to everyone I've been a waste of space and money. So why run from it when i can own it. When I can just stop making it worse and be me."
"Fuck that. You think this is you? One set back and you're ready to throw it all away? I don't know what Giuseppe thinks, but Stefan- you've been and are the only reason that I am living here. You're the reason that I fought to live three years ago. Because we were a team."
Maybe it was the drinks getting to him, because he never talked about this stuff. Stefan's shoulders sagged, his eyes filled in some shame at his behaviour.
"We are a team. Remember after the attack when I just gave up. You lectured me for hours and made me go back to high-school, you saved me from taking a hand out from dad by working in his miserable company."
"It took 13 hours." Stefan huffed.
"But you never quit. You got me out of my head and on my feet. You believed in me at my worst so what kind of a brother am I if I don't extend you the same courtesy."
"Damon." He sighed.
"You want me to be supportive of all this, fine- Only one night and tomorrow I am back to being the brother who thinks that you can be better than this."
Stefan pat his shoulder, deciding not to argue about this as he stood up. Leaving him there with a moping Jeremy.
He picked up the drink that Stefan hadn't yet downed and seeing that Jeremy chuckled humourlessly, "Isn't that a bit hypocritical?"
"I never claimed to be a role model. I am not like your sister." He hissed.
"Elena is not a role model." Jeremy laughed, lying down on the couch, "She tries her best to be the best, to make everyone love her and admire her. Be the best daughter, sister, friend, student- to fix problems so that she'd be appreciated."
He sat up as if he was restless and uneasy, "I feel really sad for her because when they see her, they don't see Elena. My mother sees a house manager, my dad sees the perfect student who he can brag about, maybe make her a doctor because she's his project. Matt already claimed her as his wife. The school sees her as their perfect representative for every event. And the town council sees its next board bitch."
Damon bit the inside of his cheek, "And what about you? Who do you see her as?"
"A standard that i fail to live up to everyday."
Damon was quiet after that, just thinking whose life was more pathetic? Elena, who worked so hard everyday to be someone that was impossibly perfect or Jeremy who felt emotionally punished for being himself.
"That's why I fell in love with Bonnie, every other girl in town secretly hates my sister because of how amazing she is but Bonnie is so real, so herself, so secure that she is Elena's best friend. She doesn't go above and beyond to please people like my sister. Just by being herself , she can be the most radiant person in the room, not like the rest of us."
"But she broke your heart?" Damon guessed.
Jeremy scoffed, "Yeah, one of her many qualities is that she can be fucking brutal."
Damon got them another round of drinks. He gestured to one of the girls that had been eyeing him for an hour now to come. As expected, the blonde bombshell left the guy she was talking too and walked over to him and Jeremy.
"Hi, I am Christy." She introduced her self.
"Christy, my friend Jeremy here would like to get you a drink."
He turned her attentions to the brooding kid who was now surprised that a hot college girl was eyeing him.
"Hey, I am Jeremy." He said trying his best to mask his nervous voice. "Hi Jeremy." She put her hand on his biceps. "Wow, you workout?"
Jeremy blushed, Damon pushed him off the bar stool, "And he dances too."
Now that he was left alone after the girl took Jeremy to the dance floor, he started his own medication i.e. drinking till he felt numb.
Even though the loud music and flashing lights were designed to screw your senses, he could see her- hear her. She was right to hate him, Alaric was right to be disappointed in him. He hadn't even began to think how he was going to tell Elijah that he had been right to be hopeless about his project.
Even after everything wrong she did, he was the one who majorly fucked it up.
Would she ever forgive him?
He wanted her to kiss him like she had yesterday. If he could go back in time, he would kiss her a little longer. Now he would have to live without it forever. Because she would hate him forever.
...
...
Elena didn't even go for her hospital volunteering tonight. She had been in bed, crying with her head in Bonnie's lap. Telling her everything that had went down, while her friend pat her head.
"I am so stupid for crying. For even caring about what he did." She sniffled.
"You're not stupid. He's a complete dickhead. Elena, I always tell you to not look for the good in every asshole. That's how people take advantage."
She continued her sobbing, every time she closed her eyes that horrifying picture would flash behind her lids.
"How could he do that to me? I thought- that he cares about me. Maybe even more. Why did he hate that? What was so wrong about feeling something for me?" she looked up at her friend. "It feels worse than Matt cheating on me. Because we had drifted apart but after everything Damon did, I started to trust him. I thought he couldn't hurt me, but he did. He wanted to hurt me."
Just then the doorbell rang. Elena groaned in frustration, as Bonnie moved to get up, she stopped her, "No wait, if it's my mom she's going to be worried. I better go check."
Elena went down the stairs and wiped her eyes, trying her best to look normal.
When she opened the door, she saw Matt. "Hey. What are you doing here- oh! Oh Matt I am sorry i completely forgot-" she just remembered how he was going to drive her home yesterday and then she followed Damon.
He ran a hand through his hair, "No that's fine. I saw you with-" his voice trailed off, "I've known about you two- for a while. I saw you with him in the library a while back."
She shook her head, "No, Matt. It's not what it seems like."
"Elena I am fine, I cheated on you so yeah, I deserve that, even though seeing you move on sucks. But when we were becoming friends I started to think, maybe I didn't lose you. Then you ditched me for Salvatore yesterday and it was hard to see." his voice sounded defeated.
Now Elena felt awful on top of insanely hurt.
"Matt, I am sorry, I am."
"No. Its okay. I had the worst day ever, we lost the game and the only thing that I could think of was coming here and seeing you. Please tell me that I haven't lost my childhood best friend, that its all in my head." He pleaded.
Elena shook her head and wrapped her arms around him, "Are you crazy? That would never happen."
He hugged her tighter, "I am sorry for what I did. For the lying and the cheating but mostly because I made you feel the absolute worst for being you."
And just like that she started crying again.
Hearing her voice, he parted from her to hold her by her arms, "What happened?"
She bit her lip, looking down and avoiding eye contact.
At least Matt loved her. He was here to fight for their friendship. Unlike Damon who was always standing against her in a fight. She murmured, "Do you love me?"
She knew this was another mistake, Damon broke her so she jumps back to Matt, whom she felt nothing for, who couldn't hurt her even if he tried.
He cupped her face, not reluctant about making the switch from friendship to more.
"Yes. I've always loved you, I'll always love you." His face was an inch away and she closed her eyes, feeling her wet lashes on her skin, allowing him to kiss her.
But then she saw it again.
When they held hands yesterday, kissed on the porch, the sound o his heart beating. Then the walk up to the council room when she could feel that something was wrong. And when she opened the door. He was there, leaned over Rebekah who was moaning while he screwed her.
Elena winced. Anger, sadness, brutal betrayal set in her body like a poison. Why had she been so excited about seeing him that day?
"No. No- I am sorry Matt." She pushed away from him before he could kiss her. Truth was she didn't want Matt at all, she wanted Damon to kiss her, to somehow make her believe that what she had felt wasn't a pile of garbage in his eyes. That maybe it was all a bad dream.
Matt would ask her for an explanation however, Bonnie rushed downstairs interrupting them, "We have to go get Jeremy."
"Where is he?" Elena had completely forgotten about him.
"Some party with his friends, he said he's going to Miami with his 'boys' but he was super drunk, and I think he's in trouble."
"Why would he call you to say that?" Matt asked, confused.
Bonnie tensed up, Elena looked at her with slightly narrow 'analysing' eyes before letting out a sigh, "Great. You told him."
"He wouldn't stop following me." Bonnie tried to explain, "You said I needed to break it off. I did what you asked."
"No you did what I begged you not to do." She couldn't believe she was shouting at her best friend, "If anything happens to Jeremy, I'll never forgive you."
"Okay, we need to stop this fight and find him. Come on Elena." Matt said gesturing towards the door.
"Wait- I have his password, maybe we can get his location." She said picking up her jacket and quickly wearing her shoes.
"I dialled his phone, he's not picking up." Bonnie said following them. Elena turned around to block her way, "Maybe you should go home."
"Are you seriously doing this?" Bonnie asked.
"Yes. I'll go in Matt's car. While you can go home and maybe manipulate another kid who is obsessed with you for your own bitchy selfish pursuits." She bit out, leaving a shocked Bonnie standing there as she got in the car with Matt.
"That was harsh." He said starting the car, while Elena was getting into Jeremy's email accounts, "Yeah well I am sure what she did to Jeremy is equally hurtful if not more."
...
...
Damon was no longer sure where he was or who he was with. It was like a fever dream.
Dancing, drinking- at some point he was in a hot tub for sure.
Maybe one of the guys said it and he agreed but they were particularly excited about going to Miami.
"Fuck it, I want to be on a yacht." He raised his glass, they all growled like animals.
Klaus was rolling on the couch, laughing for no reason, "We should get the Bachelor party package, they will throw in a few burlesque dancers with a boat."
"Or the graduation special." Stefan said with a slurry tone.
"I am going to be 16 in eight months." Jeremy suggested.
Mason snorted.
Damon gasped as he pulled out his credit card, "Hey look, I found that thing which- um gives money. We should all just go."
Stefan roared, "That's my brother!"
"Who wants to drive? I am bombed." Mason dangled the keys. Damon grabbed it from him, "Keep your grubby hands off my keys. God- this party blows, this is not what I was promised, Stef."
Stefan rolled his eyes, then sat down shakily, taking something out of his pocket, "We can bring the greatest party right here in Mystic Falls."
Damon groaned with the name.
"What's that?" Jeremy asked.
Stefan opened the small zip lock bag and took out a little box, "Trevor gave me a good deal. Who wants one?"
Damon frowned as he saw the little pills. Stefan handed everyone one pill. "This is good stuff. Let's trip."
He was in no mood to set Stefan straight, his brother was off his sobriety for sure no matter how much he denied it. When his brother handed him one, he too grumbled before taking it with his drink.
It's not like he hadn't taken party pills before. Other than stupidly drunk, he felt fine.
In fact, all of a sudden he felt great. Alive, full of energy and capable of anything. He felt like he could jump off a building and survive, hear everything- see through walls.
"Woah. This is good."
The complete reality shift started happening. He was walking around the party mansion through different rooms. Until he saw her.
Elena.
She was here. She couldn't be here but she was here. He couldn't stop himself from going over there and holding her by her arms, "Elena." He looked at her face as if checking if it was really her or his head playing tricks on him.
"Damon."
This was her, because if anything he knew her voice.
"This is really you, I thought I was seeing things. I can't stop thinking about you or feeling like complete shit. You are so beautiful, you know that? And so- far above me. Chasing after you was never a problem. But yeah, I am a fucking coward. I can't be with you and not fail you like i do with every fucking thing I've done." He cursed.
He cupped her face, "Even right now, I am suppose to take care of my brother but here i am encouraging him and letting him play with his addiction. Do you see how fucked up I am?"
She nodded, "Its okay. I am here now." Her arms wrapped around his neck and she brushed the hair at his nape.
"I have no excuse for being with Rebekah when you're the one i want. She's never mattered to me. No one has, I want to talk to you, and hold you, and take you far away from this town. I want to show you the world." He explained in a passionate tone, caressing her olive toned skin that always invited his touch.
"Its too late for that." She murmured.
"You don't hate me. You wouldn't be here if you did." He brushed her lower lip with his thumb.
"I am not." She said cupping his face.
"This is an imbalanced part of your brain speaking to your guilt. Yeah, those pills work Damon. You're high." With that she shoved him and with a blink he found himself right where he started.
"Fuck. What just happened? Where's Stefan." He asked looking around for him after he got out of his trance like state.
He didn't find Stefan but he did find Trevor, who looked like he was searching for them, "Salvatore, did you bring a 14 year old in? Because a chick outside is blowing her lid off, she's threatening to call the police for kidnapping."
Melodramatic, for sure Elena Gilbert.
His words slurred, "Let me guess, brunette, big Bambi eyes, thinks she owns the world?" when Trevor nodded Damon groaned, getting Jeremy up from the couch.
He was going to take him outside but he didn't have to because Elena some how got in, to his displeasure- followed by Matt.
"Jer!" she ran towards him, already looking relieved.
Then she saw Damon and his friends. "You brought my brother here? Are you insane?" she was already so mad at him that it didn't take a second before she got right into shouting.
Damon was very much high, all he could see was Elena- surrounded by blue birds and butterflies.
Thankfully Jeremy answered for him, "What do you mean he brought me? Like I had no say in it -I am not a baby, Elena so fuck off. I am with my friends."
"He's not your friend. He's my enemy. He would go to lengths to hurt me. And you are just a pawn in his game."
"Oh I was a pawn in Bonnie's game. Maybe that's what I am good at. Being used." He shouted. Elena was taken aback by Jeremy's breakdown- he seemed terribly drunk.
Matt took a step forward to get a hold of Jeremy who pushed Matt, "Hey fuck off ,cuckold- keep your hands off me."
Elena hissed, "Shut up Jeremy!"
"And you, stay away from him." She warned Damon. In response to which he only blinked heavily.
Stefan's happy pills had separated him from reality. He could barely think straight.
"Hey- he would be roadkill if it weren't for this generous man who brought him here instead of his leaving him for his suicide mission." Mason rose to his defence. Jeremy broke into a laugh, "I was just trying to get one of those cool cast things. Bonnie would sign it for me."
"Jer!" Elena pulled him towards herself, "You jumped in front of a car? Arghh! As soon as you're not disgustingly drunk you'll see the trouble you're in." She snarled at Damon, "I can't believe you did this to my brother- you should have brought him home."
He narrowed his eyes, trying to separate fairy land Elena from the Elena that was lecturing him, he was pretty sure the latter was real.
"Elena its you. You are not disappearing, you're real." Damon finally got some grasp of reality between his psychedelic episode.
She looked at him with disapproval as she dragged Jeremy out of there.
Hs couldn't even stop her. "Damon, another brother is in trouble." Klaus said to him.
Damon knew he was talking about Stefan, he didn't know whether to go after Elena or his brother.
"Fuck it."
He followed Klaus to the bathroom. Damon groaned in annoyance as he saw Stefan bent over the bathroom counter, busy snorting something.
That's what the problem with Stefan was. He never knew when to stop.
"Stefan, enough." He said going there to get him up, his brother growled at the interruption, "I have it under control. It's just for tonight and I've paid for it."
"That's not the problem. I don't care about the money, come on let's go. You're not going to fuck yourself up again. I won't let you." When he was dragging Stefan forcefully out of there, he saw Matt. He was probably listening or peeking in through the door. However, Damon felt too occupied with psychedelic flashes of Elena in fairy land and his rebelling brother.
...
...
..
He hadn't been black out drunk in forever, however he did remember some of it.
A plan to go to Miami, Stefan distributing acid, begging Elena for forgiveness. Then Elena shouted at him and then- he didn't remember much. It was all blurry flashbacks.
He spent all weekend trying to recover from the poisonous amount of alcohol he had the other night. And on Monday, he skipped school because he didn't want to be in that hell so soon.
But Tuesday he had to be in North Carolina. And they were leaving in the morning. He had received an email from Alaric about his entrance ticket and he was also informed him that Alaric was going to accompany him.
He pushed his laptop away and lied down in his bed again.
...
...
Caroline was looking from side to side between Elena and Bonnie. The blonde knew they were in a fight but they weren't even talking to each other to fix it.
"So how was your weekend?" Bonnie asked Caroline.
Caroline licked her lips, "Tyler and i went to his cabin. It was okay."
"What, no more butterflies?" Bonnie snorted as she ate her sandwich.
"I was preparing for finals. Then he went fishing on his own." She shrugged, "Umm- are you and Elena not speaking?" she asked in a whisper.
"She's the one who called me a selfish bitch." Bonnie muttered.
Elena let out a gasp as if surprised at Bonnie's audacity, "And should i tell her what you did?" she raised a brow.
Bonnie clenched her jaw, "Fine. I blew off Jeremy."
Elena added, "After you led him on."
Bonnie cursed, "Okay, I led him on for my benefit. But it doesn't mean I don't care about him. How could you not let me come?"
"Because seeing you would hurt him. Why don't you understand that? I get that you don't love him because people can't choose who they love- but can't you see he loves you? He almost jumped in front of a car to get your attention. He's young and he doesn't know how to get over it. But you pulling him back only to push him away two minutes later is not helping." She ranted.
Bonnie's was shocked, "He jumped in front of a car?"
"He meant to get a cast." Elena huffed, "But yes- thankfully a bunch of losers were driving to a party and they took him."
Bonnie cupped her mouth as tears filled her eyes, "Oh my god- he could have died because of me."
Caroline consoled Bonnie as cried. While Elena was still firm on not being friends with Bonnie.
But then she didn't want Bonnie to feel like a murderer or a monster. She knew Bonnie wasn't like that, it was Jeremy who was used to reacting to things so passionately that it was borderline insanity some times.
"It wasn't that serious." Elena huffed walking around the bench to sit on Bonnie's other side. Her friend was shaking, "He cares so much about me. He never even asks what's wrong, he just- knows. And he does everything in his power to fix it. I know he loves me. I know." She sobbed, "I can't believe how awful I have been to him. I acted like his heart didn't even matter."
"Bon, he's okay. Calm down. I didn't mean to make you feel like this. I was just worried." Elena hugged Bonnie, "I am sorry i shouldn't have been so rude on Friday."
"No no- I am sorry. It wasn't about me." Bonnie parted from her. "I know I've been awful but I would never want for anything bad happening to him."
"I know."
Caroline whined, "Okay I am going to need you guys to tell me everything now."
...
...
Elena was in the council office, the venue of her nightmare. But thank god Rebekah wasn't present today. So Elena and Aaron were handling most of the work.
Bonnie told her that Damon was at school but her friend had warned him against coming close to her.
He and Mr. Saltzman were leaving for the competition. And Elena was quietly watching them leave from the council window.
"Huh. Bidding goodbye as man goes to war or cursing him with eternal gonorrhoea?" Bonnie asked joining her near the window.
She shook her head, "I don't care about him."
"Hey you are the one who said we can't choose who we love." Bonnie reminded her of her earlier words.
"I don't love him. I-"
Her friend interrupted, "Yeah you hate him. I know. You've proved that by crying over him all weekend."
"What do you mean?"
"You told me before all that happened, you were ready to admit to him that you have feelings for him. So that's where you are Elena, the anger is confusing you but you don't hate him. The fact that it hurt you is why you don't hate him." She shrugged.
Elena rolled her eyes, Bonnie spared no chance to psychoanalyse people. She didn't love him, she could tolerate him at best.
She saw Damon get in the car with Alaric. Elena huffed ready to turn around but then it caught her eye.
"No." Elena murmured.
"What?" Bonnie asked.
"That's him." She pointed towards the window.
Bonnie glanced down to see what her friend was pointing at, it was a man putting a bag in the trunk of his car. Dressed in black slacks and a black shirt with a dark coat. He was wearing a neck gaiter that hid his face too but then again it was really cold outside.
The man sat in his car quickly, driving away.
"He's been following Damon for weeks." Elena quickly went to get her bag, she called Mr. Saltzman but her call went straight to voice mail.
"Shit- he's not picking up my phone. He has to know that Damon is being followed." She dialled again.
Bonnie rushed to her and took her phone, cancelling the call.
"Are you insane? You aren't even sure."
"I am sure Bonnie, I've seen him countless times, Damon could be in danger."
"Then call Damon." Bonnie said taking out her phone to get his number from her contacts.
"No- no don't tell Damon, he's going to freak out and fuck up like he did the game Friday night. He's been working on this competition for months." She said pacing the council office.
"He had a bag, Bon. What if there is something dangerous in that bag!" she was muttering to herself. Bonnie stood in her way, halting her mental breakdown, "Elena, we don't know that. You're being insane. Maybe because you need an excuse to talk to Damon."
She let out a sigh in frustration, "No Bonnie, Damon's been shot before. And that person hasn't been caught. And I've been seeing this guy for weeks. My gut says something is wrong." She picked up her bag, "Let's go, we're going to get a permit to skip council duty and we're going after Damon."
"Out of town?" Bonnie squealed.
"Yes because I am going to catch this guy today."
...
...
"Come on Bonnie. Drive faster." Elena urged her while she anxiously watched the C-span and mystic falls event coverage. Mostly local news didn't cover state competitions especially those related to academics but for some reason they were and seeing that they were hardly mentioning anyone but the Salvatore family, this was probably Giuseppe's doing.
Surprisingly, he was there before Damon. It was the first time she had seen the man and it was on the news. It felt weird that he was Damon's father because Damon looked nothing like him.
"Why are you driving so slow?" she growled in anger.
"I am already over the limit, can you calm down. Mr. Saltzman is still not picking his phone." Bonnie tossed her phone away.
"Call Damon." She finally gave up.
"But you said-"
"Just call him. Wait- I'll do it." Elena picked up her phone and dialled the number.
"Unreachable." She mumbled before typing a text message.
'It's Elena. Give me a call ASAP."
Elena put the venue in her GPS. Her friend too seemed nervous, "We should call the police."
"Bonnie, we have to catch this guy." Elena huffed.
"The police will do that. We don't have to go." She said worriedly.
"Are you insane? How will the police catch him based on the description even if they take us seriously to begin with? We have to be there. I have to see him get arrested." It was non-negotiable for her at this point.
Bonnie shook her head, "You love him." When she glared at Bonnie, the green-eyed girl stood firm on her comment, "I am sorry but I won't let you lie to yourself. You love Damon. It's not the worst thing in the world, just accept it."
"Just because i don't want him to die doesn't mean I love him. He's a human being."
"No, Elena. I don't want him to die- you can't stand the thought of him getting hurt. You love him, stop passing it off as basic human decency." She said raising a brow. Then she sped up the car more. "But don't worry, as your friend I will support this craziness."
Elena bit her lip, as long as Bonnie was driving, she didn't care what she believed about her and Damon.
Caroline called her, Elena had told her to continuously check the mystic falls news network for any updates and sending her snapshots of people dressed in all black in the audience.
"Elena, so I've sent you some pictures. Tell me if it's one of these guys?"
Elena quickly checked her phone and huffed in disappointment, "No Care, it's not him."
"Well the quiz started. I am still watching but they don't pan on the audience much."
"Is Damon there?"
"Ahuh."
Fuck it, he would never see her text in time.
"How much more time, Bon?" she asked her friend while checking the GPS.
"I will get a ticket but we can get there in twenty minutes."
"Do it. Just drive." She urged.
...
...
Damon was behind the 'Virginia' desk which he shared with another student, who was a girl from Richmond. She had big blue eyes behind her thick framed glasses. She was continuously blushing even though he was barely giving her any attention.
His main focus was to get through the day and go back to bed. Even though Alaric had given him the biggest prep talk in existence while driving over here he didn't really give a shit.
He cursed when he saw his Dad talking to a reporter, while gesturing towards him. Damon put his hand up in front of his face to hide himself from camera flashes.
"Here." Alaric got up on stage, behind his desk and handed him a water bottle, he sighed taking it.
Alaric was about to go back to the audience but then he stopped and walked across the desk, so he could face him, "Look, I know you're not here to try. You're certainly not here to win. But both you and I know that you can win this thing in your sleep- so if you're going to lose, make sure it's because your reason to lose is stronger than my faith in you."
"Huh, Wasn't I the no good delinquent?" he hissed.
"That day you acted like one and I am not going to coddle you when you make a mistake." He looked back at the audience, particularly at Damon's father. "But I won't give up. Trust me on that."
He went back down. Damon rolled his eyes before gearing up for this bullshit. He had to win now because words like 'trust' and 'faith' were used.
Alaric gave him a thumbs up from his seat which made him nod with a small smile.
At the end of round one. Virginia seat 2 Avery Jordan was behind by 6 points and was therefore out of the game. Damon kept his hand on the buzzer so when they would ask he would press it without thinking.
"the net change in enthalpy is -285.4." He answered, as usual looking at Alaric who was on the edge of his seat like an over excited parent.
"That is correct. Virginia seat 1 gets five points." It was announced. "Participants, stay on stage- disqualified Participants can go back stage. The winner will be announced by our judges shortly."
Damon knew this thing was his, he was way ahead in his points. So when they announced 'Mystic Falls High ,Virginia' as the winner, Damon wasn't really surprised.
Though he was amused to see Alaric get up from his seat to clap. God- that man was more embarrassing than his father but surely in the way he didn't hate.
Damon collected his trophy, took his picture and stood behind the rostrum to give the mandatory speech thanking the school.
"Good evening. I am Damon Salvatore representing Mystic Falls High. Another thing about me is that I am not really a speech guy but oh well. Our school has many teachers, I mean they are a lot. I usually mix up their names- but one person who stands out is Mr. Saltzman." He put the trophy down, "He believes in people when they don't believe in themselves. That feels good I saw it for myself when one my friends was insecure about his amazing project that would revolutionize patient care in hospitals."
Well if he couldn't get investors, didn't mean he'd pass up an opportunity of getting press for the business. Besides it was a trick taken from his Dad's handbook to public relations.
...
...
Elena rushed inside past the overwhelming number of audience members that were parents, school representatives or journalists. "Do you see him?" Bonnie finally caught up with her.
"No. Keep looking, i know he's here." Elena said scanning through the audience, she could hear Damon talk but she couldn't see him yet from all the people that were standing.
Her heart stopped when she saw the stalker, he was in the second row, very close to the stage. His hand was inside his coat pocket. Elena's breath would hitch whenever he seemed to pull his hand out of his pocket, as if waiting for the perfect moment. She called Bonnie who immediately picked it up, "I found him, he's going to do it, Bon. Call the security, call someone. Quick."
"Okay. Just don't alarm him, we don't want him to hurt anyone if he's armed."
"Fine."
She hung up on her and begin approaching the stage. Just so she could get a better view of the whole situation.
Once she got closer, she was absolutely sure this was the stalker. Just because her eyes were focused on him, and maybe she stared too long, the stalker's eyes found hers.
They widened slightly. As if he recognised her. So he saw her coming after him the other day? Just to be safe, Elena stepped near the stage, going behind the posters of the competition but through the spaces in the posters she could see he was reaching for something.
"Damn you Bonnie. Where are you?" She bent her head going towards the stage.
Then she saw it. The stalker had a gun, he pulled out a gun. she knew it. Elena glanced up at Damon who was talking about his project with Elijah.
She looked back at the stalker whose finger was about to slide over the trigger when she stepped closer to the stage.
"No! Damon get down!" she yelled as she lunged for him. He looked in her direction, all sorts of confused and very shocked that she was here and about to attack him.
A shot was heard, as she pushed him to fall down on the floor under her.
Damon knew what a shot sounded like, his questions like what, Where, Why, and how escaped him as his hand anxiously pat her back down, "No-no shit. Elena. Are you okay?" she was shivering against his body but she nodded, clutching to him.
They could hear the crowd screaming and running.
"Yeah, it missed me, you're not hurt, are you?" she lifted her face from his chest, looking down at him, "No." He cupped her face, "Where did you- how?"
"Just shut up and let me appreciate that you're alive."
But she had hardly taken a second to look at him when Bonnie walked ran to the stage and found them behind the wooden platform.
"Elena, security got him. Sorry- it took so long. They wouldn't believe me." She sounded frustrated. Elena nodded, "Don't worry, it's fine."
She got off of him and stood up, offering her hand to him, "Sorry for ruining your speech."
...
...
..
In one of the waiting rooms, Damon, Elena, and Bonnie sat while Giuseppe was loudly arguing with the security team outside.
"I am going to sue this place for not having appropriate security measures. How does a killer get in the vicinity of my son? Do you fucking know who I am?" he barked.
Damon rolled his eyes. Elena and Bonnie were sitting on a separate couch. He couldn't stop looking at her.
Elena Gilbert was about to take a bullet for him. How was she so selfless and brave? Even after he hurt her she was here to save him and she did.
He reached into his pocket and switched his phone on- immediately flooded by calls and texts.
Five missed calls from Bonnie, seventeen missed calls from another number that had also texted him.
'It's Elena. Give me a call ASAP.'
He saved the contact and texted her back.
'I have your number now- Mr. Glass Half full.'
Elena's phone buzzed so she took it out her pocket to read the text he sent her.
He saw as her lips curved into a little smile as she read before she pursed them and sat straight.
His father entered the room followed by the head of security.
Damon's dad stood there with while the head of security who looked like a man in his forties, pulled back hairline and slightly bulky, he began questioning her, "Ms. Gilbert, you go to the same school as Mr. Salvatore I assume?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"How did you know about the attack?" he asked, Elena looked at Bonnie before sighing, "I saw him following Damon."
"Once or more than once?"
"Multiple times." She bit her lip.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Damon asked concerned for her safety around his 'killer' more than himself.
She hesitated, "I thought it would throw you off your game at tech today."
"And dying wouldn't throw him off his game?" Giuseppe snapped at her.
"Dad, what is wrong with you?" he hissed at his father.
The security head continued.
"Did the attacker personally threaten you?"
"No." She pursed her lips.
"Do you know him? His name is Travis Cooper."
"No, i don't know."
"Cooper?" Giuseppe frowned, as if thinking for a moment, he then gestured towards the head of security to see him outside.
The man followed him. Elena held Bonnie's hand as they waited for him to come back in.
Giuseppe came back in with a somewhat calmer expression, "It's a false alarm."
Elena got up from the couch, "What do you mean? He almost shot Damon."
"No, he almost shot you. He is a part of the security detail for my son. Turns out, he thought you were about to attack Damon."
"What?" she gasped in shock.
Damon got up his seat, visibly infuriated with his father, "You've been having me followed by a guard? And he had a fucking gun?"
"Yeah because he's there to protect you so of course he had a gun." Giuseppe scoffed. "You and your brother are always in some trouble, I figured this would help."
"So he was just gonna shoot Elena? Are you out of your mind?" he yelled.
"He is trained. I am sure it was just to warn her."
"I told you I don't need any form of security. Because of your invasiveness Elena could have gotten hurt." He said walking up to his father, "Get rid of these guards, Dad. All of them- whether they are for Stefan or me. If you care so much about your children, maybe don't bring fucking reporters every where you go."
Elena and Bonnie watched as they glared at each other before Giuseppe left the room.
Damon shook his head at his father in disbelief before shifting his attention to her, "Elena, I am so sorry. My father is bat shit crazy." He walked up to her, then looked at Bonnie who was holding Elena's arm.
She stepped back seeing that he wanted to talk to her. Elena gulped looking up at him, speechless at this point. "Can you stay for a while until all of this is over? I need to talk to you." He requested.
She knew that this was the time to refuse, go home and think how completely insane she had been all day yet she said, "Okay."
...
...
"Great- just great. My car got towed." Bonnie told her coming in to the reception area of the hotel where the event had been taking place. Elena had spoken to the security team and felt exhausted after her long day. "So how will we go back?"
"I don't know, we can call a service." Bonnie said sitting down next to her. "But I didn't bring any cash." She added.
"Bonnie! You couldn't even park right?"
"Uh- excuse me Miss. Saving Salvatore, you didn't let me." She snapped.
Elena folded her arms across her chest, "Huh I'll never live this down."
"I won't let you. I can't believe you were going to take the bullet." She said angrily.
"Technically, i dodged it." She said cheekily.
"You didn't know that! God- and you called Jeremy impulsive. If anything had happened to you, i would have killed Salvatore myself." She ranted.
Elena put her arm around her, hugging her, "Hey I am fine. I would absolutely take a bullet for you too, Bonnie."
"Yes. That's the problem. You are not allowed to take everyone's bullets. Especially not mine." She hugged her back.
They ordered a coffee and sat down to process everything. Elena would look at the door time after time, where Damon was with the officer, probably answering formality questions.
"Miss Gilbert, Miss Bennett." Alaric interrupted their conversation, "Do you have your transport arrangements? If not, I can take you back."
"Uh, well our car got towed and they won't even talk to me before tomorrow." Bonnie seemed like she was about to accept the offer but when Elena squeezed her hand, she shut up.
"Uh yeah go ahead Bon, the officer said he had some more questions, I'll stay. My dad is on his way to pick me up." Elena made it up.
Bonnie looked over her shoulder glaring at Elena, but she begged her with her eyes to go with it.
"Okay, yeah- I guess I'll see you at school Elena." She enunciated her name before grabbing her bag.
Alaric nodded leading the way for her. Bonnie kept looking back at her until she left the building, with a sigh Elena sat back in her seat counting down every minute of the wait.
What would she say to him?
What did he want to tell her?
Her phone buzzed with a text from Bonnie.
'Matt is coming to pick you up, don't worry no one at home knows even though you were on television.'
Elena sat back in her seat, restlessly, if Matt was going to be here to pick her- it meant she had two to three hours.
Taking the plunge, she wrote a text to Damon.
' Are they even close to finishing their questioning? I need to be home.'
Just then she saw the door open, Damon and Giuseppe went the other way, from what she could tell they were arguing.
Elena really felt bad for him, he had only one parent who he seemed to have no connection with.
It was like her relationship with her mom, even if her dad was busy most days, he tried to talk to her and Jeremy sometimes.
Damon didn't even have that.
After a good ten minutes, she got a text back from him, 'I am at the pool. Can you come here?'
Elena asked the front desk for directions to the pool, and also told them to tell her friend Matt to wait in case he arrives sooner than anticipated.
With slightly nervous steps, she walked down stairs to the pool section of the hotel.
'Though the sign said it was closed, maybe Damon used his 'Salvatore' card for this too.' , she thought.
She had been to this hotel last year when she had been second seat Virginia but she hadn't seen the massive swimming pool. Elena gasped seeing the sky full of stars today. Maybe that's why he called her here.
She scanned around for him, locating him standing by a pool chair, Elena swallowed thick walking up to him, "Hey."
"Hi." He looked over his shoulder, then turned around, "You should totally sue my dad by the way."
Elena chuckled, "Hmm maybe I will, it will definitely pay for my college."
"Or a new car."
She pursed her lips, giving him the opportunity to start talking. Instead he stepped forward to hold her hands, "I am sorry. I know that it's too soon and what i did is inexcusable but life is unpredictable and anything can happen. I can't die knowing that I hurt you or that I did nothing about the fact that you hate me."
"I don't hate you." She instantly said it, "Yes I hated you when I saw that. I hated you hours after it. But I don't hate you now."
"If I had been shot today, I would have wanted to let you know that I don't hate you." With every word she said, his pupil's would dilate further as if he was mesmerised by her.
"You don't hate me? What does that mean- for us?" His thumbs ran over her knuckles. The subtle touch of his hand was enough to raise goose bumps on her body.
She tried to keep her voice even. "I don't know."
He sighed in frustration, "Come on Elena, you know. We both do."
"Damon, I don't know anymore okay? I never know with you. I didn't think and jumped once before and I won't do that again." She cried out, taking her hands back harshly.
He was determined to not let her go this time. He wouldn't ruin it again. "What's wrong with jumping? I can do it right now."
"You hurt me." She accused, "Right when I was so fearlessly ready for us, you chickened out in the worst possible way you could."
"How was I suppose to know that you felt this way? You ran over me and whatever roadkill of a heart is left in my chest over and over with Matt and Elijah. You repeatedly told me that you hated me, that I disgust you and I would never have a chance with you." He ranted.
Elena's mouth opened and shut as if she was unsure what to say, "I may have done that but you shut the door on us."
"The door is not shut." He said firmly, "Stop running away, you said you were ready, so let's jump, I don't care if it goes to hell but if we don't give it a shot we'll regret it forever."
"You want to jump?" she asked
"Yes."
"Then jump." She said and shoved him back. He fell into the pool with a loud splash.
Elena folded her arms across her chest when instead of getting pissed off he started laughing, and stood in the water, "This is full circle for me. You threw a drink in my face the first time we met."
She kept herself from smiling, looking away.
"Oh don't worry I didn't see you smile."
"I am going home, Damon." She said in a mean tone again.
"Come on Elena, you have to at least try."
"Why should I? We are not even, what you did to me is cruel. How do you expect me to be okay with this?" she rebuked his attitude.
He walked to the boundary, looking up at her, "I know we aren't even. We can never be even after today- but how am I suppose to make it up to you if you don't let me."
"I don't want you to make it up to me."
"You don't?"
"No." She hissed.
"Fine- then what's one more thing going to ruin." He said to himself. Elena frowned as if trying to understand what he meant. Then she felt his cold hands on her feet and the next thing she knew- she was in mid air- on her way to the cold water.
She quickly swam out to the surface after she crashed, coughing to get the water out of her throat. Elena could hear him laughing.
Oh he was so dead.
Elena growled deep in her throat, swimming towards him. He feigned a gasp before swimming out of reach.
She grabbed her black heels that were floating in the pool and one by one threw them at him, then she threw her bag as well.
He ducked both of them but the bag hit him in the face, stopping him for a second. Elena swam closer, grabbing his collar, "I will kill you if you do that again." She said shivering a bit.
"You saved me." He murmured reminding her of earlier.
"From no danger apparently." She sounded embarrassed.
"No- no." His arms wrapped around her, "You didn't know that. I didn't know that- but you jumped. Even after I made you regret it the first time, you still jumped to take my bullet. You could have died saving my life but you didn't care. Even though your life is far more precious than mine ever could be."
"Damon."
"How could you do that? You couldn't see me die no matter how much you hated me." One of his hands begin brushing her wet strands back, stroking them behind her ear.
"No, i couldn't stand the thought of you getting hurt." She repeated Bonnie's earlier words. Damon was truly on cloud nine today as much as he enjoyed the back and forth with this girl, he was far more content with this.
"Do you mean that?" he asked resting his forehead against hers. She nodded closing her eyes, Just breathing him in. Her hands came to cup his face, her restless soul was finally relieved that he was not in danger. A weight that had been on her for weeks was off her shoulders.
"Stay with me. Don't go." He pleaded, "I can't let you go tonight." Damon said bringing her closer, wishing that she would give him this one last chance.
...
...
A/N: LONG chapter...what would happen next? Will she stay or not? The next chapter will come out on Sunday if you be good and drop me a review, as i love hearing your thoughts.
(To some readers- I know that you people say oh character 'A' or 'B' is selfish or bad and you don't like ut etc along with the sweetest 'don't get offended' text. I am not offended at all. I actually designed characters to be flawed and unlikeable at certain points. Its just to give the story some conflict. So go on. I love hearing your thoughts.
Especially I look forward to lady TR, Naxki, (a guest reviewer as well that says the most interesting things) etc. keep supporting the story.
Review?