Outlook on Life

Chapter 12:

Damon

"I'm hungry, Damon" Elena whined once they reached the safety of his company car. He shot her a questioning look, they just ate? "What?" she huffed crossing her arms over her chest as she wrinkled her nose into a small look of disgust "That food was bad".

Damon couldn't help but laugh, remembering the way he'd caught that small winkle of her nose when the food was brought to the table. He had known she wouldn't like it but he was happy she knew not to say that then. "Yeah, Okay" he relented "What do you want to eat? we can get the chef at my place to make us something" he offered but she wrinkled her nose again at that.

Damon watched her and could practically see the wheels in her head turning before her face broke out into a huge grin "Pizza!" she announced as if it were a genius idea. "OMG!" her jaw dropped when she saw the look on his face, he'd never had pizza before and the sound of greasy cheese didn't sound too good to him.

"It doesn't sound too good" he shrugged ignoring her shocked face "I thought girls had some rule about foods like that anyway" she huffed at that and rolled her eyes before leaning forward and opening the window to the driver to give him directions.

Damon eyed the little pizza place they pulled up at with suspicion, he was sure if he looked this company up they'd have a few health code violations with the way the place looked right now. Elena though, didn't seem to mind or notice as she strode in happily dragging him behind her. The man at the register smiled brightly at her before his eyebrows raised as he took in her dress; Damon couldn't help the anger that welled up with this guys audacity and blatant staring.

"Mason!" Elena smiled at the man letting his hand go and opening her arms for a hug to the greasy looking man. "Do you like?" she smiled at Mason when he let her go, gesturing at her dress.

"Like?" he laughed "'Len your a tease" Mason grinned and she swatted him playfully "Anyway, you want your regular order? or are we adding to it?" Mason said looking behind Elena at him. Damon didn't shy away from the intensity of this guys gaze but he did wonder how the two knew each other.

"Pick one Damon" Elena pulled on his hand again before shoving a menu at him to read over.

It was already 12 pm when they got to his place and he'd managed to convince Elena to stay the night again after she convinced him to pick a pizza. Fair is fair, he had said.

When they pulled into his driveway she eyed the steps to his house as if they'd done something horrid to her. He looked at her in question when she hesitated "My feet kill" she announced lifting one of them off the ground to show off the shoes she was wearing as if to prove her point. Not that he'd disagree with that since those heels looked like hell to walk in...and she did it flawlessly.

With an evil grin on his face, Damon held the stacked pizza boxes in one hand before looping his left arm around her waist, hoisting her over his shoulder. Damon laughed happily as Elena demanded he put her down while trying to yank her dress low enough to cover her ass, that he currently had a nice view of.

"Damon!" she yelled at him as he walked them up the stairs thanking god that she barely weighted anything. "Damon! put me down!" she tried again as he fiddled with opening the door. Once she realised her protests were in vain he knew she couldn't help the laugh that now echoed through his house.

"I hate you...your an ass, Damon!" she managed through more laughter and he couldn't help but snicker at her failed attempts at being mad at him. Damon turned the corner to see Caroline, Stephen and Giuseppe all looking up at him carrying Elena with knowing smirks. "Damon" Elena huffed and he let her slip down to the floor again, still grinning at her.

"Hey" Elena waved casually to his family as if she hadn't just given them all a great view of her ass while he carried her in here, that woman amazed him. Elena narrowed her eyes at him and snatched the pizza boxes taking them over to the kitchen table where everyone else was sitting.

Damon lingered where he stood for a second more when his families eyes never left him. Caroline had been teasing him about his crush on Elena ever since the thanksgiving party and he was sure that all his denial was in vein now. "We got Pizza" he heard Elena happily announce to everyone who all had a similar reaction to the one he did. Well, everyone but his father.

Elena froze in her spot looking at all of them like they were crazy "You people are weird" she mumbled loud enough for all of them to hear. "Sorry, You three are weird" she amended when Giuseppe looked like he was about to drool over the pizza she was handing him.

Damon took the stool next to her and watched as his father devoured half of Elena's pizza while Caroline looked at her slice in what he thought was her contemplating on how to go about eating it. Damon and Stephen both grabbed slices and took experimental bites before realising Elena had been right in her declarations that pizza was amazing.

"My children are spoilt" Giuseppe chuckled and Damon looked up to find he was being watched by Elena and his father who were both laughing at him. "I used to work at a car wash as a child. Every now and then i would pinch a few loose coins from the cars and then at the end of the day ride my bike down to the bakery to buy a slice of pizza" his father said with a far away look in his eyes.

Ever since their mom, Lily Salvatore, died Giuseppe had been distant and while he still provided for them and loved both him and Stephen, it was never the same. Their father was never the same. He wasn't warm, he didn't talk to them about anything other than business, he didn't laugh, he didn't smile or hug them and he especially didn't reminisce.

Except that was all he seemed to be doing around Elena; It was like she brought the humanity out in him again and Damon found he rather liked his father this way.

Damon woke up with a start, he had heard her small whimper in his sleep. She was laying still but had a deep frown on her gorgeous face. He placed a hand in her hair stroking the side of her face and even in her sleep she seemed to respond to the gentleness of the gesture and rolled over.

Damon knew he probably should but he couldn't help slinging his arm over her waist and pulling her closer to him, she settled perfectly in his arms as he drifted off to sleep again.

At the sound of his alarm Damon groaned and almost had a heart attack when she said "Turn that off!" she hissed and only then did he realise it hadn't been one of the dreams he too frequently had after seeing her in his bed on Thanksgiving. Promptly slapping a hand down on the offending alarm clock her curled back up to her just wanting to stay like that all day.

Elena leaned into him and turned in his arms so she was facing him, her brown eyes sparkling in the dim morning light shining through his window shades. "What's the time?" she asked and with a quick glance at the clock he said "3:02" her face did that adorable wrinkle again.

"God" she groaned "You actually wake up at 3 am?" he nodded and watched with a small smile as she rolled her eyes at him and buried her face in the crook of his neck. "You Damon Salvatore are a deranged man" he heard her say although it was slightly muffled.

"I don't have to be in until 5" he said, not wanting to part with her yet. Especially not if she was going to let him hold her in his bed.

"Waffles with chocolate syrup" he looked at Elena wondering where that random comment came from. "That's what I want for breakfast" she laughed obviously seeing his confusion and Damon couldn't help but roll his eyes; did this woman ever stop eating? In all his experience with women, he'd never met one that ate as much or as often as Elena. Hell she probably would do that little nose wrinkle if anyone put a salad in front of her, whereas all the women he knew would only accept that as food.

"Your thinking" she said tapping his forehead and making him realise he'd completely zoned out on her, but Elena didn't look like she really cared that he hadn't heard what she said.

"Yeah" he nodded with a smile at the curious look she was giving him "About how I think i should be avoiding you during times of the day where we eat. I don't like working out at the gym all that much and if I keep having things like pizza and Waffles, I'll be the size of a house" they both chuckled at that

"You sound like Caroline" she teased and Damon mocked being offended although he didn't have to try too hard since being compared to Caroline was not something he wanted at all. "You're still going to feed me waffles with chocolate syrup, right?" Elena checked sounding a little worried as her eyes narrowed at him.

Damon laughed and grabbed her hands pulling her out of bed with him "Yeah, yeah, don't worry your pretty little head" he smiled back at her while ushering her down the stairs to the kitchen. Luckily waffles were one of the very few things he actually did knew how to make.

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Elena

Elena's brows raised when she saw Caroline walk into the bar making a B-line towards her with a huge grin on her face. Elena returned the smile but with a small amount of uncertainty; Caroline doesn't drink. What the hell is she doing here?

Elena didn't have to wait long because as soon as the bubbly blondes ass hit the seat she was squealing about something being explained too fast for Elena to actually catch what it was. "Caroline" she interrupted "What the hell are you talking about?"

Caroline grinned and slowed down "This" she thrust her phone in Elena's hands, it was a magazine article with a photo of her and Damon on the front cover. Billionaire Bachelor of the CEO world settling down? she read the highlight with a glance up at Caroline who was practically beaming at her before reading what the writers had to say.

Damon Salvatore, youngest and most successful CEO in New York; previously known for his bachelor status, for the first time ever, was accompanied to one of his families galas. Only a day before the event Damon Salvatore released a statement revealing that he was in fact in a relationship with the stunning woman seen with him at the merger gala last night. (Pictures linked of Damon and Elena posing for the camera outside the merger gala)

While nothing is known about the young woman in the pictures sources have hinted that the two have been in a relationship from as early as thanksgiving. While the Salvatore family has made personal requests for her privacy, rumours as to who she is are plenty. This stunning woman was seen later that night dragging along her boyfriend to 'Mayors' a small family owned pizza restaurant in the downtown area (attached images of Elena and Damon smiling and walking into Mason's restaurant)

"Wow" was all Elena could think to say as she looked up to see Caroline smiling at her as she took her phone back. While Caroline looked like that article was a good thing, Elena wasn't so sure. Giuseppe had told her to expect something like this but she hadn't thought that it would be so soon or that the photos attached to the article would be taken of them in public instead of just at events.

"You're okay, right?" Caroline's smile dimmed a little bit as she looked back down at her phone when it lit up with notifications again. "Damon has been trying to call you by the way" Caroline added showing her Damon's message.

Elena chuckled and shook her head before searching through her bag and answering her phone as it lit up with Damon's name again. "yes Damon" she greeted "I'm working" she added so he knew whatever it was would have to be quick.

"Okay, well I just wanted to see if you saw the magazine article this morning but if Caroline's with you then I know you've seen it" he chuckled a little before asking "So? Your not freaking out right now, right?"

It was Elena who laughed this time "No Damon, I'm fine. I promise it's not a big deal ... although i wasn't expecting them to have a photo of us at Masons, I'm fine with what the article said. They know nothing about me and I actually prefer it that way" she said honestly now that the slight shock had worn off.

"Alright" she heard Damon sigh "There will be a few more like that for a little while but they should die down soon and my dads talking to people so we can try and control what the articles say...I don't think they'll find out anything personal aside from maybe that you work in the bar since it's Salvatore owned"

She couldn't help but smile at his worrying and she was glad he wasn't here to see the school girl smile that crept across her face "Okay, thanks Damon but I have to get back to work" with that Elena hung up and went back to work, waving a goodbye to Caroline when she walked back out of Stephen's office.

"OMG Len" Katherine all but jumped for joy "Your dating Damon Salvatore...the man we saw at the bar who called you baby" Elena had to roll her eyes at that, she wanted to tell Katherine what was really happening with Damon, but knew the less people who knew, the better.

"You just can't say anything, I don't really want people around here finding out" Elena pointed out and Katherine looked around the club nodding her agreement. If anyone at the Electric Pony found out they'd make a fortune selling information that could hurt the Salvatore's and that was the last thing Elena wanted to happen.

"So? How was that dinner or whatever? your dress looked A-Maze-Zing!" Katherine said in a hushed whisper as they got dressed into tonight's themed outfits.

Elena looked down at herself in the mirror with a grimace, the baby pink latex body suit she was in looked horrible on her. It really was a disservice to all latex. "Of course you'd say that" Elena rolled her eyes pointing at both of their outfits "Look what we have to wear. I'd look better in a burka" she humphed at Katherine who made a small grimace of her own when she caught a look at herself in the mirror.

"Len" Katherine gave her a warning look, letting her know that she'd picked up of Elena's not so subtle change of topic. "'Cmon" she bounced excitedly on the heels of her feet waiting for the juicy details.

"It was boring" Elena admitted much to Katherine's disappointment "Damon was pissed off the whole time because the guy they were trying to impress was eyeing my tits the entire time" she laughed and Katherine winked at her; they were both used to stuff like that.

Call it conceded, but living on the street meant you picked up on the lusty looks men gave you and in some cases women too. "Anyway, it was more fun going that night to get pizza we went back to his place and hung out with Giuseppe and-"

Katherine gave her a look noticing that Elena had stopped herself from telling her friend she spent the night there. Elena groaned "I spent the night but we didn't have sex or anything" she shrugged but Kat was still looking at her curiously and she knew exactly what her friend was silently asking her. "He.." she hesitated with a heavy sigh "He just held me, Kat...he held me and I-" Elena broke off with another sigh as she ran a stressed hand through her hair "I've never had anyone just hold me before. He didn't want anything from me, he didn't demand anything or have expectations...he says he wants to get to know me Kat"

Elena looked up to Katherine who was wearing an expression of pure shock, one which Elena assumed her own face mirrored. "Wait" Katherine stopped them in their tracks as they approached the stage "Your telling me he wants to be like equals or something? he's one of those rare nice guys who wants to emotionally connect with you and stuff?" Elena nodded with a grimace. "Holy Shit Lena!" Kat cursed

"I know" she whispered back as the two walked up the stairs and took their positions for their routine.

Neither her nor Katherine were the - bring home to mom - type women, they didn't get the happy ever after or to be the equal in the relationship. Life for women like them was hard and it wasn't supposed to get easier...you jut learned to make the best of the situations you find yourself in. Elena knew she wasn't the emotionally available and she knew that she'd never fit with someone like Damon; it was just how the world works.

After all, life's a bitch until the day you die!

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