Elena rolled over and the first thing she saw was Damon propped up on his elbow looking over at her. "How long have you been awake?" she said pushing her hair off her face.
"A couple minutes, a few hours. I have no idea." he said
"Just sitting there watching me sleep?" she said.
"Maybe."
"You're coming dangerously close to becoming a Stephanie Meyer character."
"Hey." he said. "Don't say stuff like that or I'll leave you here and make you get your own ride back to Mystic Falls."
"If you left me here I'd just wait until you got back." she said. "And you know you couldn't go that long without seeing me."
"Damn you know me." he said. She rolled over looping her leg around him and he ran his hand to her lower back. He kissed her softly running his hand through her hair. Just before his lips touched hers again she pulled back.
"Wait." she said.
"For what?" he said groaning his hand pulling her closer.
"I forgot something." she said.
"What?" he said.
"I forgot to say good morning." she said. "And I love you."
"Oh that." he said. "I love you too. And I love hearing you say that." He gripped her in both hands and pulled her on top of him. She straddled him the sheets still wrapped around her.
"Do we really have to leave tomorrow?" she said.
"We do." he said. "But like I said we can come back whenever you want."
"Can we just spend the whole summer here?" she said.
"Let's start with spring break and work our way up to a three month vacation." He pulled her back down to him rolling her onto his back kissing her again. She heard a beeping sound and she sat up looking over at her bag.
"I think that's my phone." she said.
"It's been making that sound for about an hour." he said kissing her neck. "Just ignore it."
"But what if it's-Oh god Damon." she said her head falling back as his tongue ran across her breast sucking her nipples softly. "What if it's Jenna?" She blurted out as he pulled back.
"Fine." he growled. "Answer but make it quick." She slipped off the bed and pulled her phone from her bag.
"Oh it's Caroline." she said.
"Ignore it." said Damon.
"It could be important." said Elena flipping open her phone. "Hello?"
"Oh my gosh Elena I'm so sorry!" said Caroline. "I really didn't mean to and I'm really sorry but now-"
"Woah slow down." said Elena. "What happened?"
"Jenna called here asking for you and yesterday I covered for you by saying you were in the shower but she called again and she doesn't believe you're here so she's coming up here to see that you're here."
"She's what?" said Elena.
"I'm sorry I tried to cover for you but-"
"Yeah whatever I have to get there now!" she slammed her phone shut and sprinted to the closet.
"What the hell is going on?" said Damon standing up.
"Jenna is on her way to my lake house now!" said Elena. "She doesn't believe I'm there which means I need to get there now!" she said pulling on a pair of jeans hastily and shoving her clothes in her bags.
"Shit!" said Damon. "Get your stuff together and I'll drive you down there." he said jumping out of bed.
"What do you think I'm doing?" she said.
"How close is it?" he said.
"About three hours from Mystic Falls." she said. "Up north."
"Well we should only be about two hours away then if I break the speed limit the whole way back." he said pulling his jeans on.
"Then break the speed limit!" said Elena walking out of the closet her bag slung over her shoulder.
"I've got it." said Damon grabbing her bag. "Come on." He took off down the stairs and she ran after him grabbing her purse.
"But what about the rest of the stuff?" she said running down the stairs after him. "I couldn't fit everything in my bag and-"
"I'll come back for it after I drop you off." he said. "Now come on!" She followed him down the stairs looking around at the house.
"I was really looking forward to one more day here." she said.
"Me too." said Damon. "I had so much more planned."
"Don't tell me!" she said. "I don't want to know what I'm missing out on." They took off out the front door and Elena jumped into the passenger seat as Damon threw her bag into the back seat.
"So I'll just drop you off and then come back to the house and grab whatever you forgot and drop it in your room."
"I'm sorry our weekend is getting cut short." she said. "I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault." he said. "And hey what we did have was pretty great."
"I'll still always want more." she said running her hand over his, twining their fingers together and resting them on the center console.
"And I'll give you everything you want." She smiled at him as he ran his thumb over the back of her hand.
"Then start breaking the speed limit." she said. Damon quickly pressed the gas pedal and they shot down the road. As the reached the end of the road she turned over over shoulder taking one last look at the house before they rounded the corner and it disappeared from view.
"You don't have to look so sad." said Damon. "You've still got me."
"I know." she said quietly. "I'm just not looking forward to heading back to reality a day early."
"I know." he said. "But things will get better. I mean Jenna and Jeremy have warmed up to me."
"But I doubt Bonnie will warm up that quickly. And I don't think Stefan ever will. And Katherine-"
"Hey." said Damon squeezing her hand. "We still have three hours to ourselves. We don't have to talk about that."
"Ok." she said. "Ok, three more hours of bliss and then back to hell."
"But you may want to spend a little time fixing yourself up." he said. "Because right now it's pretty obvious you didn't spend they last 48 hours on a girls weekend." Elena flipped down the visor, opened the mirror and gasped. Her neck was covered with red and purple bite marks, her lips were still swollen from kissing and her hair screamed sex.
"Oh god."she said reaching into her bag for a brush. She dragged it through her hair and when it wouldn't be tamed she pulled it back into a ponytail. She opened her makeup compact but Damon reached over and closed it.
"You don't need that." said Damon. With one hand on the steering wheel he bit his right wrist and offered it to her.
"I don't need to drink." she said. "I can just use cover up."
"It's ok." he said. "You won't need much." She hesitated for a moment then closed her lips around his wrist. She ran her tongue over his skin kissing the spot gently before her eyes flicked up to him.
"Shouldn't you be watching the road?" she murmured looking up at him.
"I can't take my eyes off you when you do that." he said his knuckles white on the hand still gripping the steering wheel. She pulled back sucking her bottom lip her tongue flicking out to wipe her top lip.
"Are they gone?" she said arching back so he could see if the
bite marks had faded.
"Yes." he said with heavy breath. "But when you arch your back like that it makes me want to make some new ones." She quickly sat back in her seat.
"So-" she said trying desperately to change the subject. "What will we do the next time we come out here?"
"Well the lake will be warm enough so we could go swimming and have another picnic. Maybe we could even have a fire out there with s'mores."
...
After several hours of idle chit chat and planning what they would they would do on their private vacation they were only a few minutes form the lake house. "I'm going to drop you there then turn straight around to the house. Do you want me to stop by on my way back?"
"You better not." she said. "Knowing Jenna she'll join us for the rest of the weekend and I don't want to risk it."
"Well then I will pick you up for school Monday." he said pulling into the driveway of the lake house. He leaned over kissing her softly.
"But you'll call me before then won't you?"
"Try and stop me." She smiled widely and reached into the backseat to grab her bag.
"I'll miss you." she said getting out of the car.
"I'll miss you too." She smiled one more time before hitching her bag up on her shoulder and closing the door. She walked towards the house and Damon pulled out of the driveway. She stopped on the porch looking over her shoulder one last time to see Damon pulling out of sight around the corner. She sighed softly and pushed open the door.
"Caroline?" said Elena leaning in the door. "Caroline?" There was no response. She sighed and started up the stairs to the room she and Jeremy shared when they stayed there. As she reached the top of the top of the stairs she looked out the window t see if she could spot Damon pulling down the road but she couldn't see him. She sighed and pushed open the door to her bedroom.
She immediately jumped back gasping wordlessly in shock. In her bed, in her house was Caroline and Stefan. "Oh my God!" she finally shrieked out dropping her bag to the floor. "Oh my- What the hell?"
"Elena!" gasped Caroline sitting up wrapping the sheets around her. "We didn't- I didn't know you would get here that fast. And we didn't hear you-"
"I don't- I-" She slammed the door shut leaning back on the wall. She had never thought that Stefan and Caroline would get together but now that she thought about it, it did make sense. Caroline had talked about how they had bonded when she became a vampire and he had started to show her about his alternative lifestyle. But, really? In her bed? She shuddered and walked down the stairs into the kitchen. She opened the fridge but it was empty except for a box of baking soda. She grabbed a glass from the cabinet filling it with water. She gulped it down staring out towards the lake. While she could understand Stefan and Caroline being together she still wasn't sure how she felt about it.
"Oh my god Elena!" said Caroline running down the stairs. "I'm so- so sorry!"
"It's fine." she said keeping her focus on the window. "I get it, vampire bonding and all that."
"But you shouldn't have had to find out like that." she said.
"I can agree with that." said Elena walking past Caroline back to the kitchen to set her glass in the sink.
"I'm going to go take a shower and then we can talk this out. Again I'm so, so sorry!" Caroline took off up the stairs leaving Elena alone downstairs again. She pulled her phone out of her pocket dialing Damon.
"Missing me already?" he said and she could hear the smile in his voice.
"Like you wouldn't believe." she said. "I just walked in on Caroline and your brother in my bed."
"Oh, god." he said. "Do you want me to turn around?"
"No." she said. "I'll just throw myself into the lake."
"But seriously," he said. "Are you ok?"
"I think I am." she said. "I mean I can't exactly be mad, I mean you're Caroline's ex and she never said anything."
"But what about Stefan?" he said.
"I don't know." she said. She heard steps on the stairs. "Oh wait there's Caroline, she said we were going to talk."
"Call me if you need me." he said.
"I always need you." she said leaning on the counter. "Talk to you later." She ended the call turning around to have her heart to heart with Caroline. But instead of the bubbly blond was her exboyfriend. Shirtless. "Stefan-"
"How does it feel?" he said leaning against the wall.
"How does-"
"Walking in on your best friend with me?"
"Well, I'm happy Caroline found someone to help her through all of this. And I know you'll-"
"Don't pretend like this doesn't bother you." he said walking towards her. "I saw the look on your face."
"Well I think it would bother anyone to find anyone in their bed like that." she said.
"And the fact that it was me," he said stepping closer into her.
"Didn't bother me since I've moved on. And now you have to so can you please stop this?" she stepped around him but he grabbed her wrist.
"I haven't moved on." he said. "There's only one girl I want and it's you." He pulled her towards him but she pushed back.
"Stop." She said wrenching her arm out of his grasp. "Look Caroline cares about you. You can't hurt her-"
"Like you hurt me?" he said.
"I didn't mean to hurt you!" she said. "I'm sorry about what happened and I'm sorry about what I did when I was compelled-"
"He compelled you?" said Stefan. "How do you not see how he's manipulating you?"
"He compelled me to try and forget about what happened to my parents!" she said. "The only one being manipulative here is you. Tell Caroline I'll be back. I'm going for a walk." She ran by him out the front door.