Elena and Damon rose early in an effort to avoid another confrontation with Stefan and succeeded in slipping into his car unscathed. Elena wrote a text to Caroline telling her to corroborate the story that she had gone to visit Stefan and Damon had volunteered to drive her home and that otherwise the weekend had gone off Salvatore free. The combination of late night sex and the early morning left Elena sleepy in the car and she curled up in the passenger seat watching Damon as he drove down the highway in the early glow of the morning. He glanced over at her. "What are you looking at?" he said.
"You." she said unembarrassed. "I just...I never expected this."
"Which part of it?" he said.
"Well the vampire stuff." she admitted. "But when I met you all I could think was-"
"Wow Stefan's brother sure is a cocky jerk?" he filled in.
"No." she said. "That someone like you would never look at me twice."
"Were you oblivious to the fact I couldn't keep my eyes off you?"
"I guess so." she said. "You were just so...different. I had never met someone so confident of himself, so sure of everything he did...I mean when you tried to compell me into kissing you...I almost did." she said.
"Really?" he said. "But you were wearing vervain."
"I know." she said. "But as soon as you said it I couldn't stop imagining what it would be like to kiss you. I mean Stefan just kind of..." she stopped. "When I kiss you you just...take control so completely. It's not pressuring or threatening but you just take what you want. I love that about you." He reached over slowing the car slightly to kiss her gently. "And I love that you can kiss me like that too." she said her eyes still closed smiling softly.
"You were thinking all that while you were staring at me?" he said.
"Not just that..." she said. "Before all I could think of was all the reasons I couldn't say I loved you. It was too soon, too fast, too unsure. But I never concentrated on all the reasons why I kept having to keep myself from saying it. It was so easy to fall for you."
"I love you too Elena." he said.
They chatted easily for the rest of the drive about everything and anything but Stefan. Before they knew it he was pulling up in front of Elena's house.
"Don't make me get out." she said pouting out her bottom lip comically.
"You have to." he said. "I don't want Jenna and Jeremy hating me because they never see you anymore."
"But they don't even know you're the one that stole me away." she said. "come on let's just go back to your place."
"No." he said firmly. "Go spend some time with your family. I'll drop by tonight ok?"
"Ok." she said leaning over to kiss him softly before she got out. He got out as well and helped her carry her bag to the door. "Bye."
"Bye." he said before turning to step off the porch and back towards his car.
"Damon?" she called out and he turned around. "Love you."
He smiled at her. "Love you too." She grinned and then opened her front door starting up the stairs to her room. Luckily since it was the weekend both Jenna and Jeremy were sleeping in so she hadn't had to lie about why Damon had been the one to drop her off. She dropped her bag in the corner off her room and dropped onto her bed toeing off her boots before closing her eyes and slipping off to sleep. A few hours later she woke to the sounds of Jeremy and Jenna moving around downstairs. She pulled on a fresh change of clothes and came downstairs to meet them.
"Hey." said Jenna. "I was just about to send Jeremy to wake you up. I just finished making sandwiches.
"Thanks." Elena said taking the plate Jenna had pushed her way.
"So how was your all girls weekend?" said Jenna.
"Really nice." said Elena.
"Must have been nice to have a Salvatorre free weekend." said Jeremy. Elena gave him a look and then started eating.
"Yeah." said Elena.
"I have to admit I was happy to hear you were hanging out with Caroline. When you started dating Damon you kind of withdrew from all your other friends." said Jenna.
"Yeah Elena we wouldn't want you to abandon all your friends for Damon." said Jeremy before taking a bite of his food. Elena glared at him then looked at her food guiltily. She had sort of been neglecting her girlfriends lately. The last time she had talked to Caroline about something non-vampire related was...well right before she and Damon got together. And Bonnie had refused to speak to her ever since she had given her Caroline's daylight ring.
The three of them had been best friends since they were kids and had kept her together when her life started to fall apart. She finished her sandwich and then went upstairs and after several minutes of pacing dialed Bonnie's number. It only rang once before it went to voicemail so she knew she had rejected her call.
"Hey Bonnie." said Elena sitting on her bed. "I was just calling to talk to you. I know you're kinda mad at me. And I just wanted to- I know you don't understand what's going on right now but I'd like to try to explain. Please call me back." She lay back on her pillow staring at her ceiling. She didn't want to lose Bonnie as a friend.
...
I know it's short but I wanted to give this update to tell everyone the story is not abandoned and now that it's summer I will be able to update more.