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She kept staring at him in awe and he didn't know how to handle the moment. She was speechless and so was he.

He'd decided to come over only to apologize, he owed it to her. But somehow he ended up telling her that he came to take her offer to talk and he couldn't believe that he actually did say that.

He was falling for the one thing he'd promised himself not to fall for. Never again. Though here he was with a box of ice-cream in his hands almost begging her silently to let him in.

Her face relaxed and she nodded a little, still looking warily.

"Fine." She said sighing, letting him in.

From the corner of his eye he saw her sheepishly smiling happily and he felt accomplished.

"Nice house." He told her as he looked around.

"Thanks." She said quietly.

It was cozy and very ordinary. You could somehow feel that it was a lived house, full of memories and past in it. On the wall near the stairs hanged a lot of pictures, of a man and a woman who he presumed were her parents especially. He suddenly grew tense as he remembered why he was there in the first place.

He turned around to look at her, finding himself in a loss of words.

"Look…" He started. "I came here to apologize. I didn't know about your parents…I'm really sorry about that Elena. I didn't mean to upset you." He said sincerely.

His eyes were holding real empathy, and not fake pitiness like most people gave her. Maybe that was why she didn't like to open up about the argument. Because she'd never actually found someone who empathized with her like Damon seemed to be doing at the moment.

"Thank you." She said with a slight smile. "And I'm sorry about the slap. I didn't mean to snap like that." She said biting her bottom lip.

"It's okay." He said chuckling a little.

"So…you took ice-cream?" She asked incredulous as she raised her eyebrows.

"I did." He nodded. "I actually bought the same one you were going to eat there…kinda." He said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean kinda?" She said as she led him into the kitchen, taking two spoons.

"Well I didn't remember if it was just chocolate or chocolate with peanut butter so I took both." He said shrugging.

She smiled broadly and then chuckled a little.

"I'll take the peanut butter one." She said as she took it from the envelope bag.

She opened it and took a seat on one of the stools as she immediatly started eating it. She then met Damon's eyes who was looking at her sort of amused.

"What?" She said with her mouth full of ice-cream. "It was going to melt. You should eat yours too." She said shrugging.

"I'm not eating ice-cream." He said with a scoff as he put the other little confection in the freezer. "It's all yours."

"What do you have against ice-cream?" She said rolling her eyes. "Besides you have to eat it…or I won't talk to you." She then said smugly, holding her head up.

"And you think I would care because?" He asked raising his eyebrows.

"Fine, be that way. But I would have really liked sharing it with you." She huffed quietly looking disappointed.

It was such a silly thing, but still his eyes lit up a little at her words. It had been a long time since he didn't have a simple and genuine moment like this, and the fact that she wanted to talk to him or even do little things like this almost flattered him. He realized that he was probably staring at her with a goofy grin and he immediatly shrugged it off.

What the hell was he doing? Apologizing and talking to her, yes. Fantasizing about past things that would never happen, no. Just because he was willing to give her a chance as a person and not being blinded by his past hatred it didn't mean that he would let himself be so foolish again.

With a sigh he took his leather jacket off, placing it on a stool. He saw Elena eyeing him strangely and when he realized that the first two buttons of his black shirt were unbottoned he smiled a cocky smile as he realized that it was probably lust. How ironic was that? Six years ago he would have paid gold to be at Elena Gilbert's freaking place. Alone. Together. With her giving him lusty looks. Now though he was here because he'd acted like a jackass and because he knew it was the right thing to do; nothing more, nothing less.

He took the ice-cream and the spoon that she'd left on the counter and Elena smiled knowingly.

"What?" He spat rolling his eyes.

"Nothing." She replied dumbly, the little knowing smile still there.

They ate quietly for a few minutes, and he found himself feeling quite comfortable around her, despite of what he thought. It was a weird and yet good feeling.

"So…" He started somehow awkwardly. "If you don't want to talk about what happened it's fine with me." He said honestly.

He had after all brought up the argument of her parents and everything else, and he truly didn't want her to feel obligated to tell him anything just because they got into it.

"I...I really don't want to." She said sighing quietly. "Maybe someday." She then said after a few moments with a slight smile.

"What about you? I mean..why did you decide to come back now? Always if you want to tell I mean you don't have to..." She started.

"It's okay." He quickly said. "I'm pretty sure you've met Giuseppe, right?"

"Your and Stefan's father." She acknoweledged with a nod.

"Stefan's." He corrected.

She looked at him intently as her eyes widened in shock.

"Oh…" She started, not quite finding the words.

"I guess Stefan doesn't really tell you everything." He said with a smirk.

"No, I mean…I know who he is but Stefan and Maria barely talk about him. I'm surprised that you brought him up." She said.

"Yeah…" He said quietly as he started playing with the spoon in the bowl of ice-cream.

"Hey." She quickly said, placing her hand on his arm. "You don't have to talk about him if you don't feel like to. I'm just glad that you're opening up to me a little to be honest." She said sincerely, a shy smile on her face.

He stared at her for a few seconds as her warm hand rested on his shoulder. He bored his ocean blue eyes into her brown doe ones for a few moments and then shifted making her arm fall.

She seemed to snap out of the moment too as she stiffened a little and took their empty bowls to the sink.

"So you came back because of him? Or did you know that he left years ago?" She said as she leaned against the counter near his stool.

He started chuckling quietly and she looked at him in confusion.

"What's so funny?" She said shaking her head, starting to feel a little embarassed and confused.

He jumped off the stool and got closer. Her heart immediatly started doing weird things as it often happened when she was near him, she noticed.

"You've got a little…" He said as with his thumb he softly caressed the side of her mouth, cleaning off the leftover peanut butter there.

She almost melted at the contact as goose-bumps started taking form in her body. His eyes shimmered a little as he gazed at her and she was left speechless once again.

He then quickly licked the ice-cream off his finger and she had to keep herself from moaning…it looked so sexual. He looked sexual.

"No, by the way." He said.

"No what?" She quickly asked, her heart beating faster as she thought that maybe he understood the effect that he was having on her.

"I didn't know that he left for good. I came back because I ran into him in Chicago a few months ago and….he told me some things that I couldn't stop thinking about. I actually thought that I was going to find him here." He confessed as he started walking towards the door.

"Oh...I get it." She said as she walked him to the door. "Damon?" She then called hesitantly.

"Yeah?" He said as he turned to look at her.

"I…thanks, for giving me a chance. It really means a lot to me and for what is worth..I want you to know that I'm not the person that you used to know anymore." She said.

"I'm starting to see that." He said as he nodded a little.

She smiled as her eyes lit up a little and as he was about to walk out, he turned around again.

"Can I ask you something?" He said, a smirk on his face.

Oh-oh, she thought. That smirk usually didn't bring good things.

"Sure…" She said warily, narrowing her eyes a little.

"Are you and Stefan friends, or friends-friends?" He asked as his smirk grew bigger.

She gasped as she understood the meaning of his words and she swatted him playfully.

"Not that it's your business anyway, but no. We're just friends. No benefits." She said crossing her arms as she blushed.

"Mmhm..." He hummed quietly as he did that eye-thing of his.

"Go away, Damon." She said rolling her eyes as she pushed him out.

"Goodnight Elena." He said as he walked away.

"Goodnight…and thank you for the ice-cream!" She said with a chuckle.

He smirked in return and off he went.

She closed the door behind her and smiled happily. She couldn't believe her eyes when she'd found him out of her door. He actually came here to apologize and be nice to her. Was that really Damon or was he his good twin?

She couldn't stop thinking about how comfortable she'd found herself being around him. If he put his walls down he was actually an awesome person. How did she miss that six years ago? She cursed herself for having been so blind and especially stupid. Maybe some things would have gone completely different.

She headed up the stairs going into her room. As she looked in the mirror she noticed how she couldn't stop smiling and it made her feel great.

It was the first time in a long time that she'd felt this great. How was that even possibile? She had Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie…all her friends were always so good to her and yet one night with Damon managed to make her feel this way. Her smile faded a little as she remembered that he actually didn't like her, thing that he had even told her in her face. What if tonight was all an act? What if it was Stefan who forced him to come over here and apologize? The possibilities were many and now she couldn't stop thinking about it. Most of all she had to stop fantasizing about something that would most likely never happen. He would be gone in a few weeks anyway. As soon as Maria was back and he got a chance to fix things with his mother, he would go back to Chicago.

She sighed sadly as she got back downstairs to lock the door and turn off the lights. As she walked into the kitchen, she noticed Damon's leather jacket on the stool and she smiled dreamily. That leather jacket seemed to be his baby. He always had it with him.

She took it from the stool and gently brought it to her face, inhaling his scent. She almost purred and hugged it to her body and she jumped a little when she felt a loud vibration coming from the pocket.

She took his phone without thinking and as she saw the message on the screen all her silly, delusional, thoughts shattered suddenly and this time completely.

It was Andie. Elena felt like she wanted to pull all her hair out and start kicking something as she read the text.

Last night was amazing. I miss you already baby. -

She couldn't quite explain what she felt after seeing it. Disappointment? Annoyance? All she knew was that she felt defeated.

She sighed a little and put his phone back in the pocket of the jacket, going to wait for him in the living room guessing that he'd come back as soon as he realized that he forgot his stuff.

She couldn't believe that that bratty skank managed to get into his life. And into his pants. All of her screamed fakeness and she wondered if she had a fake vagina too. How could Jenna even be friend with that nuisance?

As she predicted, five minutes later someone rang at the doorbell and as she peeked through the window she saw that it was Damon.

She took a deep breath managing not to make him see that she was upset and quickly opened the door.

"Forgot something?" She said as she held up his jacket.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He said as she handed it to him. "I realized it as soon as I got home."

He put it on and she managed a smile.

"No problem." She said quickly. "Goodbye, Damon."

"Bye…" He said sounding a little confused.

She closed the door and let out a frustrated sigh, hoping that he didn't notice her weird mood.

It was indeed weird because she couldn't figure out herself what was happening. Boy, if she was moody.

She thought about waiting for Jeremy to come back but she was too stressed out and tired. As she crawled into bed she remembered that she didn't turn on her phone again and she immediatly did as she realized that Stefan and Caroline had probably called her tons of times.

Strangely there were no missed calls from Stefan, and she guessed that it was because he already knew everything. Caroline on the other hand gave her ten calls and left a message.

She called her back and realized that she would probably be rambling as soon as she answered.

"Elena?" She answered right away, her voice concerned.

"Hey Care. I'm sorry I didn't pick up your calls…long story short." She tried to shrug it off.

"I was worried. Stefan told me you weren't feeling well. Are you okay now? Do you want me to come over?" She said.

Even though Stefan seemed to have covered for her she didn't want to lie to Caroline. They always told each other everything and she really needed someone to talk to.

"Can you talk right now?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yes, why?"

"Well it didn't exactly go like Stefan told you. I…I went home because I was upset. Damon pissed me off." She explained.

"Say what? Damon as in Stefan's brother? What did he tell you?" She asked surprised.

"He made a joke about my parents, but he didn't mean to. He didn't even know about it. He's kinda been an ass to me ever since he came back but…" She started but Caroline cut her off.

"Hold on a second, you knew that he was back? How come you didn't tell me anything? And you had every right to be upset, honey. I hope you smacked him hard because if I was there I would have done it for you." She said with a chuckle.

"Oh, I did." Elena said with a proud smile. "And yeah…he's come back for a while now. I didn't tell you because I didn't feel comfortable about it. As I told you we haven't been on good terms."

"Mmh, I see." Caroline said thoughtfully. "Well he kinda has every right to be a little pissed at us…don't you think?"

"Totally." Elena said sincerely with a sigh.

He had every right to, and how she regretted giving him reasons to be

"By the way have you seen how hot he is? Jeez Elena, he's like an Adonis! Tell me again why we had to be such bitches in highschool." Caroline said.

"I don't know Care. We were kinda morons indeed." Elena admitted shifting a laugh.

"Well...you can always make it up now. I mean you're single, he's single..you two would be so hot together." She said almost excitedly.

"Don't hold your breath. He doesn't even like me that way, you know. And I really don't think that he's single." She said defeatedly.

"No!" Caroline almost whined. "What makes you think so?"

"He's, uhm..seeing that Andie Starr chick. The reporter." Elena said somehow bitterly.

"No freaking way." Caroline spat with a gasp. "The Action News one? Are you serious? That girl's a snake. I always hated her guts." She scoffed.

"He met her at Jenna's dinner party. She was so annoying you don't even know." Elena said rolling her eyes.

"Oh I hear you, honey. I always change channel when she's on screen." Caroline said laughing as Elena laughed with her.

She was almost about to tell Caroline about Damon coming over and apologizing but she decided against it. She would probably get excited and think that he liked her or something but she knew better. Might as well keep it to herself.

"I have to go now Care. I have an early shift at the Grill tomorrow." She said sighing. "I'll see you there though right?"

"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow at lunch then. 'Night Lena."

"Goodnight." She said quietly as she hang up.

She drifted off to sleep trying not to think about the disappointment that was still very much there.

The Grill was pretty busy in the morning but hopefully as Caroline was going to come for lunch it would quieten a little.

Caroline was almost always busy in the morning too as she went to school for architeture, but they hang out a lot in here and Elena was glad of it. With Bonnie staying at her dad's for a while, Caroline and Stefan were the only true friends that she had left.

Her eyes suddenly lit up as she saw Damon entering. He had just managed to make her boring and ordinary morning worth it.

She waved at him a little hoping that he would return it and when he did she smiled widely.

"What's up?" He asked as he leaned against the counter, ordering a bourbon to another waitress.

"Seriously? Bourbon at 1 pm?" She asked amused as she raised an eyebrow.

"It's my pre-lunch appetizer." He said shrugging casually.

She giggled a little shaking her head and he smiled at her.

"Stefan's here too by the way. Little fucker didn't buy anything to eat so the Grill it is, since it seems to be the only freaking place in this town." He said with a roll of eyes.

She was about to reply when she saw Stefan waving at her. She waved back and he walked over taking a seat near Damon's stool.

"Hey El." He said as he leaned closer to kiss her on the cheek.

She noticed Damon turning his head around at Stefan's gesture and for just one moment she thought that he seemed annoyed.

Luckily Stefan avoided the awkwardness by asking about last night and she was glad of it. He did know her well so he would probably give her the third degree in private.

"So are you guys taking a table?" She asked.

"Yup. I'll be here pretty much everyday since I really don't feel like cooking and Stefan hasn't got any groceries at the Boarding House." He said rolling his eyes.

"What are you two-years old?" Stefan scoffed. "You can buy things by yourself, you know."

"How come you don't want to cook? That lasagna that you made at Jenna's was exquisite." She said.

"I did it to impress her." He whispered doing that eye-thing of his.

She was so taken by Damon and Stefan teasing each other that she didn't see someone approaching them silently putting her hands in front of Damon's eyes.

Elena's smile immediatly fell as she saw her. Andie was grinning amused as she kept Damon guessing.

"What the –" He started saying annoyed when she cut him off with a kiss.

Elena felt a pang in her chest at the scene and wished that the little bitch could disappear already. Stefan looked at them raising his eyebrows in surprise and giving her a smiling amused face and she forced a smile.

"Surprise." Andie said as she wrapped her arms around Damon's waist.

"Andie." He acknoweledged somehow uncomfortably and confused as much as she and Stefan seemed to be.

"Who else?" She said mischeviously with a wink.

That's it, Elena thought. I'm going to throw up now.

She then eyed Stefan and pomped her chest a little, holding her head up as she threw her hair behind her shoulder.

"I'm Andie. Damon's…friend." She said with her usual fake smile as she shook Stefan's hand.

"I'm Stefan, Damon's brother. Nice to meet you Andie." He said politely.

Elena knew Stefan far too much and she could see that he didn't have a good feeling about the girl too. Why couldn't Damon see it? But most of all, why did she so desperately wanted him to?

He seemed to be very uncomfortable and irritated though and she wondered if she was probably just imagining it.

"Well I…better get back to the kitchen. I'll leave you guys alone." She said smiling.

"Be careful not to burn anything in there." Andie said in her whiny voice as her hold on Damon's waist tightened.

"Don't worry about that." Elena replied quickly as she smiled fakely back at her. "Oh and you should probably take that little scarf of yours off. It's really hot in here…wouldn't want you to burn from it." She said as she walked away.

She smirked smugly as she saw Andie's priceless face. Oh how she liked still being the bitch around town sometimes.

She managed to find something to do in the kitchen for a few minutes to avoid them and as she returned at the bar she noticed that they'd luckily gone to one of the boots. That clingly monkey of Andie of course with them.

"Elena Gilbert." She heard the smooth voice calling.

She turned around and saw Mason Lockwood leaning against the counter, smiling at her.

"Mason." She acknoweledged. "Long time no see."

"Indeed." He said nodding. "I missed you though. I'm just gonna ask you bluntly; what do you say if we go out one of these days? Always if a pretty little thing like you is still available."

What to do? Mason wasn't bad, he'd actually always been quite nice to her. He was a Lockwood but he was nothing like Tyler.

He was hot, nice, an easy distraction…but why the thought didn't appeal her that much?

As she looked over at Damon and Stefan's table and saw Andie being all over Damon she made her decision. This sort of crush that she was developing for Damon Salvatore had to end now.

"I would love to." She said as he grinned happily.