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The next chapter things will start speeding up, I promise.
Elena woke up alone the next morning. Matt's side of the bed was seemingly untouched. Had he even been home?
Their cat was curled up at the foot of the bed, purring – or snoring, Elena wasn't sure. "Morning, Oli." She smiled, gently stroking the silky fur on Oliver's head.
He awoke with a startle, his head shot up. He clearly had been snoring, but the sound soon faded into a faint purr.
As much as she didn't want to leave the bed, she knew she had to. She'd already slept in. She needed to be at work in an hour.
After rushing to make herself presentable, sprinting down the street, and two pathetic attempts to hail a cab, she finally made it to work. Five minutes late, but hey, it could be worse, right?
The elevator was slow and felt muggy in the stale spring air. Two other people, whom she didn't know stepped out on the third floor, and her ride up was soon a solo event.
In the time span it took to climb half a dozen floors, she was writhing at the thought of telling Matt. How was she supposed to go about it? Every way she played the scenario in her head it ended poorly.
As the elevator dinged and the doors opened, Bonnie was waiting with a scowl. "You're late." She said, trying to make it seem like the reason she was upset was work-related.
"Five minutes. Nobody else seems to have noticed." Elena declared pushing her way through a sea of people and into her office. Nobody was working yet, so she figured she was in the clear. "I'm only working until noon today." She announced, as Bonnie tightly closed the door behind them.
"I know, I know. But what did Matt say?" Bonnie gushed. She loved hearing about other people's personal drama, after all.
Elena picked through a stack of papers, uneasily. "I haven't told him yet." She sighed. "I didn't see him last night."
The familiar sound of her computer starting was the only one in the room. Bonnie seemed to have been racking her brain for a response.
"What do you mean, you didn't see him?" She asked. "You live with him."
"He said he got caught up at work, and oh, here he is now." Elena smirked, showing Bonnie a picture of Matt's smiling face on her phone's screen.
As Elena picked up the phone, Bonnie rolled her eyes. "You can't avoid it, just tell him or we'll cancel on Damon." With that, she gave her friend a wide-eyed stare, shook her head a bit, and left the room.
Elena suspected she'd be back, and sooner rather than later. But Matt was on the phone and Bonnie was right, she needed to talk to him. But she wanted to break the news in person.
"I get out at noon, so do you wanna grab lunch?" She asked, trying to sound as casual and non-urgent as possible.
"Yeah, sure babe. Sorry I didn't get to see you last night. I got home at two o'clock this morning, so I slept on the couch. Didn't want to wake you."
Well, at least he came home, Elena thought. "Jeez, what time did you have to go back in?"
"Six." He sighed – or yawned. Elena wasn't sure. He definitely sounded tired. "I figured you'd be up by then, but I take it you slept in today?" His voice was almost envious.
"Ugh, yes. I overslept." She sighed, "But, I should get to work." She said, glancing at the clock – almost 8:30? "I'll see you at one?" She asked.
"Usual spot?"
"Yes sir."
"See you then. Love you." He said, awaiting her response.
She replied with a "Love you too," and the lines were dropped.
In the silence of her office, she was bombarded by her own thoughts. Was he going to get mad? No, she had a legitimate reason to cancel – the interview of a lifetime! Actually, maybe it was only incredibly significant to her because she had an outrageous crush on Damon Salvatore, but it was definitely going to make the cover!
The day droned on, and when 11:30 rolled around, Bonnie and Elena had come up with a solid list of questions for Mr. Salvatore. But Elena had one last questions for Bonnie, about the interview.
"Where is it?"
"Where's what?" Bonnie asked, confused, thinking Elena was looking for a pen or something.
"The interview." Elena pressed.
"Read the notes I give you a little more closely next time, Lena." Bonnie sighed. They'd been over this. "It's all in there. But, it's before some photo shoot of his. I know, it's inconvenient, but at least you'll get to interview him, and see him strip." Bonnie concluded before rattling off some random street address not too far from the office they sat in now.
"Inconvenient doesn't even begin to cover that!" Elena said, her voice was stressed. "I'm going to have to bombard him with questions before he hops in front of a camera and then a failed shoot because of mental distress of something will be my fault!" She was being over-dramatic, she knew, but still that wasn't the point.
"Elena Gilbert." Bonnie snapped. "You're going to go to this interview and you're going to ask that beautiful man these questions," she held up a copy of their list. "And then you're going to smile, thank him for your time, go home, and get to work on your article. You're going to be professional, mostly, and you're going to make it work."
Bonnie was right. She was going to work with what she had. A cramped, quick interview was better than no interview at all. "You're right." She sighed, packing her things up. "I've gotta go tell Matt."
"Ooh, ouch. Alright, tell me what happens?" Bonnie raised a questioning eyebrow and slipped out of the room leaving Elena with her troubles once again.
Everything was slow getting there, the elevator, the traffic, even her own walking.
The little coffee shop run by a middle aged couple wasn't even two blocks away from her work. It sat almost in the middle of Elena's and Matt's offices, making it an easy lunch break destination.
The bell on the door dinged as she walked in. The place was modeled after an old 50's diner, and in the corner booth sat her fiance, sipping at a mug of coffee and scribbling in a notebook.
"I thought this was a lunch break?" She asked, smiling.
"It is." His returning smile was brighter than hers, and she felt bad, because he noticed. "What's wrong?" He asked, standing up and pressing his lips to her cheek before she sat down across from him.
"I have bad news." Her eyes dropped to the table.
"Spill it, Elena."
"I can't go tomorrow." She looked up to meet his eyes before quickly continuing. "Which maybe isn't such a bad thing, you have a few days off, so catch up on some sleep, watch football, do whatever."
He didn't respond for a moment, which made the lump in her throat grow even larger.
"Why?" Matt's tone was nearly hostile. "What could possibly be more important this time, Elena?"
"I- I have to work." She mumbled.
"You have to work? Really, because we've had this planned for weeks." Okay, so he was mad. Really mad.
"I know, but Bonnie got me an interview that I'll probably never be able to reschedule, and it was short notice and I'm sorry!" She blurted. Her words ran together in a jumbled mess.
"Right. Bonnie. You let her dictate you, Elena." Matt seethed.
"I do not! She's my friend, she's just trying to help!" Elena spat, considering his words after she reacted.
"Who's this interview with?" Matt practically barked.
"Um." She was nervous. Here comes the fire, she thought. "Uh, Da- Damon." She couldn't even get his name out before the waitress interrupted them.
"Can I get you two some drinks to start?" She smiled politely, entirely unaware of what was going on.
"No!" Matt snapped, not even looking at her.
She frowned, "I'll come back."
Elena watched as she nearly sprinted away.
"Damon? Damon who, Elena?"
"Salvatore." She gulped.
"So this is about your ridiculous celebrity crush?" He rolled his eyes, shoving his things back into his briefcase. "Well, I hope you have a good time. Maybe you can stay at Bonnie's tonight."
"What, why?" Elena felt like she'd been slapped.
"Because obviously Bonnie has a good idea of what you want, and I don't. So you can primp and do your stupid girly shit over there before you go see your little crush."
"Matt, it's not like that! Where are you going?" She screeched, as he got up out of his seat.
"Don't cause a scene, Lena." He growled. "I'm going back to work. I'm not in a good mood, and I'd rather not fight right now. So you stay with your girlfriend's tonight, and tell me about your interview with your boyfriend tomorrow."
"Matt," she whispered. "Just because I think this guy is attractive, doesn't mean that's the only reason I'm doing this interview. I don't overreact like this when you have a super gorgeous client, do I? I didn't plan on it, okay? It just came up. And if I can get a cover story out of it, I'm going to." Now she was the one snapping at him. "If you're going to be a jerk about it, fine, I'll stay with Bonnie. She at least acknowledges the fact that this is strictly professional, and not at all about my "crush" on Damon Salvatore. It's just an interview." Elena promised.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Elena." Matt mumbled before leaving her crumbling in the middle of a semi-crowded restaurant.