Okay so finally, I've finished this chapter! Thank you guys so much for the reviews. Suggestions, criticism, etc. always welcomed.
"Lena, mail." Matt called, stepping through the front door.
As promised, Elena had cut back her work schedule, and even though she was dying to get going on a new article for the next magazine, she was sitting nearly motionless on the couch in their living room, the TV on but inaudible. At the sound of Matt's voice she stood, and went to meet her fiance in the kitchen. He tossed the envelope across the counter, where it skidded to a halt in front of her.
Her fingers peeled at the paper, silently revealing an eggshell colored invitation. She read the invitation to herself before looking up at Matt, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I'm invited to some party." She declared, a bit unsure of what this company's party had to do with her.
"Really?" Matt asked, extending his hand for the paper. She dropped it into his palm, trying to read his expressions as he read the card. "Wow, this is big Len." He admitted, even though he knew her going meant she was bound to head back to work. "You should go. There will probably be big names there. If you want to be a better journalist while working normal hours," He stressed, "You have to go meet new people, right? Maybe you can land a job for this Mikaelson company. Whoever they are."
She was stunned. "Wait, seriously?"
"Yes, seriously." He nodded, a smile threatening his lips. He may not want her gone all the time, but he knew her job was something she loved, possibly more than him, so he couldn't try to keep her from it.
"Come with me?" She grinned.
"Elena Gilbert, are you asking me on a date?" He joked, moving around the counter, and to her side.
"I believe I am." She smiled again against his lips. "Is that a yes?"
"I believe it is."
"You're going to meet so many people, oh my God, Lena." Bonnie gushed through the phone's speaker.
"Yeah, which is why I need to not look like a train wreck." Elena sighed. She was nearly out of breath from tearing the house apart. She'd lost her earrings. A pair of diamonds that Matt had given her on her 22nd birthday.
Her dress was bunched around her thighs, she was bent over, looking like she was playing football, one shoe was on, while the other lay on the floor in the bedroom... or living room. It was somewhere. That didn't matter now, what mattered was that Matt was on his way home, and she was hunched over in the bathroom rummaging through old jewelry in hopes of finding the missing earrings.
"You'll be fine." Bonnie assured her. "Hm, try the little drawer closest to the wall." She offered. "You throw everything in there when you're cleaning."
"I wouldn't just toss Matt's earrings in – oh, yeah, apparently I would. Thank you! Bonnie, you're the greatest." Elena pulled two tiny stones out of the messy drawer. Shoving them maybe a bit too violently into her ears, she heard the door open. "Matt's here. Gotta go. Thanks, Bon, again. I owe you."
"I know." Bonnie joked. "Let me know how it goes?"
"Always." Elena promised before straightening her dress, and desperately trying to make her limp look normal as she made her way to the living room to say hello to her fiance, and search for her other shoe.
"You look... beautiful, but lop-sided." Matt smiled, kissing her cheek.
"Thank you, and, I know." She stated, looking around the room for the shoe.
"Looking for this?" Matt asked with a grin, her black heel in his hand.
"Yes." She nodded, taking the shoe from him. "Go get ready! We have to be there soon."
"Elena, I have plenty of time to get ready. I'm not a girl." He reminded her, walking toward the bedroom. "But yes ma'am."
Elena smiled, "I want to see you in a tux, Mr. Donovan."
"I'm aware." Matt called from his place in the bedroom.
In another hour and a half, the pair were standing outside of the venue stating their names. A large party hall played host to the event. Matt squeezed Elena's hand in reassurance before they were let through the tall double doors.
People crowded the room, occupying ever corner, and speckling the middle of the floor. Some mingling with co-workers, some schmoozing their way in with the bosses. Elena felt more than out of place, still not entirely sure what she was doing there.
They awkwardly walked into the room, doing their best to stay to themselves, not sure where to start.
Matt pulled two glasses of champagne off of a tray, and handed one to her. "Calm down, Elena." He ran his fingers along her jaw. "You'll be fine."
She nodded, and took a far too big of a gulp from her glass.
"Whoa, slow down there champ." A deep voice from her left cooed.
She snapped her head up in embarrassment. "What are you doing here?" She asked, her eyes meeting his electric blue irises.
Damon smiled. "I invited you, Ms. Gilbert." Elena felt Matt tense at her side before Damon directed his attention to him, extending a hand. "Damon Salvatore." He grinned.
"Matt Donovan." Matt nodded, still unsure about this. It hadn't registered with either he or Elena that this company was indeed one Damon worked for. Damon had invited them. Damon Salvatore.
Matt linked a protective arm around Elena's waist, before Damon's date came into the picture.
Katherine, looking lovely as ever in a floor length golden gown weaseled her way into the trio. "Is this Elena?" She asked Damon, pretending to be innocent, and flapping her long eyelashes.
"It is." Damon nodded, smiling.
Elena felt a bit uncomfortable. Why, or how did Katherine Pierce know who she was? With Damon's eyes tethered to hers, and Matt's hand securing her waist, she had no idea what to do.
In a pathetic attempt to ignore both uncomfortable gestures from the boys, she shifted in Matt's grip and dropped her eyes to the floor.
"Well, aren't you pretty." Katherine smirked, sensing her discomfort. "You look a lot like me."
Elena smiled, now incredibly uneasy. "I've been told that before." She let her eyes meet Damon's for a brief second, before moving her gaze to Matt.
"So," Damon interjected, trying to ease the growing tension and grab Elena's attention once more. "Ms. Gilbert, there's a few people I think you should meet."
"How about I take.. what's your name?" Katherine slithered up to Matt's side.
"Matt Donovan." He said calmly, trying to decipher Mr. Salvatore's intentions with his fiance.
"How about I take Mr. Donovan here, and you two can go do your work thing?" She offered.
Matt and Elena exchanged uneasy looks before Matt accepted her offer, and Katherine hauled him across the room, leaving Elena and Damon to themselves.
"So who is it exactly that I need to meet?" Elena asked, instantly calmer in Katherine's absence.
"Well, my brother, for one." Damon said, holding his arm out. "And my boss."
"Lead the way." Instinctively, Elena hooked her limb through his and allowed him to lead her into a circle.
Seven people stood chatting happily. Two blonde women, five men. Elena recognized one immediately, as Stefan Salvatore. He didn't look much like his brother, but she'd know him anywhere. He wasn't exactly easy to ignore.
The other six, Elena didn't recognize at all. She shifted uncomfortably in Damon's light, and surprisingly innocent grasp.
He noticed this. They were just making their way into the group, when he allowed himself to be more natural, less professional with her. But just this once, he told himself. The rest of the night was to be entirely business oriented, no matter how good she looked, or smelled, or... He shook his head, trying to literally shake the thoughts from his mind.
He plopped his hand down on top of hers, "You're stressing out already?"
"No." Elena answered a bit too quickly. "How can you even tell? I have the ultimate poker face."
"Maybe so, but you're rigid enough to be a corpse." He swung her arm a bit, which was still linked through his. "Loosen up!"
The crowd noticed them now, standing just a few feet off. Stefan Salvatore spoke first. "Damon, Damon, Damon, already switching your dates?" Stefan's tone wasn't hostile, more joking.
If Elena hadn't been excruciatingly uncomfortable then, she was now. Nothing like being second best... however, she had absolutely no right to feel that way. She was here on business terms, and her fiance, the man she loved, was thirty feet away even though it felt like miles.
Stefan watched intently as Elena slid her arm out of Damon's. He felt like he should apologize, but only to her, not his brother. "I'm Stefan Salvatore." He extended a hand, awaiting one of Damon's witty remarks, but none came. His brother was actually behaving!
"Elena Gilbert." She managed. I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have come! Her brain was in overdrive, but she managed to keep herself composed enough so that nobody would stare. She clearly just wasn't the hang-out-with-celebrities type.
"It's a pleasure," Stefan continued. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you doing with my brother?"
Damon perked up then. His silence, he realized, hadn't gone unnoticed. "I'm getting her some contacts." Damon said flatly, when he noticed Elena's head swivel to look for Matt.
The three talked for a moment, but Stefan soon ducked out and left Damon to introduce Elena to the rest of the group, who turned out to be none other than the Mikaelsons themselves.
"Elena, this is my boss, Klaus Mikaelson, and his family." Around the circle the names were spoken. They all had old, slightly strange names. Elena shook hands, smiled, and pretended she wasn't concerned with Katherine being alone with her boyfriend. Fiance, she meant fiance. Matt wasn't just her boyfriend. She was going to marry him. Next year, she was going to be Elena Donovan.
Why was she thinking about this right now? She was so unfocused, she was practically silently begging Damon to lead her away, disengage themselves from the group.
Oddly enough, he heard her silent plea. She said goodbye to those around her, only remembering four out of the six names. The girls, Rebekah and Caroline, was it? Shook her hand and decided to take her number for "personal calls." Apparently in her awkward, half-crazed, and full-nervous state, she was charming, to them at least.
Once Damon had her far enough away from the group he stopped walking. "What is wrong with you? You're acting like you're headed to slaughter."
"Charming." Elena sneered, now uneasy with the fact that Damon seemed to be able to read her a little too well. "I haven't even done anything!"
"Exactly." He wrinkled his eyebrows. "I thought I'd be doing you a favor by getting you an invite. Klaus could really use some help in the literacy department, and Caroline has just as much, if not more say in the company than he does, and she's been dying to have a friend in the office."
"So I'm supposed to schmooze my way up in the world? Pretend that I care about Caroline's petty poor-me-I-don't-have-time-to-go-shopping-on-my-lunch-break problems? Please. And what's wrong with Rebekah? They seemed like pretty good friends, doesn't she work for them?"
"Rebekah?" Damon laughed. "Rebekah doesn't work, she's more of the office pet. She's there to look pretty and be acknowledged." His faced turned somber now, though – as if finally registering her words. "And Caroline's nice, once you get to know her. She seems superficial, yeah, but she's rich. All rich people are. Even you, Elena Gilbert don't seem like the most down to earth person in the world. I mean, look at you!" He gestured.
So he was right, at that moment. She'd give him that. She did look just as stuck up as everyone else in the room. Diamonds hung in her ears, and around her neck, her dress was clearly expensive and she sported Louboutin pumps. "I'm dressed to fit in, if I would have come in Wal-Mart clothes, the stares would have multiplied." She countered his accusations. "And I'm not rich."
He ran his hand through his thick black hair, locking in her gaze for a moment. "Sure, sure. Look, I thought I was doing you a favor, okay? I know it's hard starting out, no matter what business you're in. Thought I could help a bit, apparently you don't need my help."
"I don't." She snapped, suddenly aware that maybe she'd said a few incredibly wrong things. "But thank you." Her eyes dropped to the floor.
He dropped his hand onto her shoulder, letting it slide down her arm, catching at her elbow. "It was nice meeting you, Elena Gilbert." He said, before he went to leave, but was interrupted.
Matt and Katherine came plowing across the floor, Katherine squealing with excitement. "I had the best idea!"
Damon rolled his eyes. "I wonder what it was..." He said, trying to make a beeline for the booze before Katherine caught him again, stopping him in his tracks and staring him down. Her chocolate eyes locked into his.
"I invited Matt and Elena here, to St. Barts with us next week!" She smiled.
Elena wasn't sure if the smile was fake. She seemed genuinely happy.
"St. Barts?" Damon asked, clearly unaware they were going on vacation.
"Yeah, Matt said they're getting married," She gestured toward Elena. "So, why not bring them along to one of the most beautiful places on earth, and they can have a.." She thought for a moment, apparently for the proper term, "Pre-wedding honey moon! Matt says Elena's a workaholic, so they might not even get one after the wedding. So why wait, right?"
Damon and Elena just stood, staring at her, speechless at first. Damon, because Katherine was acting as if they were a couple, which was outrageous. Elena, because Matt had shared details about her to this stranger.
"Well then." Damon managed trying not to bring attention to the fact that he and Katherine had no plans to head to St. Barts. "Uh."
"What do you think, Len?" Matt cut in, obviously thrilled about a vacation.
"I don't know if I'll be able to get off work..." Elena sighed, doing her best to look disappointed
"I can handle that." Katherine smiled, "I know a lot of people. I'm sure I can call in a favor."
And with that, Elena's only excuse was flung out the window, leaving her and Damon to feel extremely uncomfortable while Matt and Katherine went off pining over what excursions St. Barts would have to offer.
Elena's mind went from one thing to another in an instant. "I'm sorry." She blurted, still watching as her fiance left her side, talking to another woman.
"What?" Damon asked, twisting his head to face her now.
"I was rude, and ungrateful, and I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted." Damon said, a lopsided grin creeping onto his lips.
Elena smiled, but once again, her eyes were locked to Damon's, like some unseen force was connecting them. After all, tonight he'd heard her silent pleas, cut into conversations at just the right moment, and made her more uneasy, but more comfortable at the same time than anyone in her life. Like even though he was a total stranger, at the same time they were friends almost. Acquaintances, maybe. He had seemingly gone out of his way to invite her here, so why not accept it, be thankful, and make the most of it? She broke the eye contact, but could still feel his gaze on her. "I need a drink."
He held out his arm for her to link herself to him once again, now wondering if this was typical or special treatment.
She slid her arm into his, shaking her thoughts and allowing herself to have fun for just one night, even if it was with a man other than her fiance.