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"Elena, I'm so sorry." Damon said, brushing the hair out of Elena's eyes. She smiled weakly and Damon knew it had obviously hurt her to talk about Stefan's death again.
"If you'd like I could go rip some heads off? Start some chaos in the town? Seize our revenge?" he teased. She let out a gentle laugh and squeezed his hand, which she realized she was still holding.
"Thank you, but I'd rather have you unexposed and safe. Losing one vampire was hard enough for me." Elena cautioned.
"Fine. Well I'm sure I could find another way to take your mind off things." Damon leaned in and winked at Elena. She let go of his hand and playfully shoved him backwards.
"You haven't changed a bit all these years. Have you?" She asked.
"I have, really. My old self just likes to make… spontaneous appearances." Damon waved his hands as if to indicate he had no control over this. Elena laughed again, but her face turned serious after a moment.
"Damon, you know you didn't have to leave all those years ago? You could have stayed with us." Elena stated. His decision to leave was something she had never really understood and since Damon now had his answers, she decided to get hers.
"No, Elena. I had to go. There was no other choice." Damon sighed. Elena could hear something in his voice that made her more curious.
"What do you mean there was no other choice?" Elena questioned. She felt her eyebrows pull together. She felt like she was missing something very important.
"I mean there was no way I could have stayed in Mystic Falls, Elena." Damon replied flatly. He didn't want to get into this now and he could feel himself starting to lose patience.
"Yes, you could have! You could have continued to be the annoying and uncaring brother. Then when Stefan and I got engaged you could have eventually decided you care enough to be Stefan's best man at the wedding. Then you could have teased me mercilessly as your new sister-in-law. See? It's all simple!" Elena argued. She could feel her heart begin to beat faster as a new anger rose in her.
"Elena, just drop it." Damon warned. He looked around the room and saw that people were beginning to point at whisper at their conversation, which was slowly turning into a fight.
"No, I can't. I need to know why you left us! You could have protected him, you know? You could have stopped them from killing Stefan!" Elena snapped. She stood up out of her seat and threw her hands down on the table.
"Elena, this isn't the time!" Damon growled. He stood up too, gesturing to the people around them who all looked on in shock.
"Stop dodging my questions! You never gave me a straight answer, and you never will!" Elena yelled. She gathered all the force she had inside her and pushed Damon. He barely moved, but she didn't care, it made her feel better to try to hurt him. She wanted to hurt him, just like he had hurt her.
"Elena, stop!" He urged. He grabbed her around the wrists to try and calm her down, but she threw him off. He could see she was crying now as she picked up her coat, scarf and bags. She didn't bother to put them on; she just stormed out the door.
Elena knew she was going to explode with rage if she didn't leave. She was sick of Damon hiding things from her and knew that she would accidentally end up revealing the Salvatore's secret to the public if she didn't get away from him. She blindly charged through the people on the sidewalk, not caring who she was barging into. She couldn't feel Damon following her, but that didn't mean he wasn't. She didn't really care where he was right now; she just wanted to get to in her car and get home. When she reached the car it took her a while to get the car door open. She was struggling to get the key in the lock because her hands were shaking and she couldn't see well through her tears.
When it finally unlocked she threw open the back door and forced her things onto the back seat, then opened the front door and climbed into her seat. She started the car up and was about to pull out into the road when she felt her door open.
"Elena, don't be stupid." Damon moaned. He tried to turn off the car, but Elena was throwing her fists at him, refusing to let him near her.
"What do you mean 'don't be stupid'? I'm just trying to get home!" she yelled. She decided to stop trying to punch him, it wasn't working anyway.
"Elena, look at me." Damon urged. She turned her face to him, scowling through her tears. "Elena, I remember what happened to your parents. They were driving, they got distracted and they lost control. You're stupid if you think I'm going to let you drive home like this." He waved towards her, she was a sobbing mess. "I am not going to let the same thing happen to you, all because you are mad at me." Damon looked her straight in the eyes as he said this. He knew it would be his fault if she died, and he couldn't let that happen. Elena loosened her grip on the wheel and slumped in her chair. Damon signaled for her to move over and she obliged, sliding into the passenger seat. Damon gracefully got into the car, put on his seatbelt and started to drive.
"What about your car?" Elena muttered.
"My car? I didn't bring one – I don't need it. I only drive a car when I intend to have lady passengers." Damon said cheekily. He didn't dare look at Elena, but he thought he could see her smiling out the corner of his eye.