A rush of cold air greeted Elena the moment she stepped out into the dark night, taking a deep breath in she hugged her jacket closer to herself in order to keep warm. She wandered the streets for what must have been hours before she found herself exactly where she had began; cold, alone and metaphorically lost. She found a deserted staircase of a building, sitting down she wiper her eyes dry her breath hitching from all the crying. Exhausted she sat for a while wondering whether or not she should call Caroline, she didn't exactly feel like being alone right now. She pulled out her phone her whole body shuddering with a sob as she dismissed the phone, she couldn't call her friend and tell her what she'd done.
A loud clatter made her jump as a few people started stumbling out of the bar around the corner, she turned away trying to distract any attention from herself. A group of guys singing loudly walked past towards the adjacent street. Recognizing his voice, her head snapped up towards the group until her eyes found his. He had his arm slung over the shoulder of his vampire friend, Klaus. He averted his gaze from hers and continued to walk past her. Gritting her teeth, Elena fought to keep herslef together. I will not cry in front of him she thought to herself angrily, her bottom lip quievering. Just before making the turn to the next street, Damon detatched himself from Klaus, whispering something to the guys who turned back to look at Elena before shrugging nonchalantly and walking away. Damon walked towards her, stopping only when he was directly in front of her. He slowly crouched down beside her and when she kept her gaze on the ground beside her feet, he placed his index finger on her chin lifting it up so that she was looking at him in the eye.
His facial expression softened, he knew she had been crying she concluded. "What's the matter?" he asked her his voice soft as velvet, there was something in it that had never been there before. It lacked humor and playfulness.
"Nothing," she lied plastering the best smile she could muster. "I'm fine, just tired."
"You're lying. I can tell that you've been crying, Elena. The runny nose, the glassy eyes and the red cheeks are a dead give away," he told her warmly keeping his fingers under her chin.
She turned away from him slightly forcing his fingers to drop, she took a slow deep breath in knowing it'd be useless to pretend that she hadn't been sobbing her heart out.
"I don't need your pity."
"Good, because you're not gonna get it. Pity is reserved for those who actually deserve it, not for short girls with a sharp tongue."
Elena couldn't help herself, she felt a genuine smile play on her lips despite herself. "Hey, I'm not that short!"
"Whatever makes you sleep through the night honey," he shrugged playfully smiling back at her. "I wouldn't want to say anything hurtful tonight. You never know, you may start the water works again. You girls are so emotional."
This time Elena threw her head back and laughed out loud her shoulders shaking, it was a good feeling she realized. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this calm and carefree, despite the recent disaster.
"Thank you," she told him after a beat forcing herself to look into his bright blue eyes.
"What can I tell you? I'm a sucker for an emotional mess," he got up dusting his hands on his jeans.
"Shut up," she retorted her tone friendly as she wiped her face with the back of her hands.
"You're welcome," he nodded after a moment his voice serious and sincere. "Come on, I'll walk you home."
"No, you're okay," she told him quickly. She wasn't ready to go home yet, Jeremy most likely would have heard the news by now, he was friends with Matt after-all. "But you go, I won't stay here for much longer anyway."
He gave her a long incredulous look. "If you think I'm leaving you here alone you're insane. Someone could come along and kidnap you or something. Then you'd really have something to cry about."
He came over and sat on the step beside her bumping her shoulder softly with his own. She gave him a quick smile, silently grateful for his thought of sitting alone feeling sorry for herself wasn't exactly inviting. Not to mention the fact that she always had a good time when she was around him, she was surprised to find that he was able to make her laugh even when her whole life was tumbling down around her. She thought back to the day she'd met him, how angry his arrogance and constant snarky comments had made her, now she realized that they were just a part of who he was — she had in fact grown quite fond of him she realized, startled. She didn't hate him she concluded thinking back to how she'd yelled at him furiously in the rain, in that moment yes, she'd meant it but now? She didn't hate anything about the way she felt around him. Whatever it was, it scared her half to death as it felt like she was plummeting into the unknown but there was no hatred for who he was and how much had changed because of him. She never thought she'd be sitting this close to a vampire without having the innate instinct to stake them, who would have thought that she'd find herself being friends with a vampire? Dismissing her thoughts about him, she let her mind drift onto other things. They sat like that for a very long time, side by side, not talking. She didn't want to tell him what had happened with Matt and he didn't ask, she was very grateful for that. He just sat with her whilst she mulled over the events of that night, but surprisingly for the first time in a long while, she felt completely at peace.
Authors note: Hola! Updates two days in a row, I'm totally spoiling you guys ;) I hope you like this Chapter, do let me know what you think. I just thought I'd give you all a nice Damon and Elena scene without any drama before things go up in flames mwa-ha-ha! (I kid you of course...or not). Anyway, you know how happy reviews make me so do leave some :)) I shall update next week with one or perhaps two chapters if I'm feeling generous. Toodles xo
