A/N: First, thanks to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favorited my little story. This is the first that I've ever written so to get positive feedback was great! Second, I will try to update as often as possible but don't expect them to always be this soon! On to chapter 2!

It was on the 2nd day of sitting at Elena's bedside with no discernible change with her, that Damon began thinking of their relationship and everything that they had been through together. They had had a somewhat volatile relationship and he knew that most of that was his fault, but the good times more than outweighed the bad. Leaning back in his chair, he let his mind wander to the first time they had met.

June 2009

"Come on, Elena! It's finally summer! We have to go out to this party!" Caroline screeched.

"Care, I just want to sit at home with my ice cream and watch movies! I don't want to go to some stupid party where I won't know anyone." Elena replied.

"That's the point, Elena! You need to meet new people! Maybe even find a guy that will finally take your mind off of Matt," Caroline mused.

It had been 4 months since her 2 year relationship with Matt Donovan had ended and it was proving to be harder to get over than Elena thought. Finally admitting that getting herself out there was a good idea, she sighed inwardly.

"Fine, Care. I'll go to this party. But, I'm not changing. I'll be going in my yoga pants and hoodie or the deal is off." Elena said.

"Yay! Let's get going then!" Caroline said, voice filled with excitement.

15 minutes later, they were pulling up to a house on the other side of town and Elena was beginning to regret her decision. After making their way through the house and saying hello to the few people that she recognized, they made their way out onto the back patio. She heard him before she saw him.

"No way you can drink more than me! I'm the king of this place! Nobody is better than me at anything!"

Elena rolled her eyes and craned her neck to see who was making the arrogant remarks. She recognized him as Damon Salvatore. He had graduated two years before she had from Mystic Falls High and while she had never talked to him, she had certainly heard of his reputation. He was a ladies' man, and had been with more than his fair share of women, never committing to a single one of them. He was the exact type of guy that Elena needed to avoid. But, God was he hot. She made her way towards a chair and continued to watch him put down and laugh at every person that came and challenged him to a drinking game.

Twenty minutes later, she was sitting next to Caroline, who was eyeing the guy standing in the corner, Tyler something, Elena vaguely remembered. She looked up to see Damon walking towards where she was sitting. She watched him openly check out the 2 girls he walked past before coming over and kissing a girl named Andie, who was his current flavor of the week. They moved to stand near where Elena was sitting as he noticed a girl in a bikini top and cut off shorts walking by him before calling out, "hey, baby!" She turned around and was met with the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

"Has anyone ever told you that you are an asshole?" She offered nonchalantly.

Damon feigned hurt by clutching his right hand over his heart. "Me? An asshole? I'm offended!"

"Good. Now you know how every female here feels when you look at them like a piece of meat." She countered.

Plopping himself down in the chair next to her he extended his hand to her. "I think it's time we formally meet since you think you already have me figured out. I'm Damon."

She rolled her eyes, ignoring him and turned away from him to continue her conversation with Caroline.

"So you're not even going to tell me your name after insulting me? And I'm supposed to be the asshole in this situation?"

She whipped around with the most forced smile she could muster and cooed, "Oh, I'm so sorry! I must not have seen you there! It is SO nice to meet you! I'm Elena!" before turning her back to him once again.

"Well, Miss Elena, you sure know how to get someone's attention. It's a good thing you've got such a personality because that outfit you're wearing surely doesn't attract many men," Damon replied with a smirk.

Getting annoyed, she turned back towards him only to counter, "I just don't see the point in getting dressed up when there won't be anyone worth impressing where I'm going."

"I like you, Elena. You've got spunk. Not many people can go toe to toe with me. I'm intrigued by you."

"Great. I can hardly contain my excitement. Now that I've got the attention of the infamous Damon Salvatore, tell me, have you always been such a jerk? Or is it all just a front because you're afraid of something?"

Damon's eyes widened. Nobody had ever called him out on that before. It was like this girl knew him without even having to try. He wasn't sure what to say back, so he plastered his nearly permanent smirk on his face and laughed, "No, Elena, I'm not afraid of anything."

"If that's what helps you sleep at night, then keep telling yourself that, Damon."

Before they knew it, they had been bantering back and forth for almost an hour. The conversation getting lighter the longer they continued.

"Did you know that semen whitens teeth?" he offered with a grin.

"Oh, really now? And how do you know that?" she replied.

"Google, of course."

"And what else do you Google, Mr. Salvatore?" Elena countered.

He was stumped. He had no idea how to respond to that. For the first time, Damon Salvatore was speechless. Elena burst out laughing after registering the confused look on his face. After hearing her laughter, he decided he wanted to do all that he could to hear it more often. He was about to open his mouth to begin talking again when Caroline approached.

"Are you ready to go, Elena? They ran out of wine coolers and I'm tired." Caroline whined.

"Sure, Care. Let's get you home." Elena said, while standing up.

Turning towards Damon, Elena said, "Well, Damon. This conversation has been…entertaining. It was good to have a conversation like that, I hadn't done it in awhile." She offered him a small smile before walking towards the house.

"Wait, Elena!" She turned around slowly, looking at him expectantly. "Do you think, maybe we could do this again? I mean the banter part. It's not often I find someone that can keep up with me," he said with a wink.

"Sure, Damon." She started to walk away slowly repeating the numbers to her phone number.

She smirked to herself, if somehow he managed to hear everything I just said, I might just talk to him again, she thought.

She drove home thinking about the night and how glad she was that she ended up going out that night. Just as she pulled up to her house, her phone beeped. She grabbed it and opened the message.

"It was nice meeting you, Miss Elena. Don't forget what I said about semen. ;)"

Damon was jolted out of his dream by a nurse entering the room to check on Elena's vitals. Once she left again, Damon leaned over Elena's body and placed a soft kiss to her forehead before whispering to her, "You can't leave me, Elena. You're the only person that understands me. You've called me on my bullshit from the minute I met you. I won't last without you. Please, please be okay. I love you so much." With one last glance at her, he walked out of the room to get a coffee and hopefully get his mind on something else other than all of the things that he had done wrong to the beautiful woman up on the third floor.

A/N: Ok, confession time. This story is loosely based on my own past relationship. Pretty much everything except for the accident is something that actually happened between me and my ex. So writing this has been very cathartic for me and I really hope that you guys are enjoying it.