Elena's alarm clock rang. She was already awaken so she just turned it off. She kept lying in her bed and thinking about Damon. Tomorrow was Jenna and Alaric's wedding so she was going to see him. Finally. It has gone six years since they last met in high school. She was wondering if he had changed a lot. She had seen some articles about him in a few newspapers and magazines but she never read them. Every time she saw his picture she was throwing away the article. She thought that not knowing anything about him will help her to forget him. Now the more she thought about him the more she convinced herself that Caroline was right. She truly regretted saying 'No' to him. A few tears dropped on her cheek.

"Elena! May I come in?" Miranda was knocking on the door. Elena wiped away her tears.

"Come in, mom!" she said.

"Good morning, honey!" Miranda stopped and looked at her daughter's face "Elena, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, mom. I'm fine." She felt like the other night when she was trying to sound cheerful for her mom not to figure out what was happening.

"Elena, I can see it when you're upset! Tell me, what's the problem?"

"Well… " Elena started "It's Damon."

"I'm gonna kill this guy!"

"You start to sound like dad!" Elena giggled.

"What do you want me to do? You're my daughter and he hurt your feelings!"

"It's not his fault! It's entire my fault! I hurt his feelings – not the other way round." She forced herself to smile even though she knew that what she has just told her mom was a lie – she hurt Damon but that hurt her too because she loved him and she still does. "I'm just afraid that he might hate me. I don't want him to hate me!"

"Well, if you say so." Miranda smiled back "I'm going to be in the kitchen. When you're ready you can come downstairs to have breakfast. Oh, and don't worry - I'll warn your dad not to touch the conversation about Damon."

"Mom, don't do this. Please! I just… Let this be our little secret, OK?"

"Well, you know better for yourself. I'm waiting for you." Miranda said as she went out of the room.

Fifteen minutes later Elena was in the kitchen all dressed up. She was taking a day off because tonight was Jenna's Bachelorette party. In fact party was a very strong word – Caroline, Jenna and Elena were going to Bonnie's house. They were going to drink some champagne and talk about girly things.
"Morning, dad!" Elena said to her dad who was reading a newspaper.

"Morning, 'Lena!"

She sat by the table and her mom gave her a plate full of pancakes.

"Thanks, mom!" she smiled absentmindly. Elena started having her breakfast but she wasn't even seeing what she was eating. Suddenly her father's voice took her out of the trans she was in.

"Guess who has a girlfriend!"

"Who?" she asked.

"Your precious Damon Salvatore!"

"What?"

"Listen!" Grayson began reading "'The hot crime writer Damon Salvatore was seen in the arms of a mystery woman yesterday in Central Park.' There is even a picture."

Elena took the newspaper from his father's hands. The woman was beautiful. She had long blond hair and nice brown eyes. Elena was so jealous even though she knew she didn't have the right to be. In fact all this time she was afraid of reading articles about him because she was scared that she'll find out he found somebody else – 'So pathetic!' she thought. All these years she was hoping that she would see him again and they would fall for each other just like in high school. When she found out he was coming to the wedding one part of her was delighted because that was a chance for her dream to come true.

"I guess I'm a little late!" she mumbled so no one else heard her.

The doorbell rang. Elena rose from the couch and went to the door.

"Jenna!"

"Sorry for being late!" Jenna said as she hugged her sister.

"It's OK."

"Where are mom and dad?"

"They went to Central Park. You know they always have to go on their evening walk."

"Yep. So, are you ready?"

"I am. Let's go." Elena said as she took her purse.

"Hi, girls!" Bonnie opened the front door.

"Hi, Bonnie!"

"Come in!"

Elena and Jenna entered the big house and went straight ahead to the nice living room.

"Isn't Jeremy here?" Elena asked.

"Elena, please! We're not the only who have a party tonight. It's Alaric's Bachelor party." Caroline said as she rose from the couch to hug her friends.

"Right!" Jenna said. "In fact he wanted his party to be in Las Vegas but you know… It's too far away from here."

"Las Vegas!" Caroline scoffed. "Your husband-to-be wanted his Bachelor party to be in Las Vegas and you don't even want to go to a club!" Elena couldn't keep her laugh. "It's not funny, 'Lena! Your sister might be crazy." Caroline joked.

"Girls, as I told you before I just want…" Jenna began but was interrupted by Bonnie.

"A simple girl's night like we usually have on Friday night."

"But it's not too late to order a stripper!" Carline said devilish.

"I think I'll pass!" Jenna laughed. "Let's drink some champagne!"

The whole night they talked and laughed. Soon Caroline got a bit drunk and started asking awkward questions.

"So, Elena… Did you see the article in the newspaper?"

"Which article?" Bonnie asked.

"The one about Damon Salvatore's new girlfriend. So, did you see it?"

"Yes, I did." Elena tried to sound calm.

"And?"

"What 'and'?"

"Oh, come on Elena! I'm sure you were so jealous that you wanted to kill that bitch!" Caroline moaned.

"Caroline! Why would I do that?"

"Because…" she took another swallow of the champagne "…you do love him! Even though you keep denying it. And what was that in the little box Bonnie was about to open but you told her not to do it?"

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Bonnie said.

"No, I'll tell you. There was a ring inside it."

"A ring?"

"Yes, a ring. The ring that Damon proposed to me with." Elena blushed.

"What?" Caroline was shocked. "Damon Salvatore proposed to you?"

"Why is it in that box and not on your hand? And why aren't you Mrs. Salvatore now?" Bonnie asked.

"Because I said 'No'."

"What? You said 'No' when Damon Salvatore asked you to marry him?" Caroline was almost shouting.

"What else was I supposed to say, Caroline? I was eighteen!" Elena shouted back.

"He proposed to you in high school? Why you never told us?"

"Well, that's a kind of long story." Elena said.

"And we have a lot of time."

"OK then. Well, you all know that Damon and I dated…"

But as Caroline said it wasn't only them that had a party that night. Alaric's Bachelor party was in a bar near his and Jenna's apartment. Damon had gone to that bar many nights to drink with Alaric. When he entered the bar he saw Alaric and some other guys on one table in the corner. They were surrounded by a few strippers.

"Damon! You made it!" Alaric said when he saw his friend.

"How can I miss your Bachelor party?" he smirked. "I should say it's… wow!" Damon said when one of the strippers walked past him. "Your best man did his job."

"Well, about that… My best man had an accident this morning so he won't make it for the wedding. So, I hoped that you would be my best man. What do you say?"

"Sure." Damon said.

"You're asking him to be your best man?" Jeremy has just appeared.

"Yeah. Why not?" Alaric asked.

"Well… You know what – forget it!"

"OK. But how do you know each other?" Alaric was a bit surprised.

"Long story. But how do you know each other?" Damon asked.

"Well, Jeremy is my-brother-in-law-to-be."

"What?" Damon raised his eyebrow. "You mean that you're marrying his sister?"

"Yep." Alaric smirked. "Do you want something to drink?"

"I definitely need a lot of tequila!" Damon was broken. He knew Elena had a sister but when he and Elena dated Jenna was looking like a twelve years old girl so he immediately eliminated her as Alaric's future wife – he thought Jenna was still too young. The thought of Elena marrying someone else, better yet one of his friends, hurt him very much. And things were getting even worse – he had just agreed to be Alaric's best man so he was supposed to stay there and watch him kissing her, perhaps he would be the god-father of their children and so on. He couldn't believe of his 'luck'. So he simply decided to drown the pain.

"Hey, you, the blond one!" He shouted at one of the strippers. "Come here!"

Sorry I couldn't update it any sooner but I had a lot of things in school. From now on I'm going to update every weekend. That's not only because of my things in school but because of the fact that I'm going to upload a new story - "Forbidden Love"!