A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I was in very low spirits when I posted and your reviews and kind words really helped pull me out of the doldrums.

So, I'm back with another chapter. Chapter four was an uphill battle every step of the way, but this chapter was a lot of fun to write. In fact I don't think I've ever enjoyed writing a chapter more than I did this one, for several reasons. One, I was totally immersed in my own D/E fantasy world. Two, Damon, who has been quiet for me on and off the past four chapters, got very vocal. Three, I had a lot of reasons to giggle during this.

This chapter is a longish one, and I was going to break it into two, but I thought you guys would want to read about the party. I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 5

Elena finished work late on Thursday, and headed over to the bar at around seven o'clock. Spending a night in Damon Salvatore's company, learning how to pick up men, was not the way she wanted to spend her evening; but she would go and get it over with. She usually learned things quickly, and hopefully she'd learn all she had to from Damon in one night.

When she walked into Ric's, she spotted him straight away. He was at the bar talking to a woman she hadn't seen in there before. Elena noticed the casual way they were speaking. Their body language was completely relaxed and she was laughing like he'd told her something extraordinarily funny, while he was sitting back and smirking at her. It was obviously a moment between friends.

Elena hesitated for a moment, not wanting to walk over there and interrupt them, but as if he felt her watching him, he turned and looked straight at her. Even across a crowded room, she felt the electricity between them as his eyes met hers. Ignoring the way her heart jumped, she forced her legs to move forward.

As soon as Elena drew closer to the couple, she noticed that Damon's easy and relaxed attitude disappeared, and he became serious. It was as if her being there put him on guard, and Elena didn't like the feeling. She liked her clients to feel comfortable with her. She knew why he wasn't relaxed though, it was the same reason that she was feeling uptight and on edge; there was an attraction between them that couldn't be acted upon.

"Andie, this is Elena. Elena, this is Andie; my agent."

"Nice to meet you," Elena said, holding out her hand. Andie took it without any question and smiled politely at her.

In the file she had on her client, Elena had seen the information for Damon's agent, but she hadn't spoken to her before.

"Well, I'll leave you two to it. Nice to meet you, Elena," Andie said to her, before she leaned in and gave Damon a kiss on the cheek. "I want to see what you've got by the end of next month. No more procrastinating, okay?" With that, she left them and walked out of the bar.

"Writer's block?" Elena asked Damon, once Andie was out of sight.

"It's nothing," he replied casually.

She'd represented authors before and once they let their writer's block get on top of them a lot of them never wrote again.

"Damon, I've had clients with writer's block before. I know…"

"I said it's nothing."

His tone was a lot less casual now and his jaw was clamped shut. She could feel the tension emanating from him. He was touchy on the subject. Sometimes talking about it helped, but it was up to him.

"If you decide you want to talk about it anytime…" she trailed off, as she watched his expression grow darker. "Never mind," she muttered under her breath.

Damon knew Elena was only trying to help, but she couldn't solve his problem. His publicist was the type of person who got involved in her client's business and he was beginning to see she really did care about her clients. She was a real Miss Fix-It; a do-gooder. If she thought she could fix him, though, she'd be disappointed. He'd come across women who had tried to fix him before, and tried to change him; but he had too many problems, and those desperate enough to believe he was capable of change always walked away from him bitterly disappointed and disillusioned.

"Buy you a beer?" he asked her.

"Sure," she said, giving him a small smile.

They weren't here on a date, and they weren't friends; they weren't even here on business and he knew she was uncomfortable. He didn't tell her that he was just as uncomfortable. The last thing he wanted to be doing was giving her seduction tips for her to use on other guys.

They took their beers away from the bar and sat at a table. Elena tried to relax, but it wasn't easy considering the company she was in and the purpose of their get-together.

"So," Elena started, wanting to get down to business, "should I take out my notepad and pen?"

For a moment Damon thought she was serious, but then he realized she was making a joke. He was relieved. This would be easier if she had a sense of humor.

"First we observe," he told her.

"Observe?"

"You see that blonde over there?"

She nodded when she spotted the woman Damon had motioned to.

"That's Keira; she comes in here every Thursday night, looking for one thing."

Elena watched the blonde woman sashay up to one of the men at the bar and strike up a conversation.

"What's the first thing you notice about her?" Damon asked her.

"She's confident," Elena said, a little uncertainly.

"Yes, exactly. She's confident. Men like a woman who is confident."

"Got it," Elena said, "confidence is important."

"What else do you notice?" Damon asked.

"She's dressed kind of trashy."

"She's dressed in the ideal way to attract a man."

"I'm not dressing like that."

Damon's sudden mental image of Elena in a tight mini skirt and halter top had him sporting a painful erection. He cursed his exceptional imagination and forced his mind under control.

"Then don't wear that exact thing, but men are visual. We know within seven seconds if we're attracted to a woman or not, so appearances count. At least show some cleavage."

"Show some cleavage? Okay. Next."

"See what she's doing there?"

Keira was now leaning in and laughing. Elena watched as she laid her hand on the guy's thigh. It was a little too forward for Elena's taste, but the guy seemed to be eating it up.

"She's flirting," Damon said. "Maintaining eye contact and touching a guy lets him know you're interested."

"Got it. Eye contact and touch."

"She's also laughing at his jokes. If you like a guy, make sure you focus all your attention on him. Listen to what he says, and don't talk incessantly about yourself. Despite what you think, men don't want to know what you had for lunch or how long it took you to do your hair in the morning."

Elena rolled her eyes then looked at him. "So, act like a bimbo and flatter his ego and I'll be fine."

"You're picking this up quicker than I thought you would."

Damon smirked at her and took a swig of his beer.

"And you're quite sure all men are that shallow?" she asked him, shaking her head.

"I'm sure that all men are after one thing."

"You make it sound like men are totally incapable of anything other than thinking about sex. I'm sure there are guys out there who want a relationship and intimacy as much as women do."

"That's a common misconception most women have. The only thing men want is sex. The only reason a man will stay with a woman is because of sex."

"That can't be true in all cases," Elena said, her voice flat.

Was she searching for the unattainable? Was there no such thing as a relationship that was based on deep love and affection, as well as sex? She had to believe it was possible. Bonnie and Jeremy had something. When Elena saw them together, they were always so happy. It was clear they enjoyed spending time together.

"Believe what you want," Damon said with a shrug.

"What if a woman's not good in the bedroom? Will she have to spend her lifetime alone?"

Damon studied the woman in front of him, and thought he needed to down at least another ten beers before he tackled that conversation. Something told him they were getting personal. Far more personal than he wanted to get with her. She wasn't speaking about some other woman; she was speaking about herself and she was scared she wouldn't measure up.

It was an entirely stupid notion; probably given to her by some sexually incompetent man who blamed her for their lack lustre sex life. Damon knew instinctively that she would measure up in the bedroom, and probably put more than half of his previous lovers to shame. Elena Gilbert was a sexually responsive woman. All she needed was a confident and knowledgeable sexual partner to show her a thing or two.

This was exactly why he didn't want to get personal with her; his mind was getting carried away with the idea of being her teacher, and of tutoring her in all kinds of sexual activities. His jeans were painfully tight again. He shifted uncomfortably and concentrated on picturing Mrs Lieberwotsky, his eighth grade history teacher. Normally her wrinkly face was as effective as a cold shower.

Once he was certain that he could discuss the topic without jumping her, he tried to think of what to say to her.

"There's no such thing as a woman who's not good in the bedroom, just a woman who needs more experience."

She was quiet for a moment and he thought she was evaluating what he'd said.

"I read your book, Why You Should Sleep with the Bad Boy."

Damon had a terrible suspicion he knew where this was going.

"I thought the idea was…interesting. You have a logical way of putting things and I'll admit I'm…intrigued."

Yeah, he knew where this was going. "Intrigued?"

"There is merit to your idea and I…I'd like to…I want to sleep with a bad boy."

Damon cursed under his breath. She'd gone there, and now he was wondering if this was all far more trouble than it was worth.

"Perhaps…will there be…do you have any friends that are bad boys? You know, that you could introduce me to tomorrow."

She was obviously trying to kill him. She clearly had no idea how much he wanted to sleep with her, and now she wanted to sleep with a bad boy that wasn't him? Maybe when hell freezes over. She was supposed to be getting involved in a nice sturdy monogamous relationship, so she was less of a temptation. The so called bad boys he knew would chew her up and spit her out in a heartbeat. Moreover, he didn't want to have to worry about her. His help was a one off thing. If she started seeing a bad boy, she'd probably start asking for his advice all the time, and he'd feel responsible for her. He didn't sign up for that.

"You don't want casual sex, you want a relationship," he told her flat out. "You said that yourself, last Friday."

"That was before I read your book. I want to be with someone who knows what they're doing. I want to learn some things before I go looking for Mr Right."

"Read the god damn Kama Sutra if you want to learn something about sex. Stay away from bad boys; they're not good for you."

His beer was all gone, and now Damon wanted a bottle, or two, of his best bourbon.

"But your book…"

"Why are we doing all of this?" Damon growled at her. The lady clearly had no idea how much of a threat he was to her; of how much he wanted her.

She looked at him in confusion.

"Why are we here? What are we doing?" he asked her, trying to keep the lid on temper.

"You're teaching me how to pick-up."

"Why? Why am I teaching you this?"

"Because…I'm a distraction."

"Exactly, you're a distraction. Do you think I'm going to be any less distracted if I have to worry about you getting in over your head with some guy who just wants to use you for sex? You need to be in a committed relationship with a nice guy."

Elena bristled at his comments. Now he was telling her who she could and couldn't sleep with. Her safety and wellbeing wasn't his concern. Yes, she knew he was trying to protect her from Katherine, but this was different. She wanted to tell him he was crossing the line, but this situation was so strange and bizarre that Elena had lost sight of where the line was actually supposed to be.

"So you're telling me I'm not allowed to sleep with a bad boy?"

"The only bad boy you're getting into bed with is me," he said to her heatedly.

Elena heard her own quick intake of breath at his choice of words. His eyes were hot on hers, and she squeezed her thighs tightly together as her body responded to the thought of going to bed with him.

"And since that isn't going to happen," Damon continued, "consider a Mr Nice Guy your only option."

"Fine," Elena muttered. She didn't want to continue this conversation. Her body was aching with a need she wasn't familiar with, and it was all she could do to not invite him home with her. Remembering that Damon read her so easily, she tried to hide her arousal; but as she watched his eyes darken imperceptibly, she thought she'd most likely failed.

"I think we're done here," Damon said to her sharply.

It took Elena a moment to realize he was not talking about taking her home and continuing this; he was talking about stopping their session. Probably just as well. Any longer and she would do something regrettable. She didn't think clearly when she was around him; but then it was hard to think through a thick haze of lust and desire.

Elena nodded. "Well, tonight has been informative. Thank you."

Cringing at the way her voice came out stilted and formal, she literally jumped out of her seat, grabbed her bag from under the table and went to bolt out of there. Damon, however, grabbed her by the wrist before she got very far.

"Where are you parked?" he asked her.

She couldn't even meet his eyes as she told him, "Across the road."

"I'll walk you," he told her.

She didn't think that was a good idea. She might invite him into her car.

"Really, there's no need," she assured him quickly.

"Sure there is,' he said to her. "There's all kinds of things that go bump in the night; vampires, werewolves etc."

She looked at him. He was smirking and wiggling his eyebrows, and she realized he was just trying to lighten the mood. She might as well go with it. If she protested any further, it would take even longer to get away from him. She nodded. "Let's go."

They didn't talk at all during the three minutes it took to cross the road, but once they got to the car things got awkward quickly.

"Thanks for keeping me safe," Elena said to him, looking at her feet.

"Just doing my part in the neighborhood watch."

"I'll see you tomorrow, for our meeting," Elena told him, turning around and pressing the button on her keys to make the door unlock.

As she opened her car door, Damon put his arm out and pushed the door shut, stopping her from getting in. Elena felt her heart rate double as she turned around slowly to face him.

He stood right in front of her, close enough for her to reach out and touch him. "Just in case I haven't made myself perfectly clear already; I want you, Elena."

Her heart felt as if it was beating uncontrollably now as his gaze lingered on her lips. When his eyes flicked upwards and landed on hers, what she saw in them both terrified and excited her.

"You aren't safe from me, yet. If you do anything to encourage me, I won't think twice about sleeping with you. Do you understand me?"

She knew he spoke the truth. It was her final warning. If she didn't want things to go any further, she would have to watch her step with him every single second they were together.

She nodded. "I understand," she told him softly, looking away from him now.

"Good."

Damon stepped away and let her get in the car. When he watched her drive out of the carpark in a rush, he chuckled to himself; anyone would believe there was a demon on her tail. He walked back across to the bar and bought another drink, and wondered if alcohol would help dull the cravings he had for her.

He couldn't have made himself any clearer before; if she so much as looked at him like she wanted him to touch her, his control would most likely slip. He'd never tried to ignore an attraction before, let alone one so powerful it had the ability to make him think of little else. He didn't know how much longer he could hold it together. He had every faith that she'd have no trouble picking up a guy. Her confidence level in the bedroom was another thing entirely, but she could reel one in. There were some decent guys coming to the party tomorrow night. He'd introduce her to a few of them, hopefully she'd hit it off with one of them, and then he could concentrate on project Katherine, instead of thinking about his publicist all the damn time.

Elena pulled up the well lit drive to a particularly large house. She could hear voices and loud music coming from inside and outside the house. Cars were parked all over the front lawn, and Elena didn't even want to hazard a guess at how many people were there, but she was guessing it would be into the hundreds. The house looked big enough to accommodate all of them at least.

"How do I look?" she asked Caroline, suddenly feeling very nervous.

After Damon's comments last night, Elena had gone to a lot of effort getting ready this evening. She liked to think she knew how to make an impression, but after listening to what he'd told her, she'd decided to go all out. She'd settled on a peacock blue dress which had black swirls on it. It was short, but not too short, and it pushed her bust up and showed plenty of cleavage.

"Like you're going to attract a lot of attention," Caroline told her with a reassuring smile.

"Thanks for coming with me tonight."

"Are you kidding? I've always wanted to come to one of these parties," Caroline said.

Elena smiled at the excitement in her friend's voice. She couldn't help but wish she felt the same way, but instead she was trying to get handle on her nerves. She felt nothing but anxiety at the thought of coming face to face with him again. Her meeting with Damon this afternoon had been tense and sexually charged. The tension between them was mounting daily, and if there wasn't so much riding on her not sleeping with him, she might have suggested they spend an evening together just to get it out of their systems. That wasn't an option though.

Procrastinating going inside a fraction longer, Elena pulled the visor down and checked her makeup in the small mirror on it, before pushing it back up.

"Let's go already," Caroline said impatiently.

"Okay, let's do this," Elena said, reaching to open her car door, before she lost her nerve altogether.

Less than thirty seconds after they had both exited the car, they were treated to full frontal nudity. Two women streaked past them and into the nearby bushes. A minute later a man came running after them, holding three glasses, and a bottle of something that Elena couldn't quite read the label of. He stopped right in front of them. Thank goodness he was wearing boxers.

"Have you seen two…?"

Elena heard giggling behind her, and the man grinned before running towards the bushes. "Ready or not, here I come," he called out.

Elena and Caroline just looked at each other.

Unable to get in through the front door, because it was locked and no-one could hear them knocking over the music, they went round the back, through the side gate.

The back yard was taken up with an enormous pool; a pool currently occupied with bodies. There was a hot tub adjoining the swimming pool, in which there were girls lined up, their bikini tops off.

"I didn't bring my bathers," Caroline pouted.

"I didn't know there would be people swimming," Elena told her, and if she had known, she still wouldn't have brought her bathers. Damon might have told her that showing cleavage was important, but there was no way she would be going topless tonight.

They walked into the house through a sliding glass door that was already open, not really knowing what she was looking for. Inside, the music was loud enough to make conversation difficult. There was a throng of people dancing in a large living area. The scene reminded her of Dirty Dancing, as she watched men and women moving together and, gyrating obscenely. Elena couldn't help but feel a little dirty for watching.

"Wow," Elena said.

"Yeah," Caroline echoed.

She couldn't see Damon anywhere as yet. She didn't know whether she should hunt him down, let him find her, or try and meet a guy all on her own. She decided on the latter option. The less she saw of Damon the better.

"Whoo," Caroline said, as a tall blonde guy pulled her onto the floor and started dancing with her.

"Well that's great," Elena muttered, suddenly standing alone.

Then the crowd parted a bit and she saw Damon dancing over towards the back of the room with Katherine. He held a beer in one hand and had his other arm around her, holding her close. They looked like they were literally glued together. His shirt was open and Katherine was running her hands over his chest. Before another second passed, Elena turned around quickly and walked away as fast as her legs would carry her. It wasn't that it bothered her to see the two of them together; she just didn't want him to catch her watching them. Besides, she really wasn't ready to face him just yet.

Not knowing where she was going, she turned around a corner quickly and walked smack bang into a hard male chest. She would have been knocked off balance except for the arms that came out to steady her.

"Are you okay?"

Elena looked up to see who she'd bumped into. Her first thought was that he was extremely attractive. He had a kind face, nice eyes, and a gorgeous smile. Elena guessed he was probably in his mid to late twenties. He was starting to look concerned now, and Elena realized she should probably say something, or he'd think she was clumsy and mute.

"I'm fine," she said, giving him her best smile. "I'm sorry. I didn't know where I was going and…"

"That's okay. I'm not going to complain about a beautiful woman running into me."

Elena laughed, remembering Damon telling her last night to laugh and flirt.

"I'm Elena,"

"I'm Stefan," he said. He smiled again and Elena smiled back at him. They stood there for a moment smiling at each other, until he pointed towards the back door where she'd come in from. "Come on, since you don't know your way around, I'll show you where the booze is."

"Great," Elena said, "lead the way."

This was perfect. She'd met a guy; a guy who seemed very nice, and she hadn't even needed Damon to introduce her to him. Maybe tonight wouldn't be so awkward after all. Hopefully if Damon did find her, he would see she was busy and she wouldn't have to talk to him at all tonight.

When Damon became aware that Caroline was dancing across the other side of the room, he stopped dancing with Katherine straight away and went looking for Elena. It worried him that she wasn't with her friend, and he couldn't see her anywhere in the room. He hoped she hadn't gotten herself into any trouble with the wrong guy. He was supposed to be introducing her to the right guys, but he'd missed her entrance.

After frantically checking each room of the house and finding her nowhere, he walked outside and stopped short when he saw her. She was sitting on one of the love seats outside, and he watched as she laughed, smiled, touched and flirted with his brother. He should have felt grateful that she was such a quick study; but instead he felt something else entirely. He didn't even know what it was he was feeling, he just knew he wasn't happy.

Elena looked around as Stefan stood up suddenly. Then she noticed Damon stalking towards them. She'd really hoped to avoid speaking to him tonight but it didn't look like she'd be that lucky. His shirt was still open, and she struggled not to look at his naked chest as he came to a stop in front of her. She was expecting him to say something to her, but instead he ignored her and embraced Stefan roughly.

"I didn't even realize you were here," Damon said to Stefan.

"I got here earlier than I thought I would. Lucky I did or I might have missed literally bumping into Elena."

Stefan looked at her now and smiled. She smiled back at him and stood up, not wanting to be the only person sitting down. Obviously the two men knew each other well and she may have to make some small talk with the two of them until Damon left them alone. Damon looked at her briefly, but his expression was unreadable.

"Elena is my new publicist," Damon told Stefan.

"Right," Stefan said, frowning slightly. "I didn't realize you'd changed company. Wylder PR wasn't working out?"

"Something like that," Damon said, before taking a swig of his beer.

Stefan turned to her now, still frowning.

"You obviously don't have an issue with what he writes, then?"

"Umm," Elena wasn't sure how to respond to that. She looked at Damon.

"Don't mind Stefan, he thinks what I write is sensationalized rubbish. Isn't that right, Stefan?"

"Don't do this tonight, Damon. I thought when you invited me here that we were going to try and put things behind us."

"I thought so too, but you're full of the same judgmental bullshit as always."

"Look, I'm trying. I just don't understand why you insist on following in Dad's footsteps…"

"In case it has skipped your attention, Stefan, it's the money I make from those books that's keeping a roof over our mother's head and food on her table at present. So you need to try harder."

They were brothers. Elena felt sick to her stomach. What were the chances? They didn't even look alike. There may be a slight resemblance, but she would have to look really hard for it. The thought that she'd taken seduction tips from one brother and used them on the other was…disturbing.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to fight," Stefan said apologetically.

"Forget it," Damon said dismissively, giving them both a tight smile. "Enjoy the party, both of you."

With that he started to walk away from them.

"I'm sorry about that," Stefan said to her, his eyes not leaving Damon's retreating form. "Things have been a little strained between my brother and I lately."

"Will you excuse me for a second?" Elena asked Stefan quickly.

She didn't wait around to hear his answer. Instead she went flying after Damon, knowing that she had to talk to him. She finally caught up to him and put her hand on his arm. He whirled around quickly, and she realized she had no idea what to say to him.

"I'm sorry," were the first words that came out of her mouth. "I didn't realize he was your brother."

When Damon had seen Elena talking to Stefan, he'd hadn't understood what it was he was feeling at the time, but he did now. He was jealous. He didn't think he'd ever been jealous before, and he didn't like it. He had no right to be. She wasn't his and she wouldn't ever be. Stefan was right about him; he was following in his father's footsteps, and that was exactly why he stayed the hell away from any woman who wanted to settle down.

The more he thought about it, Stefan was a good choice for Elena. His brother was the typical good guy. He did everything right. Who could be a better choice for Miss Fix-it, than his close to saintly brother? And if she was with his brother, that might be just about the only thing that would stop him making a move on her.

She'd certainly come dressed to attract a man tonight, and even now it was all he could do to stop himself from pulling her into the shadows and taking what he'd been thinking about since he met her. He tried to keep his eyes trained on her face and not on her cleavage, as he made one last ditch attempt to keep her out of harm's way.

"You should go for it," he told her.

"Pardon?"

"Stefan; he's one of the good guys. You should go for it."

She didn't look at all sure about it, and her hesitation that it might upset him only made him want her more.

"You don't mind at all?" she asked him quietly.

He shook his head and swallowed, determined that he at least look like he meant it. "You'll be safe with him. You'll be good together."

"Well…okay."

He could see she still wasn't at all sure about it, but as she walked back to Stefan, Damon told himself that it didn't matter. She was safe now, he'd followed through on his uncharacteristic need to protect someone, and he didn't have to worry about her anymore.

He walked back inside and searched for Katherine.

"Where have you been?" she demanded, when he found her.

"Outside, why?"

"I hope you haven't forgotten about our little arrangement?"

He was confused for a moment. "What, you mean Elena?"

"You were going to seduce her for me, remember?" Katherine asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I remember, Katherine. I'm working on it."

She didn't look like she believed a word of it. Maybe, he wasn't out of the woods quite yet.

A/N: Put your hand up if you knew it was Stefan that Elena ran into :) Some of you mentioned Stefan in your reviews, and knew Stefan would be at the party. It was always my intention to have them meet there. Please remember I do not write S/E, just D/E, but that doesn't mean we've seen the last of Stefan. Describing Stefan as attractive went against the grain, but I had to remember Elena does find Stefan attractive :/

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it. It's Friday night here, so I'm wishing you all a happy and safe weekend, and I'll see you soon with another update. Thanks for reading and please review.