"I never promised you a happy ending.
You never said that you wouldn't make me cry
But summer love will keep us warm,
Long after our autumn goodbye."

- Unknown

Elena looked over at Damon, who was sleeping on the other side of her bed. She was hesitant to let him inside when he showed up on her doorstep last night, but when she reasoned, she thought of how it'd be just him and Stefan. Stefan, who'd ratted on them, Stefan who basically ruined their relationships with a lot of people. It was early in the morning, and Elena had already requested that Damon leave early. After some convincing, he caved in, then collapsed on her bed. Elena's internal clock went off half an hour ago, but since Damon was so wasted last night, she decided to prepare herself for oncoming craziness. She'd retrieved a bottle of water and Advil for his massive hangover. She also closed all the curtains so that it wasn't too bright when he woke up.

"Damon, get up." She whispered, tapping his half covered chest. His shirt was unbuttoned from when he was convinced Elena was trying to seduce him last night, while she was trying to loosen his tie. He didn't budge at all, so she hit him harder and called his name louder. Damon's eyes opened unwillingly and he turned over to Elena too quick.

"Ow!" He gripped his head in pain. She smiled and handed him the medicine. "You're too good to me." He said, swallowing the pill. Elena nodded and pursed her lips. "Spit it out." He said, shrugging and looking at her.

"How do you know that Care knows?" She asked, frowning. "Caroline doesn't have the balls to be upfront about something like this, so how did you find out?"

"Caroline needs to find a new hiding place for her diary." He whispered, kissing her cheek and getting up to retrieve his jacket.

"Don't do that." Elena said sternly, getting up to follow him downstairs.

"Do what?" He asked innocently.

"Kiss me. Stop using your charm against me." She stated, opening the door for him. Damon analyzed her face, but she was completely serious.

"You can't change everything, Elena." He said, leaning in for a kiss, but she moved away, looking up at him with doe eyes. Damon's expression was generally hurt, so he nodded a couple times before walking out the door, leaving Elena standing there.

The day had gone by extremely slow. Elena had ignored every phone call and text message that came her way. All she did was sit in front of the T.V, watching reruns of stupid shows. She did her best to refrain from thinking of Caroline, Tyler and Damon at the moment.

The front door opened loudly and Jeremy and Bonnie stumbled in laughing. They stopped immediately when they spotted Elena on the couch.

"Hi." She said, not even bothering to smile. Jeremy gave her a little nod, while Bonnie rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Bonnie." Elena started, but it was too late and they were already up the stairs. Her phone rang for the fifth time today and she looked down at her caller ID. Damon. She took in a large breath, and pressed ignore, tossing it across the room in a dramatic growl. Jenna entered the house coming from work a few minutes later. Luckily, Jenna wasn't exactly in the loop and she didn't know what was going on in Elena's love life. Elena wouldn't be getting the 'really, Damon Salvatore?' looks or the 'how could you do that to Caroline?' lectures.

"Hey, kid." Jenna sat down on the couch next to Elena.

"Hey, how was work?" She asked, knowing Jenna's constant struggle with her childish personality was difficult to handle with her job.

"Amazing, actually. I got an offer on your father's old building. You know, the one with the electrical issues. The man said it wasn't a problem, so he must be rich 'cause that place was completely broken." Jenna said, smiling and looking at the T.V.

"I need to get out of this house, want to get some ice cream? Elena asked, looking over to her already nodding Aunt.

All during their trip to the ice cream store, Elena had debated whether or not to tell Jenna about the situation she was in. Surely Jenna would understand. Her aunt had stated many times how attractive she thought Damon was, maybe Jenna would reason, because she understood the temptation. But not once when the subject turned to Tyler, did she mention what had been going on for the past few weeks. Elena didn't have the courage. After a long day, Elena found herself in her bed, sitting with her diary. She read the last entry in her head.

Dear Diary,

I'm terrified. I love Damon Salvatore and I don't know if he returns the feelings. He's just so painfully sexy that my heart skips a few beats every time I see him. I think he's really awesome, and I really hope we can continue to have amazing sex.

- Elena.

Elena laughed out loud when she saw this. How Damon could have gotten to her diary was a mystery. She missed him. That was the truth. She'd been avoiding everyone, and after being so used to falling asleep beside Damon, having sex with him, even seeing his face all day long, she really missed him. A day and she was going crazy, this man had the strangest effects on her. Her phone rang and she jumped, frightened by the sudden noise. She looked at the Caller ID.

Caroline.

Elena entered the Forbes' house not bothering to knock. Caroline was sitting at the kitchen table, hands gripping a glass of water so tightly that Elena thought it would break. She looked different. She wasn't wearing make up, and her hair was a mess of curls. Her pale skin looked even paler and she had light bags under her eyes from no sleep. Elena walked slowly over to the table where Caroline sat.

"Hi. Thank you for talking with me." Elena immediately said, taking a seat across from Caroline. Blue daggers shot up at her, and if looks could kill… Elena thought better of returning an unpleasant glare, so she looked down at her fingers and decided to wait until Caroline spoke first.

"If you were anyone else I wouldn't think twice before cutting you out. Being hated by me is social suicide, Elena. You've already been down that road, I don't know why you'd bother driving down it again." That hurt more then Elena thought it would.

"Look Caroline, I just want you to understand a couple things before you cut me out of your life." She said, looking at her best friend or probably ex-best friend now. "Caroline I feel terrible about everything I've done. I know I hurt you and I hurt Tyler and I am so sorry about everything that happened. I've felt guilty ever since it started…a-and I just don't know what I can say that can ever make you forgive me."

Caroline didn't look like she was buying anything. "How long have you been sleeping with my boyfriend? How many times?" She asked sternly, raising an eyebrow.

"Caroline…" Elena started.

"Oh my God, that many times!" Caroline stood in outrage. Elena didn't know what to do. She could lie and say it was only a couple times, and that would come bite her in the ass, or she could tell Caroline the truth and the number of times they'd slept together would kill her. So Elena strayed away from that area of the subject.

"I am so sorry, Care." She whispered, afraid of how strong Caroline's outburst would be.

"Oh fuck you and your sorry ass, Elena, because sorry is never going to save you now. You've slept with the only man I've ever loved and all you can say is sorry? As if I would forgive you for the shit that you've pulled?" She yelled in Elena's face, and frankly, the brunette deserved it. "I can't even believe you, you slutty ass bitch. Get the fuck out of my house."

"Caroline." Elena's tone was calm. "Please."

Caroline cut her off with a loud scream of frustration and she threw her glass against the kitchen wall in anger. Elena looked at her infuriated friend, then left the house, watching as Caroline sank to the floor.

It was a couple days later when Damon showed up on her doorstep.

"Go away." She said, closing the door in his face. She turned and made her way to the kitchen, but Damon opened the door and followed her into the house.

"You haven't returned any of my calls or texts in the past two days. I missed you." He added, shrugging.

"Damon, get out." Elena said, grabbing a glass of water and a couple pills. He didn't ask questions, knowing that was pain medication and that she was taking it because of her massive headaches. He had those too.

"I love you."

It seemed like the world stopped moving. Her back was to him, and she stayed like that, immediately stopping what she was doing. She didn't dare look at Damon because she sensed the vulnerability in his voice and she could only image what state his eyes were in.

"No you don't. You may love my body, and love that I'll sleep with you, but you don't love me." She stated, turning slowly to allow her eyes to hit his. The vulnerability was quickly wiped away with frustration.

"But I do, Elena!" He said, hitting his hands on the counter hard. "I want to be with you."

"Well you can't." She said sternly, her nostrils flaring slightly.

"And why not?" He yelled at her.

"Because it's not worth it!" she yelled back, squeezing her hands so hard that her nails made little marks in the skin of her palms. "Love isn't worth it!" anger flooded her veins. She wasn't angry that Damon thought he loved her, she was angry because she didn't know how to handle it in any other way. "This pain isn't worth it for me, or you or Caroline or Tyler!" She lowered her voice but it was still loud and angry. His lip twitched and she watched as he growled, hitting the walls and he walked the hell away from her. She stumbled back against the wall behind her, sinking to the ground.

Jenna came home to find Elena sitting against the wall, a steady stream of quiet tears clouding her vision. Jenna immediately fell to the ground next to her niece and hugged her. Elena sobbed into her shoulder. All the emotions of the past week came out of her system right now. She took in a deep breath and looked at her Aunt.

"Get me out of here, please." She whispered, and Jenna only held her tighter.