I am so sorry about the wait on this. I had a few big changes happen in the past few weeks and haven't had even a couple minutes to myself to edit the next chapter. Hope this chapter makes up for it.
A few days later I came home, it was just time. Being at the lake house didn't help any feelings I had. I still felt broken hearted and I had a feeling that this time that wouldn't change. When Liam ended things I was back to normal after only a couple days. It was like my heart recognized that he wasn't my soul mate. I was beginning to think that soul mates didn't exist. I parked my car outside the house and waited for a few seconds. I wasn't ready for Caroline to start questioning me about my time away, mostly because nothing really happened. I never had any sort of epiphany that I was better off alone. I never got any ideas on how to make Damon forgive me and give me another chance despite the vampire issue. Nothing happened no matter how much I wished it had. When I was finally ready, I got out of the car and walked up the front walk. Tyler's car was outside so maybe I could sneak away without having to talk to her.
"Elena, is that you?" Caroline called when I opened the door. Clearly she wasn't too occupied with Tyler to miss me coming in.
"Yeah it's me." I said.
"How do you feel?" She asked rushing out of the living room to greet me.
"The same as before, just less painful. I can breathe now." I told her and she nodded sympathetically.
"Well you've got to get back into it. We're going out for dinner tonight, just you and me. A girl's night out." She told me and that made me smile. Dinner with Caroline sounded amazing.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"The Grill. Choices here are very limited." She told me with a shrug but I didn't care.
"So I have to ask, has anyone heard anything about Damon's mom?" I asked hopefully. I hoped that my compulsion was effective and she was now as healthy as she was before the first hallucination.
"She's been out and about with her family pretty much every day this week. She seems perfectly normal. She's telling everyone that an angel came to her in a dream and told her to forget about being sick." Caroline said with a smile.
"I'm happy that worked out. Damon deserves it." I said.
"Damon came by too, looking for you." She told me and I stopped. That I hadn't expected. So many questions were running through my mind. Why was he here? Did he still have feelings for me? Was there still a chance for us to work things out? I didn't ask them all out loud but I knew Caroline saw them in my eyes.
"There is definitely still a chance for the two of you. He came by to get answers and I gave them to him. I told him about you too, if that's okay." She told me and I didn't care. It didn't bother me that Damon knew my entire past. At least all of it that Caroline knew. She knew the important bits.
"I don't know what to do though. I've never been the one who has to chase the guy and I know I'm not entirely in the wrong here. He isn't either. He had every right to freak out about the vampire thing. But I can't help what I am. I don't want to apologize because it sets a bad precedent for our entire relationship." I worried.
"Maybe just try talking to him. It's Friday, it's a good day to make things work. You have the entire weekend to smooth things over." She said and I knew she was right. Caroline was always right about these things.
"Okay. I'll try to talk to him tonight after dinner." I told her.
"And try your hardest not to come home, please. I kind of have a big romantic night planned for me and Tyler and it's happening here." She told me and I laughed.
"Why can't it happen at his place?" I asked. It impressed me that Tyler was staying in the living room, not paying attention to us. He was letting his girlfriend and her best friend talk privately. I gave him a lot of credit for not butting in when his name was mentioned.
"His mom hates me, apparently I'm not refined enough for the future mayor of Mystic Falls. So we spend our relationship either out in public where she can't say anything or else she'll be judged. Or here where we can be alone without being judged by her." Caroline explained and I nodded in understanding.
"I'll give you your night with him. One way or another I'll find another place to stay for the night. Or come back really late when I know for sure you'll be asleep." I told her and she hugged me.
"Thank God, the past few days we've had nothing but distractions. His mom has kept him under lock and key since Wednesday, and then there was football practice, cheer practice and homework. We need a Tyler and Caroline night." She told me and I laughed.
"You do that, I won't stop you." I promised.
"Good now get upstairs and get ready for dinner. You look like shit and I mean that in the nicest possible way." She told me and I laughed again. I knew she was right, a depressed vampire didn't worry about things like body odour or hair and makeup.
While I was upstairs I jumped into the shower and enjoyed the hot water running over me. I spent far longer in there than I usually did. I washed my hair and body before just enjoying the water for the rest of the time. I knew I had time to pamper myself. I wanted to do things I hadn't done in a while. I wanted to paint my nails and toenails and I wanted to take my time applying my makeup and doing my hair. I heard the door shut downstairs and I knew Tyler just left so we could have our girl's dinner.
"I'm going to get ready Lena, then we can leave." She called. I knew I still had lots of time, it took forever for Caroline to pick clothes. She took a reasonable amount of time to do her hair and makeup, getting dressed was the issue.
"Okay." I called back. I chose red nail polish and started painting my toe nails. I chose the same red for my fingernails and it didn't take me long to paint them. My fast drying nail polish didn't take long to dry so when it was done I quickly brushed my hair and straightened it. It took quite a while to straighten my hair perfectly since I had so much of it. When that was done I applied my makeup in my usual way. I decided I didn't have the patience to go all out and I also knew I didn't need foundation and concealer. My skin was perfect as it was. Just a swipe of lip-gloss, and some mascara and I was ready to do. I chose a pair of skin tight skinny jeans that I would pair with my equestrian boots and an eyelet lace top with flutter sleeves. I loved the shirt, I just didn't wear it often. I wasn't good with white clothes so I wasn't even sure if it was a good idea tonight.
"Are you ready?" Caroline asked from my door and I opened it out coming out.
"How the hell do you always look better than me with little to no effort?" She demanded.
"I put effort in my appearance." I said looking at her.
"You did your nails which means you had plenty of time. I know how long it takes you to put on your makeup. You always look perfect. You should have paired the outfit with your stripper boots though." She suggested. They were not stripper boots despite what she said, they were just boots with a platform and a high heel. Stripper boots were thigh high.
"I think I have an idea where I'll find Damon tonight, so high heels is not the best idea." I told her and she nodded.
"Ah, I see." She said as she slipped on her sling backs.
When we got to the Grill she found us a booth against the wall. We slid in and Matt came over to take our order.
"You work here?" I asked when he stopped by and he laughed.
"Yeah, even this jock needs to work to pay the bills. Absentee mother and all that." He said.
"I didn't know that." I said and he took our order. I could hear Damon across the Grill and I turned my head, my gaze locked on his.
"Go talk to him." Caroline urged but I shook my head.
"He's with his family." I told her turning my head again. He never came over here either so I knew he didn't want to talk to me either right now. I would wait until I went and found him later.
Dinner was delicious and Caroline practically pushed me out of the booth when Tyler showed up to pick Caroline up.
"Elena, if you can't find Damon, don't bother sitting out all night. You can come home, Tyler and I can reschedule." She told me. I shook my head and stood up.
"I'll be fine, you have your night." I told her and she smiled. I went out to my car and first made the drive to Damon's house. I thought maybe he didn't feel up for partying tonight. I hoped that was true but I didn't really expect it to be. When I knocked on the door, Damon's dad answered with a smile on his face. He was much happier than he had been last time I saw him.
"Hi, is Damon home?" I asked him and he shook his head.
"I'm sorry he's not. But he also said that if you show up to tell you that you should know where he is. It's Friday night." He told me. He looked confused and I knew he had no idea what Damon got up to on Friday nights.
"Okay, thanks." I said turning and walking away.
"Elena, I'm sorry for the way I treated you the two times you were at my house. It'll all be different, my wife was miraculously cured." He said and I smiled.
"Its water under the bridge, I wouldn't have wanted anyone to know either." I said brushing it off. He walked back into the house and I got back in my car. I remembered the way to the Falls and when I got there I had to park really far out. I was happy that I wore my flat boots. The heels would have been treacherous. I could hear the party raging and I followed the sound of fun. When I got there I started weaving through the crowd looking for Damon.
"You're here! I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to see you again." Katie said when I walked in.
"Have you seen Damon?" I asked her.
"Last time I saw him he was by the keg. He turned me down for sex, at least now I know why. You were coming." She laughed before scampering off in three inch heels.
"Elena, you're here." Damon said from behind me when I got to the keg. I hadn't seen him so I turned around and smiled.
"Your dad said you would be and I wanted to be where you were." I told him. He sighed and stepped towards me.
"I really didn't want to talk about this here." He said with his hands in his pockets.
"We can talk about it now, I don't mind." I told him.
"Alright, let's go find somewhere to sit." He suggested.
"I have all night. Caroline has Tyler over tonight so I can't go home until really late. I promised her." I told him. We sat down on the ground against a couple trees that were close together.
"Look, I'm sorry. I never should have called you a monster. For me there's not much to talk about. I want to be with you but I completely understand if you don't want to be with me. I hurt you when I should have asked you about it." He told me and I smiled at him.
"It's okay, anyone would have responded the same way and they have." I told him.
"I don't want to be compared to your ex-boyfriend. He was an idiot if he couldn't see how special you are. Even after I hurt you, you still came back and helped my mother. A monster wouldn't do that." He said and I sniffled slightly. He was going to make me cry again, but this time they were happy tears.
"Damon, you don't know what it means to be with me. I'm not human. Things aren't going to be the same with me as they would with someone normal." I told him.
"Normal is so overrated Elena. I'm falling in love with you and that's never happened before. I've always been able to keep people at arm's length but not you. Never you." He told me but my brain was still focused on the "I love you."
"You're falling in love with me? How?" I asked him.
"You're you. You're absolutely perfect and in that moment I thought you weren't perfect anymore, Caroline convinced me you were. I'd be an idiot to let you go and like I said I refused to be compared to Liam." He told me and I cried again.
"I love you." I said in response. It was the only thing coming to my mind, I couldn't respond to anything he said. All I could say was that I loved him because it was true. It was the most encompassing feeling I'd ever had. He smiled and cupped my face in his hand, kissing me. I climbed over so I was straddling his lap, his hands were on my hips as we kissed. We couldn't let it go too far here, I wasn't about to have sex with him for the first time in public. There were far too many people who could see. When we had gotten too far I rose off of him and stood up, offering him my hand.
"We need to take a breath." I told him and he stood up.
"My parents will be in bed soon. We can go to my place and continue, even if we don't have sex tonight. I could just hold you." He suggested. What he suggested sounded wonderful. The sex part didn't even bother me.
We hung out for a while longer until he decided it was safe to leave. We drove over to his house in his car, having decided to come get mine tomorrow morning.
"Okay, so I've been thinking, I don't really want to have sex with my parents in the house, if that's okay." He said as we slowly made our way up to his room.
"That's totally fine with me. I'll kick Caroline out next time we're together." I said and he laughed in response. In his room he shut the door and went into his closet and found a t-shirt.
"I didn't think you'd want to sleep in those." He said and I shook my head. I changed right in front of him, it didn't bother me. I loved him and he'd be seeing me without clothes soon enough. When we were both dressed down, we climbed into bed and he wrapped his arms around me. We lay in silence for a few minutes before he slowly pulled back.
"Can I see it again?" He asked and I knew what he was talking about. I nodded, nervous that it was going to send him away again. I felt my fangs drop and the veins come around my eyes again. I didn't speak, I couldn't as he lay me back and started caressing each of the veins around my eyes. His touch was tender, the nicest thing I've ever felt. When he was done touching them he kissed my veins. I was okay with him exploring, it felt nice. When he kissed my lips I was startled, I wanted to retract my fangs but I didn't have a chance.
"Be careful." I panted when he panted. "I don't want to bite you."
"I'm not scared." He said trailing his finger around my mouth. He dipped his finger in my mouth so he could touch the sharp point of my fang. He pushed a little too hard and a small drop of blood appeared on his finger.
"Oh." He said and I watched him warily. Neither of us moved until he took a deep breath.
"You can have it." He decided. He was intrigued at the vampire side of me. I closed my mouth about his finger, savouring the couple drops of blood I could get out of the wound. I let his finger go with a pop and he looked at me.
"Caroline was telling me that a vampire bite was very sexual. Are you going to want to try that someday?" He asked and he wasn't nervous. It was like he was open to it.
"We can try whatever you want. The vampire side of me will never say no when blood is offered." I told him snuggling back into his arms.
"Does it hurt?" He asked.
"Not during sex. I'd bite at the height of pleasure and it would just make it more euphoric." I told him.
"I think I'd like that." He decided and I laughed.
"I haven't heard of too many people who don't." I told him. We lapsed back into a comfortable silence again and eventually just fell asleep. I couldn't remember a day that had turned out so perfectly. I just hoped I wouldn't wake up to it all being a dream.