"The secret to getting away with lying is believing with all your heart, that goes for lying to yourself even moreso than lying to another."

-Elizabeth Bear

I sat in front of my mirror as Caroline curled my hair. I didn't know how she actually convinced me to do this and I decided it was from the exhaustion yesterday. I wasn't in my right mind frame so now when I was actually rational, realistic thoughts were going through my head. I'll never be able to pull this off, it only happens in the movies.

"Stop freaking out. You'll do fine. I mean look at you, if I was a guy I'd hit that." I rolled my eyes and continued to touch up my makeup. "But no matter what you do, do not have sex with him!"

"Did you forget who you are talking to?" I said only slightly insulted. I soooo was not that girl.

"No, but trust me Elena, he has a way of working himself inside your head and convinces you to do thinks no person should. And believe me when I say, his way into your panties is just another way into your heart."

"Okay, I got it. I wasn't even thinking about hooking up with him. I wouldn't do that to you."

"Good." Was all she said as she finished up my hair. "We should get going, the party started a few minutes ago."

We left the house and made our way to the familiar boarding house. I always knew about this place but I've never actually been there. Truth be told I didn't even know someone lived in it till Caroline said Damon did.

I was half expecting to back out of this and end up just enjoying the party but I knew Caroline wouldn't let me do that. When we finally arrived I we saw cars everywhere. It was clearly a huge party and with such a huge house, I'd hate to be the one to clean it afterward.

"Okay, just remember Damon likes games, so you have to play one. Mess with his head a little bit." That was easier said than done. I wasn't some sly girl who knew all the right things to say to get a guy hooked. I mean just yesterday I yelled at the guy I was flirting with. Clearly I had no game.

We made our way up the pathway to the door and waited outside for someone to open the door for us. It wasn't long till we decided to just walk in when no one came. The whole place was seriously crowded as we pushed our way inside.

"You see that guy over there?" Caroline pointed to a tall man by the bar. "That's Damon's best friend, Alaric. I think you should go talk to him first and Damon will probably come over to you. Alaric has a girlfriend so Damon usually comes and scoops the girls away. I wouldn't really be able to tell you if Alaric is grateful for it or not."

"I can do that. But show me who Damon is first before I flirt with the wrong guy." I looked around the whole room but there were too many faces. In the corner of my eye, I did catch someone familiar. I did a double take and my mouth fell open.

"Oh Damon is-"

"Caroline the guy I met at the bar is here!" I panicked and started moving away from him, even though he was quite a distance away to begin with.

"Ooo, you met a guy?"

"Yea, remember the jerk I told you about? He's here."

"The hot one? Where? I wanna see?" I grabbed onto her hand and dragged her away because I knew if I pointed him out, she would go say something to him.

"Just tell me what this guy looks like so I have somewhat of a clue." I said while slightly calming down.

"He has dark hair, and his eyes...my god his eyes are this light blue that I swear he can hypnotize you with. He probably will be dressed in something black. That is all you really need to know. When you see him, you'll know." I couldn't help but feel like there was something clearly obvious I was missing. I was too overwhelmed with my thoughts to actually put the pieces together but there was this nagging feeling in the back of my head. "Okay, Alaric is alone. Here is your chance." I felt Caroline pushing me towards the guy she showed me before. Caroline wasn't pushing me anymore and I turned around to see that I was alone now. The nervous feeling sank in my gut as I approached Alaric.

"Hey I'm Elena." I said with more confidence than I really had. "I heard this was your party."

"Yea, it's my birthday." He took a sip form his beer as I eyed him. "I'm starting to think though, not everyone is here just for my birthday. I see more alcohol than gifts. I'm Alaric by the way."

"I know." I said with a flirty smile.

"What do we have here?" I heard a deep voice from behind me and I almost laughed at how predictable this was. Caroline was right, and by the look on Alaric's face, he didn't like it when a girl got taken away from him. I took a sip from my drink and turned around ready to face this famous Salvatore. I almost gasped and spit out my drink when I saw who it was. How did I not see this coming? There were so many signs that all just passed over my head. The guy from the bar could not be Caroline's ex!

"You are Damon!" I said without even thinking of the words that flew out of my mouth.

"Yea, I don't know if you remember this or not but we already met, Elena." He said sarcastically and I couldn't believe this was actually happening. Why? Why! I couldn't go through with his plan. I just couldn't.

"I think I'm going to puke." I mumbled while fanning myself off. It suddenly just got very hot in here. "I didn't know you were the Damon Salvatore." I said with my mouth still slightly open.

"The one and only." I looked back at the rook full of people to see Caroline giving me a thumbs up in a corner. I was officially in this. Now I had to turn the tables and make myself actually likable.

"I'm sorry for the other night." I said quickly trying to get it over with. "It really wasn't you, I was having a bad day."

"You can be honest, it was me."

"Okay, maybe just a little bit." I said while laughing and then suddenly stopping when I realized it wasn't forced. "So this is your place?" I asked while looking around. It was huge and I believed it would be odd for only one person to live in it.

"Yep, my brother and I are the only ones who live here."

"You have a brother?" Caroline never mentioned anything about him having a brother. I took a mental note and reminded myself to bring that up to her later.

"He's not my favorite person in the world. I usually deny it when people ask if we are related."

"I know the feeling. I have a brother as well and I just don't know what to do with him sometimes. But he's all I really got in this world, so I can't complain." I watched Damon as I spoke and I could tell he was actually listening when I talked. I actually expected him to be this jock who cares more about his next football game then the sophisticated man that stood before me. But he was definitely a player, no matter what type of guy he was, player would definitely be under his classification. The way he smirked and the way he held himself was just part of his game. He was probably the worst type of player, he was the one who actually got in your head.

"The difference between us, is that I could do without my brother. He's an asshole."

"Does that run in the family?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" He feigned being upset and I tried not to laugh.

"It means that the other night I really, really, really wanted to punch you in your face."

"But it's such a pretty face."

"That exact comment right there is why you are punchable."

"We both know you'd rather kiss me than punch me. I say we try out that first option." He took a step forward and got in my personal space.

"Nice try. " I said while pushing him back.

"Can't blame me for trying." He said while stepping back. There was music that was suddenly growing louder and the bass made it almost impossible to understand what Damon was saying. " Want to go outside?" I barely heard Damon say over the loud music. I nodded as he grabbed onto my hand and started leading me towards a door I didn't know was there. We pushed past people and were finally outside. I let out a breath after the door closed behind me, finally getting somewhere quiet.

"So this is your backyard?" I glanced around the enormous plantation. There were pretty flowers and exotic plants everywhere which made it even more painfully beautiful. "It's amazing."

"It is nice." He said while giving a glance around as well. I could tell he wasn't quite used to the backyard, which only grew to my suspicion he just recently moved here, or back.

"How long have you been living here?"

"I grew up here. But I just came back. Everything is mostly the same, expect for little details... like the backyard. " He said while laughing. "After my father died, I decided to come back."

"I'm sorry." I said quickly. I of all people knew what it was like to lose a parent. Especially two.

"Don't be. He had the Salvatore asshole charm, as you so put it." I mentally hissed at my choice of words from before. Probably not my smartest move.

"Sorry." I said again. I wanted to tell him I knew what it was like, but for some reason I didn't want him to know about my parents. I didn't want him to know about Matt. I didn't want him to know anything too personal. It would make this whole thing Caroline and I came up with a lot easier. "Why did you decided to come back after he died?"

"I couldn't really say. I just picked up my stuff and came back one day. If I would have known my brother would be here I wouldn't have."

"What about your mother?" I asked noting he never brought her up.

"Died. I was eight when she got sick. What about you?" I was about to immediately give my awkward answer when I suddenly realized what was going on here. I warned myself about this! He works his way into your head. This was just part of the game.

"They are still around. Happily married." I lied while just letting the words fall out. I had to admit, it was somewhat nice to pretend they were still alive. Damon wouldn't know better, so I could care less lying about it.

"That's good. It's rare now a days." Maybe that's why he was a cheater. Maybe he had issues with this parents. I never really understood the concept of why men or women for the matter find the need to cheat, why they honestly believe they are so in love but would easily betray their so called loved ones. But with Damon, I could see how he could have his reasons. "So who is the guy?" He said, catching me off guard.

"What?"

"You know the guy that broke your heart."

"What makes you think some guy broke my heart?" I said hesitantly as I saw down on cement edge that over looked the yard.

"Because I'm usually that guy. I know the signs by now."

"You are right, there was a guy." I don't know why I was able to tell him about this and not about my parents but I kept going on. "He cheated on me." I glanced up at him and looked in right in the eye. "I hate cheaters."

"How do you know he cheated on you?"

"I caught them." I said while sighing. "Apparently they were seeing each other for a year before I found out. And I couldn't really be mad, I mean they fell in love. You can't help you love." He started to laugh which only made me confused.

"No wonder why you bitched me out at the bar. Elena, there is no excuse for cheating on a girl. He disrespected you. He could have been honest with you."

"And I'm sure you've never disrespected a girl before." I said heavily sarcastic. "Be honest."

"Oh, I've never hid the fact the fact that I can be a dick." I almost laughed at his straight forwardness. "But I own up to my mistakes. I let the girls hate me because, I deserve to be hated. This guy doesn't deserve an excuse. Stop giving him one."

"So are you saying everyone is bound to hate you?"

"No, some girls try, but they are never successful."

"Yea, sure." I said while taking another sip from my drink. "I don't know maybe there were other reasons why we didn't work out." I mumbled, more to myself than to Damon.

"Were you not good enough for him?"

"How dare you say that!" I was taken completely off guard. " Of course I was... good enough." I didn't sound too confident at the end which just frustrated me more.

"Are you good enough for me?" Games, remember Elena? He knew exactly what he was doing.

"Oh, please. I'm beyond you."

"Then prove it." I looked at him trying to read exactly what was going on. Was he actually taking a liking to me? Did I actually do what I thought was going to be impossible.

"And how exactly can I do that?" I blurted back giving a him a small smile.

"Let me take you out."

"Why? So I can prove I'm good enough for you or because you actually like me?"

"Purely because you need to prove yourself. I never said anything about liking you." He said with a smirk so I knew he was just playing around.

"Be careful, you may just fall for me. " I said with a smirk of my own which made him start to laugh.

"I'll bet you a million dollars, that I will never fall for you." He said with pure confidence.

"You are a dead man walking." I grabbed a hold of his hand and shook it. When he smiled and didn't actually smirk or grin I had to settle the little butterflies in my stomach. I've been warned about him. I knew what kind of person he was so I would be stupid to read into things. His smile suddenly dropped as we both heard a loud smash of what sounded like glass breaking. "You should probably go check on that." I said while looking back towards the house. We stood up and I followed him back to the patio door.

"Meet me at the carnival tomorrow?"

"The carnival?" That was the last place I would think he would take me. "Sure."

"I'll explain why there, tomorrow. Meet me by the Ferris wheel at eight." He slid through the door, holding it open for me before rushing off to wherever the noise came from. I was suddenly being pulled away into a corner with someone I couldn't see.

"How did it go?" I let a breath out when I realized it was Caroline.

"I got a date." I said excitedly.

"Yay! I told you he would want to sleep with you!" My excitement dropped after that.

"Do you really think that's the only reason he asked me out?" She gave me a sympathetic look.

"Oh sweety, that's besides the point. We are going to squash Damon!"

I don't know why but suddenly my stomach was doing flips from the whole situation.

AN: Thanks for reading! A lot of you have mentioned the John Tucker Must Die movie. I actually didn't get the idea from that but now thinking about it I totally see the similarities.

Review!