"The old faiths light their candles all about, but burly truth comes by and puts them out."
-Lizette Reese

I walked into my house after a long study date with Stefan. I wasn't doing so great in the class but compared to him, I was a genius. It was seriously taking a toll on me and after having to re-explain what I did know I ended up not learning anything. To say the least Stefan now owes me.

I threw my books onto the table near the door and walked into my living room while nearly having a heart attack. Caroline was sitting on my couch and it looked like she has been there for a long time.

"Hey." She said in a shy voice that wasn't really like Caroline.

"Hi." I said in the same manner and sat down next to her. There was an awkward silence and neither of us wanted to look at each other.

"I'm sorry." We both said at the same time and then giggled a little bit, breaking the tension.

"I shouldn't have ever asked you to do this Elena." She said while wrapping her arms around me.

"I should have never agreed to do it."

"You are right, you shouldn't have." She unwrapped her arms and I saw that the old Caroline was coming back. "I don't know what took over me but I was just so mad at Damon and I wanted to hurt him so badly. I'm so sorry I let it come between us."

"I don't know why but my logic didn't really kick in till later. This was all just a big mistake." I was so glad we were finally talking. I was so mad at her but I really shouldn't be since this was all somewhat my fault. "Are we cool?"

"Of course." She said while shaking her head. "If you really think we were going to let a guy, that you don't even want, come between us then you are crazy." I was suddenly hit with guilt. When did that statement not become true? "I mean I'll admit I was at first suspicious and mad at you for standing up for him but I forgot that you are a natural do-gooder and then I realized I was totally corrupting you and using the girl code against you."

"Mhm." I couldn't manage actual words. I didn't stand up for Damon because I thought it was right. I did it because I didn't want to see Damon hurt. I'm the worst friend ever.

"So you can stop this whole charade whenever. The sooner the better so we can just put this past us and I can move on." She stood up and then walked to my kitchen. I could hear her moving around as I stayed frozen on the couch. If she were to walk in at this moment she would she the horror-struck expression on my face and know something was up. When did I let myself slip? When did I not want to hurt Damon? That was the whole goal of this. And why does the idea of ending things and not seeing Damon again feel like the end of the world. "I was thinking maybe I'll just tell him the truth." I was caught of guard when Caroline walked back into the living room with a glass of water.

"Don't you think that would beat the purpose of ending things?" I finally found my voice again and surprisingly it didn't come off too distressed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I think it is better if I just let him down gently or wait for him to... get bored of me and then things will just end on it's own." That was so painful to say. What if he did get bored of me? What if he was already cheating on me? I didn't like all these thoughts and it was clear it was me that was hurting when this whole thing was to hurt him.

"Yea, you are right. I mean since you aren't having sex he will get bored soon." She took a sip from her water as if it was nothing.

"He is coming over tonight and making me dinner. I'll try to annoy him or something and maybe it will end sooner." It was a plain lie. I was now going to do the opposite and try to keep him around.

"Okay." I watched as she was thinking about something hard. "You know, it is kind of weird that he did stick around this long."

"What do you mean?" I was slightly insulted but being Caroline that fact just went over her head.

"I mean lets face it, he wasn't going to fall in love with you and it was king of stupid of us to think he would stay around and be interested without sex... unless." She suddenly glared at me with a suspicious look. It wasn't like I was sleeping with him but I never felt more guilty of something in my life. "Oh my god, you've been sleeping with him!"

"What? No! How many times do I have to tell you I wouldn't do that?"

"But he is sex on legs! I can't believe I thought you could resist him." She stood up and started pacing in the middle of my living room. I might as well of had sex with him because it doesn't matter what I say. "I mean, I couldn't even resist him!"

"Caroline you couldn't even resist the waiter that told you that your eyes were pretty."

"That has nothing to do with this!" She said while she stopped pacing. "And he had an accent, it was perfectly normal to want to hook up with him."

"Caroline that was a fake accent."

"Well I know that now! What does this have anything to do with us?" She sat back down next to me while huffing.

"It just shows that I'm not you. Sure I could have liked that guys fake accent, but I wouldn't have slept with him. So yea sure I think Damon is very..." I trialed off into my thoughts. "Very, very sexy but that doesn't mean I will just throw it all away and go sleeping with them." She gave me a look as if she was making up her mind on what to believe.

"I'm somewhat insulted." She said with a small smile.

"Caroline you have nothing to worry about. We had a talk about it and we both-"

"You talked about it!" She was suddenly back on her feet again. "So that means that something happened and you wanted to do it!"

"Caroline..."

"You aren't even denying it." This time she was calm. "Okay, I know what I have to do to prevent this."

"Prevent what?"

"From you making a big mistake and for me not to be crushed if you sleep with him." She would be crushed if I slept with him... what if she found out I was actually... no I couldn't go there. I didn't even realize she was marching up my stairs till I heard her. I immediately ran after her and watched as she burst into my bathroom.

"What are you doing?" I yelled as she went into my shower and took my razor.

"I'm taking this!" She said as she then went to my cabinet and took the extra ones I had. "And these too."

"Caroline, I still have to take a shower before Damon gets here. Put them back!" I went to grab them out of her hands but she just slipped away and ran into my room. I chased after her and when I found her throwing all my panties out of my top drawer my jaw nearly dropped. "Stop!"

"I'm just taking all the sexy ones. Relax you won't have to go commando. I like these where did you get them?." She held up a pair and I tried grabbing them out of her hands but she moved faster then I did. She held a pile of my stuff and then walked out of the room. "Go take your shower and I will find you an outfit for tonight."

A hour later after taking my shower and doing my hair and makeup I tried my best to sneak out of the bathroom without drawing Caroline's attention but of course she was waiting on my bed for me. I was still mad that I couldn't even have shaved but then this whole clothing things was a little bit ridiculous. And then I saw the outfit she picked out. I knew she was just a little jealous and insecure but it was too much. I wanted to go along with things to make her feel better WITH the situation but this was something I could not do.

"I am not wearing a turtle neck." I don't even know where she found it in my closest. "It is the middle of spring. No!"

"Come on Elena!"

"No Caroline." I shook my head and then when I saw the pile of my panties in the corner I nearly jumped for it but she again saw what I was going to do and had them in her arms soon enough. "Stop playing. Damon will be here any moment and you have to leave." She suddenly burst out of the room and was running down the stairs by the time I realized what she was doing. "Caroline!" I screamed as I reached the end of the stairs and right at that moment the doorbell rang. Oh no... This could not be happening. He could not be here while Caroline is running around my house with my underwear hostage and me in a towel, not even ready. "I hate you." I said hoping she could hear as I went to answer the door.

I tried not to blush under Damon's gaze as he looked me up and down after I opened the door.

"Well, well, well. Is this your way of coming onto me?" He said with a smirk. I fumbled with he towel, making sure everything was hidden.

"Maybe." I played along as I let him in. "I'm just running late. Make yourself at home, I'll be right back." I was about to walk up the stairs till I stopped and saw one of my panties dangling on the railing for the stairs. Caroline must of dropped it and of course Damon already saw them as he started snickering. I quickly grabbed them and ran up the stairs.

"If this is your way of signaling things, then message received." I heard him say as I quickly went into my room. I couldn't help but feel a little victorious as I did in fact get at least one pair away from Caroline.

Oh no... Caroline. Who knows where she was right now. I changed as fast as I could, completely ignoring Caroline's outfit she picked out and then ran back down stairs before something else extremely embarrassing happened. I found Damon in the kitchen, starting to make dinner and I could tell he was lost in thought. I sat at the counter as I watched him move around looking for things.

"Is something wrong?" I asked after watching him for a while. He was so deep in thought that I don't even think he noticed me appear.

"No..." I gave him a disbelieving look which made him rethink his answer. "Do you think I am a heartless jerk?" Where was this coming from?

"Who told you that?" I should have asked which girl told him that.

"It's nothing." She shrugged it off but I wasn't letting it off that easily. Clearly, it wasn't just nothing.

"No, I don't. You aren't heartless." I made sure to catch his eye. "Jerk...maybe when you want to be." I said while smiling at him. "Now, who told you this?" I went into my protective mode and I didn't even realize it.

"I've been called much worse." He said as he started to put things into a pot. "It's just... today I ran into an ex and that's what she told me. I don't know why but for some reason it really bothered me." I tried reading him but it was more difficult then you could imagine. "Which is ridiculous."

"Why do you think it bothered you?"

"Because the first thing I thought of was you. I don't want you to think I am a heartless jerk." I tried not to feel flattered but I couldn't help it. He actually cared what I thought. He wanted to be better...for me.

"Damon I don't know if you remember or not but I really disliked you when we first met." I tried not to look too much into his grimace after that. "But you completely won me over." I gave him a smile and I saw his mood lighten a little bit. " I don't know why you do, all those things that you do, but it doesn't bother me. Well actually it does bother me but not enough to give up on you."

"You are too lenient with me." He stopped stirring the stuff into the pot and walked closer to me. "I don't want you to hate me but this could end... this relationship could be like all my others from before. Just don't expect too much from me. You are a smart girl. I don't deserve you."

"Who said that this relationship was doomed to end? How bad was your last relationship?" I didn't even realize that Caroline was still in the room somewhere till now. Oh great. Worst. Topic. Ever.

"The last girl I dated was named Caroline. She was practically on the gossip team. I knew every little detail about her friends or any person in her life and all about their baggage. It was too much. I ended up cheating on her." He suddenly got very quiet. "I'm not proud but that's kind of my track record." I tried not to think about him cheating on me even though it was clear this was his unspoken warning. I already knew about him, I already had a warning. But for some reason I put my blinders on and ignored it.

"Why do you think you cheat?"

"I told you, I'm looking for the one and it's easier to find the one if you are looking for them always. And...honestly it's usually because I'm losing interest." I nodded somewhat expecting it. Was he still interested in me? Did he cheat on me yet?

"At least you are honest."

"And now for some reason I'm feeling guilty about it. I feel horrible about all the bad things I've done. And there is a lot of things" He seemed to be lost in his own mind again.

"Maybe you need to apologize to those girls."

"That ridiculous." He said, snapping right back. "Most of them wouldn't even want to look at me anyway."

"Damon, I'm a girl. I've been hurt. And if Matt came back here and apologized I would pretend to stay mad at him but I know it would make a difference."

"You think?" I just nodded. I watched him put the lid on the pot then walk over to me by the stool. "Our food has to cook so we have some time to spare... I could think of some things we could do to pass the time." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. I just laughed and rolled my eyes. I knew this was his way of saying our serious conversation was over. He yanked me off the stool and lead me to the couch where we sat in comfortable silence. "Can I tell you something?"

"Yes."

"I know I just stumbled across you but I have to say right now you are the only girl I feel like is worth treating right. You are the only girl I actually gave a second glance at when they didn't just fall at my feet. I'm glad I found you and for the moment you are mine." I wanted to believe I could go through with manipulating Damon without my heart on my sleeve but clearly that wasn't how it was. I didn't know if it was his game or if he truly met those words. I wanted him to mean it so bad. I wanted to be only his so bad! But I couldn't say that.

I unconsciously had my feet in his lap and after a while of talking about little things like our childhood and or what schools we went to, I didn't even notice he started to massage my feet. I loved the fact that things just fell into place between us. It was so easy and then there was a slap in the face as I saw Caroline sneaking out the backdoor as quiet as she could. Took her long enough... My thoughts went back to Damon as his hands started working the bottom of my jeans up my leg when I quickly snapped my feet back away from him. Stupid Caroline! If only she let me shave... but I must admit, this was a good way to stay clear of someone touching you.

"This whole waiting thing is driving me crazy." He whispered in my ear. "It sucks."

"You suck."

"And you just won't." I faked punched him after that comment and then the timer on the stove went off.

"I'll get it." I said while standing up and running to the kitchen.

"You are a tease Elena. Walking around in towels and leaving your panties everywhere then just running away. The things I put up with..." I giggled and then it suddenly hit me. I'm going to have to break things off with Damon soon. This was going to end of our laughs and peaceful nights together. I was in over my head. I can't please everyone and still look out for myself. What the hell was I going to do?

AN: I'm and so so so sorry for the long wait! It wont happen again, I promise. Life just got in the way. And I know I'll be updating soon because I'm at the part of the story I've been waiting to write since the beginning. So do you guys think she is going to end things? How is Caroline going to come into play after she heard all that went down between Damon and Elena? I'm so excited!

Review:)