"You brought me to Coney Island?!"
At first I think she might be disappointed but when I look up at her she has the most gorgeous grin on her face
"Are you happy?" I ask
"Damon, are you kidding, I'm so excited! I've wanted to come here since I moved to New York"
"You've never been here?"
She shakes her head
"Oh Gilbert, you are in for a treat" I smile
I went over a hundred different places I could bring Elena for our first date; I thought of almost every five star restaurant in New York, none of them seemed right. She kept insisting that we were just having a friendly dinner but I wanted it to be a date she would never forget and I didn't think that included sitting at a table covered with a five hundred dollar table cloth while we ate a tiny overpriced meal.
Then, one day on my way to work I passed a news stand and spotted a magazine featuring Coney Island on the front and it just came to me.
"So, what's first?" I ask "We can do anything you want, although I would suggest saving the Ferris wheel for after dark"
"Would you mind if we ate first?" she asks "I skipped lunch and I'm starving"
"Of course not, again, it's totally up to you but I say we go for the hot dogs especially since this is your first time here, it's practically a sin to come to Coney Island and not have a hot dog"
"I'm down with hot dogs" she smiles
"OK" I reach down and entwine my fingers with hers before leading her to the famous hot dog joint. It feels so good to finally hold her hand the way I have been wanting to
"Two Coney dogs please" I order "and uh, anything to drink?" I ask Elena
"I'll have lemonade"
"And two lemonades please" I finish out our order
After I pay Elena grabs us a table outside since it's so nice out, and I wait for them to call our number.
After grabbing our food and drinks I join her at the table, placing her food in front of her
"Thank you" she smiles
"You're welcome" I smirk "Cheers" I hold up my paper cup of lemonade
"Cheers" she reciprocates
"Mmm" she moans after her first bite "this is seriously delicious"
"I'm glad you like it"
"I can't believe you brought me here, I have to hand it to you Salvatore, you got me. This is the last place I had expected"
"Oh, yeah? What were you expecting?" I ask
"Some fancy pants restaurant, with tiny pretty food that's not meant for eating" she laughs
"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it, but it was just all wrong. I was actually a little nervous about bringing you here; most girls would find hot dogs on a first date disrespectful"
"Oh well you should know by now that I'm not most girls "she smirks
"That's very true" I say sincerely
She looks down at the table, trying to hide the blush creeping up her face before changing the subject "That was some engagement Party Stefan and Care had, if that's just the engagement party I can't even image what the wedding will be like… well actually I guess that's a lie, Caroline has been planning her wedding since we were five so I don't know what I was expecting" she giggles
"That girl is a force to be reckoned with" I laugh
"That she is" she sighs "Oh; you never told me how your talk with her went"
"Well she basically told me I'm on probation, one more mistake and I'm out of the wedding party"
"She did not!" she laughs
I nod "She did, so I better be on my best behavior tonight" I tease
"You know she secretly adores you right"
"I don't know about that…" I scoff
"She does, you're the brother she never had but always wanted"
"Yeah, well I guess the feeling is mutual then" I smirk
"I knew deep down you were a softy" she teases
"Hey, I am no such thing" I point at her playfully "and you you will say no such thing to her"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah" she laughs
"All finished?" I glance at her empty plastic tray
She nods, so I grab up all of our trash and discard it
"Shall we?" I extend my hand to her, to which she surprises me by accepting and I once again entwine our fingers and lead her along the board walk
"I bet I can beat you at this shooting game" she points to arcade game with bb guns and plastic horses running along a track
"You'll lose" I smirk
"Maybe… but I doubt it" she smirks
"Ok, what do you get if you win?" I ask
"WHEN I win, I'll let you know"
"Ok, so the winner gets the day to decide on their prize" I propose
She nods
"Oh you're on Gilbert" I pay the attendant for both of us and he hands us the bb guns
I have to admit that it's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be
A bell chimes, signaling the end of the game, I look over and Elena has all ten of her horses knocked down versus my two
"Grand prize winner over here!" the attendant shouts out to everyone, much to Elena's horror "what'll it be?" he points to the wall of prizes, all of which are some variation of over sized stuffed animal
"That one" she points to a giant stuffed bear, the attendant grabs it and hands it to Elena
"Well that's just embarrassing, in the movies the guy always wins the prize for the girl" I laugh
"yeah and then they have to carry it around the rest of the day but it somehow disappears just in time for their romantic scene on the beach and then it's magically back at the end of their date" she laughs before turning to young girl sitting beside her "so, I just won this really cool giant teddy bear, but something tells me that you'll give it a better home" she hands it over to the girl
"Thank you" the girl squeals and then hugs the giant bear "I will take good care of him"
"You're welcome" Elena smiles
"Well aren't you just the sweetest" I reach for her hand again and continue on our walk down the boardwalk
"Hey, she wanted it more than I did"
"It was really sweet of you" I nod "So really though… where did you learn to shoot like that?"
"I grew up in Virginia remember" she smiles "my dad used to take my brother and I hunting all the time"
"Really…" I'm in awe "I can't picture you hunting"
"Girls hunt too you know"
"I know, maybe it's just because I've never been so I can't really picture hunting in general"
"You poor little Manhattan baby "she teases "I would offer to take you sometime, but it honestly it was never my favorite thing to do, I do enjoy target shooting though"
"That would be fun"
"Maybe on the next date" as soon as she realizes what she just said I hear her hold her breath, almost as if she thinks if she's still enough I'll let it go, but she should know me better then that
"Date huh? So it's no longer just dinner?" I wiggle my brows at her
"Stop looking at me like that" she playfully shoves me "fine, yes. It's a date" she blushes
"Oh I already knew that, I'm just glad you finally came around to it" I smirk
I lead us down to the sand and find a boulder for us to sit on
For awhile we just sit in comfortable silence, enjoying the sound of the waves crashing on the shore
"This place is pretty amazing" she says as she looks around her surroundings
"Yeah I've always liked it"
"Did you come here a lot as a kid?"
"Yes and no, my mom used to bring Stefan and I, but after she passed away… well let's just say dad wasn't really into family outings" I clear my throat before continuing "but once we were older Stefan and I would come down here together"
"Did you ever bring Andie here?"
I shake my head "If you don't mind though, I really don't want to talk about Andie right now. Tonight is about you and me"
"Ok" she nods
"It's been a long time since I've been here but no matter how much time passes it always feels good to come back, there's just something about this place…"
"I can see that, I could just sit and listen to the ocean forever" she smiles and my stomach starts to do back-flips
"I would build you house right here if it meant seeing you smile like that all the time"
"Damon…" she bites her lip
"I know; I'm sorry. Let's keep the conversation light"
She nods "So how was your first week back at work?"
"It was great" I smile "I'm mainly on small cases right now but I don't care, I like just being back there, doing what I love to do has brought another piece of me back to life"
"That's so amazing" she grins
"What about you? How are things at the paper?"
"They're publishing my first article next week," she says like it's no big deal
"Elena that's so exciting! Wait…. Why aren't you exited?"
She shrugs "I don't know I mean what if people don't like it"
Sometimes I forget how vulnerable she can be, she's always been there for me, she's supported me and been my rock, and I forget that sometimes she's a scared person just like the rest of us.
I reach over and lift her chin up with my index finger "'Lena, you're an amazing writer. You have to tell yourself that and you have to believe it; there are always going to be mean people waiting to put you down, but as long as you have faith in yourself they can try all they want but they won't be able to knock you down"
She slowly nods, "you're right, thank you Damon" she smiles "For everything, for even convincing me to come here with you tonight, it's been so amazing"
"Been? Who says it's over? The sun just went down and I believe we have a date with a Ferris wheel" I smirk
"Well then we better get to it "she smiles, this time she reaches down and grabs my hand, and my heart swells
I lift her hand up to my mouth and place a kiss on the back of it "your wish is my command"
"The view from up here is amazing! Look at all of the lights!"
I grin at her excitement "aren't you glad we waited until it was dark"
"Yes! It's so amazing; I've never seen anything like this before in my life"
"What, they don't have Ferris wheels in Virginia" I tease
"They do at the summer fair but it's nothing like this, I mean on one side we have all the lights, and on the other side the ocean is right freaking there" she points "It's so beautiful"
"No, you're beautiful, it's just ok" she blushes at my words
"You know how to flatter a girl"
"Elena, I want you know, this thing we're doing, you and me. I'm in; I'm all in. I don't want to see other people, and I don't want to fight my feelings for you, I meant what I said that night at the bar. I want to be with you, I want to make you smile and I want to give you a thousand more days like today"
"Me too" she smiles
"Really?" I ask
She nods "I like you Damon, I have since the moment I meant you, and I want to stop being afraid of you, I want to trust you again"
"You can, I promise"
"Good" she smiles and rests her head against my shoulder, we continue riding the Ferris wheel in silence until it stop at the very top.
"Hey Damon" she looks up and me with her big brown eyes
"Hmm"
"I thought about my prize, and I know what I want"
"Name it"
Instead of saying anything she wraps her hand around the back of my neck, leans forward and presses a kiss to my lips, it takes me a moment to react, but when I realize that Elena Gilbert is kissing me, I place my hand on her cheek, and deepen the kiss.
The Ferris wheel starts moving again and the jerking motion breaks us out of our own little bubble,
She's the first to speak "thank you for the most amazing date I've ever been on"
"Anything for you 'Lena'" I wrap my arm around her shoulder and press a kiss to the side of her head.
A/N: Hey guys! So sorry for the delay in updates, I've been a busy girl, and quite frankly I just couldn't get this chapter right… It started out as the engagement party itself, but the more I got into it I realized there really wasn't a story to be told, so I hope you all don't mind me jumping right into the date and just sort of mentioning the engagement party is passing. So what do you guys think our favorite couples first date? Let me know what you guys think, all you have to do is click that tiny review button at the bottom = ) I hope you guys all have a great weekend, and thanks again for taking the time to read and review!