It was almost three when Elena finally got home swinging the bag that contained her birthday present to herself.
"Hey!" she called as she came in and tossed her keys onto the counter.
"Hey." Damon called from the other room. "Come here a second…"
Elena walked through the apartment. She found Damon and Jenny sitting on the floor, both wearing children's cone party hats.
"What's this?" Elena said with a smile, her eyes fell upon the jumbo cupcake on a tray, a single candle lit on top.
"What does it look like?" Damon said "it's birthday cake…well cup cake. Sit down, do you want coffee?"
"Damon." Elena said "This is so sweet. You didn't have to do this."
"Yes I did, everyone needs cake on their b-day." Damon said fetching them coffee.
Elena took a sneaky photo of her cupcake with her camera phone while he wasn't looking, it was pink frosting with a shower of coloured candy stars, very cute.
"Well thank you." Elena said
"You have to put your party hat on." Damon said pointing to the spare one beside her
Elena sighed. There was no point fighting it, she pulled the elastic around her face.
"Suits you." Damon laughed and Elena scowled
"Make a wish." Damon added pointing to the burning candle
Elena made her wish and blew the candle out.
Damon cleared his throat "There's also this." He handed her a homemade card. It was simple enough on the outside. A painted red heart, with the words "Happy Birthday Mom" Written across it, inside it read "I love you." And there was a paint print of Jenny's hand and the scrawl of (from Jenny and Damon xx)
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
"Damon, this is so sweet." She wiped her eyes
"What…no, Jenny did all the hard work, I just wrote the words…" he winked
"Wow, Jenny this is incredible. Thank you." Elena laughed looking at the baby who had pulled her party hat off and was chewing the point.
It was eight thirty and Jenny was asleep. Elena finished curling her hair and spritzed it with hair spray. She was getting ready for her annual Birthday/girls night out. She'd opted for a LBD, it was shorter than she'd usually wear so she added black tights. She wore her new shoes she'd treated herself to as a birthday present and topped it all off with her black, fitted leather jacket (it was December after all…) She took her time and made her make up flawless. It wasn't all the often that she got a night out so she was pulling out all the stops to look good.
After some small talk with the baby sitter she left her building and met up with her friends. She thanked Caroline for the flowers but not for the singing telegram…
"Where are we going?" Elena's oldest friend Bonnie asked
"We are going to my favourite bar." Caroline said
"Where's that?" Elena asked as they followed her other friends down the street.
"It's in town. It's called 'RIC'S', the drinks are cheap and the music is good" Caroline said
"Sounds good!" Bonnie laughed
Caroline was right about the music, it was good. They got a table with sofas and shared a bottle of wine. More alcohol was needed before Elena was hitting the dance floor.
"So how's your day been so far?" Bonnie asked
"Well apart from my singing telegram…" Elena began. She told them about Damon's cupcake and the card, she couldn't help but smile as they gushed over the photo she'd snapped on her cell.
"God, he sounds amazing." Caroline said clutching her heart,
"He does." Bonnie nodded "We need to meet him."
Just then their old school friend Amy came over.
"Champaign ladies!" she squealed, presenting them with a bottle "Courtesy of the hottie at the bar…"
They all turned to look.
Elena's jaw fell open. Damon was standing behind the bar with a smirk on his face. He waved when she spotted him.
"Wow!…who's that?" Caroline gasped, looking him up and down
"Well…that's Damon." Elena breathed.