It was nearly 3 o'clock now. Still no word from Damon. Did she really expect one after he just stormed out like he had? Why should she care anyways? She's known him, what, three days now? No, that's a lie. She had noticed him several times over the past few years at the Grill, but they had never spoken to each other before a few days prior to now. Truthfully, it was hard not to notice him. He had always seemed so dark, mysterious. There was some sort of air about him that made him seem so dangerous. Ironically, that just added to his appeal to her. Also, it had pushed him off limits to her. How would her friends react to her seeing him? Obviously, they'd be worried sick. He wasn't the type she would normally be with. Elena liked safe, predictable guys. They were boring, but kept her from getting hurt.
Wow, she was all wrapped up in him already. How could she allow this happen in her current circumstances? Great, just another thing to add to her ever-growing crisis pile. Ding! Stefan's phone came to life.
"Please Be Damon," Elena thought quietly to herself. It was silly, but she already missed him. He was so soothing, without being overly pushy to her in her time of need. But why hadn't he messaged her? Why Stefan? She was becoming a neurotic version of Caroline now. Eww. She pushed those thoughts back down.
"So do we have to go rescue his drunken ass from the bar," Elena joked.
"No, not quite. He is on his way back, though, surprisingly," Stefan answered.
Elena was relieved. She didn't have to sit here and stress herself out more thinking about what he could be doing. He was a total ladies' man, so really the possibilities were endless. She shouldn't be acting like this. It wasn't as if she had any claim to him at all. She shouldn't be jealous of someone else seeing him when he wasn't even hers to be protective over. Wow, Elena's mind was a mess.
Elena had no idea what a tangled mess the mind could be. If she could take one peek into what Damon had been going through his entire drive back to Caroline's she would understand. It should've only taken twenty minutes at most, but so far he had managed to stretch it out to a full two hours. He would purposely pull over every couple of miles just so he could buy more time to think. He panicked about what he had to do, and what he would say. Every time he thought he had it all laid out in his head, he would find some loophole within and talk himself out of it. He was left with almost no way to explain this mess to Elena. In every possible situation he played out, it ended with her inevitably being terrified and running away from him, and somewhat to his sick amusement, Stefan too.
With only a few miles left to go he was running out of time. Tell her alone? No, she might think I was going to kill her or something after that big revelation. If she was with Caroline, though, she might freak out and make the situation worse. Stefan? No, that'd be worse than being alone. Then she would definitely think we were going to eat her. It was just so impossible to win with this situation. Maybe alone would be best. Damon picked up his phone and dialed her number (thank God he had gotten it from Caroline Friday night). He punched in a quick text to her.
It's Damon. Be there in 5. Meet me outside. Need to talk.
Send.
Sorry! A few short, but necessary, chapters to come! :)
I promise it's worth it!