Wow, not nearly as long this time. Woohoo! I hope you enjoy this. As always let me know what you think. There aren't too many chapters left of this story, less than 10 for sure. probably about 5 if I don't get anymore ideas. This chapter is unbetaed, so all mistakes are my own.
"Are you ever planning on speaking to me again?" Elena demanded the next morning as they were packing up and preparing to head back to the villa.
"We'll see. Right now I'm not overly pleased with you." He stated.
"Why? Because I told you that I didn't want you to buy me an engagement ring. I didn't know you were thinking about
taking that step." Elena demanded.
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. I don't want to take that step anymore. That ship has sailed." He muttered as he zipped up his bag. When they were done they walked out of the room in silence. Elena went to stand by the car while Damon checked them out of their room.
"You bought a ring didn't you? That's why you're so bitter about yesterday?" She clarified.
"That's really none of your business whether I bought a ring. It doesn't matter anyway." He stated as he stepped on the gas, speeding them out of town. Elena sighed and leaned her head on the passenger door. The moment the two of them made any progress at all, something always came up and derailed them. It was like clockwork, they were happy so one of them had to fuck things up.
With the way he was driving they made it back to Sarteano much quicker than they usually could. It was like he had no intention of being in her presence for longer than necessary. When he approached the house, he saw Bella outside pruning her rose bushes. He parked in front of the big house and got out, fishing the duffel from the backseat.
"How was Rome?" Bella asked as Damon stalked into the house leaving Elena behind.
"Rome was beautiful. The trip was amazing up until yesterday." Elena sighed shaking her head.
"What's wrong? Things were going so well for the two of you when you left?" Bella asked concerned. It seemed to her that the couple was back to where they were when they arrived.
"I think I hurt him." Elena answered choosing her words carefully.
"Come, help me with the roses. Sometimes flowers help people open up?" She told the young woman, pulling her arms to lead her to the gardens in the back. Elena smiled at the woman and willingly followed her around the back of the property.
"These flowers are so amazing. You take such good care of them." Elena sighed looking at the bright colours surrounding her.
"Thank you. Flowers and gardening are my passions. So how do you think you hurt Damon?" Bella asked as she pruned the weeds out of the beautiful gardens.
"Uh..." Elena started unsure of how to start.
"You don't have to tell me. I won't meddle, it's not my place." She promised turning back to the flowers.
"Thank you. When I have it all sorted out in my head, maybe I can talk about it. But right now I'm confused about everything. My feelings, his feelings. Our future. It's all a huge jumbled mess." Elena explained.
"How so?" Bella asked.
"Well I guess it all goes back to Rome. Damon and I had this fight because he left me behind to go buy something in a jewelry store. I have to sinking suspicion it's an engagement ring. I freaked out and now I'm thinking I made a huge mistake. He's hurt by my reaction, so now he'll probably never ask me again." Elena explained, surprised at how easy the words came from her lips.
"See that wasn't so hard. It's always best to talk through your feelings. So you think Damon wants to propose?" She asked
softly.
"Wanted to propose. I'm pretty sure that's in the past now." Elena answered.
"I'm sure it's not. Feelings like that don't just disappear. He may be wounded right now, but that doesn't mean he's completely given up hope." Bella assured Elena.
"He won't even speak to me. I'm pretty sure that means I went too far this time." Elena sighed
"Did he actually ask you to marry him?" Bella asked.
"No, I don't even know for sure he bought a ring. It's just the way he's been acting since yesterday that makes me think he did." Elena admitted.
"You guys are in love. You'll work it out. Maybe in Venice." She suggested.
"I don't want to go to Venice with someone who wants nothing to do with me." Elena confessed.
"I know dear." Bella said comfortingly.
"I think I'm going to head inside and use the silent treatment as a chance to email my friends back home. I'm sure my email inbox is filling up thanks to my friends and family." Elena said.
"He'll come around Elena. That's what men in love do. They come around and lose some of that stubbornness. If I gave up hope every single time that Antonio and I had a lovers spat, we would never have gotten married. We've had our fair share of misunderstandings too, dear." She told her as Elena walked into the house.
Elena walked into the computer room, not having seen Damon anywhere in the house as she walked. She knew he was there, but she had no idea where. She sat down on the comfy computer chair and switched the computer on. She leaned back in the chair as the computer booted up and thought about how everything suddenly went so wrong. Elena smiled as she logged into her email account and found the 30 unread messages. 25 of which were from Caroline. She shook her head and laughed a little at her slightly obsessive best friend before logging into her Facebook account to see the activity on there. The second she logged on, Caroline popped up on her chat bar.
"Elena Marie Gilbert, where the hell have you been? There is no conceivable reason you've been avoiding the computer
ever since you left." Caroline typed furiously.
"Hi, Caroline. Nice to talk to you too." Elena typed.
"So... how's it going? We're all wondering." Caroline asked.
"Um... it wasn't going good, then it was going great, now not so good again." Elena explained.
"Oh, what happened? I'm glad things were going good." Caroline asked, somehow her worry seeped through the computer.
"Things were going great when we were in Rome until he bought an engagement ring." Elena typed back.
"An engagement ring!? Are you getting married?" Caroline demanded, Elena could hear her squeal halfway across the world.
"No, I'm not engaged. He's pissed at me because I told him he shouldn't have bought a ring." Elena typed.
"I don't think he's pissed. I think he's hurt." Caroline stated.
"I think you're right." Elena answered.
"Do you want to get married to him?" Caroline typed, getting right to the heart of the issue.
"I'm so in love with him, and it's been so hard since yesterday when he stopped speaking to me. It's like he only talks to me when he absolutely has to and I hate it. But when it comes to marriage if I'm being completely honest then yes. I do want to get married to him, but I'm just afraid of the depth of my feelings for him. I feel like if I accept his proposal, I won't be
able to wait. I'll marry him immediately." Elena typed.
"That's not a bad thing, although I would be pissed if you married him without me being there." Caroline typed.
"I'm pretty sure that won't happen. But I have to go. I can hear Damon moving about and I should try to talk to him." Elena typed.
"Alright, but don't disappear for so long this time Lena. I miss you and so does everyone else. Email or message me sometime." Caroline insisted.
"I will whenever I have time. I'm here to work on my relationship. I better go." Elena said before logging off the computer.
Elena could hear Damon downstairs in the kitchen. She left the computer room and walked downstairs, finding Damon cooking dinner in the kitchen.
"Need some help?" She asked taking the opening.
"No it's all good." He said as he fried up some vegetables on the chef friendly stove.
"Okay then." She said sitting down at the island hoping he'd decide he wants to speak.
"Are you still set on going to Venice tomorrow?" Damon asked considering that was the plan all along.
"I don't want to go to Venice when you're mad at me. It kinda ruins the idea of a romantic gondola ride and that's what I
wanted to do." Elena told him.
"I'm not mad at you." Damon sighed.
"Yes you are. You haven't really spoken to me since yesterday." Elena sighed.
"I'm not mad. I'm disappointed, I'll admit. I thought Rome was the perfect place to finally propose to you. I've wanted to
marry you for years but I thought it was a good time to at least buy a ring." Damon explained.
"You were going to propose?" She asked, she didn't know that was part of his plan.
"After the opera, I thought that was a good time to do it. But don't worry I'm not going to do that again." He promised her.
"I don't want you to not propose to me. I want to marry you." She told him.
"You could have fooled me. The way you freaked out yesterday." He shrugged turning away from her.
"I'm sorry for that. I'm in love with you and I want to marry you." Elena told him.
"Do you want to go to Venice?" Damon asked finally. He was silent for so long that she was worried he lost the ability to speak.
"Yes. If I was to ask, would you show me the ring?" She asked hopefully.
"Are you sure you want to see it?" He asked.
"I want to see it. I don't want you to propose right this minute. I want to be surprised when it happens. Between Caroline and Bella, they convinced me that I want to be your wife." Elena told him.
"Alright." He said flashing out of the room and grabbing the ring box before reappearing in the kitchen seconds later. He placed the box on the counter and went back to the stove. She slid the box towards herself and opened it.
"Wow." She whispered when she saw the glittering diamond ring nestled among the black silk of the box. The ring was platinum with a round cut diamond sitting in the center. It was set in a band filled with smaller diamonds. It was breathtaking. "You bought this yesterday? It's so beautiful?" She murmured.
"You like it?" He asked.
"It's so beautiful. I could picture myself wearing that for the rest of eternity." She sighed closing the box and pushing it across the counter.
"Do you want to try it on?" He asked.
"No, I don't want to put it on until you ask me to marry you." Elena demurred.
"Sounds good to me. But be prepared, I will be asking you." Damon warned her.
"Be prepared, I will probably say yes." Elena smirked.
"Well then you better be prepared for my reaction when you say yes." He responded.
"So we're going to Venice tomorrow?" She asked hopefully. Aside from Rome, Venice was the other place she really wanted to see. It was just so romantic, gondola rides and such.
"Yep, there is still lots of Italy to see, so we're going to be busy for the next couple weeks." He told her.
"Good. So what are you making?" She asked remembering the food he was cooking.
"I was just making a simple stir-fry for dinner tonight. I'm not nearly motivated enough to make anything more." He told her as he tossed a loaf of garlic bread into the oven and switched it on as he added noodles and cooked shrimp to the pan.
"It looks so good. I love shrimp." She told him.
"I know you do. You say that every time I make something with shrimp in it." He laughed at her.
"Well while you're doing that, I am going outside to see if Bella's still doing the flowers." Elena said sliding off the stool and walked through the double doors. She walked around the house until she found Bella at the olive trees picking olives.
"Elena, did you talk to Damon?" She asked with a kind smile on her face.
"Yes I did. It went well. " She affirmed nodding her head as she started helping Bella with the olives.
"That's good. Things are back on track then?" She asked.
"Yes. He showed me the ring. He's going to propose at some point. I asked him to make it a surprise." Elena confessed.
"So are you going to marry him." Bella noted.
"Yes, you and Caroline, my best friend back in the States, told me the same thing. I want to be with him forever and I want to get married to him. I want to be his wife, I was just afraid." Elena admitted.
"I know you are. When you're not expecting it a engagement ring can be a disconcerting item. Most women have better reactions though." Bella noted.
"I know, I reacted terribly. But I better head back inside. Thank you for your insight." Elena said as she turned to walk back to the house.
"Are the two of you going to Venice tomorrow?" Bella called after her.
"Yes." Elena nodded.
"Well make sure that man of yours takes you on a gondola ride." Bella informed her.
"Don't worry. He most definitely will be doing that." Elena laughed.
"That's good. I will see you later Elena. I was wondering if Antonio and I could come over and use one of the pools tonight. Swimming is our favourite form of exercise." Bella asked.
"Of course. Swimming is very good exercise. Not my favourite form but good nonetheless." Elena laughed.
"Thank you." Bella said kindly before turning back to the olive tree.
Elena wandered back into the house and Damon was dishing the stir-fry onto two plates. He pulled the garlic bread out and cut it up.
"Dinner is served." Damon called to her.
"I'll be right there." Elena told him as she rushed to the bathroom to wash her hands. She came back seconds later and sat down at the table across from him.
"So what do you want to do tonight?" Damon asked as they ate in relative silence.
"We could go swimming with Bella and Antonio. They're using the pool tonight." Elena told him.
"You want to go swimming?" He asked.
"Yeah, like Bella said it's excellent exercise." She told him.
"There are much hotter ways to get exercise." He noted.
"Oh I know, but I want to wait until we get to Venice. This trip is going to go so much better than Rome did." Elena told
him.
"Of course it will." Damon agreed nodding his head as he bit into the slice of bread. They ate the rest of the meal in silence.
When they were done they used vampire speed to clean up the kitchen before heading upstairs to put on their swimsuits.
"I guess I actually have to wear swimming trunks tonight." Damon sighed dismally.
"It would kill Bella and Antonio to see you naked." Elena told him.
"I know, and I like them. I want them to live forever." Damon noted as he slipped his clothes off and put a pair of trunks on right away with no fanfare. Elena slipped into a mulch-coloured string bikini, with bottoms that tied at the sides. "That's rude... way too much temptation for me right there." Damon whined seeing her in very little.
"I don't own a one piece swimsuit. You will just have to keep your hands to yourself." Elena told him firmly, narrowing her eyes.
"Ha, you are really trying to kill me." Damon whined as they walked downstairs and out the french doors leading to the pools. Bella and Antonio were walking across the deck carrying towels when they walked outside.
"It's a beautiful night for a swim." Elena called out to them as she dropped her towel on a lounge chair and stepped into the pool slowly. She pulled her hair up and back in a high, messy bun before she submerged herself all the way to her shoulders. Damon executed a perfect dive off the board in the deep end of the pool before surfacing right next to her. Antonio started swimming laps in the other pool while Bella went to stand beside Elena.
"The two of you are such a beautiful couple." Bella sighed happily.
"Thank you." Elena told him leaning her head on Damon's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her narrow waist and kissed the top of her head.
"Make sure Venice is filled with romance for two of you." Bella ordered.
"Oh believe me with what I have planned, Venice will be the highlight of this trip for her." Damon promised.