Chapter Four

We're okay, aren't we?

Maybe dinner and dancing wouldn't be so bad, Elena tried to tell herself as Damon held the bedroom door open for her. If she thought of this evening as dinner and dancing with her friend, she wouldn't be so focused on the fact that she was here helping the man she loved get his ex-girlfriend back. Tonight the show really started, and the chances of giving away how she felt about him, after years of keeping it a secret, were high enough to make her a little anxious.

"Stefan will want to dance with you tonight," Damon told her, as they made their way down the stairs to the large dining room.

"Why?"

"Because you're here with me."

Elena stopped walking and looked at him. "Because of this stupid game the two of you insist on playing, right?"

"That would be the main reason."

"Because there couldn't be any other reason," Elena muttered under her breath. "Because he couldn't just dance with me because he wanted to dance with me."

While Damon was more than likely right in this instance, it would probably never occur to him that a man might just want to dance with her because he liked her.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. When are you going the stop?"

"Stop what?"

"This game. This stupid, idiotic, and completely outrageous game."

"It's over. I'm done. I'm out." Pause. "Once I get Katherine back."

"Sure," she said, and kept walking.

"I will," he said to her, keeping up with her.

She shook her head. "Because you're in love, right?"

"You couldn't be more surprised than I am."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"And once I get her back, I won't be interested in playing anymore. I won't need to."

"Great."

"You know," he said to her. "It's kind of cool we're in love at the same time. You know what I'm going through."

Cool was not the word she would use to describe the situation; not when she was in love with him, and he was in love with someone else.

"Yeah, well I'm trying to get over it."

"Did he hurt you?" Damon asked; his voice suddenly full of concern. "Because I'll-"

"You'll what? Kick his ass?" she asked, smiling.

The idea of him kicking his own ass made quite an amusing picture.

"This isn't high school, Damon."

"I know that, but no-one hurts you and gets away with it."

"It's not like he did it intentionally. He doesn't even know."

"You're making excuses for him."

Elena hoped Damon would drop the subject when they entered the dining room. Music filtered in from the jazz band playing in the ballroom. The ballroom and dining room were separated by several sets of double doors that were all currently open. It looked like most of the employees of Smith and Smith advertising were downstairs already, milling around, and drinking the pre-dinner drinks that were being served. Damon put his hand on the small of her back as they walked up to the bar, and ordered drinks. When Damon took one of the three seats at the bar, instead of making a move to mingle, she was surprised. Damon motioned for her to join him.

"Is it Tim Peterman?" he asked her.

"What?"

"Your mystery guy? Is it Tim Peterman?"

"Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. He's an alright looking guy."

"If you like brawn and no brains."

"That's not a no, Elena."

She sighed, before answering him. "No, it's not Tim Peterman."

"Is it Michael Mackenzie?"

"No."

"I know," he said to her, leaning forward and clicking his fingers, trying to think of a name. "It's Damien Price isn't it?"

"The balding life insurance salesman who visits the shop every Thursday? No, Damon, and seriously, what does that say about my taste?"

"You were with Kyle Marsden for ages, and he was completely bald."

"Well he had other…qualities that compensated for that."

"Like what?"

"You don't want to know."

He made a face. "You're right. I don't want to know."

She laughed. "Are we finished?"

"Not even close. Is it Daniel Wheaton?"

"I thought you wanted me to get over him."

"I think you'll have better luck getting over him if you tell me who he is."

She shook her head, and rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to give you his name, so stop."

"I think you need to talk about him, Elena."

She sipped her drink. "Well, I don't."

"Why won't you just tell me who he is?" he asked her, frustration creeping into his voice.

"Why won't you just drop it?" she asked back.

"Because this is big for you," he said to her.

He didn't need to say anything else. She could feel guilt edging in, bit by bit, making her feel awful. Normally they shared everything. If she was excited over something, then he was too. If she was disappointed about something, then he was disappointed too. Under normal circumstances, she would have told him everything about a man she was interested in, but these weren't normal circumstances.

She should never have told him she was in love with someone. She had gone this long without saying anything, but today it had just felt right to tell him. Now he wasn't going to let it go without a fight and she was already regretting it. She couldn't share this with him without changing everything between them. Their friendship was already being turned on its head at the moment, and the last thing she wanted to do was put any further strain on their relationship. She couldn't even begin to imagine what he might say, how he might feel if he knew, and the idea of losing him scared her more than anything in this world.

"You have to talk to someone about him, Elena."

"I have talked to someone about him."

The answer sprung out before she could stop it, and the look of hurt on his face only made her feel worse.

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Does Bonnie know?" he asked her. "Does Caroline know?"

She didn't want to lie to him. "It doesn't matter."

"They both know, don't they?"

"Damon-"

"Now I'm hurt."

"They guessed," she told him softly. "I didn't tell them."

"So if I guess you'll tell me?" Damon asked her with some exasperation.

She sighed. She couldn't very well say no. Besides, he would never guess.

"Yes, I'll tell you."

He nodded, and then continued. "Is it James Prentice?"

"Okay, stop."

"You just said-"

"You've had enough guesses for one night," she told him.

He was about to argue with her when they spotted Stefan and Katherine walking towards them.

"We're not done yet," Damon shot at her before they were interrupted.

It was even worse than he'd imagined, Damon thought. Since when did she tell things to Bonnie and Caroline, and not him? And Bonnie and Caroline had guessed? How come they'd been able to pick the guy, but he hadn't? He thought he knew Elena better than anyone. Even though he had been preoccupied with Katherine, he didn't know how he could have missed something so big in his friend's life.

"You look nice tonight, Elena," Stefan said to Elena, jolting Damon out of his thoughts.

"Thank you," Elena said quietly.

"I hope Damon won't mind if I steal a dance with you tonight."

Elena had been about to say no outright. She didn't want to be drawn into their game in any way at all. She didn't want Stefan to show her attention just because she was with Damon, but then she saw the way Katherine was looking at Damon, and she remembered why Damon had brought her along. She was here to help him win Katherine back, and if she danced with Stefan, then Damon would be free to dance with Katherine.

"I'd like that," she told him, feeling Damon tense beside her immediately.

The smile Stefan gave Damon; and Damon's answering scowl made her want to hit both of them over the head.

Katherine leaned forward and toyed with one of the buttons on Damon's shirt. "I guess that leaves us free to dance."

"I guess it does," he said to her, with a sexy smile that Elena had never been on the receiving end of.

The moment Katherine and Stefan were drawn into a conversation with another couple, however, Damon's scowl returned. He was angry with her, but it wasn't like she could stay out of their game now anyway. Refusing Stefan would only encourage him to try harder, and she didn't want to have to spend the whole week running away from him, or fobbing off his advances. It would be polite to dance once or twice with him. She could still make it clear that she only saw him as Damon's work colleague, all the while providing Damon with some much needed time with Katherine. Damon should be thanking her for that.

"What the hell, Elena?" he demanded angrily after Katherine and Stefan walked away.

"Dancing with Stefan will give you the time you need with Katherine."

"You're not supposed to be bait. I don't want you getting involved in this."

She shook her head in disbelief. "I became part of this the moment I agreed to come along this week, Damon."

"I didn't think this through."

"This is the opportunity you need to win Katherine over, just like we planned. It's perfect actually. While Stefan has his eye on me, you're getting closer to Katherine. Isn't that what you want?"

"I don't want Stefan to think he's winning by getting to you. He will do everything he can to try and 'win you away from me'."

Elena felt the anger building inside her. "You think I don't know that? I know he's only interested in provoking you. Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"No. Of course not. It's just that-"

"It's just that you can't bear the thought of Stefan thinking he's winning," she finished for him. "You're both ridiculous."

At that moment Elijah announced that dinner was about to be served, and so they sat down with everyone else at the long dining table. Damon knew he was in trouble when Elena turned to talk to the person on the other side of her to carry out a conversation. He couldn't blame for being angry at him. Yes it was true that he didn't want Stefan to think Elena was falling for his charms. Yes his male pride hated the idea of Stefan thinking he was winning anything, but more than anything Damon just hated the thought of Stefan touching her at all.

By the time dinner was finished she'd barely spoken more that a handful of words to him. When the music began to play, people drifted onto the dance floor. Eventually the person Elena had been talking to for most the evening left with her companion and Damon stood up. When Elena looked at him, he held out his arm.

"Come on," he said to her, inclining his head towards the dance floor.

She looked like she might refuse him for a moment, but then she accepted his arm and they walked onto the dance floor together. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, and looked up at him. As his eyes locked with hers, he felt the desperate need to reassure himself that everything was okay between them.

"We're okay, aren't we?" he asked her.

Elena nodded when she saw how worried he looked. "Apart from the fact you're an idiot at times."

"Are you sure?"

"That you're an idiot?" she asked him with a smile, teasing him.

He smiled back at her; a smile she knew so well. It was one of familiarity and tenderness, and it got to her every time. On the odd occasion when one of Damon's ex-girlfriends cried on her shoulder after a break-up, they called Damon heartless, or cold, or unfeeling, but Elena knew he was none of those things. He was foolish, and at times a complete ass, but he had loads and loads of heart.

"That we're okay," he said softly.

"We're fine," she said to him, trying to reassure him despite the fact that she was having the same concerns he was.

"It feels like things are changing. You're keeping things from me. Things you tell Caroline and Bonnie, but not me."

"I told you-"

"Bonnie and Caroline guessed. I know, but we've always told each other everything. Haven't we?"

Everything except for one huge secret she'd been keeping from him for a very long time. "Change is a natural part of life," she told him.

"I'm well aware of that. I just don't see why we can't stay the same."

"Because things are different now. You're in love-"

"So?" he asked completely confused.

Damon couldn't fathom how that had anything to do with them.

"So, the woman you're in love with doesn't like me at all. You said yourself she never liked you spending time with me, and now that she thinks we're together she'll hate me even more."

Damon's expression changed from perplexed to angry as she trailed off.

"Is that what you think? That I'm going to let her come between us?"

She looked away from him. After all they'd been through, how could she think that?

"Are you planning on letting the next guy you date come between us?" he asked her, pointedly.

She looked back at him. "It's not as simple as that, Damon. You'll be spending more time with Katherine, and I'll be married one day, with children. We won't always be able to spend so much time together. There will be other priorities in our lives," she told him.

No, Damon thought, no matter what happened in their lives, they would never mean any less to each other. It was always meant to be the two of them together. But it didn't sound like Elena thought the same way he did. He couldn't imagine them being any different with each other, even when they were both involved in relationships, but she did. He didn't know how to respond to that.

He'd always pictured them sharing every moment that mattered; every moment that was important. Until today, when she had sprung the whole dating agency thing on him, he'd never really thought about what it would mean when she finally settled down. Eventually, however, she would meet a man she wanted to marry; someone else she would share the moments with in her life. She would let someone else in, and then she wouldn't need him anymore. The thought was like an arrow piercing his heart. She laid her head against his chest as they danced, and he pulled her closer. He would be lost without their friendship. He would be lost without her.

Damon was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even realize Katherine and Stefan were dancing beside them.

"May I have this dance, Elena?" Stefan asked once the song they were dancing to finished.

Damon stopped still, about to tell Stefan to piss off in not so nice terms, but then Elena looked up at him.

"You don't mind do you, Damon?"

Damon knew it wasn't really a question after their earlier conversation. She expected him to dance with Katherine, and she was giving him the chance to do so. He didn't really feel like dancing with Katherine right now though; not after Elena had just told him that they were going to grow apart. At least that was what is sounded like she was suggesting. He didn't want to let her go. He needed to talk to her about this, but she was already moving away from him.

Resigned to the fact that Elena was going to dance with Stefan whether he wanted her to or not, he turned to Katherine.

"Katherine, would you like to dance?" he asked, seeing the other woman arch one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him.

Katherine smiled and gracefully moved into his arms, and Damon had the thought that she didn't fit him anywhere near as well as Elena did, before he dismissed it as stupid. He looked over to where Elena was dancing with Stefan, before Katherine put her hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at her. He knew he should enjoy dancing with Katherine. His plan was to pull out all the stops, but he couldn't shake off Elena's words, and the subsequent feeling of dread washing over him.

Elena watched Damon dancing with Katherine. Katherine's hand was on his cheek, as he looked at the other woman. Damon was right; their plan did seem to be working. Elena tried to remind herself that this was a good thing. This was what Damon wanted, and if he wanted it, then she wanted it, because his happiness was as important to her as her own.

"Damon is very lucky to have a friend like you," Stefan told her, seeing her watching the other couple.

She looked at him. "Why is that?"

"It's obvious you're in love with him," Stefan said to her knowingly.

"Yes, I've loved him since high school," she said to him, repeating what she'd already said earlier that day.

"I believe you," he said to her.

Elena tried to relax, but she couldn't. She actually felt quite tense dancing with Damon's rival.

"What I don't believe," Stefan added, "is that he feels the same way."

Despite the fact she knew his words to be true, they still hurt. Stefan was wearing a sympathetic look which made her feel even more pathetic.

"Why would you say that?" she asked him.

"Damon and I were on better terms some time ago. I asked him about you once. He told me you were a friend, and that the two of you would never be more than friends."

"Things change," she said to him.

Isn't that what she had just been telling Damon? Things changed. Not the way Damon felt about her, however.

"They do. But I believed Damon when he told me he would never see you that way."

"You can believe what you want," she told him. "I know how Damon feels about me."

She did know how Damon felt about her, and Stefan was right. They would never be more than friends.

"You're a very loyal person, aren't you? Tell me the truth; did he bring you along to distract me, because it's working."

She stared at him. This was just part of the game, she told herself. He was using her to get to Damon.

"I can see I've surprised you," he said to her. "He didn't tell you, did he?"

"Tell me what?"

"That I wanted to ask you out when I first met you."

"Then why didn't you?" she asked him.

"Damon didn't want me to. He said it would be messy if we got involved and it didn't work out."

Elena looked across the floor to where Damon and Katherine were now dancing. Damon was looking back at them, and their eyes locked briefly, before she turned her attention back to Stefan. Damon was obviously still worried that she couldn't handle herself; that she would fall victim to the game between them. Had Damon really told Stefan not to ask her out?

She barely finished one dance with Stefan before Damon was cutting back in, much to Katherine's chagrin.

"You and Stefan seemed to be having quite the conversation," Damon said to her as they moved around the dance floor.

"We were."

"What did he have to say?"

She looked up at him. "He told me he was going to ask me out once, but you told him not to."

"He's just trying to draw you into the game," he told her.

"Is it true?"

"That he wanted to ask you out?"

She nodded.

"Yes," he said simply. "At the time I thought it would be a really bad idea."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked him.

"Are you mad?" he asked her. "See this is exactly what Stefan does–"

"I was surprised, Damon, especially since we're supposed to tell each other everything."

Was she angry or not? Damon couldn't tell. He'd done her a favor, and saved her some heartbreak anyway. At the time he hadn't known Stefan terribly well, and when he'd asked Damon, Damon hadn't been sure if Stefan was a good match for Elena. Now he was glad he'd made that decision. Stefan didn't have a genuine bone in his body when it came to women. Elena didn't look impressed, however. It was bad enough that things were changing so quickly between them, without Stefan trying to cause trouble too.

"What else did Stefan say?" he asked her, when she remained quiet.

"He's not buying it," she said to him.

"What do you mean he's not buying it?"

"He doesn't believe that you're in love with me, or that we're together," she told him with a sigh.

He had once told Stefan that Elena was more like a sister, and a best friend, all rolled into one. Now, not only were those words were coming back to haunt him, but they mocked the uncontrollable desire he'd been feeling towards her since he'd seen her this morning. Damon looked over to see Stefan whirling Katherine around the dance floor. Elena was watching them too. The whole idea was to make Katherine believe he was with Elena, but now it seemed just as important that Stefan believe it as well.

"I obviously need to work harder at convincing him then," Damon said to her.

When Elena looked up at him, he brushed his lips against hers for the second time that day, letting them linger a little longer this time. The gentle contact sent sparks shooting through him. When he broke away to look at her, she was looking back at him as if she'd felt the same thing. They stared at each other for a moment before he lowered his head again and captured her lips with his. This time he was in no hurry to end the kiss, and when she opened her mouth underneath his, he didn't think before taking what she was offering him. It felt so good; felt so right, as his tongue slid along hers, that Damon found himself wondering why he'd never done this before today.

There must have been a good reason, but he couldn't think of it right now. He couldn't think about anything other than how good she felt against him. Fantasy started to take over as he imagined cupping her breasts in his hands, and trailing kisses over her naked body. She moaned into his mouth as their kiss turned into something slightly more heated. Would she make that same noise in bed when he joined them together, he wondered?

It was her soft gasp as his growing arousal pressed against her that made him break the contact. God, what the hell was wrong with him? What was he thinking?

"I'm sorry," he said to her, pulling away. "I forgot who I was with."

It wasn't the right thing to say. He knew that immediately. She stepped out of his arms and glared at him.

"You're sorry," she repeated, glaring at him. "You forgot who you were with? Did you think I was Katherine?"

"No!" he denied hotly, but it was too late.

First he'd practically forced his affections on her, kissing her without any warning, and then he'd managed to say the wrong thing. That was the exact reason he'd never done this before. Getting physical only complicated everything. He was meant to be putting their friendship back on the right track, but somehow he was managing to screw it up even further. It was all these changes, he thought, they were making him act funny, and messing with his head.

"Damon, a word please," Elijah said, putting a hand on Damon's shoulder.

He needed to try and explain himself, but Elena was already walking away. For the first time since they arrived, Damon questioned whether bringing Elena was the right call. He'd thought they'd have fun together, but what was happening between them didn't feel fun; it felt downright scary. Elena was the most important person in his life. How was he supposed to focus on anything when things weren't right between them? He couldn't. Things with Katherine would have to wait. He'd fix things with Elena, and then maybe he could actually concentrate on winning Katherine back.

A/N: Baby is just waking up, so no long author's note here. I will say that Damon is about to get a clue for those of you utterly frustrated with his obliviousness. I'm pleased this story is going down well with so many of you. As always your support is just overwhelming. I wish I had more time to gush :( Thanks so much for reading, and please review.