Am I extremely sorry for the latest update ever ! I have no excuses at all, which is the worse of it all. I hope you'll still enjoy this chapter and that you haven't let me down!

Once again, i'm so sorry, i'll try make it up by uploading a new chapter soon.. However i don't want to make a promise i can't keep!

Enjoy your reading

Once again, picking up from where I left off last chapter..

Elena had done a mixture of shots and other drinks that people brought her while trying to forget what both Stefan and Caroline told her. She kept replaying their two sentences over and over again in her head "Stefan and I kissed" and "I hooked up with Caroline". She thought at how differently they both phrased their actions. It seemed as though Caroline's point of view was much more sentimental while Stefan's was just a normal thing that happened, as if he didn't really care. However, Elena knew that Stefan wasn't the type of guy to hook up with anyone without having a tiny bit of feeling for the girl. Damon, who was still by her side at the bar handed her another shot. It broke her out of her thoughts and she looked at Damon skeptically. She knew that she should stop but her heart was saying something else. She just wanted to stop feeling sad about Caroline and Stefan's situation and to enjoy the night. She took the shot from Damon's hand and gulped it down. Damon laughed out loud after seeing Elena's reaction.

"Alright, let's get you back on the floor, I will not allow you to sit down at the bar and mope, no ways!" he said while taking her hand and leading her onto the dancefloor. She didn't want to dance just yet. She wanted all of her drinks to settle down before moving, but Damon wasn't giving her any choice. She and Damon danced for a while. She then saw Stefan at the edge of the dancefloor so she walked over to him.

"Come dance with me," she said. The alcohol had buzzed her a little bit so she was more confident than she normally would have been.

However, he didn't think twice about her offer. He took hold of her hand and led her back towards the dancefloor. She was holding his hand tightly before loosening her grip completely. She wanted to know whether she was the one holding his hand or the other way around. She smiled at the thought that he was holding hers and wasn't planning on letting go of it anytime soon. He had enveloped her tiny hand into his large warm one. She knew that she shouldn't be happy at such a tiny thing, but she couldn't help herself. Elena then realized that she might have forced him to dance while he was just happy watching from the edge.

"You know you don't have to dance if you don't want to."

"That is such an Elena thing to say. You over think too much. You take things that are so simple and you keep on thinking about it and it stresses you out. You make yourself worry for no reasons. I'm a little bit like that."

"Well I guess it's contagious then," she answered. Stefan laughed out loud.

"Good one. Piece of advice though- Chill. Stop making yourself panic. And so what if you had forced me to dance? I would have simply said no. But I'm here on the floor next to you because I want to, not because you dragged me, okay?"

"Okay," she said and gently nodded her head.

They danced for a while and Damon was with them. The music wasn't at its peak, but they were still having a good time. After a while though, Elena got tired and thirsty. She made her way back to the bar and ordered a drink of water and then sat on one of the stools. The bartender gave Elena her drink before continuing with the next customer. She sipped it slowly until she felt as if someone was leaning against the bar next to her. She didn't have to question who it was because her stomach had a tingly feeling.

"Stefan," she said, unable to think of anything else to say.

"What is up with you and your water?" he said smiling down at the glass in her hand.

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" she sincerely asked. Elena was confused by Stefan's comment.

"Don't you remember last summer when I was willing to buy you a drink and all you wanted was a glass of water? Damon ended up buying a mojito for you and you thanked the both of us thinking that I had chipped in too and when…"

"Yeah. Yeah, I remember," Elena said while cutting him in mid sentence. She remembered that night perfectly well, it was the night they first got together. Well it was the only night they got together. She hadn't thought that Stefan would have remembered it with as much details though.

"Why do you keep referring back to last summer Stefan?" Elena couldn't help herself from asking. It was twice in the same night now that he made a reference to last summer.

"Now it's my turn to be confused," he said with a small chuckle.

"First you come upstairs and dance with me to 'Save the World' and tell me that its 'our' song and now you're talking about when we were at the bar ordering drinks that same night. Why are you trying to relive all of those memories?" Elena's voice softened as she continued her monologue, "There's a reason it's a memory Stef, it's because you can't recreate or relive them. The moment has passed. Things have changed. People have changed. And you're just left with memories."

"The worst part of holding the memories is the loneliness of it. If you think about it, memories are hidden within someone. Memories need to be shared."

"But why memories of that night?" she asked putting emphasis on 'that' so he would catch on exactly to what she was referring to. Stefan was getting nervous. She could tell by the way he kept changing his weight from foot to foot and avoiding eye contact.

"It's because I don't want to lose that memory, Elena. After everything that has happened, that night is one that I don't want to forget. Ever," he answered truthfully and he finally made eye contact with her. Elena felt her heart clench and her eyes burn. I have got to get a hold of my emotions and stop crying all the freaking time, she thought to herself.

"You've got to stop doing that," she answered. "I know I might make this extremely awkward by what I'm going to say next but I've got to get it out of my system. Okay," Elena paused and took a deep breath. She knew she would probably regret what she was going to say but she couldn't keep it inside of her anymore. "You've got to stop leading me on Stefan. I mean I get the fact that you're into Caroline and all and you hooked up tonight, but just drop the act with me. Whenever we have those little conversation of ours and you always bring back memories or you do stuff that's really sweet or just your freaking presence. Whenever you're around, there's this… there's this…" Elena was lost for words. How could she describe what she felt whenever he was around without making her sound crazy?

"There's this electricity?" he finished for her.

"Yes, this electricity!" she exclaimed, and then it hit her. "Wait, what? You feel it too?" Stefan couldn't help from chuckling a little bit.

"Elena, the only way I know you're in a room is because I have goosebumps on my entire body. My stomach feels as though there's been a net full of butterflies that's been released." Elena then remembered that they had a similar conversation on Facebook chat right after last summer.

"THAT'S what I'm talking about Stefan. You've got to STOP saying those stuff to me. What do I do next? You're involved with Caroline and I'm just there. You're this amazingly sweet guy and whatever you say or do makes me fall even harder for you and there's nothing I can do about it," Elena then stopped completely. She realized she might as well just have said 'I love you' to him. She was glad that he knew how she felt about him, but she felt horrible knowing that there was nothing that could be done about it. Things with him and Caroline have gone to far to stop now. "I'll see you later," she said and quickly walked away with her now empty glass of water. Stefan sat at the bar dumbfounded. He kept replaying Elena's last line right before she left him "whatever you say or do makes me fall even harder for you." Did she just informally say 'I love you' to me, he thought. He scratched the back of his neck and kept his gaze on the floor. He then bit his nail and kept on thinking about what they just talked about. If she had given him the time to respond to her monologue the only words that would have been able to escape his mouth would be "I love you". He loved Elena. He knew it, but now he was already involved with Caroline. He was in a situation he couldn't back out of. Caroline has been his best friend for too long and things have intensified over the last year, he couldn't let her go just now. Even if he explained the situation, he couldn't change what was happening in their lives. Hell, he though, if he explained the situation, Caroline and Elena would probably never talk to each other again.

Meanwhile, Elena was back upstairs of the club replaying the conversation over and over again in her head. She couldn't believe how stupid she was. She knew she would regret telling those things to Stefan, but she never thought it would make her feel that bad. She wanted to rewind it to when he first came up to her at the bar and did that stupid comment about her glass of water. She death glared the glass that she was still holding.

"There you are," came a voice from behind her. She turned around and saw Damon. "I've been looking everywhere for you! You just left me there dancing on my own. How shameful of you!" he said and then smiled widely. Elena giggled. "Anyways, most of the group has left already and by that I mean Elijah, Jeremy, Matt, Tyler and Meredith. The guys are sleeping at yours I presume and Meredith has gone home. The only people left are Stefan, Caroline, you and I."

"Oh fun," she answered with a tone full of sarcasm.

"I saw the two of you having some intense conversation at the bar," he commented.

"Damon, is there a time where you don't see Stefan and I talking? It seems as though you know about every single time we spend together," she couldn't help herself from answering. Damon thought for a little bit before answering.

"Well he's my baby bro and you're my best friend. You're the two people I will always look out for. You make it pretty simple by always spending time talking to each other meaning that I don't need to feel any anxiety while looking for you."

"Oh such a protector. What would I do without you?" she said while placing a hand on her heart and feigning happiness.

"Shut up," he replied. "Would you like to go home anytime soon?"

"Actually, I wouldn't mind at all. I mean, everyone is more or less gone so we might as well just leave."

"Alright, let's go look for Caroline and Stefan and then I'll drive you back home," answered Damon.

"You're still sleeping over right?"

"That's only if I'm still invited to stay over."

"You don't even need to ask Damon," she said lightly and wrapped her arm around his waist. He circled his arm around her shoulder and they both made their way back downstairs. They found Stefan who was still sitting at the bar where Elena left him and then Caroline was on the dancefloor. Caroline was willing to stay a little longer, but as she saw that everyone wanted to go home, she accepted without complaining.

The drive back was pretty silent; everyone was more tired than they thought they were. Stefan had taken the passenger seat while Caroline and Elena were in the back seat. Elena still felt awkward about what she had said to Stefan. The worse part, she thought, she didn't know how he felt about her, about the situation he's in, about everything. Elena silently unlocked her front door since Jeremy had locked it again after he came back. Caroline headed straight to Elena's room while Stefan and Damon lingered a little longer downstairs with Elena. They went to the kitchen and started making toasts- they were all starving.

"You and Caroline huh?" stated Damon. Elena's nose wrinkled up without her even noticing but then she turned her gaze onto Stefan who was looking down. He scratched the back of his head like he always did when he was nervous and then said: "Yeah, I guess so." Elena swallowed down the lump and pretended to go check on the toaster while breathing in and out, controlling herself. The room went into an uncomfortable silence and then Elena suddenly broke the silence by announcing that the toasts were ready. They ate and then fell into an easy conversation about their night out. No one mentioned anything about Caroline and Stefan again. Eventually Stefan made his way upstairs leaving Damon and Elena alone in the kitchen.

"You're such a beast Elena! You've eaten about 6 slices of toast!" exclaimed Damon.

"I was hungry," she replied back as if it was an obvious statement. He saw her laugh out loud before her smile quickly became pursed lips and her gaze shifted. Damon knew that face all too well. Pursed lips, eyes fixed on the floor and shoulders moving up and down indicating that she was taking deep breaths through her nose. He stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. She lifted her head and shook her head slightly- her way of saying "I can't do this anymore." His ice blue eyes pierced her brown ones and her first tear strolled down. Damon sighed heavily before he hugged her tightly. She returned his hug more than willingly because that was what she really needed right now, someone to hug and somehow Damon had figured it out. His arms were around her shoulders while hers were around his waist. Her head was perfectly cradled on his shoulder and then she started to sob. Damon rubbed his hand up and down her back in an attempt to soothe her.

"It'll be okay 'Lena," he gently whispered.

"No. No it's not. The worse part is, no matter how much it hurts to think at where we are now, I don't want to let go of the memories we had together," she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Memories aren't something you let go of that easily, they stay with you for a lifetime."

Damon tightened his grip around her shoulder and stayed silent. Right now, he knew that Elena just needed to get everything out; she didn't want to hear people telling her that it will be okay. After a good minute or so, Elena slowly loosened her hold onto Damon.

"How did you know how I felt about Stefan?" she asked.

"You can't fool me Elena, not when it concerns my brother as well. You've got this smile on your face and I see how you're more self-conscious when he's around. You're good at hiding it, that I have to admit- but not good enough to hide it from me. But don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"I know it's safe, otherwise I wouldn't have talked to you on the porch steps earlier or I wouldn't have sobbed like a five years old kid in your arms just now. However, I really have to snap out of it. Him and I, it's never going to happen."

"You know what they say: Never say never."

"Whatever keeps you sleeping at night. Good night Damon," she said and kissed his cheek before heading upstairs.

"'Night 'Lena."

Damon got into Jeremy's room and noticed one last mattress left next to the wall. He silently got changed, brushed his teeth and then lay down. He noticed he was sleeping next to Stefan. However, the youngest Salvatore wasn't sleeping just yet. He had heard Elena and Damon talking downstairs, well not exactly heard. He could make out murmurs but no actual words.

"How's Elena?" Stefan couldn't help himself from asking his brother. He knew that Elena must have talked to him.

"She's a wreck Stef, I'm not going to lie about it," the oldest brother answered truthfully. Damon heard Stefan sigh loudly. "What are you going to do baby bro?"

"There's nothing I can do Damon. I'm stuck in a relationship I can't get out of. Things went overly fast between Caroline and I and now I don't know how to tell her to stop." He sighed again.

"I'm sorry," was all that Damon could say.

"The worse part is that I'm actually falling for Elena all over again. But I can't tell her that because I'm with her slash my best friend. F my life."

"There's always a way around it. We'll figure something out. Go get some sleep, we'll talk about it tomorrow morning."

"Damon, before we go to sleep, I'd like to thank you. Thank you for being there for Elena and thank you for dealing with all of my shit."

"That's what best friends and brothers are for. Good night Stef"

"Night Damon."

One question: What do you think of Elena and Damon? Too much, or is it okay? Please review- i want to make you like my story- haha :