Hello lovely readers!

I apologize in advance for a shorter author's note than usual. I have a ton left to do before my classes tomorrow and am just barely getting this up for you guys. Thankfully, the chapter ended up longer than I expected it to so at least you all have that to look forward to.

As some of you might know, I'm sincerely considering taking this fic down. There are many reasons as to why it might happen, but mostly it stems from a large disparity between the amount of love and support I have for the story and the love and support it's receiving on here. Don't get me wrong: those of you that are showing your love for this story are showing it tenfold. I'm blown away by the response I've gotten from some people and it makes me happy to know that I can write something for those of you that are such fans. But, unfortunately, I need to determine whether the hours (and I mean HOURS) I'm spending every week putting this up for you all are worth it. The numbers don't lie and they indicate that a lot of people don't like this story. It's really discouraging and hard for me to reason continually posting chapters only to get a lackluster response.

Of course, I love how I'm giving this little speech on such a polarizing chapter, but it had to be said. Please know that it's only a possibility and not a guarantee and I hope that possibility doesn't discourage you from continuing to read. Regardless, I do want to thank you all for every review, message, and favorite/follow I've already received. Sharing this story with you guys is one of the best parts of my week and I hope things work out so I can continue to do so.

Hope you enjoy!

May 2007, Part Three

"Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up." – James A. Baldwin

When Damon woke up the next morning, he felt hung over. It was a surprising sensation, given that he'd only had one beer the previous evening, but as his mind did its daily recall, he could understand why he'd feel so groggy and worn down. Damon bit back a groan, the streaming sunlight from the window covering every inch of the room. He wanted to go back to sleep, but after checking his phone, he realized it was almost noon.

Damon stood, stretching out the parts of his body that had tightened overnight and went to pull on the jeans from the evening before along with a grey t-shirt. He contemplated where Elena might be and whether he should make the effort to find her, but determined finding some source of caffeine was his first priority.

After Elena had run off on him, he'd wanted to go after her so they could talk it out like adults, but he'd had a much more pressing issue to deal with thanks to what had transpired. By the time he was in a more manageable state, although still pretty wired, it was almost 4:30 in the morning and he hoped that Elena had somehow managed to fall asleep. Keeping her up any later when she had work the next day just to have a stressful conversation she'd fight with every inch of her life wasn't exactly the best decision he could make.

He knew that the conversation needed to happen, though, and it needed to happen as soon as possible. Too many lines had been crossed and too many boundaries had been broken for it to be ignored and forgotten. Not that Damon was going to forget that encounter any time soon. It was pretty much burned into his skull for the rest of forever.

But once Damon got upstairs, he realized fairly quickly that Elena had already left for set. And thanks to the fact that Elena had left no note for him or message on his phone, he had no clue just where "set" was. That meant he was stuck alone for the rest of the day until whenever she came back. Movie shoots could go well into the night, but he hoped since it was a Friday that it wouldn't be too late.

He decided he could at least enjoy the location while he was there. LA felt so urban that seeing miles of uninterrupted ocean and shoreline was a blessing. After making some coffee, he grabbed Elena's copy of the script she'd left at home. Damon hoped she had more than one and not that she'd forgotten her only print at the house.

Damon was about ten pages in when his phone started to go off and after glancing at the caller ID, it took all of his power to not throw the phone off the deck.

"Katherine," he grumbled into the receiver. "Just the person I had no desire to speak to."

"Ouch. I'm hurt, Damon. Now tell me where your office is."

Damon's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"Because you and I have a hot date with some forms. Since Elena is far, far away, we need to sit down and discuss getting you unlisted, security on the apartment, possible relocation, etc."

Damon frowned. "I'm sorry. I think I heard 'relocation' in there. You want to try that again?"

Katherine let out an exaggerated sigh on the other end of the line. "Yes, Damon," she replied, as if she were talking to a four year old. "I said 'possible' relocation. Once press kicks in for this movie, Elena will have paparazzi, fans, stalkers… I'm assuming you don't want to get phone calls in the middle of the night from some panting middle aged man simply because you were too lazy to get your number out of the White Pages."

Damon sighed. "Well, I'm a little busy right now, Kat. We're going to have to reschedule."

"It's 'Elena business,' Damon. I thought you always dropped everything and ran when it came to her."

Damon bit back a growl. Katherine's constant mocking of his supposed crush on Elena was one of the many things that made him detest her. Once she was thoroughly assured that the two would never get together, she was highly entertained with what she assumed would be rubbing it in Damon's face. A part of him wanted to inform her of the previous evening's events just to scare the shit out of her, but he knew that what went down should stay between him and Elena.

"I'm actually busy with 'Elena business' right now," he muttered. Damon really didn't want to inform Katherine of where he was, but he knew just how persistent she could be.

She picked up on what he was insinuating quickly. "Christ, you can't last one day without that girl."

Damon's frustration grew. "Yeah, well I'm helping her out of a mental breakdown since you abandoned her as soon as you got bored."

"Oh my god, she's an adult, Damon. Why do you insist on treating her like she needs a babysitter?"

"You and I both know she's an exception-"

"Because you treat her like one!" Katherine paused, her voice growing a bit more serious. "Elena is my client and I respect her, but take off the rose-tinted glasses. You think she's special so you treat her like she's a special case, but to the rest of the world, she's just another naïve, emotionally challenged basket case. I'm trying to help her overcome that, but you running to save her every time she whines isn't going to do shit for her. She needs to grow up and realize she's going to have to work to be appreciated in this world. So back off."

Damon's gaze focused out on the ocean, anger pumping through his veins at her accusatory words. "Your job is to get Elena to where she needs to be career wise. But Elena needs someone on her side. She needs a friend. That's my job."

"Whatever you have to say to help you sleep at night. I don't particularly care what your job is as long as it doesn't fuck with my job. And right now, you being there is fucking with my job."

Damon sighed. "Well, clearly, you're just going to have to wait until I come back to LA. In the meantime, why don't you tell me where she is right now so I can go do my job?"

"Her shooting schedule constantly changes, Damon. I only have one draft-"

"Better than nothing."

Katherine let out an exaggerated exhale. He could hear her flipping through papers in the background. "You're going to regret going out there."

"I doubt it," Damon mumbled.

"I'm sorry. This is a closed set."

Damon sighed. It was probably the fifth time this woman with a headset had stated this. He'd already explained multiple times whom he knew and why he wanted to get onto said closed set, but she wasn't having it. When he'd grumbled something under his breath about Elena not being nearly famous enough to have crazed fans, she'd given him an even more suspicious look and scribbled something down on her clipboard. He was just getting ready to give up and go home when a cheerful voice spoke up from behind her.

"Don't worry, Melinda. He's cool."

The aforementioned Melinda gave Damon one last look-over and then sighed, moving on to more important tasks. Elena, who was dressed in a sweatshirt and cut-off shorts, shot him a large smile. "How'd ya find me?"

Damon crinkled his eyebrows. "Uh… the she-witch, Katherine."

"Hmm," Elena frowned for a moment, but the smile came back moments later. "I'm surprised you'd actually deign to contact her."

"I just thought it would be important to see you so that we could-"

There were loud shouts coming from down the hallway, scattered commands from the staff as people rushed through different doors. Elena cut him off. "Well, I have to go shoot some more stuff, but you can wait in my dressing room. There's plenty of stuff to entertain you."

Damon was completely baffled by her demeanor. The trembling, scared girl from yesterday couldn't keep the grin off of her face. She was so perky she might as well be a tour guide for the studio. It made him wonder just how their "conversation" would go, but before he could ask how long she'd be gone, she was already racing down the hall towards the set.

She hadn't told him where her dressing room was exactly, but he meandered down in the direction she'd nodded her head when she offered it up. Thankfully, it was only a few doors down from where he'd been accosted by Melinda. When he pushed the door open, he rolled his eyes. She was right that there was plenty of stuff in there. It was just as well stocked as her house was.

Knowing he was now going to have to sit in her dressing room for God knows how long, he was sort of regretting not just staying at the house. At least there he could have sat out on the beach and enjoyed the sun. Damon plopped down on the couch, grabbing the remote off of the coffee table and turning on the small television hooked into the wall. He might as well get comfortable.

Damon was only there for about an hour when the door suddenly swung open, a guy about his age entering. His eyes widened. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting the room to be occupied. "Oh, hey. Sorry."

Damon pushed himself up a bit from his relaxed position, rubbing his hand over his face. "No, you're fine. If you're looking for Elena, though, she's shooting."

The guy smiled. "Yeah, I know. She's shooting with Mason. I wasn't looking for her. I was just going to leave this in here." He pulled out a folded up piece of notebook paper from his back pocket. Unfolding it, he showed Damon an incredibly detailed sketch of what appeared to be a largemansion.

Damon wasn't really sure what to say to the guy. Why he was leaving Elena a drawing was totally beyond him. "Uh, it's good. I'm sure she'll like it."

The guy laughed. "Like it? She's gonna hate it!" At Damon's confused expression, he continued. "She refused to believe me when I said I was a good artist. So, I put a bet on it."

Damon's eyebrows furrowed, but he put on a polite smile. "Well then, I guess you proved her wrong."

He scoffed. "Nah. I'm total shit. It's one my ex gave me a long time ago. I'm just lucky she didn't ask me to draw something in front of her. Then I would have had a problem."

Damon nodded, accepting the drawing and placing it on the coffee table. The guy didn't seem to take the hint that he should leave so Damon had to kick in his Southern manners. "So, uh, do you work here?"

The guy gave Damon a confused look, biting back a smile. "I don't mean to sound like a complete and total douchebag here, but uh… you're not big on movies, are you?"

Damon suddenly realized what the guy was inferring and he felt slightly embarrassed. "Ahh… you're an actor."

He smiled. "Yeah, I've been around the block a few times." He extended his hand. "I'm Stefan Marino."

Damon stood to meet his hand. "Damon Salvatore. I'm Elena's friend." He'd actually never made that introduction before, but it sounded strange rolling off of his tongue.

Stefan nodded and he noticed something flicker across his eyes. "So, you're just visiting the new movie star?" His tone sounded somewhat patronizing.

Damon frowned, his guard going up. "Uh, yeah I guess you could call her that."

Stefan smirked and reached his hand out, patting Damon on the shoulder. "Good for you. You're a lucky guy. But… I wouldn't get any ideas."

"What are you talking about?"

Stefan sighed, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Look, I get it. The girl wasn't much to look at in high school, but you knew her well enough to feel some sort of connection. Now, she's moving on to bigger and better things and suddenly she's starting to look a whole lot shinier. You think you have a shot. All I'm saying is you showing up here's a little pathetic."

Damon's lips parted, already ready to fire back something equally offensive. Who the fuck did this guy think he was? But before he could retort, Stefan cut him off. "Besides, she's taken."

Damon paused. "By who?"

Precisely at that moment, as though they'd planned it, Elena came to the open door, that same damn smile on her face from earlier. Stefan smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her in, something that didn't seem to faze her in the slightest. "By me."

What. The. Fuck?

Elena looked up at Stefan, giggling, as Damon's stunned gaze shifted back and forth between the two of them. "'By me' what?" she asked.

"Just telling your friend here about our relationship." Stefan leaned in, whispering something into her ear that Damon couldn't hear, only infuriating him more.

Elena let out a gasp, giggling again at whatever he'd said. "Oh my god," she cried, smacking him on his chest. "This is Damon, my roommate back in LA!"

Stefan's gaze shot to Damon, who probably looked ready to ring the guy's neck by this point. A relieved laugh fell from his lips, letting go of Elena and raising his hands in surrender. "Sorry, bud. Just protecting my girl here." He crossed behind Damon, plopping down on the couch where he'd been sitting earlier.

Damon's gaze flickered back to Elena who was just rolling her eyes. "You're such an idiot," she said with a smirk, her words directed towards Stefan.

"You're going to have to get used to it, princess. Soon you're going to have all sorts of creepy guys following you around. Somebody needs to freak 'em out a bit. But I guess Damon can take my job now, right?"

Damon was still trying to absorb the exorbitant amount of information that he'd received in the past two minutes so he simply nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

"Sorry about that, Damon," Elena interjected. "It was just a quick shot, though. I hope you weren't too bored."

"Nope, I'm fine. Are you done for the day?"

"Yeah," Stefan called out from behind Damon. "You done after a long day of me rocking your fictional character's world?"

Damon pursed his lips. So this was "hands down pants" guy… Great. Just perfect.

Elena giggled in response, but kept her focus on Damon. "Yep, I'm all done." He noticed some discomfort pass through her eyes at her words, but it was subtle. "We can go back to the house whenever."

"Woah, wait!" Both Damon and Elena turned their attention to the guy on the couch. "I thought we had a date."

Damon was now ready to make the guy choke on his own cockiness. He turned to Elena. He was tired of looking like an idiot and anytime Stefan opened his mouth, he was made the fool. "Elena, is there something-"

Elena looked shocked that he'd even ask. "Oh my god, no! Stefan's just a friend. I completely forgot that we were supposed to go to dinner tonight."

Damon nodded, relief flowing through him. It wasn't as if he was opposed to her dating anyone. It just should definitely not be this guy. He was absolutely fulfilling the douchebag male actor stereotype.

"Do you mind if Damon tags along?"

Damon's eyebrows shot up. Wait, she was still going to go to dinner with him? Why wouldn't she just postpone? They were going to be working together all summer. I'm only here for a few nights. And I definitely don't want to spend one of those nights playing nice with Stefan.

"Of course," Stefan replied, standing from his place. "I'd love to pick the roommate's brain."

Damon bit back a scowl as Elena grinned. "Perfect. So, instead of picking me up, Damon and I will just meet you at the restaurant."

"Sounds good, doll. See you tonight." As he was leaving, almost as if he were doing it just to aggravate Damon, he planted a kiss on Elena's cheek, igniting a fiery blush across her face. Once he was gone, Elena crossed the room, nonchalantly packing some items into a tote bag.

Damon was left in a mix of shock and frustration as he watched her move around the dressing room. Who was this girl? Sure, they really hadn't had any alone time to discuss the incident on the deck, but she was also acting as if it had never even happened. She was carefree, confident. She hardly seemed like the scared little girl who had called him a few days ago, sobbing on the phone. And, clearly, she wasn't the friendless loner on set that she'd insinuated she was.

For some reason, not seeing her in the expected distress pissed him off. Plus, she hadn't even asked him if he was okay with going to dinner with Stefan. By the time he figured out what to say to confront her on her irritating actions, Elena turned to stand in front of him, full tote in hand.

"Well, I drove here myself so… I guess I'll just see you back at the house?"

"Elena-"

"What?"

Damon paused, looking her up and down. Maybe, just maybe, he'd done something right. Maybe his presence had actually just been exactly what Elena needed. All he'd wanted when he came here was to see her again and make her feel better. It now seemed that he'd done both.

Remembering the conversation he'd had with Katherine earlier that day, he removed the irritated expression off of his face. If he didn't do his "job" properly, everything Katherine had said earlier would be true. And Katherine being right… well, that was not something he was going to allow.

He sighed. "How'd the scene go?"

Instantly, the calm, secure woman was gone. Elena's face paled and her eyes flashed with obvious discomfort. "Fine," she mumbled. Then she was gone, pushing past him and out the door.

"Is this okay?"

Elena was standing in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom, her gaze focused as she straightened out the short black dress she'd thrown on a few minutes earlier. She turned her head at the sound of Damon's voice behind her.

She hadn't acknowledged Damon's presence in the house since they'd left the studio a few hours earlier. Once she'd gotten home, she went straight to her bedroom, hoping he'd just assume she was getting ready. She'd actually spent most of that time sitting cross-legged on her bed, trying to keep her racing mind under control. "Um, lose the leather jacket," she replied, hoping her anxiety didn't show in her tone. "It's just a casual beach restaurant and, besides, you'll die of heat stroke anyways."

"Got it," Damon replied. He left the room to put the jacket back in his own, giving Elena enough time to bring her heart rate down to normal. A part of her hoped that he would leave her alone until dinner, but she heard his footsteps coming back down the carpeted hallway after only a few seconds. When Damon appeared back in her doorway, he had a small smile on his face.

She desperately tried to channel whatever strength she'd found earlier that day when faced with him. When she'd seen Damon on set, her heart had dropped to her stomach. Ignoring what had transpired was easy to do when she was busy with work, but having him standing only a few feet away from her made it nearly impossible. But she'd taken a few deep breaths and chosen her attitude like a character to play. A character that was confident and serene under pressure. A character that wasn't completely and totally overwhelmed after having her first orgasm in her best friend's arms.

"You look great," Damon remarked, moving to sit on her bed. "I feel underdressed."

Elena allowed a small smile to form on her lips. Yeah, compliments on her appearance were definitely not helping her maintain calm. "Thank you. Sorry about making you do this. But it won't be too long."

"It's fine," Damon replied, his gaze moving around as he took in the room. She noted that his tone sounded a little forced, but she knew she wasn't exactly making it easy for him to feel comfortable.

Elena crossed to her bathroom, grabbing and applying a lip gloss from the counter. "So, honey, how was work?" His tone was teasing, but she still felt her muscles tense at the implications behind his words.

She was definitely not going to talk about that scene, regardless of how surprisingly well it had gone. Telling him that, by thinking of him and their heated make-out scene on the porch, the director had been able to get a great shot in only a few takes… yeah, that was not something she was willing to discuss. She somehow felt even more bashful about the scene than before. A large part of didn't like that she'd done so well at looking completely turned-on. It might have just been a character she was being paid to play, but she still felt like it reflected upon her in some aspect. Of course, she was fully aware she'd spent ninety-five percent of her life being shamed for showing even a hint of her sexuality. The guilt from those years was still crippling and having Damon as a living, breathing reminder of her mistake wasn't helping.

And a mistake was just what it had been. It hadn't felt like it at the time. Well, maybe it had, but she'd been too clouded over with lust to recognize it. She'd just been screwing around when she'd straddled his lap to kiss him. Prove him wrong, knock him off of his pedestal a bit… That's all she'd bargained for. But then she'd fucked up… majorly. She'd crossed a line and done something completely stupid. Once again, she'd fucked up the one solidly good relationship she had. And since she didn't know how to fix it, acting as if it never happened was the best choice possible for her psyche.

"It was good," she responded, entering back into the room to drop the lip gloss back in her purse. "Thankfully, there was nothing too emotional today. Those scenes are always really draining."

Damon nodded, standing back up as he realized she was almost ready to leave. "Understandable." As he crossed the room, he sidled up directly next to Elena. His hand reached out, resting on her lower back with a feather-light touch. "Ready to go?"

But Elena's nerves immediately went on high alert at the feel of his hand and she flinched, ducking away from the innocent gesture. Having him touch her brought back too many memories of the previous evening and she wasn't prepared to pretend it didn't affect her. Of course, her sharp movement wasn't the slightest bit subtle and she noticed what looked like hurt in Damon's eyes as he registered what she'd done.

"Sorry," he mumbled. His expression was that of a wounded dog.

Elena's lips parted, desperate to try to remedy the situation. She wanted to apologize for her odd behavior. She wanted to tell him that she didn't hate him, only herself. She wanted to tell him that all day she'd just wanted a hug from him, but was too terrified of being in his arms again. She wanted to tell him that they could have a long discussion after this dinner was over and work out all of their issues. She just wanted to tell him anything that would take away the strain that had been so present all day long.

But she couldn't. She was a coward on top of everything else. She shook her head back and forth, throwing her purse over her shoulder and pushing forward. "Yep. Let's go."

Damon's gaze was firmly stuck on his drink, twisting the near-empty bottle back and forth in his grip. He'd found if he stared too long at the pair across the table from him, the strong desire to deck Stefan across the face became almost unbearable. If he didn't look directly at them, he could tamper it down.

He'd spent the entire evening being the third wheel on what felt like a date between Elena and Stefan. He knew it wasn't actually a date, but he had a strong feeling Stefan would have tried to make it one if Damon hadn't been there. It would have been easier to handle if Elena hadn't been hanging on Stefan's every word, laughing hysterically at the stories of his escapades and previous one-night stands. The stories may have actually been humorous, but Damon was too infuriated to enjoy them.

If Andie had been sitting at the table with them, she would have leaned in by this point to whisper in Damon's ear that this was the guy he should use as a role model. The thought made him sick. Stefan was the epitome of a man whore and Elena was eating it up. The only derision he noted on her face came from when she was mockingly making a face at a particularly gross or explicit description. Damon had a sneaking feeling that whenever his new choice of lifestyle was revealed to Elena, she wouldn't show the same acceptance.

Elena had taken the occasional break, though, to shoot Damon an intense glare. His disdain for this dinner was clearly showing and he wasn't about to ramp up any more bullshit politeness just to appease Elena. She'd gone out of her way to make things uncomfortable for Damon all day long. Fuck it if he was going to take it lying down.

"So my ex is throwing a straight tantrum, just finding the most expensive shit in my house, literally running around trying to find it, and then just smashing it into the wall."

Elena's eyes were wide with over exaggerated interest. "What are you doing the whole time?"

"Just sitting there! I mean what else can I do?! The guy's a hell of a lot stronger than me."

Well, that one shot Damon straight out his pity party. It must have been comical the way Damon abruptly sat up in his seat, eyes nearly as enlarged as Elena's. "Wait, I'm sorry. I think I misheard you. Did you say 'guy?'" He could barely keep the shit-eating grin off of his face.

Stefan is gay. Stefan is gay. Thank Christ, Elena's going to spend the entire summer making out with a gay guy.

But, given the expressions on both of their faces, his question wasn't appreciated. In fact, Elena's stare was now blazing with revulsion.

"Uh, yeah," Stefan replied, his patronizing tone making Damon unnecessarily feel like a dick.

Damon bit back a growl. He wasn't trying to be a homophobic douchebag. He just wanted to clarify that this guy wasn't interested in females. Now he wouldn't have to worry about him spending the whole summer trying to get in Elena's pants.

"Stefan is bi, Damon." Elena's words were filled with distaste as she practically spat them out. She was almost daring him to have a problem with it.

Damon desperately wanted to defend himself, but he was back in the territory of having to hate the guy. Clearly, he hadn't thought his question through. Stefan had been talking about women for most of the night. And Damon had jumped to a misinformed conclusion. Now, he had to recover.

"I didn't know." He tried to muster up as much genuine regret as he could, but it was hard to find. "I was just making sure I heard you correctly."

Stefan smirked. "No problem, bud." Damon was seriously starting to hate his new nickname. "Can't help it if I want to enjoy all of the delicacies in the world." Damon could only produce a half-smile at Stefan's exaggerated wink.

Elena still looked ready to rip into Damon, but she thankfully turned her attentions back to her seatmate. "So, finish your story."

And just as quickly as they were ripped out of it, Stefan and Elena were back in their own little world. "Well," he replied, his eyes alight with mischief. "I'm starting to get turned on by this. I mean he's basically turning into the Hulk just because I broke up with him. So I'm like 'Nik, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I'm such an asshole,pPlease forgive me, yada yada yada.' I mean I'm laying it on thick. It's like the guy forgets I'm an actor!"

"Tell me you did not sleep with him!"

"Um, duh! Then, I broke up with him again and threatened to call the cops if it took him more than five seconds to get out of my house."

As Elena burst into hysterics again, Damon felt bile rise up in his throat. This was the guy Elena had chosen to become BFFs with? Yeah, she was getting a strict lecture when they got home. But first, he wanted to knock the douche off of his pedestal a bit.

"Nik? Is this, uh, the ex you told me did that drawing you gave Elena?"

Elena's eyes widened, turning towards Stefan. "Wait, you didn't draw that house?!"

Stefan's jaw was dropped, but his expression stayed playful. "Maybe I got some help…"

Elena smacked him on the arm, unable to keep the grin off of her face. "Oh my god, give me my money back! I knew you were a shit artist!"

Stefan rolled his eyes, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and handing her a twenty. His attention went to Damon. "You're killing me, bud."

Damon smirked. "Sorry. Gotta protect my girl." He wasn't proud of himself for stooping so low as to throw Stefan's words back in his face, but he was satisfied with the flicker of discomfort that flashed through his eyes when he did.

Stefan settled into his seat, instantly falling back into his relaxed demeanor. "So, Damon. I hate to be the only guy talking here. And you seem like quite the ladies' man. I'm sure you have some wild stories you can share with us."

Damon knew he was just baiting him. Stefan already knew his stories would beat Damon's simply because he'd spent most of his adult life in the entertainment industry. His sex life was guaranteed to be far more interesting. But before he could come back with a retort, Elena cut him off.

"Oh, no. Damon's actually a decent guy unlike you. In fact," her tone dropped down to an exaggerated whisper. "He's only slept with one woman his entire life."

Damon's smirk instantly dropped. Was she fucking serious? She was practically mocking him for something she'd once found so endearing and it made his blood sizzle. Stefan's shocked expression only made it worse. And at that moment, Damon realized he was done being the fool in this situation. He was not going to be written off as some country bumpkin with a schoolgirl crush on Elena and Stefan's eyes indicated that was all he saw. Plus, he desperately wanted to knock the confident grin off of Elena's face. Now, he was just itching for a fight.

"You're mistaken, Elena," he remarked. His tone would come off cool and confident to Stefan, but to Elena, it was stuffed to the brim with cruelty. "I've slept with three."

As Elena's eyebrows furrowed, her smile fading away, he shot a smirk to Stefan. "But she's right. I don't exactly have the most exciting sex life. You win."

Stefan's cocky expression had dropped slightly as he noticed the newly formed tension in the air between Damon and Elena. Elena was still giving Damon a baffled expression, leaving the trio nothing else to discuss. In response to the uncomfortable silence, Damon simply smiled, taking one long final sip of his beer.

Elena hadn't spoken to Damon the entire drive home, but once they pulled into the driveway, she was raring to go. The rest of the dinner had been incredibly awkward thanks to his ridiculous attitude and now, she was pissed. She knew she wasn't exactly innocent in the situation, but for him to act like he did was above and beyond.

The second the car was in park, Elena was out of the vehicle and up the stairs. She could practically feel Damon's eye roll behind her as he followed . Once she'd finagled the keys out of her purse, she swung the door open and marched up the staircase to the top floor, knowing by the heavy footsteps that he was following behind her.

Elena threw her purse on the kitchen counter, slowly turning around to face him with arms crossed. Given his expression, he clearly knew he was in trouble.

"Alright, lay it on me," he remarked sarcastically, causing another bolt of fury to flow through Elena's veins. He was standing in front of her with a nonchalant air, his hands tucked into his pockets.

"You were a dick tonight, Damon. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Really? Because I feel like I missed the asshole memo Stefan clearly got. I was simply playing catch-up."

"At what point was Stefan blatantly and heinously rude to you?"

"Um, since the second I met him. He obviously thinks I'm some sort of idiot."

"Well, you're not exactly giving him much reason to believe otherwise!"

"Oh, come on, Elena. He's so fucking condescending!"

"You're just being oversensitive-"

"Why? Because I'm jealous of him? Newsflash, Elena. I'm not exactly making minimum wage here. Plus, at least I'm not a total douchebag!"

"Stefan is not a douchebag, Damon. He's my friend. He's been nothing but kind to me since I got here which is more than I can say to you. I don't know why you had to treat this dinner like some sort of pissing contest!"

"Oh my god, this isn't a competition-"

"You acted like it was! The sarcasm, the lying, the snippy remarks-"

"Excuse me?! When the hell did I lie tonight?"

Elena balked. "When you pulled that 'slept with three women' crap! I mean, Christ, you were like an insecure teenage girl."

Elena noticed as Damon's rage subsided significantly. His gaze was focused out the French doors onto the deck and he didn't seem like he was going to make a retort any time soon. Suddenly, a realization came over her. "Wait… you don't count… last night-"

"Oh my god, no, I wasn't counting last night." His fiery gaze shifted back to her. "And I wasn't lying."

Elena's swallowed, intimidated by his hot stare. The new information made her feel nauseated. "So, you lied to me when you said you only slept with Rose?"

Damon shook his head. "At the time, I wasn't lying to you," he replied with gritted teeth.

Elena's head slowly nodded up and down and she hated the lump that was forming in her throat. "So… at some point… between Rose breaking off the engagement and now… you slept with two other women?" She suddenly felt some understanding. "Did you do it for revenge or-"

"This week," Damon snapped. "I slept with two other women this week while you were here."

Elena balked. When she'd planned this argument on the drive over, she'd had no clue it was going to turn into this. "Well, you seem quite proud of yourself."

Damon scoffed. "Am I not allowed to be?" His question was a dare.

She let out a deep breath. "I don't know, Damon. It seems pretty skanky of you since I'm assuming these aren't women you're planning to court."

At her words, Damon's temper flared. "Oh my fucking god."

"What?!"

"Don't you dare give me some holier-than-thou shit about being a gentleman!"

"I'm not being holier than thou-"

"Oh, really?! Because you seem to be holding a hell of a lot of disgust when less than twenty-four hours ago you were using me as your own personal sex toy!"

Elena bit back a gasp, her jaw dropped. There it was. The topic she'd been so desperate to avoid. She'd hoped that she'd have enough reason to avoid it tonight by being angry with him over his attitude at dinner, but he'd apparently decided to throw it into the mix. Unfortunately, bringing it up caused her to instantly lose steam.

"I was on sleep medication, Damon-"

"Oh my god! Bullshit, Elena! Absolute bullshit!" Damon stepped closer to her, causing her to flinch as his finger pointed at her accusatorily. "You knew exactly what you were doing. And you know what? That's fine. I'm not pissed about it. I don't give a shit. But don't you dare sit there and make me feel like shit about my sex life when you're not exactly keeping it pure and holy yourself."

His last words hit her right where it hurt. She'd spent all day feeling ashamed of her actions, but having Damon reiterate them felt like a knife in the back. Instantly, the fight left her and she felt herself shut down. She was done fighting. She just wanted to escape.

But Damon was far from done. He scoffed at her lack of response and stepped back from her, running his hands through his hair. "God, Elena. Why am I even fucking here? Because I saw you on set today and you seemed pretty safe and secure without me. And clearly you have an ally in Stefan. So, was that it? Was that all you needed me for?"

"No!" Elena cried, but her voice only sounded meek in comparison to his.

Damon shook his head back and forth. He stalked to the kitchen counter, resting his weight on his hands as he rubbed his eyes. "Fuck," he muttered. "Katherine was right."

Elena's ears perked up at the mention of Katherine. "Right about what?"

Damon took a deep breath, his head lifting to turn to her at a chillingly slow pace. Once his gaze reached her own, his next words came out like poison. "You need to grow up."

Elena's jaw dropped. The fight might be out of her, but it still felt like a smack in the face. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Elena."

Elena was frozen, only able to shake her head back and forth. "This whole time, you've been so apologetic about treating me like a kid when I didn't deserve it and now I need to grow up?"

"Well, this whole trip I've been proved wrong. I thought you were in some dire, desperate need from my help. I thought that could be the only possible reason you'd call me, begging for me to save you. But clearly, you'd just had a rough day you thought you couldn't handle on your own. Well, sorry to break it to you, but you're an adult. I'm not your babysitter. Katherine's not your babysitter. You should be able to take care of yourself."

"I can't believe you're saying this. I called you because I needed a friend."

"Then treat me like your friend! Don't dry fuck me on your porch and then just run away to pretend like it never happened. Don't treat me like shit in front of other people just to seem cool. And sure as hell don't just stand there staring at me like I've lost my mind!"

Elena swallowed as her eyes began to water with unshed tears. The fight was lost, but she wasn't sure if anyone had won. "I think you should go back to LA," she mumbled.

Damon was nearly panting from the argument's exertion. He nodded. "Yeah, I think so, too." They stood in uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Damon spoke again.

"I'll leave in the morning. Nothing's gonna fly out this late at night. We should, uh… I'll see you at the end of the summer. Once you get back, we can… reassess our living situation."

By "living situation," she knew that he really meant their relationship. By that point, she wasn't sure anything would be salvageable, but the determination in his eyes indicated that it wasn't up for discussion. "Okay," she nodded.

That was the last time Elena talked to Damon for months.

Damon grunted as he lifted his duffel bag back into his rental car. The sun was bright and he was already fighting back sweat, even though it was only six-thirty in the morning. After barely sleeping the night before, he decided that he might as well head to the airport now in order to get a flight as quickly as possible. Besides, he wanted to avoid any unnecessary encounters with Elena after what had gone down.

Damon headed towards the other side of the car to slide into the driver's seat. Once he slammed the door shut, he let out a deep exhale. This trip had gone so far from expectations that he wasn't really sure how to comprehend it all. He definitely didn't want to face the exorbitant amount of emotions that were building up in the back of his head so he decided to be numb to them instead. It was better for everyone if he just left this part of his life behind for a little while. He could come back to it at the end of the film shoot and make a more clear, responsible choice then.

Right before Damon slid his key into the ignition, he noticed a small piece of paper stuffed into his windshield wiper, flapping lightly in the early morning breeze. He frowned, pushing the door back open again to retrieve the offending object. He wondered briefly if the neighborhood association had left him some sort of parking ticket.

But he was quickly proved wrong once he unfolded it.

Scribbled in tiny, neat handwriting that he instantly recognized, the piece of paper only read "Thank you."

Damon wasn't a mind reader. He couldn't be sure of exactly what she was thanking him for. Maybe it was for the dose of confidence he'd allowed her by giving her release in his arms. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't ignored her when she'd called him in the first place. Or maybe, and hopefully, it was for the reality check he'd given her the night before.

Regardless of its meaning, Damon crumpled up the piece of paper in his hands. He considered that she might be watching him from a window, waiting to see his reaction, so he decided not to give her one. Instead, he just slid back into his seat, put the keys into the ignition, and backed down the driveway. Because once he was far away from her potential sight, he could finally say the one thing he'd been desperate to utter since he opened the note.

"Fuck."

So, what did we think? Can we say "drama?"

Yes, clearly what happened last chapter was going to cause some stress for D and E and you see it here. My constant goal when writing is to make the journey and the choices believable and realistic. I hope that, regardless of whether or not you may have approved of or liked the choices these incredibly flawed characters made, you see why they would make them. We're going to have a big time jump forward next chapter so be prepared to see some more changes in these two crazy kids, but do remember that this story is FAR from over (if I continue). I believe we're at the 25-35% mark, but don't worry. This "down" in their relationship will lead to a lot more "ups" very soon. It's all part of the process.

Alright, like I said, I really need to go, but I do hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please leave your reviews and let me know what you think. Hate it or love it, that's fine with me. Your honest opinion is all I ask for. I know I'm far from the best writer on this website (I mean, hello, have you been reading Bourbon in Your Eyes lately?! Good lord. Speaking of which, if you haven't read that fic yet, why are you wasting your time with this one?! RUN!), but I'm so thankful for your continual support.

I love you guys so much and I'll see you next time. :)