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"It's good to see you too.." Caroline said hesitantly, slowly walking into the room. Her eyes landed on Damon, and she glared at him. "Damon." She gave him a harsh greeting before looking back at me. "Don't you have a boyfriend, Elena?" She asked accusingly, giving me a condescending stare. I shifted on my feet uncomfortably, moving to stand behind Damon; he put an arm around my back, steadying me; I gave him a grateful smile. "It's complicated Caroline." I said, trying to mask over the guilt in my expression. I could feel Damon tense beside me, and I looked up at him curiously, wordlessly asking him what was wrong.
"Why don't you leave us to our business and go find your little hubby." He sneered, before squeezing my side reassuringly. "Caroline I can explain everything later." I started, but she turned and walked out before I had time to finish. I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding, and reached a hand up to brush the loose strands of hair out of my face and into a pony tail.
"She'll get over it." He said, pulling me into a hug. "You obviously don't know Caroline." I replied. He chuckled, before walking me towards the kitchen. "We just have to get through dinner...for Stefan's sake." He said briskly before grabbing my hand, and pulling me towards the table.
"Stefan, I'm not going to get food poisoning from this food am I?" He smirked sarcastically, looking much more confident than I felt. Stefan looked between us questioningly before shaking his head in understanding. "Just like old times, huh?" He said, giving us a knowing smile. Damon gave a genuine one that rarely appeared on his face, and I squeezed his hand happily, a smile appearing on my face as well. "Just like old times." Damon confirmed, before going on to ask where Caroline had run off to. "She said she wasn't feeling well, I see why now." He smirked. I gave him a guilty smile, "I'm really sorry Stefan.." He laughed, "I think we all know how Caroline can be. She'll get over it." Damon gave a nod of agreement before taking a seat at the table, "I'm eating, with or without you." He said, grabbing the bowl of salad. I rolled my eyes, "pig." We all broke into laughter, and I couldn't help but remember all of the times like this we'd had before I left.
"God I've missed this!" I said, lounged on the sofa next to Damon in front of the fire. Stefan was sitting in a chair to the left of us flipping through TV Channels, trying to find something to watch. "That one!" Damon shouted as Stefan stopped scrolling. I shook my head in amusement, "really?" Stefan gave Damon a 'you're a dumbass' look, "you want to watch The Notebook?" Damon smirked, "I love a good chick flic every once in a while!" He snapped, reaching towards Stefan, trying to grab the remote. I pulled on his shoulder, trying to keep him from it, but he over powered me, dragging both of us off of the couch and into a pile on the floor. Stefan Reached his arm out in an effort to grab the remote, but Damon grabbed his arm, yanking him out of the chair and into the floor. Stefan gave a growl before pouncing at Damon, sending the two rolling around the room fighting.
I pushed myself up off the floor, laughing uncontrollably at the scene before me. Stefan and Damon were stereotypical brothers, they fought over anything and everything, but at the end of the day they loved eachother, although neither would ever dare to admit it.
They rolled into a table that fell, launching broken pieces of wood across the room. I turned to the entry way, surprised to see a shocked Caroline standing horrified. I gave her a smile, but only received a stiff nod in return before she turned her attention back to the pair. "And this is why Damon is a bad idea." She mumbled to herself in annoyance, assuming I hadn't heard. I rolled my eyes, "always a control freak." She gave me a nasty look, "I'm sorry, did you have something to say to me?" that was the last straw, there was no way I was going to put up with Caroline's crap, even if she was getting married. "Yeah actually I do, I wanted to tell you to mind your own business, and get your nose the hell out of mine." I said more harshly than necessary. Caroline stood, taken aback, staring at me, but she didn't say a word; Instead, she turned her attention to Stefan who was hesitantly approaching us. I hadn't even realized that he and Damon had stopped their wrestling match.
I heard a groan from the bar and turned to see a smirking Damon. "I was hoping for a cat fight." He whined sarcastically. Caroline and I rolled our eyes simultaneously, and Damon gave a mock innocent shrug, "what, I like cat fights!"
Stefan gave his brother a stern look before whispering something to Caroline and leaving the room. Caroline followed behind almost immediately, leaving Damon and I alone. "Stefan is such a prude." He smirked, walking closer to me. I sighed, exhausted, "you can't blame him for sticking up for her..she is his fiancé." He rolled his eyes, "that's his mistake, not mine!" I gave him a small smile before going to sit back on the couch.
"I just hope it's not like this the whole visit. I mean, I've been here a day and we are already at each others throats." I said frustrated. He joined me on the couch, wrapping an arm around me, pulling me in to his side. "Give her time, she just needs to adjust." He replied, comforting me. I didn't reply, there wasn't much of anything to say. I didn't even know if i thought Caroline was wrong. I did have a boyfriend, and I had been played by Damon I the past. The logical thing to do would be to steer clear of him, but He was like my own personal magnet, I couldn't stay away. "I don't know what to do." I admitted, not daring to look him in the eyes, knowing that if I did he would see the hesitation I had when it came to him. "You're second guessing yourself, aren't you?" He asked quietly, and I could feel his eyes on me. " I just-" I hesitated, trying to find the right words, "it's just, it's alot to take in." I said, slowly bringing my eyes up to look at him. His expression was a mix of hurt and confusion, and I felt as if I was looking into the depths of his soul. "I thought that you wanted this..I thought that we were going to start over." He replied accusingly. "What do you want me to do Damon? My parents died, you cheated on me, I moved on. What choice did I have? I couldn't have been happy here. My whole life crumbled around me. Can you blame me for leaving?" I replied defensively, tears streaming down my face. This was wrong, it had been wrong all along, I just hadn't wanted to admit it. I couldn't do this to Elijah, and I couldn't do this to myself. This wasn't me, I was overwhelmed coming back to mystic falls and I had let myself get sucked in, but it wouldn't happen again.
"I have to go." I said quickly, standing up and from the couch and heading upstairs to get my stuff. "Elena, wait!" He yelled after me, but I didn't turn around. I could hear his footsteps behind me, but I ignored them. "Where are you going to go?" He asked. "A hotel." I said, not knowing which one, but knowing that anywhere was better than here. "It's not true you know." He stated from behind me, and I turned around to look at him. "What do you mean? What's not true?" I asked, giving him a puzzled look. "You could have been happy here. We could have worked it out Elena, but you gave up! Things got tough and you shut down. You chose to move to California, you chose to leave everyone who cared about you behind. You can do what you want, but don't ever say that you didn't have a choice." He said in disgust, looking at me as if I had said the most ignorant thing he had ever heard. Tears swelled in my eyes, I was shocked, I was confused, I was angry, but most of all I was hurt. "Is that really what. You think? That I wanted to leave? No. I wanted to stay, to live my life like I had imagined, But I moved on and if you expect me to apologize for that I'm sorry." I said before storming out of the room, out of the boarding house, and into the darkness of the night outside.
I walked to the closest hotel; A little run dow, hole in the wall kind of place. "I'd like a room for the night, please." I requested to the middle aged woman manning the front desk. She handed me a key, giving me a small smile, "room 42." "Thanks" I said, turning to walk towards my room." "Really?" A female voice said from behind me, and I turned to meet the bright blue eyes of none other than Caroline Forbes. Before I could even speak she was rushing over to me, wrapping me in a right hug, "I'm so sorry!" She whispered into my ear, "but honestly Elena, how could you not call me if you needed a place to stay?! You're my maid of honor for God sake! I don't care if we are fighting or not, there's no way you are staying in a hotel!" She giggled, and I smiled at her. Caroline, despite her dramatics, was the best friend I had ever had and I was thankful to have her. "You're coming with me!" She demanded, giving me a determined look. "Well, who am I to object?" I laughed, grabbing my bags and following her out to her red SUV. "How did you know where I was?" I asked in curiosity. "Damon called." She returned. "Damon" I echoed, "of course."
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