Elena slipped out of her bed the next morning and padded over in her tiny nightgown to Damon's bedroom. She knocked before entering and found him relaxing on his bed watching the massive TV hanging from his wall.
"What're you watching?" Elena asked snuggling up to him in the bed.
"Old reruns of Lost. It was either that of Gossip Girl and to be honest, watching Blake Lively and Leighton Meester fight for the umpteenth time about nothing just didn't appeal."
"You've seen Gossip Girl before?"
"You'd be surprised what a guy would do to get a girl in bed," Damon said, shaking his head. "She was nervous. And she said staring at Chace Crawford's gorgeous face would help," imitating a high-pitched whiny voice.
I felt a pang of jealousy rack my body before I remembered that I had been hurting him just as much as this new bit of information hurt me. In fact, probably more. I got up from his side and went to gaze out the window.
"You look fazed, Elena. What's wrong?"
"This is our last day. Stefan's coming back."
"Count down on your calendar?" Damon sighed bitterly.
"Course not. I just feel like we haven't had enough time. Are you ready, Damon?"
"Trust me, Elena, I can handle it. What do you think I've been going through the last couple of years? Going away and leaving you with Stefan isn't nearly as bad as hanging around and watching you kiss him against a car or run down the stairs and hug him practically sure that the hug was going to for me."
Elena laughed. "What if I told you it was?"
"It was?" Damon whispered, shock seeping into his voice.
"Mmm hmm. But once Stefan appeared out of nowhere I couldn't very well step around him and hug you. It didn't feel right."
Damon shook his head and put his arms around her from the back. "Whatever you say. What would you like to do?"
Elena shuffled around to face him and pecked him on the nose. "Just be ourselves. To be best friends with benefits."
"Isn't that what a boyfriend is?"
"That's kind of the point," Elena giggled.
"Alright, well, I think you need some blood and then we can do something fun. Would you like a sip?" he murmured, holding up his forearm beside her nose.
"You're serious."
Damon nodded and gently pushed up against her top lip. "It'll taste good, Elena. It's even kind of an erotic experience."
"Fantastic. I need more of those."
"Sex last night didn't satisfy you?"
"Okay, Mr. Arrogance, stop talking and give me that blood."
Damon obliged and Elena sank her teeth in. She glanced up to see if she was harming Damon but he simply smiled down at her and egged her on with a head bob. The warm, sweet blood slid down her throat and she just kept slurping down more. After what seemed like only seconds, Damon placed a hand on her face and she heard a muttering of stop. That floated through Elena's brain and she practically let it pass by until she remembered whose blood this was. She wrenched away from his arm and ashamedly wiped her mouth.
"I'm so sorry, Damon. Did I hurt you?"
"Elena," Damon laughed, "You were splendid. You stopped when I asked. I didn't have any sort of control like that when I was so young. I'm seriously impressed."
"Oh," Elena laughed breathily. "I had no idea. So now that I've...fed...what would you like to do now?"
"Come with me."
Damon led her to his blue car and drove away from the house to downtown Mystic Falls. He pulled into the traditional cafe that Elena always went to with her friends and sat her down at a table outside before strolling in and letting a waiter know where they were. The sun was beating down on Elena's hair, heating up the top of her head. She shrugged off her leather jacket and observed the fluffy white clouds sliding across the pale blue sky. And it hit her then that she shouldn't even be here. That she was so lucky to even get to be out in the sun again. She would have to thank Bonnie again for the daylight ring.
"So what are we doing here?" Elena asked.
"You said you wanted to be friends with benefits. I thought the best way to do that was simply be ourselves. Which was why I grabbed myself a glass of shitty whiskey while I was in there."
Elena laughed as the waiter approached. She ordered just a simple salad and Damon didn't order anything but a plate of french fries. It was so normal Elena almost jumped up and down in delight. She hadn't felt this great in ages. Damon swigged down some of the whiskey and eyed Elena.
"Seen Klaus lately?"
"Nope, not since I was at Caroline's. I haven't even talked to Caroline," she murmured, more to herself.
"You should do that later today. I don't want to consume your entire life."
"But you do."
"Well, sure. But I figured that wouldn't be cool with you so I'm just pretending that Caroline is more important than me."
Elena shook her head in mock disappointment. And then out of the blue she said, "I hope she's doing alright. Klaus gave her quite a shock."
"I'm sure she's just fine. That girl's tough. That much credit I'll give her. Instead of moping when I used her she just got blisteringly pissed at me. That was never the usual reaction."
"Well maybe she realized you weren't worth the tears."
"Ha ha ha," he said and tossed a french fry at her nose. Elena could feel the grease stain on her nose and threw a tomato at Damon before hopelessly trying to get it off her skin.
"That wasn't very nice."
"I'm always nice to you, Elena."
"You just threw a french fry at me!" she smiled.
"Whatever could you be talking about?" he asked innocently crossing his hands beneath his chin.
Elena decided to drop it and thought about what else she wanted to do with Damon today before she'd be spending all of her time with Stefan. "Any good movies you've seen recently?"
"Ever seen The Godfather?"
"Um...no. That's not really a movie girls watch at sleepovers."
"Is that the only time you watch movies?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Elena conceded.
"Then you've never seen a good movie in your entire life. Let's get out of here. I'm on a mission now. This is ridiculous."
"So we're going to watch The Godfather?" Elena groaned. Wasn't it like super long or something?
When they got home, Damon flung her on the couch and pulled out a collection set of all the Godfather movies.
"You're a little obsessed aren't you?"
"For a good reason. Have an open mind. I know you'll love it."
"How could you possibly know that? I have no movies to go off of? What if I think it's awful since I've been so acclimated to awful movies as you say?"
"There is no such thing as hating The Godfather," Damon sighed.
"Alright. I'm trusting you."
"Good to hear."
He sat down and put his arm around Elena's shoulder. She leaned into him and opened her mind to a movie besides Mean Girls and Kevin Costner films.
When it was over, after what felt like an hour but was actually closer to three, Elena couldn't stop talking about the movie.
"That was probably the greatest thing I've ever seen. What have I been doing my entire life? I had no idea movies could be that good. I mean, I hadn't even ever seen an Al Pacino movie. And Marlon Brando was fantastic. What else do you have for me?"
Damon laughed but mellowed substantially at his next words. "I have to pack some stuff Elena. I'm sorry. But if you need a reminder of me while I'm gone you should watch Charade with Audrey Hepburn or any of the Lord of the Rings movies. They're all in that drawer over there. And you should take Breakfast at Tiffany's to one of your sleepovers. It's a rare good chick flick."
A tear escaped from the corner of Elena's eye and Damon sped over and gave her a hug. "I'll see you again, Elena. It's going to be okay. And just think, you get to see Stefan again. You must miss him."
Stefan's face floated into Elena's mind and she realized she hadn't even thought of him in weeks. But a pang passed through her heart and she smiled slightly at the thought of seeing him.
"You're right. I do miss him." She wiped her eyes and hugged Damon back. "You're so good at making me feel better."
"I try," he grumbled, a little discouraged that she actually wished Stefan was back home. "I should go pack. Will you be alright by yourself for a while?"
"She'll be fine," a voice whispered, crawling from the deepest depths of a chasm miles away. Elena whipped around to see Stefan standing only feet away. Damon gave his brother a wave and ran upstairs before he could watch Elena's reaction in disgust. Stefan saw his brother run off without any sort of conversation but he understood. For the first time Stefan felt sympathetic for his brother in the matter of love.