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It's A Boy Girl Thing

Ch 16. It Is What It Is

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After being told by Damon that Katherine royally screwed his brain up - Well, he pretty much said that, not word-for-word... - Elena couldn't go back to his bedroom and stare at everything that was his and think about him when he was driving her crazy! So...Elena decides to take a walk instead. Maybe it'll help clear her mind. Maybe she'll forget for a while that she and Damon's bodies have been swapped, and they may never be themselves anymore...

Nah, that's not going to happen. She's definitely not going to forget about that; it's always on her mind. What if we don't switch back? What if we are stuck like this forever? If we were going to switch back, wouldn't we have already? We've been getting along...we've been working together, but still we're stuck. And now that Katherine is back in the picture, they're fighting again. Just when Elena thought they were on the same team...now she's back in a corner alone, and Damon is in the opposing corner. How did that happen? She really thought they were starting to understand each other, and even more than that, she thought he was starting to feel something for her the way she felt for him.

Elena was obviously wrong about that.

"I called him stupid," Elena mutters under her breath, "I'm fucking stupid."

But...Elena did think that going back to Katherine was a stupid idea. She might think she cares for Damon, but she doesn't. She wouldn't have slept with Stefan if she actually had true feelings for Damon. When you love someone, you don't do that! Elena thought to herself confidently. She would never do anything she thought might hurt Damon. Because she really does care about him. She wishes he just returned her feelings.

For some reason, that thought causes a sob to make it's way up Elena's throat. Oh God, she thinks, I'm going to break Damon's no crying in public rule again! Elena ducks her head down low so that if she walks past anyone, they won't see the tears shining in her blue eyes. She needs a friend, but she can't call up Klaus crying; that'd be sure to freak him out. Dudes don't call up their friends crying about shit. That'd probably result in said friend calling Damon a pussy...

Bonnie! Elena remembers that she does have one friend she can talk to, who knows that she's really her and not Damon. She quickly gets her cell phone out of her pocket and dials Bonnie's number, which she has memorized by heart.

Bonnie picks up after three or so rings, "Hello?"

"Hey Bonnie," Elena greets, trying to keep her voice steady to conceal the fact that she was having an emotional break-down, "It's Elena."

Of course Bonnie knew who it was. How could she forget her best friend was currently trapped inside Damon Salvatore's body? But she also knew that Elena was upset, because, hello, she's her best friend. It's not easy to hide feelings from your best friend, not even when she's in possession of a boy's body.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asks, the concern in her voice coming through loud and clear on Elena's end, "What wrong?"

"Nothing, it's nothing," Elena insists, unsure now why she called Bonnie in the first place. Bonnie can't solve all her problems for her, and she already tried to help Damon and Elena out by convincing her Grams to perform some spells on them. It wasn't Bonnie's fault the results were disastrous. It wasn't technically Sheila's fault either; she did explain that Ayana clearly placed this curse on Damon and Elena for a reason and nobody's magic except for Ayana's was going to break it. They were told to be patient, but Elena's patience was running out.

"Seriously?" Bonnie points out, "You wouldn't have called if there was nothing wrong. Come on, you know you can tell me anything. I haven't talked to you in almost a week! What's up?"

"It's just..." Elena sighs, "Damon."

Of course, Bonnie thinks to herself. "Uh-oh. What did he do now? Please tell me he's not getting into any more shenanigans while inside your body..."

"No, it's nothing like that," Elena admits somberly, almost wishing it were that simple. Anything would be better than this. Affairs of the heart are always the hardest to solve. "It's just...going to sound really crazy. But...I think I'm falling in love with him. I know it's stupid and it doesn't make any sense, believe me, I know, but I can't help it."

Bonnie recalls what Grams said about Ayana's reasoning for swapping Elena and Damon's minds: either they did something to cause her to want revenge on them, which Bonnie highly doubted was the case, or she did it because their souls were destined to be together and they were too blind to figure it out themselves. Hearing Elena's turmoil and conflict over her feelings for Damon only confirms Bonnie's suspicions that maybe the two of them are meant to be together after all. She never in a million years would have paired them up, but...if they really are meant to be then it is what it is.

"Well, maybe there's nothing wrong with that, Elena," Bonnie suggests, "Maybe you both have to accept your feelings for each other, and..."

"But that's just it," Elena cuts in bitterly, "Bonnie, he doesn't feel the same way about me. He still has feelings for Katherine, the bitch who broke his heart and cheated on him with Stefan! She wants him back, Bon, and I think she might actually get him." Elena sniffles and presses her fingers in her eyes to keep the treacherous tears from escaping, "I don't know what else I can do to make him see..."

"Oh, Lena," Bonnie coos, wishing she were there to comfort her friend, and that she could somehow help her through this terribly confusing and awkward situation. Damon was a fucking unbelievable idiot, but maybe there is something Bonnie can do... "You know what? You leave Damon to me. Okay?"

"What?" Elena blinks back tears in her confusion, "What are you going to do?"

Make him see exactly what he's too blind to realize, Bonnie says to herself with a mischievous grin. "Just trust me. If he feels the same way about you, I'll get it out of him."

Not even fifteen minutes after Elena told Damon off, he'd climbed out the window onto the tree between their houses and let himself into his bedroom next door. He didn't want to fight with her, and he needed someone to talk to. Why couldn't she be that person? He was hoping she'd be moping around, but she wasn't there. Where could she be? Before he could leave the same way he entered, Stefan swung open the door and informed 'Elena' that she wasn't allowed over. Damon said he was just leaving, but then Stefan tried to coerce his ex-girlfriend into talking with him about what he did wrong and what he could do to be better because he was so fucking desperate to have Elena back. It was pathetic! Damon brushed him off and left, regretting ever going over there in the first place. He should have just stayed home.

Back in Elena's bedroom, Damon hears Elena's cell ringing, and he quickly picks it up, hoping to hear Elena on the other end. Instead, Blondie's extra-chipper voice is talking loudly in his ear, "He-ey! Guess what? Tonight's Girls' Night! And don't even think about saying no; Bonnie and I already have everything planned..."

A night with Blondie and Witchy? I'd rather eat a huge pot of steamed Brussels sprouts... He'd already blown off Caroline before though, and if Bonnie was in on it, then Damon probably should do it. Plus, with Elena already mad at him, it'd only make it worse to have Bonnie and Caroline hating on him as well. Sighing, Damon agrees, "All right. When and where?"

At exactly 8PM, as requested, Damon pulls up in front of the Forbes' residence. Caroline and Bonnie are waving to him from the doorway, huge grins on their faces, Bonnie's a little more...sinister...than Caroline's. Damon has a strange suspicion that Bonnie is up to something. After all, she's the only one out of the two who knows who he really is.

"Finally!" Caroline comments loudly once her brunette friend has walked through the doorway and thrown her sleepover bag on the couch. "We haven't had a girls' night in forever! What should we do first? Get some snacks and watch a movie? Or should we do facials and mani/pedis? We could do both at the same time..." Caroline bounces up and down with excitement as she lists off the possible activities on their agenda, each sounding tortuous in their own way to Damon.

"Or..." Bonnie speaks up, pulling a bottle of alcohol out from behind her back, "We could have some wine and catch up. I feel like I haven't spoken with either of you in a whole week."

"Aw, perfect!" Caroline squeals, running for three wine glasses from the cabinet in the kitchen. Sheriff Forbes was on duty tonight, until midnight, so they'd have the house to themselves for a while. Caroline loves her mom, but she enjoys her freedom too. Coming back with glasses, she hands one to each of her friends while stating, "One for you, one for you, and one for me."

Damon takes a sip of his wine and resists the urge to make a BLECH! face. Wine tastes horrible. Why do women drink this shit? "Thank you," Damon says politely, wishing the night were over already. It was going to suck playing nice with Elena's two besties all night. How was he ever going to keep up with their girl talk?

"So, Elena," Bonnie says pointedly, clearly making sure Damon is aware she is addressing him, "Care told me all about your double-date last night with Damon and Klaus. How did that go?"

Damon raises an eyebrow before shrugging, "It was...fun. I don't know. I mean, I'm sure Care told you all the details."

"I did," Caroline shares proudly, "Every last intoxicated detail, including that steamy kiss you and Damon shared."

Damon inwardly groans. Great. Now they were going to pressure him to talk about Elena's feelings for Damon, and the last thing he wants to talk about is who feels what for whom and why and how much and all that confusing bullshit. Girls are too much with all the constant talk about their feelings.

"It was just a kiss," Damon reminds the two, "And it was a dare, so there was really no choice in the matter."

"But how did you feel about it?" Bonnie presses the subject, tipping Damon off to her not-so-subtle plan of figuring out Damon's feelings for Elena.

Damon frowns at her, wanting to tell her to mind her own fucking business... Instead, he finds himself saying, "I don't know, it was nice, I guess." Okay...what? That wasn't what he was going to say. That came out wrong. But it wasn't untrue. The kiss was nice.

"She totally likes him," Caroline states, as if it were that obvious. "You should ask him to the semi-formal!"

Huh? "What semi-formal?" Damon wonders, not that he's actually considering taking Elena. And even if he were, it would only be because it makes the most sense for them to go together, being in each others bodies and all. Taking anyone else would be a little creepy and weird in more ways than one.

Caroline stares at her friend as though she's crazy, "Uh, the one on Friday! Remember?"

There was a dance this Friday? Where has he been? "I guess I forgot all about it."

"So, is that a yes?" Bonnie prompts, looking for an answer.

"We haven't talked about it..." Damon replies slowly, "And besides, shouldn't he ask me?"

"It's not the 1950's," Bonnie says with a roll of her dark eyes, "You could probably get away with asking." In other words, Bonnie thinks Damon should definitely ask Elena to go, and making her ask him would be a real douche move.

Annoyed with both of these girls pushiness, Damon accuses, "Why are you both jumping down my throats about this Damon thing? I thought both of you hated him anyways? Why do you care?!"

Bonnie sends him a glare, but Caroline looks out-right offended. "Um, hello?! We're your best friends! We want you to be happy! And if Damon makes you happy, then of course we're going to tell you to go for it. I haven't seen you so happy since..." Caroline whispers the asshole's name, "Matt."

Bonnie nods in confirmation, "And we remember how crushed you were after he broke your heart. Elena, we don't want you to ever feel that way again. We're just looking out for you. We think you should give Damon a chance. He seems to really have changed." Bonnie looks into Elena's brown eyes searchingly, looking for some sign from Damon that he understands her words and that he'll think about what he's doing to Elena. She's too good of a person, too sweet and caring, for him to take advantage of her and leave her feeling broken and unwanted like Matt did. Bonnie won't hold back this time; she will kick Damon's ass if he hurts her best friend.

"Well, I'm taking things slow," Damon answers, getting Bonnie's hidden words and subtle threats, "Damon and I both have reasons to take it slow. I'm pretty sure he understands why we need to..."

"Are you sure about that?" Bonnie asks, hinting that Damon might not be as correct about that as he thinks.

"Okay..." Caroline looks back and forth from Elena to Bonnie, "Am I missing something here? I feel like I don't have the whole story. Or maybe the wine has gone to my head already?"

Bonnie turns to fill Caroline in, "Well, Elena told me that earlier when she was at Damon's, she ran into his ex-girlfriend, and...she's a little worried he might let her back into his life." She's taking a risk bringing up Katherine in front of Damon, especially because she's just given away Elena. Now he knows that she talked to Bonnie about everything.

"What?!" Caroline screeches, feeling a little bummed that she wasn't included in this revelation. "What do you mean? What happened? Who is she?"

Damon is angry, at first, to find out that Elena called Bonnie after their fight and told her everything. He can't be mad, though. Elena obviously needed to talk to someone, just like he used her as his person to talk out his problems with, and he now realizes how stupid that was to do. Why would Elena want to hear his confusion over Katherine? She was right. It would be stupid to let Katherine into his heart again, and he doesn't trust that Katherine won't break it again, but sometimes the illogical beats the logical thinking. Damon knows Katherine won't be different, but he feels like if he slept with her again, and he did it without strings attached, he'd feel better about the way things ended before. It would be on his terms this time. But what would that mean for Elena? She had her heart crushed by Matt, and she'd never sleep with him again if he came back to Mystic Falls. But does that simply make her a goody-goody, or does that make Damon wrong? He doesn't know. And he doesn't know how to figure out what he's truly feeling, not until he's back in his own body.

"Her name is Katherine," Damon fills in Caroline and Bonnie, "And she was his first love." It was strange telling the story of Katherine through a third party, and verbalizing their relationship makes Damon feel like a big fool. He'd be an idiot to choose Katherine over Elena. The fact that he even has a chance with someone like Elena is unbelievable. She's amazing, super smart, ambitious, kind, and drop-dead gorgeous. She's everything Katherine could never be, and more. He's just a stupid, worthless boy who doesn't deserve her...

Elena never thought she'd find herself de-stressing by playing guitar, but now that she knows how to play a little bit, she discovers it actually is fun and sort of relaxing. She is laying on her back on Damon's bed, staring up at the ceiling with the guitar in hand and strumming her fingers over the strings idly. She didn't bother Bonnie with endless questions about her plan to get Damon to fess up his feelings, but she's trying not to stress out about it. She's also trying not to get her hopes up that Bonnie will be able to get a better response out of him than she already had.

He doesn't know how he feels, Elena thinks, If he did, he'd say so. What reason does he have to lie? It's not like admitting feelings for me would be the end of the world! Unless...he thinks it would be? Am I that bad? Do I disgust him that much? In that case, he can have Katherine. I don't want him anyway...

Okay, so, maybe she is stressing out just a little bit.

At just about 10PM, a knock on the window pulls Elena out of her thoughts. At first, she thinks it's Damon, but when she takes a better look, she sees blonde hair, not brown. No fucking way! What is this, the goddamn slut-entrance?! No wonder Damon is so comfortable coming in and out of the window! He's got girls using the window as a front door! How did I never notice before now?! Elena throws open the window and is very tempted to scream at Katherine to go away and never, ever come back!

But she doesn't, because looking at her reduces her to silence. How can she compare to this blonde bombshell? She's the most gorgeous girl Elena has ever seen, and the way she carries herself, Katherine clearly knows it. She knows how to get a man's attention, and keep it. She's confident and she always gets what she wants. She's everything Elena isn't.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asks quietly.

Katherine slips into the room gracefully and leans her back against the window frame, staring at 'Damon' with cool blue eyes. All traces of her earlier, harsh demeanor are now gone. She looks more vulnerable, somehow. "I wanted to see you," Katherine admits in an equally low voice, "I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Elena queries in a bored tone. What did she say earlier to Damon? An empty apology years too late, here it is! Is she supposed to accept it? Or should she tell Katherine to take her apology and stick it where the sun don't shine?

Katherine steps forward and takes one of Damon's hands, gently pleading, "Don't make me say it. It's so hard to talk about. Seeing you with that girl today made me realize how much I really have missed you. I made such a big mistake letting you go."

That girl? Elena thinks, She can't even remember my name? Or she's just acting like she doesn't because she feels threatened. Elena swallows the bitter words she'd like to say to Katherine, and remembers the struggle Damon was having earlier. He was really pulled through a loop seeing Katherine after so long, and hearing her say that she wants him made something in him snap. He has been waiting years to be chosen first, and Elena has no right to take that from him. If that's the choice he wants to make, then so be it.

"It's okay," Elena says hollowly, "I forgive you. But -" She takes a sharp, shaky breath, "-I need a few days. I need time. Is that okay?"

"Yes, of course," Katherine breathes out a breath of relief at Damon's words. He was going to drop that Elena bitch like a rotten tomato. She had nothing to worry about now. By the end of the week, Damon would be hers again. All she had to do was give him a few days. "I completely understand. It's all so sudden, isn't it? But, I've been missing you for a long time. I wanted to come to you sooner, but I didn't think you'd want to see me."

I didn't think he wanted to see you either, but I guess we were both wrong. "I missed you too," Elena admits. She is holding herself together, but she is feeling claustrophobic with Katherine standing so close. Can't she leave already? Didn't she get what she wants? "I'll call you, okay?"

"Okay, don't take too long," Katherine teases, finally taking the hint and easing the window back open, "You know how patient I am." She blows an air-kiss before ducking out the window and disappearing down the tree into the night.

Elena flops down on the bed, her mood completely ruined. She picks up her phone and sends a text to Damon.

Katherine came by. I told her you missed her and that you'd think about what she has to say. Let me know what you want me to do. -E

Caroline frowns down at the text message she just received. She then realizes she's not even holding her own cell phone in her hands and starts to giggle. Drinking wine always makes her a little cuckoo. Reading the text once again, though, Caroline is still utterly confused. Why was Elena getting a text from Damon asking her what to do about Katherine and signed by...Elena?

"What...is...this?" Caroline asks slowly, flashing the screen over to Elena for her to read the text.

"She what?" Damon mumbles, his eyes widening at the words and darting over to Caroline's face. "Why did you open this?"

"I thought it was my phone," Caroline shrugs, "Sheesh, someone's an angry drunk tonight."

"I am not," Damon denies, "But why would she do that? Why does she always have to go and do stupid impulsive things and put me into these positions?"

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie wonders, also checking Caroline's face for signs that she may be figuring out Elena isn't exactly herself.

Forgetting his where-abouts, Damon tells Bonnie, "She told Katherine that I miss her!"

Caroline sits up and grabs Elena's arm, her mind making connections faster than she can comprehend, and she quickly tries to deny the obvious. "No. No, Damon texted you, but he said...he said..." Caroline trails off, looking to Bonnie for help. "Why did he say that?"

Bonnie purses her lips together and then lets it all slip out, "Elena isn't really Elena. She's Damon. And Damon is Elena."

"Wait, so you're..." Caroline looks at Elena suspiciously, "Damon?" Damon nods slowly. Caroline's blue eyes widen and she suddenly slaps her friend across the face. "What the hell?! Go apologize to Elena right now, you ass!"

Damon stares at the blonde, shocked that she wasn't more concerned about the magic it took to swap Damon and Elena's bodies than him hurting her feelings. She's right, though. He is an ass. He should be apologizing.

Damon shakes his head and announces, "Okay, okay. I'm going."

Review if you want Damon to admit his feelings for Elena (finally) ;)

Check out the prologue to my newest story: Holy Ground! It's a Klaroline love story(: