July 27th 2015

Mystic Falls

(Elena)

I was combing my hair, because Damon had promised to take me out to a romantic dinner, when I heard Jeremy open my door. "Elena?" I looked at him through the mirror. "Damon grounded us for three days, and I know we've only two days to go but still, can you see if you can get him to change his mind?" he asked.

"Damon told me you four snuck out to go to some party." I said, smiling. "Really Jeremy? You couldn't just ask Damon, Stefan, or me if you guys could go?"

"It wasn't even my idea! It was Kol's!"

"Probably just another reason you shouldn't be hanging out with Kol, Jeremy. Kol takes peer pressure to a new level. I don't want you hanging out with him because he's just going to get you hurt. Don't forget his brother wants me dead. He used to want Damon dead too."

"That's not Kol's fault!"

"Kol killed Damon. Twice!"

"You know what, never mind. I shouldn't have even tried this. Screw you Elena." He said, turning around and heading out the door. I felt tears appear in my eyes. Jeremy always gets so… angry when I say something about Kol. I tried not to cry though because that would ruin my makeup. I heard the door close and looked in the mirror to see Damon. I tried to give him a smile.

The next thing I knew I was sitting in his lap, head on his shoulder as he hugged me. "What's wrong Elena?" He asked softly. I shook my head, putting my hand to my mouth.

"Nothing Damon. I'm fine. I need to get dressed." I stood up and walked to my closet but Damon wouldn't leave it be. He put his arm in the middle of the doorway back to my room, trapping me in my closet.

"Tell me what's wrong Elena. Please? I don't want anything ruining our date." I beamed for a moment when he said 'our date'. He was giving me his usual cocky smile. I kissed his lips, and saw Damon close his eyes and I closed my own when he wrapped his arms around my waist. When I finally pulled away he said something. "It's Jeremy isn't it?" He asked.

"What?" I asked, surprised. How did he know? "I don't know what you're talking about."

"When it's Jeremy who made you upset, your kiss is different." I smiled.

"And how do you know that?"

"Body language. If you learn to read it, it really helps. Get dressed Elena." He said, dragging the back of his hand down my cheek softly, probably wiping away a tear. He was gone the next second. I grabbed some clothes from my closet and began to get dressed once I locked my door. Not that it really helps.

After I finished I looked at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a purple top, a silk purple knee high skirt, and my new necklace I got from Damon on our anniversary. I had my hair down with my best effort of cascading curls. I was wearing purple high heels. And Caroline had the outfit completed with a purple handbag. What surprised me was the amount of money that was in the purse. I wanted to ask her where she got it from but she wouldn't let me ask my question.

"You look gorgeous." Damon whispered. I flipped around to see Damon staring at me in the doorway. He was wearing his usual black shirt, jacket, jeans, and shoes. I gave him a flirty smile and he returned it. "Are you ready to go now?" He asked. I nodded.

"I believe I am." I walked over to him and he wrapped his arm around my waist as we headed out of the room and down the stairs. We were stopped by Lily who was smiling.

"What's the occasion?" she asked.

"I'm taking her out to eat." Damon replied quickly.

"Where's your suit? You look under dressed."

"Says the woman from the nineteenth century." Damon sniped.

"Damon." Stefan said, stepping into the room. "Mom, why don't we go watch something on the television? You can try to figure out how it works again." He added. Damon gave him a look and Stefan quickly led Lily away.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked as we headed for the front door.

"Things have changed from what she remembers." He said simply. We reached the front door and Jeremy was waiting for us.

"Um. Elena? I'm sorry." I looked at him, worried.

"About what?" I asked.

"About… getting angry at you and being a jerk." He replied.

"Oh. Don't worry about it Jeremy." I said, kissing his cheek. He smiled, sighing.

"Thanks Elena." He said. Damon hurried me out of the house after that and let me into my car. I refused to go in his car because it'd ruin my hair. And I wanted to look perfect for him. He drove us out of the Salvatore driveway and into the city.

When I noticed the car slowing down, I looked up to the windowshield to see the Mystic Bar. "Really Damon?" I asked. He gave me a big smile before pulling back out.

"It's just a joke Elena." He said. "I'm actually taking you to a five star restaurant."

"You don't have to you know." I told him. He gave another one of his cocky smiles.

"Of course I do. How else am I supposed to show that they missed out on Mystic Falls' number one bachelor?" I chuckled.

"You know what I just remembered?" I asked.

"I bet I do."

"I remember Carol won a date with you. Did you two ever actually go out?" I asked.

"I don't kiss and tell, especially when on a date with another woman." He replied.

"That's actually a good rule of thumb Damon." I told him, surprised by his answer.

"So I'm told." He said as we arrived to a different restaurant. Harvest Moon restaurant. What a nice name. It reminds me of a video game I used to play with my brother when we were younger. He pulled up and parked the car before walking to my door and opening it for me. "This is a buffet restaurant. When we're done here, we'll go out for something called froyo." He smiled at me. I smiled back.

"That would be awesome. Thanks Damon." I said as he closed my door and started leading me in by my arm. Our arms were intertwined with each other. I noticed Ric and Joe sitting at a table, looking at the food. I tugged on Damon's arm to get his attention and pointed at them. "Let's go sit with them Damon." I said. He smiled.

"I'm glad you said that. We were going to. We're kind of double dating." He whispered as he led me to the table. I sat down and he pulled the chair for me. He sat down next to me.

"I was wondering when you'd show up Damon." Ric said. Joe turned to look at us, smiling.

"Hey how are you?" She asked. "Elena, you look beautiful!" She said, beaming at me. I beamed back.

"Thank you Joe, so are you." I replied. A few minutes later when it was getting quieter, I turned to Damon. "Damon, where are the menus?" I asked.

"I told you this was a buffet, go pick out what you want to eat." I smiled as I stood and grabbed his arm.

"Okay then, you're coming with me." He pretended to frown.

"Oh no. But I'm not ready." He whispered, clearly joking. "See you in a minute, Ric." He said, coming with me. I led him to the food and he picked up a plate. "What do you want on your plate. You get many plates, just choose what you want from here and we'll go until we go to each of these tables." He said.

We went around, taking things and putting them on the plate nonchalantly, making Damon put everything on the plates. When we were done, we took them back to the table and I noticed Ric and Joe weren't at the table anymore. Damon came back a few minutes later with his own plates. Joe and Ric came back with plates too. I couldn't help but be excited.

I ate my food, talking with them while they ate their food too. We talked about what we've done this summer, what we plan to do in August, what classes we're doing, problems the cops are having, and our families.

"I don't know how you can stand Kai, Damon. I wish I could apologize for not taking him but I'm not."

"Well good, cause it wouldn't be a good idea to mess with Klaus' plans." That got our attention.

"What does Klaus have to do with it?" Ric asked.

"Whose Klaus again?" Joe asked.

"Klaus planned for Kai to stay here with us?" I asked Damon. Damon rolled his eyes.

"Klaus is the one who started this, Klaus is the hybrid guy, yes he did." He replied, picking up a big piece of his food and stuffing it in his mouth, clearly not intending to add anymore to that topic.

"Well why didn't Klaus just keep him?"

"Co-parenting or something. That's what I've heard." I replied. Damon sighed as he swallowed his food.

"Yes it's a type of co-parenting with Kai but all I know is he said that if he could, he would keep Kai with himself. I have no idea what that means but I do know that he, Klaus, intends to come back at the end of this month to pick up his kid and his kid brother."

"His kid?" Joe asked.

"You mean Tyler?" I asked him. Ric was thinking what he's heard through.

"Yes Tyler. Tyler Lockwood. I don't get it anymore than you do." He stated. "Can we please drop the topic?"

"Is that where Tyler's been this whole time?" Ric and I asked.

"Apparently yes."

"What does Tyler have to say about it?"

"Clearly he doesn't want to disagree or challenge Klaus."

"Oh. Poor Tyler." I whispered.

"Is he a good dad?" Joe asked.

"How should I know? I just know he's not a person you want to be on the bad side of. I know people say that a lot but with Klaus it's true. It took him, what, at least three years to say he doesn't want me dead anymore from something I did three years ago?" Joe gaped.

"So how are you Joe?" I asked. She needed to stay healthy because she was pregnant now.

"I'm fine Elena." She said, smiling again.

"That's good. Don't forget to eat healthy foods and don't overeat either."

"Thank you Elena." Joe said.

"Damon? Do you think you'd come to college?" I asked. He smiled.

"No. I don't think I would. I can go live with Ric and pay keep." He suggested.

"I guess it's better than nothing." I replied. "You have to see me every day at evening after classes though."

"Agreed." He said, finishing up one of his plates. "Glad we could make our Fall plans."