Happy birthday

"Open mine next!" Caroline exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly. The loud noise pierced through the nice fog covering Elena's mind, and she winced, holding back the urge to cover her ears.

Elena smiled at her and reached for the hot pink, sparkly wrapping paper covered box, which screamed Caroline all over it. She ripped the paper off to reveal a small box, and she opened it while feeling her friend watching her eagerly.

Inside was a silver chain with a crescent moon shaped pendent on the end. Elena picked it up gently, holding it up to the light.

"It's beautiful, Caroline. Thank you." She said sincerely, already working to put it on.

"And that's not all." Her best friend squealed, and reached under the top of her blouse to pull out a necklace, which had a gold sun shaped pendent.

"They go together, see?" She said, reaching over to grab Elena's necklace. She lined up the moon to fit around the sun, which went together effortlessly. "They're friendship necklaces!"

"I don't know what to say, Caroline. These must have cost a fortune." Elena noted, again attempting to hook the chain around her neck. With the pills coursing through her still, her fingers scrabbled clumsily around the hook. She suddenly felt hands come up behind her and then the necklace fell against her neck. She forced a smile at the gesture. Stefan smiled back.

"Oh, it's no biggie. Anyways, you got me all eight seasons of Supernatural, and I know that must have cost a lot." Caroline replied.

"Which you finished watching in, what, a week?" Matt chimed in teasingly. Caroline glared at him playfully.

"Alright, Stefan next!" She said, reaching over to grab a green wrapped square, which Elena guessed was a book.

She smiled at her boyfriend while unwrapping it, and looked down to see a dark blue hardback journal, with her initials engraved in gold in the middle. The pages were creamy and thick, and she ran her fingers over it.

"Stefan..." She started

"I know you needed a new one." He replied, smiling at her softly.

She smiled back and leaned forward to kiss him. His lips were cold against hers, passionless; just like they'd been for the last year. Elena pulled away, not missing the look that flashed through his eyes.

"Alright, you've opened everybody's, right? There was mine, Stefan's, Matt's..." She counted on her fingers, the stopped and turned to Jeremy, who was hunched over by Matt, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"Jeremy, where's yours?" Caroline demanded. When he didn't respond right away, she crossed her arms. "You didn't get your own sister a present?! Jer-"

"I got her one, okay? I'm giving it to her later." Her interrupted, shooting a quick glance at Stefan and then looking away again. Caroline narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, well, fine then. Be mysterious. Now lets get to the shots!"

Elena turned to look at Jeremy, who was busy furiously texting on his phone. Huh.

Hours later, after everyone had gone home and the bottle of tequila had been emptied, Elena lay in her bed, nodding. This was her favorite thing about the pills; after the initial high starts to wane, a very wonderful thing happens. You're not quite asleep, but not quite awake; you're just... floating. Floating to anywhere you'd like to be, thinking of anything you'd like to think, which was accompanied by a feeling of complete euphoria.

So Elena lay, basking in the feeling with images a blue eyes running through her head hazily. Dark hair against cream skin. Long lashes brushing against flawless cheeks. Smirks and smiles. Bourbon scented breath. Worn leather jackets. A love that consumes...

"Elena."

A voice was ripping her away from the foggy pleasure, and she opened her eyes to see Jeremy standing in her doorway, the moonlight illuminating his figure.

"Ready for your present?"

Elena blinked her eyes a few times and looked over at the clock. 1:21.

"Why couldn't you just give it to me earlier...?" She asked, her voice hoarse.

"You'll see. Now get up and follow me."

Elena had no desire to move. With the euphoria still coursing through her, all she wanted was to close her eyes and go back to the place she was before.

Suddenly, Jeremy yanked on her arm, pulling her out of bed. "Come on. I did not spend months planning this only to have you not feel like getting out of bed." He said, annoyance heavy in his tone. He grabbed a cardigan that was hung over a chair and threw it to her.

"Put that on, it's cold outside."

"Why are we going outside?" She asked groggily as he lead her through the house. Jeremy didn't respond, and when they reached the front door he opened it and pushed her out. The cold air immediately slapped her in the face, and she quickly turned around to go back in, but Jeremy had already slammed the door.

"Jeremy!" She yelled, confused and angry. She tightened the sweater around her shoulders and turned around, looking for anything that could be a potential 'present'.

At first, she didnt see the black figure leaning against the side of the house. But when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, she jumped up, startled.

The person stepped forward slightly, and the moonlight hit their face. Azure eyes shone at her, hair black as night sticking up in different directions. All of the air left Elena's lungs.

"Happy birthday, Elena." He spoke.

"...Damon?" She asked softly, squinting her eyes at him. Was she dreaming? Was this another heavy nod off that she has whenever she takes too many painkillers?

But the winter air felt cold and real against her skin, and she could feel the pain of her fingernails digging into her palms. And those eyes... There was no mistaking those eyes. She had tried, countless times in the last two years, to get the exact shade right in her mind, but it was never quite perfect. And there they were, exactly as she remembered them.

His lips turned up, amused. "...Elena" he mocked, making his voice breathless and confused, just as hers had been. She narrowed her eyes. and blinked several times, taking in his form. There was the leather jacket, the black jeans and navy blue button up that had always been one of his signature outfits. And just like that, she was completely sober.

"God, Damon...? I, It's... It's been so long. I can't believe your here. Jeremy asked you to come, didn't he?" The words tumbled out effortlessly.

Damon shrugged. "He might've mentioned something about your birthday, and booz, too. Although I haven't seen the latter yet." He spoke, looking around as if to see a bottle of Bourbon lying nearby.

She smiled, and she couldn't stop herself from inching closer to him, step by step until he took the hint and opened his arms. She fell into them like she's been waiting for it for ages. It felt like it, at least.

A/N: Good? Bad? I'm not too sure myself. I feel like the show leaves out the real aspects of life, which I guess is acceptable, considering it's a show about vampires. But I wanted to write something that has both reality and fantasy in it, and this is my attempt at that. If you're into angsty Delena fics then this is for you; if not, well, read anyways if you want. Still not too sure about this, so if you're interested in me continuing drop off a few reviews? I'd really appreciate it! Thanks for taking the time to read!