Elena finished pinning up part of her hair and stood up, smoothing down the dark blue dress she had chosen to wear. She slipped on silver earrings and stared at herself in the mirror.

Today was the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, and Elena found herself dreading it. She had avoided going to most of the town's celebrations for the past year, even though she was one of the founding family members. Honestly, she had found herself weary every time one of them came up; didn't they ever get tired of celebrating mostly meaningless things? It seemed like before, every time there was a reason for the majority of Mystic Falls residents to gather, people ended up dead due to something that usually involved herself. Which was the exact reason she stopped going; and ironically, people stopped dying.

Except for Miss Mystic Falls. Caroline always made her go, but that's not the only reason Elena went. Something, or someone, made her feel like this time, attending was important. Because this was going to be the second pageant in which Damon attended. Something about that stirred up weird feelings inside her. She couldn't stop thinking of walking down that staircase more than three years ago and seeing him waiting at the bottom for her in Stefan's place.

Speaking of, she hadn't talked to Stefan since she had ended things with him, or Damon for that matter. Caroline had texted her a number of times since but Elena had ignored every one of them. She wasn't in the mood to listen to her best friend's exclamations about how 'epic' her and Stefan were, or how supposedly evil Damon was. But most importantly she was avoiding the incessant questions directed towards Elena's outburst at the Grill two days ago. Most of them went like this:

"What did you mean by drugs?! Like crack or something?"

"Where do you find crack in Mystic Falls?"

"Does Stefan know?"

"PLEASE text me back and tell me that you aren't a crack addict!"

She had answered the last one, however. Elena didn't want everyone in Mystic Falls thinking she was a crack head.

"You ready to go?" Jeremy asked from the doorway, pulling at the collar around his neck. Elena smile and nodded, but not before helping him fix his tie, which was crooked.

People floated around various parts of the Lockwood manor, drinking champagne and gossiping while the Miss Mystic candidates were getting ready. Jeremy spotted one of his friends and disappeared from Elena's side.

She immediately headed to the open bar. Damon's blood had worn off yesterday, and although she didn't feel as sick as she did when the withdrawals first started, Elena still felt off. Her body ached and her head pounded, and she was freezing despite the fact that it was almost 80 degrees out.

Spying a bottle of vodka, she grabbed it and poured some in a crystal highball glass. It burned a path down her throat, but she managed not to choke. Elena rubbed at her temples, trying to will her headache to go away.

Suddenly, she felt her eyes being drawn towards outside. Damon was standing there, drink in hand as he talked with Meredith Fell. Elena twitched uncomfortably; something about them standing together didn't sit well with her.

He looked amazing in his suit, like always. Elena wondered if Meredith noticed how good he looked. Of course she does, Elena thought, she's not blind.

Something he said made the doctor giggle and annoyance creeped its way up her spine. No one ever really laughed at Damon's jokes except for herself, mostly everyone just stared at him in disapproval. Except Alaric... Alaric had always laughed at them, too.

Elena suddenly found herself missing her quasi guardian more than ever. He would understand how she felt about the eldest Salvatore, because he had been the only other person that Damon had let see underneath the persona that he presented to everybody.

Feeling melancholy, Elena took another gulp of the alcohol, struggling not to sputter. The vodka didn't much help with numbing her, but Elena knew exactly what would. The sudden longing for painkillers struck her strongly and all the weird annoyance she felt towards Meredith drained away, and finding the doctor and talking up about how much her back hurt suddenly seemed like a great idea.

Elena suddenly noticed Damon walking around the side of the house by himself and she snapped out of it. No no no, she thought, stop thinking like that.

She set down her drink and straightened up before heading in the direction that Damon had disappeared in.

Stefan hesitantly punched in his second speed dial and waited patiently while it rang. Finally, the familiar voice answered and he felt himself relax into the chair he was sitting on.

"Stefan! Finally, you called me back. I've been trying to reach you for, like, days!"

He sighed into the receiver. "Sorry. I just needed... some time."

"Oh, Stefan, I'm so sorry! Elena will snap out of this funk she's been in soon." Caroline sympathized.

Stefan scoffed, the familiar bitterness rising up again. "Somehow I doubt it. It was different this time, Caroline. She..." He trailed off, taking a deep breath before continuing. "She basically said that she wouldn't turn for me, but she would for Damon." Of course, Elena hasn't really said that, but she mind as well have.

Caroline was a quiet for a moment. Stefan braced himself for her reply. "What?! Are you serious? She doesn't mean it, Stefan. Of course she doesn't! Damon's always had that weird way of confusing her feelings, and that's what's happening now. Not to mention the drugs-" she stopped abruptly.

Stefan froze. "Drugs? What do you mean drugs, Caroline?"

"I..." She sighed. "I didn't mean to say that. But the other day when I was talking to her, she mentioned something about you not noticing she was addicted to drugs-"

"Drugs?" He pondered the word again. Suddenly, memories of Elena's eyes being clouded and dilated filled his head. He swore at his own stupidity. "That's what Damon meant..." He mused out loud. Then, another thought struck him.

"What kind of drugs, Caroline? Where has she been getting them?"

"I really don't know, Stefan. All she said was that she's been addicted to drugs for, like, a year or something, and she she's been ignoring all my texts, but something tells me whatever it is, it's stronger than weed." She stated doubtfully. "But I wonder who else knows?"

Stefan breathed through his nose, "My brother certainly does, that's for sure." Disappointment rose up inside of him; disappointment in himself. She said she'd been taking them for a year, and all this time he hadn't put two and two together. He had known something was wrong, of course, but he hadn't known it was that bad. And then Damon waltzes into town and he notices it right off the bat.

Caroline must have sensed something like this was going through his head. "Don't beat yourself up, Stefan. Nobody noticed, because nobody thought this was something she would do. Elena's always been the good girl, you know? Jeremy was always the rebel of the family..."

"Jeremy." Stefan repeated, "I bet you Jeremy knows something. Is he there, at the pageant?"

"Yeah, he came with Elena... Wait, you're not thinking of interrogating him, are you?"

"I'm not going to interrogate him, Caroline. I just need to know... And I'm not giving Damon the satisfaction of asking him."

"Fine, fine. But just, don't make a scene. Elena will kill me if this gets out to anybody else."

Stefan agreed and hung up, swinging himself up and debating if he should put on a suit or not. He opted not to; he didn't plan on staying too long, just long enough to get the answers he needed.

Elena found Damon talking to Sheriff Forbes, who had ditched her uniform for once and was wearing a skirt and blouse.

Elena caught his eye over the Sheriff's shoulder and nodded her head slightly towards a bench that sat under a tree. He turned back towards Liz and said something before they parted ways.

"Hey." Elena said once he sauntered up.

"Hey." He said back and chose to lean against the tree instead of sit next to her.

She fiddled with the eye-hole pattern of her dress, suddenly nervous. "Did, um, did Stefan tell you...?"

"Tell me what?" He asked, eyes gleaming and a smile playing at his lips. He knew exactly what, he just wanted to toy with her.

"About the breakup." She blurted out, annoyed.

"Oh, yeah, I guess he did mention something about that..."

"Stop being a dick." Elena accused, and took a deep breath. The vodka turned in her stomach. "Did he say anything about-"

"Why?" Damon guessed, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Not really, but he did seen to think I knew something about it." He paused. "Why would he think that, Elena?"

Elena swallowed and crossed her legs, then uncrossed them. He was staring at her intensely, his eyes as blue as the sky behind him. "I-"

"Elena!" A voice interrupted her, and she turned to see Caroline marching towards her, hands on hips. She stopped a few feet away from them, glaring at Damon and looking at Elena suspiciously. Elena glared back, suddenly annoyed.

"The dance is about to begin." She said simply and walked away, her tone implying that Elena needed to follow.

She looked back at Damon miserably, then stood up. Dizziness wavered over her and somehow she managed not to fall over. "You okay?" He asked, reaching his hand out to steady her. Elena nodded uncertainly, and gripped his arm.

"I don't feel very good." She explained, and he nodded in understanding. "Let's go, before Caroline comes back."

They headed over to the large throng of people and settled in the back. The last contestant was walking down the stairs and Elena watched as she stood in front of her partner. Suddenly, she was all too aware of Damon's presence next to her.

A soft song started playing and the couples swayed around each other, hands not touching.

Elena felt a smile tug at her lips. "Do you remember-"

"How could I forget?" He asked before she could finish and Elena beamed at him, despite the slight sarcastic note his tone held.

She felt words churning around on her tongue, and her mouth opened without her permission. "I felt something, you know."

Damon turned his eyes on her doubtfully, like he couldn't believe she, of all people, was bringing this up. Elena continued nervously, staring forward at the dancers. "I mean, I always felt something... But that was the first time I acknowledged it."

"Elena-" Damon sighed, but she interrupted him before he could stop her.

"Is that why you left? Because I never acknowledged things between us? I wanted to, Damon, but I was scared. Can you believe that?" She scoffed. "I've faced vampires, werewolves, Klaus, and none of that stuff really scared me. But somehow, my feelings for you did." She shifted anxiously, waiting for his reply as she peeked up at his face.

His eyebrows were drawn together, eyes unreadable. "Why-?" Damon paused, and turned towards something in the house. "The hell?" He wondered out loud and took off towards the house.

Elena watched him walk away, baffled, before following him hesitantly. Damon immediately headed to the dining room, Elena a few steps behind him.

"What are you doing, Stefan?" Elena heard him ask incredulously before she arrived behind him. Stefan was in there... with his fingers wrapped around Jeremy's throat. Finally taking notice of his brother and her, he looked at Jeremy and dropped him, then looked down at his own hand as if it didn't belong to him.

"Stefan... what the hell? What happened?!" She asked angrily, going to stand by Jeremy's side.

"He's crazy, that's what happened!" Jeremy exclaimed hotly, rubbing his throat as he stalked out of the room, but not before throwing Stefan one last glare.

"Jeremy-" She started, about to follow him before she noticed the way Stefan was glaring at his brother. Elena sensed if she left, then something in the Lockwood's pristine dining room would break and she'd have Carol Lockwood to answer to.

"You must have timed this perfectly." He accused his brother, not looking at her.

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Timed what, exactly?"

"You know what, Damon." He replied, shooting a glance at her.

"No, I really don't, Stefan. And I'm getting pretty tired of you presuming I do."

Before Stefan could reply, she jumped in between them. "Stefan, what's going on?" She asked, staring at him. "Why were you choking my brother?"

"I wasn't choking him." Stefan replied, shifting between looking at her and glaring at Damon. "I just..." He let a breath out. "Caroline told me."

Elena blinked. He didn't say what Caroline had told him, but she knew anyways. She found herself hating her so-called 'best friend' in that moment.

"So it's true." He assumed, looking at her face and nodding a little to himself. "I didn't know any of the details, so I asked Jeremy, and I knew he knew, he just wasn't telling me. I got angry, and..." He trailed off, gesturing to the wall.

She saw Damon start to back out of the room in her peripheral, and she turned to him, not wanting him to leave.

"I'm gonna go check on Jeremy." He assured her and then disappeared. Elena sighed and turned back to Stefan.

"Leave it to Damon to make me out to be the bad guy." He scoffed to himself, crossing his arms.

"Like you've never done that to him, Stefan." She snapped. "But that's not the point. If you wanted answers, you should have come to me."

"You should have come to me!" He exclaimed. "You should have come to me a long time ago with this, instead of going to my brother-"

"I didn't go to him!" Elena said irritably. "He just knew, the second he came back, he knew. Unlike you." She didn't mean for her voice to sound accusatory, but it did anyways.

He scrubbed his hands over his face. "I know, okay? And I'll regret not noticing for the rest of my life. But, Elena-"

"It doesn't matter anymore." She declared, crossing her arms. "It's done, I'm done with it." I'm done with this, too, She thought.

He calmed, and looked at her regretfully. "I really am sorry."

"Me, too." Elena replied, before walking out of the room without a backwards look. She wondered around the house, then outside, looking for Jeremy and Damon. When she couldn't find them, she dug out her phone and opened a text from Damon telling her he had taken her brother home. Elena sighed thankfully, she really didn't feel like staying here much longer. Briefly, she wondered who had been crowned Miss Mystic Falls before she climbed into her car.

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who's taken the time to favorite, follow and review. Without you guys, I'd have ditched this story a long time ago! And without my lovely beta, this chapter probably wouldn't have made much sense. A million hugs to you! :))))

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