AN: Hello my dear readers. Thank you so... so much for your response to the last chapter. Now we are getting close to some major story points. Here you have chapter eight of Intertwined.

Enjoy,

Mydarkside975

Chapter Eight: Perfection of Means and Confusion of Aims

Elena

Tuesday morning Elena woke up in the studio with a stiff back and a growling stomach. She realized that she had not eaten anything since lunch the day before. She needed a shower, fresh clothes and something to eat before going back to work. It was very early in the morning and Caroline would still be asleep, meaning she would not have to face her just yet so Elena headed back home.

When she entered the apartment though, she did not find the quiet semidarkness she expected. All the lights were on and the sounds from the TV carried all the way down the stairs. She steeled herself for whatever crisis she would find as she walked the few steps to the living room. Bonnie was sitting on the couch, holding a sniffling Caroline, trying to hush her.

"Elena!" Bonnie said with a relieved sigh when Caroline jumped out of her arms and turned to face her. With red, puffy eyes and wet cheeks, she looked like she had been crying all night.

"Elena, where were you? We thought something happened." Now Caroline was full on crying as she stood up and walked a couple of steps towards Elena, like she wanted to hug her but she seemed to change her mind because she stopped and stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room, hugging herself.

Elena did not know how she managed to hold onto her anger. Seeing her best friend like this was not easy but at the same time she was not ready to forgive and forget. She was still hurt.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," she sniffled.

"What did you expect would happen when you slept with the guy suing me without even telling me?" Elena said now not able to keep her anger inside anymore.

"Stefan is not suing you, his brother was trying to but he made him drop the case."

"What are you talking about?"

"They dropped the case. We don't have to go meet them today."

Right then, she remembered the letter from Salvatore and Co., she found in the mail yesterday. Because of what happened, she stuffed it in her bag and forgot all about it. She unzipped her bag and pulled it out. The envelope was already ripped so she unfolded the letter and read what it said. Sure enough they had dropped the case with no apparent reason.

"See? He's a really good guy, Elena but I will never see him again if you don't want me to."

Caroline was wringing a tissue in her hands like she was trying to wring the tears out of it. She was nervous and Elena knew that that was hard for her to say because she was clearly very smitten with the guy.

Her anger at her friend from moments before was not there anymore. Maybe it stemmed from her stress over the lawsuit, the one that was not there anymore. She was confused as to why they would just drop it from one day to the next without any explanation. She was of course glad that she did not have to face them again but she felt like something was off. She just could not put her finger on what it was.

With the lawsuit gone, she only felt tired. She needed a shower, her own bed and some time to sort through all of this in her head.

She looked at her friend and saw the heartbreaking expression in her eyes. "It's okay, Care. I won't stand in the way of your happiness," she sighed.

Caroline squealed and said "thank you" over and over again as she threw herself at Elena to give her the biggest hug to date.

"Now that you got that sorted out, Elena you can't leave without a word like that, honey. We worry about you. At least send a text telling us you're okay," Bonnie said from behind Caroline. She was always the most responsible one of them. Being a little older than the other two, she sometimes felt herself responsible for them.

"I was at the studio but you're right I should have told you."

Xxx

It was Friday night. Elena entered the ballroom where she had to cover the biggest event since the S. Party. It was a charity cocktail party held at one of the most popular hotels in Manhattan. Caroline had helped her find the perfect dress. It was black and lacy with a high neckline and an exposed back. It was maybe a little bit too racy but she wanted to look her best and express a confident mindset. Caroline was walking next to her in her green satin dress. She was going to write about the clothes of all the socialites and celebrities.

There were a lot of people, most of them well-known and Elena had more than enough material after a couple of hours. She had split from Caroline a long time ago and was talking to a couple about their thoughts on the target charity of the event, when she saw him. Just a couple of feet away from her in his immaculate tux, he was chatting with a group of people. They seemed to be mesmerized; she could tell by the dazed looks in their eyes, both men and women.

So he was back in the limelight then, she thought. She sighed when she remembered that she had to write about him attending the party.

Right that moment, he turned his gaze to where she was standing. Their eyes locked. She could feel the tension like an actual string attaching them to each other. Two seconds later, he excused himself, turned around and walked away. What the hell was his problem? Elena thought. She was not the one who lied and tried to ruin his future so why was he acting like she poisoned his puppy?

Elena tried to let go of that little episode but it kept creeping back into her thoughts every time she pushed it away. Close to midnight, she could not do any more smiling or small-talking so she found a door that led to a veranda and stepped outside to take a breath and gather herself.

"It seems to be our thing, to meet on verandas." His voice sounded from behind her. Startled, she turned around and found him leaning on the wall behind her.

"We don't have a thing," she said sharply.

He ignored her comment and went on. "So tell me. Are you here to spin more lies and shred another name?" His arms were crossed and his face did not give away any emotion as he said the words.

"What are you talking about? I never lied. You were the one who paid someone to lie for you." She was seething. How could he be so haughty after the way he had acted?

"Yes, I changed some details about the truth and yes, I paid someone to do it but I did it to your face…" He slowly started walking towards her and pointing at her with his index finger, he went on; "you, sneaky little thing sent your friend to manipulate my brother and turn him against me." Now he was standing two inches from her. She felt like he was stealing all of her air. His eyes flared and she almost saw blue flames licking along the rims of his irises.

"So tell me; which one is dirtiest?" He finished and she had no idea what he was talking about or what to say next. She kept staring at him as the seconds passed by and completely unintentionally, her gaze dropped to his lips and she was distracted. Those lips were so full and she would bet that they were soft as well. Then they started to move closer and closer. She blinked trying to clear her vision and her thoughts but those lips were closer still and the next moment they crashed against hers and whatever reason she had left disappeared. They were soft, oh so soft and a moment later she felt his tongue trying to get entrance to her mouth which she granted and she was lost. Lost to the connection and lost to the sensation triggered in other parts of her body when his hands snaked around her waist, one of them holding her in place and the other sneaking down to grab her ass and then further down to her thighs just beneath the hem of her dress. Her hands were wandering on their own journey around his neck and in his hair.

She was gasping for breath and so was he but whenever they let go to take a breath, they pulled each other back in and started over.

"Elena!"

The sound of her name was like a cold shower that drained down her back and woke her up. Her mind clicked on again and all of her thoughts were back inside her mind. She was back inside her own body.

They were so tangled in each other that it took a moment to get untangled and Elena kept her eyes away from him and away from Caroline who was standing in the door to the balcony with her mouth open in shock.

Finally, he cleared his throat and excused himself before he went inside and left Elena to deal with her friend.

Damon

He had no idea why he decided to attend that party. He had gotten an invitation like he always did to that sort of thing but instead of just throwing it out without looking, like he usually did, he had read it. It was not much different than any other party where a bunch of very rich people used some random charity as an excuse to dress up and socialize with a well-stocked bar and the occasional business deal as a bonus. That particular night though, Damon had no other more pressing plans so he thought he could make an appearance and leave whenever he got bored.

He did not expect to find her.

Right there in between fake blondes, fake tans and fake breasts, she was, in one hell of a dress. Her hair braided and pulled to the side to expose that magnificent back. He was over right then and there. He forgot the conversation, he was in the middle of and when their eyes met, he could nearly see the tension between them.

He could not breathe with her eyes on him like that, like she saw him. The real him, so he ran away. Then she was there right in front of him on the veranda and he could have stayed silent but the sight of her revoked so many things… feelings inside of him. One of them was anger and he went with it. He yelled at her, she yelled back and somewhere along the way one of the other feelings showed its head and he was a slave to it. One moment her eyes were staring him down and the next they dropped to his lips. When his eyes dropped to her lips, she was licking them. He wished that it was his tongue instead of hers and a second later he found himself doing exactly that.

His five minutes in heaven were cut short when her blonde friend interrupted with a shocked voice and a judgmental stare and he found himself running away again. When did he become such a coward? He thought, heading to the bar to get a drink.

AN: Thank you so much for reading. Please make my day by telling me what you think.