For a while—three weeks? two months?—he was everything. Her whole world. She talked to him about everything, gave him everything, took anything he gave her. Asked for nothing. But he was her everything, and she liked him.

For the first time in her life, she had someone who made her feel. She had the high school cliché—tall, dark, handsome, mysterious—and he gave her the world, or at least, that's how it seemed to her at the time.

But somewhere down the line, sometime when she wasn't looking, he stopped being everything.

No, you're the only stupid thing here. And shallow and useless.

And she ran to Matt. Had him pick up the pieces. With Matt, she had someone who gave her everything and expected nothing in return. He would talk with her, listen to her, kiss her and make her feel better. He was the anti-Damon in every way imaginable, and a part of her hated him for it.

He wasn't her everything. He wasn't the person she wanted. But she managed to convince herself that he was. Made herself believe that he could be.

And it worked for a while, until she changed. Until she remembered.

You can't remember. It's impossible. I mean, unless you were becoming a…

For a while, she hated him. Hated remembering what he did to her, what he told her, what he made her feel, all before taking her memories away. She hated the lazy smile he'd throw her when he'd catch her glairing at him. She hated the causal way he talked to her after, as if he totally didn't suck her blood time and time again.

But then she remembered that he did try to heal her with that same blood. That he defended her against her mother when her mother found out what she was.

You have no idea how wrong you are about that.

And she can't hate him anymore, but that does not mean she likes him. And when they have to speak—when she updates him on Tyler's condition, or when they have to work together to keep Elena safe—she stops glaring and he stops smirking and they speak as if they're mere acquaintances.

And, sometimes, she sees him in town and she'll smile, and he'll raise an eyebrow. But they'll keep walking; pretend they don't know the other.

Because, when it comes right down to it, they don't know a damn thing about each other.