a/n: since I don't know where I'm going with this, I'll just post the first chapter now and let the plot come to me. I have a few ideas, but I might wait until the show progresses a little bit. So for now, consider this a one shot. Within Temptation is finished and in the beta stage so don't worry about me not updating that one :) This chapter is not beta'd, just fyi. The rest of the story probably will be. Alrighty, enjoy :)
ONE
Elena came out of her bathroom and jumped at the sight of Damon sitting on the foot of her bed. Her hand went over her heart as she gulped for air. "You scared me."
"You should just expect things to be lurking around the corner. Your life is full of things that go bump in the night," he said, staring off into space.
Elena had moved to the other side of her bed to get to her dresser by the time he finished speaking. She turned to look at him and tilted her head to the side as she recalled the slur in his words. "Have you been drinking?"
"Just a little," he said and held up his hand to show her his forefinger and thumb barely touching.
"Great, and you're upset. Not a good combination." She folded her arms across her chest to keep herself from touching him. In this state, he might take it the wrong way and lash out at her.
He gave a terse laugh. "Upset? That would imply that I care about something."
Elena rolled her eyes. Here we go again. "Damon, you have feelings. I know-"
He cut her off by getting to his feet faster than she could blink. "Why are you so surprised that I thought you would kiss me back?"
She saw the tension in his body; could smell the scotch on his breath. It made her nervous because the way he was acting reminded her of how he had been when he first came to town. "Because, Damon," she started. She swallowed thickly and fought the urge to step back from him. "I'm in love with Stefan. I don't go around kissing other people. Especially ones that have done nothing but terrorize my family and friends."
Damon advanced on her, stopping only when her back was flush against the dresser. He could smell her fear no matter how hard she tried to mask it. The quickening of her heart beat filled his ears as he leaned into her. "There is something between us Elena. There has been for quite some time. Are you going to deny this because you claim to love my brother? What if you had met me first?"
"Well, I didn't," was all she could say. Her brain was near shutting down from his closeness. Yes, she had been beginning to feel something towards him lately, but she had chalked it up to friendship since they began bonding in Georgia.
"Do I have to remind you that Stefan stalked you for an entire summer before introducing himself? If it hadn't been for your resemblance to Katherine, he wouldn't have saved you from the river. You would be six feet under right next to your parents."
His sharp words cleared the fogginess in her mind and she reached up to put her hands on his shoulders before pushing with every ounce of strength that she had. "He would have saved me regardless because that's what Stefan does!" she hissed, continuing to shove him. He didn't move an inch; he only smirked at her attempts to get away. "That's why I'm with him and not you!"
The smirk on his face evaporated and he grabbed her hands, yanking them down to her sides. He pressed his front against her and looked down at her with anger burning in his eyes. "You don't know anything about me!" he growled.
Her eyes were wide with fright. "Right now, I don't want to know you. Not if you're going to be like this." Her voice was timid and small, but it got the message across.
The anger in his eyes simmered down and he let go of her hands, letting his trail up her arms until they rested on her shoulders. "I poured my heart out to you."
Elena felt her heart nearly break from the pain in his voice and the sadness in his eyes. "Damon," she whispered. "I have no problem being your friend, but that's all we'll ever be. I can't help it if you have feelings for me, but I love Stefan. I know you don't want to hear that right now, but you need to. I'm so sorry that Katherine gave you false hope, but I can't be with you. There will never be an us." Even as she finished her speech, she felt her confidence waning. She hated herself more and more with each word.
Damon sensed her change of self confidence in the tone of her voice. "If you're so certain that you don't feel anything towards me other than friendship, what's the harm in one kiss?"
"Damon-"
"Kissing is not cheating," he informed her.
"It is when you look like Katherine," she said stonily. "Stefan wanted to kill you for kissing Katherine and thinking it was me. How do you think he'll react if he knew I had kissed you freely?"
He smirked at her, but the humor didn't reach his eyes. "What makes you think I care about Saint Stefan?"
"Damon!"
"Why do you always say my name like I did something wrong?" he asked, his lips curled into a look of mild distaste.
"Can you blame me?" she asked quietly.
He gave her a look that said he didn't blame her, but then all of his emotions drained away. "One kiss, Elena. That's all I ask. Afterwards, if you still think of me as Stefan's older, much more attractive, jerk of a brother, I will keep my feelings to myself. We will go back to being friends and Stefan will never know what happened." His voice had dropped his cocky attitude and his eyes turned soft with adoration as he moved his hands to her neck; his thumbs gently tracing her jaw. "I can't live the rest of my life knowing that the one time I opened up to you, you weren't even there."
Elena shook her head absently and stared up at him. As much as she wanted to agree to his challenge, she wasn't sure that she would be strong enough to keep her distance. There was a part of her that was reveling in his touches, telling her that if he kissed her, her restraint would break and she would give in. "I can't do that."
"Stefan would never have to know."
"I would know."
"If you don't have any feelings for me you shouldn't be so scared."
"No," she said even though it sounded more like a plea.
"Give me one good reason," he demanded, leaning in until his face was inches from hers.
"You're drunk," she blurted out, unable to think of anything better to say.
He smirked at her answer. "You'll have to do better than that," he told her and moved his lips closer.
Elena racked her brain for all the reasons why they shouldn't do this. Yet, as his lips moved dangerously close to hers, all thoughts escaped and her eyes closed. But the kiss never came. She opened her eyes again to see Damon had pulled his head back to give her room to breathe. A wave of relief washed over her and she let out the breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"What I meant was you're not thinking clearly. And after all that's happened tonight, neither am I. Right now, I don't even know which way is up."
"So?"
"So I'm not going to kiss you. Not right now."
She felt Damon tense as he tried to keep himself from feeling the faint bit of hope that was beginning to course through him. "But you will." It was a statement, not a question.
"When you're sober and I can think clearly."
The hope that had been rising in him vanished and he scowled at her. "So you can take some time to make sure that you keep your feelings under control? I don't think so."
Elena's eyes went wide as she realized what was about to happen. Unable to do anything about it, she stood there and shut her eyes the moment his lips came crashing down on hers. Her plan was to keep her eyes closed and think of nothing but Stefan, but her mind couldn't even conjure up her own name at the moment, let alone the image of her boyfriend.
Damon's hands moved up until they were lost in the soft, free-flowing curls of her hair. He could feel her resistance and it was fading quickly. He pressed himself against her a little more and groaned in satisfaction as her lips parted to let a gasp of surprise escape. Elena quickly realized that nothing was going to be able to stop her from giving in and kissing him back. The moment his tongue swept across hers, she felt a shudder of intense pleasure throughout her entire body. All the emotions towards him that she had been trying so hard to keep hidden came rushing to the surface.
Elena felt his hands moving through her hair and the passionate tug of his lips. She returned his kiss in full, completely lost in the sensuous feel of his body pressed against hers. Her hands moved to his sides and clenched at the material of his shirt. She had intended to push him away but ended up pulling him closer. Damon groaned again as she urged him on by returning his kiss with as much pent up anger and passion that he was unleashing.
Elena gasped in surprise as he grabbed a fist full of her hair and tugged her head back. It was gentle and rough at the same time; just enough to drive her crazy. His lips moved to the corner of her mouth and then down to the delicate skin of her throat. As she felt the faint scrape of teeth on her flesh, the reality of the situation set in and she began to panic.
"Damon, stop!" she demanded, moving her hands to his head to pull him off of her.
Damon heard the urgency in her voice and tore himself away. He moved as if touching her burned him and stopped only because he crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the room. They both stood there, staring at each other and breathing hard. Damon's eyes flickered towards her kiss-swollen lips for a brief second before returning to her eyes. They were beginning to pool with tears; appearing to be made of glass.
When he could feel the blood lust fading, he crossed the room and stood right in front of her. He leaned in and pressed his lips to her ear. "I was right. There is something between us. No use in denying it now."
His words made her shiver and she pushed him away. He stepped back and watched as she walked to the window. "Get out."
"Elena-"
"Get out!" she repeated. She knew she was shouting loud enough for anyone else in the house to hear her, but she didn't care. "I'm in love with Stefan. If you care for me at all, you'll leave. Now."
"But-"
"You got your kiss, Damon and it hasn't changed anything. I don't care if there is something between us. Whatever it is, it is nothing in comparison to what I have with Stefan."
Damon narrowed his eyes at her. She was angry and he couldn't blame her, but her body was trembling to the point where he knew she would collapse at any given moment. The tears gathering in her eyes were threatening to fall, but she refused to let them. He approached her slowly and bent to her ear again. She went to shove him but he grabbed her hands. "That's a lie and you know it," he whispered harshly.
"It's not," she protested weakly.
"I'll keep this between us, for now," he said and moved to stand in front of the window. "Because sooner or later you're going to realize that I'm right."
And with that, he was gone, leaving Elena to collapse into a heap on the floor trying to figure out where to go from there.