Dealing With Last Night

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. This was made solely for the purpose of entertainment.

*A/N* I thought it was hilarious how Damon was completely over the moon while Elena seemed like she was going to kill someone. And of course, it was a nice occasion for a drabble. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Also, sorry, I suppose my British is showing. I learned it at school, I can't help it. Hope it won't bother you.

Hit, hit, kick.

"Not so messy, Elena. Concentrate." She could almost hear him standing behind her, correcting her. "Your aiming is terrible."

She could remember the last time they'd done this. He'd stood far, far too close, looking over her shoulder, being his usual arrogant self and touching her much more than strictly necessary.

It didn't take much imagination to believe he was there with her now, too, inches away-

No. Stop. Stop that, Elena Gilbert. This is training. This is hoping someday you'll be strong enough to fight off a vampire for longer than two minutes and drooling about Damon Salvatore is not going to help.

Damn, it was so pathetic. One kiss, one bloody kiss - and a pretty innocent one for his standards as far as she knew - and her head was a mess. An absolute, complete mess, and the mere thought of what had happened last night made her hands shake (not much, but it was certainly not improving her aim), jumbled up her thoughts all over again and her insides were squirming and prickling like some gross bunch of insects.

How desperate for attention did that make her? It wasn't normal to feel like this after one kiss. Just one. One that totally didn't have any sort of future in it, no promises for tomorrow - hell, given what he'd said, it might even count as a goodbye.

And she was behaving like God knew what had happened. Or like God knew who had happened.

Perhaps, if it had been Stefan, if it had meant he'd come back and they'd be back together… perhaps then she would have accepted these feelings. If it had meant everyone she loved would finally be safe, preferably happily ever after.

But it hadn't meant a thing.

And, last but not least, it had not been her boyfriend. It had not been Stefan Salvatore. It had been his wretched, confusing, hypnotising, ruthless, loyal, violent, hot - damn, she was doing it again. Don't. Don't. Stefan. You're waiting for Stefan.

It had been Damon. God, she was risking everything her life basically consisted of.

Of course, she could always emphasise it had been him who'd kissed her, not the other way around.

She could always lie and say she hadn't seen it coming.

She could tell everyone that she had not seen his intentions way too clearly in those mesmerising eyes, not noticed the way he was staring at her lips.

She could pretend she hadn't felt like she was suffocating until their lips met, could remain silent about the fact that she would have kissed him if he hadn't, simply because in that moment she'd felt like her life depended on it.

She could keep on telling Caroline and everyone else that she had never had, didn't have and never would have any sort of romantic feelings towards Damon. That she wasn't attracted to him and the only reason she was sticking around him was that he was helping her get his brother back and that he was protecting her.

And it would all just be a goddamned lie.

"Hey, you're gonna put a hole in that thing!" Alaric. Damn.

Okay, she could do this. She could convince him. Nothing happened. That was true, wasn't it? Nothing life-changing had happened.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Shit.

"Nothing to talk about."

Alaric grabbed the bag and stabilised it.

"So, what's got you all worked up?"

Well, she guessed given the way she was trying to kill a sandbag here, denying it completely was no use.

"I didn't really sleep last night."

An okay answer. Could mean anything. He'd just assume it was Stefan. Or Jeremy.

"Yeah, me neither. Probably something to do with dying…"

What was wrong with her? All this terrible things were happening around her and she got all hysterical over a bloody snog on the veranda?

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, I'm fine."

Right, Alaric. You're always fine. Even when your girlfriend got sacrificed and your best friend was dying, you were "fine".

"I think the ring, however, is running low on batteries."

"Yeah, that's another reason why Jeremy has to get out of town. If those rings have a shelf life, he is not protected, neither are you."

Didn't they have enough problems without supernatural malfunctions and Stefan going on a massive killing spree and his brother messing with her head?

She punched the bag with all the strength she could muster, imagining it to be Klaus. Or Damon. Or herself.

I wonder what Damon would say if I broke my wrist because of him.

"Nice, nice, you're getting stronger."

Maybe she should let others get her worked up like this more often. Hey Damon, maybe you should just kiss me before someone tries to kill me, I fight a lot better when I'm a mess.

"I'm just channelling frustration. I need coffee," she replied, turning away so he wouldn't see how frustrated.

"Seems Damon's compulsion worked, Jeremy was packing when I left the house, going on about his new school in Denver," Alaric informed her quietly.

So at least that bit had worked out okay. Her brother would be safe, that was something.

Suddenly, she imagined Damon checking on Jeremy, too. Running into Alaric. God, no, no no no. The shame would be too much to live with.

"Have you talked to Damon today? "

"No. Why?"

Internally screaming with relief, she forced a nonchalant smile on her face.

"No reason."

"Would you hurry up? We have work to do. You know, Klaus isn't gonna spontaneously self-destruct."

Wow. Was that humour? Congratulations, little brother.

"Why are you all chipper?"

Because I kissed your girl and if there was still a shred of my brother left in there, you'd rip my head off for that, Stefan.

"No reason. Be with you in a minutes."

He got dressed and strode out of the house, casually throwing Stefan the keys to his car (not to that abomination of a vehicle that Stefan had had the nerve to buy - he wouldn't want to be seen in that thing to save his life, he had that much dignity left).

"What, you're letting me drive? There is something wrong with you."

"Yeah, well. What can I say. Spent too much time with your girlfriend, she ruined me. I'm a mere shadow of my former self," he replied cheerfully and dropped on the passenger seat.

"Your really are, brother dear. Your punctuality suffered, too," Stefan replied through gritted teeth and started the motor. Not noticing the smug smile on his older brother's face.

I so won this round, Stef. And you don't even know.

Sometimes, once in a very, very long while, life was good. And Damon knew better than to spoil these rare moments with guilt - they'd be gone far too soon anyway.

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