2015.09.02 - Delena

**Emitter:** None

*If loving her is wrong, there's no way Damon can be right.*

August 31, 2015

Mystic Falls, Beacon Hills

There's a girl. There's almost always a girl. This particular girl comes out from around the side of the Mystic Grill. She doesn't look as worried about the blood droplets on her neck as she probably should. She's smiling and everything as she's heading off in the general direction of somewhere that she can probably clean herself up. It only takes a moment more before Damon Salvatore appears in front of the Grill himself. He takes a second to adjust the leather jacket he's always wearing. He takes a ring-wearing finger to wipe blood from the corner of his mouth and sucks it off his finger with a devilish smile. Now, if only he could pick another person to chew on for a little bit.

Except there's a witness. And that's never a good thing. She's coming out of the Mystic Grill, and sees the girl with the blood droplets on her neck, and then sees Damon there. Any girl noticing those two things together would be a bad thing. It's a worse thing (arguably) when it's Elena Gilbert. He doesn't have to worry about the secret being blown, he just has to worry about listening to Elena.

The good news is that Damon doesn't give a crap. The bad news is that Damon doesn't give a crap. There's some kind of twisted pleasure that Damon gets out of making sure that he's as close to getting found out as possible. Then again, he could always just kill whoever saw him. If it wasn't Elena. Sigh.

Maybe his vampire senses are kicking in but he's already raises his eyebrows at her with his devilish grin still attached. He even adds in a wink before that bloodstained finger is pressed to his lips in a full on 'shhhh' motion. He really loves being a dick.

Elena quickens her pace, heels ticking out a beat as she approaches, all full of petite fury. "What are you doing?" she demands. "You can't just decide you're going to have a snack on someone in the middle of the day. In /town/!"

"Can so. And did!" Damon's still all smiles even as he gets comfortable with his leaning back against the wall. He crosses his arms over his chest and doesn't appear to be worried about too much of anything that Elena might be worried about. "Why?" Damon snaps his fingers. "Oh, wait. Are you jealous?" Damon holds his hands up. "Elena. I swear she meant nothing to me." He can hardly contain his own amused smile.

She looks flustered. Or appears to look flustered. "I'm not jealous! Damon, after everything that just went on? You know everyone's going to be looking twice as hard for anything out of the ordinary. Things like that are just going to bring them down on top of you and Stefan." She pokes him in the shoulder. Ooh, fierce.

Damon grabs his arm as if he had just been stabbed with all manner of vampire slaying equipment. "So lonely brunette number fifteen lost a little blood. It's fine. She'll be fine." Damon then grins as he takes a moment to look his nails. "Besides, it's not like I compelled her to think it was Stefan." He pauses and brings a finger up to his chin. "Or did I? I can't seem to recall..."

That looks like it strikes a nerve. Her tone drops just a bit, and she says "That isn't a game, Damon. Have you bothered to think, really think, what would happen if they came after him? Or you? He's your /brother/." She says with emphasis. "And it's not like they haven't caused trouble before."

Damon shrugs and moves away from the grill to lean on somebody's car. It's not his but he doesn't really give a crap about whomever's it is. He's just that carefree. "I won't be here long enough for anyone to come after me. Which is pretty much all that matters." Damon tilts his head as he looks at Elena. "Hold on. Are you /worried/ about me?" There's his grin again. This is getting more interesting by the moment.

"I'm worried about both of you." Elena's back to looking flustered again. "Stefan would be devastated if something happened to you." Because of COURSE that's why she'd be concerned about it. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

"Right." Damon just gives a shake of his head to whatever it is that Elena is prattling off about. "Well. Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, Elena. I'll make sure she doesn't go screaming about, y'know, vampires at the top of her lungs. Okay?"

Elena gives out a long sigh of relief. "Thank you." She pauses. "I really do worry. About both of you." A slight smile at her lips. "Even when I nag." She takes a half-step closer, reaching out to put her palm against his chest, as if by emphasis.

"Don't." Damon reaches out to take Elena's hand by the wrist. "Go nag Stefan." Damon has turned cold just that fast. His dickishly jovial attitude has faded the moment he was touched. He can't have her all over him. He'll have to whoop Stefan's ass again. "Shouldn't you two be out on some boring date, right now, anyway?" Instead of bothering him on his random night of eat people!

And now she's turning it around. "What if I don't want to nag Stefan? What if I'd rather spend time with you?" Her voice is a mix of innocent-sweet and coy. She smiles at him, looking up through her lashes. "Careful..." her eyes flit to her wrist. "You'll hurt me."

Damon lets go. "Elena. I don't know if you've started your underage drinking habits a little early but you should probably call Stefan and get him to take you home." Damon slides himself away from the car and away from Elena. "I'm not the guy the girl ends up with. Especially not when the girl's you." Bitter, much?

"What's the matter, Damon? Afraid to go after what you want when it's in front of you?" But she'll take a step back. "But if you WANT me to go call Stefan..." She slow-turns, as if she's about to walk away, giving him plenty of time to stop her.

Biting his lip, Damon stares at the back of Elena's head. Just for a moment. He's not about to do something he shouldn't do right now. As much as he wants to. Instead, he's going to do the right thing. "Fine. I'll call him." Damon goes into his pocket for his phone and wiggles his fingers at Elena with a smile. If she wants to play games, he can play games too. "Hm. What should I say...?"

"I know. Lead with how you bit someone in plain daylight, then almost broke my wrist." It's not until she finishes that sentence that she stops to look over her shoulder. "Then tell him Elena's waiting for the Salvatore brother that's got the courage to go for it." Point, counterpoint. Your move.

Damon rolls his eyes. This is new. This isn't... this is weird, actually. "Uh huh." Damon tucks his phone away and adjusts his jacket once more. "Careful. I almost believed you for a moment." Damon then turns and moves off towards /his/ car so that he can get the hell out of here. He's got to go kill something. Frustration setting in.

Elena just gives a pretty little smile, and will walk off, making sure to put some extra wiggle in her walk as she heads off. Always leave them wanting more.