Reckless Love (Elena & Damon)

8 - Drunk

Somebody decided you weren't worth it,
And you never stopped to question them.

The last few days at The Hamptons had passed by relatively peacefully. Stefan and Caroline had continued to show their intense infatuation with each other, Bonnie had been on her phone a lot, mysteriously texting someone, and Damon and Elena had all but avoided each other. Everything was normal, and everything was fine.

On Sunday morning, the day before they would all leave and drive back up to the city, back to their respective jobs and universities that they had tried so hard to avoid, Elena woke up at around 11 o'clock, enjoying a nice sleep in, in her bed that felt like she was sleeping on a cloud.

Upon waking up, the house was still quiet, so Elena decided to dress in some running gear she had packed, in the hope that she would have this opportunity, and after grabbing and eating a piece of fruit, Elena left the house and went for a run along the beach.

The salty air and the feeling of running on the sand always made her feel at ease, like there was nothing wrong. It was strange, really, that she always felt so calm in a place so far away from home. Back home, both in Mystic Falls and New York, she didn't live close to any beaches, so whenever she was at one, she was always so far away from home, which usually made her uncomfortable, but not when she was at the beach. Somehow, the beach almost felt like home too. 

Since it wasn't a public holiday, and Elena and her friends seemed to be the only one's taking some time off work to go up to The Hampton's for a random holiday, the beach was empty. It was just her, alone with her thoughts, which were starting to become very repetitive and annoying. Elena was beginning to get very frustrated that she couldn't have a moment of clarity. She was always feeling lost about something these days, whether that be her career, her love life or anything else, something was always swarming her mind. She wanted so desperately for everything in her life to fall into place, she wanted to work out where she was going and what she wanted to do. Bur right now, she just felt stuck. And she could no longer stand to be alone with her thoughts.

After about an hour of running, Elena decided to finally turn back towards the house, getting back an extra hour later after that. By the time she finally made it back to the beautiful Salvatore mansion, it was just after 1 o'clock, and everyone was awake, sitting at the back patio, where they spent most of the days, lavishing up the sun.

'Hey, El,' Caroline charmed, as she sat at the table, Stefan's arm hanging loosely around her shoulders. 'Another morning run?'

Elena simply nodded as she sat down in the free seat next to Bonnie. 'This looks amazing.'

In front of her, there was a large breakfast arrangement, complete with eggs, bacon, pancakes, hash browns, literally any breakfast food you could dream of, almost as there was an entire crew cooking it up in the kitchen. 

'Let's all dig in, then. We were waiting for you,' Bonnie said happily, as she reached forward to grab a piece of bacon.

'Oh, I didn't know. Sorry for taking so long.'

'Apology accepted,' Damon said quickly, as he too began to fill up his plate.

Stefan shot him a quick glare, before looking back to Elena and smiling. 'No need to apologize. We only finished cooking about 10 minutes ago.'

'Sangria?' Caroline asked, holding up a jug, which had become her specialty over the weekend.

Watching Caroline in this environment was just like it was made to be. This was the type of life she'd always wanted. To find a man who she could marry and live a perfect life with. With weekends like this, and the love she had found with Stefan, Elena knew that Caroline would be happy with him. She knew that Stefan would be her forever, that their hearts were made for each other, and would always love each other, no matter what.