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Summer. That’s when Elena meets him. One year ago, when she was a freshman and him a sophomore, who also happens to be the extremely handsome older brother of her friend Caroline’s boyfriend, Stefan.
Emphasis on handsome. His black hair is tousled and short and she wants to run her fingers through it. His eyes are like two deep blue pools of crystalline water. She’d gladly drown in them. In fact, she might already be.
But he also happens to be a womanizing ass with an ego the size of California, with an apparent inability to date a girl for longer than a week before dumping them.
So Elena won’t slip into that trap. He’ll pretend to like her and he’ll steal her heart, like some kind of master thief, before he breaks it or auctions it off to the highest bidder.
Stupid Damon Salvatore.
After that party where she meets him, Elena has refused to think about him. For a whole year.
Except she does. A lot. About little things, like those smiles that are actually real; the ones he reserves for Enzo and Stefan and Bonnie. Or the way he laughs and gets drunk and acts like no one’s watching. The way she can see through the wall he puts up.
But it doesn’t matter anyways. Elena is invisible to him. Even if she were willing to risk her heart on a guy like him, he won’t even look at her. Apparently she isn’t pretty or funny enough to catch the eye of a varsity football player.
Or so she thought.
It’s near the end of her sophomore year of high school, mid-May with perfect weather and just the slightest nighttime breeze for the annual Mystic Falls carnival.
Bonnie’s with Enzo, Stefan with Care, and Tyler’s with Liv, so unless she wants to 3rd-wheel-it with Matt and his sister all night, she’s alone.
The air is sweet; it smells like summer and humidity and post-rain and buttered popcorn and laughter. She’s breathes it in, neon lights coloring the world as she absorbs it all.
Ringing bells, rings clinking on glass bottles, bright white lights reflecting on the dark waters of the rubber duck pond. Cheaply assembled death-trap rides full of screams and cotton candy and corn dogs, the Ferris wheel towering above it all.
Taking a few rides on that thing sounds a lot less lonely than the Fun House. Elena sighs and forces a smile. This is supposed to be fun; a good time. And don’t misunderstand, she’s so happy her friends have people to go with. But the carnival used to be their thing! They’d take silly pictures in the photo booth and blow their money on rigged games and throw their hands in the air as they whipped around the Tilt-a-Whirl.
Now they’re all doing that with other people, and she can’t even go with her brother because he’s with Anna! Why is SHE always the odd one out?
Elena keeps her smile plastered on as she hands the carnival worker her money for the curling strand of three, little, yellow paper tickets. He points her towards her seat, which is already occupied by…Damon Salvatore himself.
She totally deserves a stupid carnival prize for the worst luck in the world. That giant stuffed banana did look kinda cool…
“Miss?” The worker asks impatiently. She blows out a breath and tentatively takes the seat beside HIM. She waits for the snarky comment and bites her tongue, worried she might actually smack her crush, she’s that mad. Why couldn’t anything go right for her? Why is she stuck next to the guy who’ll never look at her the way she wants him to?
“I thought you were here with Stefan.” Damon’s tone actually isn’t judgy or sarcastic for once, which eases her worries a little.
“He’s with Caroline. I’m basically alone.” Great! Now she sounds desperate and lonely!! “Same,” Damon agrees. “Enzo ditched me for Bon Bon.”
Elena laughs. “Yeah, them too. All my friends, actually. I probably look like a kidnapper the way I’m skulking around all alone,” she jokes, rolling her eyes. And Damon LAUGHS. A real, joyful laugh that makes her smile like it’s contagious.
Soon, they’re both just smiling and laughing, and Elena’s vision is blurry with tears that she wipes away with the rough sleeve of her favorite jean jacket.
Suddenly, the ride is starting up, and they gradually fall silent, still grinning and gasping for air. The seat sways as they rise forward and up, calliope music playing a tinny carnival tune as the light bulbs on the wheel flicker in patterns of pink and yellow and blue and green.
“I…forgot how unsafe these things were,” Damon comments, glancing at the rail that the workers neglected to inspect for safety. Elena nods, wiggling the rail a little, and it wobbles and creaks WAY too much, dangerously so, and she doesn’t touch it again.
They’re almost at the top, and Elena looks down to grab her phone from her pocket so she can get pictures to send in the group chat to prove she isn’t sad and lonely. But then suddenly, they stop, the ride music and lights continuing, but the movements ceasing completely, save the swaying of their chair.
She looks back up, eyes wide. They’re at the very top now, the whole lit-up carnival scene and parking lot beyond about a hundred feet below her. And they are NOT moving. Damon heaved a tired sigh.
“You have GOT to be kidding me!” The cart sways violently, and he grips the rusty handrail tightly, making Elena nervous, but she doesn’t show it.
“You okay?” She asks instead, on instinct placing her hand over his. It’s what she’d do for one of her friends. But Damon isn’t a friend, and he doesn’t do emotions unless it’s Enzo or Bonnie or Kol or his brother.
But he doesn’t pull away. Instead, he swallows thickly and meets her gaze, sincerity burning in them. “I’m not so great with heights.” She guesses he must’ve been pretty lonely to risk the Ferris wheel then.
She squeezes his hand gently. “Hey, it’ll be okay. Nobody’s died on this thing in at least three hours.” It’s weak humor, but Damon still laughs, successfully distracting him. His gaze locks on her, his eyes alive and dancing with the reflected rainbow lights. He stares at her, and she stares back unflinchingly.
Like magnets being drawn together, Elena and Damon start leaning towards one another, almost instinctively. But then the cart creaks loudly, and they practically fly apart. Blush creeps up her cheeks, and she averts her gaze from him.
“That didn’t sound good,” Damon comments. They can see the carnival workers below, scrambling to get the ride working. One of them shrugs anxiously, and Elena leans forward to see better, trying not to jostle the chair or Damon.
She hears the sound of creaky, rusting metal, followed by a crack. The bar gives way in her hands and wind rushes in her ears as she feels herself fall forward. Her breath catches in her throat and her stomach drops.
The world is, for a split second, a spinning blur of neon light and the metal scaffolding of the the wheel. Then someone shouts something and a few people scream, and a hand wraps around her wrist. Pain shoots through her arm as she dangles helplessly there, too many feet off the ground to put a number on.
“Elena!” Damon’s the one holding her, she realizes, glancing shakily up at him. His eyes are wide open with real fear, and his other hand is gripping the cart tightly, as he’s leaning way too far forward to hold onto her.
A sob escapes her throat, even though her eyes are dry, and Damon’s tightens his hold on her. But his palm is sweaty from the heat and exertion and her wrist is slipping through his grasp.
“Hang on,” he tells her, trying to sound calm for her benefit. But she sees right through him. Her heart is in her throat, and her stomach feels like it’s falling again and again and again on loop.
“Damon,” she chokes out, trying to force a reassuring smile. As if she believes she’ll be fine, so he’ll hold onto hope even if she can’t.
“Turns out I’m not so great with heights either, huh?”
“That’s so not funny, Elena Gilbert!” He tells her, trying in vain to pull her back up. She’s not exactly heavy, but the odds are stacked against them.
The seat’s rocking again, and she’s worried he’ll slip and fall with her. The only thing worse than dying would be killing Damon with her.
Those last few minutes with him were a dream before this happened. Like she had all the time in the world with him.
She slips down a few more inches very quickly, and a scream escapes her throat. “I’ve got you!” Damon shouts.
“D-don’t let go!” She cries back, unable to help it. “I promise,” he whispers. Then, slowly but surely, he grits his teeth and begins to pull her up.
Elena wants to help but her arms are jelly and everything hurts and she can barely move a muscle as he heaves her upwards. Her knee slams painfully into the edge of their seat.
“Sorry,” Damon mumbled. She could care less. They’re almost there. He’s so close to pulling her all the way up!
She can tell his arms are burning from exertion, but finally, her legs find the hard plastic of the seat, and she falls forward into his arms. Damon’s gasping for air, but he doesn’t let go, as if he’s scared she’ll fall again. To be honest, she is too. But they’re both safe now….well, safer at least.
And then the ride jolts back to life as Elena breaks down in tears.
After yelling profusely at the workers of the ride and getting their money back, Damon comes over to her with ice for her knee. She wipes her eyes, looking down at the bench she’s on.
The ice stings, but eases the soreness of the big bruise she’d gotten, and she sighs in relief as Damon sits down on the bench beside her.
“Thank you,” she whispers, closing her eyes. The real fear and shock hadn’t hit her until after. Now she felt almost paralyzed; her whole body was shaking and her eyes were red from crying.
“Don’t mention it,” he smiles tightly, as though he’s only trying for her. “No seriously,” she looks up at him.
“Thank you for everything. You don’t even like heights, but you still saved my life, and-“
“Hey,” he cut her off, seeing how worked up she was getting. “You know, I might’ve had a panic attack up there if you hadn’t calmed me down with that joke. And when you were falling, I wasn’t worried about the height at all. At least not for myself.”
He squeezes her hand as she had done earlier, and a smile edges on her lips. “I still owe you. How ‘bout I buy you some crappy carnival food?”
He laughs, the tension relaxing from his body. “Now that’s an offer I can’t refuse.” He helps her up from the bench as she throws away the ice pack. Her knee is stiff, and she limps a little. When Damon notices, he scoops her up in his arms without hesitation.
She gasps and starts laughing, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Better?” He asks. “Much,” she smiles.
They’re sitting at a picnic table an hour later, eating cheap cotton candy that doesn’t taste quite right, laughing. Damon had called it “Cardiac Arrest in a Container” but Elena convinced him that it wasn’t a carnival without it.
The strung-up fairy lights shine with a golden glow as they sit there. They’d been walking around for a while, but she’d grown tired after a while and needed a break to sit down.
That’s when Stefan and Caroline come over, appearing by the table with big smiles. Like Elena had been with them all night and they’d had the time of their lives together.
“Hey Elena!” Caroline beams, though she throws a dark look in Damon’s direction. It’s old news that those two don’t like each other.
“Where’d you run off to all night?” Damon raises an eyebrow at Elena, who smirks. “I went on the Ferris wheel so I wouldn’t have to watch the two of you stick your tongues down each other’s throats.”
Stefan rolls his eyes. “Yeah, but you didn’t have to be alone this whole time!”
“I wasn’t alone,” Elena gestures at Damon, who waves at his brother, smirking evilly. Stefan sets his jaw slightly. “Well you could’ve spent the night with anyone else. Literally ANYONE else.”
It’s Elena’s turn to roll her eyes. “Seriously, Stefan, if you cared that much, you’d have come looking for me sooner. You just don’t want me hanging out with your brother.”
Damon stands up from the table, holding out his hand for her. She takes it, letting him pull her to her feet. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”
She smiles gratefully, ignoring the look of anger on Caroline’s face. They’ll get over themselves eventually. She can hang out with whoever she wants.
When they reach the parking lot, Elena goes to get in Damon’s car, but he stops her. “Wait!” She pauses. “Yeah?”
“There’s something I’ve wanted to do all night.” He walks around the front of the car to her side and puts his lips on hers.