A few days later, Caroline's apartment

"Okay, so Ric and I are gonna be in charge of the drinks, Bonnie, Elena and Lexi take care of the food and Damon and Enzo will cover the music part. That's settled. What else do we need?" Jenna was talking with Elena, Caroline and Damon. Everyone else was busy at the moment.

Caroline and Jenna had called everyone up in order to discuss the organization of the party ahead. Only, almost noone had time. And having Damon and Elena on the same room did not exactly help the situation, as their break-up two years ago had been difficult.

Damon nodded. "I have no idea what else. But now that I know what I'm supposed to do, can I go? I kinda gotta go to a thing." he fibbed and gave a side glance to an obviously uncomfortable Elena.

Caroline huffed, ignoring the unpleasant tension between the two exes. "We are not done here, Damon! You're not leaving before we have this sorted!"

"Actually, if it's urgent, we could do the rest without him. I mean, he already has his task. And if there's something else for him, we can still text him." Elena now pointed out, wanting him to leave but not wanting him to know she did.

"No way! We already had everyone else flaking on us! He can't just-" Caroline protested.

"It's okay, Damon, you can go." Jenna interfered softly.

With a nod, Damon quickly left, before Caroline could stop him again.

Fuming, Caroline turned to Jenna. "Are you mad? He was supposed to help us!"

"Yeah, but with both him and Elena being all awkward, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere. So, I thought it's better this way." Jenna replied, receiving a sigh of frustration from Caroline.

"Umm, perhaps you and Lexi could try and bring some decorations, Care." Elena said, trying to cheer her friend up a little. Caroline gave her a frosty glance, but wrote her idea down.

Then, she put her pen aside and leaned forward. "Okay, I think it's time to set this clear. You, Elena Gilbert, will now tell me why you and Damon are still so awkward with each other, even though it's been two years since your break-up! I mean, I know you don't like to talk about it, but this is getting strange."

Elena was silent for a minute, looking down on her folded hands.

"Uh, I can give you two some space if you need it." Jenna said, getting up from her seat.

Her words made her niece look up. "No, Jenna, please stay. If I'm gonna talk about it, there's no reason you shouldn't hear it."

Drawing a deep breath, she started to explain. "My relationship with Damon was never perfect, but during the last months, it got really, really toxic. We weren't working anymore at all, but somehow still clinging to each other while making each other miserable. At some point, I couldn't take it anymore and broke up with him. When I explained it to him, he understood what I meant and we parted on good terms. But the heartbreak was still awful. You were there, Caroline, so you know how I was doing. I cried, got drunk, spent my free time in bed feeling down. But after several weeks of crying, eating chocolate and having my friends support me, I got better. Then I visited you and Ric, remember, Jenna?"

Jenna nodded.

"Yeah. And when I came back after two weeks with you and your husband, I was pretty much fine again. Getting away for a bit really helped. I've been okay eversince. But Damon..." Elena sighed, "Damon wasn't so lucky. He had alcohol problems before, but after our break-up, it got much worse. He drank himself to oblivion on a daily basis. Sometimes, he would show up ar my place in the middle of the night, completely drunk and tried to get back together with me. Bonnie and Enzo tried to help him, but they had their hands full with other stuff too. Jesse was two-years old then. And since Damon wasn't actually reliable at that point, Enzo practically had to run their club by himself."

"What about his brother?" Jenna asked.

Elena pursed her lips. "Stefan was living in Brazil at that time. He and Valerie are constantly travelling around the world. So, he called Damon, but didn't come to see him until four months later.

Anyway, after about half a year, Damon got a little better. Unfortunately, he had developed a very serious addiction to alcohol and he had a hard time getting away from it. He attended some support groups, but that wasn't working for him. He said he didn't wanna talk to strangers about his personal life. At some point, he started talking with Bonnie and Enzo instead. That helped. Almost eight months ago, he finally got off the alcohol. It's just that - he had been drowning his sorrows, problems and so on in alcohol for so long, he never really dealt with them. They were just always there. And after so much time, it was harder for him to get over it and move on. By now, he is almost entirely okay again, but he's still trying to avoid me. To prevent set backs. I guess I remind him of a really awful time."

Jenna and Caroline exchanged a look. Finally, Caroline nodded. "Okay, I get it. I guess we can manage without him here." Caroline finally said.

"Yeah, we can. After all, we wouldn't want either of you to have a setback. I mean, Damon is doing okay again now and from all I've heard, you," as she said that, she looked poignantly at her niece, "have a new lover."

Elena tried and failed to keep a smile from spreading over her face when she thought of Elijah. Jenna saw that and smirked.

"Tell you what. We're gonna write those organizations we talked about down and while we're doing that, you're gonna tell us all about that mysterious hunk of a guy you've been seeing." Jenna said, earning an eager agreement from Caroline and a slightly hesitant nod from Elena.

***

Elsewhere

"I'll be making my final decision on the evening of the conference day in two weeks." Mr Kenner said and stood up from his chair.

"I understand. Thank you for meeting me on such a short notice." Elijah formally bid him farewell.

As soon as his guest was gone, Elijah worriedly rubbed his eyes. Jackson Kenner was the heir to the line of drug stores with whom Elijah and Lucien Castle both wanted a contract. Since they both had been trying to sway him vehemently, Elijah could understand that Jackson Kenner was hesitant. After all, he was completely new to the field. His father had left him the drug stores without giving him the chance to familiarize himself with the business. And given that Jackson Kenner had been working as a meditation teacher in a zen centre, this was a huge change.

Elijah was anticipating his decision. He knew that Lucien had had more opportunizies to make a bette rcase for himself than he had. During the last weels, he had somehow managed to meet Mr Kenner at times when Elijah was preoccupied elsewhere.

And if this wasn't frustrating enough, his girlfriend had started putting some actual distance between them. He hardly ever got the chance to even speak to Elena anymore. And he missed her terribly.

He now contacted Vincent Griffith over his business phone.

"Vincent, please make sure to be ready tomorrow for the meeting with the heads of the St Claire Hospital, for the contract renewal. I want that done before Kenner makes his decision, just in case. It's a hospital that regularly receives funding sonations from me, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Thank you."

Since there was nothing else he could do for the moment, he now decided to wrap things up for the day and go home. When he took his phone, he considered calling Elena again. He had already called her plenty of times though. The result was always the same: either she gently reminded him of her sister's impending wrath or she didn't answer at all.

He now took his phone and dialled Elena's number. It went to voicemail.

"Elena. I know you think we shouldn't see each other. But still. I miss you! Call me, please!"

Hi guys,
Hope you like the new chapter. 🙂