It had been much worse than a roller coaster. As a person, Elena failed to think highly of herself. She had fallen for two brothers when her intention had been very much the opposite. Chalking it up to mere circumstance seemed like a cop out, yet was all she had. Well-intentioned or not, Elena had fallen for Damon and would not change that for anything in the world. Especially not right now.
After everything, it was nice to find her way back to the spark of happiness she'd thought lost for good. Smiling felt so much lighter than the pull of a cry, and just like that he was getting her to laugh into his kisses. It came as hardly a surprise that he would imply such possessive behavior, but Elena welcomed the notion. It felt wonderful to be needed, coveted.
She knew she was special to him. All she could lament was the fear that held her back from acknowledging how much he was the same to her.
Despair nearly forgotten, Elena let the rest of it wash away by tightening her arms around him and kissing him harder. Would have let it all sweep her away, too, if not for one other thought to cross her mind: there was possibly a very upset newbie vampire in their midst. In her distress, Elena had lost track of where Effie was in the boarding house--if she was even around. The prospect of letting things get heated with her around, especially given the way the other vampire felt about Damon, was a bit of a buzz kill.
Elena was hardly malicious enough anymore to throw away concerns about who could see or hear their actions.
"Are we..." Elena had to pull her head back in order to remove the immediate temptation of losing herself in him. He was awfully distracting whenever she was trying to do the right thing. "You know... by ourselves?"