Elena pulled out her iPhone and unlocked it. She had a takeaway app downloaded - if they were going to find good food to order, that was probably a good place to start. She tapped in the details of the Boarding House and, after a moment of loading, the app returned the name of a Mexican restaurant nearby. "Got it," she told Jenna, tilting the screen of the phone to show her aunt the display. "What do you want? Nachos Deluxe? It comes with beef, chicken and beans, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream." Elena hadn't had Mexican in forever and reading the menu was making her mouth water. It was true - now she was a vampire she thought about food in a completely different way than she had when she was alive but it certainly didn't mean she didn't enjoy it any less. It just wasn't necessary, that was all.
"I can grab a couple of blood bags to go with it," she added, trying to sound as off-hand as possible. She knew it must be hard for Jenna, adapting to her new body and its new urges. She remembered how strange it had all been for her, especially with the anxiety caused by thinking she couldn't drink from blood bags. She wanted to make sure this process was as easy for Jenna as possible.
"Hey," Elena said quickly, noticing Jenna's tears. "Don't cry. It was complicated and awkward and dying sucked but none of that was your fault, okay?" She put her arms out and she shuffled closer to her aunt, pulling her into a hug which was all elbows and knees.
"Yeah," Elena sighed, her arms still tight around Jenna's shoulders. "It was like... I wanted to do what he said, I wanted him to be happy. I trusted him completely. It was because I was turned with his blood... because I felt for him when I was alive. It's really rare but it happens." Elena shuddered. It wasn't that she regretted being sired to Damon. He had made her feel so safe and loved and it had allowed her to open up about how she felt for him but it had also be a really difficult thing to deal with. Actually, no, it had been the way it had made Stefan feel that had been difficult to deal with. Elena had been sure that the sire bond had nothing to do with how she actually felt but seeing Stefan clinging to the hope that it was some kind of mistake, that she couldn't really be choosing his brother over him, had broken Elena's heart. They said that all was fair in love and war but none of that had felt fair at all, on any of them.
"Anyway, the sire bond broke when..." Elena trailed off. The sire bond had broken when Jeremy had died. Damon had told Elena to turn off her emotions and that had also broken the emotional link between them. However, Elena thought that bringing up Jeremy's death right now might not be the best thing for Jenna right now. "Well, I mean, we worked out how to break it and, when I was me again, no one could deny that what I felt for Damon was real. Even me. So here we are - highly dysfunctional but happy... and married." Elena lifted her left hand to look down at the novelty ring Damon had won her in Vegas. Her relationship with Damon had been rocky, to say the least, but she didn't regret it - not a single day.
"Right," Elena said decisively, changing the subject. "Enough about me. Let's talk about you. Seen much of Ric?"