Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 27

Stupid. It was stupid to be sitting at The Grill, waiting to meet Derrick. Elena knew this. Yet, for some reason, she still came. She had wanted to beat Derrick there as if that would give her some kind of advantage. Not likely, but she told herself she would have it. The bus had dropped her off fifteen minutes early and her cheeks were still numb from walking in the chilling wind.

It had been easy to sneak out without Stefan knowing. He had thrown himself into his work the past week, barely even looking at her when they would on occasion pass by one another in the house. She tried to avoid him as much as possible. He seemed to do the same.

She had shut her bedroom door on the way out to meet Derrick to indicate that she did not want to be disturbed. Stefan's office door had been shut when she went to check on him. He was on a conference call and probably would be for the next hour or so. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to come check on her anyways.

Elena nervously kicked the table with her boot as she waited. Her old coworkers had come by, filling up her coffee cup and attempting to make small talk. But Elena was not into talking and the place got busy, demanding more of their time.

Elena made sure to have her phone out, just in case she needed to call 911. She doubted that Derrick would be stupid enough to make a scene in front of so many people though. When the bell over the door dinged, Elena felt herself stop breathing as Derrick smiled at her. It was an eerie smile. "You came" he said, brushing the snow off of his jacket before sitting down.

"I said I would, didn't I?" she tested. He didn't seem irritated or frustrated with her tone though. He just seemed happy that she was there. "Get on with it. What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked, feeling a sudden burst of confidence that she had no idea where it came from.

"Don't you want to order anything for lunch?" he asked, picking up the menu and pretending to be preoccupied with it. "How is the club sandwich here?" he asked.

"I didn't come to eat" Elena said sternly. "If you want to talk, you had best start talking." She stared him down for what seemed like a long time, but was probably only a few seconds. "You know what? This was a mistake. I shouldn't have come" Elena said, grabbing her purse and standing.

"Please, don't go" he said, reaching out to grab her arm, but quickly retracting it when he read her warning look. "I'm sorry. I'm just nervous is all" he told her. Elena sat back down reluctantly. Derrick pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and slid it across the table to her. "It is my graduation certificate. From an outpatient therapy program for drugs and alcohol and anger management" he explained. Elena picked up the certificate and examined it. "I did this, for you, Elena" he told her. "I love you. And I know that I messed up really bad in the past, but I want to fix it" he explained.

She was mad. Hurt. No, furious. Elena slammed the certificate down on the table. "Messed up?" she asked in disbelief. "Messed up, Derrick, might have been you forgetting my birthday or texting an ex-girlfriend behind my back!" she said, doing her best to keep her volume in check. But she was angry. "Messed up is not putting my face through a wall because I was too tired to cook or breaking my ribs because you saw me talking to some guy" she said, lowering her voice so others could not hear her, but making it well known to Derrick that she was enraged.

He just sat there, taking in her anger. "I know, Elena" he said calmly. "My therapist says ..." he began, only to have Elena go off on him.

"I don't give a damn what your therapist says!" she spat at him. "You can't fix what happened. You, cannot be fixed!" she said angrily.

Derrick clenched his hands that were resting on the table. She was supposed to accept all the work he had done to get better. To be better for her. "You are the reason I went into treatment, Elena. I can change. I have changed" he told her.