No Strings Attached

Day 266

            "I can't have you running back to Damon without something to remind me why I'm letting you go," Dean whispers, quickly releasing her before growing too attached. Biting her tongue, Elena turns on her heels and leads the way out of the bathroom. She goes out first, smiling at Dean once more before returning to her table with Damon. Dean watches her for a moment, his eyes lingering on her exciting smile as she sits down across from him.

            Shaking his head, Dean averts his eyes from the "happy" couple. Slowly but surely, he returns to his seat, smiling politely at Lisa when she picks up right where they left off.

            "So as I was saying, I've packed up most everything already. I took the liberty of putting your things in boxes as well, by the way. I assumed you weren't planning on doing it—"

            "You are correct," Dean mutters, taking a sip of his drink.

            "So the only things left to deal with are a few spare kitchen items, toiletries, some stray clothes... oh, and the random junk in the attic. I was thinking maybe we could just leave some of that behind? The junk, I mean," Lisa says, digging her fork into the pasta she ordered. Dean obviously missed the waiter, and his cold food has clearly paid the price.

            "You mean my junk? From when I was a kid?" Dean puts down his drink, staring at her in disbelief.

            "Our new house is smaller than the one we have now," Lisa says, justifying her actions. "And besides, you never go up there anyway. I bet you don't even know half the things that are up there."

            "Me and Sam's toy army men, about a hundred baseball cards, my first shotgun—"

            "You don't need a shotgun. Especially in Los Angeles," Lisa says.

            "Maybe not, but we aren't throwing it out. Any of it," Dean snaps, his brow furrowing as he stares Lisa down.

            "Alright, fine. We can stop and get more boxes on our way home," Lisa caves, releasing the tension of the argument. "But you're gonna have to box it all up tonight. The movers are coming at ten tomorrow morning."

            "Yeah, okay," Dean says, his victory short.

            "Can you believe that tomorrow we're moving across the country? This feels like a dream," Lisa exclaims, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she reaches across the table and takes Dean's hand.

            "Yeah, I know what you mean," Dean mutters, his eyes flitting over Lisa's head to Elena.

            He was going to have to tell her. He's been struggling over the idea for weeks now, never quite figuring out exactly what to say. Dean thought he'd have been able to fix it by now, to convince Lisa that living in Lawrence wasn't all that bad. But as the date drew nearer, fixing things and telling Elena seemed like impossible tasks. Now Dean only has hours before he's gone for good, and he hasn't breathed a word to the woman he's fallen for.

            On the other side of the restaurant, Damon and Elena sit quietly as they eat their food. Damon has just finished telling her another story from today's work and Elena doesn't feel the need to share one of her own. But there is something on her mind she can't shake.

            "So I've been thinking," Elena says slowly, still contemplating if this was worth breaking the silence. "We've been together a long time now..."

            "Elena, don't start this up again," Damon groans, his eyes flicking to hers only for a moment before returning to his plate. His lack of eye contact reminds Elena how little he cares, but she refuses to let this drop.