They were sitting on the same terrace Elena had had ice cream with Damon when Derek grabbed a chair from the table next to theirs and invited himself.
“How are you guys doing?” he asked looking from Stefan to Elena. He’d never seen the blonde girl before and thus he didn’t pay much attention to her.
“Did Damon send you?” Elena asked short.
“What? No!” Derek said desperate. He looked around before he continued. “But it’s because of him I’m here. He’s not doing good, Elena. He’s a total wreck”
“He should’ve thought about that before he attacked the poor girl” Rebekah got in between. Derek looked up and stared at Rebekah.
“Something wrong?” she asked. Derek shook his head. “No, not at all” he rotated his head to Elena. “Elena, can I talk to you in private? It’s important”
Elena looked at Stefan as if asking for permission.
“Eh, Rebekah, we need to go” Stefan said.
“We do?” Rebekah said with a sharp look at Derek.
“Yes, we do” Stefan said sharp.
“Okay” Rebekah got up. She grabbed her purse and accepted Stefan’s arm. She turned to Elena. “Elena, sweetie, you have my number, call me whenever you need a friend” she said sweet.
As soon as they were gone Derek turned to Elena. “You can’t trust that girl” he said agitated.
“What are you talking about? Rebekah’s really nice” Elena said annoyed.
“That’s acting. She’s evil” Derek insisted. “She and Katherine are the reason you and Damon are fighting”
Elena shook her head. “Damon and I are not fighting. We’re just over”
“No! Katherine attacked you! She compelled you to believe Damon did and Rebekah compelled Damon to believe he did. And she also compelled him to stop drinking blood” Derek said. “You need to convince him to drink blood again. He’ll die if you don’t”
Elena let out a deep sigh. “That” she said. “is a whole load of crap”
Derek grabbed her shoulders. “You have to believe me! I heard everything that night! I’m not making this up and this is not something Damon came up with either. He reacted the same way you do”
Elena pushed Derek away and he fell back on his chair. She got up and shot him a dirty look. “Tell Damon that he has to leave me alone and that includes sending his minions after me”