deathly_smirk

ITA

I don't doubt that Elena was attracted to Damon early on but she didn't start caring about him until later on. When you compare that to the love she had for Stefan, for whom she'd seemed to have been to hell and back in some cases it just doesn't compare. Yes, Elena made some stupid choices in regarding Damon - (I mean even hanging out with him was a bad idea) that seemed to egg him on, it was clear that until Stefan left she didn't even THINK of Damon as somebody else she could love it was almost like a rebound thing. I've noticed that Elena couldn't be alone. Even whilst separated from Matt for sometime she seemed emotionally crippled and dependent on her best friends. Realistically, I get that - but with Damon's constant fawning over her I do understand why she let it go so far. It seemed overbearing to me as a viewer but Elena becoming an orphan made her very needy and timid for a while. She seemed to try and connect with anyone who'd give her the time of day whether she liked them or not or whether they understood her or not. With Stefan, it's not only he noticed her..he noticed THE PERSON. He didn't exploit her need to be around others but he kinda helped her realize that it wasn't ashamed to be hurting. Because they were both introvert characters I think that they found it hard to put their feelings into words to the people they loved - or didn't want to burden them. Talking to each other and interacting with each other I think they both realized that crap happens to you and you can't change the past - like the way they said in season 1. From the moment they met they were talking each other's lanuage and were so in sync that there was a sense of history between them already. That kind of connection is rare and it was the one both of the characters were searching their whole life for, or Elena's case recently for.