How many amor stories begin with hatred? Maybe mais than you think...

"...I had not known you a mês before I felt that you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry."
(Elizabeth Bennett's rejection of Darcy's proposal in 'Pride and Prejudice'.)

"I peeked up at him one mais time, and regretted it. He was glaring down at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion.
(Bella's first encounter with Edward in 'Twilight')

"He doesn't want to feel, he wants to be hated, it's just easier that way. He got his wish. I hate him Stefan."
(Elena, 2x01 'The Return')

It might seem odd to some people for a amor story to begin with hostility or hatred on one side. In order to see the possibility or potential for a amor story to grow in Delena's case, you have to read between the lines. Often, you have to tell the difference between what they say and what they mean.

In 'The Return':

Damon: Why is it such a surprise that I would kiss you?

Elena: That's not a surprise. I'm surprised you thought I would kiss you back.

I find it interesting that Elena has some idea of how much Damon feels for her, yet is determined to stamp out the possibility that she could ever reciprocate them. She seems unwilling or unable to acknowledge that if Damon has feelings for her, she may have unknowingly been responsible for encouraging them. And think about what happened in the final episode of Season One alone; she knows Stefan is worried about her friendship with Damon even before Stefan vocalizes it later on in the episode. She must realise that Bonnie only helped to save Damon from being burned alive because he was important to her. In 'The Return' Elena is so concerned about the effect Katherine's appearance and game-playing is having on Damon she tells him that he can confide in her because they're "close enough now." She's there for him at every opportunity, gaining his trust, trying to get him to open up, showing concern for him, and yet she denies that her actions have a part to play in the porch kiss 'they' shared. (It wasn't her, but it still matters.) You know the saying 'There's no smoke without fire'? Elena can acknowledge the smoke but is oblivious to the fact that she may have played a part in stoking the fire.

"But I amor Stefan. It's always gonna be Stefan."

The biggest sign that she's wrong is that the writers/producers would never tell us who Elena would choose so early in the show. However Elena at this moment believes what she's saying is true. Because she's in denial. After Damon kisses her, he dares her to "lie about this" and she does. How can she admit the truth when she can't even admit it to herself yet? In 1x22 she's reassured Stefan that she loves him repeatedly, twice in the Grill, the third time on the phone. Is it really necessary for her to tell Stefan she loves him three times in one evening? Perhaps she's super-sensitive to putting Stefan's fears that she'll choose Damon over him to rest, or it's not so much Stefan she seeks to reassure but herself.
In 'Downton Abbey' Mary tells her mother that she thinks she has loved Matthew for much longer than she knew. I think it's the same with Delena. Perhaps Elena does amor Damon but doesn't know it because she feels she can't 'go there' and express those feelings, not even to herself. It scares her too much. In 2x01, Damon is not the super cool, in control, swaggering, sarcastic guy she thinks she knows so well. There has rarely been a time when she's seen Damon lost, hurt and broken. In 1x15, (the episode after they open the tomb and discover Katherine isn't inside), Elena remarks with something like satisfaction that "Maybe this heartache will be good for him. It'll remind him he has a coração even if it doesn't beat." She's never seen this side of him which must be very unsettling. When she realises that she's the fonte of Damon's desperation and hunger to be loved, then it must scare her to death. How else can she deal with it but to reject him? Rather than facing up to some início truths which Damon has shown her, Elena ducks por using the one and only shield that can protect her: Stefan.

"I hate him, Stefan." ('The Return')
"You have lost me forever." ('Bad Moon Rising')

It's strange that in 'Memory Lane', Elena warns Jenna to "be nice" to Damon as they're preparing for the barbecue. In an earlier scene at the Grill, she primly informs Damon that "I want nothing to do with you." If it's true that she's banished him from her life, why does she try to smooth things over between him and Jenna? Why try to make a hostile situation mais comfortable for someone you don't like?
I believe Elena when she declares her hatred for Damon in 2x01. But here, I'm not so sure. She WANTS to hate him maybe. But does she really?
All we can say for sure is that por 2x10, her desire to hate him has worn off. So much so, that she lets slip that he's still very much a part of her life:

"Is that before or after he kills everyone that I care about, including the two of you?"

"I don't want to be saved. Not if it means that Klaus is going to kill every single person that I love."

In spite of everything that's happened and what Damon did to Jeremy, his name is still up there on the list of people Elena cares about.

It's tempting to think that if you were in Kevin or Julie's shoes, you would have put DE together por now. Maybe Season 2 really hasn't been what you hoped it would be. Maybe you're disappointed with what they've done, and are thinking that you should probably give up now. I know that 2x11 was a let-down/drag/humbug of an episode for DE but don't let one blah episode put you off. Just remember that some of the best amor stories ever told usually begin not with starry-eyes and a kiss in the segundo episode, but with the opposite. Because amor stories that are worth telling are worth waiting for.