Elevator Music: Head Over Heels – Digital Daggers
Summary: She doesn't know how she overlooked the fact that he wasn't the same Jeremy Gilbert anymore, but one way or another, Bonnie Bennett had finally noticed. Bonnie/Jeremy. OOC. Happy Halloween!
*Disclaimed
i.
She doesn't know how she overlooked the fact that he wasn't the same Jeremy Gilbert anymore, but one way or another, Bonnie Bennett had finally noticed.
ii.
Someone was going to get hurt – that much she knew. So when she was asked to choose an accomplice for the night, she chose him, so she could protect Elena's little brother. But part of her knew that she chose him for herself.
iii.
She met Jeremy the first time she went to Elena's house – a murky autumn Sunday when she was eleven and he was ten.
"Bonnie, that's Jeremy," Elena had told her, pointing out a boy sitting on the sofa as they trotted up the stairs. "He's my brother."
Bonnie nodded, not really thinking anything, but throwing a glance to her right to look at Elena's brother. She looked, but somehow, she didn't see.
iv.
She hadn't really thought much of Jeremy until he finally became a freshman at Mystic Falls and she found him in an empty classroom, just looking out the windows.
"Are you okay?" she'd questioned.
"Have you ever wondered," he said, brushing off her question, "what would happen if you just jumped?"
She hadn't wondered. "No, Jeremy," she replied softly, "I haven't."
"I have." And then he left her to stare out the windows and wonder.
v.
The next occurrence she had with Jeremy Gilbert was at one of those parties Bonnie would've never attended if it weren't for Caroline dragging her and Elena to come.
Elena had ended up flirting with Stefan for a good part of the night, with Matt watching them enviously from the sidelines. Bonnie, however, found herself in the forest, eyes watching a couple necking near some trees. She was just about to turn away when she heard a girl moan, "Oh, Jeremy," and suddenly, she felt sick, and her eyes burned with the image of Jeremy and the girl. It was only when she heard someone clear their throat did Bonnie looked away, muttering a quick apology, and bolting out of the party.
She'd harbored a secret loathing for that slut, Vicky, ever since.
vi.
So the night of the masquerade ball, she showed up with her spell book and glittering mask, her dress as dark as the sky, the only thing on her mind was protecting Jeremy.
(For Elena's sake, of course.)
And caught up with all the madness, she hadn't noticed his hair or his eyes or the way he put his hand on the small of her back and smiled. She hadn't smiled, only nodded, when he complimented her on looking pretty. She hadn't flinched, only stood still, as he touched her hair. She just looked for Katherine and when she couldn't spot her, Bonnie whisked Jeremy upstairs.
vii.
"Have you ever wondered," it was her asking him now, "where we would be if we hadn't gotten caught up in this?"
He thought for a moment, his face blank, but then, like the sun coming up, his mouth formed a smile, and he said to her kindly, "We wouldn't be here."
His answer was somewhere between obvious and vague; nevertheless, it made the butterflies in her stomach flutter and, for the first time that night, she smiled.
viii.
"Do you want to dance," he'd asked, "or something?"
It was the atrocity of the question that made her look at him, question his carefree tone and answer, "No!" with a laugh.
A silence came upon them, then, and she'd wondered if she'd hurt his feelings.
"Sometimes," he told her quietly, "being happy is the only way not to be sad."
They ended up with his arm around her waist, and her hands locked together behind his neck, both of their eyes sparkling with the stars.
ix.
She knew it. She just knew it. She was so stupid, so, so stupid, to go along with this plan in the first place. Why, she asked herself, hadn't she denied them? Maybe if she had, it wouldn't have ended up this way. Elena shouldn't – no, wouldn't – have gotten hurt. Jeremy wouldn't be worried. And she wouldn't be regretting being Bonnie Bennett that day.
She just knew someone was going to get hurt.
x.
She was sitting on a bench after everything was over – everything except the party itself – and willing herself not to cry. To be stronger than this because she was a Bennett, dammit, and Bennetts don't regret their powers.
(But she couldn't help think that if she wasn't a witch, none of this would've happened in the first place.)
He came to sit next to her. She didn't even know he was there until he put his jacket around her arms and queried, "Are you okay?"
And it was like history repeating itself, so she asked him something else instead of giving him an actual answer, and she wasn't even sure what she had said until he leaned closer and kissed her.
xi.
She didn't push him back, but instead noticed how soft his hair was and how smooth his cheeks were and how nice he looked in a tux and how he wasn't the same boy he was when he was ten.
Jeremy Gilbert had grown up in the blink of an eye. And she hadn't even realized.
xii.
They were on the dance floor again, and he felt warm against the chilly air.
"Have you ever wondered," she inquired, and he grinned, "why it had to happen like this?"
"Because," he kissed her, "we wouldn't be us if it hadn't."
Behind the Bookshelf: Happy Halloween! Honestly, I have no idea how this came to be. All I know is, I was watching Jeremy and Bonnie skirt around each other on TVD's "Masquerade" and I fell in love with the pairing. So, here we are. Review?
-kaush