Elena Gilbert bound down her living room stairs at the sound of the door bell. Her shiny brown hair flowed freely behind her.
"I'll get it!" She called out to her brother who was seated on the living room couch playing video games. She pulled the door open to be greeted by the sight of boyfriend, Stefan Salvatore. He looked fantastic as always. Elena was amazed at how he made a simple dark blue tee shirt and jeans look so sexy. His hands were behind his back.
"Stefan." Elena stated happily. Her smile brought a twinkle to his brooding eyes. "What a nice surprise."
"Then I have another surprise for you." He stated. He produced a red rose from behind him and handed it to her. She smiled and kissed him to show her gratitude.
"Thank you. That's so sweet." Elena took the rose and his hand and pulled him into the house. She led him into the living room and sat on the couch next to her brother.
"Hello Jeremy." Stefan greeted the young man.
"Hey." Jeremy replied not taking his focus from video game.
"What's all this about?" Elena asked Stefan. "I didn't think I was going to see you until this evening."
"I was hoping you don't have plans this morning and would join me for a walk. It's a nice day outside and I wanted to get away the dreariness of my home." Stefan explained. 'And Damon,' he thought, but didn't voice his evil thoughts about his brother. He didn't need to as he knew Elena understood and felt the same way about Damon.
Elena lit up. "That sounds like heaven." She stated elatedly. Then her head dropped as she came to a realization. She looked at Stefan. "Unfortunately, I can't. Bonnie is coming over. I haven't seen her since her Grams died. She's taking it really hard."
"Damn your best friend for going through hell after her grandmother died and forcing you to miss spending time with your boyfriend who you see practically every waking hour." Jeremy sarcastically ripped at his sister.
"Shut up, Jeremy." Elena shot back. "You know that's not how I meant it." Indeed it wasn't. Bonnie and Elena were very close friends and Elena had always shown an amazing empathy towards her. Elena turned back to Stefan. "She's supposed to be here in at 11:00."
"That's about 45 minutes from now. How about we just go for a quick walk?" Stefan suggested. "I promise I'll have you back in time."
"Deal." Elena agreed. She and Stefan stood to leave. She turned to Jeremy. "Aunt Jenna went to breakfast with Mr. Saltzman you are here all by yourself."
"Your point?" Jeremy asked.
"If I am late, please let Bonnie in." She grabbed her cell phone from the table near the door and left with Stefan. About 15 minutes later the door bell rang again. Jeremy cussed, paused his video game and went to answer the door. "This had better be good." He called out as he approached the door. "I was about to beat the warrior and win the game." He opened the door to discover Bonnie Bennett on the other site.
"Am I good enough for you?" She asked with a hint of a smile on her beautiful face. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a curly ponytail. She had on a loose fitting purple tank top and jeans. Several gold chains were draped around her neck. She didn't wait for Jeremy to invite her in before strolling past him. "Where's Elena?"
"What?" Jeremy asked. He had already shut the door and was on the way back to the living room.
"Elena. You know, your sister? We were supposed to be hanging out this morning." Bonnie stated. She followed him into the living room and sat in the chair while Jeremy resumed his position on the couch.
"She went for a walk with Stefan. Aren't you early? She said she'd be back in time to meet you."
"She didn't get my text?" Bonnie asked reaching for her purse. She pulled out her cell phone and began to search through it. "I sent her a text telling her I'd be here a ½ hour early so we could hit the stores right when they open. " Jeremy shrugged his shoulders and kept on playing game. Bonnie continued to search her phone. "Well that explains it," she said. Jeremy looked at her expectantly. "Elena never got my text because I never sent it. " She let out a sigh. "That's not surprising. I've been-" she paused before continuing. "Off lately. Well, I am sending her a text now that we'll just meet up later today. I'm off to the mall. This girl is in need of some serious retail therapy." She stood to leave. "See you later, Jeremy."
"Hey Bonnie," Jeremy called. She turned back to acknowledge him. He'd paused the video game and gave her his undivided attention. "I was really sorry to hear about your Grams. You ok?"
Bonnie inhaled sharply. He'd caught her off guard; she hadn't expected him to talk about Grams. She quickly regained her composure and flashed him a dazzling smile. "I'm fine. Thanks though." She turned back to leave and dropped her purse, spilling its contents all over the floor.
"Shoot! I'm such a klutz!" Bonnie declared as she bent over to pick up her belongings. Jeremy set his controller down and helped pick up her stuff. They both stood with their hands full. Bonnie again smiled at Jeremy. "Here. I'll take that stuff." Bonnie offered. Jeremy didn't response. Bonnie looked up and locked eyes with Jeremy. He seemed to be taking her measure. It was an interesting sensation and Bonnie never felt anything quite like it. Wordlessly, Jeremy walked towards her and gave her back her possessions. When their hands met, a spark flowed through Bonnie and she took a step back. She giggled nervously and smiled again at Jeremy.
"You don't have to do that, you know." He simply stated. He never stopped starring in her eyes.
"Do what?" She asked. She began to shove her belongings back in her purse.
"Smile like nothing is wrong. I understand what you are going through."
"I don't know-"
"When my parents died," Jeremy began cutting her off. He returned to sitting on the couch. "You were amazing. You were here every day." He laughed as a memory came back to him. "Do you recall the first time Jenna tried to cook us dinner?"
Bonnie laughed as well. "Oh, I had completely forgotten about that. What did she make again?"
"Well she tried to make parmesan chicken, but it turned out to be burnt lumps of meat that none of us could eat."
"I can't believe she expected up to even try it. It smelled awful!" Bonnie laughed. She sat down on the couch need to Jeremy.
"The next day you came by with bags of groceries and you and Elena made dinner. It was delicious. What was it?"
"Gumbo."
"That's right!"
"God, I forgot about that, too. It took forever just to make the rue for the gumbo."
"It was worth every minute. It was so good. You should sell that recipe. You'd make a fortune."
"That's was Grams recipe." Bonnie said quietly. She turned away and tears rolled down her face. "I'm sorry. I am just going to go." Bonnie stated gathering her stuff.
Jeremy grabbed her arm right above the wrist. "You don't have to leave. It's OK to cry."
She ripped her arm away and stood up. "I'm tired of crying!" Bonnie yelled. The tears continued to flow. "It feels like all I've done for the past three weeks is cry! I am ready to be done and move on with my life."
"It sucks, doesn't it?"
"What?" Bonnie started at him dumbfounded. "All this talk about knowing what I am feeling and all you can say is that it sucks?"
"Yep, cause is does suck." Jeremy stated with a smile and Bonnie actually laughed. She sat next to Jeremy again on the couch.
"Yeah, it really does suck." Bonnie agreed. Jeremy placed his arm around her and leaned her on his chest.
"And I really do know what you are going through. I know how you feel on the inside. It's different than just not being happy. For me, it was like I longer had the ability to feel anything other than anger and pain and sadness."
Bonnie pulled away and starred directly into Jeremy's eyes.
"You really do know how I feel." She leaned back into his arms. "So now what?"
"Now you just cope. Do what you have to survive and then one day you'll wake up and realize that you don't have to cope anymore. The pain isn't threatening to swallow you whole."
"Wow, Jeremy. For someone I've know pretty much their entire life, I didn't know you were so insightful."
"Bet you regret chasing me away all of those times when you and Elena were sleeping over."
"Nope. You were annoying. You being all insightful is a new thing." Bonnie inhaled deeply and released the breath. "I better get going. Gotta hit the stores. Can't shop till I drop until I get started."
"You know, there are other ways to relieve stress."
"Jeremy Gilbert!" Bonnie stated sitting straight up. Jeremy laughed.
"That wasn't what I meant, Bonnie." He picked up his game controller. "I was talking about video games."
"Uh, thanks but no thanks. Video games aren't really my thing."
"Have you even tried it?" Jeremy challenged. "It can be a great way to get rid of pent up anger. Think about it. You get to do all of the stuff to the characters that you can't do in real life. And it's cheaper than burning a hole in your credit card."
"I'll pass."
"I see: you're a chicken." Jeremy taunted her. "Go on. Leave then."
"Chicken? Hand me that remote." Bonnie stated sitting again. "I'll show you a chicken."