Author's Notes
This was a short one-shot inspired by the recent events in TVD (specifically, last night's episode, 5.12)! While it doesn't spoil all events for the fifth season, it does spoil 5.01 (and Bonnie's most recent storyline), so read with caution.
When Jeremy had told everyone that he had taken Bonnie to see her mother, they didn't actually expect anyone to believe them.
"Just how self-absorbed are they?" He'd mused to Bonnie, just as they exited his car and headed for the nearest restaurant. Their road trip had taken about three and a half hours, but he'd be darned if he weren't starving. Bonnie could only shrug in response. Noticing her listless expression, he pressed his lips and held the door open for her. "I mean, I half-expected them to notice that I kind of tried to kill her the last time we met."
Bonnie half-snorted. "You mean like how they haven't noticed that they have straight A's for the semester because Megan died?" As typical college policy, dead roommates usually guaranteed a perfect GPA for the semester. Whitmore, unsurprisingly, had not been an exception to the rule.
"Poor girl." Jeremy frowned, glancing around the restaurant for the nearest waitress. When one finally noticed them and ushered them to a table, he continued, "I mean, I didn't actually know her, but she apparently knew Dad, and... that's something, right?"
"Has to be." Bonnie had no idea how Elena's former roommate knew Dr. Gilbert, but if her instinct were correct, it wasn't for any innocuous reason. Not when Mr. Gilbert had been deceased for almost two years. She took the menu into her hands and casually glanced at it. "I'm glad we dropped some flowers by her grave before we left." Sure, Caroline and Elena didn't talk much about Megan - if at all - but Bonnie figured that she should at least pay her respects.
Jeremy had agreed with her. While his life had been crazy and chaotic - and let's face it, he'd died one too many times for his own good - he hated roping anyone else into their mess. Hadn't the Salvatores caused enough damage for one town?
"I'm glad too. I was almost afraid I wouldn't be able to go, since... you know, the Common App kind of ate my life."
Ah, yes. The dreaded Common Application, otherwise known as the bane of all high school seniors in the US. Bonnie shivered, remembering her battle with them all too well. "You're not applying to Whitmore, are you?"
Jeremy pressed his lips together. Bonnie recognized that look - of when he wanted to say something, but knew better than to vocalize it and confirm her worst fears. After a few moments of hesitation, he finally said, "... No. I don't think so."
She knew it. Whitmore had some solid programs, but nothing in the way of what her amazingly creative boyfriend wanted to pursue as a career. Like Jeremy Gilbert would follow in his dad's footsteps and become a doctor! "Where do you think you want to go? SCAD? RISD?"
He stared at her, wide-eyed. "You know what those places are?"
"Of course I do." She reached out for his hand and squeezed it tightly. "If you want to go to art school in Savannah or Providence and chase those dreams of being a functional hobo, who am I to deter you away from them?"
Jeremy gave her one of those half-amused, half-appalled laughs. "Hey, at least I'll be a classy hobo."
The waitress decided to interrupt then and ask if they wanted anything to eat ("some spring rolls - and maybe some sizzling shrimp," Jeremy had said, "give us a few minutes for everything else?").
Just as she left, handing them glasses of water with lemon slices, Bonnie resumed her attention on the menu. She and Jeremy hadn't gone anywhere spectacular - just up to DC for the weekend, since it was a closer alternative than New York - and yet, here in this small Asian restaurant, she felt more at peace than back home.
She just didn't have the energy to celebrate when everything else around her life was collapsing before her eyes. On the road trip there, more vampires had died ("DAMMIT KLAUS," she'd yelled in the middle of her scorching pain, much to Jeremy's bewilderment) and she hadn't exactly had the heart to explain how often these souls passed through her bones. Not when it effectively killed just about every evening in the bedroom they'd planned.
Jeremy had always been sympathetic, but even she couldn't overlook those glances he cast at her when she didn't think he was looking. This whole Anchor situation had placed a damper on their relationship, and this weekend was effectively a last-resort effort to salvage what they had left.
He was her first. He'd always be her first. She just didn't know how long her first would last.
"You okay?" Jeremy peered over his menu to look at her better. "You haven't said anything in a while."
"Yeah, just... focusing my attention on the menu. You noticed half of it's in Cantonese?"
Jeremy grinned wryly. "Means the food here's authentic. I can't remember the last time I've had Chinese this good."
She couldn't hide her laughter. Not when he was trying his hardest to cheer her up! Everyone else may think of Jeremy as 'Baby Gilbert,' but he had effectively seen Bonnie when no one else in this town had. "Me either," she admitted with a slow smile. "I mean, they try back home, but we are Mystic Falls." Foreign cuisine wasn't exactly on the top of their agenda.
"Which is exactly why we're gonna love it here in DC," he said, pinpointing a couple of dishes he wanted to order. "I'm gonna tour one of the 'normal' schools I want to attend, you're going to relax and get some time off, and we're going to be normal." He paused. "Oh, and April's gonna tour with us. I figure, if we're going to be normal, we might as well grab our dreaded third wheel."
This weekend, he was going to be a normal kid looking for a normal school, and she would be his normal girlfriend who accompanied him for the ride. When people asked them about their parents, they would give each other strained smiles before making vague references to out-of-town business meetings and work that their parents had to attend to. They'd pretend that their parents were still in the picture, and that Bonnie's dad just frowned at them every time he would call her on the phone. April would give levity to their stories: she'd pretend along with them, and just enjoy the crazy ride of college tours and evenings editing college essays and adding to art portfolios.
"Normal as normal can be," she said softly, watching as he flagged the waitress over and ordered their meal for the night. No one would ever guess they were orphans - and frankly, after the hell that had been her existence lately, she wasn't sure she could shoulder that burden.
"Hm?" Jeremy blinked. "Did you say something?"
"Nope." She rested her chin under her hand, handing the waitress the menus. "Just enjoying my time with you."
Monday would bring back a whole new host of worries, of romantic drama between her friends, but right now? This was her own little slice of normalcy. When Jeremy smiled that brightly and genuinely - for a brief, brief moment, Bonnie thought she might've forgotten every worry she had.