A/N: Posting another story that I've been working on. This one is much longer, hence why its being posted as its own separate one-shot instead of in the drabble series. I hope you guys like it! I'm trying to make a comeback lol.

I don't know how many people have read L.J Smith's Kindle books (if you didn't know, L.J Smith is officially posting her own version of the continuation of TVD after Midnight as a alternation from the ghostwriter books. If you can get the chance to read them, you should. There is so much Bamon goodness in them). And anyway, this story is set somewhere in the middle of The War of Roses, which is the second book to L.J Smith's Kindle series. All you need to know is that Damon and Elena are currently in a relationship because Stefan compelled Elena to forget him and then fled town.

Also: On my last drabble, I got a few reviews asking about Arranging Love and i'm REALLY sorry that I haven't been writing for it. I just checked how long its been since I last updated and it hasn't been updated since August. O_o I'm a terrible person lol. But i'm planning and drafting out 5-10 more chapters which should wrap the story up and give it an ending FINALLY.

One last note: To the anonymous reviewer called "Alexis", of course I remember you :)

Bonnie's eyes darted around the area as she silently and slowly left the college campus, heading down the road that would hopefully and eventually lead her to the more wooded area once again.

She knew deep down that she shouldn't be doing this. That it was foolish even. But the burning curiosity and sense of stubbornness crashing through her seemed to be completely taking over. She wanted to find that white wolf once again...the one that she had been forced to keep out of her room.

Shaking the irritation-inducing thoughts from her mind, Bonnie continued walking down the dark road, trying to keep her footsteps light and quiet. It wouldn't be too much longer of a walk now. If she could just...

"Going somewhere, little bird?"

The voice, despite its clear familiarity, still caused the redhead t let out a small yelp of surprise, her small form launching itself into the air in a slight jump, causing the person who had said the words to let out a low chuckle.

After calming her racing heart, she turned and glowered lightly at the person who had crept up behind her, her emotions a mixture of annoyance and nervousness.

"Oh Damon! Um...what are you doing out here?"

Damon raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed over his chest as amusement danced in his midnight eyes. "I could ask you the same question."

Bonnie had the feeling that he had been following her and the smug-like aura he had as he regarded her only confirmed these suspicions. She let out an annoyed sigh as she turned away from him.

"I'm going to go look for the white wolf." She began to walk away from him only to be stopped in mid-tracks when he grabbed her arm. When she reluctantly turned back to face him, she could instantly see the furious steel in his eyes.

"Have you completely lost your mind or do you merely have a death wish?" He hissed.

"Let go of me!" Bonnie exclaimed without answering his question. She struggled against his grasp but struggling was like trying to push over a building and it proved to be absolutely no use.

Damon didn't tighten his grip, but he didn't loosen it either as he drew her a bit closer, his lips dropping to her right ear to whisper into it. "Come quietly and make this night easier for both of us."

"No," Bonnie managed stubbornly, even as her voice shook slightly in response to his closeness and the chilling sensation of his silky voice whispering into her ear. "I...leave me alone. You're Elena's boyfriend, not mine. You don't have a say in what I do."

As soon as she said the words, she wanted to smack herself. Although she had meant them, the way she brought up the fact that he was Elena's boyfriend could be translated her her sounding...jealous. And she wasn't.

And now, to make matters worse, she could see the ghost of one of his smug, dazzling smiles on his lips in the dim glow that the streetlights emitted.

"I...I meant..."

But she never got to finish her sentence, because the sudden feeling of his cool lips gently though unexpectedly pressing onto hers cut her off. Despite the chilliness in the air, warmth spread rapidly throughout her entire being.

Without thinking and acting strictly on instinct and impulse, Bonnie let out a soft moan of content against his lips, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull herself closer while his arms went gently around her waist, lifting her up a small fraction.

And then she felt it. The feeling that was a strange mixture of longing and a simple sense of...belonging. As if she and Damon were meant to be this close together...as if she were meant to be kissing him and everything in the world at that moment was perfect and harmonized...

And then, a flash of a face; as face with lapis lazuli eyes that was surrounded by a mass of long, golden hair stormed through her mind, causing reality to set in. Elena. Her best friend and the girlfriend of the guy she was currently kissing.

Guilt and shame spreading through her, Bonnie forced herself to pull away from the kiss, her breathing shallow and her heartbeat pounding at a rapid pace as she pushed against Damon's chest, trying to get him to let go of her.

Eventually, he did. As soon as his arms loosened around her frame, she separated herself from him, wrenching out of the circle of his arms.

For a few moments, she simply stared down at the ground, her breathing coming out in pants as she desperately tried to collect her bearings.

Once she finally did she averted her gaze back to him, clenching here eyes slightly to try to get a better glance of his expression. She thought she could see a hint of surprise and maybe even...hurt in his eyes. But he quickly composed himself, grabbing her arm once again, his voice velvety.

"It's late. I would be more than happy to escort you home."

Later that night, as she was lying in her bed, Bonnie was abasing herself.

She was angry at herself for not standing strong and refusing to give Damon what he wanted by not letting him drag her back to her dorm, but that is what had happened in the end.

But she was even more angry at herself for allowing him to kiss her and for the fact that...she had enjoyed it.

Timidly, Bonnie pressed a finger softly to her lips, recalling everything she had felt when Damon's cool lips had been pressed against them. So lost in the feeling of kissing him, the converging of two souls into one...

She shook her head at the inane thoughts, another stab of guilt and shame piercing into her.

Damon was Elena's boyfriend, and Bonnie had betrayed her best friend by waiting much too long to push him away and by even reciprocating.

But she was going to make sure that it would never happen again.

The next day, Damon acted as though nothing had happened the night before.

Bonnie had been expecting him to confront her in secret to talk about it or perhaps ask her to not tell Elena about the kiss but instead, he went on through the day completely normally, without a care in the world.

And Bonnie was both relieved and aggravated by it. She was afraid of Elena finding out but she was also annoyed that Damon was acting like nothing had happened...that he didn't do anything wrong by kissing her while he already had a girlfriend.

Now she was sitting on a bench outside the Dalcrest college building and on campus, her eyes focused or at least trying to focus on her homework and textbook in front of her, sitting on top of her lap instead of the sight of Damon and Elena walking away from the school hand-in-hand.

Bonnie had been so consumed by trying to her avert her attention away from the couple that she didn't even notice the sound of footsteps approaching her, her gaze only moving away from her homework at the feeling of someone tapping her lightly on the shoulder.

Her brown eyes widened a fraction when she saw that it was Damon. But even so, she tried to compose herself, remembering that she was supposed to be angry with him. She glanced around the area subconsciously.

"Where is Elena?"

"She left campus. Something about calculus homework, I believe."

"Why didn't you go with her?" Bonnie asked carefully.

Damon's dark eyes didn't show a single flicker of emotion as he responded. "I was hoping I would be able to speak with you."

Here it was. It was a conversation that had been a long time coming.

Bonnie stood up from her bench after stuffing her textbook and homework into her backpack and turned her back on his as she responded finding herself unable to look him in the eyes any longer.

"I know, I know. I...the kiss was a mistake. I know that. And...we can both just agree that it will never happen again. I promise not to tell Elena about it, okay?"

When she received silence in response, she began to walk in the direction of the campus exit, even though she knew for a fact that she had said the right thing, it still hurt slightly that a stolen kiss that had made her feel so much had to be considered some kind of dirty secret. She still remembered how warm the kiss had felt, despite the fact that Damon's lips had been so cool, and how she had felt as though nothing could tear them apart, as if in that very kiss, two souls had been connected...

Bonnie mentally shook her head at herself, ashamed. Damon was dating her best friend. He was completely off limits. She shouldn't even be thinking about him like that.

She was once again stopped in mid-tracks as a hand gently though firmly clasped around her wrist.

Feeling as though she had no other option, she turned back towards him. "What?"

Damon's expression was still unreadable which caused her irritation to rise. "You didn't allow me a chance to speak."

Bonnie sucked in a large gulp of air. "What else is there to say? I'm...right aren't I?"

She could deal with the rejection...she was anticipating it anyway, and maybe, in a way, she deserved it for having such thoughts about her best friend's boyfriend.

A small, almost mischievous smile spread across Damon's lips, the first true sign of an emotion of any kind that he had displayed since the conversation had begun. "Would you mind taking a walk with me? I promise it will be brief."

Bonnie frowned in confusion and curiosity but did nothing to to refuse his request. "Walk where?"

Damon laced his arm discreetly around hers before beginning to guide her away from the campus. "There is no exact destination in mind, but I assure you, it will only take a small fraction of your time."

Bonnie was silent as she allowed him to steer her away, even though she was resisting the urge to rip her arm away from his, feeling as though their current contact was a bit too...couple like. But for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

Eventually, they rounded a corner that placed them out of the view of the students and staff that lingered on the campus and after walking another short distance they came to a stop and Bonnie ripped her arm away from his.

"Okay Damon um...we're alone now. What did you want to talk about?"

Her voice came out jittery because although she hated to have to admit it to herself, the intense way he was currently looking at her was causing butterflies to flutter in her stomach. She had hoped that he wouldn't notice how he was affecting her but the smug smile on his face told her otherwise.

"About last night," he eventually answered, a grave and serious expression suddenly overtaking his previously smug one. "You aren't planning on trying out another...adventure like that one, are you?"

Bonnie let out a gulp of bated breath that she hadn't before realized she had been holding. She wasn't sure if she was more relieved that he hadn't begun talking about the kiss or...disappointed. But even so, the words he did say still managed to cause a small spark of anger to erupt within her. She looked down at her feet as she responded.

"Maybe...I don't know. But if it was, it would be none of your business."

She half expected him to let out an amused chuckle but instead, she suddenly felt his fingers underneath her chin, lifting her face up to look away from the ground and at his face. His dark eyes were steely and hard.

"As I stated before, it is my business if you are constantly putting yourself in danger. People have been going missing, Bonnie."

Bonnie's cheeks flushed at their close proximity. Warning bells were going off strongly in her head but for some reason, she simply couldn't make herself move away and end the contact. However, she still managed to get some words out in response to his.

"I know, I know. But I..."

She was once again silenced by the motion of his lips pressing softly and gently against hers.

The warning bells were in full sound now. This time, Bonnie was going to end this. She wouldn't allow herself to once again be swept away by the traitorous though wonderful sensation...

She wrenched her lips away from his and began to push repeatedly at his chest after realizing that he had effectively wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer to him.

Eventually, Damon realized her struggling and let go, allowing Bonnie to throw herself away from him.

"Damon!" She exclaimed, resisting the urge to touch her lips, the cool, exhilarating feeling feeling she had secretly felt when he kissed her still lingering there. "You can't do that!"

His expression and voice both lacked proper emotion or reaction when he responded. "And why not?"

Bonnie blanched. "Because...you're Elena's boyfriend." She didn't understand why that suddenly was such a foreign concept to him.

For a few moments, Damon said nothing in response, the smugness he had been displaying earlier having disappeared from his face. Bonnie hoped this meant that he was finally genuinely thinking about her words.

However, this hope was diminished when Damon pulled her further behind the building that they were standing next to, thus taking them completely out of the line of sigh of passerby's.

"And what Elena doesn't know won't hurt her," he replied casually, before leaning down to kiss her again.

A large part of Bonnie's mindset still wanted to fight, deep down still fully aware of how wrong this was but in the end, physical instincts too over completely.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

A week passed and Bonnie was, shamefully, still following the same routine with Damon. At least once a day, with Elena most likely not having the faintest clue of what was going on, she and Damon would meet up and share conversation and a few stolen kisses.

Bonnie knew they shouldn't be doing any of it. But even so, she for some reason found it nearly impossible to put a stop to it. And now, she knew that the situation was growing even more dire.

She was beginning to feel jealousy at seeing Damon and Elena together now...even more so than she did before this whole thing started anyway. There was always a small part of Bonnie that regretfully felt jealous towards her best friend for having Damon as her boyfriend but that small amount of disdain had increased tenfold since she and Damon started having their secret meetings.

Now she was sitting at a table with Elena and Meredith and she was fighting hard to keep her aura neutral and normal. Thankfully, neither of her two best friends seemed to notice a thing so far.

"Matt is getting a new roommate," Elena said suddenly as she too a dainty bite of the sandwich in front of her. "And he's single."

It was clear that it was intended to be directed towards Bonnie. After all, she was technically the only single one sitting at the table. Elena was with Damon and Meredith was in a long-distance relationship with Alaric. In the past, she would have been overjoyed at the prospect of meeting a cute, single boy but right now...things were complicated.

"That sounds nice," Bonnie replied lamely before pretending to be occupied with eating her own lunch. She could sense that Elena and Meredith were exchanging glances with each other at witnessing her strange behavior but she tried not to pay them too much mind.

"Don't you feel guilty?" Bonnie asked Damon later that evening, trying not to gasp at the sensation of his lips planting chilling kisses up and down her neck.

They were sitting in Bonnie's dorm. Meredith was out, taking an important exam she had missed a week prior so they had the dorm all to themselves for at least an hour.

"And why would I ever feel guilty?"

Bonnie gasped in disbelief, moving away from his grasp to turn and look at him. "Because you're dating Elena! That's why!"

She was frustrated that he seemed to not be feeling a speck of guilt towards what they were doing. She was just as fault as he was of course, but at least she fully acknowledged it was wrong despite the fact that she seemed unable to put a stop to it. But Damon acted like he wasn't doing anything wrong by cheating on his girlfriend.

Bonnie could see a slight flash of irritation in his dark eyes at the angry tone of her voice, but he merely let out a sigh in the end. "It's complicated redbird."

Complicated. It was honestly the word she least expected him to say, but it aggravated her. It was a word that held no answers or gave any indication to clear feelings.

"What's complicated?" She asked in what she hoped was a patient voice.

Damon said nothing for a few moments and Bonnie's patience immediately threatened to drain down once more when the sound of footsteps sounded from outside, coming closer to the door.

Bonnie panicked and glanced up at the clock, her heart instantly beginning to race at seeing the time. It had simply flown by without her realizing it.

"And that is my cue to leave," Damon said quietly, leaning over to give her one last peck on the lips before standing up. "See you later, little bird."

Before Bonnie could respond or ask him how he was going to get out of the dorm without Meredith seeing him, he was gone, leaving her alone.

The door swung open and Meredith came silently inside, placing her bag on the floor beside their tiny couch. Although the action was relatively normal, something that Bonnie had seen her do many times before, there was a suspicious tint in the dark haired girl's eyes that made Bonnie's heart race in nervousness. She didn't know how Damon had gotten out of the dorm without going through the front door but she was thankful that he was somehow able to do it.

"Hi," Bonnie said, trying to feign a normal, cheerful tone as she regarded her best friend. "How was the test?"

She could tell that Meredith was still a little on edge and her grey eyes quickly glanced around the small room, as if looking for something out of the ordinary to spot.

When she seemed satisfied, her gaze returned to her and Bonnie felt relief bubbling up inside her st the knowledge that the suspicious gaze in her eyes had faded.

"The test was fine, although I was unsure about how the questions had anything to do with the text we were told to read," Meredith replied flatly as she took off her jacket, hanging it up in the small closet next to the front door. Bonnie nodded adamantly at her statement, both because she truly agreed with it and because she was eager to make Meredith completely forget the suspicion she had felt earlier. "Yes, but I guess it didn't really matter to me because I never finished the book..."

The words had simply come out like vomit...impulsively and in an uncontrollable fashion.

Meredith narrowed her eyes. "We had a whole month to finish it...and it wasn't that long."

Bonnie tried not to let her panic show, mentally kicking herself for being so careless about what came out of her mouth. "I...yea, I know. I've just been busy."

"Busy with what?"

Busy kissing a certain pair of lips that I shouldn't be kissing...

"Homework from my other classes," Bonnie eventually responded, pleased with herself for not allowing her voice to quiver even a little this time. "Mr. Collins has been assigning a bunch of it lately."

Meredith simply stood there and stared at her silently for a few moments, as if she was trying to decide whether or not to believe her. Fortunately, she eventually gave in, giving Bonnie a brief nod. "If you ever need help with homework, you could always ask me."

Bonnie smiled in response to Meredith's offer. "I will...for now on."

"Good. Now...do you want to get takeout for dinner or order something from the cafeteria?"

It was a few days later that Bonnie finally met Bastian.

Elena had practically thrown them together by inviting Bonnie to "study" with her and Matt only for Elena and Bastian to end up showing up And then of course, Elena conveniently remembered a date that she had with Damon and left early in the middle of their study session, leaving Bonnie and Bastian alone together in the campus library.

Despite her reservations, Bonnie found herself studying Bastian. He was definitely cute and even handsome...with blonde hair, golden eyes, and high cheekbones that gave him a very nice smile. If it hadn't been for the fact that her mine was clouded with another handsome face, complete with dark hair, black eyes, and a mischievous, boastful smile, she could see herself flailing over him.

But unfortunately, her mind was consumed by that certain pair of dark eyes and thus, she could couldn't feel anything for the pair of gold eyes looking at her now.

"Matt has told me a lot about you," Bastian eventually said in a matter-of-fact tone, after they had decided to take a break from their studying.

Bonnie smiled. "Matt has been my friend for a long time...almost as long as Meredith and Elena have."

"Well, i'm glad to have been accepted into the group," Bastian replied, his own faint smile sitting on his lips. "I only moved here recently from San Diego California, so it's nice to have already begun making friends."

"California?" Bonnie's eyes widened. She had never been outside the state of Virginia and California had always been at the top of her list of places that she wanted to travel to one day. From what she heard about it, it sounded like such an exciting, busy place. "You must be so bored now, having to live here after having lived there."

He chuckled at her words and shook his head. "Nah. It's peaceful here and...I like that."

Bonnie was about to reply when Bastian suddenly placed his hand on top of hers, giving her a gentle smile. "And I got to meet you."

Under usual circumstances, the hopeless romantic in Bonnie would have swooned at Bastian's words and at his flirtatious smile but now, all she could sense was the warning bells going off in her mind at their close proximity.

"I...i'm sorry Bastian, but I have to go," she suddenly said, standing up and grabbing her books. "I told Meredith i'd be back at the dorm by eight."

"Oh." Slight disappointment was evident in his golden eyes. "Alright. I guess i'll see you some other time then. Do you need help getting home?"

"No thanks. I'll be fine."

On the way back to the dorm, Bonnie had spent the time angrily abasing herself.

When Bastian had touched her hand she had felt...strange. Almost as if she was somehow betraying Damon by allowing it, which was of course completely ridiculous, considering she and Damon were betraying Elena by having their secret, passionate encounters.

Damon wasn't her boyfriend. He wasn't really hers in any aspect. But why was her heart telling her otherwise?

Sighing, Bonnie unlocked the door of the dorm room. Meredith was away for the night, visiting her family back in Fells Church but Bonnie desperately wished that she wasn't. Company would keep her mind from wandering so much but tonight, she would be all alone. Normally she would call up Elena but given the current situation and all of the recent events, Bonnie didn't think she could face her blonde friend at this time.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she finally stepped inside the dorm, flicking on the light switch on the left side of the door, engulfing the previously dark room with light.

Her eyes then blinked in bewilderment and surprise at the sight before her. "Damon, what are you doing here? And how did you get in?"

Damon's expression was blank as he stood up from where he had been sitting on the armchair, walking closer to her. "I wanted to see you," he replied simply, reaching out to gently draw her closer. "What have you been up to tonight?"

Bonnie hesitated. From the tone of his voice and the look on his face, she sensed that he already knew where she had been tonight and was only asking the question to confirm his suspicions and that fact made her irrationally nervous.

But remembering what she had told herself earlier, she pushed back her worries and answered the question honestly. "I was at the library studying with Elena and Matt's new roommate Bastian but Elena ended up leaving early and it was just the two of us for a while."

"That's what I thought," Damon replied, confirming her thoughts. His eyes then grew steely and hard. "You need to stay away from him."

Bonnie gaped at him in surprise. "Why?"

"He's dangerous. I don't want you going around him anymore."

He spoke the words with an air of finality, as if he was completely in the right by ordering her around like that. It caused a spark of anger to flare up from within her.

"I can see him if I want to! It's...it's none of your business!"

"If I believe you are putting yourself in danger, it is very much my business."

"You're not my boyfriend!" Bonnie seethed, but among her anger, there also came a certain sadness and tears began to drape down her pale cheeks.

At the sight of her tears, Damon's own angry stance began to disappear, replace with what looked like concern. He reached out towards her. "Redbird..."

"Don't." No longer trying to hold back the tears, Bonnie placed more distance between them in order to prevent him from touching her. She breathed in a large breath of air before she spoke again. "Do you know how much it hurts? To...to have feelings for someone you can never have? And then to have that person kiss you and tell you they have feelings for you too only for them to go back to your best friend each time?"

Damon let out a sigh. "Little redbird..."

But she ignored him and continued to plow on with her words. "I feel guilty...so guilty for having feelings for my best friend's boyfriend and...especially for kissing him behind her back but I can't seem to stop." She took a moment to wipe away some of her tears. "I am a terrible person."

"No." Damon said firmly, stepping forward and placing his hands on her shoulders before she had time to react. "You are not a bad person redbird. In fact, you have one of the purest souls I know of. This is my fault, not yours. I am a fool that can't seem to figure out what I want."

Bonnie was confused by the last sentence but instead of questioning him on it she continued on with her plea. "Damon please...just tell me why you are doing this?"

"It's complicated."

Bonnie's eyes were still filling up with tears but she was at a loss of words. She didn't really know how to respond to something like that.

And then, before she knew it, Damon's lips were on hers and despite her better judgement, she kissed back, tangling her hands into his raven dark hair.

There was something about this kiss that made it different from their past ones. It was so heated and urgent, as if they were both attempting to pour all of their frustrations into the kiss in order to free themselves.

Bonnie gasped into his mouth when he parted her lips with his, deepening the kiss. A low moan slipped through her lips as she reciprocated the passion with just as much heat and soon she found herself backed up against one of the beds.

Seeing that he couldn't back her up any further, Damon suddenly picked her up a short distance, hoisting her into his arms only to gently place her on top of the bed, allowing her to lie across it as he hovered above her, still kissing her heatedly. She moaned when he suddenly shifted from her lips to her jaw, planting kisses there before slowly beginning to trail his lips down her neck. "Damon..."

She heard him let out a low moan of his own as her hands began to explore his body. Feeling suddenly bold, she trailed her hands underneath his black, satin shirt, shivering at the feeling of his hard chest underneath her hands.

Taking her movements as a hint, Damon quickly removed his shirt, tossing it onto the floor in order to give Bonnie more access to explore his bare torso and her breath hitched at the sight of him. He was absolutely gorgeous.

He smiled his signature charming smile at the sight of her staring before pressing his lips against hers once more, eliciting soft, continuous groans of pleasure from both of them. She tangled her hands into his hair as they kissed, their lips parting against each other and his tongue sliding into her mouth, causing her head to swim.

This was the most passionate they had ever been.

Bonnie was so lost and immersed in what they were doing that she didn't come back to reality until she felt his hands beginning to undo the buttons and zipper of her pants.

She froze. What was she doing?

Bonnie quickly place her hands over his, stopping him from trying to undress her any further. "Stop Damon."

He did what she asked, but confusion was evident in his dark eyes when they locked with her warm brown ones. "What's wrong?"

Bonnie's lip wobbled. What was wrong with her? She had just gotten done telling him that it was wrong for them to be going behind Elena's back and now, she had been nearly ready to have sex with him. She had almost given him her virginity.

"I want you to leave."

His confusion looked like it had grown even more. "Redbird, tell me what's wrong."

She slid out from underneath him and stood up, grabbing his shirt off from the floor and tossing it at him. "I said leave."

He put his shirt back on but otherwise, made no move to leave the dorm. "I'll leave if you tell me why." His voice was calm but at the same time, firm and unwavering.

Bonnie sighed. "I can't do this anymore Damon. Not to Elena and not to myself either. Please just leave."

Silence ensued between them until eventually, Damon let out a sigh of his own. "Redbird, don't do this. It's...complicated right now, but I swear that it won't be for too much longer. If you would..."

He broke off at the sight of the new onslaught of tears that were streaming from Bonnie's eyes. "Stop."

He stubbornly continued. He placed both of his hands on her shoulders. "Bonnie, I choose you."

Bonnie's heart began to hammer almost painfully in her chest at his words. She didn't quite know how to react to it...not until she had a little more clarification. "Are you going to break up with Elena?"

He froze and Bonnie could tell that he was thinking very hard about what she had asked. Eventually, he answered, and his response disappointed her.

"Not yet. You have to understand..."

"Get out of here Damon."

He frowned and made no move to do as she ordered.

"I said leave!" She exclaimed, this time a bit angrily. She rapidly backed away when he tried to reach out for her. "You can't have us both. You...you just can't. You need to leave me alone."

For a few moments, he looked like he wanted to further argue with her...to fight her and try to get her to listen to what he had to say fully, but in the end, her tears and anger must have finally did him in, and silently, with giving her only one last lingering look, he left, closing the door firmly behind him after making his exit.

After he was gone, she finally allowed the tears to run freely, no longer trying to hold them back. She threw herself onto her bed and buried her face into one of the pillows, letting out a harsh sob.

The other night had been a Friday night, and thus, Bonnie allowed herself the luxury of sleeping in a bit longer than normal. If she was being completely honest with herself, a part of it was because she didn't want to risk running into Damon...which would be a hard thing to avoid, since he was Elena's boyfriend.

Elena's boyfriend. All at once, her eyes flooded with tears at the thought and self shame swarmed through her. She was in love with her best friend's boyfriend...and just last night, she had almost slept with him. How had she managed to get herself into this situation?

Before she could further dig into her thoughts, the sound of her phone ringing brought her back to earth, and she quickly picked it up, too distracted to think about looking at the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Bonnie, where are you?"

It was Meredith.

Surprised by the random question, Bonnie frowned lightly. "I'm still in the dorm. Why?"

"It's Elena. She's...very distraught, and I think she could use a day with all three of us."

"Why is she upset?"

"Damon broke up with her last night."

Any thought that had been swirling around in her head, distracting her from the conversation at hand completely dispersed at this new piece of information. Damon had broken up with Elena? Why? And it was then that she remembered their conversations and argument from last night...how she had told him that he couldn't have them both and had asked him if he was going to break up with Elena. Had...had she'd been one of the causes of their breakup?

Guilt stabbed through her. "Meredith...did Elena tell you why Damon broke up with her."

"No. I assumed she was going to tell us both later today. She seemed too upset to talk about it over the phone."

Bonnie sighed sadly. "I don't think she'll want to see me."

"Why not?"

"Just go. You'll find out why."

In the end, Bonnie had turned out to be correct in her prediction about Elena not wanting to see her...but apparently not for the exact same reason she had assumed. Damon hadn't told her about their affair when he ended the relationship, but Elena had still managed to guess that Bonnie was the reason for the breakup. According to Meredith, Elena had always suspected that there was something between her and Damon..and that was why she had nearly tried to throw her and Bastian together at the library, to attempt to get her to move on from Damon. But given the events that had followed after the study session, that plan had horribly backfired.

Now Elena was avoiding her, and Bonnie couldn't say that she blamed her. Even though she didn't know that Damon had cheated on her...at least not yet, Elena still knew that Bonnie had been at least one of the causes of her and Damon's breakup.

Speaking of Damon, she had also not seen him in a while either. But it wasn't in the same way that she no longer saw Elena. Elena's presence was still evident. They just stayed away from each other. But Damon...had seemed to have simply vanished. No one had seen him in days.

At least, not until now.

Bonnie had been sitting in the campus library, her face buried in her Sociology textbook in an attempt to actually focus and study for the first time in weeks...an action that was quickly proving to be futile when he approached her.

She felt a gentle tap on the side of one of her shoulders and she quickly turned to face the person who had been standing behind her, letting out a small gasp of surprise.

"Damon."

He smiled charmingly. "Hello little bird."

Bonnie placed her textbook completely down now and stood up from the table, crossing her arms over her chest as she faced him fully. "Where have you been?"

She had mixed feelings over his absence. She had missed him above everything, of course, but there was mixed thoughts about why he could have left. Half of of her believed he had left for good out of anger towards what she had said to him, which had worried her, but the other pondered the possibility that he had left to give her or Elena space, which she had been grateful for. Now that he was back and confronting her...she wasn't sure how to react to it.

"I've been...taking a care of a few important errands."

"What errands?"

He smiled in a way that was almost mysterious now. "You'll find out soon enough."

She wanted to fight him on that answer...to tell him that after everything, she deserved some actual answers from him, but she found that she was simply too exhausted to argue with him. Now...she would only seek the answers that he was willing to give her.

"Why did you break up with Elena?" She had missed him, and she almost wanted to let him know that, but at the same time, she needed some answers. And she was still supposed to be upset with him.

Damon feigned a casual stance. "You know why."

She did know why...at least a part of her had. But it had almost seemed too unbelievable to be true. "You didn't tell her about...about what we'v been doing?"

"No, because I didn't believe it was my place to tell. She's your friend...you've known her far longer than I have." He suddenly reached out to stroke her cheek. "I wanted to apologize for my unacceptable behavior a few nights back."

She looked at him in surprise and he smiled once more.

"I don't regret what happened, but I do regret how I went about it," he clarified. "I had almost taken your maidenhead in a very impulsive and careless manner and you deserve far better than that."

Bonnie blushed, remembering just how...heated they had been that night. "You don't have to apologize for that Damon. I...I was just as guilty as you."

"Still, you were in a vulnerable state of mind and I shouldn't have tried to take advantage of that, my impulsiveness aside," Damon responded. "But I intend to make it up to you later."

There was a flirtatious tone as he said the last few words that caused Bonnie's cheeks to heat up even more. "Damon..."

He lifted his hand off of her cheek, and she almost let out a sound of protest at their lack of physical contact. "I know that it's much too soon to be thinking about such actions...you and Elena need to rebuild your friendship and you need time. But just know that I am very far from ever giving up on you, Bonnie McCullough. Besides..." He smiled his 500 kilowatt smile. "I am sure that you are fully aware of how persistent I can be when I want something."

And then, before she could say another word, he was walking away, quickly exiting the library.

As it turned out, the "errands" that Damon had to run had ended up revealing everything.

Damon Salvatore was a vampire and had a younger brother...and as it turned out, they had all been forced to forget him due to compulsion. Slowly but surely, Bonnie had eventually attained every last memory that had been taken from her...Stefan Salvatore. His kind green eyes and his endless love for Elena. Apparently, he had compelled every last memory of him away from everyone after an accident he had involving Elena...where he had nearly drained her dry of blood and thus, placed her in the hospital with the need of a blood transfusion. Since then, Damon had been playing the part of Elena's human boyfriend, with everyone's memories of him warped.

Bonnie understood everything now, but it didn't take away her anger. If anything, she now felt betrayed. Damon had continuously lied to everyone and had gone with and helped Stefan make his plan work, after all.

A knock at the dorm door stirred her from her thoughts and she quickly stood up to answer it. Her heart pattered in nervousness at who was standing in the doorway.

It was Elena. This would be the first time in weeks they had been alone together.

"Hi," Bonnie forced out, opening the door further to allow her friend access inside the dorm. Elena silently stepped inside, and only after the door was shut behind her did Elena finally break the silence and said something.

"I got your message on my answering machine."

The voice-mail. Bonnie remembered it clearly. She had left it on Elena's voice mail only a few days ago, and in it, she had confessed everything...everything that had been happening between her and Damon the past few weeks. The guilt had been eating her alive.

But now that Elena was here and it was confirmed that she had heard it, she was nervous.

She nodded and looked down at the floor, shame hitting her. "I'm sorry Elena."

It took a moment for Elena to respond, but when she did, her voice was flat. "I'm still mad...and I think I will be for a long time, but...I know that Damon played a huge part in it as well. And i'm even more mad at him at the moment, considering i've basically been compelled to be in a relationship with him this whole time."

She hadn't heard how Elena felt about the compulsion reveal until now, but she could understand why Elena would feel hurt...and used. She herself was angry at Damon and Stefan for what they had done, but Elena had definitely gotten the worst of it.

After a moment's silence, Elena continued. "I came here to say goodbye. I'm...going to go after Stefan and try to find him, and I don't know how long i'll be gone. And that...I don't forgive you and Damon right now, but I will eventually. We'll be okay soon."

Bonnie then impulsively wrapped her arms around her friend's waist in a hug and was relieved when she felt her hesitantly hug back.

Three months later

Bonnie smiled as she read over the postcard that had been mailed to her from Elena and Stefan as she sat curled up into her boyfriend's lap.

Stefan and Elena were in Italy. Apparently Elena had successfully tracked him down and now they were in Italy, working on rebuilding their relationship after the compulsion ordeal. And only a month prior to that, Bonnie had received a different letter from her best friend...a letter detailing all the progress she had made on her search for Stefan and finally, at the very end, her forgiveness for what had happened between her and Damon. Along with that, she had also given her official blessing for Bonnie and Damon to finally get together.

And after Damon had spent a large chunk of time gaining Bonnie's trust back and working towards making everything up to her, Bonnie had eventually accepted. What she felt towards him was too strong for her not to.

"They're in Italy," she said, smiling as she turned around to face Damon. He in turn leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss to the lips. "Good. It's about time my little brother paid his Italian heritage more attention."

Bonnie giggled and cuddled into him even further. "We should go there sometime."

"Of course. It should be a given that I would need to show my girlfriend...who I fully plan on spending eternity with, to my home city. And Florence is a very extravagant place. I believe you would like it, little bird."

Bonnie beamed and leaned up to plant a soft kiss on the side of his jaw. "I would love to see it...it's a part of you, after all." Her warm brown eyes then filled with utter devotion and love as she stared into his dark ones. "I love you Damon."

"As I love you, little bird," he murmured, pulling her further into his embrace and kissing her once again. "You and only you."

The End