I'd woken up the following day to a familiar smell of bacon coming in from the kitchen. As I sat at the edge of my bed, all the events of last night rushed through my head and I couldn't help but doubt that what happened with Bonnie was real. Maybe I'd just dreamed it. I mean, I was pretty much shaking and sweating in what seemed to be a long sleepless night of stress so… It would be possible that I imagined it. Would Bonnie ever really get that close to me? Even under the influence of alcohol?

I knew these thoughts would keep bothering me if I didn't ask her about it. But then again, even if it did happen, would she remember? Would she admit she remembers? Probably not.

I walked over into the kitchen and saw Damon making breakfast. At least he'd moved on from the pancakes. To be honest, I can't fault his cooking, for as much of it as I have experienced at least. Bonnie wasn't in the room.

"Mooorning, sunshine."

Damon turned around to smile at me as he took out three plates from the cupboard. I guess I was invited to stay for breakfast. A thought quickly arose in my mind and I knew I'd have to talk to Damon about it before Bonnie appeared, otherwise I'd probably choke up again.

"Morning!" I started, maybe slightly too enthusiastically. "So um, Damon. You're a reasonable man."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"I recently got… let's say 'evicted' from a place that I was crashing at and well… As you may already know, my entire family despises me. So, it's safe to say I have nowhere to go. And as I'm trying to be a better person now, and you know… not hurt anyone to get what I want… I wondered if I could stay here for a while. At least until I figure out what to do."

"Bonnie's staying here," he said.

"Oh."

"I don't know how she would feel about you sleeping in the same house as her."

"Well, it could be like old times again. The three of us. Except this time, I'm not going to terrorize you. I promise."

Damon kept his eyes on me while setting the hot food out on the plates.

"It's not me you have to convince, champ."

And that's what I was afraid of.

"Look, I gotta run into town a do a few errands for a few friends today so you can have the day to ask her yourself. Best I can do right now."

I nodded. "Yeah. Thank you."

A few seconds later, a pair of familiar footsteps came trotting down the steps in the hallway. Bonnie walked into the room, her hair still messy and face still showing signs of pleasant dreams. She looked up towards us and seemed to stutter a bit when she saw me. Kinda like she forgot I came by last night. Judging by those few slightly-too-long moments of eye contact we shared, I knew last night had been real. After the pause, she smiled politely to both of us and walked over to the table rubbing her eyes together. I kept my gaze on her the whole time and then she looked back at me again. Her face seemed slightly awkward and that's when I realized that maybe I shouldn't keep staring at people for so long. Maybe it wasn't a socially acceptable thing. I don't know, my dad never taught me anyway. Still, I kept staring. I couldn't just look away.

Eventually her eyes stopped roaming awkwardly around the room to avoid my gaze and they finally settled on mine again. She blinked a few times. I didn't notice the smile that I must have flashed her until I saw her laugh quickly and shake her head. She looked away again.

"Okay, take these."

Damon turned around to me with two plates of fresh bacon and scrambled eggs with toast on the side, so I grabbed them without question and took the opportunity to carry them over to Bonnie. I placed one of the plates in front of her and took the seat right opposite of her. I didn't want to get too close by sitting next to her, and I also kind of wanted a seat with a direct view of her. Maybe I could make her hold eye contact with me again.

Breakfast was suitably awkward and Bonnie avoided my gaze the whole time. Honestly, it made my hope of convincing her to stick around all the worse. But at that point I didn't even realize how much more awkward it was about to get.

"Okay, kiddos. Play nice. I gotta head into town, but if I hear of any Tom & Jerry mishaps going on here…" He made a threatening eye gesture and walked over to Bonnie, leaning lightly on her chair.

"You gonna be okay here?" he asked her quietly, and when she nodded he whispered: "Be a good girl," then kissed her head and walked off to the front door.

My jealousy of how easy it was for Damon to get close to her kept growing constantly. For a second, I almost thought I didn't want to stay here if I'd have to feel like this. But after a few moments, the tension loosened up a bit when Bonnie started a conversation and I remembered what it was that I wanted to be here for.

"So how come you stayed over here last night?"

She questioned me while getting up the clean the dishes. I instantly decided to help her. Of course, I needed to leave the best possible impression on her.

"Um... Well, I snuck into a spare room in a motel nearby but someone rented it yesterday, so yeah… Had to leave."

I saw her nod out of the corner of my eye as she started the water in the sink.

"You wash, I dry?" I probed carefully.

"Sure."

I took a dry cloth sitting next to the sink and waited for her to hand me the first plate.

"I didn't know that you were staying here. I mean I-… Thought you might be, but I didn't have anywhere else to go."

"What happened with your family? Did you get your revenge?"

"No."

She looked up at me with interest in her eyes and handed me the first plate. I took it carefully from her.

"I wanted to. On my dad mostly. But… Then the merge with Luke happened, and I felt different. And they were all clearly mad at me for doing what I did. To Luke. And I'm sure they all want to kill me, but I'm the coven leader now so they can't. Well, Liv tried to. I'm sure you've heard that story."

Bonnie sniggered quietly, keeping her focus on the dishes.

"Yeah. I guess I owe you a thanks for that. For helping Jeremy and…. For helping me."

I took the next plate from her and caught her eyes, pausing for a moment.

"You don't owe me anything, Bon."

She took in a loud breath while keeping her eyes locked with mine. Then she quickly focused her sight on the dishes in front of her again.

"What about Jo?"

"She hates me. And she has a right to. In fact, probably everyone I've ever interacted with has a right to hate me. I'm sure you'll agree on that note."

Bonnie looked back at me for a moment and gave a light-hearted snigger. I laughed in return.

"Hey, do you wanna play Monopoly? With someone who doesn't cheat?"

Bonnie smiled for a moment as she handed me the last plate and turned the water off. She took a moment to think as she dried her hands on her jeans.

"Sure, why not. I don't have any plans today."

"Good."

"Don't you dare."

I threatened as I saw Bonnie pulling out money to buy the last possible house on the most expensive lot on the board that she had managed to buy in the very first round. I landed on it almost every time after that and by this point I was pretty much bankrupt.

"Noooo, Bonnie."

"Yes."

"No! Come on! This is so unfair." I said as I tried to supress my laughter. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had this much fun. We'd sat down with the board on the carpet just in front of the fireplace and I suddenly wanted this every day. A few hours, playing dumb board games with Bonnie Bennett in a cosy living room.

"Hey, you wanted to play this! Now deal with it!" she spat back in an all too serious but playful tone.

"Okay, okay."

I managed to calm my laughter and rolled the dice one more time. And lo and behold, I landed right onto the lot she had just upgraded. My head dropped down on to floor as I heard her laughter and celebratory shouting.

"Mister Parker, I believe you've gone into a debt. Therefore, I win! And you owe me."

I raised my head up and I couldn't stop smiling when I saw her happy face. For the first time she was laughing, and it was because of me. I could get used to that feeling.

"And how will I repay your dept, Miss Bennett?"

"I'll think of something. Just you wait."

"I'm sure you will."

We laughed briefly for a moment before she began to pick up the game pieces and put the board away. I stayed in my position, resting on the carpet, and I watched her. She gave me a few slight glances when she noticed me staring.

"Why do you do that?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Uh—stare, I guess. You kinda don't even look away when I catch you staring."

"I don't know, I just… I don't see why I should look away? What else am I supposed to look at anyway, you're the only person here."

"I guess."

"Is it really that bad? I mean, I wouldn't know- I don't really know how the social construct works these days. I can stop if you want. Maybe."

She laughed quietly, putting the last pieces into the box and folding the board over.

"No, you don't need to stop. I find it interesting, actually. Kind of – refreshing? People these days, they don't do that. No one really looks into another person's eyes, we just kind of avoid it at all possible costs."

"Maybe it's cuz you're scared."

"Scared?"

"Yeah… I think you can tell a lot by just looking at someone. And I mean, really looking. That's why it might be scary to people. Cuz maybe they don't want to see these things."

She nodded, thinking for a few seconds then smiled at me purposely keeping her eyes on mine. After what I'd said I kinda really hoped that she wouldn't be able to tell how smitten over her I was by just looking at me. But then again, I didn't really care in that moment. I just liked being there with her.

"Listen, Bonnie, I was meaning to ask you something. I know it's probably a long shot, but I was talking to Damon this morning and I don't really have a place I can stay right now…"

Bonnie broke our gaze and looked away awkwardly and I wondered if I should have picked a better moment to ask her this.

"I just wanted to know if maybe it would be okay with you if I… stayed here… just for a little while?"

"No."

"Oh."

Bonnie looked towards the fireplace and suddenly my chest felt extremely heavy.

"I'll admit I had fun today with you, Kai," she started, and my heart warmed a bit at her words. "And I can see that you are different, and that you're trying to do better but, I can't be a part of that right now. I just need some space and some time to myself. Time to get back into the real life, and to my friends. I was alone for a long time. I kinda just wanna learn to live in this world again. And I think you do too."

I nodded.

"No, I understand. You're right."

"I think maybe you need to sort things out with your coven. Your family. Take care of yourself and find a way to live in this new world. Of course, if it's really bad and you have no place to go, you can stay here, I mean it's not my house anyway– "

"No, no, I'll figure something out. The last thing I'd want is to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Thank you, Kai."

I felt a large lump forming in my throat as I came to realize that I'd really fucked up. And she would need time. Time to forgive me and to ever possibly trust me again. The reason I felt this bad about it is because I knew that I'd have to stay away from her for a while. And it would probably be the most painful stretch of time I'd be forced to go through. Possibly more painful than my 18 years of imprisonment.

"I should probably go now."

Bonnie nodded and we both got up at the same time, the light-hearted Monopoly game had quickly turned into an awkward conversation as we walked towards the front door of the Salvatore boarding house.

"I- uh… Do you might if I visit from time to time? Just for a little bit. To see how you're doing and… maybe get my ass kicked at Monopoly again?"

She smiled awkwardly and hesitated for a few seconds. "Yeah... Maybe."

I nodded. I knew she was trying to be polite, but she really just wanted me to stay away. So, I would stay away.

I made my way out the door and smiled at her that one last time.

"It was good making your acquaintance, Bonnie Bennett."

A/N: Soooo yes, I updated this. I don't know if anyone is still alive in the Bonkai community, but if you are let me know by leaving a review! I have another chapter coming up shortly after this (it's pretty much finished so you won't be waiting long) and I still have ideas and inspiration to continue so I'm gonna try my best to continue updating this story. Even if no one reads it xD