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The soft ground gave way under her and mud squished out over her shoes, as she left Converse logo imprints on the earth with her each step. She would have to throw her sneakers in the washer when she got home, but that was a small sacrifice to be able to enjoy walking at twilight through the woods of her ancestors, on the way to her Grandmother's house which had now become her sole home.
Crepuscular light shimmered through the throng of trees, tinting the forest floor hues of pink and purple. She stuffed her hands in to her jean short pockets, inhaling dewy grass and crisp leaves, and wordlessly conversed with the spirits.
She had stuck around her Dad's after she found the rope. She vacuumed the staircase, dusted the living room and cooked chicken enchiladas for dinner. And it was worth it to have him come home, surprised and happy to see his only daughter making his empty house feel like a home. Their relationship had improved since she no longer lived under the same roof as him, he actually scheduled time with her and he listened when she spoke, not just waiting for his turn to lecture. She was grateful for the effort.
After dinner and a game of cards, he had asked her where was her car, and when she said she was going to cut through the woods, he protested and said he would drive her, but she pulled on her sneakers with a smile and told him there were ju-ju things she had to take care of out in the woods and that zipped him up.
Sheila's spirit was present in the woods that evening, gushing in her ear that she was so very proud of her, and there was Lydia, Sheila's mother, who whispered to Bonnie's soul that she was the one the ancestors had been waiting for, she was their glory. 'Behold the witch', they told the forest, and the life of the woods took notice of the nineteen year old woman in cut-off shorts, rolled up to the rounded mounds of her thighs. The one in high-top grey converse and the thin black, racer-back tank that clung to her butterscotch skin with a thin sheen of sweat. The one who greeted the woods with the bounce of her ponytail of curls, and hid from the glow of the dimming sun which made her ever-changing irises resemble pure gold.
It was recently that Bonnie became aware that she might be attractive. Growing up sandwiched between Elena and Caroline, she had come to believe she was just the loyal friend of the pretty girls, the girl who guys befriended to get in the graces of her more prettier and popular friends. She didn't mind it, she admired and loved her girlfriends, plus, she always thought she had more important business to attend to then high school boys, like saving the town.
But Bonnie was wrong, and completely oblivious to the awkward young men who were smitten with the serious girl but didn't know how to get her to laugh, so they moved on to the brunette and blonde, and that obliviousness is still there, because although she felt the rush of magic coursing through her veins, she is unaware that any supernatural being within an half a mile radius ears perked at the soft humming under her skin, enticing and alerting them of the powerful force that is near.
She trekked deeper into the woods and deeper into her thoughts, placing her slender hands on tree trunks to brace herself as she walked over fallen forest debris, and the trees swayed and whistled, although there was no breeze, and Bonnie stopped abruptly. Tiny bumps prickled her skin and her heartbeat accelerated to a Congo drum. She balled her hands into a fist where the magic collected into her fingertips.
She jerked her head from side to side, and huffed more for show, to let the creature know she wasn't scared and continued her hike.
The trees bent and swayed again, and she stopped so short in her gait that she almost tripped, "Come out now and I promise you a speedy death," She yelled.
It was her duty to keep nature's balance, to ensure life's cycle, if the thing that showed itself was anything other than a part of that balance, she would kill it.
Without a second thought.
She counted to ten and glanced up at the sky above and the last illumination of sunlight, dying out and how it turned the green trees to black. She could feel the creature drawing near, ready to attack, and she turned her back quickly, prepared to send a vampire flying to land on a tree branch through its heart, but there was nothing, just leaves settling from the whir of manufactured wind and the caw of a black bird.
And she spun on her heels and came face to face with Damon Salvatore.
A swift intake of air was sucked in through her throat and it made a small stifled shriek while she involuntarily clutched at her throat.
"Boo," He whispered seductively, closing in on her personal space and smirking. He palmed the side of her neck and she slapped his hand away, "I almost killed you," She said, narrowing her eyes and ducking from under his embrace.
He laughed, his blue eyes darkened to the deepest depth of an ocean from the lack of sunlight, "You were too scared to kill me."
"I was not scared."
He strolled behind her, picked a yellow wildflower, rubbing his fingers over the tender petals, "You were scared. I know because you gasped, you don't ever gasp unless you are scared."
She side-eyed the vamp, who shrugged his shoulders like to say don't be mad at him for being right. And he was right, he did frighten her, but not because she wasn't primed to annihilate a vampire, it was because she hadn't seen him in two weeks and her heart leapt at him being close.
She turned to the vampire with folded arms and changed the subject, "What are you doing here?
He brushed the flower over her exposed skin, lazily dragging it over her collarbone, "Why are you walking to your grandma's house at night, you do know how that tale ended for little red riding hood don't you?" He said with a raised eyebrow, staring into her like he knows what she looks like naked, and she didn't mean her birthday suit, but who she is when she isn't wearing her armor.
His cotton gray t-shirt did nothing to mask his defined chest and shoulders, and he smelled of cologne and bourbon, dizzying her with memories and want. She longed to run her hands through his raven hair and brush it away from his chiseled face, but she had made a decision and she was sticking to it.
When she didn't move right away, Damon closed in on her, cornering her against a tree, and brushing up against her at his will, "Cat got your tongue little bird?"
Three months.
1, 2, 3.
May, June, July - that's all it took for them to become something more than frenemies.
"I love that fairy tale, Damon, especially the part when they hack the wolf to pieces," She smiled wide and tilted her head to the side.
And she saw the way his eyes roamed over her, and how he smiled back at her quip, and she knew she needed to get home. Fast.
It was just one kiss.
But like in the tales of her youth, one kiss transformed lives, they woke up sleeping princesses and turned frogs into princes, and it was one drunken kiss shared between her and Damon that turned her world upside down.
He narrowed his eyes, "Does Lucy know about us? "He asked like he was on to her, "I ran into her at the Grille and when she didn't greet me with asshole, I figured she might be warming up to me."
If her heart quickened anymore she was sure it would explode, "Us?" She asked, incredulous with her eyebrows flying up to her hairline, "There is no us, and there's no story." She lied, embarrassed and tucking an errant curl behind her ear. Lucy knew every detail of her and Damon. They had spent long conversations over the phone, dissecting and analyzing the happenings between her and the eldest Salvatore.
He sensually curled up his lip and let the flower drop from his fingertips to fall nicely down her shirt and between her breasts. His smiled widened, satisfied. "We definitely have a story."
"What's our story?" She snorted, she could easily transport his ass back to the boardinghouse, but that would only exacerbate his pestering.
He untucked the same curl she had just moved from her face and began to twirl it around his finger, "Well ours would go something like, Boy bites girl. Girl hates boy." He started, his eyes no longer examining her insides but focusing on her feet as if he is nervous, and she felt warm all over at him anxious recounting their interaction, "Boy tries to befriend Girl," He stated with impact and pressing a finger into her shoulder and continued, "Girl helps boy kill baddies. Boy turns girl's mother into vampire," He said, protruding his bottom lip, attempting at a sad face, which made her stomp off from him, "Girl tells Boy he can kick rocks," He loudly said to her back, as she made a hand gesture for him to fuck off. "Boy suggests to girl they need a fresh start. Girl collapses into a coma from a spell." He caught her arm and pulled her to him, bending down to make her look at him, "Boy saves Girl with his blood. Girl develops a bond with Boy. Boy likes it. Girl likes it. Girl freaks out over liking it and tells Boy they need some time apart. Did I get it right?"
"We both decided on the break." She pointed out.
"A break from what, we haven't even started Bennett," he said, affecting his face like she was the live-wire, "And for the record, you were the one who decided on the break, but the beauty of me, little bird, is that I could care less about what you want," He practically snarled at her with his last sentence, he began to pace around her.
She turned slowly in the circle he paced in, "So what I want doesn't matter to you?" She asked with her hands pressed against her chest,
"Not when it comes to this," he said, his eyes taking on their maniacal twitch. He halted his circling of her and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, blew air out he didn't breathe and said matter-of-factly, "Bonnie, you told me I was your best friend, if that's true then act like it, don't ignore me for two weeks and behave like it's a pain to be near me."
He was hurt.
And she wanted to go to him, to wrap her arms around his neck and comfort him with words she wasn't supposed to feel, not for him, not for his kind.
Her shoulders sagged, but she remained resolved, "I need some time, Damon, to straighten everything out and determine what is real, don't you want to know if that story you just told is real and not something…"
"Magical?" He taunted.
Her jaw tightened at his dig, "Fabricated," She said as she commenced her walk home without him.
"Elena's back."
Hearing him say her name like that made her stomach flip, like it was a threat, his trump card. She glanced back at him over her shoulder, "I know, Caroline told me," She said, feeling nauseous at the thought of Elena under the same roof with him, but that was something she was just going to have to deal with and come to accept.
"How's everything with her there?" She asked him, expecting him to immediately revert to the old Damon, the Damon completely obsessed with her friend.
He talked to the vast space between them and nodded, "She's fine," He confirmed with his fists in his pockets, "You should come see her."
"I will soon," She said, wondering why everyone was so adamant about her taking the first step with Elena. "Look Damon, I gotta get home," She started, "Goodnight," She grimaced a crooked smile at him.
"Goodnight, Bennett," She heard him say right before he disappeared.