"Are you sure you're okay being left alone with him?" Elena asks, interrupting Bonnie from her thoughts as she tries to figure out what number of outfits is appropriate for a cross-country road trip with her arch nemesis. She'd spent the last hour attempting to pack and debrief Elena on the most recent Mystic Falls drama, including the trip to Portland with Kai that was taking place in the morning.
"As okay as I'll ever be," Bonnie replies, shoving a pair of jeans into her bag. "I'll be fine. Kai lays one hand on me and he's toast, simple as that. I have my magic back and nothing's stopping me from a witch barbecue the moment he steps out of line."
"Nothing except for the fact he's the leader of the Gemini Coven and is way stronger now," Elena argues, leaning back on her bed frame with a medical book propped up in her lap. She'd been absent from Whitmore for so long because of her re-budding relationship with Damon that Bonnie is mildly surprised to see her back in their dorm and doing something as mundane as homework.
"Listen, can we not talk about Kai? I have to spend god knows how long with him starting tomorrow morning and I kind of just want to have a few lasting moments of peace before that happens." Bonnie tosses her now packed bag onto the mattress and plops down.
"Hey, say no more. Kai is officially off-limits," Elena concedes, tapping her pencil on a sheet of notebook paper. "Speaking of potentially off-limits, how would you feel about coming over to Damon and Stefan's tonight for a little hang out slash sleepover? Caroline is trying to rope us all into this game night thing. I know you have to go over there in the morning, though, so no hard feelings if you want a 'you' night."
Bonnie considers this for a second, fiddling with the threads of the quilt on her bed. "Eh, what the hell- let's do it. We haven't had a normal night in what feels like forever."
"I can second that," Elena agrees, crumpling a sheet of notebook paper up. "Caroline wants us over there by nine o'clock."
"Great," Bonnie agrees, praying Kai doesn't show his face. As usual, her prayers end up going unanswered.
xxxx
"Alright, I have snacks and board games but mostly snacks," Caroline says excitedly, ushering Bonnie and Elena through the door. "I figured we could start out with a good old-fashioned game of Truth or Dare and some drinks."
Elena and Bonnie exchange knowing glances but follow Caroline through the foyer and into the living room area.
Much to Bonnie's dismay, her plan to avoid Kai is instantly thwarted as she comes face to face with him upon turning the corner. He's holding a bag of pretzels in one hand, popping them into his mouth lazily. At least this time, she notices, he's fully dressed in a t-shirt and jeans and not half naked.
"What the hell are you doing with my pretzels?" Caroline demands, zooming to his side to snatch the bag out of his grasp. "These snacks are off-limits to you."
"Aw, c'mon," he argues, dusting his fingers off on his pants. "It's not like the Salvatore Brooding House has anything besides bourbon in it." He grins. "Get it? Brooding? 'Cause their foreheads-"
"Woah, woah, woah," Damon interrupts, stepping into the room from the kitchen. Stefan is on his heels, shaking his head. "I'll have you know the 'forehead' thing is all Stefan. The only vampire here capable of brooding to the level of forehead-scrunching is the one that's eating squirrels for breakfast."
"What-ever," Kai says with a dismissive wave, flopping down on the couch and looking at the group expectantly. "So are we getting this show on the road or what?"
"With you?" Caroline spats, throwing the bag of pretzels down onto the table. "Give me a break."
"C'mon, Caroline," Bonnie speaks up, stepping forward. "Let's just ignore him. You know that's the only thing that will actually bother him, with his frail little insecure mind." She shoots him a glare before deliberately striding over, throwing her things down and flopping into an armchair. Kai runs a tongue over his teeth, not breaking eye contact with her as he puts both feet up on the table. Bonnie can practically feel the sparks flying between them.
"God, fine, whatever," Caroline says, turning to leave the room. "I'll be right back. I need to get the drinks."
"I'll help," Elena declares, and quickly follows after her.
"So this is a nice little gathering, huh?" Stefan pipes up, breaking the silence. "You know, aside from the whole Kai thing and the fact my mother is locked up in the basement right now."
"She's what?" Bonnie demands, finally looking away from Kai. Kai seems displeased with this and scoots closer to the edge of the couch to try and get her attention.
"Oh, yeah," Stefan continues dryly. "She was going on a Ripper binge, and she can't stop talking about trying to free her little friends from the 1903 Prison World. So, uh, we're giving her a fun little family dry-out."
"If you hear any uncharacteristic screams in the middle of the night, it's Mommy Dearest," Damon adds, taking a swig out of his glass.
"Stefan, you can't let her out," Bonnie continues, furrowing her brows. "We're not going back for her friends. It took an enormous amount of magic just to get a handful of us there and back."
"Oh, oh, that's me. I helped," Kai pipes up. "And then Bonster almost stabbed me to death and gave me this gnarly scar. Ahh, yeah- good times."
"Listen, jackass, we've all nearly killed each other at some point," Damon interjects. "Just because you have a schoolgirl crush on her and it hurt your feelings doesn't mean we wanna hear about it over and over again."
"Try anything ever again and the next time I stab you I won't miss," Bonnie says coolly, and the grin momentarily fades from Kai's face.
Before anyone can speak up again, Caroline and Elena return with the bourbon and Jello shots. They arrange everything on the middle table, and by the time everything is situated Kai has somehow snatched the open bag of pretzels again and is eating them in the background.
"Alright," Caroline says, pushing the blond locks from her face. "Truth or Dare, youngest goes first."
"Bonnie, that's you. Caroline and I were born in '92 and you were '93," Elena says, grinning. "Pick one."
Bonnie weighs her options- if she picks truth, Caroline will most likely ask the question. Since she and Elena know her to a fault, she runs a risk of being asked something more probing than usual. "Dare," she says finally, squaring her shoulders up.
"Dare," Caroline drawls, standing up. "Bold. I like it." She taps a finger on her chin. "How abouuuut- we draw from a pile." Rustling her hand into a red solo cup, she withdrawls a tiny slip of paper and turns it over. Her smile falters.
"'Unwrap a jolly rancher using just your tongue and find a way to transfer it into the mouth of the person sitting to your left.' That's... Kai," she says slowly, looking troubled.
Bonnie feels heat rush into her cheeks and isn't sure if it's from anger or embarrassment. "Are you serious, Caroline? What kind of dares did you put into that thing?"
"Look, I got them from a website and printed them out, okay?" Caroline says in defense, placing the cup back down on the table. She grabs a green apple jolly rancher from one of the snack bowls and tosses it to Bonnie, who catches it on instinct with one hand. "It's the dare you got, Bonnie. Those are the rules. Sorry."
Bonnie risks a glance at Kai, who is grinning a shit-eating grin into his fist. "You heard her, Bon. Jolly rancher me." Standing, he gingerly moves over to her spot in the chair and perches on the armrest. "You know you want to," he continues in a lower, sing-song voice.
She wants to either slap him or tear into his chest but refrains if only for the sake of Caroline's ridiculous party. "Fine," she says sweetly, sitting up straighter. She would not show this affecting her in any way- not to him. "I hope you choke on it."
Popping the fully wrapped jolly rancher in her mouth, she swishes it around and toys at it with her tongue until she starts to feel it unravel. Using the edges of her teeth, she begins to pry the plastic from it to the best of her ability.
"Just give him the stupid jolly rancher before I either snap all of your necks or mine," Damon complains, sinking into the couch next to Elena.
Bonnie gives him a glare but manages to dislodge the candy from its wrapper. Surprising almost everyone, she leans forward and seizes both of Kai's cheeks in her hands. Digging her nails into his skin as hard as she can, she brings his mouth to hers and uses her tongue to pop the candy onto his. Their lips only brush for a fraction of a second, but Bonnie feels a powerful stirring in her chest that's almost like hatred and... something else. Her nerves feel electrified, and heat travels from her lower regions to her toes. She imagines, for just a fraction of a second, that she's shoving her tongue into his mouth and pushing the stupid candy down his throat so he chokes.
Snapping herself out of it, she lets go of him and sits back in the chair. "Now get out of my face."
He looks slightly dazed but has a smoldering look in his eyes as he sucks the candy.
"Feisty," Kai says, looking towards the rest of the group. "Did you see how feisty that was? She nearly took half my face off." There are red marks where Bonnie's fingers had been, but he doesn't seem too bothered by this. Beaming, he jokingly dusts his hands off and returns to his spot on the edge of the couch.
"I wish she'd taken your whole head off so I don't have to hear about it," Damon gripes, throwing a wadded up candy wrapper at Kai's head.
In comparison, Caroline and Elena's expressions are both shocked and maybe even awkward. Bonnie suddenly realizes just how much she'd rather sink through the floor than be sitting in the room with them.
"Anyways," Caroline declares, clearing her throat. "Who's next?"
