Oh my gosh guys! So many reviews! I've had a really busy week - first week back at uni and all that. I should be doing homework but I'm just so in love with Bamon that it'll have to wait!!

A big thank you goes to Ur Rad, hardygirl21, etgoddess, Danielle Salvatore, jayma, fanficfan84, sky samuelle, TriGemini, babyshan211, XXCresent-RoseXX, randomlittleme, Fallen Roses 07, bonniesalvatore, AleB, forevermore16, Remnants of a Dream, lilly, oliviatocali, KOF, sage1993 and lynsay for your wonderful reviews!

Good point about the temptations bonniesalvatore, i'll fix that up in one of the later chapters. Other than that, what do you think about the actual story/writing style?

As Bonnie walked home it began to rain. The droplets fell slowly at first but then began to rush down quickly and forcefully as if they were as angry as she was. She didn't change her pace as it came down harder and stronger. The sound of water crashing against pavement helped drown out the voice in her mind that was desperate to scream. She liked that the cold, wetness of the rain made her body feel numb. She was so freezing that she couldn't really feel it anymore. Or maybe it was that the cold was all she could feel? Maybe that's why she liked it. Being like this meant that she could avoid thinking about what had just happened between her and Damon Salvatore. The numbness was almost soothing.

She didn't stop at her Grams house. She couldn't handle going in there as well. Not today. But she didn't want to go home. Not to a place where it was warm. Not just yet. She let her feet take her to a local playground a few streets away from the cemetery. It wasn't the town park, just a small playground in a secluded area amid a lot of trees. The only reason she knew about it was because when they were little, she, Elena, Caroline and Jeremy would go over to Matt and Vicky's house nearby and they would play there. This of course was a very long time ago, a distant memory.

Bonnie walked to the swings and sat down grasping the chains that held the swing to the metal frame. She leant her head against one of the chains and began to cry. The tears came so easily because she knew that they would be disguised by the rain. She wasn't sure what she was crying about. She was exhausted.

"Bonnie?" called out a male's voice. Bonnie looked up and saw Matt Donovan coming towards her with a 2 litre bottle of milk in his hand.

As he reached her, he put the bottle down and grabbed both of her hands in his.

"Bonnie what the hell are you doing?"

Before she had the chance to answer he yanked her up and pulled her in the direction of his house.

"Come on, I'm driving you home!"

Bonnie didn't say anything, she just let him led her through the trees to the front of his house where his car was parked. When they got to his car, he opened the passenger's seat, not unlike Damon had done an hour earlier. Matt didn't say anything, he simply gestured with his eyes for her to get in. Something in his eyes told her not to argue even though she wanted to scream that she just wanted to be left alone. He jogged around to the other side, got in, started the car and put the heater on full blast. They both stayed silent until they got to Bonnie's house and he followed her up the steps. She felt his presence follow her and she turned around.

"I think I can manage to get into my house by myself thank you Matt," he said loudly over the rain.

"Yeah but can you take care of yourself?" he said as he walked next to her gently pushing her forward. "Come on, where are your keys?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "I left my bag at the door of my Grams place."

Matt simply walked past her to the mushroom statue in their front yard, lifted it up and picked up the spare key that was hiding there. He turned around and smirked at her.

"Still in the same place since we were seven."

This made Bonnie smile and she followed him into her house. He walked in as he had a million times before, sat on the couch and reached for the TV remote.

"You have a new TV," he stated.

"Yeah, dad finally jumped on the plasma TV bandwagon with everybody else."

Matt nodded and looked at his watch.

"So, you're going to go upstairs, have a nice hot shower to bring your body temperature back up, dry your hair and put on some dry clothes. If you're not done in thirty minutes, I'm coming up after you, which could be awkward, especially since I have a girlfriend."

Bonnie sighed and simply walked up the stairs to her room.

"Thirty minutes Bonnie!" he called after her.

"Yeah, yeah," she answered. She made sure that her tone said 'you're annoying and overbearing'.

As she hopped into the shower and let the hot water wash over her she thought about Matt's concern for her and smiled. She had missed him. After he and Elena had broken up they had drifted apart without even noticing. Bonnie hadn't been sure whether there was a rule about being really close friends with your best friends ex, then everything had happened with her powers and Emily, that she hadn't noticed that she had left certain good parts of her life behind.

About thirty minutes later she descended the stairs with a pack of cards in her hands. When she reached the lounge room, Matt looked up and she threw the pack of cards at him as hard as she could.

"Shit," he whispered as he ducked out of the way.

"Dude you're supposed to be a star football player," Bonnie teased.

"Yeah and do you see a football anywhere near here Bennet?" Matt retorted as he picked up the pack from the floor.

"Seven card Rummy?" Bonnie asked.

"Sure, I got about an hour to kill," Matt said as he walked over to the table and began to deal out the cards.

Bonnie sat across from him.

"Where do you have to be in an hour?" she asked. Matt smiled.

"Getting ready for a hot date," he looked at Bonnie and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. She giggled as she picked up her cards.

"Haven't heard you do that in awhile" Matt stated.

"What?"

"Laugh."

Bonnie didn't say anything. She really didn't want to have one of those deep and meaningful conversations at the moment. She just wanted to forget about everything with her Grams and Damon, bloody Salvatore. Matt sensed this and changed the subject back to him and Caroline.

"It's our one month anniversary actually." He sighed. "To be honest, I'm kind of nervous about it."

"Why?" Bonnie asked as she took the first turn and picked up a card from the deck and put one down from her hand.

"Well," Matt cleared his throat. "As you know, my family and I aren't doing so great financially," he shrugged. "And well, I can't really afford to take her on the kind of epic date that she's used to, the kind that'll sweep her off her feet. I mean, I can do dinner and a movie, maybe a single red rose, but that's about it. Am I supposed to get her a gift?" He sighed. "I just don't want to disappoint her."

Bonnie laughed softly. "Ugh, you're too cute, you make me want to vomit."

"Thank you, for those words of wisdom Bonnie really." He said as he picked up the card she had put down swapping it for one of his own.

She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Matt, Caroline has kind of had a thing for you since we were in pigtails. She's always hated that Elena got to you first and that you never even looked at her twice. The fact that you want to be with her for her, is gift enough."

"She's liked me since when?" he asked in shock.

"Why are guys so stupid?" she asked in return. "Why else do you think she has always competed with Elena? She's always been so insecure, always had this thing where she thought she was second best."

"But she's always so confident about herself," Matt said confused.

"Is she?"

Matt thought for a while. "I guess not. No. In fact when we both got together she kept giving me an out, like she would understand if I didn't want to be with her. It's like she has two personalities, the one where she's bitchy to everyone and the one where she's just so easy to be around."

"Well which one comes out when she's with you?"

"The second one, the good one." He smiled.

Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "You really like her." She stated.

"Yeah," Matt answered shyly.

"So find a way to tell her. I think the best gift you could give her would be to show her that she's the only one you're thinking of. The only one who can make you look like such a dork. Dude the smile you have on your face right now is so goofy."

Matt chuckled but then his face went serious.

"Do you think I'm the only one she's thinking of?"

Bonnie frowned.

"She never really told me what happened with that guy, Damon."

Bonnie's entire body froze at the mention of it's name. Matt's eyes widened at her response.

"That bad huh?" he asked. "What did he do to her?"

Bonnie swallowed and willed herself not to snap or scream.

"He basically abused her." She said stiffly.

"What?"

"Mind games mostly," she answered quickly. 'Mind control that is and the biting and draining of her blood without her consent, let's not forget that,' She thought angrily.

"But - "

Bonnie cut his oncoming questions off.

"Look, I don't really want to talk about him, he wasn't just a bastard to her. He's the kind of guy who leaves pain behind him wherever he goes. That's all you need to know. So don't hurt Caroline ok?"

Matt simply nodded as he took all this in.

"By the way," Bonnie smirked as she lay down her cards, "I win. Jack, Queen, King, Ace, in diamonds and three nines."

"Damn you suck!" exclaimed Matt as he collected their cards to shuffle them for a new game.

"No that would you," Bonnie pointed at him and laughed. He laughed along with her.

"You know, I've missed this," he said to her.

"What getting your ass kicked at Rummy," she teased.

"Us. Hanging out," he said answered. "After Elena and I broke up, it's like I lost you as well."

Bonnie looked down guiltily. She was silent for a short moment before she spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't really know what to do, me being the best friend and you being the ex and all that. And then all this family drama happened. I'm so sorry. I didn't even see how you were when everything happened with Vicky. I thought you would think I was being fake. We hadn't talked in ages and I didn't want to add to your stress by all of a sudden showing up when I didn't have a right to start acting like your friend again."

"I would have liked if you did come see me." Matt admitted. "But it's not like I made the effort to stay friends, being around Elena hurt and I guess I kind of avoided both of you. I then when everything with your Grams happened I didn't come see you either.

Bonnie nodded her head solemnly.

"We're having one of those corny bonding moments you see in chick flicks aren't we," Matt asked.

Bonnie burst out laughing. "Not anymore you loser. So it's settled. We're friends, have been since we were in diapers, no more avoiding and way more hanging out where I kick your ass."

"Deal" Matt extended his hand and they shook on it. "Except the ass kicking thing, 'cause this next game, is mine."

"Bring it on bitch," she teased. The day was beginning to look up, she no longer felt such a deep feeling of loss. It was there but so was the feeling that she had found something she had been looking for.

So, no Damon in this chapter, but he will be in the next one! I guess I don't want this just to be about the romance between them. They each have their own lives as well. I want it to be more real. I hope you like the direction that I'm taking it all in. Please review! Any kind of comment is great, especially any suggestions on how to improve (whether it be about the story itself or the way I write). I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!