A/N: Squee! I'm loving these Bamon moments, but what will Kol think of them?
4.
Secrets Revealed
Bonnie was sprawled across her bed in a not so dignified way when Miss Daniels' cough made her aware of her presence. She had brought her a breakfast tray out of the generosity of her heart, and although Bonnie was waiting for the catch, she never received it.
"I told you your life would be easier once you obeyed my rules," Miss Daniels said.
"Toast with strawberry jam and orange and carrot juice?" Bonnie asked. "What time is it?" she added, realising she had also agreed to Damon's invite last night.
"9:30am if you must know, why?" Miss Daniels put down the tray as Bonnie rushed to the bathroom, almost tripping over her jeans and flying into the bathroom door. "Has this something to do with the boy who walked you home last night?" she asked.
"What boy?" Bonnie called from the bathroom.
Her mattress squeaked as Miss Daniels sat down, then came the sound of pillows being fluffed.
"The handsome one that has put you in a good mood? I haven't see you like this in years."
The toilet flushed, and Bonnie leaned close to the mirror as she washed her hands, checking for pimples. She pulled a reasonably clean shirt off the top of her laundry basket and went back into her room.
"He's just somebody I met, nobody to worry about, trust me," Bonnie said.
"Your shirt's on backwards, and if you ask me, that doesn't show enough cleavage." Miss Daniels pointed out, as if knowing exactly how Bonnie felt about him.
Bonnie laughed. "It's just a rehearsal, I promise, nothing big."
"I just want you to be happy and if this change is because of mystery man, then yes, I approve. Just be.."
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "..home before 9pm. I got it," she sighed.
Miss Daniels nodded, and in the off chance that Bonnie forgot, she forced the toast into her hands.
"You need your energy. Now go get him tiger."
Bonnie sighed, planting her feet into her sneakers. "Them, I'm their new choreographer," and she bit into her toast, licking the excess strawberries from her lip, like that was the most on her mind.
"Is that so," Miss Daniels said, a hint of pride showing.
"I've got to go, I'll be late," Bonnie crammed the rest of her toast into her mouth.
"Remember your 3pm shift at the Grill. It took me a long conversation and a bagel to get him to agree to you working there in the first place."
"OK!" Bonnie said, shutting the door.
-:-
Bonnie stood nervously on the doorstep wondering stupidly if anyone would let her in if Damon didn't show. She didn't have long to wait since everyone else was running late too. The blond girl she remembered was called Caroline, bounced over, followed by a less exuberant Stefan and a mistrustful Rebekah.
"Hi!" Caroline greeted Bonnie with a hug and a smile, and Stefan stood to the side awkwardly.
"Hi," Bonnie murmured, glancing at Rebekah and then receiving a glare in return. Bonnie rolled her eyes, "You need to get over yourself. I don't like you much either, but for us to be a crew, you need to put that aside and listen to what I have to say."
Damon couldn't let them in quick enough. The entrance just got even more awkward when Elena showed up. Stefan pinched some of her donut, and Bonnie bit her lip to stop herself from telling Stefan to chew with his mouth closed.
"You don't belong here," Rebekah said, pushing open the door and elbowing her in the shoulder.
"Ignore her," Stefan said, finding his voice. "She's had a hard year. She's tough, always has been, not saying you aren't, just give her time. Don't push too hard."
Bonnie wondered what Stefan meant by a 'hard year' but still she listened to his advice, and remembered suddenly she had forgotten to bring Damon her best coffee. Her heart jolted in her chest at the thought of seeing his handsome grin again, and even the thought of teaching him how to dance, made her nervous. She swallowed, and Caroline hooked her arm onto hers.
"You're going to be fine. I saw you dance with the 718 once, you were amazing. Thank you for coming, I know it must be hard, and I know you don't think very much of us, but, you'll see," she smiled, and Stefan followed them as they squeezed into the lift, with Rebekah slamming the lever so that they sprung into the air with a jolt.
When they entered the apartment Bonnie was amazed to see Damon had pushed all the furniture aside to make room for them to practice. She sniffed the air and a slightly burnt flavour of coffee beans reached her nose. She could have hugged him. Caroline skipped over to get a cup, and picked up a chocolate croissant. Bonnie's eyes travelled over the pastries, enough for each of them, and then over to Damon who leaned against the fridge, pleased by her silence.
"Coffee?" He smirked, handing her a mug. "Hope you slept well, because starting today, nobody is going to be sleeping in anymore. We've got a dance competition to win, and every hour counts. So I say, ten minutes to get fed and watered, then get changed and meet on the floor."
Bonnie sipped her perfect coffee and tried not to drown within Damon's gaze which fluttered over to her on a frequent basis. Instead, when she thought she was losing control she returned her attention back to study each of the other dancers. Rebekah, she didn't take in for very long considering Stefan's advice and moved on to Elena.
Elena had long brown hair and a pout, she was livelier than Rebekah who seemed more protective of her, rather than the others. Caroline got on with everybody, and she didn't seem threatened at all by Bonnie's presence. Stefan was still acting awkward around her but seemed keen to contribute, and waited with his coffee dripping onto a coaster for her say so. There was a bang on the roller door and another boy entered.
"Oh, that's Matt, he's Bekah's boyfriend." Bonnie averted her eyes when he kissed Rebekah and steered Damon back towards the fridge to talk.
"I like to see your enthusiasm, but there's not enough space to practice here. What we need Is an abandoned car park or skate park, something big enough for flips..."
Damon crossed his arms. "Uh, we're not doing auditioning for a circus, Bonnie. The floor is as big as Miss Daniels' dance studio."
Bonnie sighed, trying hard to be polite. "I have nothing against your home, even if it does smell of things I don't even wish to say out loud, but you gave me this position and I say it's not enough-"
Damon sighed, then he clapped his hands and Bonnie waited, half scared of his next announcement.
"Okay gang, ten minutes is up and we are moving locations. We're going to Old Man Dave's skate park. You know what that means?"
What happened next was not at all in Bonnie's list of top ten things. Stefan and Elena made a dash to the door with an exit sign and in the process knocked over several cushions. Rebekah sighed, pulling Matt along by the hand, remembering to bump her, and Damon interjected before she could retaliate.
"What the hell was that?" Bonnie asked, as the others disappeared behind the mystery door.
"You'll find out." And his hand remained on the small of her back.
"You don't have to Bonnie, come use the stairs like me."
"You're no fun at all, Caroline."
"And you're too much fun," she said to Damon.
Damon saluted, and Bonnie watched as Damon disappeared down what she could now see was a fire escape. Where it led to Caroline explained with a roll of the eyes, the back garden.
"It's perfectly safe apparently, this whole placed used to be a fire station. I just did my nails, so I have an excuse. I like yours," she smiled, taking in her black nails. Bonnie wondered why she was being so kind, but at the same time it was nice to have someone other than Damon to talk to.
By the time they reached the skate board park, the others were settling on old couches and laughing at the excitement of the fire escape. Bonnie looked over the graffiti murals and saw the skate park was like their second home. Damon was standing next to a massive row of stereos and he hit play.
"What's this?" her voice faded.
"We never use the warehouse to practice. I just wanted to see your face,"
Bonnie narrowed her eyes, but her lips twitched into a smile. She tried to punch him, but he caught her fist before she could bruise anything. This moment was interrupted by Stefan's fake cough.
"Where do you want us, Bonnie?" Damon said, letting go and unbuttoning his shirt. Bonnie felt like she wouldn't be able to find her voice in time, then she realised he was wearing a singlet. She pointed to a flat surface, and prayed to God she could get through practice.
Caroline appeared by her elbow, "if you're lucky he might take it off later." She bit her lip and took her place beside Stefan and Elena. Elena was retying her pony tail.
"You can't be serious? We're actually going through with this?" Rebekah was sitting on Matt's lap.
Damon sighed, telling it how it was. "Bekah, thank you for being protective of the crew, but everyone is on board except you, so if you want to sit this out, that's fine by me, but don't let your bad mood, spoil our fun. Go on, Bonnie."
Bonnie thought practice went well, apart from Bekah accusing her of making them into the 718.
The problem Bekah had with her seemed only to resonate in the theory that Bonnie did not care whatsoever for their crew and was only waiting for the call back from Kol. Denying this, and reminding her that she had no interest in joining his crew ever again, Bonnie had to then prove her loyalty. With Damon in charge, he proposed a dance-off.
Bonnie had no regrets. Fighting and dancing in the prison on her breaks had made all the difference, and now everybody knew it, including Rebekah.
"Bad luck, Bekah," Matt said, reaching out for her hand.
Rebekah pushed Bonnie back a step. "Look, you want to know why I don't trust anyone from the 718? Because I don't trust Kol. I know that the majority of his crew are criminals...but I judged you too quickly - you are a good dancer and you seem serious about BattleZone." She held out her hand. "Truce?"
Surprised by her sudden change in mind, Bonnie taught for only another hour, then gave them some encouragement. She, like Rebekah was quick to judge them and was pleased to see the progress that had been made by each member, especially since they each contributed to a different art form. Caroline with contemporary, Rebekah with ballet, Stefan with classic and jazz, Elena with hip hop and Damon: a little bit of everything.
"Dinner's on me," Bonnie said, attempting to make it up to them. She switched off the music, and checked her watch. It was almost 3:15pm, Miss Daniels was going to kill her, she was meant to be at work, and facing Miss Daniels was worse than facing the wardens in juvi.
"You look pale, everything ok?" Damon asked.
"Yeah, I'm just late for work," she swept her sweaty fringe from her face and gathered her things.
"I'll drive you," Damon offered.
"No, it's fine, I don't want to be any trouble." Bonnie added.
"I'm pretty sure you're the definition of trouble, however it's the least I can do after your hard work today."
Bonnie smiled. "Ok, that would be great."
Damon called out to the others. "The Grill, 6 o'clock, Bonnie's paying."
She smiled, listening to the applause and excitement and understood, she was one of them now.
-:-
"Miss Bennett, I promised Miss Daniels I'd give you a chance, and I have, but I do not hire people who are twenty minutes late, this is not a good look for my business or your performance review."
Bonnie sighed, thinking of excuses, "I'm sorry Mr Saltzman, our dance class ran late."
Damon took off his jacket and sat down at the bar. "Bonnie's helping us with BattleZone this year. You remember our place, it's so ridiculously in need of maintenance, I'm hoping to run night classes, you know waltz, jazz, those kind of dances. You dance, don't you Mr Saltzman? I mean Bonnie would be happy to show you how to do the Tango, it's a total chick magnet."
Bonnie put on her work apron and picked up the cloth to polish the bench down. Mr Saltzman frowned, Damon's question pondering his mind, no doubt.
"I have bad knees, Bonnie," he said eventually.
Damon caught her warning glance, and he grinned. "Go on, Bonnie, show him."
Bonnie would blame his mischievous blue eyes later, they were the reason behind her impulsive decision to put down her cloth and take Mr Saltzman's hands.
"I'll make it easy for you. One. Two. Three. four."
Perhaps Damon did have magical powers, because a dance, especially the tango, was exactly what he needed. One, it took his mind off her being late and two, the so-called chicks stuck to him like flies.
"That was good."
"No, I was shit."
Mr Saltzman spent the rest of the night talking to a woman with dark brown hair and a stethoscope.
"I like her, the shy type," Damon pointed out to Bonnie who was wiping glasses clean.
"How did you know he was in desperate need of a date?"
"I come in here often," he admitted.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, I used to come here to study. There used to be this cute girl with a dick of a boyfriend who sat at that table over there and chugged down beers until one day they got kicked out because he got drunk and threw his plate at the regulars. Can't for the life of me understand what she was doing with a guy like that, but I remember thinking," and he leaned forward to whisper the rest of his sentence, "one day, I'll get that girl to talk to me."
"You are such a liar," Bonnie smirked.
"You don't believe me?" Damon asked.
"No."
"Go over to that table, three from the back and tell me what's sketched into its surface."
Bonnie hung up the tea towel and did as he said, if only just to prove she was right.
"What's it say?" Damon called out to her.
Bonnie looked at the table's surface for a sign that Damon was telling the truth, and a small gasp escaped her. Scratched into the surface was what looked like the letter B, and being the hopeless romantic she was, though she'd never admit it to anyone, she turned to him to find he was standing so close to her she could almost smell the beer on his lips.
"That could be a watermark," she lied. Damon took her hand, "I'm not off for another hour and a half." She reminded him. He smiled, took a seat at the table he used to spy on her from, and said he'd wait until her shift ended. Unnerving her more than usual, he took out a notepad and jotted down some things inside of it.
"I can see you two flirting over there, get back to work, Bennett!" Mr Saltzman said, showing the woman to the bar where he continued talking to her for the rest of the evening.
Bonnie collapsed into the seat next to Damon around 7:30pm and her heart flipped when his hand caressed her waist. Trying not to notice she asked Caroline and Elena how they liked their burgers, they were the best in Mystic Falls after all. Rebekah and Matt were dancing under the disco lights, and Bonnie kept having to distract herself from asking Damon to do the same. Finally her panicked look must have crossed over to Caroline who she would one day thank, with several baskets of champagne.
"Bathroom break, Bonnie let's go."
On the way back from the bathroom which Bonnie reminded herself to complain to Alaric about because of its lack of hygiene, she spotted Kol in the crowd, wearing his black hat and red shoes. Squeezing Caroline's arm tighter than intended she searched through the crowd for Damon who seemed to have had the same idea they had.
"What's wrong?" Caroline asked, her smile faltering.
"Kol, my ex," Bonnie said with gritted teeth.
"Oh, would you like me to distract him? Then you can make a run for it. I'm good at that."
"I bet you are, but I'm not leaving you alone with him, he's sort of a dick. A very big dick." And Bonnie wondered why it had taken this long to realise that.
As Bonnie and Caroline tried their hardest to manoeuvre around the dance floor without being seen, she realised that everywhere she turned, Kol was always standing.
"Bonnie!" Damon called, and Kol looked up. Caroline had miraculously vanished on behalf of being distracted by a hot guy and mouthed 'sorry' with her arms around his neck. Panicking, Bonnie saw Elena was coming towards them and so she turned to Kol to tell him a piece of her mind.
"What's this?" Kol said, finally acknowledging Damon.
"I'm a friend, and you better back off," he threatened.
"My business is not with you. Bon, have you given any thought to my offer?"
"Get lost, Kol."
"Ah, so the rumours are true? You have joined another crew with these losers. Don't be stupid Bon, you'll never win BattleZone without me. How about you, Elena? What do you say? Want to come join the undefeated champions?" He grinned, aware of the way he was making Bonnie's blood temperature rise.
Bonnie and Damon stared at Elena who pushed past them. "I'm sorry, but I want to win."
Kol was never there to regain her trust, he already knew where her loyalties lay so he had a plan b. When had he met with Elena? When had he weaselled his way into her pants? It was obvious by the way she walked towards him, how she had been so 'shy' but determined throughout choreography and then it her, had they been dating the whole time she was in juvi?
"What the hell is going on?" Rebekah and Matt were there. "Elena? Kol?"
"Ah, little sister, I heard you were back in Mystic Falls, and thanks to my little spy, I know everything. Like how you ran away from boarding school, and how you're dating that commoner, Matt is it? And how you decided to make friends with those beneath us, just to annoy me. Ah, Bonnie, I see you didn't know that piece of information? I guess your friend, can't be trusted after all." Kol put his arm around Elena's shoulders, and smirked. "See you at BattleZone, if you're not ashamed to show your faces, that is. Goodnight," and Kol laughed with Elena and the 'hot' guy Caroline had been dancing with.
"I hate those Mikaelsons, except you Bekah," Damon said, loosening his fists.
"I know you do," she said, shaking in the aftermath. Matt kissed her forehead.
"Uh - why did I just see Elena leaving with Kol Mikaelson?" Stefan had just run up to them.
Bonnie was still trying to make sense of it all. The one thought she was unable to ignore was that Damon had lied to her.
"Because he got to her. She thinks she has a better chance at winning BattleZone if she's with Kol, and she's with Kol." She was an idiot to think Kol still loved her. Reality had just slapped her across the face, again. Maybe Damon was just another version of Kol? Maybe she had been under a magic spell, and her ability to think clearly was clouded by those infernal blue eyes?
"Hey! Where are you going?" Damon called out when she stomped past him.
"It's over. Kol has Elena, we're never going to win BattleZone and my shift was over hours ago, and judging by the dwindling regulars it's 11pm which by the way means Miss Daniels is going to kill me."
"Bonnie," he said, half exasperated, like Bonnie was overreacting.
She turned, she saw Caroline and Stefan and Rebekah and Matt looking at her like she determined their futures, and perhaps in a way she did, but now, after everything, she didn't care.
"I quit."
A/N: Please review! Thanks muchly xx