"Wake up," he says, but it's not his slow voice to awake her – in a very inconvenient way considering she must be in school in about one hour – rather his tongue against her earlobe and his mouth kissing and sucking his way down along her neck.
She opens her eyes on the clock on her nightstand and whines, because she can't possibly squeeze in any time for him right now.
"I have to go to school," she says, suffocating a yawn.
"You have to, diligent bird," he agrees against her wet skin, continuing his ministrations.
"But to do that I have to leave the bed, you know." She rolls on her back and sinks her fingers into his thick black hair.
"Poor little Bonnie, facing such a dilemma this early in the morning," he fakes a sympathetic tone. "To be, or not to be? That is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles; and, by opposing between the sheets in the tantalizing company of your boyfriend end them, to die the sweet death, to sleep… no more."
"Have you ever thought of pursuing a teaching career?" she asks, trying not to laugh at his twisting of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
"If that means you'll call me sir and obey me when I put you in detention…" he suggests with a grin.
"Oh, you mean, obeying when you'll be asking me to pick up a pencil from the floor for you or when you'll insist that I need you to give me very private lessons?" she asks in a low tone but eyeing him with a disillusioned look. He never changes.
"Do you think you could wear the uniform?" he asks, hopeful, making her roll her eyes.
"You're impossible." Bonnie pushes him away weakly and gets up from the bed to get ready for school.
"Yeah, but could you?" he insists, teasing her.
When she shuts the bathroom door he can still hear her laughing. Damon lets himself fall back against the pillow and grins.
#
Needless to say, Constantine is the most speculated topic of the day.
His background story – as Stefan has instructed him – is that he's the son of a military family and therefore he travels a lot across the country. Never had any disciplinary trouble and has a preference for math.
About two hours after he's put his foot on academic territory he's become the playboy that had atorrid affair with the wife of his father's commander, and therefore his dad has left him in Mystic Falls to avoid any further troubles. He's been caught by Sheriff Forbes as he drove at high speed through town but charmed his way out of a ticket. Tyler is hostile to him because Caroline has a soft spot for him already. Bets say that he'll do the French teacher first, but since Miss Montroy blinked when she saw the face of her new student they're sure he already did – probably when they met at a previous school where she taught. And what about his body? Have you seen that body? Because of his military upbringing he follows a strict discipline. He could easily take down any member of the Jujitsu team but he's modest and conscious of his own strength so he keeps to himself because he fears, one day, he will end up killing someone. The girl that wants to be with him must understand what a tortured, beautiful man he is and support him through his inner journey. He is not a whore, though, even if I heard Tyler Swift has written a song about him, it's called "Please pick me" and it's coming out in her next album. Claire, the girl that publicly dumped Brad Alcock – the captain of the basketball team, remember? I couldn't believe it, they've been together for so long, three whole months! – wanted to have a threesome with him but he refused her because he's used to much prettier girls. He's a master of tantric sex. Mandy told me so, she says that the best friend of her brother's best friend is in the army and when he was stationed in Fort Huachuca, Constantine locked himself into the infirmary with a young trainee nurse. Later she became a nun because no one could compare to him. His IQ is 150, he took part in an education program offered by NASA but left because it wasn't challenging enough. Oh if only he could notice me, I'm sure we could be epic and everyone would agree we're made for each other.
When they see him smile at Bonnie as they meet in the hallway, and change his path just to walk her to her class, more than one heart gets crushed. Until they remember she's actually dating the older Salvatore brother, so there's still hope. Furthermore such an outstanding guy is worth waiting and fighting for.
#
"How's your first day at school been, so far?" Bonnie asks as she walks with Constantine.
He turns his eyes around, in a circumspect way, lowering his voice as he bends his head towards her to answer, "I don't know. Everyone keeps whispering when I walk by."
"Do the girls do most of the whispering?" she asks in the same way, to indulge him.
"Yes, I think so," he nods, marveling at her insightfulness.
"Then I think your first day surpassed our best expectations."
"You'll never guess what I heard!" Before he can say anything Caroline joins them, breathless, "One of Constantine's father's recruits has come out because he fell in love with him at first sight and so, since he couldn't suffocate his love seeing him every day, he asked to be transferred from his squad."
"Come out of what? Was he trapped somewhere?" Constantine asks confused.
"He came out of the closet," Caroline tells him, "He told everyone he was gay!"
"I don't get it," he says, "I don't have a human father, so he can't have a recruit."
"That's not the point," she insists, stopping before they can exit the school gates.
"I never seem to get the point," Constantine sighs, "but you don't get to the point, either," he adds.
"That's kind of sarcastic," Bonnie says, elbowing in the side.
"You're making a reputation for yourself," the blonde vampire explains, "You're already popular. You know how much work it takes to be popular in high school? You're safe from obscurity and loneliness, but above all else, no one will dare question you. Ever. No matter how… original you are. It's like a get out of jail free card. You don't need to fear anything; life here will be everything you want it to be."
"But I just want it to be with Bonnie."
The two girls look at him stunned. Caroline offers a nervous chuckle, "Okay, I know you don't mean it the way it sounded but I don't think you should say anything like that ever again."
The boy turns towards the witch and she nods in approval, "Yes, please," she says, "I know you have your duty, but now you have a life too. Your world shouldn't revolve around me. You can have friends, have fun, make experiences."
He grimaces when he asks, "Like the hangover?"
"There are better things, I swear."
"I hope so."
"Okay then," Caroline interrupts them because she's part of the prom committee and she needs to leave. Constantine is the one to walk Bonnie out of school.
He blinks as he watches Bonnie rise on tip toes to kiss Damon.
Every time Damon is around her smile gets brighter, her voice becomes softer, her aura seem to shine more. He rationally knows that it's a good thing.
The vampire looks at him as he holds her against his chest, before she turns to wish him, "Good luck with your football try-out."
Even if she smiles brighter when she looks at Damon, he still likes it more when she looks at him.
#
He'd been the last one to leave the field, almost physically unable to abandon the inflated ball they used to play.
Matt had been there to help him understand some of the direction the coach was giving him, and Stefan went easy on him, both of them working for the coach to give him this chance, even if he was going to be relegated to the bench. Moreover school was about to be over in three weeks. He needed to wait the whole summer to be really part of the team.
And yet he feels proud he could do it. Even being hit and knocked down was not so bad. His opponent smiled down at him through the metal bars of the helmet and offered his hand to help him up. He remembered the strange, violent display of manly affection in the mall when he was shopping with the girls and felt a little bit human for the first time.
"Hey Con-man," a team player coming out of the locker room and gives him a slap on the back and passes him by as he is entering.
Constantine looks at Tyler as he is putting his stuff back in the backpack, and asks in a low voice, "Does he know?"
The werewolf looks at him puzzled, throwing the backpack over his shoulder, "What are you talking about?"
"My true identity. He called me Con-man. Does he know I'm not actually a human?" his blue eyes are wide and alarmed, staring into Tyler's face.
"He didn't call you a swindler," he assures him, shaking his head at such ignorance, "He shortened your first name. Like, sometimes they call me T-man. It's actually kind of a fellowship thing, really. They're accepting you into the team, man."
"Oh, that's good."
Tyler just sighs, walking to the door, then turns around to ungracefully remind him "Take a shower, you stink."
Constantine lowers his head toward his chest, actually sniffing himself. Well, his scent right now is not the best, he has to admit it. Nothing to do with the fresh floral scent that he always smells around Caroline or the black honey that he can detect on Bonnie every time they are close.
He likes this about girls, they always smells so much better than their male counterparts.
Constantine strips off his sweaty clothes and leaves them in a messy pile on the wood bench. He is the last one left in the locker room so he walks to the shower and proceeds to wash himself up.
He had picked his shower gel with Bonnie, and even if he only heard bad things about shopping with a girl he didn't think it was so bad. Actually, he had survived a day with Caroline and he supposed that the rest could only get better. Furthermore, making choices was becoming kind of thrilling for him.
He had picked a bottle with a blue jelly fluid but Bonnie had told him that he needed an aftershave too, because he couldn't keep on using her dads – the scent doesn't suit him, she said - so she had insisted about buying him a box with both the gel and the aftershave. It was a nice black box with white print that said Iceberg Effusion Man.
Under the warm water jet Constantine opens the gel tube and tries to smell the scent through the vapor in the air. It is faint but good.
As he showers, and rubs the gel over his firm body, watching the tiles in front of him, he catches a faint sound and turns around to see nothing. Yet as he continues he hears another sound. But this time, when he turns around he catches a brown lock of hair behind the wall that separate the showers from the actual looker room.
Constantine is guarded, cautious. He walks slowly towards that corner, heedless about the water still running and impacting on the shower plate. Whoever is hiding behind the wall should have heard the change in the sound but when he faces the intruder she is petrified where she stands.
The girl is startled at his apparition. Her cheeks take on a light shade of red and she seems unable to choose where to direct her gaze, if to his face or to a lower part of his anatomy, which has her gasping. Constantine is confused and he tightens his eyes into two cracks, studying her.
"This is the men's locker room," he informs her, politely.
"I know," she answers, looking away for a moment like she's very nervous. When people are nervous, Constantine has come to realize in his short experience, it will make them feel better if you are kind to them, so he smiles at her.
She stares at a drop of water on his lower lip and seems to relax, leaning into his chest.
Constantine looks down, where their bodies meet and he reminds her, "You're going to get wet."
Instead of being worried about her attire she smiles up to him. He remember this smile because it's the same one he received at Bonnie's party, and a few times that morning as he walked through the school's corridors.
"I was hoping so," she says, with a breathy tone.
The guardian stares into her eyes, fascinated at the fact that such a tiny detail can say so much about a person. It is actually against the rules for girls to shower in the male's rooms but there's no one around and he thinks that maybe he can let her. She looks so hopeful he would feel guilty crashing her hopes.
"I won't tell anyone," he tells her, in a low voice, because this is going to be a secret, "But you should really take off your clothes."
She does. The girl keeps her eyes on him and opens the button of her blouse, kicks her boots to the side, and pushes down the jeans from her hips before taking off the bra and her panties.
He never saw a female body before, not naked at least. It has some unspeakable allure. The chest, above all, looks so very soft.
"Can I touch?" he asks, raising his eyes to her face to make sure he has her permission.
"Of course," she licks her lips and takes his hand to bring it to her chest. She makes him grip her breast and moans in response to the possessive touch. He blinks at her reaction, but decides he doesn't mind. She seems very happy with him, and it's not something he can accomplish very often, so he smiles at her.
"That's nice," he says, cordially, "Thanks," he adds, to show appreciation to her helpfulness, "You should go take your shower before the hot water runs out," he reminds her, pulling away from her and walking to go and get dressed.
She babbles a "What?" but she's so taken aback that her voice doesn't even come out. Constantine doesn't see the stunned look on her face as he leaves her standing there.
#
Sitting on the passenger seat, Bonnie flips through the pages of her book, marking with a sign the parts she must pay more attention to as the fingers of Damon's right hand tap on the manual gearbox.
Her left hand unconsciously moves to cover his on the manual gear and he turns his eyes on her, repressing a smile. She's all concentrated on her books, her hair falling around her face like a curtain as he guesses her teeth chewing on the inside of her mouth.
Damon drives quietly, calmly, for the place he needs to be is only with her. He doesn't even bother to tell her they're arrived once he stops his car in front of her house. He just relaxes in his seat, turns his hand so that they are palm against palm, and laces their fingers together.
Bonnie pulls a strand of hair behind her left hear using her right hand, which is still holding the pencil, just so that she doesn't need to let go of his hold. He spends a few minutes like this, watching her organizing her study until he hears her rumbling stomach. He shakes his head, "Oh, little bird, how did you survive without me all this time?" he asks. Feeding himself the little lie that he is as indispensable for her as she is for him.
His voice sinks into her brain a few moments later and she raises her head, blinking at him.
"What?" she asks, looking into his blue eyes.
Damon grins and turns his eyes to point at her house, "We've been here for a while, but you were so busy reading that you didn't even notice.
She closes the book on her legs with her right hand, "I was reviewing for a test that I have tomorrow."
"Please," he begs, with a devilish grin, "tell me that it's anatomy and I'll devote myself to helping you discover every secret of it."
She smiles condescendingly and picks up the book so that he can read the title: "Biology: Concepts and Connections". Under the words in bold type, from a light blue cover a frog looks at him with some sort of threatening expression, probably telling him "I'm going to kill her libido and therefore your sexual life and there's nothing you can do about it".
Or maybe he's just whipped by her and doesn't want to share her time with any amphibians.
"Are you, at least, at the chapter about mating?"
"You wish," she says, rolling her eyes and throwing her book against his chest. It bumps against his muscles and falls on his lap. Only then does she realize they've been holding hands the whole time.
Bonnie looks away to hide her blushing and leaves her tight hold to get out of the car.
He's too smug about it to let it go easily.
I've made my home in your heart and your mind
And you laid your hands on my chest and
You pointed home
"I didn't figure you for the holding hand type, you know. If I check your textbook will I find pierced hearts and B+D together forever?" he asks as he follows her to her front door, holding her textbook for her.
She gives him a dirty look as she turns the key into the keyhole.
"Do you already sign your stuff with Bonnie Salvatore?"
"Yes, I do in fact," she says with a cutting smile, "Since the day I laid eyes on Stefan," she chants as she walks to the kitchen.
"That's not funny!"
"I disagree," she says, without turning around.
"Take it back," he says, turning her and trapping her against the counter top. She gasps and giggles, "Why should I?"
"You're dirty," he says, calling her on her teasing.
"I thought you liked dirty," she answers, her voice barely a whisper. Damon smiles, before dipping his head to kiss her lips, then go lower to give proper attention to the beautiful curve of her neck.
"Damon, I'm hungry," she gasps, when his tongue presses against her pulse point.
"That's what I wanted to hear," he says, his mouth busy on her skin.
Bonnie giggles again, pushing him away to look at him, "I mean it, I'm starving, and then I need to study for tomorrow's test."
Damon rolls his eyes, takes her by the shoulders and walks her to the table, making her sit. He slaps the textbook in front of her, "You study, diligent bird, I'm going to cook for you. Feel free to show your appreciation in whatever indecent manner crosses your mind."
I'll give you all of me
I'll make you mine
If you'll take me and you'll make me
Your first in line, oh
She does as he told her – well, more or less. She spends twenty minutes on the same page, playing with the pencil between her fingers, sneaking peeks at him every chance she gets. For the first non-date they never got to live he had ordered food, because he had been too busy setting up the garden for their night out. Well, as out as she could manage. Having him cook for her is new. Peeking through those memories of him still lingering in her mind she knows this is his first time doing that for her – aside for one time when he made her breakfast - and for how ridiculous it can sound she doesn't want to miss it. She missed so many firsts - only living them through his memories – that she can't give up on this one.
"Am I that sexy?" he asks, checking the cooking time of the spaghetti.
She gives up on hiding her interest in watching him cook for her and abandons the pencil on the open book, which rolls in the crack.
"I'm more attracted to the spaghetti," she says, resting her back against the chair. He grins at her before draining the pasta.
She knows him well enough to guess his language. Food is to feed, Italian is to seduce. Everything he does, he must always take it up a notch.
She stands, putting her books away and setting the table. As she used to do when she didn't live in the Salvatore boarding house – oh sometimes this whole thing it's just so complicated – she set a place for him too and he amuses her, putting a forkful of spaghetti onto a plate for himself.
As he brings the plates to the table he catches the string of her ankle boot laying on the floor.
"It smells amazing," she says, watching the brilliant red of tomato and the basilica leaf on top of it.
"It tastes amazing too," he says, immodest, as he sits. Before she can roll her eyes at him though, he bends down, taking her ankle into his hand and pulling up her leg.
She doesn't have the time to do anything but gasp. She sees him trapping her foot between his knees. Damon rolls up her jeans with care, takes the strings between his fingers and laces them, then he rolls her jeans back down and put her foot back on the floor.
I've seen you, I've kissed you
In two hours, I've missed you
I'll take it, I'll make it
I'll give you all
"Check for yourself," he says, taking the fork himself, oblivious to the way she's looking at him, "And don't hold back with the compliments."
Bonnie is a rational creature, she likes to ponder and be sure of what she's doing. She thinks and she thinks and she thinks some more, but when Damon acts this way she just wants to throw caution to hell.
She chose not to ask herself what pushed her to have sex with Damon, despite her normally prudent attitude, her talk about going slow, fearing she could realize too late, it just happened out of lust or fear to lose him, but right now, as she lowers her eyes on the food he cooked for her just so he won't see her eyes, and the love he arouses so easily reflected in them, she understands it was this. This tenderness he's so oblivious to and that makes her feel like her heart is breaking, making her wish she could go out of her own body and be one with him. And it's just so right. She can't believe she could ever doubt what they have, what moved her.
He's so stupidly unaware and she's so stupidly in love. With his conceited ways, with his inclination to innuendos, with his sweetest insecurities, with the way he gets angry when he can't find a better way to say he cares.
She doesn't even taste the spaghetti before answering him, "It's exactly what I needed."
#
Important note: It's hard to explain – since I'm never happy with what I write anyway - but lately I've been lead to think that I'm not writing the character's development with enough clarity, it has me thinking that maybe I should give up on this story entirely. I've published this chapter because it's been ready for a while but I can't guarantee that I'm going to write the rest of it. Maybe it's just me being paranoic, but right now I don't know if I'm going to continue Divenire.
Note 2: the song used in this chapter is "First in line" by Matthew Mayfield.