A friendship with no agenda

Enzo was driving back home with Bonnie. He had a great time chatting and celebrating his birthday with her and he was sure she had a great time with him as well. The last time they shared a drink seemed like ages ago – and he was heartbroken because Lily chose Julian over him. Now it just felt like a distant memory.

They were quiet on their way back. So quiet, in fact, that Bonnie actually fell asleep. It didn't take long for her to drift into slumber as the ride back home took quite a while and she had a bit too much to drink. He couldn't help but peek at her from time to time.

Enzo parked the car in front of the cabin. He turned off the engine and looked at Bonnie. She was still fast asleep.

"Bonnie?", he tried. No response. He bent over a little in her direction.

"Bonnie?", he tried again. Nothing. Realizing she was in a deep sleep, he got out of the car and closed the door behind him, then walked to Bonnie's side and opened her door. He stood there for a minute or so, deciding what to do, exactly. He reached in close to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Bonnie?", he tried a third time.

"Hmm", she grunted, turning her head to the other side, then sighed.

"Can you walk?", he asked as he gently poked her shoulder.

No response.

"All right, then", he said to himself.

Convinced that the world could be swallowed whole by an earthquake and Bonnie would still be sleeping, he decided he would just take her inside at once.

Enzo bent over Bonnie and unfasted her seatbelt, taking her gently in his arms, with one arm holding her back and the other on the back of her knees, holding her legs together. Her head was pressing against his chest.

Even though he had done this before – on occasions that he had knocked her out when they were still enemies, for example – this felt different. He could actually feel her now. He could feel her warmth and her rhythmic breath tickling his neck. He could feel her whole body pulsate as her blood flowed through her veins. This was when he realized he had just seen Bonnie at her most vulnerable moment.

Enzo didn't know exactly how much time he just stood there, with Bonnie in his arms. Her weight could hardly stress his immortal muscles. When he realized his awkward hesitation, Enzo kicked the car door closed and gently walked in the direction of the cabin, carefully as not to wake Bonnie. He quickly retrieved the key from the inside of his left jacket pocket, briefly balancing Bonnie's weight on his left shoulder as he opened the door. Enzo held Bonnie in his arms again and proceeded to her room, perfectly dodging the furniture and objects lying around that no human could possibly dodge, considering how dark it was inside the cabin. He pushed the door to Bonnie's room with his back and gently put her on the bed. He grabbed a pillow and as he raised her head just enough for it to fit under her cheek, Bonnie shifted a little to her side, letting out a low sigh. Enzo gently removed his hand from under Bonnie's cheek. She shifted again and instinctively curled up into fetal position. He thought about removing her shoes but he didn't know if he would overstep his boundaries if he did so. He did it anyway and put them on the floor by her bed. If she didn't like it then it would be another matter to deal with in another time. Finally he fetched a blanket that was folded at her feet and gently covered her all the way up to her shoulder. He then silently retreated, closing the door to her room.

Enzo was feeling somewhat uneasy. It had been ages since he had so much fun with someone else. More than that, it had been quite a while since the last time she spent some quality time with someone who wasn't an immortal like himself. As a plus, Bonnie was proving herself to be quite a good companion and friend. She even had a sense of humor he actually enjoyed a lot.

Even though they had such a great time and this level of friendship – with no agenda – was new to him, he couldn't shake off the feeling that it wouldn't last long. It had been the story of life: to trust someone only to be abandoned later on. The first time was his family that abandoned him at the orphanage. Then Lilly, later on, left him not only alone, but to also deal with his vampire transition. Then after being incarcerated by decades, Damon left him to die by fire. As if that wasn't enough, Lilly left him – again – and chose Julian instead. So, yeah, Enzo couldn't just not think about anything that could separate him from Bonnie – whether it was intentional or not.

"You know what", he spoke just so he could hear his voice, "I better…cool down and hit the sack."

Enzo proceeded to his room and closed the door behind him. He stripped off his jacket, then his shirt and finally removed his belt and unbuttoned his pants. As he laid down on the bed with his arms crossed behind his head, he tried to relax by controlling his breathing. As a vampire, his feelings were always easily heightened. So even a normal birthday celebration was still something that hit him with an unpredictable force. How would he ever imagine that? He never really had a birthday party before.

Eventually, Enzo managed to calm down and sleep a full night's sleep.

Bonnie woke up with her mouth dry and a lazy disposition. She was feeling a bit disorientated but as she sat down on the corner of her – which she immediately regretted, as a killing headache suddenly hit her with full force – she started to slowly piece her memories from last night together.

She remembered them going out after she ruined his birthday cake, and then they drank and had fun. Even with Enzo telling the short yet sad story of his life about never really have celebrated a birthday party.

After that…it was blurry. She remembered getting inside the car when he judged she wasn't responding for herself anymore. Bonnie protested a bit at that but couldn't deny she was tired – and drunk. She said something…about him being a failure. A failure at making people actually hate him when he allowed himself to show more of his persona. She didn't know how he reacted at that. The next thing she remembered was him calling her name. Like he was a mile away. And that's it. And now she was in her room, on her bed, with her shoes off and not really sure how it all happened. Did he carry her all the way inside?

Bonnie heard the fire cackle from the kitchen. Enzo was probably cooking something. She tried to stand and immediately cursed herself mentally. Every step felt like it was bringing her closer to hell. Her head was pounding hard and she could barely keep her eyes open. She took a few deep breaths and opened the door to the living room.

"Hey", Enzo turned his head to greet Bonnie when he saw her coming out of her room. He tried his best to stifle a laugh when he saw her physical state. She did look like crap.

"Don't laugh", she retorted as she slowly made her way to the kitchen and sat by the table near him.

"I would never dream to do so", he replied with a smirk. "How are you feeling?".

"Like I've been ran over by a truck or something", she replied with her voice as low as possible, massaging her temples.

"Hmm", he replied, "yeah you had a bit too much to drink last night. Had to take you out of there or you would just keep toasting at pretty much everything."

"Toasting at everything? How so?", Bonnie asked, not really remembering much of that.

"Well, after our first toast you started to talk about how life was crazy. How much different you are now than back when Elena's parents were still alive. How being a witch and dealing with the supernatural changed you forever...how you met and lost your close family. And how you felt like it was important to celebrate everyone you loved in your life."

"I did all that?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah. You also stood on the table and started to dance on it like there would be no tomorrow", he replied.

Bonnie was mortified. She stared at him wide eyed and didn't really know what to say. That was when Enzo laughed out loud as he served them some scrambled eggs with bacon and two cups of coffee.

"Ok, I take that last bit back. You were WAY too clumsy to be able to dance – on the table, of all places. You should have seen the look on your face now.", he said between giggles as Bonnie playfully punched him on his arm.

"Very funny, Enzo", Bonnie rolled her eyes as she tried to contain a smile. She miserably failed at that and started to eat.

"Thank you", Enzo said seriously after a while. Bonnie turned her head in his direction.

"For last night. It was great and it meant a lot for me", he said sincerely, somewhat shy.

"Well, if we are stuck together then we better be friends, right?", Bonnie replied with a smile.

/

Author's note: Hi there! This chapter took a bit longer to write, sorry about that. I actually had to rewrite it as I had some other ideas and thought better to change it a bit. How do you like the pace? Things are going to go a bit faster now. Read and review! :)