Prom Part 1: The Playlist

It was Prom Day Saturday, and Jeremy was in the living room transferring the last song onto Bonnie's phone when she called him up to her bedroom. He set her computer and phone on the coffee table and left.

"Stay just outside the door! Don't come inside!" she insisted.

"Okay," he said, curious and smiling.

"Ready?"

"Yeah," he said and looked down at his day to day clothes. "Do I need to get naked?"

"No," Bonnie said playfully from the other side of the door, and he chuckled.

He heard her voice rise on the other side, strong, steady...happy? He could hear her smiling through the spell. He couldn't remember a time when she'd smiled through a spell.

He closed his eyes, thinking the next time he opened them he'd be decked out for prom, but he quickly opened them when he felt the magic shape and mold itself around him.

Bonnie's magic was very tactical. Good or bad, her magic was always felt. She always felt it, but so did whoever she chose to enact her magic upon.

This time it was him. It didn't feel as debilitating as when she channeled him. This spell didn't carry the dread, and slight feeling of betrayal, that her knockout spell had carried when she'd kissed him to keep him out of the fight with Klaus the night Jenna died. There was no subdued panic overshadowed by dark arousal like when she'd stopped his heart.

This one felt strange, though not completely unfamiliar. He was incredibly aware of his skin, and at one point he felt naked, save for his underwear. When he looked down, however, he was clothed: black slacks, black dress shoes, though he doesn't remember his feet touching the floor when his old shoes disappeared, a tuxedo and white dress shirt underneath. A black bow tie completed the look.

Jeremy took a step back and looked down at himself.

"Did it work?"

"Yeah," he said, amazed. He hadn't doubted that it would work, but he'd yet to completely get used to the scope and range of her magic. He'd gone from a guy with very few clothes to a guy wearing an expensive tux, it felt expensive, ready to take his beautiful girlfriend to prom. He was like Cinderella. Or the pauper who became a prince or something.

Bonnie's voice cut through his fairytale identity dilemma. "Are you ready to see me?"

She sounded a lot closer to the door.

"Yeah."

He thought she was going to tell him to open the door, so he was caught off guard when the door swung open and she stepped onto the threshold. "Holy-wow."

Bonnie stepped so that she could be viewed in all her glory.

Jeremy couldn't remember ever seeing her in red. She was a vision in cherry red.

Bonnie spun for him to see, even more in love with the dress now that he was seeing it. It was a strapless mermaid dress with a sweetheart neckline and beads that glittered like diamonds (she'd mentioned the stars in her spell) all over the bustier. The beads trailed down her right side and curved around her hip and continued in a short comet over her right thigh, stopping just above the tight ruffled skirt. She probably would've thought the layered ruffles were too much if she'd seen the dress on a rack, but she believed she pulled it off. And looking at Jeremy's little smile, she was definitely pulling it off.

She took a couple of steps, walking away from Jeremy, and his eyes fell to the curve of her ass. The dress literally curved over her ass, it was that tight, before loosening up just a tad where the skirt flared out.

Bonnie walked up to him, and when she started to walk away again, not through with showing off, Jeremy looped an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him. Bonnie chuckled.

"You look amazing," he said to the back of her head.

Bonnie turned and asked, "Do I?"

Her lips were a much darker red than her dress. Her face was perfectly done up, and her hair was pinned at the roots and cascaded in thick, loose waves over her right shoulder. Even her bangs looked especially dark, full, and lovely. The only thing she lacked was an accessory. Although...She took a good look at Jeremy for the first time. She was so busy paying attention to the attention that he was paying her that she'd failed to notice that he looked even better now than the last time she'd seen him in a normal suit, at the Lockwoods' masquerade ball the year before. He looked hotter; he filled out his suit more.

"You look amazing. Wanna go see yourself in the mirror?"

"Yeah," Jeremy said, and he went to the bathroom.

Bonnie followed behind him. "You like it?" she asked when he was looking at himself.

"I do," he answered, satisfied. Even his hair was done. "Way better than funeral clothes, huh?"

"Definitely," Bonnie said and laced her fingers in his. It didn't sting her heart when he made reference to his deceased state. Him bringing it up now made her even more eager to join the other living teens.

"What are we gonna do about tickets?" Jeremy asked.

"Easy. Tikki's class president. We used to cheer together, and we've made eye contact since and even said hi a couple of times. I'll just realize that I forgot our tickets when I go to pull them out."

Jeremy smiled. "Perfect." Turning to her, he said, "I have a surprise for you. It's not a corsage or anything, but I'm hoping you like it."

Intrigued, Bonnie let herself be led by him. When they got to the couch, he directed her to sit down.

"Close your eyes."

Bonnie closed her eyes and folded her hands on her lap. She raised her eyebrows and frowned simultaneously when she felt headphones being put in her ear. She heard Jeremy shuffle a little and then...

Love of my life, my soulmate

You're my best friend

Part of me like breathing

Now half of me is left

Bonnie opened her eyes when the song had reached it's middle point, a big smile on her face. Jeremy was kneeling at her side. "What is this?"

Jeremy handed her the phone.

"You made a playlist?" She scrolled over the song titles: Who am I to say? by HopeFool of Me by Me'Shell NdegéOcello, End of the Road by Boyz II Men, Ordinary People by John Legend, and Kiss by Prince.

"I could only remember five of the songs. My attention was kind of focused...elsewhere."

"And you named it Pipe-Breaking Sex?! Oh my God," she said and laughed at the screen.

"Hey, I really thought long and hard about it."

"Oh my God," she said jubilantly as laughter seized her harder than before.

"The pipes did almost break. The runner up was Falsetto Sex, in your honor."

"Yeah, I'm glad you went with this one," she said with a mild shove at his chest. She would not have her sexual squealing serve as titles for playlists. That was too embarrassing.

Jeremy chuckled. "What do you think?"

"I love it," she cooed. Now these songs held multiple meanings for her. They were reminders of her heartbreak, yes, but more than that now they were reminders of her triumph, of the time when she'd chosen herself and her needs; they were reminders of an intimate, emotional moment with Jeremy. A moment when he'd finally let her into his head after a time when he hadn't, that time having lead to their dissolution. A moment when she'd finally voiced how badly he had hurt her. They were reminders of the moment when she decided to give him and their relationship a second chance. And of course they were reminders of that falsetto sex.

She kissed him flush on the lips, and was ready when he lightly cupped her jaw and deepened it. "You took some of my lipstick," she said softly after they parted.

Jeremy wiped his mouth with the palm of his hand.

"A little better," Bonnie said. "And speaking of falsetto sex, we need to get out of here before my dad comes back."

"Okay." Jeremy stood and gave her space to stand. He closed the lid of her computer. "You want me to put it back in your room?"

"No, it's fine," she said, distracted as she turned on her phone's camera. She eagerly showed it to Jeremy.

His shoulders slumped a little, but Bonnie pretended she didn't see that. It was picture time. She had three pictures from the sixties decade dance, one of which they'd taken with his computer at the Witches' House. He had felt that they should commemorate the night with a picture, a remembrance. They'd surrounded themselves with a couple of the candles in order to improve the bad lighting. The effect was a somber glow that attracted more attention than their tired attempt at a smile. It had been Bonnie's favorite picture to look at back when she really wanted to feel sad about their breakup. They looked like two people trying their hardest to claim victory during a hard time, but that somber yellow glow, attracting more attention than them, was the harsh reality.

She took two pictures of him in his tux, one with his hands in his pockets. She took a third one of his profile. By then he was looking miserable and was eager to take pictures of her. "I don't know why you're so allergic to taking pictures. You're hot." But she only got an eye-roll out of him.

Jeremy took six pictures of her: front shot, front shot with her hands on her hips, back shot with her looking over one shoulder, profile, profile with her bending her knees, and front shot with one knee slightly bent and one hand softly resting atop one of her breasts.

Together, they took five pictures: they set the timer and took one with him behind her with his hands around her waist and her hands on top of his. A second in the same position but her arms reaching back around his neck. A third of them kissing, a fourth of him kissing her neck, and a fourth of them touching foreheads. Bonnie naturally closed her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips, and Jeremy naturally kept his eyes on her. It was their favorite of the "twosome" pictures.

Bonnie smiled as she sifted through the pictures.

"Okay," Jeremy reminded her as he moved toward the door. "We need to go."

"Wait, I need to get my stuff." She was using one of the black clutches she already had.

When she descended the stairs, her phone, license, and some cash in the clutch and keys in her hand, she said with a barely contained smile, "Party time."

A/N: I meant to mention this last chapter, but I guess it goes better with this one anyway. My good friend Cana, inspired by chapter 8, made a playlist for this fic (kind of)! The theme is Beremy's breakup, and you can listen to it on 8tracks dot com. It's called A Losing Game (Beremy Fanmix). I hope you enjoy it!