Hello lovely readers of mine! Time for more Damon drama…as if there hasn't been enough.
He faltered halfway down the stairs to the basement, bracing himself with a hand against either side of the narrow walls. Meredith, peering down the open doorway curiously as she walked by, ran down the steps to try and steady him.
"Damon!" she shouted, concern evident in her tone.
"No!" Damon attempted to push her off.
"You can't be here!" he warned.
Meredith ducked under his arm and walked a few steps down before spinning to look at his complexion. It was vampiric…and starving. But he looked so weak. Without a word she took off in the direction of the locker Stefan kept the blood bags in. Fumbling with the lock, she finally opened it with the nearby key and yanking the freezer's top up. She grabbed the first pack she saw and then ran back over to Damon, just now reaching the bottom of the steps. She tossed him the blood bag and he ripped into it ravenously, drinking it down within seconds. It was right then, watching him drink so feverishly, that Meredith realized just how fast he and Stefan could kill a person from simple hunger.
Bile rose up in her throat and she swallowed the urge to vomit back down. His red eyes diluted until they were white once more, and his fangs retracted. Some of the color returned to his face, darkening his skin back to its normal, slightly sun-kissed appearance. But he still looked hungry.
"Here, let me get you another—"
"No!" he yelled, throwing the empty blood bag down as he leaned against the wall for support.
"Damon, you need more!" Meredith protested.
"I said, no!"
He wiped his mouth off in disgust, "I hate the taste of these damn things."
"Well you can't keep doing this to yourself. You have to drink som—"
"I almost hurt her…" Damon interrupted, speaking to himself.
"What?" Meredith asked, scrunching her face up in confusion.
The lost vampire covered his face with his hands in some sort of terrifying revelation.
"She's never going to forgive me." He muttered.
Meredith stared at him before it dawned on her what he meant, "Did you do something to Bonnie?"
"No!" Damon shouted, hating just the possibility of that accusation being attached to him.
His tone fell, "No. But I tried…"
Meredith breathed a sigh of relief and strode over to Damon's side.
"If anyone can understand your vampire stuff, Damon—it's her."
Damon sighed long and hard through his nose as he looked down at his bloody fingertips.
"I'm not good for her, Meredith."
Meredith stared on at him in disbelief. She never thought she'd see the day where he doubted himself this way.
"That's—" she sighed, finding it hard to counter his statement, "It's not true, Damon."
Damon smirked just barely, a small amount of insanity leaking into the mask he wore to disguise his pain, "You know it's true."
She shook her head and took a step closer to him, "But it's not. You—" she huffed, "well, yes! You can be damaging and self-sabotaging and all that crap, ok?! And it sucks! But you also make Bonnie happier than I've ever seen her! You make her smile and laugh and help her find her confidence. You give her strength."
Damon scoffed and shook his head as she stared down at his dirtied fingertips, "I can also apparently prey on her like she's no more than a source of food…"
Meredith sighed, throwing her hands up in the air. She fell back into the wall with a thump and leaned against it.
"So you slipped up! You were in a weak state and it was bad timing. Even I can understand that!"
Damon turned solid obsidian orbs on her, "If she hadn't have managed to get her wrist free from me and slapped me—yes, Meredith, I would've bit her. I might've even drained her…"
Meredith let her eyes fall to her feet, stretched out long and lean as they propped her against the cold cement of the cellar.
"I shouldn't have come back here. I should've just stayed away. I should've left when—"
"Hey!" Meredith hollered, snapping him from his self-wallowing.
Pushing from the wall, she walked over to the dejected vampire and planted her feet firmly in front of him.
She stationed her hands firmly on her hips, "I will not have any of that kind of talk! It doesn't matter what you should have done anymore, what matters it what you do from here on out. So you're going to stop spouting nonsense, drink another blood bag, and go get your girl!"
Damon stared at her dubiously, remembering why he was unsettled by her presence so often. She was like a scary mom, and he still couldn't decide if he was ok with it or not. Avoiding another lecture, he lifted his head up and straightened himself out, no longer leaning defeatedly against the wall.
He begrudgingly caught the blood bag that Meredith tossed like a football at his face and glowered at her strangely strong form. Sinking his fangs in, he scrunched his face up in detest as the bitter red sustenance dragged painfully slow over his tongue and lingered down his throat.
"Keep drinking!" Meredith commanded, watching how his face twisted in disdain.
Damon groaned irately and steeled himself against the abhorred taste. In two final gulps, he sucked every last drop from the thick, plastic bag. It hit the floor with a hard smack as he threw it pointedly at Meredith's feet and wiped his mouth off on the back of his hand, smearing the blood across his forearm.
Meredith rolled her eyes at his theatrics but gave him a satisfactory grin. Picking up the empty blood bag, she reached up and gave a grumpy Damon a pleased pat on the head for a job well done. Damon slapped her hand away.
She huffed at him and pursed her lips, "Ok, grump! Now brush off the mistakes. You've learned from them, hmm?"
Damon rolled his eyes at her pep talk but nodded anyway.
"Then it's time to move on from them and try again…tomorrow." She added, giving him a quick wink before rushing back up the stairs.
Damon smirked to himself after her departure, feeling his strength return to him.
Bonnie cried into her hands as she sat down on the edge of her bed. An unexpected tapping at her door startled her and she shot her eyes up to meet Elena's.
"Are you ok?" she asked, her thin brows concaved in concern.
A million snarky comments came to Bonnie's mind, but she bit her tongue, too tired to make things into a fight. She simply shook her head.
"Can I, um, come in?" Elena asked as if she was expecting to be let down.
Bonnie studied her for a moment, noticing the sincere worry in her lapis gems and the way she seemed subtly desperate to talk. She nodded and watched Elena's orbs glow a luminous aqua as she smiled brightly and quickly made her way into the room, closing the door behind her.
"Can I ask what happened?" the leggy blonde inquired mindfully.
Bonnie sniveled and Elena worried that might have overstepped her boundaries.
"But you don't have to tell me. I know it's not my place to ask, really. We can talk about something else if you want! Or not at all…" Elena rambled, trying to backtrack.
Wiping her tears, Bonnie picked at the skin around her nails and began warily, "D-Damon came to talk to me. He um…"
She trailed off, unsure of how much detail was appropriate. It was uneasy talking to Elena about these things, she wasn't even sure where they stood.
Elena rushed forward and then halted, a frown pulling her lips downward, "It's ok. You can talk about it. It's—weird, but I don't mind. I just want us to be able to talk again—like the old days."
Bonnie was still unsure and she shifted uncomfortably.
"You don't want to see me, do you?" Elena's head dropped.
Bonnie sniffed, "It's hard, Elena! You—" she snorted an exhausted breath and flung her hands, "You kissed him!"
Elena swallowed the ball in her throat threatening to choke her with inevitable sobs. She lunged forward and knelt in front of Bonnie, her jean clad knees skidding the floor.
"I know! I'm sorry, Bonnie! I'm so, so sorry! It was wrong and I wasn't thinking!"
Bonnie shook her head in dismay.
"But that's no excuse…" Elena sighed, trying to keep herself on topic without going on the defense.
Bonnie's watery brown orbs met hers and Elena continued while she had her friend's attention.
"I hurt you from my own selfish actions. I didn't think about you or anyone and I should have. You never would have done the same to me. I should've been better—as a friend, as a person…"
She broke down in tears, "Oh Bonnie, will you ever forgive me?!"
Bonnie contemplated a moment, but the need to forgive the girl weeping at her feet pulled her down to the floor and she wrapped her arms around her oldest friend. Elena wasted no time in throwing her arms around Bonnie's smaller frame in return, squeezing her best friend tight to her chest.
"I'm so sorry, Bonnie!" she cried, crystal droplets dripping into Bonnie's bunch of curls wisping against her cheek.
"I'm sorry for everything I said to you! I'm sorry for everything I did! I'm sorry for being such a terrible friend! Please forgive me!" Elena bawled.
Bonnie pulled back from the golden-haired girl and wiped her eyes for the millionth time. She was sure she would dry up soon if these waterworks didn't cease.
"I'm not mad at you, Elena. But I just need some time to heal from things, ok?"
Elena nodded sadly and brushed the wetness from her cheeks, "Ok…"
Bonnie put her hand on Elena's arm, "But I'd be willing to start talking to you if you're ok with listening."
Elena perked up and a smile broke through her tears. She laughed gratefully and nodded with untamed eagerness, "Yes! I'll listen!"
Bonnie giggled at her friend's over-joyous response and brought them both up to sit on the edge of her bed so she could explain her current predicament.
They were halfway through their talk when a knock sounded softly on the door. The two girls' heads whipped toward the door. Elena's heart thundered with the possibility of Damon being on the other side. She couldn't be here if it was him! Her mind went into pure panic as she searched it for escape plans. She couldn't have Bonnie upset with her again…not when she just mended things!
On the other hand, Bonnie's heart fluttered both hopefully and dreadfully at the thought of Damon standing on the other side of her bedroom door. She wanted to talk to him more than anything, see his face, feel his presence, but…Elena was here. And that fact made her stomach sick.
The knob twisted when neither girl made a move to answer the knock. They both held their breaths.
"Knock, knock…" Meredith said, sticking her head through the door.
She did a double take as her emerald gaze landed on Elena. Sitting next to Bonnie. Not crying. Not screaming. Calmly…
"Elena?" she questioned, perfectly arched brows furrowing.
Elena laughed softly, "Yeah, it's me. I'm in here too."
Meredith quickly stepped inside the room and shut the door behind her.
She crossed her arms over her chest, "Well this is unexpected."
Bonnie shrugged, "We talked."
Meredith looked quizzically back and forth between the two girls in seemingly "ok" moods.
"…and everything's good?"
Elena rolled her eyes, but an amused smile stayed put on her lips, "Ok, I know I was a royal bitch, but it isn't impossible for us to talk like civilized adults!"
Meredith held her hands up in surrender, "Hey, this is the first time I've seen you both in the same vicinity without loads of drama! Cut me some slack."
Bonnie giggled and patted the empty space on the bed next to her. Meredith eagerly occupied the seat and stretched her long arms around both the girls, her fingertips clamped around Elena's upper arms, and pulled them in for a long-awaited group hug. The three of them giggled giddily, just like old times.
When Meredith released her friends, she flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder like a skillful model and relaxed back onto her elbows.
"So! What are we talking about?" she asked with a suggestive quirk of her brow.
Elena leaned her weight onto one arm and looked at Meredith from behind Bonnie, "How Damon completely screwed up his apology…"
"Yeah, how did that go?" Meredith inquired, the little portion of olive skin between her well-groomed brows creasing.
Bonnie blushed beneath the intrusive gazes of her friends. She wanted to tell the entire truth, but Elena still didn't know about the blood stuff, and she wasn't too sure she would ever be ready to tell her about it either. But at the same time, confessing that Damon had tried to attack her would just cause a frenzy among her friends and make the situation so much worse than it already was. Elena had no tolerance for the tendencies of the vampire lifestyle, ironically enough, and she was sure Meredith might kick Damon's ass into oblivion if she knew.
"He just—got antsy and ran out of the room…" Bonnie shrugged at Elena's confused expression and then glanced over at a very unconvinced Meredith.
"I think I hurt him. I said something really mean." She added, trying to make her fib a bit more believable.
Realization dawned on Elena's face, easily taking Bonnie's word as fact. But Meredith was not so gullible and remained analytical. Bonnie was sure she knew something more…
Luckily, the subject was dropped and normal girl-talk had resumed among the friendly trio. It seemed much needed as each girl relaxed and broke into tears laughing together at silly memories. Bonnie perked up from her floor where they were all spread out with their heads touching.
She turned excited eyes on the girls, "We need ice cream!"
"Yes!" Elena chirped, throwing her hands into the air above her head.
"I'm not going to get it!" Meredith quickly threw out, pointing a reprimanding finger at Bonnie.
The petite girl giggled and rose from the floor. Straightening out the folds in her sleep shorts, she said, "It's fine. I'll get it."
Meredith mimicked Elena's movements then, throwing her arms up in celebration, "It's a miracle!"
Bonnie turned the doorknob, throwing her head over her shoulder to stick her tongue out at Meredith. She opened the door and took a step. Something hard blocked her from leaving the doorway as she slammed into a solid figure and stumbled backwards.
"Oof!" the little noise left her lips as she staggered and took a couple steps back to regain her footing.
Then, his image was clear as day as she steadied herself and stared up at him.
"Damon…" his name rolled off her stunned tongue.
"Um…" he began and then stopped as Elena and Meredith both popped up from the floor, blonde and brunette hair messy and knotted.
"What are you doing here?" Bonnie asked after giving her throat a bit of clearing.
"I wanted to talk." He explained slowly, his mind trying to make sense of the crowd as his dark crystals flicked from the surprised red-head to the two nosey girls on the floor and back again.
Meredith gave him a little shake of her head from the other side of Bonnie's bed.
Bonnie opened her mouth to respond but Damon was speaking again.
"But I see this is a bad time—"
"No!" Bonnie interjected, and instinctively grabbed for his hand.
Her cheeks burned but before she could pull her hand away, Damon grabbed it and held it in his, giving her his full attention.
"Can we go somewhere?"
Bonnie could hear the plea leaking into the depths of his tone and she knew she couldn't let him walk away. She nodded.
Warily, as if she might change her mind at any second, Damon pulled her along as he took a backstep from the door frame. His eyes begged her to follow.
She stilled abruptly, recalling her friends in the room, and turned to acknowledge them.
"I'll be right back." She informed them and let Damon lead her out of the room, holding on tight to his hand.
The door clicked shut and Meredith sighed heavily. With a groan she shoved herself off the floor to her feet.
"I knew I'd have to go get the damn ice cream!" she grumbled, walking towards the door.
"Pistachio, please!" Elena called.
"Yeah, yeah…" Meredith waved her off as she swung the door shut behind her.
Ok guys, only 2 chapters left! It's bittersweet because I love posting these updates and I'm very excited for you all to read the ending, but I'm gonna miss this story. It was so different and daring than anything I've done before. But, before I get too emotional, I still have more chapters to look forward to and plenty more ideas rattling around in my crazy head. Haha! Stay safe everyone!