LOLA BENNETT NEVER TOOK A DAY OFF OF WORK. Not a single shift or job was missed if Lola was getting a pay check.

Lola worked fourteen hours a day at Tiana's Place from 9 to 10, 4 days a week, with one day off on Fridays, then on the weekends she worked retail at Forever 21. It sounds impossible when you think about it but Lola made it work.

It's not that Lola was money hungry but if she wanted to pay the bills and rent on time she would work her ass off. Sure, she could ask Bonnie to get a job but Lola thought had everything handled.

Plus, she wanted Bonnie to experience everything she didn't get to experience. She wanted Bonnie to experience things Lola missed out on like: Prom or graduating from high school.

Sure, yeah there were days when she felt like she would pass out from her lack of sleep, or the time she actually did pass out from forgetting to eat for 48 hours but Lola was perfectly fine...at least she thought she was. But as long as Bonnie had a roof over her head Lola could deal with a bit of stress for 2 more years until Bonnie went off to college.

"Are you gonna call him?" Carly asked Lola quietly as they cleared a table. On the side lines Tiana watched them with narrow eyes, she was still upset about Lola being late.

"What?"

Carly rolled her eyes, "Y'know, the rich white guy about yay high," she held up her hand as a height measurement. "You have the night off right? You should call him."

Lola sighed, "It was a one-night-stand," she hissed quietly, "You're not supposed call them after you fuck them."

"You are if they give you their number," Carly rolled her eyes, "he's rich. Maybe he could give you the rest of the money you need for school?"

Lola frowned, "I'm taking his money for law school, I'm desperate but not that desperate." She stacked some more dirty plates on her tray. "I doubt I would even get accepted anyway."

Lola wanted to go to college and go to law school. She had plans of going right after high school but then...their dad stopped sending them money to help pay some of the bills and after their water bill got shut off one time Lola made the decision to drop out of school.

Carly stared at her for a moment, "Lola before you dropped out your gpa was a 4.5 and you got a 1400 on the SAT. You're basically a certified genius."

"Not really," Lola muttered, "besides I don't have the time to go to college and work while—"

"Taking care of Bonnie," Carly finished for her. "It's not gonna kill you to take one night off to go on a date—"

"He's not asking me out—"

"You need a break—"

"I need to work—"

"Oh for fucks sake! All you do is work," Carly rolled her eyes. "You know what—" Carly reached in Lola's apron pocket before yanking out Lola's very old outdated flip phone.

"Hey!"

She watched as Carly punched in some numbers before letting the phone dial. Before the person on the other line could pick up she tossed Lola the phone and on instinct Lola caught it.

"What the hell you bit—"

"Hello?"

Lola froze. She hesitantly held the phone up to her ear, "U-Um..." suddenly just like the first time she saw him, Lola felt tongue tied. Elijah just had that kind of effect on her. Lola blamed it on his one dimple face.

"Hello?"

"Say something," Carly hissed.

Lola cleared her throat, "H-Hello...? Is this Elijah?"

Carly face palmed.

"Yes."

Elijah spoke like an old business man. Like he was waiting for her to get to the point.

"O-Oh, um, right...this is Lola," She squeaked out.

Something in Elijah's tone relaxed and he started to sound like the man she kicked out of house earlier.

"Ah," Elijah said, "I didn't believe you would call me so soon Loretta."

"It's just Lola," Lola said automatically, "Only old rich white men can call me 'Loretta' and though you are white and look rich—"

"I am not old so I can't call you 'Loretta'," Elijah finished and Lola could hear a small smile forming at lips. "Lola it is then."

"Um..." Lola looked around not knowing what to say. Should she just hang up? She looked at Carly and pulled the phone away from her face, "What the fuck do I say?" She hissed.

"Ask him for money," Carly hissed back.

"Are you crazy?! I barely know him."

"Ask him out or something! Isn't Bonnie's school having a carnival tonight?"

"Yeah but I don't have time for a date. I'm giving up my night off and pulling an extra shift to cover the rest of the bills and—"

"This man just gave you a thousand dollars to fix a bed frame , Lola, are you—" Carly seemed to annoyed to even form anymore words and snatched the cell phone and said, "There's a carnival tonight, pick her up at 8."

"What—Carly no!"

Carly hung up the phone before tossing it back to Lola.

"Why would you do that?"

"You need a break," Carly replied, "Jesus, you work like a dog every day. The guy gave you a check for a thousand dollars, you can miss out on one extra shift."

"But Bonnie—"

"Bonnie will be just fine," Carly rolled her eyes, "Lola, you give up everything for her. You deserve a night off."

"I do get nights off—"

"Staying home and watching Clueless on repeat is not a night off. You need some actual fun. When was the last time you went on an actual date?" Carly asked.

Lola thought for a moment, "Um..."

The last time she went on a date was when she was still in high school and dating Mason Lockwood, she was twenty-two now so—

"Six years," she muttered.

"Just one day of with this hot rich guy, for me," Carly said tiredly. "Lola, you deserve the world. One night off isn't going to kill you."

"I..." Lola hesitated.

It's not like Carly was wrong, Lola never had an actual night off of work that didn't involve staying at home and watching Netflix until she passed on the couch.

"Alright," Lola said reluctantly and Carly grinned, "I guess one night of fun will be okay."

LOLA PACED BACK AND FORTH IN HER LIVING ROOM.

She was starting to think of completely backing out of this outing with Elijah (it's not a date, shut up). He was a complete stranger. A very hot stranger but still a stranger neither-less. Lola hadn't been out with a guy in years, what the hell was she supposed to do? Lola couldn't even remember she went out to have fun anywhere.

Lola eyed the stack of bills left on the dinner table and already felt a headache coming. The water and phone bill were about a week overdue and here she was about to skip out on work just for one night of fun. Lola shook her head, she reached in her pocket and pulled out her flip-phone to call Ms.Tiana to ask for an extra shift—

RING!

Lola froze at the sound of the doorbell. She swallowed before opening the door.

Just looking at Elijah automaticity made Lola feel insecure. Lola was never one to pay much attention to her looks (she never had the time) but just looking at Elijah made her feel poor and under dressed.

Elijah stood there looking fresh as hell in a expensive black suit with a white button button down underneath and brown loafers that looked so expensive they could pay off the house bills.

She shifted nervously on her feet. She ended up wearing ripped jeans, a graphic tee-shirt and a old leather jacket she got from the thrift store. On her feet were an old pair of sneakers and her wild curls were out and untamed. Never in her life had Lola ever felt so broke.

Lola cleared her throat, "Uh...hey..." she said a bit awkwardly, smoothing out her wrinkled shirt.

Elijah gave her a slight smile, showing off the one dimple he had on his cheek. "Hello, Lola."

"Hey, again..." Lola silently cursed herself, "Thanks for coming, I know it's kinda weird to ask you to go out when we just met."

"It is quite alright," Elijah said, tucking one of his hands in his coat pocket. "I was hoping to spend time with you again."

You mean have sex with me again?

Elijah held out his hand and Lola hesitantly took it. Elijah ran his thumb over Lola's knuckles making her flush, "Shall we?"

"Um," Lola blinked, "...sure."

Maybe to some the way Elijah spoke was hot but to Lola it was just weird. Why did this guy sound like he was born before 18th century?

Elijah had a nice car. Lola didn't know the name of the model but it was a sleek expensive looking black car. It looks so expensive it could pay of someone's student debt. Lola glanced at Elijah's car before taking in her old beat up Punch Buggy car. Just how much money did this guy have?

To Lola's surprise Elijah opened the car door and closed the door for her. She had never had a guy do that. She thought things like that only happened in movies.

They drove in awkward silence for a while or at least for Lola it was awkward silence, Elijah seemed completely unbothered as he played classical music on the radio.

"Thanks," Lola blurted out, keeping her eyes trained on the car window.

Elijah turned down the radio, "I'm sorry?"

"For the check," Lola explained, her cheeks turning red. "I...you didn't have to pay for the bed frame but you did anyway so...thanks."

"It's fine," Elijah said before pausing, "I apologize if I'm intruding but...are you low income? You seemed to be stressed earlier."

"Um..." Lola trailed off.

That was the first time someone had asked her about her financial issues besides Carly. It's not that Lola was embarrassed about not having much money but it wasn't something she liked to talk about.

"Yeah," Lola answered after a moment, "We don't have much...My parents aren't around so it's just me taking care of my sister...it's hard paying bills and taking care of a teenage girl with a minimum wage job but I make it work."

Elijah was silent for a moment, "I have a sister also," he revealed.

"Really?"

Elijah nodded, "Her name is Rebekah...she's gone right now but...I will see her again eventually. I have a couple of other siblings also but I'm the oldest. I have an older brother but he isn't...around often...I take the responsibility for my younger siblings."

Well, Lola never would have guessed that. When she saw rich people she always thought they were only child's for some reason.

"Oh...I guess we have more in common than I thought."

"I suppose we do."

LOLA FOUND THAT SHE LIKED ELIJAH'S COMPANY.

What can she say? He was cool.

He won her a pink stuffed teddy bear on the strength tested game which somehow ended up broken after his win. He even bought her funnel cake that they shared. Being with Elijah...it was nice.

Sure, the way he spoke was a bit weird and he was reserved but Lola learned that Elijah was actually kinda funny and spoke fluently in sarcasm.

For some reason not once while being in Elijah's presence Bonnie didn't cross Lola's mind once.

"Did you enjoy the flowers I sent?" Elijah asked Lola as they stood in line for the Ferris Wheel. Elijah picked off of blue cotton candy and plopped it in his mouth.

Lola nodded, "I liked them a lot actually, I've never had a guy send me flowers before..." her lips twitched into a small smile. "It's nice," she said softly. "Thank you. But why did you send them anyway? I'm surprised you even gave me your number."

Maybe a lot of people would call sending someone flowers the bare minimum but Lola never had many standards in the first place. She had never had a guy send her flowers or do anything for her actually in her life so Elijah sending her flowers when she had only just met him yesterday was a bit of shock.

Elijah seemed genuinely confused, "Why is that?"

Lola shrugged before gesturing to herself then Elijah, "I don't know, I mean. Look at me then look at you...I didn't think you would want to talk to someone like me."

"What kind of people do you think I would talk to?"

"I don't know, rich fancy people I guess," Lola replied lamely.

"I suppose I could say I gave you personal phone number because...I find you amusing."

"Amusing?"

"Yes, you're rambling..." Elijah smiled a bit, "I find it fascinating."

Personally, Lola found her foot-in-mouth syndrome annoying. It was anything but fascinating.

"Oh...not in a bad way, right?"

"I mean it in the best way possible...you are...interesting, Lola."

"Oh...thanks, I guess"

Elijah paused, "You're a waitress, correct?" Lola nodded. "Do you enjoy your job?"

Lola scratched the back of her head, "Um..."

She didn't know exactly what to say. Lola was grateful for her jobs but she didn't exactly like them. On the weekdays when she worked at Tiana's Place, she hated being a waitress. Tiana's Place was a restaurant for the more wealthier people of Mystic Falls who were all entitled and Lola wasn't a fan of any of them especially since they were all rude. Then, she worked at Forever 21 on the weekends which wasn't so bad.

"I mean—"

"NEXT!"

Lola and Elijah climbed onto the next Ferris wheel cart. The instructor closed their door and the ride started.

Lola looked out the window of their cart with wide eyes as she looked at the ground below. The movies weren't lying, the view from above really were beautiful.

Lola shook her head, "Um, not really," she told Elijah, "I mean, I'm thankful for my jobs but...I never imagined I'd be a waitress instead of...never mind.."

"What is it?"

"...you'll just think it's stupid," Lola muttered.

"I think you're anything but stupid, Lola."

"You barely know me."

"You're correct but I know enough about you to know you're not stupid."

Lola glanced at him. He seemed sincere just from the intense way he looked at her. "I...I want to go to law school," she revealed. "Or at least I wanted to after I graduated high school but...we needed more money so I had to drop out to get a second job...I didn't get my G.E.D. until last year...I could go to university but I don't want to leave my sister behind, community college is kinda out of the question too because either way I don't have enough money to go...I wanted to be a lawyer for racial injustice but I can't. I mean, I have some money saved but," Lola shrugged, "There's no point. I'll never be able to go."

The only person who knew about Lola's goal of becoming a lawyer was Carly. Lola never told Bonnie, she never wanted Bonnie to feel guilty about Lola missing out on going to college for taking care of her. But...Lola didn't think she'd be able to go to college either way. With her having to work and take care of Bonnie there was no way she could go to college.

"I see..." Elijah trailed off in thought.

"It's stupid, isn't it?"

"Quite the opposite," Elijah said. "I think it is...noble."

"Noble?"

Elijah nodded and eat another piece of cotton candy, "You want to fight for others and stand up for what you believe in...just based off the sacrifices you've made for your sister...I believe you have the potential to become a great lawyer."

Lola blinked, "Really?" She asked uncertainty.

Elijah smiled and nodded, "Really."

For some reason Lola's eyes felt watery. "Um...thanks," she muttered. She felt a bit embarrassed about the way her voice cracked.

"I'm not saying anything that isn't true."

"But still.." Lola swallowed and looked him in eye, "Thanks...it means a lot."

Thank you for reading. Please comment it helps me update faster.

I don't really like this chapter but please let know any feedback.

How do you feel about this chapter? Is there anything I can improve?

Someone mentioned that Bonnie couldn't drive. Bonnie has her license but they don't have money for two cars so they only have one car which Lola drives.