Three months ago, Bonnie received an email from her high school best friend Caroline Forbes reminding her of her high school reunion and after three long months the night has finally arrived. Her flight was in just a couple of hours and she couldn't wait to see her friends and family. Bonnie couldn't believe it was ten years ago that she graduated high school. Ten years ago, if you told her she'd be where she is in life right now, she wouldn't believe it. When she was in high school, she wanted to be a famous fashion designer and thought that by her late twenties she'd have her own small boutique in New York and living life like Carrie Bradshaw. At the age of twenty-eight she's living in New York, in a very cramped apartment working as investigative journalist, and she loves every minute of it. She does get homesick and wishes she could see her friends and family more often and wishes she had more opportunities to do so but the universe had funny ways of throwing things at her exactly when she needed them.
"I'm sorry, excuse me." She said apologizing to a man she accidentally bumped with her suitcase rushing to find a seat in the waiting area.
"It's alright." He quickly said as the woman rushed away, noticing a familiarity to her walk. "Bonnie?"
She turned her head around and noticed that the stranger she bumped into was no stranger at all but her high school boyfriend and first love Damon Salvatore. "Damon." She paused. He looked slightly different his dark hair hidden under a baseball cap, he had a bit of a beard, he was no longer a tall lanky kid with bright blue eyes he was now a rugged, muscular man with more of a darker edge. "Hi." She said awkwardly surprised to see him. Last time they spoke was right before her high school graduation when they broke up, because she found him cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend in his dorm room. Bonnie was left heartbroken and she couldn't deny seeing him brought back old feelings, but it was ten years ago the past was in the past. She stopped holding grudges a long time ago. "How are you?"
"I'm good." He nodded. The first thing that crossed his mind the second he saw her was to apologize, he knew he hurt her, and he did nothing to fix it. He was an asshole teenager and at the time he didn't feel sorry for what he did. He broke her heart, she cried her eyes out in front of him, she was so hurt and his only response to her was telling her to "get over it." He'd let her beat the shit out of him right now in front of all these people if he could. She didn't deserve what he did to her and he wanted to sit down to talk and apologized to her, but he knew this wasn't the time and place for it. "Living the New York dream, I see. Just like you always wanted." He stated trying to escape all the thoughts that were currently running through his head.
"Not exactly." She giggled. "I'm living a different New York dream then I thought I would, but I love it." She told him. "What about you? Do you live in New York?"
"I do." He admitted. "I moved here almost a year ago for a job, and I haven't seen my family since I moved so I'm going down to visit." He explained.
"That's really nice, I bet they'll be excited to see you." Damon and his family are very close, and she never thought he'd even leave Mystic Falls, so moving out of Virginia must have been hard for him. "The high school reunion is in a few days, and I'd promise Caroline I'd be there. But it was nice seeing you Damon, maybe we'll see each other around Mystic Falls." She told him when it was announced that it was time to board their flight.
"Yeah I'm glad I got to see you." He smiled. "I'll see you soon Bon."
Her lips drew into a thin line biting at them. "Bye." She whispered getting on line to board the plane. She couldn't deny that knowing she's going to be around Damon for the next two weeks made her nervous especially since she still has unresolved feelings about something that happened ten years ago. She hates that it still bothers her even though she's tried to move past it she feels like she carries it into every new relationship that she's had, and that's why they never work out. The longest relationship she's had since high school only lasted a year and a half, and they broke up almost a year ago. His name was Enzo he was English and was in New York on a work visa. They quickly hit it off and she was very much in love with him. But once his work visa expired and it was time for him to go back to England, her feelings quickly changed when he asked her to go with him. She'd been in the same scenario before with Damon. Damon wanted Bonnie to go Whitmore with him once she graduated so they can be together. He told her New York was too far and that their long-distance relationship would be doomed to quickly end. Bonnie was young, naïve, and in love so she chose to stay with Damon. Even if it meant not following her dreams. When she went to tell Damon the news that she chose to stay, that's when she found him in his dorm room with Katherine. She remembered that day vividly. She couldn't wait to tell Damon that she was going to Whitmore, she practically ran to his room. He even gave her a key to the dorm bribing her to stay. Once she opened that door and saw them together under his sheets, she immediately started sobbing. He quickly demanded Katherine to get out basically pushing her out the room half naked. "What the fuck Bonnie?" He yelled completely outraged.
"Why are you mad at me?" She cried.
"Because you can't just walk in on me like that." He demanded.
"But I'm your girlfriend you gave me a key." She explained.
"I gave you a key only to use if you were staying at Whitmore not to use whenever you wanted." He stated putting his shirt on.
"That's what I came to tell you that I'm staying I chose you Damon." She said wiping tears that wouldn't stop flowing. "Why were you with Katherine?"
"Because I thought you were leaving." He said emotionless.
"So, you thought it gave you the right to cheat on me?"
"Get over it." He screamed carelessly.
"Fuck you Damon, we're done." She said throwing the key back at him and running out the room.
That's the last time she ever saw Damon until now, and in New York out of all places. The flight was a little over an hour, and during the hour all she thought about were ways to avoid Damon during her trip. She knew they'd have to talk eventually about what happened ten years ago, but she didn't want to talk about it at least not now since it was the first time, she's seen Damon since then. Once she boarded off her flight, she went to wait by the extremely long taxi line. "Great." She grumbled shoving her headphones on. "I'm going to be waiting for the next hour." A few minutes later she felt a tapping on her shoulder. "Uh hi, Damon." She said pulling her headphones out.
"Hey." He said giving her the small side smile that she used to love so much. "Stefan should be here any minute to pick me up." He informed her. "Do you want a ride?"
"No, I'm okay." She said shaking her head. "I'm just going to take a taxi."
"Are you sure?" He questioned. "This line is insane."
"No, I'll be fi-" She tried to answer before she was interrupted.
"Damon." Stefan yelled pulling him roughest hug she's ever seen, which made her smile. She loved how close Stefan and Damon have always been nothing could ever break them apart not even living in different states. "Hi, baby brother."
"No, freaking way, Bonnie?" Stefan shoved Damon aside and hugged Bonnie.
"Hey, Stefan." She said squeezing him.
"I've missed you, I thought I wasn't going to see you until the reunion." He grinned. "Elena is waiting by the car, wait until she sees you." He said enthusiastically grabbing her suitcase before she can even protest.
"Hey almost sister in law." Damon said hugging Elena tightly.
"Hey almost brother in law." She giggled.
"Bonnie?" Elena yelled. "Oh my god, what are you doing here?"
"I decided to come a few days early since I had some extra vacation time." She told her.
"We're going to put the suitcases in the trunk." Stefan said pulling Damon with him. "Are you and Bonnie a thing again? Stefan whispered aggressively.
"No, we just ran into each other at the airport in New York." He said putting the suitcases in the trunk. "I didn't even know she was coming this weekend."
"Have you apologized for being an ass yet?" He said smacking him on the chest.
"Ow." He complained. "I haven't had the chance to."
"Did you know Damon was coming?" Bonnie asked Elena.
"Yes, but in my defense, I didn't know you were coming on the same day." She looked back at her friend in worriment. "Are you mad? Did you want me to sit in the back with you?"
"I'm not mad Elena, I knew I'd run him eventually." She sighed. "I'll be fine, I can't avoid him forever. I guess ten years was long enough." She admitted.
"I'm so happy you guys are here." Stefan said as he pulled out the airport. "How long are you guys here?"
"Two weeks." They said in unison.
"Are you guys sure you didn't plan this?" Stefan joked.
"Shut up Stefan." Elena whispered as she pinched his leg thinking they wouldn't notice.
Most of the ride to Mystic Falls consisted of Stefan and Elena making small talk with them catching up on the last couple years. Stefan and Elena already knew mostly of what was going on in their life from keeping in touch and past visits, but she learned new things about Damon like, how he didn't live that far from her but they lived in different boroughs. Bonnie lived in Queens while Damon lived in Manhattan. She also learned that Damon opened a high-end restaurant bar while he learned that Bonnie was one of the lead journalists for The New York Press. For a couple minutes they rode in silence until Damon decided to ask her a question. "How's your grams?" He asked.
"She's great." She nodded giving him a small smile. During the time Damon and Bonnie were in their relationship her grams and him grew very close, and it broke her heart when she learned Bonnie and Damon broke up. Bonnie never told her the real reason why, she just told her it was because of college and their long-distance relationship wasn't going to work. "How's your mom?"
"Good." He answered. "She's probably cooking and baking an insane amount of food as we speak."
"You know it brother." Stefan added. "Bonnie you have to come to dinner, mom would love to see you. She always asks about you."
"I don't want to intrude." She told them. "I still have to meet up with my parents, but thanks for the invite."
"If you change your mind, you know where mom lives." Stefan told her as he pulled up to her home.
"Thanks, I'll let you know." She grinned. "And thanks for the ride, I'll see you guys soon."
"Here, let me help you with your suitcase." Damon said jumping out the car.
"Thanks Damon, I'll see you around." She said heading toward the house.
"Oh, she'll definitely be seeing you around." Stefan informed Damon.
"Stefan what the hell did you do?" Damon asked annoyed.
"I invited Bonnie's parents to dinner, we'll be seeing them tonight." Stefan smiled from ear to ear very proud of his plan.
"You're an idiot Stefan." Damon complained, upset with his brother. He didn't want to make Bonnie to feel forced to speak to him and Stefan wasn't giving her that choice. "It's obvious she doesn't want so speak to me. Please, stop pushing it."
"Damon's right babe." Elena agreed. "I know Bonnie she'll come around eventually."
"I'm sorry, I just want to be like it used to be, you know." He said holding Elena's hand. "The four of us use to be inseparable."
"We're not in high school anymore Stefan." Damon grimaced.
"No, we're not. And you're not that high school kid anymore either, Bonnie needs to know that." Stefan declared. Damon made a lot of bad choices when they were kids and losing Bonnie was one of them. But he wasn't a bad guy and all Stefan wished was for Bonnie to see that.
"She will." Elena said squeezing his hand. "Just on her own time."
"Okay, I'll back off." Stefan promised.