A/N: Hi everyone. Here's the latest. Happy reading.
||Stefan||
I drove as slow as possible and it still felt like I had sped all the way to Mystic Falls. Rolling past familiar stops brought back a sense of nostalgia where I couldn't wait to get the hell out of this small town and really see the world. Don't get me wrong. I loved the place where I was born and grew up, but small towns meant those who had small minds and goals for their lives, and everyone around you was a descendant of a founder just waiting their turn to take over the family business. Their ambition hardly extending beyond that. Breaking that particular mold was what drove me to be as studious as possible, and it paid off.
Driving past Mystic Grill—the one decent place to eat besides your grandmother's kitchen, made me think of the first day I saw Bonnie. Wait, it wasn't day it was night. I was home for the weekend and Bonnie had come for a visit with one of her friends who was a native. Damn, I can't remember the chick's name to save my life; clearly she failed to make a memorable impression on me. Anyways, Bonnie had walked into The Grill, and it wasn't one of those clichéd moments where all activity stopped and people gawked. She did command attention because she was new, shiny, and bouncy which the football players appreciated. The restaurant had been swamped that night but there was a vacant stool beside me at the bar.
My first thought upon seeing her was…damn she's tiny. I've seen small, doll-sized girls before (I'm not obtuse) but hardly any who had the body of a woman. I told myself not to gape like a perv yet my attention invariably crept its way back to her.
Bonnie and her friends shouted to one another and went in opposite directions possibly scoping out the place for a table. She walked right past me, pleated skirt swishing (and before you ask how I know it was a pleated skirt or how I even knew what a pleated skirt was, I was schooled early enough by a former girlfriend obsessed with clothes). Bonnie strolled past me and I turned on the stool and said:
"Need a place to sit?"
She stopped abruptly and faced me. One meticulously arched brow lifted along her forehead that dimpled. She pointed at the stool I pulled out. "Are me and my friends supposed to share that stool?"
"I'm sure you could make it work."
"And fulfill a pervert's fantasy."
"Everyone has dreams, don't they," I offered her a smile and my hand. "Stefan Salvatore."
Bonnie gripped mine in return and replied, "Bonnie Bennett."
We started talking, chatting one another up discovering we were both seniors in college attending school in DC. She was at American University while I was stationed at GW. Her friends managed to find her and they started flirting with me, which I obliged being the southern gentleman that I am, but honestly Bonnie was the only one who held me captivated. She had…has the most beautiful smile. I couldn't stop staring at her mouth while she talked. I managed to slip my number in her hand before she was carted away by the Bella mafia. At the time I did so, I wondered if she thought my intentions were to arrange a one-night stand. I wouldn't have minded. I am a guy. I never told her or anyone this but I may have fallen a little bit in love with her on the night we met. However, that burgeoning sensation was lost in the maelstrom that was the nation's capital once I resumed my studies. I never expected Bonnie to put my number to use, but she did a few weeks later.
Our friendship grew like a beanstalk and we've been one another confidantes ever since. I had learned a lot about Bonnie. That she was this bubbly, strangely weird and entertaining delight who could hold her liquor. Like it was unwise to feed Gizmo after a certain time, don't get Bonnie mad because your testicles would live to regret it.
Thinking of her made me wish I had dragged Bonnie along with me if only to provide a buffer. I didn't know what this little visit may bring, or if it would have an impact on anything. I certainly wasn't going to hold my breath. I was my mother's son and my mother's stubbornness could outshine Giuseppe Salvatore's, and if you knew him then you'd know that was saying a lot.
I turned off Main Street and followed the business highway to the forest-y hills of Mystic Falls. Deer were plentiful and liked to jump out and surprise unsuspecting motorists. Heat waves radiated off the pavement and the cloying scent of honeysuckle and freshly cut grass clogged my sinuses. But it was home and I may have missed it.
Blasting Pearl Jam as I am a grunge enthusiast, I pounded a fist on the steering wheel rocking out, but mostly as a distraction. With each mile bringing me closer to home, the tension began coiling around my muscles, tightening them, squeezing. It had been a little over a year since I visited the sprawling mansion my mother moved into once the divorce from my dad was finalized. I spent most major holidays with Bonnie and her family as they saw me as an extension of her, and my mom traveled a lot overseas so none of us was truly heartbroken we didn't gather together like a traditional family.
I made the final turnoff and drove down the long, winding driveway that led to a house that was more museum than anything else. It was gauche, ostentatious and didn't make anyone feel welcome. Yet my mother bought it with the intention of turning it into a bed and breakfast, but that idea never came to fruition. Once she found how much it cost to run a B&B—that is. Now, my mom rented it for parties and weddings.
Killing the engine, I sat for a moment taking in the scene, reacquainting myself. The hedges were expertly trimmed; the manicured lawn a rich bright green in color, and the garden that was right of the house was thick and full with fruits and vegetables that could be plucked off the vine right this minute.
Rising from my vehicle, I looked to the left and there he was. The asshole I couldn't bear to look at.
Enzo stood appearing like a principle actor from a Martin Scorsese film about power brokers. He was talking to the gardener, I think. For once he was clean-shaven. Hair parted and slicked back like this was the gotdamn fifties. A pair of shades covered his eyes and he leaned his weight on a golf club. I was mildly surprised it wasn't gold plated. It would appear my mother's millions had given him some culture, and he was taking advantage of an advantageous lifestyle.
Fucker.
The sight of him and his shit eating grin when he saw me made me sick. I waited for the impulse of hatred to build up like pus, and for my mind to play a reel of his betrayal. I was pissed off, but not so much at what Enzo had done to me personally, but the fact he was involved with my mother and that she allowed it knowing his history with her sons. Where was the fucking loyalty?
I ignored him as I trudged inside and it occurred to me—belatedly that Enzo hadn't seemed caught off guard to see I was here. Guess he figured I'd come sooner or later after finding out he embezzled his way into my mom's bleeding heart.
"Mom!" I bellowed up the staircase once entering the foyer.
It took a while before Lily Salvatore emerged from the depths of the house and came to stand at the top of the stairs. Dressed in a cardigan set and jeans she looked like a pampered housewife with too much time on her hands, making bad investments. My mother was beautiful. Her forehead and cheeks were blanketed in freckles that made her look younger than her actual biological age. I stared up into a pair of blue eyes Damon inherited, and met my mother halfway.
"Stefan…this is a surprise. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" she pulled me into an awkward hug.
"Wouldn't be much of a surprise if I let you know beforehand," I pulled out of her embrace.
Lily peered around me. "Is Damon with you?"
"No, it's just me."
Lily smiled tremulously as she ran her hands down my arms. "How long are you going to be a guest?"
Interesting choice of words. I thought this was my home? "Only for the night."
"You must be hungry. I can have the cook prepare something for you."
"You have a cook now?"
"Well," pale cheeks reddened in a blush. We walked back down the stairs, hooked a left to make our way to the kitchen. "Lorenzo insisted."
My eyes rolled. "Of course he did and about Lorenzo," I said snidely.
My mom came to a stop before we reached the entryway of the kitchen. Her face said to bear with her, but her eyes were letting me know that she was prepared to go to guerilla warfare with me because her mind was made up about marrying the prick.
"I know how you feel, Stefan and I know how all of this looks…"
I held up a hand to stop her. "You don't know how I feel, mom," I took her gently by the arm and pulled her down the opposite end of the hall and nudged her inside the first vacant room.
It was a small office that smelled of cinnamon and leather with built-in shelves filled with books, a desk with a closed MacBook on top. An Aubusson rug was rolled out beneath two studded arm chairs. I directed my mom to a have a seat on one, but remained standing on my feet. I brooded for a moment on how best to articulate how fucked up I thought it was she was marrying the guy who deliberately slept with my girlfriend on my birthday for no other reason than to be petty and inflict pain.
"Stefan?"
"You should know why I'm here," I snatched the plug on her microphone.
"I have a general idea. It was only a week ago that I told you the news."
"I don't know what Enzo's said or how he's convinced you that he has genuine feelings for you that you've agreed to believe him, and not only that but to become his wife," I grit out. "He's twenty-five years younger than you and he's betrayed not one, but two of your sons. How could you ever think it was smart or wise to let this man be in any part of your life when he's proven he's as trustworthy as a hungry snake?"
My mom didn't respond right away nor did I expect her to. Lily was much like me, or it was a trait I inherited from her where we measured our responses before speaking any of them orally. Being on the receiving end of it I could now better see how maddening our thought processes was to those who were silver tongued, and quick-witted.
She balled her hands on her lap and gnawed into her bottom lip before flicking her gaze to me. "Lorenzo has his faults like anyone else, and I'm well aware of the damage he's done to his friendships with you and Damon."
"And…?"
"It was a situation that had nothing to do with me, son, and it still doesn't."
At that I scoffed. "If someone hurts me then they're also hurting you," I qualified. "And let's get one thing straight. Enzo was never my friend, mom, but he knew how much I loved Valerie, and he slept with her anyways. That's the kind of man you want to marry? A younger version of Giuseppe?"
Yeah it may have been dirty slinging my father's repeated infidelity in my mother's face, but she needed a wakeup call and it wasn't going to happen if I applied filters to the truth.
Looking down, Lily winced yet nodded making her curtain of pin straight raven hair bounce. "He's not the same irresponsible Lorenzo you knew, Stefan." She made eye contact once more. Her voice grew stronger with her conviction. "He was so…hurt by what his family did to him that lashing out at those who cared about him was the only way he knew how to communicate."
"I don't need excuses. The man's disingenuous. Once a con artist always a con artist. Enzo only cares about himself and he's not even good at doing that!"
My mother pushed to her feet then. Resolve hardening her shell. "If you came all this way thinking slandering Lorenzo would convince me to change my mind…then I'm sorry. You wasted a trip. We're in love, Stefan. Whether you wish to believe that or not, that's on you. If you want to eat, you know where the kitchen is. If you want to stay here, I'd be more than happy to have you, but only if you keep your negativity to yourself. Otherwise you can go back to DC."
She left and I had a mind to pick up a vase and smash it on the floor, but what was this childish display gonna do?
The door to the office opened and I didn't need to see who it was. I knew. "What?" I snapped.
Enzo had his back braced against the door when I finally graced him with my handsome mug. The absence of fear like he was about to piss his pants just by being in the same room with me, nearly made me punch his gotdamn teeth in. He could at least feign being worried about what I might to do to him in his sleep.
"Stefan," Enzo began in that British accent of his. "It's been a long time."
"Not long enough to keep you away from my mother."
"Contrary to how I've been in the past…I do love Lily. She's the best thing to happen to me in a long time. My feelings for her are genuine and I'm only explaining myself because I know I did some foul shit to you and Damon. It's the least I can do."
Scoffing, I came to stand toe-to-toe with Enzo who straightened his spine. I still had yet to hear an apology from him, and really I didn't want it. I poked him in the chest. "I don't trust you. I don't like you. And I will convince my mother to get a pre-nup since she's refuses to see you for the disloyal motherfucker that you are," I shoved him out of the way and yanked the door open.
"Stefan."
I paused, glared at him.
"I'm not marrying Lily for her money. I have my own."
"Oh, so your sister has lifted your disinheritance, then?"
A muscle in Enzo's jaw twitched and I smiled nastily. He must have forgotten that I knew his grandfather stiffed him in his will leaving the Riodan family fortune to Enzo's younger sister Emmeline who despised him because he fucked around with her best friend, knocked her up, and disappeared. Emmeline's friend miscarried at seven weeks sparing Enzo a lifetime of court appearances for failure to pay child support. This douche somehow always got off easy.
"That's what I thought," were my parting words as I stomped upstairs to the room that had been mine. The room in the attic.
I went out to Mystic Grill for dinner, watched whatever game was playing on ESPN hardly tasting my food. Coming here had been a waste, which I kind of predicted. Lily was determined to marry Enzo and Enzo was determined to prove he was a changed man. There was the saying that two could keep a secret if one was dead, and since we were all alive it meant secrets and lies would come out of the darkness soon enough.
Pulling out my cell, I figured I'd give Bonnie a call to see what she was doing. Hopefully she and Damon were behaving themselves not letting one of their legendary mortal kombat matches destroy our new couch.
She answered on the next to last ring before her voice mail took over. "Hello…Stefan…boy stop!"
The TV was on concert loud and I frowned wondering what the hell she was up to, and who was 'boy'. Bonnie giggled and the volume of the TV lowered.
"Sorry about that. Damon is trying to get me to try on a strap on."
Okay. "Why does he even have one? His equipment stopped working?" I chuckled.
Bonnie laughed. "No, and it's a long story I never asked for details but he felt the need to share. I've never met someone so damn obsessed with sex. I truly believe he's an addict."
"Probably," I muttered.
Having the knowledge that Bonnie was with Damon did little to quell that little flare of possessive territorialism that she was entertaining another male guest during my absence. Since it was Damon, I guess I could let it go for now. I mean…she wasn't my girlfriend, I knew, but I wasn't always completely comfortable with her hanging out with guys alone. I knew what we were like and Bonnie was petite. That made me sound like a sexist, but her safety was important to me.
"I've never pretended to be anything else other than myself," I heard Damon defend his character. "Unlike you two."
"How are you?" Bonnie came back on the line, seemingly paying my brother's rebuke no mind.
"Honestly, I'm bored. I should have made you take the trip down with me."
"Aww, are you missing me?"
"A little bit. I'll see you in a few hours. I might even get on the road tonight. I don't…I can't go back to that house."
"How was it? Seeing your mom and Enzo?"
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I blew out a breath. "It was a waste. I'd like to give my mother the benefit of the doubt, say she's been brainwashed, but I don't know. She's convinced Enzo has done a complete one-eighty. That he's not the ruinous ass from all of three years ago."
"Hmm," Bonnie murmured sympathetically. "Maybe he's not."
My nose wrinkled. "Whose side are you on?"
"Yours, but you weren't a witness to their romance."
"Are you saying that with a straight face?"
"No," she giggled. "Look, Stef you don't know the full story to be able to judge. And there's little to change the heart of a woman in love. My next question for you is…are you going to attend the wedding?"
"Better question, will I even be invited. I'm not sure if Lily wants to risk me being there when the minister asks if anyone objects."
"You would do that to your mother?"
I didn't even have to brood over this one, "Absolutely. But does anyone ever stop a wedding? I'd be removed and the proceedings would continue as if I sneezed. Now back to this strap on my brother is trying to convince you to wear."
A waiter walking by did a double take, shooting me a weird look. Bonnie's laughter penetrated my eardrums and it conjured an image of her wearing a dildo. I could honestly say it was something I never, ever thought about picturing. Accidentally thinking of her strutting around in her birthday suit happened during those special moments where Bonnie traipsed around in itty-bitty shorts where her rounded ass cheeks played peek-a-boo, and her well-worn shirts stretched across her tits and her erect nipples tinted the fabric. I was a hot blooded fairly virile man. It was going to happen, nefarious thoughts about my roommate who had a body built for sex.
Even now I could feel my dick stiffening and knew I needed to change the nature of my thoughts. Getting hard while thinking of Bonnie was becoming a more common occurrence.
"Oh, god can we talk about something else," Bonnie negotiated. "I'm never wearing a strap on so we can dead this idea right now."
"You're no fun," Damon said.
"Other than engaging in banter with my brother do you have any other plans for the night?"
Bonnie yawned. "No. I was just going to lounge on the couch and get caught up on the shows I DVR'd. What about you?"
"There's not much to do in Mystic Falls after dark. There's a dance lounge ten miles out, but you're not with me to guarantee I'd have somewhat of a decent time."
"Somewhat? Now I'm offended because it sounds like you're implying you don't have fun when we hit up the night life."
"You normally ditch me to shake your ass on any halfway decent looking young professional who asks you to dance."
"Jelly?" she teased.
Jealousy was another emotion I had been experiencing lately when it came to my roommate. I think I pulled off a decent job of acting like I wasn't affected by the fact Bonnie had had an awesome date with "McDreamy" Jared Malone, and caught the two of them kissing. I had seen her make out with guys in the past, and other than frowning because who liked watching their friend being macked on, it didn't stick with me. Not with the intensity as it did last night.
Seeing Bonnie with Jared and seeing how into him—and how quickly—she was, so okay I got a little heated. Her glow couldn't be contained and it bothered me and I was bothered that I was bothered. However, Amber had been in attendance so I had to limit showing my ass, and I always endeavored to be a gentleman even while seething with righteous fury. Plus, I still had to live with Bonnie at the end of the day so that meant keeping a tight lid on things. I could multi-task like that.
Words Damon said to me…that I treated Bonnie like my girlfriend, reins I had to pull them. That certainly wasn't intentional. She just…stirred something innate that wanted to take care of her, and I saw nothing wrong with that.
"Maybe I am," I tossed out because goading one another was a favorite pastime of ours.
"Then what are you going to do about that, Stefan?" just like that she changed the game with the sultry timbre of her voice.
"What do you want me to do about it?"
Mentally I was picturing Bonnie clamming up. She did from time to time, but when she was tipsy or just in a generally happy mood, anything was liable to slip from her mouth.
"I know you're always ready to brawl when a man gets too familiar with my person," she giggly reprimanded, "but…ah let me get back to you on that."
I knew it and snickered. At that precise moment I just happened to look toward the entrance and my jaw nearly hit the floor. The fuck is she doing here? The last gotdamn person I ever thought to see or come across on the weekend I happened to decide to come home just had to walk through the doors. Great! Perfect! This weekend was blowing on all cylinders. I could hear Bonnie buzzing away in my ear, which I tuned out, wasn't listening to a single thing she was chattering about.
Ducking in the booth, I chastised myself. What the hell are you doing, Stefan? My hair was too recognizable and hiding behind menus—no that wouldn't look weird at all, asshole. If I were lucky, the hostess would lead her, my ex to another part of the restaurant.
Of course I had no such luck as Valerie was being directed to my area. I turned my head hoping she might overlook me altogether, but again the profile was too recognizable.
"Stefan!" Bonnie yelled.
"Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?"
"I was saying, what are our plans for Memorial Day weekend?"
Squeezing the bridge of my nose, my heart stupidly began pounding. Her perfume hadn't changed. I could smell that as plain as day as she drifted closer. I shifted even more in the booth, growing real interested in studying the wood grooves of the partition.
"Stefan?"
It wasn't Bonnie's voice but a British one saying my name that time. Crap.
"The beach…ah…Ocean City," I replied to Bonnie's question. "One of my buddies from college has a timeshare."
"Stefan?" Valerie persisted in getting my attention. Can't people accept when they are being willfully ignored, take the L, and keep it moving?
I knew the faster that I dealt with Valerie the quicker she could continue on with her business. Turning my head in her direction, a crease between her brows fleshed out and she smiled, but then frowned as if she remembered that we were bitter exes, not the kind who parted amicably. It wasn't irreconcilable differences that ripped us apart.
Valerie swallowed and motioned to the hostess she'd find her table. "Hi."
"Hey, Val," I deadpanned.
Bonnie retorted succinctly, "Val? Is that bitch there?"
"Yes."
As close as Valerie was standing at my table she probably heard Bonnie. If she did it wasn't showing on her face.
"You're home for the weekend?" Valerie questioned. I nodded. "Oh…well…it's good to see you, Stefan."
I didn't say anything.
Bonnie chirped, "Whatever you do, don't invite her hoe ass to sit down or offer to buy her a drink."
I chortled.
Fidgeting with the strap of her handbag, the awkwardness was as thick as glue between us.
Most would consider Valerie a plain Jane, the only thing really going for her was her accent. To me, at the time we met she was a kindred spirit, had a taste for more but was too timid to go out and get it, but if pushed she stood her ground. Looking at her now, the magnetism that drew us together I didn't feel or sense a drop of it. She was just a face in the crowd, one of a million. It felt good to view her dispassionately.
"Did you want to say something else, Val? I'm on the phone having a very important conversation, and I'd like to get back to it."
Her throat worked as she swallowed, color rose to her cheeks. "Sorry…I didn't mean to disturb you. I guess it would be pointless to say, see you later."
"Pointless and unnecessary," I added. "Bye, Valerie."
She didn't hesitate to scurry away, strawberry blonde hair fluttering behind her.
"Stefan?" Bonnie said.
"I'm here."
"Talk to me."
My hands weren't shaking which was a vast improvement from the last time I laid eyes on Valerie. It had been a week after catching her, legs wrapped around Enzo while he pounded into her like a lecherous fiend. The euphoria on her face had been seared into my brain that it seemed acid would be the only solution strong enough to get rid of it. Valerie had shown up on my doorstep a sniffling, snotty disheveled mess begging for clemency, sprouting she couldn't rationally explain how she ended up boning the man I hated.
I had vibrated with anger. I really feared I'd blackout and, upon gaining consciousness, Valerie's mangled corpse would be shriveled up at my feet. We had words, a screaming match really, and I kicked her ass out of my life for good.
Valerie had been the first girl I fell in love with, the girl I wanted to marry one day, make some cute babies after becoming established in my career. Well, her infidelity blew that strawberry dream to shit.
"I'm all right, Bonnie," I dug in my pocket and slapped some cash on the table. Mystic Grill had lost its appeal.
"What are you going to do now?"
Leaving the restaurant, I waltzed out into the stifling humidity. "Find some good liquor and get wasted. Or…I may just get on the road. There's no reason for me to stick around Mystic Falls another minute."
"If you do decide to come home, make sure you're completely sober and you have the energy to drive."
"I know. I'll call you later," hanging up I pocketed my phone and resumed walking toward my car.
"Stefan…wait!"
Her again. Deep sigh.
Pivoting I faced Valerie. She wore the expression of a woman who spent a lifetime watching Lifetime movies where the repentant, tragic heroine was about to pour out her heart to the aggrieved suitor who had been betrayed by the hands of love. Give me a freaking a break. That shit wasn't going to work on me.
"What?"
She kept a good amount of distance between us, rubbing the palm of her left hand on her thigh, a nervous habit of hers. "I know it's your wish to never see or speak to me again, and I've…apologized countless time for doing what I did, and I'm still sorry for it. It was one of the worst mistakes of my life, but…I miss you, Stefan."
I could tell Valerie was sincere but it did nothing to my heart.
"That's wonderful," I replied flippantly.
"Don't you miss or think about us at all?"
I averted my gaze. Valerie took it as a sign to come closer.
"You do, don't you?" she was even closer now. "We were so good together and if…if you were to forgive me…we could take things slow…start over. Be friends again."
When I looked at her, I'm sure my eyes were blank because that's how I felt when it came to her. "For about a period of six months to a year I thought about you every day, Valerie. I thought about how I met and fell in love with this extraordinary girl, but then she broke my heart. My thoughts ranged from getting back at you by having revenge sex with your best friend…filming it and sending it to you."
Valerie inhaled sharped, nostrils flared.
"I thought about burning your image in effigy. I've thought of a lot of things, but now I don't anymore because I have no use for you in my life. Not as a friend, or even a passing acquaintance. I don't miss what we had because," I smiled, "I have something better in a little apartment in DC."
Valerie's back went up and she sneered, "That Bonnie girl."
This conversation was over as far as I was concerned, "Take care of yourself, Val."
Fifteen minutes later my headlights lit up the front of the boardinghouse. My mom and her boy-toy fiancé were laughing, drinking, and playing backgammon. Taking the stairs two at a time I swept inside my bedroom and picked up my bag. I hadn't actually unpacked. It was if my subconscious let me know that we wouldn't be staying overnight.
Shouldering it, I did a sweep just to make sure I wasn't leaving anything of value.
Again, Enzo snuck into a room I occupied. Jaw hardened, I eyeballed him. "What do you want, man?"
"Lily and I…we were talking…about the wedding."
My wagging head stopped him. "I don't want to hear anything about your stupid wedding. Not now. I saw your old acquaintance."
Enzo quirked a brow. "Who?"
"Valerie."
He became stone quiet.
"I'm assuming you know she now lives in Mystic Falls," I said.
"I may have seen her once or twice."
"Really."
"And not in the way you're thinking."
"So you fuck her and don't offer to buy her lunch? You're a keeper."
Enzo balled a hand, sniffed. "If I was interested in more trust me…she would have given it to me."
My molars mashed together but then I let it go. "Touché."
"She moved back here for you," he pointed out.
"She wasted her time. And how do you know that? She tell you that?"
My mother's fiancé hunched a shoulder. "She didn't need to, Stefan. It was written all over her face." Pause. "You're leaving, I see."
"Yep."
"Are you going to say goodbye to Lily?"
I laughed sardonically. "I see you aren't wasting any time trying to act like my damn stepfather. Enzo," I walked up to him so he'd know I was being clear and a hundred percent real with him. "You can walk around in the clothes my mom bought you, drive the cars, live in this sprawling mansion, but you'll always be gutter trash to me."
A glint flashed in his obsidian eyes and I saw the old Enzo, the one who was ready to scrap and fuck your sister afterwards rear his head.
I beat him to it, head butting him. He went down, groaning and holding his nose. I smiled when I saw blood seeping between his fingers.
Stepping over his crumbled form, I made it to the atrium. "Mom, I'm out."
Lily rose from the couch strolling to join me. "Stefan, you just got here," she was surprisingly incredulous. "You don't have to leave."
"I'm afraid I do because if I stay well…" both of our gazes trailed to Enzo who pounded down the stairs. "It was you who said I should go back to DC if I couldn't control my negativity. Just taking you up on your suggestion."
My mom gasped at seeing Enzo's already swelling and bloody nose. She flew to her fiancé's side, petting him while Enzo stared at me with murder in his eyes.
"You're a prick, Stefan. Can't let bygones be bygones," he chided.
"Considering I've yet to hear you apologize for what you've done, and show real remorse for it…guess I'm going to be a prick."
No further words needed to be said. I kissed my mother on the cheek and left with her calling my name chasing after my heels.
It was a little after midnight by the time I made it to DC, inserting the key to unlock my apartment. I would have been home an hour earlier if it weren't for getting caught in Fredericksburg traffic. My eyes were bloodshot and felt drier than sandpaper. Drinking Redbull by the ounce and munching on Skittles, which I probably shouldn't have done because I felt hyper as shit, my foot had been lead on the gas pedal.
Opening the door, the smell of chicken parmesan and Bonnie's shower gel caused my mouth to start watering, and stomach to growl.
She was awake, in the kitchen, and glanced at me not the least bit surprised that I was home.
Dropping my duffle near the door, I switched on the alarm. I spied the couch thinking Damon would be drooling on it, but all three cushions were free and clear.
"He's staying overnight in his condo," Bonnie answered my yet asked question.
"What are you still doing up?"
"I was hungry."
"So you're eating chicken parmesan this late at night?"
Bonnie smiled and resumed what she was doing. "It's not night, Stefan."
Right, it was technically morning. I meandered into the kitchen. My eyes fell to take in her curvy legs poking out of a pair of exercise shorts. Chest expanding on a deep inhalation it took more effort than necessary to bring my gaze to her back.
"Are you hungry?" she queried.
"Starving."
"There's enough to fix yourself a plate. You look like you could use a shower."
"If I take a shower I'll probably end up falling asleep. I haven't slept in close to twenty-four hours. Damn," that revelation coldcocked me.
I was beside her now, towering over my roommate.
"Delirium will start to kick in soon if it hasn't already," Bonnie peeked at me between long lashes.
That flash of familiar green was like a hook.
"Here," Bonnie slid a fork filled with marinara saturated noodles shrouded in melted cheese into my kisser. "Good?"
"Hell yeah," I chewed.
"What happened to your forehead?"
"Are you trying to be funny?"
"No, you have a knot," she reached up to touch the bruise, but I caught her hand.
Swallowing the bite of food, I said, "I head butted Enzo as a sort of 'welcome to the family' initiation."
Bonnie snickered, withdrew her hand from mine, and sliced into the breaded chicken. She fed me that piece before cutting one for herself. I was dead on my feet but determined to eat most of the food on Bonnie's plate as a sort of poetic justice for the times she embezzled me out of eating a well-balanced meal.
"Go hop in the shower, Stefan. You smell like a white boy."
I laughed. "I am a white boy."
"You know what I mean."
"It's not cool to stereotype, Bon," I teased.
"Oh, shut up. In the shower, now."
Holding my hands up, I skirted out of the kitchen and into my bedroom, shucking off clothes, and turning the shower on.
Emerging with a towel wrapped low around my waist, another I used to dry my hair, I stepped into my bedroom and saw a plate of steaming hot food waiting on one bedside table, and a tall glass of lemonade.
Dumping my ass on the edge of the bed, I picked up the fork and started shoveling, stopping every now and then to moan to alleviate the pressure in my taste buds. Bonnie knocked on the door before poking her head through the opening.
"Hey, your mom called while you were in the shower," she held up my cell phone.
I waved her inside and confiscated the phone once it was in reaching distance. I'd call her in the morning, but I did text her to let her know I made it home safely.
Bonnie joined me on the bed like I wasn't attired in a towel. The warmth of her body coupled with the shower I'd taken was making my lids heavier and heavier.
"You're exhausted," lithe fingers ran through my soaked hair. Tingling ran up and down my spine at her soft touch.
"Driving for eight hours total while confronting monsters from the past…it's draining."
"I was going to pester you but I'll save it."
I smirked. "Pester me about what?"
"Memorial Day. We didn't get to finish our discussion, but if we're headed to Ocean City I was wondering…" Bonnie gnawed her bottom lip, "I was wondering if it would be cool to invite Jared."
I blinked but it may have taken a full minute for me to open my eyes.
"Were you going to invite Amber?"
"No," the idea hadn't even crossed my mind.
Bonnie shrugged and leaned back, propping herself on her elbows. "Oh, well it's not like those two are joined at the hip and go to the same places and shit. But since we'll be staying at your friend's timeshare, I kind of want to get the okay before extending any invites."
My appetite was gone and I got up from the bed to throw on some shorts and a T-shirt. "You know Eddie. I'll give you his number and you can ask him yourself," my voice may have been a bit gruffer than intended.
Bonnie pushed to her feet. "You don't want Jared to tag along, do you?"
I glanced at her. "Honestly…no…'cause you just met the guy."
My roommate smiled and sashayed to the door. "Un-hun. There he is, ladies and gentlemen, Jealous Stefan. We've been waiting a long time for you."
I pitched a pair of socks at her to which Bonnie squealed. I deliberately dropped my towel and her squealing stopped.
"Do I honestly have anything to be jealous about?"
Bonnie eyed my jock, head titling to the side and that curious tongue of hers moistened the seal of her mouth. "No, I daresay you don't. Damn."
Chapter end.
A/N: My Bonnie will always look when the merchandise is being showcased. *wink* All righty guys so I noticed that reviews for this have dropped…significantly. I understand not every chapter will warrant the same response or a response in general, but when things dip down it only makes me question what happened. *sighs* I'm all out of ideas on how to encourage people to review. But this is making me reevaluate something's moving forward and not just with this story but all my stories. Nevertheless, thank you for reading.
