AN: Hello~!
So happy you all enjoyed last chapter, One of my favorite reviews was, "Wow HOT! Interesting therapy technique from Damon lol" —LadyTR, this made me fall over lmao! It's definitely unorthodox therapy for sure, but it get's the job done haha! As well as all your guys' other comments I had a good old funky time reading your reviews at work. I think my smut chapters have the funniest reviews, I swear lol.
Anyways, this chapter is pretty lengthy. I hope you enjoy!
FYI: This chapter is not perfectly edited, so there may be some weird wording etc. I'll try to fix it later
Chapter 10: You Give Love a Bad Name
Shot through the heart
And you're to blame
Darling, you give love a bad name
An angel's smile is what you sell
You promise me heaven, then put me through hell
Chains of love got a hold on me
When passion's a prison, you can't break free
Oh, oh, you're a loaded gun
Oh, oh, there's nowhere to run
No one can save me
The damage is done
Bon Jovi
One Month Later
"Hey Bon, I'm going to go start the fire, can you get the marshmallows and other stuff and bring it outside?"
"Yeah, sure."
The short brunette walked around the large opulent kitchen that had enough equipment and machinery to make a chef drool, looking for the materials they would need for the bonfire.
Damon had invited her over to his home on the cool autumn night to chill out in his backyard and hang out for something like a date.
She had loved the idea when he first brought it up to her. Anything to do with nature and the great outdoors called to her in a way that she could never understand, but she understood that Damon being attuned to her interests as he was, was something she should appreciate.
It made her feel warm and grateful to have him in her life.
Especially after really getting to know Damon for the past month and learning about his past relationships. That conversation was fun. As colorful and diverse as his conquests were based on his descriptions and the random photos he was able to pull up, the women all held a few things in common. They were gorgeous, as sexually liberated as Damon was, and above all shallow. From the stories he told her, they all expected to be wined and dined, similar to how their first date went…they wouldn't be caught dead sitting out in the wilderness encompassing his backyard eating around a fire.
Bonnie was happy to break the mold in his dating life, as he certainly had in hers. She always thought she would end up with a wholesome guy. Someone dependable, smart…maybe quiet like her father.
Damon was the antithesis of her imagined spouse. A complete opposite of the guy she, Caroline, and Elena daydreamed about as they sat in a circle as kids and giggled over the, Who Will Your Future Husband Be? quiz in a teen magazine. In fact, Damon probably suited more of what Caroline thought she wanted at the time, tall, dark, and handsome.
Nevertheless, Bonnie wanted to be with him, and she loved every moment she was able to spend time with him, however, he wasn't perfect. Damon was stubborn and pushy, a tad bit controlling, and sometimes archaic in his values. As if he'd lived for hundreds of years before. He'd surprise her by opening every door she walked through–car, house, restaurant, without fail. He always tried to pay for dinner, and he always made sure she was on the right side of him on the sidewalk while he walked along the street. Not just with her, the rest of his life mirrored the same. He preferred old cars, he preferred to read hard-cover books over electronic ones, he drank expensive brown liquor and was rarely seen with a beer, and he even read the paper newspaper (she'd thought they'd become defunct years ago until she watched, incredulously, him reading it one day). She wasn't sure if he was a hipster or an old man in a young man's body.
It was different for Bonnie to meet a man who was so old-fashioned yet visibly young. But that wasn't all that Damon was. Interestingly, every part of him that she mentioned was antiquated, he met her ten-fold with something to contradict it. Essentially, he was a human paradox.
Like how Damon liked to think of himself as a rebel, being a good samaritan and doing 'God's work', was not in his deck of cards. Anything society wanted him to be, he'd laugh and put up the middle finger. He loved to party, his social media presence rivaled hers, and he was so spontaneous and unscripted sometimes that he made her head spin. He was vivacious and thrill-seeking, often participating in illegal car races and underground boxing matches, or something just as crazy as the sort. It was always something new, something dangerous with him. When Bonnie heard about it for the first time after she'd met him sprouting a sprained knee, busted lip, and a blackened eye, she damn near went into cardiac arrest. He'd promised he didn't do it often, just when he needed to let off some steam, but it was still very shocking and disconcerting.
And that was the first time she started to wonder about him, and what was in that brain of his. What other secrets he could be hiding from her?
She'd never in her life thought she would be with the stereotypical bad boy, she herself was safe and rational her whole life, every smooth talker she met that tried to get in her pants was met with a hand held up to their face and an eye roll.
Jeremy, though admittedly a player, was as wholesome as they came, on paper anyway.
He was attentive, sweet, and always courageously stood up for others for all the years that she'd known him growing up. But as they say, looks can be deceiving.
The whole Jeremy fiasco taught her to not judge what was on the surface, that people had layers and different degrees of certain personality traits, and they could certainly surprise you. And Damon was the man who proved that, he showed himself to be more than the 'devil may care' cliche as was presented.
Damon was considerate, affectionate, introspective, and knowledgeable about many topics. He was charismatic certainly, but his charm lay in his ability to conversate about anything and everything and make it all sound so interesting and original and when he wasn't fooling around, he was especially articulate.
Moreover, just as much as he enjoyed raucous anarchy and causing mayhem on the streets when he needed a release, she found him to be just as much, if not even more of a homebody. He was someone who enjoyed his personal time with a good book or a glass of wine and a bubble bath and wound down after a long day sitting outside on his porch staring at the woods thoughtfully.
Another thing that really surprised her about him was how devoted he was as a person. Within their relationship, he gave his all and was especially attentive to her needs and whims. Even in the early stages of their relationship when she worried about him getting bored of her and stepping out, added on to the fact they weren't having sex, a feeling that couldn't be helped due to her past relationship, she didn't even have to bring it up to him to realize that wouldn't be a problem for them with how much affirmation that he gave her showing he was in this one hundred percent.
Not just in their relationship was he like this either, but in his work and interests he was a 'full steam ahead,' or a, 'go hard or go home,' kind of guy as well and truly put his full effort into the things he considered important enough. Like the big new opening for his office in New York, most of his free time not spent with her was dedicated to that and making sure things were perfect. Watching him work in his home office during the days he just wanted her around but they didn't necessarily talk, was a strange stimulus that she didn't realize she would have. Seeing him so serious and focused as he typed on his computer or made calls on his phone, was a sexier sight than imagined and Bonnie often sat in the office with him working on her homework or reading a book as they worked together in comfortable silence. Maybe a joke or remark here or there throughout the day. Hours would pass and she would still feel completely content.
Damon was just a free spirit, doing the things he wanted when he wanted, he lived his life how he wanted to shamelessly, even as a Sex Doctor Extraordinaire and Bonnie looked up to him for it. She wanted to live her life more like that. Unrepentant, unapologetic, happily. He brought out a fire in her and she liked to think she leveled him and made him more focused, and appreciative of what he had so he didn't feel the need to put himself in such dangerous positions as he was so inclined before like the racing and fighting.
It sounded creepy, her knowing all of this about him and the ways she learned them probably wouldn't help her case as she was prone to stare at him and take him in, but she couldn't help but be fascinated by him. Watching Damon became her favorite pastime in his presence and in their downtime with each other. Learning anything new about him became more important to her than reading her textbooks and passing her classes. But that was the case with most people who were in love…
The person you desired became your everything, even the center of your universe.
She was enjoying the feeling, but she knew to keep a healthy balance.
Smiling at the thought, small brown hands picked up a bag of large marshmallows from his walk-through pantry and a couple of bars of Hershey's chocolate sitting next to it. Next, she left the alcove and placed the items on the kitchen island before moving to the expansive liquor cabinet that connected the kitchen to the dining room. With a flick of her wrist the woman opened the door and perused labels until she found a bottle of Jim Beam Honey Bourbon, standing up she collected two glasses from the nook. Finally, Bonnie opened the stainless steel, glass-door fridge on the other side of the room and pulled out a precut fruit platter of strawberries, pineapple, grapes, and apples.
Everything was placed orderly on the island, Damon had already taken the skewers they needed to help roast their smores outside, all that was left was the crackers.
Bonnie tapped her chin with her index finger, trying to remember if she saw them in the pantry. Scanning the room once more it became apparent that they weren't there, nor were they in the fridge, or the lower cabinets. All that was left were the top shelves…
Did she mention that this place had high vaulted ceilings in damn near every room?
Who did Damon think he was? The Giant in Jack and the Beanstalk? She grumbled, voicing the thought.
Spotting them where she dreaded them to be, Bonnie sighed, reaching helplessly on the tips of her toes trying to grab a box of damn graham crackers that of course, Damon would place in his top cabinet.
"Are you kidding me," Bonnie groaned, wiggling her hips against the counter trying to find perch while the tips of her fingers brushed teasingly against the edge of the cabinet. Falling back on her heel, the girl huffed, "Fuck it," she leaped. Once, twice, successfully on the last try, she was able to, "Got it!" brush her fingers against the box and flop, pushed it farther back into the cupboard.
A whine peeled from her throat before she could stop it, green eyes crinkling at the ends as she cursed her height for the millionth time in her life.
A warm firm body pressed up behind her, assuredly closer than need be as she felt strong hips pointedly brush against her ass. "Sorry about that Bon Bon, did I forget to mention that the crackers were on the top shelf?" Damon spoke out with a lingering chuckle.
So distracted with his wiggling hips was she that she didn't notice the now lowered box of graham crackers he'd brought down until they were plopped down in front of her.
Bonnie moaned, "You ass, you just love to watch me struggle." She surmised, looking at the begrudging box with a glare.
Damon leaned down so that his lips were to her ear and his arms were caging her in, "I don't like to see you struggle, Bonnie, I just like to see the positions your body is in when you do." He whispered naughtily before biting her reddening ear and pressing his hips once more into her pliant behind, his point and appreciation made even clearer by the prominent bulge she felt there.
"Hmm," Bonnie smirked before bracing her hands on the counter in front of her, "Is that so?" She questioned huskily. With a deceptive roll of her hips against him, she got him to all too happily crowd her further before pulling forward and bumping with full force into him behind her, incidentally forcing the wind out of him.
"Low blow," Damon groaned after being forced to back up.
Bonnie just tilted her head up at him and sniffed, carefully taking her box of crackers and other pilfered items stacked on the counter as she stepped out into the backyard.
There she was met with a beautiful sight.
Damon's backyard was large just like the rest of his house. However, instead of the finely manicured lawn that you would expect with such an extravagant house, his backyard was a fairy tale creature's wet dream. His home was surrounded by a foliage of trees that formed a canopy over the yard and seemed endless. Randomly there were wildflowers that sprouted in the grass of moss, brambles, and fallen leaves. On another side, there was a free-form grown garden. The colors of autumn painted a dreamy picture of untouched nature. However, although natural, it wasn't wild. The ground around his house and where the campfire lay, was trimmed and neat with rocks and pebbles that created a path from the house to a small open terrain for the stone-crafted fire pit, chairs, and outdoor pillows. The fire was bright and going and with the sun barely peeking over the horizon and the fairy lights in the bushes and surrounding trees already twinkling aglow, it was a beautiful sight.
And extremely romantic.
"Like what you see?" A familiar voice spoke near the crown of her head, blowing wisps of her hair around before a firm kiss was placed. Dextrous hands carelessly pulled items out of her hands causing Bonnie to scramble with her grip as the leftover things loosened in her hold.
"Damon…" She reproached.
Another kiss to the head, and then she finally saw the blue twinkling eyes of mischief the man was notorious for, as he stepped out in front of her, "What?"
Bonnie just sighed before pulling the side of her lip up gently. "This is beautiful."
He watched her face for a moment, a smirk gliding up higher before he could stop it, "C'mon, let's get started," he angled his head.
Damon waited for Bonnie to swing her hips to him before walking with her in step to the campfire. Whispering an inappropriate joke that made her ears heat and her cheeks bleed, Bonnie booty-bumped him garnering a masculine chuckle.
"You are so childish." The young woman snickered.
"I got you to laugh though, didn't I?"
She pursed her lips, ill-equipped to argue.
Once they made it to the bonfire, they placed all of their materials on the table beside it and sat down. Both decided to sit in the two-person cushioned glider.
There was a small pillow on Bonnie's side that she fluffed under her and a throw blanket that she spread on both of their legs. Pulling her small feet out of her sheepskin fur-lined boots, Bonnie was grateful for the layered outfit she chose for the cooled night despite the earlier deceptively warm afternoon. Bonnie was wearing black leggings, a black tank top covered by an oversized flannel, and long fuzzy socks.
Brushing her hands over Damon's legs to help pull the blanket over him as well, Bonnie took in his dark blue jeans, v-neck shirt, his coincidentally matching flannel under a fur-lined dark-wash Levi's jean jacket, and leather boots.
"Here," Damon leaned back, finally pulling with him two skewers with a couple of marshmallows. One for Bonnie and one for him.
"Thanks," she hummed, looking up at him happily.
Damon pecked her nose, brushing with his free hand a loose strand of her curly hair back behind her ear before throwing his arm behind her seat and getting comfortable.
Bonnie snuggled closer to him, letting her upper body melt into his and her nose take in his intoxicating scent, it was more smokey than usual due to him messing with the fire and the mixture of the woods and the autumn air was doing something to Bonnie and her insides making them squeeze and her lips tremble.
If not for the fact it would seem like she couldn't take her hands off him–which, let's be honest, was partly true, she wouldn't stop herself from forgetting about the smores and just making out with him all night. Unfortunately, it would be especially excessive considering they'd spent thirty minutes beforehand doing just that…
Nope, tonight they were going to have a proper date and she was going to keep her hands to herself.
Thick fingers brushed through the nape of her hair and she was being turned slowly until soft lips were brushing over hers, taking her breath and then sucking tenderly. He kept massaging his lips with her mouth in a sensuous smooth motion until she moaned and pushed closer into him, her hand squeezing his thigh, her tongue seeking his own.
Damon bypassed her open mouth to peck the side of her lips.
"What was that for?" Bonnie asked, a little breathless.
"I just had a feeling you wanted a kiss." Damon's expression was straight but his eyes were heavy and centered solely on her.
She snuggled her face into his neck, hiding her shy expression as soon as she felt her face soften. Damn him.
She was already in love with him, he didn't have to lay it on so thick.
His fingers never left her hair, instead, he massaged her scalp as they watched the sky darken from maroon to purple and then to dark blue as twinkling stars strode across the sky.
A couple of glasses of bourbon, easy conversation, and two double-stuffed s'mores later, Bonnie watches the fire. The flames danced enticingly, its dangerous allure heightened by the soft come hither caresses it made against the open air. Her eyes fell into a daze watching it, hypnotized by the motions. It made her ruminate on her contentment and become reflective, inevitably bringing her back to her first date with Damon.
It was a dinner date, the most typical first date of all.
However, it didn't go like one typically would.
She knew how the experience was for her, tonight she wondered how it was for him. How did he feel, trying so hard that night to impress her only for it to almost be the end of them?
.oOo.
1st Date, One Month Ago
Damon was nervous.
He didn't get nervous, but somehow after intense deliberation over what the sweat on his skin and the racing of his heart meant–even a google search that hypothesized 'certain death,' until he found something actually reasonable, he was able to ascertain that, yes, he was nervous.
Why you might ask was reputable, world-renowned sex therapist, number one stud of the modern era, and rehabilitated playboy, Damon Salvatore, nervous?
Well, because he had a date with Bonnie Bennett, the woman of his dreams who check-marked everything he thought he'd wanted and everything he didn't know he needed in a partner for life. She was smart and insanely beautiful, she kept him on his toes and didn't take his shit, had a killer pus–personality, hehe, and she made him remember what it felt like to think innocently, optimistically, and purely about love.
Oh, and he was also fifteen minutes too early for their date, dressed to impress in a custom-tailored two-piece Brioni suit in charcoal paired with an ebony black dress shirt sans tie; breaking his debonair facade by pacing outside of her apartment, agonizing over what he should do and how he should act throughout the night as if he were instead a gangly buck-tooth kid timorously meeting up with the prettiest girl in school.
After shooing Bonnie out of his house the other day, giddier than he let on at the thought of her masturbating for the first time to the thought of him, Damon had spent the time as soon as she left to find the perfect stimulus for her to get off to. He knew his fair share of porn so it wasn't too much of a hassle to look for something good, but even he was surprised to find the video of their damn near doppelgangers getting it on to a plot that was eerily similar to his and Bonnie's situation. Granted, he wasn't her actual teacher, but the positions in their lives weren't all too different.
After he sent the link to Bonnie, he wasn't surprised to find that her replies were few and far between, but it didn't derail him, on the contrary, he thought his suggestion more than worked. He watched the video in tandem with her and even though he had no idea of what Bonnie was actually doing to herself, he felt their connection from miles away and it soon turned into one of the most memorable experiences of his life. Imagining that the actors were him and Bonnie instead wasn't too hard with their remarkable similarities and it made him that much more absorbed in the fantasy.
With his powerful release came the startling realization that he wasn't satisfied. As good as it felt, as amazing as it was, he wanted the real thing.
He wanted to actually feel her luscious lips on his, to really grab hold of her pliant thighs, and to literally hear her breathy cries in his ear as she encouraged him and begged him for more.
He wanted Bonnie.
The whole night he cursed himself for being noble. When the fuck has Damon Salvatore ever been noble?
A flash of Bonnie's sweet smiling face came front and center into his mind and he knew exactly why he allowed the glitch in his personality.
Because it was Bonnie, and she deserved it.
So, after getting cleaned up, Damon opened up his laptop, took out his notebook, and spent all night thinking of where to take Bonnie for their first date and the dates thereafter.
He had seriously debated between fishing and bungee jumping until a phone conversation with his brother made him realize he was convoluting things and going to extremes–as he so loved to do.
"Damon, I know you said Bonnie likes the outdoors but this is the first date. I think she wants to talk to you and get to know you more than anything, not become bored to tears and not fight for her life."
"Bungee jumping is hardly a fight for your life," Damon snorted, "I did it last week."
Stefan sighed in the way Damon knew he did when he was questioning who the real younger brother was between them.
With a roll of his eyes, he moved on, "Then what do you think I should do? Work your mind-numbingly rational brain for me here Stefan, get those juices to flow. I've been at this all week, and nothing seems perfect enough for her." He damn near whined.
"Damon, you know Bonnie better than you think, probably better than anyone since you're her therapist. You figure it out."
Damon ran frustrated fingers through his hair. Pacing around his house as his fingers clenched tight around the phone at his ear.
"Here, look at it this way, if you were a girl on a first date after a bad relationship, what would you want to do? Something simple right?" Damon hummed in acknowledgment, his reluctant backchannel cued by the rising lilt in Stefan's voice. "First dates shouldn't be all that crazy anyway. Just take her to one of your favorite restaurants and talk. The second date is when you have fun and the third date is when you show her the true depths of your insanity." His brother advised sagely.
Damon snorted, "I'll leave the crazy revelations for date number five, thank you. Besides, I think she already has an inkling of the fact that my screws are a little loose. Luckily, her crazy matches mine."
Stefan chuckled.
Going off of Stefan's advice he realized he was overthinking just a wee bit and it was probably best to just do the plain, age-old dinner date for their first night out.
He was going to take her to his favorite bistro down near Madison Park but hesitantly thought against it, remembering how his old dates loved more lavish spots, and not trying to disappoint Bonnie, decided to go with a five-star restaurant downtown that served premium steak instead. Normally, he would have to book the reservation weeks in advance but luckily he knew the owner who he became pals with after the man and his wife attended his class and so he was able to get a table within a few days of notice.
While pacing, unintentionally scaring old ladies walking their dogs, and making a trough with his feet in the grass, Damon didn't notice the sound of dainty heels stepping towards him.
"Damon?" It wasn't until he heard the smokey quality of her dulcet voice next to him that he stopped.
There she was, standing in front of him. Glowing like she was the moon that came down from the sky.
He had seen her in their last session just the night before, but since they had decided to keep class professional and with his mind so deep in his thoughts about their pending date, he could say he was working on autopilot, but now with the realization that this was it, the beginning of their journey as a couple, the feelings from seeing her in front of him crashed upon him like a wave.
All he wanted to do was smash his lips against hers. She looked absolutely stunning.
Her hair was pin-straight ending down the middle of her back and her makeup was done impeccably, shadowed around her blazing green eyes giving her a sexy seductive look. She was wearing a copper-toned beaded cocktail dress that looked adhered to her body like a second skin. The material was translucent in some areas like her thighs and back, and with the color of the dress in variant shades of light and dark, it matched her skin tone attractively, as if she were naked with rhinestones glued to her skin. With matching shiny heels that reflected light, the beads in her dress caused her to sparkle and her body to glow. She looked like his favorite glass of bourbon, the last savored glass of a dearly loved bottle.
Damon was speechless.
He must have sat there staring for too long because she finally spoke eyes upon his coyly before taking a glance at her phone. "Our dinner reservations are at six right? It's five-forty."
Damon blinked out of his daze. "U-uh, yeah…let's go."
Bonnie smirked, walking up to him like a succubus in his dreams, he had to stop himself from pinching himself to make sure he was awake. Her hips swayed like the metronome ticking in his brain until she finally reached his stock still form and reached up brushing her hands through his hair before slanting her succulent mouth against his in a drug-like kiss.
He was still dumbfounded, lost in her aura, her energy, even as she ground her sinful body against him and worked her full delectable lips against his with a moan. She licked the small tip of her tongue against the seam of his lips and he shivered, instantly hard.
One more peck and she released him, "So sweet," she purred with a lick of her lips before taking a step back and walking to his car.
He touched his lips softly with his hand, mind still on her appearance, her voice, her smell, her taste.
His thoughts were full of only one thing.
Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie.
"Damon~," she sang, "we're going to be late."
"Damn witch," The only answer he could think of to this provocative side to her presence was her getting him back for making them wait and kicking her out. With a shake of his head, he ran to catch up to her, moved quickly past her modelesque gait, and grabbed his car door handle for her before she could open it.
"Thank you." She whispered, finally her turn to blush, charmed by his chivalry. And they say chivalry is dead. He smirked.
Driving down the road with the top down and the setting sun on their skin, Damon had one of his hands on her silken thigh and the other on the wheel. Trying to be discreet but failing, he was caught gazing at her intermittently as Bon Jovi played on his radio.
"Shot through the heart, and you're to blame, darling you give love a bad name."
She was radiant. Her long black hair blew in the wind, her slumberous gaze was on the city passing by them, and her crooked smile was infallible as ever.
Damon pressed the gas down harder with his foot nearing the floor, rubbing his thumb against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh when he felt it begin to tremble.
He felt like he won gold when her delicious gaze finally landed on him. A spark of fear and passion flashed through the emeralds as her small hand grasped his wrist and with the same strength as her moistened thighs, squeezed tight; it gave a jolt to his heart and something stiff to form against his leg.
He knew the wicked look he gave her matched with the broad grin on his lips was incomparable.
Ten minutes later found them in an affluent restaurant. Already ushered in and seated they sat side by side holding their freshly acquired drinks and gazing at each other.
"You sure are something, Salvatore."
Soon, their appetizers were placed in front of them, blue and green barely removing themselves from each other to appreciate it.
She gradually lifted her hand to take a sip of her drink, instead, he decided the first thing going on her lips tonight was going to be his as he leaned forward and brushed his against hers. His mouth tingled and Bonnie smiled into the surprisingly chaste kiss.
"So how was your day?" Damon husked after reluctantly pulling away, ignoring dutifully the hand that brushed against his on the way to pick up a piece of toasted bruschetta from the platter in front of them.
"Same old, same old. Just studying and binge-watching reruns of, Sex in the City." Bonnie smirked, "You?"
What was he twelve? The name of a show should not get the skin around his collar to tingle, however, the way she said it and the look she gave him when she did so might've added to his blossoming dilemma.
He cleared his throat, "You know me, I'm always up to no good. My job is about the only thing keeping me grounded. The process for opening the shop in New York is going smoothly. Next weekend I'm going down there to oversee some things. You should come with." He flashed his blue eyes at her.
"Multiple days alone together in the city that never sleeps, knowing you, probably even a shared hotel room. That's a dangerous thought…" She said licking her lips from the last of her crumbs while giving him a smoldering look. The pliant flesh glistened after the sweep of her appendage and the moisture danced with the light, entertaining him with thoughts he shouldn't have around polite company.
Good thing he was anything but polite, "Not as dangerous as you are."
Bonnie said nothing, just arched a perfect brow.
Another appetizer came, this time some spoonful of a shrimp and cheese concoction. Bonnie picked it up smoothly after thanking their waiter who proceeded to refill their barely regarded glasses.
Damon gave his own quick thanks but kept his stare, which grew more and more heated and suspicious, on her.
Bonnie put the morsel to her mouth, lips encompassing the rim of the spoon as she sucked it all in, chewing daintily as the taste deposited on her tongue.
"Mmm," The beautiful woman moaned, eyes closed and lashes twitching, urging the member in his pants to do the same, "That's good."
"You're trying to fuck with me, aren't you?" Damon narrowed his eyes.
"I have no idea what you mean." She argued, voice deceitfully innocent. Her large doe eyes seemed to sparkle even more and if he weren't such a naturally untrusting guy he probably would have believed it at the enamoring sight.
That is, he would have been more inclined to if what was happening under the table was nonexistent.
As a reply, Damon eyed her and then the leg she had been rubbing slow and surreptitious against his shin.
"Fine, I'm teasing because I loved how cute you looked when I walked out the door tonight. I've never seen Damon Salvatore speechless and I wanted to see how far I could take it, sue me." Bonnie sighed falling back into her chair with a playful twitch on her lips.
"Those are some mighty fine tricks you pulled there Bennett, we obviously spend too much time together since you were able to pull it off near seamlessly," Damon growled, all the while scooting closer.
"As much as I'm sure it would just tickle you to think you taught me everything I know, I wasn't completely dense before we met," Damon raised his eyebrows, "I just had no one I wanted to do this stuff with, nor the confidence to even try."
"And now?"
"Things have changed," Bonnie gave him a secret smile.
"Well then, to this new side of Bonnie Bennett, I'm very happy to make your acquaintance," Damon lifted his glass up and Bonnie catching on, inclined hers as well letting their drinks clink in cheers.
After taking a sip, they sat back and actually talked. Bonnie seemingly deciding to tone down on the seducing didn't give as many incendiary replies to his questions.
The night was going well, too well, and Damon was starting to feel like this was the best date he'd ever been on. Their chairs had scooted closer to each other until the legs basically touched, she was leaning into and touching him, laughing at his jokes no matter how lame they were and making her own that he was just as tickled by. She gave him full-bellied laughter too, that kind that brought up the apples of her cheeks and made her eyes shine; she didn't care how rude it may have seemed in the room full of the pompous would-be elite, she was herself, allowing him to feel comfortable enough to be the same.
Their conversation stayed interesting spanning over a multitude of topics even well into the entrees and after they were taken away as Bonnie contemplated on dessert. He didn't need any, his sweet tooth had been sated just by plainly taking her in. Even after giving up her pursuit to try and seduce him, she was a feast for the eyes and a rapid beat to his heart.
He was…in love.
The realization didn't make him scared or fearful. It just was what it was and he embraced it. Dived head first into the notion, until he was sinking into whimsy and blissfully swimming in the green pools of her eyes, restfully drowning in deep oceans of ardor.
He kept asking questions just to hear her talk, just to watch the sensuous way her mouth moved, and to gaze at the way her pretty eyes clouded over as she worked her brain into a memory.
As enthralled as he was, however, he could tell that she was growing a little frustrated. He had spent all night avoiding any deep conversations about himself and his past. It wasn't something he liked to talk about.
And so is where things got a bit hairy.
As they say, good things never last.
Honestly, he only had himself to blame for the topic of conversation since he had once again, at least this time blithely belying his baleful discontent, asked about Jeremy and if she had any other toxic exes that he should worry about. He wasn't against knocking some people off if they tried to, later on, lay claim to her.
It was a surprise for him to find out that Germy was her only boyfriend–not a name that you wanted to put on your roster, but anyway, he was so surprised because she was so gorgeous and interesting. He also couldn't believe that Jeremy even got a chance with her in the first place, it didn't matter if he had to take an impossible quest through the fiery pits of hell, jump over flame-spitting hoops, or swim through pools of lava to reach her well-protected heart, Jeremy Gilbert was completely beneath her. How could there have been no one—anyone else?
Then he rectified that thought, understanding that it wasn't because she couldn't get any other guys to be with her, but because she didn't want them. It was an intriguing change in priorities considering he himself had been chasing tail since he hit puberty and garnered even more attention before that, as well as the women he'd dallied with before being just as vivacious. Nothing wrong with either, but it was novel to meet someone more focused on their future and their career rather than romance, at least in regards to who he was attracted to.
She didn't look at people in a way as to what they could do for her, but rather what she could do for them. That, beyond romance, was a wholly new concept for him to gather. He would naturally disbelieve someone like that actually existed until he reflected on his own intentions with Bonnie and realized her character was selfless enough to bring that feeling out of him unwittingly.
She truly was something else.
Anyways, that question brought upon her own towards him, and without the veil of therapy where the focus had to be on her, it was open season for him and Damon suddenly felt like he was in the hot seat.
"C'mon it can't be that bad, tell me, who was your first love?" Bonnie urged, nudging his leg under the table with her foot. She had been trying to get him to answer for the past five minutes unsuccessfully.
Isn't every man's first love as a child, their mother?
My first-grade school teacher Ms. Drew, mainly because she was the first woman to give me undue praise. It also helped that she was very pretty.
When I was thirteen, I had a penchant for watching Monica Belluci movies.
All joke answers, nothing serious.
But he couldn't help but give her the go-around because, it was that bad, "No one you have to worry your pretty little head about." Damon smirked, taken to playing with the small gold ring on her middle finger, wondering whom she got it from.
"Don't patronize me, Damon," Bonnie glared, "I've told you all about myself, and my horrible love life, why can't you give me any information about yourself?" She pulled her hand away from his, imploring that he take her questions seriously.
"I tell you loads!" He argued, falling back into his chair and striking her with an irritatingly complacent look, "Didn't we just talk about Stefan trying to woo one of his little girlfriends in elementary school by climbing the famous Wickery Tree near Fell's Church and then breaking his leg, for like a ridiculously long time?"
"That story was about Stefan, not you, and I asked about your love life since that was the topic." She bartered back, always quick with a reply to his sly inferences.
Damon sighed, vexed, "Trust me, Bonnie, you don't want to go there. It's not a time I'm happy to remember and I'd rather keep the night light."
"See you always do that Damon, whenever it's time to have a serious conversation about you, you shut down. I understood when you did it in therapy, but now when we're trying to get to know each other, I just want us to be open and honest." Her pea-green eyes shined pleadingly. "I don't want to turn into a passion project for you Damon, it's not just about me, if we're going to do this you have to be all in it. You have to tell me about yourself, just as much as I tell you about myself." She sighed, her tone changing as she suddenly realized why he was so reluctant, "Even if it paints you in a bad light and you think it'll make me think differently of you. Even if dredging up the past hurts…you should open up, because that's what people do in a relationship Damon."
Blue eyes stared back into her own unwaveringly.
Bonnie sighed unimpressed, gaze falling flat, "Why did you choose this restaurant anyway?"
He furrowed his brow not expecting that turn in the conversation, "What do you mean?"
She shook her head, looking out in front of her before finally turning back and finishing her thought, "This place is lovely but…you know I don't care about your money Damon."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"You've done nothing but throw money in my face since we got here. The expensive drinks, the most expensive meal on the menu, urging me to get dessert." Bonnie huffed, "The roses, which I've never seen a more expensive bundle of flowers in my life."
Damon squinted his eyes at her, "Bonnie I know you're not used to men spoiling you, but it's not something you should be against."
"It's not that, I just feel like you know me too well at this point to think you needed to do all this. I would have been perfectly content watching a movie tonight in our sweats." She smiled feebly.
"Well obviously, you sell yourself too short." Damon snipped, more frustrated than he wanted to let on.
Bonnie flinched, clenching her teeth at his attitude.
Replaying the words he said in his head, it was a tense moment of them looking away from each other and fuming until he realized he was undeniably being a jackass.
Damon realized he fucked up.
He was doing too much to try to impress her that the pretense of it being for Bonnie started to get muddled. In regards to his past, he was holding back because he knew she thought positively of him and he didn't want anything to change that. There weren't too many people in his life that thought of him as a good man, and he didn't want to change that with her just because he told her about some poor decisions he'd made in the past.
But Bonnie wasn't like that, while judgemental to a degree, she was even more so understanding and forgiving. He needed to give her more credit in the same way as she had given him.
He needed to fix this–
"Well, well, well, look who we have here." A smokey voice offered.
In front of them walked two leggy brunettes. One with large fluffy curls in her hair and the other with a curly blowout. They both were undoubtedly gorgeous, garnering male attention like flies to a bin, although the woman closest to Damon clearly ran the show told by the energy she exuded and her confident mannerisms.
Damon instantly recognized the one who spoke, "Katherine..." He stiffened, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Katherine fully turned to the couple when her assumptions were confirmed, one hand on her cocked hip, the other placed on her chin in exaggerated thoughtfulness. She looked like the definition of a man-eater in her red mini-dress with thin straps and an even thinner bodice holding up her pronounced breasts. "Well if it isn't Damon Salvatore." She smirked, "My greatest and yet," she ran her eyes over his form, "loveliest mistake. I knew there was a reason I kept you on the hook for so long, unfortunately, my feelings didn't bode well for my memory of you…Didn't think I'd find you here."
As if she flipped a switch, Damon felt dull and hardened at the same time. His muscles stiffened and his face became stonelike. The feelings of lust and passion, even the feelings of insanity when he was truly depraved and yet he embraced when he was around her, all of which he confused for love, seemed nonexistent as he stared at her now. Or at least, they were buried under the mounds of hate and resentment he felt remembering their relationship and how she treated him, what she did to his brother.
"On the contrary, my memory is impeccable. I remembered a cold, heartless bitch and that's exactly what's in front of me."
Not taking offense, Katherine's smirk grew as she stared at him, picking apart his expression and tossing away the barrier erected there until she saw what she wanted to see, the sad little boy vying for her attention.
"Bonnie Bennett…," his attention diverted and he rushed toward the distraction, "I see you've moved on from Jeremy pretty quick." The woman next to her spoke, her hazel eyes focused on his date. She was wearing a similarly corruptible dress as Katherine except in green with a longer hem but a more stretchy material that was tighter on her slim frame, "Very unexpected of you. I always thought you were the type to grow bitter, hate men, and maybe devote your life to cats as you grew old."
"Vicki," Bonnie sighed, arms crossed against her chest. "Can't say I'm ecstatic at the sight of you."
Sitting up further, Damon quickly recognized this was the girl Jeremy cheated on Bonnie with. His black brows raised as he took in the sight of her with Katherine, deciding she was in good company. He truly didn't see how the dunce could have been swayed by someone like her when he had Bonnie at his side.
"Bonnie…Bonnie…" Katherine snapped her fingers, her attention now redirected to the woman as well, "Don't I know you?"
Bonnie glared.
"That's it! You're that dople-bitch's friend," She exclaimed with a big catty smile. "How interesting that you're here with my ex, small world." She determined, shoulders shrugging with a blithe nonchalance that Katherine Pierce had patented.
"Your ex?" Bonnie glanced briefly at Damon who visibly winced.
"Hmm," Katherine smirked, "He didn't tell you? I guess that's not a very romantic conversation…for him at least. Is this the first date?" She pouted with a quizzical head tilt. Her pearly teeth appeared once more and glinted in the light when she noticed their less-than-savory expressions. "I was the love of his life, you know. He was so obsessed I had to beg him to leave me alone." The brunette leveled her gaze at him, "Isn't that right, Damon?"
"Katherine, I thought we went over this the last time I saw you," Damon spoke up, reclaiming the attention back onto him further by putting his fists on the table and moving forward, "If I saw your skanky ass anywhere near me or my brother again, I was going to report you to the police. I know it's been hard for you, living a life that is not Elena's and all, and so seeing me or Stefan is reminiscent of that, but when I make a threat, trust, and please do believe I mean that shit." The twinkle in his pretty blue eyes cloyed her senses along with the saccharine smile on his lips that lacked any real sweetness. However, it was the barely contained anger in his voice that showed how much she was truly testing his patience and made the invisible hair on her arms grow stiff.
The brunette sneered, "You don't have to be an asshole Damon, this is a free world and I didn't see your name marked on the sign of the restaurant." She spoke edging closer to him challengingly and taking no head to his threat, the irritated twitch at his lips, or the darkening shadow over his gaze. "I know you like to bring all of your little whores here, but that doesn't make you the king of this place."
Bonnie looked away, eyebrows raised and lips pressed tight.
Damon worked his jaw, that close to blowing up and doing something he knew he would regret, at least in doing so in front of Bonnie.
Katherine, seeing all of this, smirked cruelly. Happy that she could get the same rise out of him that she always could.
"Wow, you really are pathetic…"
"Excuse me?" Katherine snapped.
Both Vicki, who was watching everything happening with wicked amusement twinkling in her eyes, and Katherine who had leaned over the table, turned to the soft-spoken girl.
Damon sat completely still, hands clenched. One because he was afraid of what he would do if he moved and two because of the oddly placed tone in Bonnie's voice.
"I don't know much about you Katherine, but of what I do know it's not what I would call good. Seeing you here with the 'campus homewrecker,'" she gestured to Vicki, "doesn't make you look any better either, and now hearing you fell out so badly with Damon that he has the means to put you in jail, and yet you would rather chance it and make a scene here in the middle of the restaurant instead of leaving with what very little grace you have left." Bonnie shook her head, her wide eyes and the disquieting tilt to her lips showing just how amazed she was by the woman, "Do you live for chaos so much that you would really degrade yourself like this? How sad…"
"Why, you little bi–!" Bonnie put her hand up, interrupting the woman and the beginning of her petulant little tirade.
"Excuse me," Bonnie stopped a man on his way past them, "Could we get the check, please? Thank you."
Damon sat up straight, just as confused as the other women about what Bonnie was about to do.
Bonnie pulled out her purse, took out her wallet, and placed enough bills to cover the meal and a generous tip onto the table.
Standing up brusquely she fixed herself and collected her things. "I'm sure you can hand that to him when he comes back, right?" She spoke to Damon, barely giving him a glance.
Meanwhile, the two brunettes in front of them were still stuck with their mouths open, almost mirroring each other with their flabbergasted expressions.
Katherine was stuck in disbelief that she had the gall to shut her down with a few words and a hand to her face.
Vicki, staring between Katherine and Bonnie like her head was on an axis, was just as surprised the self-proclaimed HBIC allowed it to happen. But then again, what was she going to do? Hit her? Bonnie may have been small but she didn't look like the type of girl to lose in a fight.
"Bonnie you can't be serious." Vicki laughed awkwardly, deciding to stand up for her friend as the girl tried to walk past, "Jeremy left you, and now you're collecting Kat's leftovers," She scoffed gesturing toward an uncharacteristically stoic Damon, "stop acting like you're that bitch."
Bonnie turned to her, sizing the other woman up with a look that was nothing less than deadly. Damon stood at the same time, moving towards the women warily. Even the returned waiter stood at the ready, the look in his eyes seeming to show that he hoped he wouldn't have to stop the women if things got physical.
When Damon got a look at Bonnie's expression he got a chill down his spine.
Would it be inappropriate to swoon right now?
"Now here's where you're wrong, Vik, because I am that bitch," Bonnie tilted her head at the girl, her green eyes ablaze. "You on the other hand try everything to get noticed. Using who you sleep with, your horrible personality, even what you wear to get ahead and it fails. Speaking of which, green certainly is not your color," she said referencing more than just her dress.
"W-well, if that's the case it's sad that you couldn't keep Jeremy at home." Vicki snorted inelegantly while tossing her arms across her middle with an uneasy shrug. She reached for anything she could to bring the other girl down to her level.
Bonnie nodded, fingering the glass of her unfinished drink next to her, a Cosmopolitan with extra cranberry juice, a fruit that was known to stain, "You're not wrong…But I agree with Jeremy when he said he made a mistake." Picking it up, she tilted the liquid over Vicki's head, letting the vodka cocktail run down her hair and into her face until she created a puddle and all that was left were tiny drops falling from the rim. "Oops. I guess I made a mistake there too. Except, unlike Jeremy, I don't regret making it."
As realization dawned on her from her soaking hair, ruined dress, and makeup, Vicki made a whine that crescendoed into a banshee-like wail.
Bonnie stepped back from the girl while placing the empty glass down with a chuckle, "By the way, I'd make an appointment for a check-up if I were you. Elena told me Jeremy caught chlamydia and I know I'm good since sweet and innocent girls like me don't have time for such slutty things. Thankfully you were right, and I haven't been with him for a very long time." She smiled coyly while reiterating the bogus words Vicki said to her before, "You on the other hand…" Bonnie looked her up and down as the girl trembled with rage, "When you go back, I'd ask if they have punch cards, maybe next time you can get a prize." Her following sympathetic pout was reeking of condescension.
Bonnie gave the girl one last look and ignored Katherine who could only glare before marching out of the restaurant, skipping over the stunned looks of the other customers who'd watched the whole thing.
"Bonnie!" Damon yelled, watching her go without even a backward glance. Cursing, the man looked at the crying Vicki, trying dutifully to blot her dress before running out towards the bathrooms and then to Katherine who was blatantly seething, showing no concern at all for her friend.
Damon snorted at the sight of her, shaking his head when she glared up at him. He never knew what he would do if he ever saw her again–well, aside from calling the cops if she was anywhere near his brother, yet he always thought he'd have a witty one-liner to give her as she was handcuffed and sat in a patrol car. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, as he thought of something scathing to say now, nothing at all came to mind. Katherine lived off of chaos, she got off on getting under people's skin. So realizing he had nothing to say to her made him feel better than any caustic remark that he could come up with. He was going to choose to take a note from Bonnie as she left the building, to not react for once, and not let her control his emotions.
Walking away, he ignored her call of his name. She no longer held power over him, and he had a feeling that she also realized that.
"Bonnie!" Damon ran out of the restaurant as fast as he could trying to find her. "Bonnie!"
He found her a ways away, down past the entrance standing on the side of the curb with her hand out trying to hail a cab.
"Bonnie," He cried, staggering to a stop before her right as a cab slowed down in front of her slight frame.
"Leave me alone Damon, I think I've had enough drama for the night."
"Please, just let me explain," He begged, grabbing a hold of her arm gently before she could get into the car.
Her beautiful green eyes finally shot up to him and if it wasn't so scathingly he would feel grateful for the sight, "There's nothing to explain Damon. Everything in there was pretty obvious. Your crazy ex is the identical sister of my best friend and everyone seemed to forget to tell me that." Her voice pitched, and Damon had a feeling it wouldn't take much else to push her over the edge. Despite her calm and collected veneer, that moment with Katherine and Vicki couldn't have been easy to digest.
Damon cringed, tardily realizing he should have let her in on that messy cross-hatching of relationships a long time ago. "You're right, it slipped my mind and that's my fault. But I assume you can see clearly why I don't often like to talk about let alone think of Katherine, so I didn't remember to tell you. Big whoop!"
"Big whoop? Slipped your mi–Damon! That is not something that should slip your mind and I don't care how much of a raging bitch your exes were!" Bonnie yelled exasperated.
"Mam, I hate to cut this lover's spat short, but are you coming or going?" The taxi driver blurted almost as loud as Bonnie, his voice somehow even more annoyed than hers.
Bonnie huffed, putting her hands up against Damon to gain her composure, and backing up a step, "Look, I know I kinda started it but I do not want to be in a relationship where we constantly get bombarded by our exes." She made moves to once again get into the cab, gracefully sliding into the seat.
Damon held the door fast, "Wait, please." He pleaded, voice pinched.
Bonnie looked at him and he stared back, saying as much as he could at that moment with just his eyes.
"Please."
Bonnie sighed, before reaching into her purse and pulling out her wallet. Damon thought she was going to urge the man to drive off faster with money as a motivator. His head spun trying to come up with any way he could to get her to listen and hear him out, willing to damn near grovel, he couldn't lose her, especially not over this.
Not after he realized how he felt about her.
The scared, shockingly sharp, and painful feeling that struck him in the chest at the thought of her being done with him threatened to choke him and it was at that moment that Damon truly realized the depths of his feelings…of his love for this girl. It was frightening, not just in strength but the fact that he'd never felt this way before, for anyone. Not when he and Stefan had their rivalry and he thought he lost him as a brother, not when his father got sick, hell, not even when the love of his life Katherine left him and he did everything he could to get her back thinking it was the end of the world. No, this was different, and the feelings he felt were pure and insistent telling him if he lost her…he'd be losing a piece of himself entirely.
Stefan had been right. If this was what love felt like, he certainly hadn't felt it for Katherine. This was real.
In the midst of his panicking, Damon was floored when instead of telling the driver to leave him in the dust, Bonnie passed over to the man a five-dollar bill and apologized for disturbing him before her supple form smoothly pulled out of the car and it drove off.
Damon was so shocked that she actually stayed that it took him a good couple of minutes to acknowledge that she was standing there staring at him, sure she had her arms crossed and she was tapping her foot impatiently, but she was there…giving him a chance.
Too good, she was too good for him.
Too many people had shut him down in his life and left him behind as if he was no good as if he wasn't worth their time. He gradually started to believe that, in fact, he expected people to give up on him after a certain amount of time, begging or not, Damon was used to pathetically eviscerating himself in front of the people he loved and watching them pour salt on his wound, gleeful as they watched him bleed and in pain. Seeing Bonnie standing there and choosing to give him a chance…he couldn't explain how he felt at that moment. Despite her ire and closed off stance to him, Bonnie seemed to glow brighter to him if possible under the lights in the street.
"I'm sorry." Damon sighed, letting his hands fall from their still-frozen place in the air and against his legs with a clap. "You were right…I've been holding a lot back from you and I ended up blind sighting you tonight because of it. I just…didn't want you to change how you felt about me."
Bonnie raised a delicate brow, considering him before shaking her head, "What was that earlier, that mask you put up?"
"What…" Well, that was a quick change in conversation, "...What mask?" Damon asked, completely befuddled.
"When that woman, Katherine, or whatever, came up to our table, you put up a mask and hid yourself, what was that Damon?"
Steel-blue eyes widened as the man recentered his stance, fully taking in the woman in front of him. "I…I don't know–"
"Yes, you do know what I'm talking about Damon." Bonnie sighed, but her expression was a lot more somber this time, delicate even as she lowered her crossed arms and alleviated the rigid lines in her form. "When she came over you, you just shut down, all that fire that I respect in you just went out…It…It was like I was looking at a different person." Bonnie stared at him searchingly. "Is that what she does to you? Is she the reason why you got into therapy?"
"It's…not–"
"Because I know that look as if it was my own. It was the way I became, the same mask I wore when I started to hide myself from others." Bonnie's eyes sparkled with emotion. Damon felt the same sensation, growing in his gut, flaming out in his chest until it threatened to pour over from his eyes. He was feeling too seen, and he didn't like it.
Bonnie seemed to reflect that sentiment as she looked away from him.
They stood silent for a moment, not sure how to get past such a shared vulnerable experience.
"I don't know about you but I could use some of that dessert right about now. Arguing gives me a bit of a sweet tooth." Going for humor like he always did in these situations, Damon tried for a smirk but he wasn't sure he succeeded.
"I'd like that." She conceded, her sage green eyes easily bypassing the cover of humor in his gaze. Reading the sign of acknowledgment from a kindred spirit instead.
"My treat as well, I gotta pay you back for earlier. Don't think I've had a woman pay for a date before." Damon moved closer to her, moving to bring her body closer to his as they walked.
Bonnie stopped him with a hand on his chest. "But, only if we're going to be honest with each other, mister," She searched his gaze, "I want to date Damon Salvatore, not my therapist."
The noriette smiled, "Why not? I thought it was pretty kinky in the beginning." He relented easily enough at the look she gave him, "Fine…no more secrets."
Bonnie smiled.
Damon reflected her expression and grabbed at her waist before walking them down the street, "So, should I start by telling you about the time I peed my pants in first grade because I had a batty old scrooge for a teacher who had a vendetta against little ol' me." He pulled his lip up for effect, "He thought anytime I left his class I was out in the halls fooling around? I mean, I was…but that was besides the point, I really had to go that time." He chuckled. "When I bled the classroom carpet yellow, he really regretted that decision."
"On second thought let's keep some secrets to ourselves…" Bonnie wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head onto his shoulder.
AN: Welcome back to the authors note~
A few things happened in this chapter haha. After much work and a few much needed orgasms later, Bonnie's inner vixen has fully arrived, and if you think it's odd that she's so confident, as I've shown with Damon, we can appear more confident than we really are on the inside. To Damon, Bonnie is a confident titillating woman whereas in her own mind she's probably freaking out. It's all about perspective.
In this chapter, however, I did want her to feel that confidence though because that is what her journey has finally arrived at and that's what Damon brings out of her. She's going to push these limits of her newfound confidence even more in the last couple chapters to come so I hope your excited for that!
Lastly, I'm sure I got some side eye for that angst via Katherine Pierce and Vicki Donovan. I wanted to add a foil to Damon's character, I felt like he was too perfect/one dimensional and plus it's nice to shake things up every now and again. Plus, I live for Bonnie owning bitches (Damon does too). Anyways, we'll get more of that allusive backstory from Damon and why he does what he does next chapter.
Give me your thoughts in the comment section below! I'm in the process of making the last couple of chapters and now that we're down to the wire it's a little difficult, so feedback would be much appreciated.
Until then~
