Chapter Twelve: Propositions

It seemed like the house was the only one around. Through dense standing trees one could peek the roofs of the neighborhood's other houses, standing in a far distance. The huge porch was enclosed with fancy columns and a little hedge surrounded the building. A spacious lawn before and behind the house stretched itself out before Bonnie. She was impressed by the two-storey house that seemed so inviting that Bonnie instantly felt at ease. The meadow the house was standing on was so huge that it almost made the house look lost on it.

Kai got out of the car and Bonnie followed him shortly after, giving herself another half second to appreciate the view. It was a perfect house to raise a bunch of kids, Bonnie thought as she followed Kai over a desire track to the front door. He opened it and Bonnie entered the Parker household for the first time in her life.

The lobby was light flooded and there was a stair on the right reaching up to the next floor. To both sides of the room and opposite her Bonnie could make out doors. The one on the left was closed but the one on the right was wide open and Bonnie could peek through it into an equally nice dining room.

"I figure you're not hungry since you have almost eaten the plate your food was on, but you want anything to drink?" Kai was being a nice host.

"Yes, that would be nice." And Bonnie followed Kai through the dining room to the kitchen. It was sending out a quaint flair. There was a smaller round table on the right and a white wooden kitchen island on the opposite side of the room. Kai gestured Bonnie to sit and went to the fridge to take a look inside.

"Eeeh, I need to get down to the basement, seems like no one in this household is caring about refilling the fridge." Came his voice behind the opened fridge door. He closes it back up and asked "Want anything in particular?"

Bonnie shook her head and Kai left the room to fetch something to drink. Bonnie finally seated herself in one of the chairs and took a moment to take in the scenery. She was in Kai Parkers home, a beautiful and idyllic looking house that looked even bigger once she was inside of it. If you would have asked her a month ago if she thought anything like this would ever happen she would have laughed in the persons face.

But now she was comfortably sitting in the Parker kitchen, waiting for Kai to return and enjoy his company. She was happy that the two of them had warmed up to each other and was surprised at how fast he had grown on her.

It took Kai some time to get the drinks so Bonnie took out her phone and relaxed into the chair. The house was all silent and she could only make out the chirp of a lonely bird that had either stayed during the winter days or was a very early returner.

Suddenly the door in the kitchen that led out to the yard got opened and a middle-aged woman came into the kitchen, with her back to Bonnie. She was carrying shopping bags in both arms and had a phone pinned between her right ear and her right shoulder. She hadn't noticed Bonnie's presence and she had no idea if she should make herself known. So she just waited if she would notice her and hoped that Kai would return any second.

"I have just arrived home, I was grocery shopping." The woman told the person on the phone. Bonnie took in her appearance. She had long dark hair that was knotted together in a loose bun. She was taller than Bonnie and wore jeans and a square shirt which gave her the look of a horsewoman, except for her shoes, she was wearing sneakers. Her profile reminded Bonnie so much of Kai.

"How come I have never heard of this? Did she say anything yesterday when you picked her up?" The woman had put the bags on the counter and was no leaning onto the kitchen island with her back to Bonnie. Bonnie thought about sneaking out of the room to avoid any awkwardness.

"Alright, alright. I get it. I'll hurry and then I can make it there until 2. See you tonight." And she hung up. A loud sigh escaped her and she turned around to put her shopping away as a scream escaped her mouth. She had realized Bonnie's presence and scared herself.

Bonnie looked apologetically to the woman. "Hi, I didn't mean to scare you, sorry."

The woman tried to regain her breath but had already put on a friendly face. "Don't be, I get scared pretty easily. One wouldn't think that is possible when you're raising a bunch of children but it is." Her fingers ran through the loose strand of her hair and she began walking up to Bonnie.

"I don't think we have met before. I am Evelyn." She reached out her hand and Bonnie shook it. Evelyn Parker, apparently Kai's mother, had a huge and honest smile on her face that forced Bonnie to return it.

"Bonnie!" she stated as she shook her hand.

"So I take it one of my children is already home." She laughed slightly and Bonnie could hear the resemblance between her and Kai's silent laughs. "So, you are friends with my daughter?" Evelyn asked her.

"Your son… actually." Bonnie said and Evelyn Parker looked confused for a second. "Kai?" Bonnie said and now she most definitely looked even more confused. But only for a second and then she looked joyful as she sat down next to Bonnie. She could see her eyes lighting up and now it was Bonnie's turn to look confused at her reaction.

"Oh, you must be Bonnie Bennett. It is so nice to meet one of Kai's friends. I only know Brian and this Walter kid, but Kai never brings them here anymore. I guess that it is better that way." She said the last part more to herself than to Bonnie but Bonnie tried to seem as if she didn't hear her say it. "Anyway," she continued "I guess since he is mostly never home himself, I would never get the opportunity to meet some of his other friends." She brightly smiled at her and Bonnie was surprised at how genuine it was.

Bonnie thought about the fact that Kai's mother didn't know any of his friends and she thought to herself that maybe that wasn't a bad thing. Some of the people Kai hung out with weren't too smooth with her, Brian Glenn and the stoner kid that apparently was called Walter included, so his mom would probably sleep better not knowing the others. Bonnie liked his woman already for her good judgment of character.

"Where is my son by the way? Did he leave you here all alone?" she asked and got up from her seat to go to the fridge. "Bonnie, darling can I get you anything?" She asked on her way.

"No, thank you Mrs. Parker, your son is actually trying to get me something to drink. I mean he said he would when he left. But since he is taking forever I think something might have happened to him on his way to the basement or he just simply forgot what he was doing on the his way through this huge house." Bonnie laughed and was glad as she saw Evelyn brightening up too about her little joke.

"Wouldn't be first time! And please call me Evelyn." Mrs. Parker winked and turned to her shopping bags. In that moment Kai entered the kitchen again and Mrs. Parker turned around as she heard her son. The warmth in her eyes and the smile that build up on her face as she saw her eldest son were so full of love and affection that something inside Bonnie's stomach turned warm.

"I got orange juice, water or any sugar-containing lemonade you could possibly imagine. So choose wisely." Kai said and offered Bonnie a few bottles. As he saw his mother he turned to her. "Oh, hi mom. Thought you had an appointment today?" he asked skeptically. Bonnie chose the orange juice and Kai gave her a glass before going to the fridge to put all the other bottles inside.

"Well, I got a call from your father, telling me that Briana's daycare is closing earlier today so I have to get all the grocery inside and then go pick her up." Evelyn explained and Kai let out a snort, shaking his head. She intercepted her son at the fridge, held his arm with her hand and kissed his cheek lightly. "Hello, my love." She caressed his cheek and his mouth was twitching up shortly in response before he grabbed another glass and went to sit next to Bonnie, pouring them both a glass of juice.

"Why isn't he picking her up then? It's not like your appointment was important or anything." Kai scoffed and Bonnie wondered what this was all about.

"You know how busy your father is at the moment." Evelyn defended her absent husband.

"Where is Gilly then? Isn't she supposed to take care of these kinds of things?" Kai asked.

"I gave her the day off. It was nothing important to do today, or so I thought, so she didn't need to be here."

"Mom, you know it doesn't make any sense having a home help if you just keep sending her away." Kai only earned a judging look from his mother for that. He turned back to his glass and said. "Okay, I tried!" surrendering to his mother.

Bonnie was amazed by the interaction between mother and son because Kai seemed to be so much more at ease when he talked to her. She only experienced this kind of honesty and unconstraint on Kai's side with only one other person, and that person was herself. Evelyn headed to the table and Bonnie thought she was going to retort something on the matter but she turned to Bonnie and asked. "Would you like to eat something, darling? I could quickly cook something if you're hungry."

"Oh, thanks but I already ate at school!" Bonnie answered.

"Sure? It is no problem."

"Mom, if you had seen her eat this crappy foot today you wouldn't ask her this question." Kai mocked her and Bonnie stuck out her tongue in his direction.

"What about you, hon? Have you eaten yet?" Evelyn asked her son and he shook his head.

"No, but you don't need to make anything. I'm not hungry."

"Alright, you two." She returned to her shopping bags before she said. "What about some ice cream? Cookie dough?"

At that Kai's attention rose. He turned his head to his mother and Bonnie could see a smile forming on his face. He turned back to Bonnie and asked her if she wanted some too. She smiled and agreed. There was still a little room left for some desert. Kai went to fetch some spoons and bowls and his mother reached into one bag and handed him the ice cream, for which she earned the brightest smile she had ever seen on Kai.

When Kai actually gave her a portion of the ice crème Bonnie was almost surprised. It seemed like he was going to eat all of it by himself not bothering about Bonnie.

"What?" he asked her as she watched him closely.

"I am just witnessing your very special relationship with cookie dough that's all." Bonnie giggled and Kai gave her a sharp glance but only of a second because he was too busy turning his attention back to his ice crème.

"So how come you two are here so early? Weren't you supposed to take Jo with you?" Evelyn asked form behind the counters.

"The teacher is sick and Jo went to meet some friends." Bonnie answered for Kai because she knew he wasn't going to lie about why he was home early and Bonnie just tried to keep him out of trouble. But of course Evelyn knew her son longer and better than Bonnie did. So she turned to Kai and asked
"And your explanation, young man?"

Kai only shrugged. "I figured since I don't want to become a scientist that I wouldn't need to waste my time with physics when Bonnie desperately needed my help." He told his mother blankly and she shook her head.

"Don't let your father know this! He already thinks this assignment is distracting you from all the other important duties in school."

"I don't care about anything school related, so this assignment is actually the only thing I have invested time into in forever. But let him think it is a distraction, he always knows better than anyone else what is going on." Kai said annoyed.

His mom grabbed her bag and put on her jacket while turning to Bonnie once more. "Oh, Bonnie could you try to talk some sense into him. I am out of words here. Had to fight this fight too often already."

"I don't think your son would listen to me, but I can at least try. I mean, I hate to admit it but he is not dumb. Making him see everyone else's point of view will probably take as long as he still is in school." Bonnie said honestly.

"I am seeing the point, it just doesn't convince me." Kai explained to the two women.

"Like it said." Bonnie laughed.

Mrs. Parker sighed. "I'll go get Briana and then I'll take her along to the appointment. You two are alright?"

Bonnie nodded and smiled, she was surprised at how welcoming and friendly his mother had been to her, like she had known Bonnie for years, and Kai did the same but he didn't face his mother. His glance was distant and his jaw clenched as if he had to fight back his anger. When his mother had left Bonnie turned to him to confront him about it.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

He stayed quiet, still deep in his thoughts. She punched him on the arm to get his attention. "Hey! What's going on with you?" she wanted to sound angry but when she spoke the words they sounded more concerned.

Kai stroke over the spot she had hit him and finally looked at her. He was angry, Bonnie could tell, but he only glared at her, still saying nothing. That fact made her really worried now. You could say a lot about Kai Parker but that he was reserved was not one of them. Bonnie shifted her chair closer to him and grabbed his hands, which she only now realized where clenched into fists. He squeezed them lightly as she took them in her own. She tried to put all the compassion she had in her into her eyes and her voice when she tried to get him to talk to her again.

"What is it, Kai?"

He hadn't looked into her eyes before but now their eyes locked and Bonnie saw a variety of emotion run threw them. Anger, confusion, insecurity, pain and what startled Bonnie the most anxiety. She kept the connection in place in the hope he might open up to her. He started to open his mouth to say something when he quickly changed his mind and shook his head. He looked down on the table and sighed heavily and Bonnie knew her chance of getting him to talk was gone.

"It's nothing. I just thought about something." He drew his hands away from hers and got up. "So, you're ready to get this presentation done?" he asked with a smile.

Bonnie nodded and got up. She followed him upstairs but she didn't pay much attention to her surroundings. She had to think about Kai's behavior. She was positive that he had shown his true self to her downstairs, maybe unwillingly, but like Jo had stated he doesn't let anyone in easily and so he had pretended like everything was okay. Bonnie vowed to herself to not let this go. She was going to find out what was bothering Kai so much, maybe it was the clue she needed to finally figure him out.

. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"How much longer?"

"If you'd shut up I'd be done way faster, so don't get on my nerves."

Bonnie was writing down her notes for the presentation. They had been really productive today and finished everything up. Now she was writing everything down she needed to present to the class in a few days so that she could go through everything a least once. Kai was sitting on the ground leaning onto his wardrobe, impatiently waiting for her to get done. Every few minutes he'd ask her how long it would last until she was done with her notes and it was freaking annoying. She was nearly done but she wasn't going to admit that to Kai so he wouldn't stress her out even further.

"Do you realize that we have like a million more days to get this done and that you are completely overreacting?" He asked her now. He had started to pound a rhythm on the floor with his hands and Bonnie was close to losing it and yelling at him.

"I am not overacting. I told you I have a schedule and I need the remaining days to memorize and practice my parts." Bonnie said, trying to fight back the anger in her voice.

"Eeeegh, like I said: overreacting." Kai leaned his head against the door of his wardrobe and shot his eyes. Bonnie had been surprised as she had entered his room. Being deeply in thought about his previous curious behavior, the sight of his room had taken her back into reality. It was not that his room was odd or anything, but it was the feeling she had gotten when she entered it.

It was light flooded just like the rest of the house with two big windows. Before those windows there was his bed and in opposite of that was his wardrobe, both in a dark wooden color. The rest of the room was merely functional. A desk, where she was preparing everything right now, a TV in the edge of the room and what had surprised Bonnie the most a punchingbag hanging from the ceiling. Kai had stated that he never even used it anymore but that he had nagged his parents about it when he was 14 until he got one. Bonnie had tried to throw some punches only for Kai to fall to his bed and not stopping to laugh for another 5 minutes. She was never going to do that again, she was sure.

"You know that one can over think something and then screw it up, even though it was really well prepared. And I think you might be doing that just now. When I think about it, you might have done this your entire life. You could have had a way easier life if you had just stopped organizing every second of it, especially what school stuff is concerned. Speaking of, there is a party the night of presentation and I thought that…" Kai talked like a waterfall.

"Do you ever stop talking?" Bonnie interrupted him and he looked at her surprised by her sudden intervention. Then he smiled.

"Not really!"

Bonnie turned back to her notes and she realized that Kai had got up from his place on the ground and made his way towards her, placing himself on the chair next to her and watching her closely.
"Like I said, there is a party and we should go and celebrate our victory there. What do you say?"

Bonnie didn't look up from her notes as she asked "What kind of party? I haven't heard about this." She was stalling. Of course she hadn't heard about this because she wasn't quiet as involved in the local party scene as Kai was. She was only rarely going to parties. Only if Faye dragged her there, and then Faye was always the one to know about the parties and not Bonnie.

"It's just some chick partying at her house. She throws them regularly when she comes back from boarding school. I don't know her well but I know her parties are always good. Everyone in school is talking about it. How come you never heard of it?"

Bonnie didn't want to admit that she wasn't listening to facts like these when she was in school. It was not that she was no party girl but she liked staying home and she never really cared about the gossip of the school. So she shrugged as she lay down her pen. She was done with her notes.

"So, what do you say?" Kai asked.

"We'll see. I have friends over from Virginia that weekend and I think I'll have to ask them if they want to come."

"Just tell them this is the most iconic party in town and they will want to. Come on, Bon, this will be fun." He was smiling brightly and enthusiastically at her, slightly punching her arm. She had to smile too and wanted to say yes only because she saw that Kai was really excited for this and it seemed like he really wanted her to join him.

"Well, I'll ask them. Let you know when we decide." Bonnie said. She wasn't too keen on going to that party. There would be all the wrong people in one place and she didn't want Elena and Caroline to think this was the kind of people she spends her time with. She hoped the two of them would be tried from their journey and would want to stay home. But if she presented the party like Kai wanted her to she knew her best friends would never say no. She was going to have to play it down a lot, if she wanted to avoid any weird interactions of the Portland fraction of her life.

She and Kai changed a long silent look. When Bonnie decided it was time to prep the presentation, Kai tilted his head and looked like he had something to say.

"What?" she asked.

"Promise me something?"

"I already told you I'd ask them." She said bugged and turned away from him.

"It's not about that." Kai admitted and as Bonnie looked back to him he had this mischievous smile on his face that told her he was up to no good. "I played along with everything concerning this assignment and I really did a fabulous job with it. I did everything you demanded of me and I think earned something for that."

"I am already giving you an assessment for your work, that should cut it, don't you think?"

"I don't care about this stupid assessment thing. I mean like a real reward." He started intensely into her eyes and she dared to look away even though the turn of the conversation and the intense look in his eyes started to make her feel nervous.

"What do you want?" she asked bravely.

"One day!"

"One day?"

"Yup, one day, any day. I get choose it and you can't do anything about it. One day in which I can decide everything that you get to do and you have to do it without hesitation and discussion. This probably sounds alarming to you but I promise you, it will be worth it."

Bonnie's face turned shocked. She hadn't anticipated this kind of proposition. She had thought that maybe he would make her go to some stupid party with him or something like that. But the way that he made this sound made her feel slightly panicked. What did he want to do with a whole day of her time? Bonnie knew he was known for making trouble and she didn't want to get involved in any of this. She stayed silent for quite some time and Kai never let her out of his sighed to watch every reaction and emoting forming on her face. Bonnie was afraid to turn him down, this whole proposition was scaring her to the bone because she couldn't let Kai Parker have this huge impact on her life, or one day of her life even, giving him complete control. She knew this day would turn out to be a disaster and she was not ready to change from good to bad girl. She sighed heavily and was shocked about the next words that came out of her mouth.

"Are we going to do anything illegal?"

"Can't promise that there won't be any obstacles thrown our way by the law but I can promise you that I will keep you out of trouble as good as I can." He answered and his answer scared her even more. He was honest with her, as always, he wanted her to know what she was going to get herself into. Of course she knew they wouldn't end up killing someone and if he was going to protect her it couldn't be too bad, right?

"So, what do you say? And remember, the moment you agree to this, there is no going back!" He warned her once more and reached out his hand for her to either take the deal or decline it.

She reached out her hand to, against her better judgment, accept his proposition but before he could take a hold of her hand she drew it back. He looked at her questioningly.

She sighed and looked deeply into his eyes; she needed to know one thing and she needed to know if he was lying about it.

"We're not going to do something too crazy and you'll make sure that I won't end up in a police car. And if I say I want out, I get out. Promise!" Bonnie demanded.

"Bonnie, this day is about fun. What do you think I'm planning for us, a day with the Russian mob?" Kai asked mockingly. But his smile was victorious; he knew she wasn't going to back out now.

"Promise me!" She demanded.

"Okay, okay, I promise." He was still holding out his hand for her to take it. There was just one more thing.

"Can I trust you?" she asked. A question that hold more meaning to it than it seemed. She was not only asking if she could trust him with this promise but if she could trust him at all. Something she had to know if she was going to keep him as a part of her life. Something she had asked herself several times now.

He looked right into her eyes, also realizing the importance of the question and his answer to it.
"Yes, Bonnie, you can trust me." He said seriously and Bonnie believed him. She took his hand and shook it, immediately regretting it as she saw the triumphant look on his face and she took her hand out of his hold.

"God help me." She said to the ceiling and knew this was exaggerated but she wasn't going to seem like a coward.

"It's too late for that. You already made a deal with the devil!" Kai leaned back into the chair and watched her ravel in doubt and uncertainty about what he had planned with amusement. She glared at him.

"You can always back out. Like we agreed, you want out, you get out!" He said knowing she would never do that.

"Like that is possible!" she said.

"Why not? It was part of your negotiation." Kai stated.

"Don't pretend like I am ever going to use that option. I can never really get out now." She said and added a little more silent. "Not anymore."

"But you have the option."

"No, you want to know why? Because we are friends now! And you cannot back out friendship like that." There it was. Out in the open. The fact that both of them had been tiptoeing around for the past few weeks. Bonnie had said it and officially included him into her life, as a friend. A sudden nervousness grew in her because he was just watching her with an unreadable expression. Didn't he agree with her? That they were friends? Was he going to say that what they were having was nothing like friendship and she was delusional for thinking that?

But then a smile grew on his face and Bonnie knew that that was his silent agreement to their new vocalized friendship state. At first it was genuine and then it turned mischievous.
"Oh, Bonnie Bennett you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into."

Author's note: Part 2 of my multiple-chapter ark. Hope you liked it. I promise this isn't going to last forever and we will come to some new aspects of the story soon. I have so much left to tell. Until next chapter, LiLaAir.