"All right, I'm out," I call out to Rhonda, finishing the clock-out procedure. "Thank you so much for an awesome first day."
The blonde manager nods. "It was a pleasure to have you. See you on your next shift." She has a slight nervous tick that I didn't notice until I heard Ben, the bartender, told me about it an hour ago. Every few seconds, she smacks her lips. It varies with intensity, but once I noticed it, I definitely cannot unsee it.
As I approach the front door, ready to change out of work clothes and put my feet up at home, someone's waiting outside.
"Hello," I call out, closing the door behind me. "Can't say I expected you to come back here just for me."
"Logan, right?" Bonnie asks, confirming it with a glance toward the nametag on my shirt. "I'm Bonnie, but you know that already." Her accusatory tone is a little off-putting, and she notices my discomfort. "Had an interesting conversation with my grandmother about you. Why did you pretend like you didn't know who I am?"
Ah. I… guess that does look fishy.
"Sorry, wasn't my intention to creep you out," I mutter, preparing to repeat the backstory. "I sometimes get these dreams, um, that predict the future. Premonitions, I suppose. Nothing more than glimpses, like a static video screen. But they led me to you and your grandmother." She looks skeptical and probably more disturbed. "All that stuff that your grandmother has been saying for months is true, Bonnie. You're a witch, and so am I." Never cared about the distinction between witch and warlock or whatever gender term the Martins preferred on the show. I'm a witch, she's a witch, everybody's a wtich!
I make sure no one's watching but her and drain a small amount of magic from the wristwatch. I point my hand toward the bench near the front door to the Grill. "Motus."
The bench shakes slightly and then slowly slides across the ground a few inches. The legs of the bench drag a chalky line in the concrete. The movement's not as impressive as I would have liked, admittedly, with so little energy siphoned, but Bonnie merely gapes.
"I would have opened with this earlier, when I first spoke to you, but I was at work, and you were with your friends. Didn't want to expose magic, you know?" I smile in a lame effort to alleviate tension, but she is clearly shell-shocked.
"Um, I don't know what to say to that. This is… a lot to take in." She hesitates. "My grandmother told me that you approached her about all this, about me, the other day. You want to train me?"
"To help prepare you for the future, yes." I'd like to keep that vague, but-
"What future?" she asks. "I don't understand."
I shake my head, a little ashamed. I'm jumping to conclusions, assuming that people are in the know. Seeing her now, it's difficult to not see her and remember the mature Bonnie after the prison world fiasco.
"Clearly, this should have been done differently. My coven introduces some concepts of magic before anyone even starts kindergarten; I shouldn't have assumed that you would know what to say, what to think. Especially after months of assuming it was nothing but a myth."
She frowns, still staring at the bench. "My grandmother never bothered to show me anything like that, so of course I didn't believe her."
My sympathy for her situation is honest and real. If there's one thing that's great about the Gemini Coven, it's their sense of self-importance. Tends to happen when you're around for thousands of years. Arrogance, tradition. No family in the Coven would ever let their children grow up without learning magic from an early age. They'd never stoop so low as to ignore Bonnie's abilities just because some human man doesn't like magic.
"Magic requires focus, control, and physicality. I only just met Sheila, but considering her age and her alcohol issues, I think she generally avoids magic these days. She's not one to show off either."
Bonnie paces back and forth in front of the Grill, not saying anything for a few moments.
"This must be tough for you, but Bonnie, I promise you this. Magic is an extremely useful tool, something that is part of who you are. Even if you don't know it yet." I take a second and smile. "But that's where I come in. Tomorrow night, after the comet festival, Sheila is arranging a meeting between the three of us. We're going to go over a few things, maybe start some basic lessons."
She fixates on me for several moments. "She mentioned it, but I already had plans to spend time with Dad."
I give her a knowing look. "Come on now. Don't let him hold you back from reaching your destiny. This is your birthright, and you're going to need it."
She pauses for several seconds and then finally nods. "I'll see what I can do." There's an awkward moment where she looks at me oddly. "There's something else. Just want to be clear: this isn't some kind of weird pick-up scheme, is it? My friends-"
"No!" I object quickly. She frowns, and it was perhaps too quickly. "Not that you aren't gorgeous, Bonnie, because you are. I just don't play for your team."
She grins. "Ah. I'm a little relieved, honestly. Caroline and Elena wouldn't stop teasing me for half an hour."
My blush betrays my embarassment. "Right. Sometimes, my words fumble, and I tend to ramble. Misunderstandings are annoying, you know? I'm flattered to be the topic of conversation though."
She looks at her phone. "It's getting late, school in the morning. I'll see you tomorrow night?"
"I don't work tomorrow, but I'll be at the festival. Wouldn't miss a celestial event like that."
She nods, something clicking in her head. "So what Grams said about the comet. Is it really that apocalyptic?"
If you consider unleashing twenty-eight possessive vampires to be apocalyptic, then yes. "Future's vague, Bonnie. Could be a sign of good luck this time around. Events like that-" I cut myself off. "Sorry, let me spare you that lecture before I ramble and bore you. You need to know the basics first before you learn anything that complex. So, until tomorrow."
She nods, cracking a smile. "I'm excited."
"You should be. This world's full of wonders, and as a witch, you're in the unique position to discover them."
She waves me off and heads around the corner, getting into her car. My paranoia forces me to watch her drive off, afraid at any moment that someone like Damon, or Damon himself, might attack. Once I see her disappear around the corner in her car, I feel safe.
Now, I just need to get home and start planning tomorrow's events. There's several things I need to do and only a limited time to get everything done before the festival.