A/N: After Bonnie has sat down to dig through her past relationships in the last chapter, the rest of the story happens in the past, when she was seventeen and finding herself. Lets says its season 3. I'm not a stickler for details so don't hate me too much for that.
Track #2- Here
I'm sorry if I seem uninterested
Or I'm not listenin' or I'm indifferent….
Bonnie sat alone at one of the round tables spread throughout the hall draped in silk linens and set with fine china and more silverware than she'd ever seen in her life.
She was bored out of her skull and had been ready to go from the moment she stepped foot in the door. She was prepared to never forgive Caroline for making her come to this event and then abandoning her to literally dance with the devil all night. Bonnie knew it was an act to keep Klaus busy and distracted while Damon, Stefan, and Elena pumped the rest of the Mikaelson brood for information. Didn't keep her from resenting every last one of them.
A passing waiter offered her a glass a champagne and she took it without hesitation, needing something in her system to keep her from wanting to set the place ablaze just for something to do.
Truly, I ain't got no business here
But since my friends are here…
"Well, you sure seem to be enjoying yourself," came the voice of the last person she wanted to talk to.
Bonnie looked up at a smirking blue-eyed Salvatore and had to force herself not react outwardly. She smiled sweetly and sipped her drink. "You know me, I'm just a little wallflower."
Inside she was sucking her teeth, rolling her eyes, and envisioning melting the skin from the vampires bones.
"Oh, I'm sure that's what you would like us all to think." Damon stood, his posture somehow both casual and regal at the same time, only furthering Bonnie's annoyance with him.
"What do you want, Damon? I'm really not in the mood to play with you right now." Bonnie crossed her left leg over her right and shifted so she could see around Damon to the dancefloor where Klaus was twirling her friend. It looked like Caroline was putting her obsession for Dancing With the Stars to good use.
Damon's eyes dropped to take in the vast amount of leg Bonnie revealed through the slit in her floor length gown . It stopped about 6 inches shy of her hip and showed off her toned caramel thigh, her delicate knee, and her sculpted calf down to her dainty ankle wrapped in a strappy little sandal displaying the silver polish on her manicured toes. Her hair was softly curled and pinned to the side with rhinestone clips, leaving her shoulders bare in her sleeveless royal blue gown. She may not be having fun tonight but damn the girl cleans up well.
"You clean up pretty good Bonnie, I would've never guessed you owned anything outside of peasant blouses and blue jeans," he managed to compliment and take a dig at her in the same breath.
I would rather be at home all by myself not in this room
With people who don't even care about my well-being….
Bonnie pinched her lips together in an effort to remain cool and not blow her cover by starting a fight with him in the middle of the party. But she wasn't going to sit there trading insults with him either. If it weren't for the fact that she was here acting as the 'magical muscle' in case things went south, she would have skipped this charade altogether.
"Aren't you supposed to be babysitting Elena? Or did she ditch you for a better date?" Damn, she just couldn't quite help herself.
"I guess you could say that. She convinced Stefan to take a turn on the dance floor." His eyes drifted to the pair looking as smitten as ever. "I noticed you were sitting over here all by your lonesome. Don't suppose you'd like to join me for a dance?" Damon pulled out his most charming of smiles for the witch and offered her his hand.
I don't dance, don't ask, I don't need a boyfriend….
Bonnie looked from his outstretched hand to his ridiculously attractive face, and couldn't tell if he was serious or not. Regardless, she didn't come to this thing to be pitied.
"Don't suppose I do. Now please, feel free to go bother someone else," she politely dismissed him.
"Honey, if you're waiting for a better offer you're gonna be sitting here for a while. Don't you have a built in date, anyway? Where's Little Gilbert at tonight?" Damon pulled out the chair next to Bonnie and took a seat.
Bonnie sighed when she realize he wasn't going to go away. "I stupidly told him to stay away from this event. I thought there would be a bit more…. Excitement," she lifted her eyebrow, hinting at the fact that the evening was going smoother than any of them had expected.
Damon was surprised as well. Everyone seemed to be on their best behavior. Caroline was doing her job in keeping Klaus entertained and Matt had held Rebecca's attention all night. Even Kol had found someone to make him look like an upstanding citizen for a few hours.
It seemed as if Bonnie and Damon were the only two not enjoying the festivities.
"Yeah, I was hoping for a bit more 'excitement' as well," he admitted with a slight grimace, his eyes boring holes in his brothers back.
"At least you came of your own volition," Bonnie snorted. "I was practically kidnapped and stuffed into a dress and heels and was made to come."
"I thought girls loved playing dress up and high and society and lah-ti-dah…" Damon waved a hand around gesturing at the excessive decorations, the decadent food, and the live string quartet in the corner. "You telling me this isn't your kind of party?"
Excuse me if I seem a little unimpressed with this
An anti-social pessimist but usually I don't mess with this...
"Are you kidding me? I would literally rather be anywhere else on the planet right now than here, pretending to give a shit about half the people in this room that look down their noses at me just because my last name doesn't fit into their elitist social construct."
Damon's eyebrows raised in surprise. That was just about the most that the witch had ever said to him outside of shop talk of vampires, spells, and Elena's impending demise. He didn't know if it was the champagne talking or her natural self slipping through the cracks of her ever polite facade, but he found he kind of preferred it.
"You really don't want to be here do you?" he chuckled.
"What gave it away?" She dazzled him with one of the fakest smiles he had ever seen before tossing back the rest of her drink. Damon's eyes followed the lines of her throat as she tipped her head back.
"So, let's go get some air," he stood from his seat and waited for Bonnie to do the same.
"We can't just leave Damon, we did come for a reason," she said, lowering her voice, referring to the fact that they were both supposed to be keeping an eye on Elena.
"She's fine, she's got Steffy to protect her," Damon glanced back to the crowded floor. "And I don't really think we'd be missed."
"Damon…" Bonnie shook her head.
"Fine, you can continue sitting here like a bump on a log. I'm gonna go find a bottle of Dom. Or two" He strolled away and left her there staring sadly at her empty glass.
Elena did seem to be doing just fine on her own tonight….
And it's not like the bar was serving minors…
Bonnie sighed and followed after Damon, catching up to him on the quiet verandah outside.
"Here," he passed her a bottle of Dom Perignon and kept one for himself. He carefully pushed the cork off and held it away from his suit as the bubbly beverage spilled out the top.
Bonnie slowly pulled the foil off her bottle, and Damon chuckled at her. "Did you need help with that?"
Bonnie glared at him briefly, hearing the challenge in his tone. Caroline always liked popping the corks, so she'd never done it before, but it couldn't be that hard. Still, she felt the need to set Damon straight and show off just a little, so she concentrated on the cork for a few seconds and when it popped and shot out into the night off the side of the balcony she squealed in delight.
"Nevermind. Neat party trick," Damon said, impressed.
"Thank you," Bonnie smiled at her own ingenuity and carefully wiped off the bottle and shook the excess champagne from her fingers.
Damon watched as she put her fingers to lips and sucked off the last few drops of stray liquid. "I wonder... what other tricks have you got up your sleeve?"
"Ha, wouldn't you like to know," Bonnie smirked. " You couldn't have grabbed a couple glasses! while you were at it?" Bonnie tipped the full bottle to her lips and sipped.
"You know what they say about beggars being choosers, Bonnie," Damon said.
"And when have you ever been a beggar?"
"Fair. Maybe I just enjoy watching you rough it."
"Right, because drinking expensive champagne straight from the bottle is roughing it," Bonnie rolled her eyes and went to sit on a bench off in a corner. Damon followed her lead but instead of sitting next to her, he hopped up on the wide rail of the balcony.
"Tell me then, what is Bonnie Bennett's drink of choice?" he asked.
"Underage, remember?" Bonnie pointed at herself.
"So? That stops exactly nobody in this county and it's not like you're drinking chocolate milk tonight."
"I'm just saying, it's not like I have a whole lot of topshelf options. It's mostly whatever beer happens to be in the keg or some nasty concoction that gets passed around." Bonnie shook her head, remembering the last party she went to had featured a purple drink that just about knocked her on her ass. "This is pretty good though, even if it is bubbly."
"Not a fan of bubbles huh?" Damon was watching Bonnie loosen up bit by bit now, the alcohol having its intended effect.
"They usually give me the hiccups and no one wants to be that girl at the party."
"Why not?"
"It's embarrassing. And ridiculous. Like all of a sudden you lose the ability to breathe properly, you can't control your own body, and you sound like a freaking cartoon drunk. But I'm sure Damon Salvatore doesn't have those problems."
"Not exactly a problem when you don't technically need to breathe anymore." Damon smirked and, as if to prove the point, took a long pull from his bottle and smacked his lips with a loud and refreshing "Aaaahh," for good measure.
"Jerk," Bonnie rolled her eyes and took a slow sip.
"Don't be jealous," he teased.
"Oh I am definitely not jealous. Why would I be jealous of a dead man? A diversion from nature?"
"Here comes the magic lecture. I thought we were having a good time?"
"No lecture. I'm sure I don't have to tell you the many ways in which I've got it better than you do."
"What?! Okay, you need to lay off the sauce, because you must be drunk to think you have it better than me! I'm practically a superhero."
"There is no way in hell you are a super anything, let alone a hero! And I totally have it better! Watch." Bonnie was feeling bold now. The night air combined with the bubbly was giving her a confidence she hadn't had earlier.
She glanced around making sure they weren't being watched before she stood up.
"Hold this," she handed him her drink.
"Oh god, this better be good," Damon laughed.
"It will be!" Bonnie fired right back. She stood still and closed her eyes, focusing on the slight breeze blowing around her. The more she focused on it the stronger the wind became, circling around her, whipping her hair around wildly. Suddenly she turned in a circle three times and when she stopped, her gown, which had been royal blue, was blood red in color.
"Cool, huh!" she grinned, and twisted and turned showing off her newly recolored dress.
"Wow… that's gonna be so useful when you audition for Project Runway," Damon rolled his eyes.
"Whatever! That was awesome," Bonnie snatched her bottle back and returned to the bench.
"No, that was useless." Damon chugged his bottle empty and then chucked it over the railing. "This is awesome."
In the blink of an eye Damon was gone, but returned in another blink with the bottle in his hand again.
"Oh please, that wasn't nearly as cool as my dress!" she complained.
"Ok, it was pretty lame, but the point is, my super speed beats your stupid two-tone fabric."
"Ok, fine how bout this?" Bonnie snatched his empty bottle from him and flung it as high out over the balcony as she could, only this time she kept her arm raised and her palm out and muttered something in what sounded like Latin to Damon. He watched as the bottle stopped and hovered perfectly still in midair.
"That all?" he yawned.
"Not exactly." She snapped her fingers and the thick glass burst into dust and rained down on the lawn below. "How's that for useless?" Bonnie's grin was smug as she caught Damon's look of surprise before he could fix his face.
"That was… pretty good actually." Damon conceded. "It's not super strength or hearing, but I can see it's value."
"Thank god you approve, now my life has meaning," Bonnie snarked and went back to drinking.
"You're kinda sassy when you're intoxicated," Damon admired. "It's almost like you're enjoying my company."
"Shit. Then I must be more tipsy than I thought." Bonnie shook her head. All joking aside, for a moment there she had been having fun with Damon. That sobered her up a little. She wasn't sure if she should keep drinking till she stopped analyzing how weird it was to not loathe the cocky self sure vamp, or if she should abstain from ever drinking again.
Damon seemed to notice she was reconsidering her behavior towards him, and before she could get too far into her own head, he reached out and pulled the bottle from her grasp. "Tell you what- I won't ever speak of this night if you won't. And tomorrow we return to hating each other with every fiber of our being?" he offered.
"Deal, but you have to go get your own drink, this one's mine!" she tried to take the bottle back from him but he held it out of her reach.
"You can share, it's not like you're gonna finish it on your own," he took a long swig before she snatched it away, dripping champagne down his front.
"We've already established that you have no idea what I'm capable of," she challenged. Just to prove him wrong she tipped the bottle to her lips and took a long drink. So long in fact that when she finished she turned the bottle upside down to show him it was empty.
"I guess you showed me," he praised her feat, noticing her already swaying. "You know you're gonna regret that, right?"
Bonnie shrugged, feeling both smug and buzzed. "What now party master?"
"What now indeed?" The impish gleam in his eye should have told her he had nothing good in mind. "What do you usually do once you polish off a bottle before your hiccups kick in?"
"Ummm….I dance," she answered honestly.
"You want to dance?"
"Oh, god no, I don't wanna dance to that classical shit. I mean really dance," Bonnie gyrated her hips, her body and mind providing a silent soundtrack no one else could hear. "But I can't do that here."
"Who says?" Damon asked, trying not fixate on how delicious she looked.
"Them," she waves a hand at the party going on inside. "They say I have to dress a certain way, act a certain way…. be a certain way."
Damon saw her previous shine dim just a bit. "So why listen to them? If it doesn't make you happy why bother?"
"Because."
"Because what?" Damon was genuinely curious. It should have bothered him that he was so curious about the inner thoughts of this teenaged witch but tonight he found her fascinating, a distraction from his own situation. He'd unravel the implications of that later. Or never.
"Because they're my best friends. They need me. And I need them," Bonnie replied like it was mostly simple equation in the world.
"That doesn't explain why you'd let them dictate your life. If you don't want to do something, don't do it." his own response was equally simple.
"It's not that easy, Damon."
"Sure it is. You want something, take it. Or earn it or whatever. But if there is anything I've learned in my hundred and seventy odd years, it's that you can't wait or depend on anyone else to make you happy. You've gotta do that shit yourself."
"What do you know, Damon? Vampires like you are half the problem. Hell, you're the entire problem! You blow into town compelling people and confusing people and eating people and demanding people open tombs for you so you get your long lost girlfriend back. How's that working out for you, huh?"
"That's exactly my point! I waited almost a hundred and fifty years to be happy and it blew up in my face. Don't let anybody dictate your happy, Bonnie. They're not worth the wait."
He leaned against the railing, looking out at the night sky. The conversation had taken a turn and he was ready to abandon their little side party and head back in.
"God. And I thought my situation was depressing," she sighed.
"Gee, thanks," Damon rolled his eyes.
"What, do you want me to feel sorry for you? That's not gonna happen. You do shitty things then shitty things happen to you, that's how karma works. Nature will have its balance."
"Here we go with the nature bullshit. Now I need a real drink. Come on Bennett." Damon pulled her to her feet and led her inside to formal study.
Bonnie collapsed on the couch and sighed. "What a waste of a night. Nobody even got violent or anything," she complained.
"Careful what you wish for, night's not over yet." Damon found a stash of brandy and poured himself a drink.
"It is for me. I'm done with guard duty. The shoes are coming off!"
"On a scale of one to ten, how drunk are you actually?"
"Ssseven?" she slurred.
"Great."
"Ssimmer down. I don't even have the hiccups."
Bonnie was asleep before Damon even finished his first glass.
Yo I'll be over here….
A/N: All Bamon. All talk and drabble. And they agreed to go back to hating each other tomorrow, but a bond has formed. And I've never actually attempted to take champagne to the head so I don't know if that would have been possible for little miss bennett but lets pretend it is shall we.