Damon gently pulled away from the kiss. "No Bonnie." He said softly, his hand pressed lightly against her cheek as he searched her eyes.
He placed her down on her feet and Bonnie immediately dropped her gaze from his, unable to look at him.
Damon stared at her bowed head. He honestly didn't know what to say right now.
Such humiliation filled Bonnie. She wanted to sink into the floor and disappear from sight, anything to distance herself from this moment.
"If I've done anything to lead you to believe that this was okay to do then I apologize." He said, softly.
Oh god. Bonnie wanted to die.
Tears filled her eyes. Still not looking at him, she shook her head. "No, you haven't done anything. This was all me and I'm sorry." She said, biting her trembling lip about to cry, but desperately trying to hold it back and keep her composure.
"Bonnie..."
"No." She interrupted, shaking her head once again, sniffing. "You've been nothing but good to me and I'm sorry for kissing you like that. I crossed the line and I apologize...it'll never happen again."
Damon could hear the tears in her voice. Bonnie made a move to leave, but he stopped her by gently grasping her arm and holding her still.
Closing her eyes, Bonnie couldn't take it. "Oh god Damon, please just let me go!" She begged on a soft sob, fighting back her tears. "I've already made enough of a fool of myself!"
He dropped his hand from her arm and Bonnie couldn't get out of there fast enough, going into her bedroom and closing the door.
And the tears flowed. She covered her face, sliding to the floor with her back pressed against the door. What was wrong with her?
She read everything wrong...the way he looked at her...the way he said her name. Was that moment all in her head? Did she imagine it?
Bonnie felt like such a fool, but more than that, she was hurting because she loved Damon so much and for him to never feel that way about her was too much to bear.
The following morning when she didn't come out for breakfast Damon went to Bonnie's bedroom and knocked on the door. It came ajar and he pushed it open to find the room empty.
He frowned.
Bonnie must have left while he was out picking up breakfast.
He pulled her door back closed and returned to the kitchen where he had breakfast alone.
When Damon came home later on that afternoon from playing racket ball, he could hear music coming from Bonnie's bedroom.
He dropped his gym bag to the floor and went to her room. He hadn't seen her since last night and he wanted to make sure she was okay.
Bonnie was sitting on top of her bed knitting what looked to be a scarf.
That's right. He remembered years ago Nonna teaching Bonnie how to knit and if he remembered correctly he think his grandmother also taught her how to sew.
"I see you've gotten pretty good at that." He said from the door, watching how fast she worked the needles.
She didn't respond.
Damon looked over at the small sound system that he never used anymore and stored away in this room. Bonnie played it all the time, listening to the radio.
He figured that she didn't hear him over the music.
She was so weird.
Bonnie was the only person he knew who still listened to the radio. She liked to listen to it while she cooked as well as when she cleaned up.
He walked into her room and lowered the volume.
Her head snapped up and she stiffed when she saw him.
"You're pretty good at that." He said, pointing down at her knitting. He stood at the foot of her bed, trying to act as normal as possible, hoping that she would relax.
"Thank you." She said swallowing hard, carefully placing the needles down to her lap.
At least she was making direct eye contact with him again, Damon thought.
"I missed you at breakfast this morning. I had donuts and everything." He said after a moment to fill the silence.
"Oh…sorry. Lacey's back from LA. We hung out for a little while...you know to catch up." It was more like Bonnie crying on Lacey's shoulder as she told her everything that happened.
More awkward, uncomfortable silence filled the room.
"So, you ready for your first day of work on Monday?"
"Yeah." She answered, her eyes straying from his.
It was painfully clear that she wanted him to leave her room.
Damon cleared his throat, but plowed ahead. "I know you need some work clothes..."
She cut him off not giving him a chance to finish what he was going to say. "Oh, Lacey said I can raid her closet and take what I want. She has tons of suits and dresses that she's gotten from designers that she's never even worn before."
"Bonnie don't be ridiculous. Lacey is like four inches taller than you. Her clothes won't fit you properly and your appearance has to be on point considering you're going to be the first person of contact when people walk into the law firm."
"I know how to hem and sew, Damon. So, I'm good...but I appreciate your concern."
Bonnie's whole demeanor was off. It was like she was trying to distance herself from him.
Damon wasn't having it.
"You're going to be working long hours and you won't have time to be altering clothes. So put on some shoes and grab a jacket, we'll leave in a few minutes." He said before walking out of her room.
Bonnie didn't say much in the car. It was a long ass drive.
When they entered the upscale department store, she was whisked away by the sales lady, being taking into the back dressing room to be measured.
Afterwards, Bonnie was given clothes to try on and Damon was waiting when she came out of the dressing room. He was sitting in a chair with a glass of champagne on the small table beside him.
It was like out of the scene of Pretty Woman.
When he saw the pants suit, he frowned. "No that won't do…go back in and try on something else."
"Excuse me?" Bonnie turned to look at herself in the mirror. "This looks perfectly fine."
"If you worked at the DMV…but you don't… you work for a top notch corporate law firm Bonnie therefore you have to look polished and this ain't it. Now go try on something else."
Three hours later, they were finally done or rather Damon was finally satisfied.
Bonnie now had a complete wardrobe of stylish work clothes that consisted of fitted blazers, blouses, pants, dresses and skirts that she could mix and match; three pairs of four inch pumps, a pair of black boots, a pair of flats, stockings, tights, a Ralph Lauren tote bag and a gorgeous cashmere wrapped coat.
Bonnie really liked her new job and she picked up things really quickly. She was so proud of herself when she got the hang of that damn switchboard. It took a few days, but she eventually learned how to work it.
All of the lawyers at the firm were real assholes, except for a small few who always spoke to her when they entered the office and said good morning. She was trained by a woman named Brett who'd work there for nine years. She started off working as the receptionist and was now a legal assistant.
Bonnie managed to make a couple of new friends on the job. Both were interns and they were only a couple of years older than her.
Kol was from Australia and went to NYU, and Anna was the daughter of one of the partners.
She'd gotten into a little trouble over the summer and her father pulled some strings making this internship working at the firm into her community service.
The three of them hung out a lot and on the weekends Bonnie and Anna would go to the frat parties at NYU and that's were Bonnie met Matt Donovan.
He was a senior, studying Business and Finance and he was drop dead gorgeous.
He had blonde hair and blue eyes, the all American boy if ever there was one and he was crazy about Bonnie the moment he laid eyes on her.
He kept trying to pick her up. Like literally. He'd had a few too many beers and he just thought she was the prettiest thing he'd ever seen in his life and he couldn't get over how tiny she was. The top of her head didn't even reach his shoulder. He kept following her around the party until finally she cussed him out, telling him to piss off.
"But I just want to get to know you." He said pitifully.
"Then do it when you're sober!" She snapped because he'd brought her to that point.
"Alright then." He said with a determined look on his face and walked away.
Bonnie sighed in relief, thinking that she was finally rid of the guy.
But what she didn't know was that Matt had one of his frat brothers dump two buckets of ice cold water on his head.
He then took a hot shower and got dressed, coming back to the party.
Sober.
Bonnie and Anna were standing in the corner of the room talking when he interrupted them. "Excuse me…hi, I'm Matt." He said sticking out his hand to her. "I just wanted to introduce myself to you properly."
Anna leaned into Bonnie's side, dying. "Oh my god…he actually went and sobered up."
Bonnie took note and keeping her word, extended her hand. "Hi Matt, I'm Bonnie...it's nice to meet you."
They talked for the rest of the night and Matt turned out to be a really nice guy when he wasn't drunk and making a fool of himself.
Before she could leave the party that night, Matt asked Bonnie out.
For a split second, she was going to say no. It was an automatic default response for her whenever guys asked her out.
"If I've done anything to lead you to believe that this was okay to do then I apologize."
Bonnie pushed the painful memory of that night to the back of her mind, swallowing hard. "I'd love to."
"My god Bonnie, I swear you're such an old lady." Lacey said laying across Bonnie's bed as she tried to figure out what to wear on her date with Matt. He was taking her to a concert.
Bonnie laughed. "Why? Because I don't want to wear my back out. Summer's over Lace, it's 45 degrees outside."
Lacey rolled her eyes. "You'll wear a coat."
"Look, I'm not going to freeze my tail off just to impress some guy."
The model snorted in response. "I bet you would if it was Damon taking you out."
Bonnie swung her head around so fast her hair smacked her in the face. What was Lacey doing? She knew Damon was home. "Lace!" She hissed, her head nodding towards the open bedroom door. She crossed the room, closing it shut.
"Sorry."
"You can't say things like that when you're here!"
"Bonnie relax, he didn't hear me."
"You have to be more careful. Things are already weird with us. Don't make it worse." Bonnie said, going back over to her closet.
A part of her wanted to call Matt and cancel the date. It didn't feel right going out with him. As crazy as it may sound, she felt like she was being disloyal to Damon.
It was so ridiculous, which was exactly why she had to go.
She couldn't keep putting her life on hold waiting for something that was never going to happen.
Lacey got off the bed, going over to her friend. "Well I think Damon Salvatore is a fool. You're so amazing Bonnie and if he can't see that then fuck him and that uptight anorexic bitch he's going to marry."
A tiny laugh escaped Bonnie's mouth. "She does need to eat a sandwich."
"Or like fifty." Lacey retorted. "And this is going from a model."
Both girls looked at each other and then burst out laughing.
Damon wiped his greasy hands with a paper towel before getting up from the table and leaving his Philly cheese steak to answer the door.
Matt's blue eyes widened in surprise when he saw Damon. "Oh man, I'm sorry. I have the wrong apartment." He said, turning away.
Damon shrugged about to close the door until he heard Matt say under his breath. "I could have sworn the doorman said Bonnie lived in 4A."
"Bonnie?" Damon's brow furrowed.
Matt paused, turning back to him."Ah yeah. Bonnie Bennett. She lives in this apartment building. Do you know her? She left my name with security so that I could come up, but the guy gave me the wrong apartment."
So many thoughts were running through Damon's head. "No he didn't. You have the right apartment, but the question is why are you here?"
Taken aback by Damon's bluntness, Matt slightly stumbled on his words. "A-Ah, w-we have a date."
"That's right Damon, he's Bonnie's date... so stop being rude and let him in." Lacey said from behind him.
Damon's jaw tensed. She came to stand at his side. "Hi Matt, I'm Lacey, Bonnie's friend."
Matt smiled at her, happy to see a kind face. "Hi Lacey, it's nice to me you."
"Bonnie will be out in a second." She told him.
Matt was so fucking nervous that he was starting to sweat underneath his right armpit.
Lacey turned to Damon. "So what are you going to do tonight?" She couldn't help herself, wanting to rub it in that Bonnie had a hot date.
Matty Blue Eyes was gorgeous. Way to go Bonnie!
Damon did that thing with his eyes where he looked like a homicidal maniac. "Weren't you leaving?"
Lacey snorted, rolling her eyes.
"Um, can I get by." Bonnie said from behind them.
Both Damon and Lacey turned their heads at the same time with two completely different expressions on their faces when they saw Bonnie.
Lacey had a huge smile on her face while Damon was frowning.
Bonnie was wearing the backless top!
She looked fucking amazing, pairing the black top with some fitted gray jeans and biker boots.
Lacey moved back, giving Bonnie room to pass.
Matt gulped when he saw her. Bonnie smiled up at him. "Hi."
"Hi." He responded. Matt shook his head in amazement. "You look gorgeous."
He looked at her with such appreciation in his eyes that Bonnie bit her bottom lip, trying not to blush. "Thanks."
"You ready to go?" Matt asked.
"Yes, I'm ready." Bonnie said, slipping on her coat and placing a scarf around her neck.
"Have fun Bonnie." Damon spoke up from behind her.
She smiled up at Matt. "I will."
Matt returned her smile with one of his own. "Then let's go." He said, surprising Bonnie by taking her hand.
Damon and Lacey watched as the two walked to the elevator.
"Did you see the way he looked at her?" Lacey asked in general, not really expecting an answer. "
Yeah Damon saw.
"Matt looks like he's already halfway in love with her... Bonnie says he's from Georgia... and you know those southern boys...they marry real young." She said, letting that marinate for a second. She finally turned her head towards Damon. "Can you imagine it? Bonnie married... and pushing out beautiful little blue eyed babies?"
Damon watched as Bonnie and Matt got onto the elevator laughing.
"Lacey."
"Yes?"
"Go home."