The Engagement

Part 2

Elena knocked on the painted white door, her foot already tapping impatiently on the floor-boards outside, the way only she could do and still be serious. Bonnie was still snoozing under her covers and was jostled awake by two pail hands on her shoulders. She knew it was late, but the news she had to share would be worth the dark looks that had met her at the front door.

"Elena?" Bonnie asked, her voice thick with sleep and uneasiness.

"Guess what?" Elena exclaimed, almost catching Bonnie's legs when she flopped down on the bed. She seemed to vibrate with excitement, as if all the things she wanted to say were struggling to get out. Without waiting for a reply, she squealed, "Stefan asked me to marry him!"

Bonnie felt herself blush with jealousy and a coldness she couldn't describe. At once, she felt all the hopeless desolation which had been building inside her solidify into something as hard as diamonds, and as cold and deadening as ice. She wondered if Damon would tell her that it was over before he left that night, that he was leaving because of her.

She knew he still loved Elena, in a way, but hadn't he said Bonnie had replaced her in his heart? Did he really mean it when he said he loved her, or was she just a girl to be with until he got the real deal? Why was it always Elena?

"Bonnie?" she half asked, the gleam of excitement fading slightly in the midst of confusion, a puzzled look on her face. She just couldn't seem to understand how her own happiness couldn't touch her friend; she felt so happy, felt the glow to her skin ignited, and yet none of it seemed to be inside the other girl. She was disappointed by the less than gleeful reaction of her friend, and indignant. Why didn't she act pleased? Was it too much to ask? Elena made a sound that was more frustrated than tired. "It's late, I'll let you get back to sleep."

"Oh, Elena," Bonnie said, a little louder this time, sitting up in her bed and watching Elena disappear through the door. She wasn't going to chase after her – there was no doubt in her mind that it wouldn't be worth it if she did.

X

Elena smiled at Bonnie's mother as she came down the stairs, just as if everything was fine, even when it wasn't. She stepped through the entrance and out into the cold, dark, night. The air seemed to nip at her cheeks as she made her way down the path, but the skeleton branches above her made her shiver. This was not a night to invite things inside, she thought with a shiver, thinking of the time when they invited Damon in without knowing what they were starting.

X

Two taps at her window and she turned toward the sound. At first, all she saw was a bird, a bird with feathers highlighted with blue, but in a shiver of power it disappeared.

She crossed to the window and opened it wide enough for a man to slip in. "Come in." she said.

And he did.