"No, Damon, I told you I was going to meet up with Care first. Then do the grocery shopping." Bonnie paused as she checked her face in the mirror on the otherside of the visor in her car. She reapplied her lipgloss and scoffed, "Maybe you're memory's just going, old man."
There was a sound of absolute indignation.
"Yes, you're a cradle robber. I'm absolutely innocent in this relationship."
This time his laugh was loud enough to make her pull the phone away from her ear.
"What? It's true."
And before he could retort- "Oh! Care's here. Gotta go! If there's anything else you want me to get from the store, just text it to me."
And she hit end call before he could get a cheesy one liner in and stepped out of her car just in time to catch a whirlwind of blonde hair and alarmingly strong arms. She let out a little grunt and hugged her back tightly. Her fingers digging into a, probably, expensive shirt. If anything, it was very soft.
"Ugh, Bonnie, I missed you." Caroline groaned into her ear, squeezing her tighter.
"I missed you too, Care, but I can't breathe." Bonnie whispered back, her voice a little strained.
"Oh!" The blonde released her and Bonnie took in a theatrical gasp once her best friend was holding her at arm's length. Assessing her like any proper mother hen would. Those sharp blue eyes taking in every bit of her. Pink lips pursed in thought. "You look like you've been having a lot of sex."
"Care!" Bonnie burst out, her eyes widening a little. Honestly, she should have expected this. Caroline had a thing for details and didn't mince words.
"What? It's a good look for you. Tell Damon to keep up the good work." A short pause and her nose wrinkled, "Actually, don't. I don't want him to think I like him."
"Right." Bonnie rolled her eyes and ushered the blonde into the little cafe they agreed to meet up at, "So me how you've been? What's New York like? Don't leave out any details."
"Like I ever do." Caroline tutted, picking out a booth near the window and settling in as she looked over the menus she had grabbed on the way there. The blonde had just finished up her second internship in Broadcast Journalism and was itching to get into some actual work that involved it and not just getting coffee for those that did. And all of her rambling and hand gestures told Bonnie just that. She just smiled and nodded as Caroline kept going, that smile growing even wider on her face.
"I swear to god, I work for assholes. They kept trying to play grab ass or brush me off because I'm a woman. When I actually get out there, I'm going to make them disappear. They will be dust, I tell you, dust." Caroline slammed her fist into the table.
Bonnie snorted and took a sip of the sweet tea that the waiter had brought her. Said waiter shot Caroline a bemused look after setting down her requested water with lemon.
"So, what've you been up to? I mean, besides making goo-goo eyes at Damon and being a cock tease at his hot roommate."
"Caroline!" Her eyes widened and it took all of her to not lean over the table to cover the blonde's mouth with both hands.
"What? I've seen the way he's looked at your ass. Is he single?" A perfectly seamless transition. Like she wasn't bringing up Bonnie's sex life whenever she wanted.
"Yeah, we've been trying to set him up with people, but it hasn't been working out. I mean, the other day he went on a date with Liv." And Bonnie made a face to show just how badly it went.
Except it went unnoticed by Caroline, who was looking very interestedly into her ice water with lemon. "Er, yeah. I ran into her. When did she get so pretty? I mean, was her hair always like that?"
"You mean everywhere and curly? Yeah." Bonnie took a sip of her soda and squinted at her best friend.
A pause, waiting for the blonde to talk like she usually did.
She didn't.
So she leaned forward a little, both hands on her glass, squinting harder.
No eye contact.
Caroline bit her lip.
"What'd you do?"
"What makes you think I did anything?" Was the immediate retort.
"Because you're deflecting and weren't talking!" Bonnie scoffed, "So, what'd you do?"
"I ran into Liv at a bar the other night, complaining about this guy who she was set up with and we had a few drinks." Caroline shrugged, but Bonnie's prying gaze wouldn't let up. Bonnie knew her friends weren't exactly known for heterosexual tendencies. Well, Caroline wasn't. The blonde was too open with everything and everyone to be restricted to one gender. "And we just started talking and talking and….well, yeah."
Like that was enough of an explanation.
In a way, it was since they were out in public and apparently Caroline had enough decency to not to go into detail about her sexual exploits.
"So, wait-wait," Bonnie raised her hands and pinched the bridge of her nose, "You...you had sex with your ex's ex."
Caroline opened her mouth, then looked up thoughtfully and pointed at her best friend, "Yes. I did. I mean, it's not like they're dating right now. Plus, it doesn't matter anymore since he and I haven't been together since highschool." And she was babbling. Never a good sign.
Bonnie took a sip of her drink and told the waiter they would need a little bit longer to order. They hadn't even touched the menus. This was going to be a long lunch.
"Still at that, are you? Could have sworn Bonnie left you with a 'Honey Do' list." Enzo scoffed as he swaggered into the living room with a glass of bourbon in hand.
"Just like the lists my mother used to leave you." Damon reached over and snatched the glass from him, downing the rest of it with ease. Blue eyes sharp on his best friend.
"You're never going to let that go, are you?" He sighed and, somehow, elegantly flopped down next to Damon-propping his feet up on the coffee table.
"I'll let it go when the image of you and her on my couch is permanently expunged from my brain and eyes." Damon rubbed his eyes pointedly, then held the empty glass out to Enzo. "And now this reminder-you owe me another drink."
"You brought it up, get your own." He elbowed Damon and got an elbow right back to his ribs.
And from then, they started to elbow even harder till Damon started coughing and a worried look took Enzo's eyes. It was brief, but he couldn't help but remember when they were in school together. Both having been shipped off to military boarding school. It was where they had met and Enzo didn't think he'd ever met anyone who looked so delicate and stubborn at the same time. Like he was determined to just be, regardless of any obstacle. Like being put into a room with someone he didn't know and was forced to live in such a strict and confining environment. Neither of them wanted to be there.
Damon was put there by his father and Enzo was but there by foster parents #6 due to the apparent anger issues he had. It was pretty strange that they would put two kids who had trouble with authority, all forms of it, and dealt with it through anger into the same room. It worked pretty well when they ended up in side-by-side beds in the clinic with broken noses, split lips, and black eyes. It was like a forced bonding exercise since when either one of them came close to the door, they were promptly escorted back by the nurse who knew how to handle them. (She had five sons of her own.)
"What're you in for?" Enzo had asked after a stagnant silence, a thick bandage on his arm. His dark eyes cutting to the strange boy with pretty eyes laying in the bed next to his. It was more than just his eyes, though, all of him was pretty. He was made of wire and muscle and sharp edges with full lips and long eyelashes. If it weren't for the straight lines of his body, Enzo would have thought his roommate was a girl.
"Oh, I dunno, some asshole Santa elf decided that it would be a good day to hang out in the clinic and punched me in the face." And that pretty face turned toward him, a dark bruise blossoming around his eye. His cheekbones could cut steel and his jaw was prominent. Like he was still growing into it. The hollows of his cheeks giving him just a hint about how much he was fed.
"Perhaps if you hadn't dumped everything off of my bed like some child throwing a rancid little tantrum, then I wouldn't have felt the need to quiet you."
"Like some pussy ass punch like that could have ever silenced me." Damon rolled his eyes.
"That 'pussy ass punch' is going to have that pretty eye swollen shut."
"Awww, you think my eye is pretty, why I should just-" And Damon reached over to grab Enzo by the front of his shirt and shook him with both hands. The nurse wasn't in, so a bit of roughhousing was hardly going to be noticed with the numerous bruises they left on eachother.
"Calm down, good god, what's got your panties in a wad?" Enzo grabbed his wrists and held them tightly, even as Damon growled and jerked. Wanting to get another good punch in.
The blue-eyed pretty boy gave him a pointed look before opening his mouth.
"Not what I meant." Enzo interrupted before he could start, "And my question wasn't about the Clinic. It was about why you're here at all."
Damon was pretty, but he was thin. It was evident enough by the skinny wrists that Enzo gripped in his hands. In the jut of his elbows and hips when they were dressing for classes. Being here gave his skin some color, but when he first saw him-Enzo swore he was rooming with a ghost. All that pale skin and dark hair, it was the eyes that put down just how alive Damon was to him.
"My dad's an asshole who finally realized that he can't handle all of this." Damon nodded to his body and Enzo's eyes followed the movement.
"Same, well, except it was both of my parents." A wry little smile, "Except they aren't really my parents, funny how that works, isn't it?"
"Yeah, hilarious." That's when he started coughing and Enzo's grip on him loosened as he leaned into him.
"You alright, mate?" Enzo patted Damon's back roughly, like he was trying to lodge something out of his throat rather than comfort him after some awful sounding coughs. At school, whenever Damon had gotten sick, he would cough like that.
Damon swatted at Enzo and cleared his throat, "I'm fine, I'm fine. I just caught some of your hair gel in the back of my throat and thought I would die, but yeah. I'm fine."
This time Enzo actually pushed Damon over into the armrest with another eye roll. Obviously it was a habit he picked back up since hanging around Damon's little girlfriend. "Why in god's name does Bonnie put up with you?"
"Same reason you do, I'm too hot and charming to leave in the dust." Damon smirked at Enzo and rolled off of the couch to refill his glass.
"Plus, if I did, he'd throw a fit and pout at my apartment door." Bonnie said as she walked into their apartment with grocery bags on her arms. Clearly, she heard the tail end of their conversation and was smirking.
"Do you see this? The abuse I put up with?" Damon gestured at the short woman before taking the bags from her and pressing an obnoxious kiss to her cheek.
Enzo just snickered and shook his head.
"I'm just so evil." Bonnie tutted, starting to put away the groceries. "Did you get my text?"
"What text?" Damon patted his pockets, then reached into his coat one to check his phone. He clicked his tongue, "Kinky, think they'd let me in the middle?"
"You're disgusting."
He leaned down and pressed another kiss to the corner of her mouth, "But you like it."
"What's this bit of information that I'm missing here?" Enzo interrupted their flirting and Damon gave him a positively wicked grin.
"Remember your date from last weekend?" That devious twinkle in his eye was going to be the death of him, "She and Barbie decided to have really hot girl on girl sex in her bed and probably many other places."
You could always count on Damon to embellish the details.
Enzo crooked a brow, "Think they're looking for a third member in this little party?" A smirk twisting his lips.
"You're both disgusting."
Next Chapter will be coming soon! Sorry about such a long wait in the meantime.