Elena sat silently on the green grass of the graveyard. Her tears had dried on her cheeks, leaving a stale trail of salt from the bottom of her eyes to her chin. She didn't know how long she had just sat like that, but it must have been a while because the sun was setting.
A white Prius pulled up behind Elena on the road that ran through the graveyard. Elena heard the car approach, but she didn't move. She just stared blankly at her parents' grave.
Bonnie rolled down her window and leaned her head out of the car.
"Elena!" Bonnie shouted. Elena turned around at the sound of her friend's voice.
"How did you know I was here?" Elena asked, wiping the back of her hand against her face in an attempt to clean off the remnants of her heartbreak.
"Damon texted me and told me to pick you up here." Bonnie responded, "He didn't tell me why." Elena was awed by the explanation. It seemed Damon would always watch out for her, even after what she did to him.
Elena nodded in response and turned back to the headstones.
"Elena…" Bonnie got out of the car and walked over to her; she kneelt down next to Elena and looked at her face concernedly, "Are you okay?" Elena shook her head. "What's wrong?"
Elena slowly turned her head up to look at Bonnie.
"I did something stupid," Elena responded.
"What did you do?" Bonnie asked tucking her arm in Elena's comfortingly. Elena sighed and internally weighed consequences. She was done lying to everyone about her feelings for Damon; she was done with bottling everything up. She was sick of always being so selfless.
"Oh God," Elena said with a little anxious chuckle, "Where do I start?"
"How about from the beginning?" Bonnie helped Elena up and began walking her back to her car. "We'll go get some ice cream." Elena smiled at the generosity and got into the passenger seat. Bonnie got into the driver's seat and began driving out of the graveyard.
Elena took a deep breath before she began because what she was about to tell Bonnie was going to be hard.
"A couple of days ago," Elena began and Bonnie nodded, indicating that she was listening, "I sorta, maybe, started sneaking around with Damon."
Bonnie slammed on her brakes and turned to Elena in shock. Her mouth dropped open and she raised her eyebrows. Elena braced herself against the dashboard. She was thankful that she was a vampire now because otherwise she probably would've had a bruised collarbone.
"What?!" Bonnie asked loudly.
"Yeah…" Elena said, "It was so unlike me!" Elena declared and Bonnie slowly nodded her head in agreement.
"Well, why did you do it?" Bonnie asked, beginning to drive again.
"Because I, stupidly, fell in love with him," Elena said hesitantly. Bonnie inhaled deeply and Elena could practically see her biting her tongue. "Go ahead, say it."
"Damon is a terrible person, Elena," Bonnie stated and Elena tensed up.
"He's really not," Elena refuted and Bonnie shrugged her shoulders, choosing not to argue with her.
"How far have you two gone?" Bonnie asked. Elena looked out the window in silence. Bonnie noticed her silence and put two-and-two together, "Wow…okay."
"I know," Elena said.
"So…" Bonnie raised her eyebrows and looked at Elena, "How was it?"
Elena blushed.
"That good?!" Bonnie joked and Elena smiled.
"I assume you know about the whole Katherine-Klaus situation?" Elena asked, changing the subject.
Bonnie nodded and said, "Yeah, Stefan filled me in."
"Well, I ended it with Damon because of it." Bonnie tried to understand what Elena was saying.
"Because of Katherine?"
"Yeah," Elena said, "Well, maybe."
"Maybe?" Bonnie was officially extremely confused by Elena.
"I think I might just be trying to push him away," Elena explained, "To protect myself." Bonnie nodded in understanding.
"Hah!" She let out a little laugh and Elena looked at Bonnie with a smile.
"What?"
"I just… find it kind of funny that your self-sabotaging." Bonnie shrugged, "Makes me think that you and Damon might just be perfect for each other." Elena smiled giddily, but the smile was quickly wiped away at the memory of her fight with Damon.
"Do you think I made the right decision by ending it with Damon?"
"How do you feel now that you're not with him?" Bonnie asked.
"Horrible," Elena immediately responded.
"Then you probably made the wrong decision," Bonnie said, "It's that easy."
"But Katherine and Klaus—?"
"Right. Since when do you let Katherine and Klaus dictate your decisions?"
Elena was silent. She had always been a pawn in Katherine and Klaus's games, yet she's always somehow managed to keep her dignity.
"I can't convince everyone that I'm with Stefan when I'm with Damon. I've tried that, and it did not work. I had a falling out with Caroline and Stefan this morning. They suspect something. Not to mention that it's just wrong to lie about something like that."
Bonnie glanced at Elena in the rearview mirror. Just then, Elena's phone lit up with a new text message. It was from Klaus.
It read: I look forward to the public announcement of your engagement at tomorrow's festivities. I'd be surprised if Katerina hasn't already heard. Congratulations. I hope you two are very happy.
Elena read the message out loud to Bonnie and together they spited Klaus's blatant attempt to hurt Elena.
Tomorrow, it would be announced that she was supposedly due to marry Stefan, the wrong Salvatore, and she dreaded every bit of it.
A/N: Please review! Thanks for reading. Happy two weekiverasy of the hiatus!