General Physics
Bonnie had started her Etsy shop the summer before they went to college to learn witchcraft. To get closer to her grandmother after she'd passed away. At the time, Caroline had been among her biggest supporters. Buying multiples of all her new products and forcing them on all the other girls at rush with a friendly threat. Women supporting women was a mandate that summer. And no one was more fervent. Caroline had strong armed Bonnie's initial clientele, but the quality of her products and education kept them coming back.
Eventually, the orders had become too much. Bonnie found a great brick and mortar store in Cobble Hill to rent before the rest of the hipster crowd had invaded. And she'd grown. So big in fact that within a year she had announced her decision to drop out of school and use Sheila's inheritance money to pursue her business full-time.
Caroline had thrown a fit.
Raged that Bonnie was breaking their youthful promise. Girls in the woods and a clumsy blood-pact after they'd spent the night watching movies and consuming mountains of sugar. Elena had read the Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood and suggested the idea. Caroline had jumped at the chance to wring a promise out of them, and Bonnie insisted that it had to be done outside. In nature.
It had been almost a year since Elena had been in the same room as her two best friends.
A long year of hardships that she had to relay across the East River and explain in double. Burdens that she had to unload with one friend and then shoulder again to explain to the other. She'd grown accustomed if not annoyed with the arrangements.
She shows up for her part-time job at the magic shop, her mood unchanged from earlier. Gram's wasn't typically busy until the evening so she had time to blow off steam before she needed to be friendly. Morning crowds shifted from the coffee shops to the rest of the stores, spilling off Court Street later in the afternoon.
During the summer hours, Elena opens the shop in the afternoon.
She's in the middle of jotting down an order over the phone when Bonnie emerges through the maroon velvet curtains that lead upstairs to the small apartment she shares with Nora. They'd met in the months before Caroline's big blow up and had grown close quickly. Enough so that Nora had unbudging opinions on where Caroline could stick her firm plans anytime she was brought up.
It had been years since Bonnie's big chop and her hair had grown out gorgeously. Though now, it was flying away like she'd just woken up, but Elena knows better. She reaches out and tenderly fixes a strand that's twisting in the wrong direction with the rest of her hair.
"You and Nora just waking up?"
Bonnie blushes, her hand instinctively covering her mouth. "Late nights. We were working on new spells. Writing them in our joint grimoire. It's easier, being creative when the moon is out. I keep forgetting the time though."
"It's not a big deal until classes start next week." Bonnie passes her the hand duster and together they spruce up the shop before the evening crowd arrives. Replacing the old bundles of sage and eucalyptus with fresh ones. "But you could buy a sign for the shop. A witch always opens her doors exactly when she means to. Remove the store hours from the website."
"Nora would love that. She's been such a great help but hates being tied to a clock." There's a hint of a grumble in her tone. The honeymoon period transforming and growing into a deeper understanding of each other.
"But that's why you love her, isn't it? Her free spirit?"
"Among other things." Bonnie's eyebrow shoots up and now it's Elena's turn to blush. Her friend laughs so deeply that a plume of dust erupts from the book she'd been holding, sending the two women into a fit of laughter that warms the shop along with the late afternoon sun.
With the rush in the afternoon, the caffeinated post-brunch crowd according to Bonnie, they don't have much time to talk. Orders to be taken, sales to be made. It dies down after a few hours without Nora in sight. Bonnie pulls her hair back in a scarf, tying the bright fabric together to get her hair off her neck. Leaning on the counter, she chews on the inside of her lip. Elena embraces for the question, knowing it has become a ritual on its own.
"So…how's Care?"
"She's good. You know. Busy and everything. School. Tyler." It's too canned a response. She hates being in the middle. Wishes she could turn back time to when they all got along. Has joked before about finding a spell that could do just that. "She's still mad, Bon. I'm sorry. I keep trying to explain why leaving school was the best thing for you. We're all working towards careers, and you found something better. A true passion that you own."
"She doesn't get it." The stress and tension build up to her friend's shoulder. "There was no way I could keep up with school and keep this going. I was getting swamped."
"I know that. She is just so tied to this story of us all graduating together. She's been building our whole lives together since we were kids." Some narratives have a tight grip on people. Caroline with all her control issues was swayed easily.
"I'll still be there when you walk."
"I know, but this whole experience doesn't matter to her as much if we aren't all in it together. She's always felt a little insecure about feeling like the third wheel." She massages Bonnie's arms, squeezing her and knowing she alone isn't enough.
"It's like high school all over again." Bonnie's eyes start to shine. She needs both of her friends.
"Sounds like it to me." Nora pushes past the heavy curtains with a bagel in hand. When she passes Bonnie, she holds it out as an offer to her girlfriend. Elena moves aside, her chest clenches with the domestic scene. Bonnie being fed by a woman she loves. "How long are you going to talk about that girl anyway? It's been near a year. She obviously doesn't care as much you do."
As much as she likes Nora and the joy she's brought to her friend, Elena becomes defensive around her. Someone needs to stick up for Caroline even if she is being ridiculous. Not that she blames Nora for being so protective. Elena would do the same thing in a different situation. But in this one, she has to watch out for both of her friends.
They work in sporadic silence for the next hour. Elena trying to ignore Nora's snipes while she processes a big order. The same monthly client. But it always takes her awhile to fulfill their requests. Eventually she gives up, glances at the apothecary corner and spots Nora playfully smacking Bonnie's ass. Suddenly the room is beyond capacity. She's become the third wheel.
Elena clears her throat, startling the two. "I should go. Grab some coffee. Late night with inventory and we'll need."
Bonnie grins, embarrassed, but Nora looks absolutely ravenous. Elena makes a note to take her time getting the coffee before she grabs her purse, and the door chimes her exit.
Glass after glass of wine until he goes to sleep with red lips. It numbs him well, but no matter how much he drinks it never reaches his heart. He's not hoping to heal anymore. Hasn't for a while. In the morning, his headache is a low pound that goads him out of bed.
Even after all this time, it's habit that takes him to their favorite breakfast spot. He grabs a quick burrito before he storms off. Persistently putting distance between him and the past, but it's impossible when the entire city reminds him of her.
He can't escape so he does the next best thing. Takes the train to a different borough. They'd never left Manhattan. Hadn't seen a reason to when the city was enough for them. Had been enough.
Brooklyn was safe.
With no constraints on his time or anyone waiting on him, he wanders. Through the streets, lingering in the parks to watch the families play. They seem happy. The thought strikes him painfully, so he keeps walking. Exploring Brooklyn Heights and further south. Ignoring the multiple texts from his brother, deriving pleasure from the silence.
The fall colors and the people all serve inspiration, but then he sees her, and it stops.
A girl that looks so much like Tatia that his heart drops to the concrete, scrapping and shattering on the sidewalk. She crosses the street, her long legs only a need a few strides. The way the men look at her makes him irrationally jealous. When she turns around, squinting into the sun, he knows it isn't her.
She's a stranger. Not Tatia, not anyone he knows. She's just another brunette. Not his.
That doesn't stop him from following her in through the emerald doors, shoving a buzzing phone deeper in his pockets. Standing in line a couple people behind her and keeping her in his periphery when she sits down. He absently orders off the seasonal menu then finds a spot in the corner diagonal from her. A strategic spot so he can sketch freely while the girl is too absorbed in her book to notice him.
A fiery red streak peaks through when she gathers her hair in a low ponytail. Ears pierced up the hard edge. Several gold hoops. Cheap jewelry and a well-loved paperback, the spine cracked several times over. She bounces her leg, occasionally checking the time.
When she gets up to order three more drinks, Klaus nearly jumps out of his seat.
He has some dignity though. Waits an entire minute after she walks out before he follows her. Out the door and down the street a couple of blocks before she disappears inside a magic shop. Not the kind that sells cheap tricks. A real one.
He misses another call from Elijah, trying to look through the darkened windows. And then a text. You can't ignore me forever, Niklaus.
The phone returns to his pocket and he leaves Brooklyn without ever going inside.
The night air blasts through his Henley. Soon he'll need a jacket, but tonight is perfect. His mood is improved until he crosses the water back to his side of town. The eclectic brunette swallowed up in the millions of city lights. Lost, but he's already planning a trip back to find her.
When the elevator doors open to his apartment, Elijah stands in the living room. Shoulders squared and looking out the window until the ding turns him around to his brother. "Niklaus. I was surprised to find you gone. Even more to find you returned alone."
"I'd have thought you would be pleased." He closes the pad, drawings of the brunette face down on an entrance table. "Coming home early, alone. Not galivanting about town. Ruining my reputation as you so kindly put it."
"Because I care. And worry about you. As does the rest of our family."
A window must have broken somewhere, letting in the cold. Despite the chill between them, Klaus still pours a glass for his brother before he sits. "What do they have to worry about?"
"You didn't come to father's funeral."
Cold becomes ice. "Your father."
"Niklaus."
"What respect do I have to pay to a dead man who never showed me an ounce in kind?" For a man full of answers, Elijah doesn't have one for this. Klaus shoots back his whiskey, letting the glass slam loudly onto his table. "Point-in-fact, what respect do I owe you?"
He flees the living room, snatching his sketch pad before he goes. Tries to make it seem nonchalant, but it's impossible with the emotion welling up in his throat. In the morning, his apartment is empty again.
The way he prefers.
Her last week of freedom before the semester begins. By a miracle, both her and Tyler are able to sign up for Art as Expression. An odd course title, but it gives the credit she needs. And it didn't sound as scary as Advanced Painting Intensive. Hours at Gram's drop though she manages to find time to surprise Bonnie with a coffee. Shopping with Caroline. Reading in the park and writing at her favorite places.
Anything to occupy her time. Avoid wondering what Stefan is doing. How he's getting ready for their last year. Who the new blonde is in some of his recent photos.
Which leads her to a party the night before classes begin with Caroline and Tyler. Cheap beer and suspicious meat platters. Loud music that pulses through her limbs. Caroline has her cornered while Tyler gets them better drinks. She tries to bring up Stefan, gracefully Elena thinks but tact has never been her friend's strongest trait.
"Tyler talked to Stefan the other day. He's doing well!" she yells over the crowd. "Well, not too well. You know. Like normal well. Sad well. Missing you well. Have you talked to him?"
"I'm not having this conversation tonight!"
"You haven't wanted to talk about this for months." Elena rolls her eyes, pinching her mouth tight. "Come on, Lena! It's weird. We were all friends and now you two don't even talk."
"I fucked it up." She bites her lips. The words hurt worse. "I can't unfuck it."
"Fix it then." Caroline gets loud when she drinks. Bossier somehow. And Tyler hasn't shown up to diffuse the situation.
"I can't fix this."
Her friend stares her down with determined, albeit hazy eyes. "Can't or won't." Her jaw is set firm and Elena knows there isn't any amount of convincing that will change her mind.
"I'm not doing this with you." She taps her finger against her red cup. She spots Tyler returning in time with three mixed drinks. Sets the beer on a mantle for someone else to clean in the morning and relieves Tyler of one of the drinks. Saluting Caroline before she becomes part of the party.
The golden couple leave long before it gets rowdy, their appearance made. Beer pong and fizzy laughter. Flirty gazes and fingers in belt loops. Dancing on tables, wood creaking dangerously underneath.
Elena stays against her better judgement. Longer than she'd meant. She doesn't call Damon, but she brings home Liam. An improvement even though he's the most annoying person in her program. But at least he's different.
A square jaw with a rough beard that scratches her face when they kiss. His full lips on hers, anxious like he'd been hoping for this to happen for three years. She drags him up those blue stairs, stumbling kisses in the dark. He's not as annoying when he's quiet. He can't judge her when he's too entranced to speak.
She can't judge herself when she's too focused the feel of his hands on her body and the way he moves inside her, thrusting arrogantly above her.
She has no consideration for tomorrow.
A/N: I hadn't meant to write the next chapter so quickly but I was inspired. So, this story gets two chapter updates in two days. I hope you enjoy!