February 4th, 2014 Tuesday
Dinner at the Grill with Elena's friends was hard for her. Still, it was Bonnie's Birthday, and they all wanted to get together to celebrate, so she forced herself to be cheerful.
Bonnie unwrapped Elena's gift, a green cashmere sweater, and wide-eyed, said, "Elena, this is way too much!"
"We've been friends for so long… I wanted to get it for you." Elena's stomach clenched as she spoke. She couldn't say that she appreciated Bonnie now more than ever.
With a deep, genuine appreciation, Bonnie whispered, "Thank you. It's beautiful."
Opening Enzo's gift next, Bonnie blushed. Elena was thrilled over how much he had changed and how abruptly his flirting with anything with XX chromosomes had stopped completely.
Bonnie pulled a book out of the gift bag and held it up. "'Erotic Love Poems?'" she asked, looking at Enzo skeptically.
"If you like, I can read them to you," he replied flirtily.
"I'm capable of reading them myself," she responded, chuckling lightly. Bonnie then noticed a marked page and flipped it open, immediately regretting that move. As she flushed with embarrassment, Enzo said, "I bet you'd enjoy them more if I read them to you."
He leaned over and pointed at the pages her eyes were now scanning. "Don't you agree? I can read that one to you now."
Bonnie snapped the book shut and stuffed it back in the gift bag. "I'm sure you've read it to women so many times that you have it memorized by now." She hated how jealous that made her feel.
Leaning even closer to her, Enzo said, "Lying to put distance between us doesn't make it true. I won't press for now, but it's an open offer, Bonnie."
Elena was pleased to see her friend's eyes soften. Yet, her attention was quickly pulled away from Bonnie and Enzo when Caroline approached Stefan and whispered something to him. Swallowing the bile now rising in her own throat, Elena forced herself to walk towards Stefan and suppressed a smirk as he drew away from Caroline and placed his hand on Elena's back when she got near him. "We should buy that book," Elena said loudly enough for Caroline to hear. She watched her former friend out of the corner of her eye and was pleased to see the look of anger on Caroline's face.
Turning back to Bonnie, Elena then said, "I think it's time for more drinks." She was sure she definitely needed one right now. The feeling of Stefan touching even her back annoyed her.
Since it was a weeknight, the party broke up thirty minutes later.
Once the party was over, Elena watched from the shadows outside as Caroline followed Stefan outside. Listening in, she heard the hurt in Caroline's voice as she hissed at Stefan to "End it with Elena already!"
She watched as Stefan turned to Caroline, looking furious. "Shut the fuck up! Someone could hear you! It's Bonnie's Birthday. Stop being selfish!"
"You don't love her," Caroline pressed, unwilling to concede to his anger.
"What the hell is your problem tonight? If you keep this up, she's going to find out!"
"Why won't you end things already?!"
"Because I need her to get me that job!"
"I could help you!" Caroline argued.
Stefan scoffed, "No one would take me seriously for that job if I were dating you. You were just the Head Cheerleader. Elena's the one that everyone admires."
Tears rushed to Caroline's eyes, and her anger boiled. "Fuck you! I'm going to get tired of you treating me like shit. I could walk away, and you'd be stuck with shitty sex for the rest of your life."
Elena tried to ignore the last part. The part about Caroline walking away from Stefan amused her, though. She hung in there as the side bitch for ten years with Stefan. Elena couldn't help but wonder how low Caroline's self-respect had to be.
"I'm walking away, Caroline. No matter what you think, we can't do this on Bonnie's Birthday. Surely you see that. If we get caught, it would hurt her."
"But I'm hurting," Caroline whispered, tears falling.
"Meet me tomorrow for lunch at our special place. I'll make it up to you," he promised.
"I'll be there," Caroline replied, wiping her tears.
Elena then watched silently as they then walked away.