"Someone's looking rough." Damon muttered under his breath and ripped the lid off his cup of coffee. He peeled back the paper napkin and took a long, slurping sip just to annoy her.

Bonnie gave an exasperated sigh over the rustle of newspapers and hum of conversation. She was forced into the rear wall of a crowded elevator, shoulder to shoulder with the loath of her life, Damon Salvatore. This besides her obvious hang over meant only one thing; her day had already gone to shit.

When she said nothing, he proceeded to egg her on, "I heard your face is scheduled to run on the side of the bus."

"Yup. Photo-shoots done and dusted." She smiled, keeping her eyes straight ahead. They happened to be locked on to the back of a suit with wavy dark hair and broad shoulders encased in an obviously expensive suit. Bonnie lifted her cup and took a swig of coffee through a small slit in the lid. She didn't want to remove her lid like Damon had done just in case the contents of her coffee splattered all over her fuscia shift-dress.

"What's the tagline? Cynical hag vlogs about sex?"

Eyes narrowed, she finally turned to look at him, her peacock feather earrings grazing her neck "You're jealous?"

"Me, jealous? Don't be ridiculous."

Not bothering to supress her smile behind her Starbucks cup, she leaned her head against silver wall of the elevator and watched as a string off people got off on to their floor. The doors slid shut again and they resumed their ascent.

Memories of her and Kol stuck in an elevator were still raw and she fought back the knot in her belly when they came flooding back. They were done and he'd told her as much. She shut her eyes and kept them closed in an attempt to shut off the onslaught of memories and Damon's grating voice. When the doors pinged again, they both stepped out onto the polished marble floors of the office while the rest of the people in the elevator proceeded to the top floor where Esther Magazine was housed.

She hurried down the hall, dashed into her cubicle and before she could even throw her envelope shoulder bag on her desk, Leah was at her door citing that Hayley wanted to see her.

..

When Bonnie entered the cool office, Hayley was leaning against her high backed leather chair behind her desk, legs propped on her desk and hands curled around a cup of Dean & Deluca coffee.

"How far are you with my report?" she asked, studying Bonnie over the rim of the cup.

"I'll have it on your desk by lunch time." Bonnie announced but Hayley held up a hand to silence her. She set her mug down on the desk, a trace of red lipstick on the rim and leaned forward, elbows on the desk as she steepled her fingers under her chin.

"If you would put as much effort in your work as you do your social life, you would go very far. No. I want the report on my desk no later than nine o'clock which means that you have one hour." She said then made a show of glancing at her watch.

With a quick nod, Bonnie spun around and headed back toward the door when the sound of Hayley clearing her throat made her halt in her steps.

"You should know, "Hayley spoke to her back as Bonnie faced away from her. With her hand poised over the door knob, Bonnie waited for whatever was coming.

"No one survives Kol Mikaelson. You can't make him stick. He loves himself and adventure way too much to ever settle in one place. I'm surprised he's stuck around New York this long."

"He left New York." The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them. She waited for Hayley to ask her how she knew that, what she'd been doing with Kol but she didn't ask.

"Then you better get to that report. You start filming this afternoon."

"Yes Hayley." She flung the door open and shut it quietly behind her.

..

By early noon, she was running around Broadway cruising for a story for her vlog. She approached couples, single straight men, gay men and asked all of them the vital question. How many times a week were New Yorkers getting laid?

After two hours on the streets she found out a few things about New Yorkers, they hated being interrupted in the middle of their work days but they loved talking about their sex lives, the average New Yorker had sex three times a week which behoved her since the average New Yorker was single. When and how were they having all this sex when she could barely get a guy to notice her? Well perhaps that wasn't entirely true, she reasoned since she'd had an ongoing sexual relationship with Kol and Enzo had seemed interested in her.

Maybe the issue wasn't with New Yorkers and their rampant sexual appetites. The problem was their failure to commit. If they couldn't commit to a job, an apartment, a restaurant or bar, how could they commit to a relationship? The city was full of options and New Yorkers were spoiled for choice.

Feeling slightly peckish, she spotted a small bakery located between an Apple store and an old bookstore. She could smell the aroma of freshly baked bread the minute she crossed over the threshold. Once inside the shop, her eyes coasted over the items for purchase, the clientele and the rest of the customers seated outside under a blue and white awning. When she saw they sold the almond croissant that Matt loved, she plucked up some courage, retrieved her phone from her bag and scrolled down to Matt's number. Bonnie was pretty sure that he still hated her for taking Caroline to the Esther party instead of her. She listened; waiting for him to pick up then took a breath when he answered.

"Hey, you wanna do lunch?" Bonnie tried to sound cheerful.

"I can't, I have a domestic dispute case to argue in court in about thirty minutes." Matt's voice sounded flat and subdued making her heart sink.

"You want me to grovel don't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're avoiding me." She stressed as she approached the display counter.

"No because trying to avoid you would mean that I actually care and I don't."

"You need to know that I will do whatever it takes to get back in your nook. I'm talking John Cusack's boombox scene, I'm talking Tom Cruise bursting inside a room full of women and announcing "You complete me" to his secretary or whatever. I'm talking Richard Gere on that stupid fire escape with a bunch of roses for Julia. I was stupid, dumb and moronic. Please take me back."

"You hurt me."

"I know."

"This will cost you."

"Cupcakes?" Her eyes settled on red velvet cupcakes inside a display counter. She leaned closer to examine the cakes inside the glass.

"No."

"Sushi, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese-and by Chinese I mean that Chang guy at Temple in East Village who always gives you an extra mojito on the house."

"The one with the I love Vanilla shirt?"

"Really? I swore it said I love Milli Vanili."

"That actually makes it worse."

"Oh come on, I'm sure he has hidden depth somewhere deep deep within."

Matt sighed and said, "Anyway back to my rate for forgiveness."

"A Moet & Chandon magnum?" Bonnie offered again.

"No I want one of your Hermes scarves."

"No." she gasped.

"Yes."

"That's like asking for my first born or something."

"I know."

"Ok fine but not the equestrian print scarf or the Aztec print of the butterfly print or that African print with the little-."

"I'll take the green scarf."

"Fine."

"Great."

"How goes with the Rastafarian?"

"It went."

"You slept with him?"

"No judgy. I just had dinner with him. I had to do something while my cunty friends were out having fun without me."

"Do you like him?"

"He's tolerable. Listen, I gotta run. Later."

"Later."

..

Not wanting to go back to her empty apartment, Bonnie met Caroline and Katherine at Amor, a small bar two blocks from her apartment. The bar was small with mostly standing room available so they had to stand around a high round table, elbows on the surface as they chatted about their day.

"Will I ever get over him?" Bonnie blew hair off her forehead only to sulk when it flopped back.

"Of course. You were with him for three months right?" Caroline asked, using a plastic stirrer to stir her Long Island cocktail.

"Two months." Bonnie sipped dolefully on her rum and coke.

"Then you will get over him in a month." the blonde informed her cheerfully, "It takes half the time you dated to get over someone."

"Where do you get this information, women's weekly?" Kat rolled her eyes and snorted.

"I read Vogue thank you very much."

"He's a coward." Katherine said matter-of-factly, turning to Bonnie after giving Caroline a wink.

"Maybe he needed time to clear his head." The ever optimistic blonde offered again and Bonnie wondered when she'd become a fan of Kol's.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to hear but her friends' deductions seemed to make things worse. Who was to say he was a coward if he wanted to keep things on a casual basis? Who was to say he needed time to clear his head if he knew that Bonnie wasn't really the one even when he couldn't bring himself to say it. Maybe he wasn't built for serious relationships. Maybe the lack of communication had fucked things up? Perhaps she was the coward for not taking the leap at adventure with him.

There were so many variables.

"All New York men are untrustworthy bastards." Kat said and Bonnie waited expectantly for her to expand on her theory. Realizing that Katherine wasn't going to explain her statement, she lifted her glass to take a sip and noticed the wet ring it had made on the table. She used a napkin to wipe the surface and set the glass back down.

Wanting to deviate the conversation away from Kol, Kat began "Last night I was sucking this guy off and do you know what the bastard did?"

"New guy?" Bonnie asked absentmindedly.

"Yeah, some suit I met it that Esther party. He's got a useless dick but he's a big spender."

"So what did he do, come in your mouth?"

"No he peed in my mouth."

"Disgusting." Caroline squirmed, making a face.

"I know. I threw him out right after he gave me head." Katherine said, checking out the waiter at the neighbouring table.

"Tyler's brother is having a bar opening this Saturday. You wanna come?" Caroline asked while she dug through her handbag. She pulled out two flyers and handed them to Katherine and Bonnie.

"Aren't we going to that new rooftop bar at Azure?" Kat raised an eyebrow and barely looked at the glossy flyer, tossing it aside in favor of her mojito. She proceeded to poke her straw in between a crush of ice before sucking down her drink.

"Yeah." Bonnie nodded, her eyes dancing over the bold print and the image of a Tiki bar.

"Well we can't bail on Mason. We gave him our word that we'd tend the bar." Caroline shrugged.

"Who the fuck is we?"

"Me and Tyler."

"Fuck, are you one of those now? Since when did I become we?" Kat glared at her, then turned to Bonnie and said "She finally gets a fucking key and I becomes we."

Ignoring Katherine's cynicism, Bonnie asked Caroline "You're tending the bar?"

"He's getting a couple of celebrities to tend the bar as part of a gimmick." Caroline explained, sucking her drink through a straw.

"Since when did you become a celebrity?"

"Kat, I swear one more rant out of you and I'm out of here." Caroline wagged her finger at the brunette, refusing to stomach anymore of her unsolicited boorishness.

"You can't leave. I thought you were spending the night at the apartment. Tyler can do without you for one night." Bonnie protested and shot Kat a warning look to illustrate Caroline's point.

"I don't know." Caroline hesitated, seeming to consider the offer of sleeping in her own bed for the evening. Bonnie was about to throw in the offer of Netflix, a chilled bottle of chardonnay and a movie when someone tapped her on her shoulder.

"Hi, you're Bonnie Bennett right?" the woman asked as all six pairs of eyes turned to her. She was small and slight much like Bonnie and her blond hair was splayed around her shoulders.

"Yeah?"

"I love your vlog."

"Thank you.

"Can I get an autograph?"

"Are you punking me?" Bonnie's eyes darted around trying to see if she was being set up.

"No."

"Yeah sure" Bonnie smiled, "Who should I make it out to?" she asked taking the pen the girl offered.

"Taryn." The woman said as Bonnie signed on her napkin.

"Wow." Caroline exclaimed once the woman left.

"What?"

"I'm thinking Mason should probably ask you to work the bar."

"In these shoes?" Bonnie laughed indicating to her six inch spike heels, "Not a chance."

..

A/N: I decided to continue with this story because I missed these characters so much. If you're still reading and following, Kol will appear in the next chapter and no he's not in New York anymore.