It's Complicated: A Bonnie/Tyler Story-PG
Title: It's Complicated: A Bonnie/Tyler Story
Author:
angryzen
Pairing: Tonnie
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Timeline: After 2.22 AU
Summary: Bonnie and Tyler navigate the Mason link between them. It's push and pull as one tries to redefine the other.
A/N: Written for
razycrandomgirl. Happy Super Belated Birthday! Thanks for being patient with me, and I hope you enjoy this!
***
Bonnie stuck the red and white straw into her milk carton and sipped. White milk in the morning and chocolate in the afternoon, that’s how she had done it since elementary school. She looked at the two slices of Mexican Pizza on her plate and dreaded eating them. She had known it would be a waste to get two: she had not had much of an appetite for the past month and a half.
“Hey.”
She stopped moving for half a second before looking up at the pouting Tyler Lockwood. She knew he was upset, but the effect was that he looked like he was pouting. “Hey,” she said, reserved.
“Can I sit with you?”
“Where’s Matt?” she asked slowly.
“I don’t know.”
“Where’s Caroline?”
He smiled tightly. “I get it.”
“Wait, Tyler,” she stopped him. “Sorry, but you never sit with us unless Matt or Caroline’s here,” she said with a little smile.
“Well, I’m sitting today.”
“Okay.” She indicated he take a seat. She wanted to ask him where the football team, the baseball team, or the track team was, but she didn’t want to turn this into some kind of game. “Jeremy’s gonna join me, you know,” she said in warning.
“That’s fine,” he said with mild irritation.
Bonnie blinked three times, confused. She watched him start in on one of the five slices of cheese pizza on his plate. He had confronted her about Mason one month ago. There had not been many words exchanged, but the words she had said had not sounded like much to her own ears. She had tried to explain because she couldn’t not say anything. He had told her not to bother, sneered at her, told her to stay away from him, to pass the message to Elena so she could pass it to Stefan. He had looked at her like she was the biggest backstabber in the world. It sliced her heart, and she had felt lower than scum, barely able to look him in the eye. Tyler Lockwood had made her feel that way.
Hence her confusion as to why he now wanted to sit and eat with her.
“Wait a second,” he said, drawing her attention. “Matt’s talking to you?”
“No,” she said somberly, shaking her head. “He’s still keeping his distance.” He nodded slowly, and she knew he hadn’t broken ground with Matt either. Another one who had made her feel like a traitor. After the disaster that was her mission to kill Klaus, she’s been walking around with the unbearable weight of her failure, the disappointment in herself, so facing Tyler and Matt’s judgment had been exactly what she had needed to keep her spirits rock bottom.
Tyler didn’t say much, and that didn’t change once Jeremy showed up. He and she talked and the conversation occasionally flowed three ways to include Tyler, but the latter mostly ate and looked at her. She wondered if he knew the naked accusation made her want to squirm.
***
Tyler stumbled out of his family’s old property and fell on his hands and knees. He gasped for breath and tried to orient himself. “Shit!”
Curling chunks of cold soil into his fists, he sometimes thought this part was as bad as transitioning. His chest expanded as his organs adjusted to a taller, leaner frame. His body shook, and he sweated as his temperature dropped to normal. His eyes watered, and he trembled terribly. He fell on his back, the chilled earth a stark contrast to his heated body, and he tried to calm down. Closing his eyes, he willed his heart to slow before he suffered cardiac arrest. He stretched his legs, his heel catching on a small piece of rock as it slid on the dirt. Showering after all of this was always a bitch.
His heart rate started to drop to normal, and that’s when he sensed it. It, the aura so subtle yet powerful, the one that permeated the woods and rolled through the trees in fat waves. It was magic. Bonnie’s magic. It had taken him a while to make it out. When he came to the property to check the chains and make sure he would have everything he needed for this full moon, he sometimes felt strange, like he was sensing something he wasn’t aware of. And then it had come up in a conversation with Caroline that Bonnie was always in the woods performing a ritual. She must have come in the middle of his transformation.
He focused on it now as another stream touched the leaves, sunk into the soil, moved through him. He wondered how far away she was. He wondered if this might help his transformation. Maybe he could focus on it next time and that might alleviate the pain. He didn’t commit himself to trying though; he knew it wouldn’t work. The agony of transforming was all-consuming. He couldn’t focus on anything else but the stretching of his body.
His eyes drifted to the moon, his mistress, the one that caused all of this. It’s become so much a part of his life. He was always looking up at it now, the thing he dreaded, the thing that brought about mood swings and increased his body’s temperature. He was a slave to it. But why the full moon? Why not the new moon or the...waning gibbous? Jules had not been able to give him a straight answer. There were many origin stories for lycanthropy because unlike the vampires, there had never been a “first,” and so many of their kind had died that many truths had been lost over the years. One origin story, which was overwhelmingly rejected among werewolves, is that the curse had started because of a witch. That’s why they were like this.
He understood perfectly well why that particular origin story was widely discarded. The thought that he was like this because of some mystical punishment or because some witches wanted to amuse themselves pissed him off.
One thing Jules had been able to tell him for sure was that from the beginning there had been those with a natural affinity for the moon, those more affected by it than others. The lycanthropy, however, had not come until later. Why it had come at all was an answer Tyler still lacked.
His thoughts returned to Bonnie. He hadn’t been able to believe it when Caroline had told him what she’d done. He and she had never been close, but this? She had played judge, jury, and executioner. She’d led his uncle straight to his death, weighed his life against Elena’s and decided his could be thrown away. Caroline had said she was kind of everyone’s protector. Everyone but his uncle apparently.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, his thoughts shifted and he wondered if the moon meant anything to her. Did she use it in her magic? Did she pay half as much attention to it as he now did? Did she think it was beautiful or did she never look up?
He figured tonight was as good a time as any to find out.
***
Bonnie completed her fourth round of chanting and sighed. She tightened her jacket and stared into her fire. She could do this ritual at home, has done it at home, but she liked the open air. And there were so many things to channel here. The dirt, the fire she’s able to make, and, tonight, the full moon. She had found that tonight she was even able to pull at the Falls from where she sat.
Tyler appeared behind her. “Dangerous night to be out here. Don’t you know a werewolf roams the woods?” Later he would think over the fact that he’d used his lycanthropy as a conversation starter. And the fact that he’d used the word “roams” in casual conversation.
“You scared the hell out of me.” She had turned around so quick, she hurt her neck.
“Sorry,” he apologized.
“Don’t come any closer, or you’ll burned,” she commanded quickly and sternly when she saw he wasn’t going to stop walking to her.
Tyler abruptly halted in his tracks. She had planned on burning him?
“It’s a protective circle,” she explained at his incredulous look. Truth be told, she had forgotten what the full moon meant as far as her safety until well after she had started her ritual.
“Meant to burn me?” And all of a sudden he didn’t want to be here. Was she always...intense? First she gets his uncle killed....
“If you don’t want someone coming around you, is there any way to make sure they don’t and make sure that person is comfortable with it?” She raised her eyebrows and waited for an answer.
Tyler swallowed his acknowledgement of her point.
“No,” she answered. “Not in the mortal world and not in the magical world. You wouldn’t have...gone up in flames,” she felt the need to specify. “Your reflexes wouldn’t have allowed it. You would’ve backed away in time.”
Tyler gave her a tight, unconvinced smile.
Bonnie bit the corner of her lip, positive she hadn’t earned any brownie points with him. She turned around and faced her fire.
He cautiously walked around the circle, never taking his eyes off her, until he stood at her side.
She threw more incense into the flames in preparation for her next round of chanting and waited for him to leave.
Tyler licked his lips. “What are you doing?”
Looking at him, she answered, “Stalling. Making things worse for myself.” She considered him for a moment and then asked, “How did you know I was here? Were you even...looking for me?”
“Mind if I stay?” he asked noncommittally.
Not an answer. Bonnie stopped herself from sighing. “Sure.” Maybe he wasn’t ready to go home. Seeing how dirty he was, she thought of asking how the transition went but that might be rude.
Lying on the ground, still outside of the circle, Tyler watched her.
She closed her eyes and connected with all around her. She felt the earth beneath, connected with the air filling her lungs; she pulled at the fire and imagined she was sitting under the Falls, the cascading water like her magic, unyielding yet fluctuating. She was surrounded, uplifted, and sustained by the very things she controlled, and so finally, she drew down the moon. Though more than two hundred thousand miles away, her magic brought it to her, in front of her. It rotated above her fire, it floated because of her, she pulled at it while it pulled at her, and she began chanting:
Creator magicae deus luna/ sapientiam Deumverba mi et iudex vera ponderus /Thoth, mediator Dei
She plead with Thoth, the Egyptian deity known for being a mediator among other things. She knew invoking him, inviting him into town and into this whole Klaus business not only meant that it would be harder for Klaus to get one over on her, it also meant it would be more difficult for her to gain an advantage. Hence, stalling and making things worse for herself.
Derivare libræ / praesidius oppido /eieci mi carminos / thymiamum meum expandus / audi verbos mi atqueexistimama verum
Tyler was intrigued. He had never seen real magic before, though he wasn’t looking at the vibrant fire that seemed to reach new heights with every word, and he wasn’t paying attention to the air wavering around him. He was looking at Bonnie; he was enchanted by her voice. He never thought she could sound like that. Her voice was strong, her words sounded a little scary, and he felt the magic was in what he was hearing, not the effects it was producing. The moon once again drew his gaze, and he listened.
Huic tueris derivare libræ / audi verbos mi atqueexistimama verum.
He heard no more, and he felt secure in turning his head back because he knew there was no way she could be looking at him. And he was right.
Bonnie’s smile was small and serene. She wished she was doing another ritual, wished she was using her magic without this huge responsibility attached to it, a responsibility she had created for herself because she had messed up. She sighed and closed her eyes.
Tyler saw she wasn’t having the best of nights, so he figured it was okay to ask his question. Had she been...calm or happy or something, he felt the question might be inappropriate. But as things stood, “What were you saying?” She looked at him now.
“Uh, an incantation. To an Egyptian god named Thoth. I’m asking him to help with the Klaus situation.”
“Stalling?”
“Yeah. He’s all about...balancing things. Making sure everything’s equal,” she nodded, “Meaning Klaus can’t easily kill me and I can’t easily kill him.” She turned to the fire. “It’s the best thing I can think of at the moment.”
She sounded and looked so bummed, like she truly wanted to fix this, and Tyler tried to reconcile that with the girl who had apparently left his uncle for dead. He tightened his jaw, suddenly tired of this whole supernatural mess.
“How did you know I was up here?”
“Are you going to prom?” He sat up and looked at her, resting his right arm on his right knee.
Bonnie frowned. Another dodge. “Did you hear what I asked?” She didn’t mask her irritation.
“Yeah, I did. Are you going to prom?”
Bonnie inhaled. What was the point of this? Why was he here? Why did he keep talking to her? “Yes Tyler, I’m going to prom.”
“Do you have a date?” He asked casually though not so casual that she couldn’t guess where this was going if she put a little thought to it.
“I’m going stag,” she said impatiently, ready for this conversation to be over.
“You mean you’re not going with Gilbert?” He was truly surprised.
“What is this? What business is it of yours?”
“You spend so much time with him. I’m just asking.”
“And I’m asking why.”
“If you’re not going with Gilbert, you wanna be my date?”
Bonnie was speechless, made more so by how mellow he sounded, as if this was a normal conversation, as if they were friends right now and it was even in the realm of possibilities that he would ask her this. “Excuse me?” He rolled his head in that way of his that meant he had something to say, but he remembered tact so he wasn’t going to say it. She was really close to telling him to leave.
“I don’t have a date. You don’t have a date. So I’m asking you to be my date.”
Bonnie’s mouth stayed open and she slowly turned her head in the direction of her fire.
“You can think about it,” he said, standing.
“I’m not gonna think about it,” she said in protest because she couldn’t just let him leave after he started this weird conversation. “Where is this coming from, I mean...”
“I want you to be my date,” he said confidently, and Bonnie had never heard him sound like that before, and she thought she heard an emphasis on the “I” and the “want” and the “you”. “Good night,” he said, and she couldn’t say anything in response. She watched him leave until she realized what she was doing. She was now confused on top of being irritated. He wanted her to be his date? Why would she ever enter his mind as a possibility?
***
“And what did you say?” Caroline questioned. She was literally walking back and forth like some kind of military general, grilling Bonnie.
“I didn’t say anything,” Bonnie responded, a little guarded, ready for her to explode at any moment. And the moment came.
“How could you not say anything?!” Caroline went off.
They were all gathered in the head cheerleader’s bedroom; Bonnie rarely headed straight for her own house after school, with Elena lounging on Caroline’s bed, Bonnie sitting on the chair in front of the vanity mirror, resting her arms on the back, and Caroline pacing barefoot.
“I didn’t know what to say!” she defended. “I mean...Tyler Lockwood asked me to prom.” It has been one day, and she was still having trouble letting it sink in.
“You say no. Duh. Wait a second....you’re not actually thinking of saying yes are you?”
Bonnie wondered how she could still see with her eyes narrowed like that.
“Since when did you want to go out with Tyler Lockwood?” Elena asked, amused.
“Never! I didn’t say I was gonna say yes.” It wasn’t lost on Bonnie how Elena was letting her fend for herself, just sitting back and enjoying the show. Her taller friend had taken on a more easy disposition ever since Stefan left with Klaus. It was strange, but she has never seemed more at peace.
“Yeah well we’ve been talking for eleven minutes and you haven’t said you’re gonna say no,” Caroline challenged.
“That’s because you’ve been talking for nine of those minutes,” Bonnie pointed out.
“Not the point.”
“Do you like him?” Elena asked.
Caroline’s eyes became impossibly narrow again. “I don’t like him,” Bonnie enunciated to make sure the blond heard her. She paused. “But I am...kind of considering saying...yes.”
Caroline actually shrieked and Elena actually laughed. Bonnie was startled.
“How could you?!”
“Why are you so...scandalized? You’re his friend!” Bonnie said on a laugh. She could hardly believe her friend’s reaction.
“Yeah but not like before! It’s different; he was going to let me get killed; he was going to just stand there, so things are different now; we’re not that close, so us not being that close means none of my friends can date him.”
She didn’t say ‘duh,’ but Bonnie heard it all the same. She wiped her face with her hands.
“Oh my God, Bonnie,” Caroline said when she saw Bonnie was not only considering saying yes, but she kind of wanted to say yes. “Whatever happened to you not liking him?”
Bonnie always hated the way Tyler talked about and looked at Caroline. He would sometimes do it in her presence, but mostly Matt told her. “We had a conversation. And I don’t like him now; it’s just one night. Trust me, no one’s more surprised that he asked me than me.”
“Why would he ask you though?” Elena asked thoughtfully.
“Oh my God,” Caroline said softly, ceasing her pacing. “What if it’s a trap?”
“What?” Bonnie’s smile froze. The lightness she had felt since this conversation started began to evaporate.
“Think about it. You said he’s been giving you attitude since last month. What if he now wants revenge? What if he wants to get back at the person who trapped his uncle? You. What if this is all part of some plan?”
And all of a sudden Bonnie felt duped. Stupid. How had this not occurred to her before? How could she think Tyler just weirdly wanted to go to prom with her? There was always an explanation.
Elena saw Bonnie retreating from her happiness, so she quickly said, “Maybe you can ask him.”
“Right, like he’d tell the truth,” Caroline said cynically, turning to Elena.
“What did you say when Bonnie asked how you could be his friend again after what he did?” Elena argued with her. “You said people change.”
“And what did Bonnie say when I told her that?”
“She didn’t say anything.”
“Exactly. She just gave me a look. What if she was right and I was wrong? I don’t want her finding out the hard way.”
What had started out as a fun afternoon of gossip and Caroline’s freak out turned into Elena and Caroline crowding her and reassuring that it’s okay, she couldn’t have known, with Elena volunteering that they could be wrong. Bonnie didn’t say much. She was once again questioning her judgment.
***
Bonnie gave it an extra day, her disappointment in herself morphing into anger at Tyler, before she sought him out. She found him running laps on the track field. She leaned against the fence and watched him, squashing a new current of disappointment. As he ate up the laps, she thought about how she really had wanted to go with him. The more she had thought about it, before Caroline had opened her eyes, the more she had seen the appeal of going with him. She thought it kind of wild. She had played a big part in his uncle’s death. They didn’t think much of each other, though he with more reason these days than she, but for one night they would go somewhere together and be in each other’s company.
And she had also figured out what had left her so speechless about him asking her to prom. She hadn’t known he could sound like that. Confident and sure. She had been present more than once while he flirted with girls. He didn’t have one smooth bone in his body, in her opinion. He was full of pick up lines, he even sounded like a player, and, more than anything, he was full of money and prestige. Tyler didn’t make an effort. He expected the attention from girls, and she couldn’t blame him because there were always a couple ready to grant him theirs. But the other night had been a different kind of confidence, more a confidence in his asking than a confidence in her answer. It had been a different kind of sincerity. Or so she had thought.
She straightened her spine when he noticed her. He ran one more lap and then jogged over.
“Hey,” he said, out of breath and sweating.
“Hi,” she said courteously.
“Hang on a second.” He walked around the fence to her side, his feet crunching gravel, and drank from the water fountain. When he walked back, he crossed his arms and waited because he knew why she was here.
Bonnie smiled but there was no humor. “Why did you ask me to prom?”
He inhaled deeply, looking away from her for a split second. “Because I wanted to,” he said as if that was an explanation.
“I talked to Caroline and Elena about it.”
“Oh so that was the screeching I heard from my house,” he said, smiling.
“Ha ha. They think it’s a trap. That you’re planning to do to me what your pack did to Caroline.”
Tyler’s smile slowly disappeared.
“That this is all so you can get back at me for Mason, and I want you to know Tyler, if you have something to say to me or if you want to do something, then go ahead and say it or do it. Name the time and the place, be upfront about it, because I cannot tell you how tired I am of surprises.”
“I don’t wanna do anything to you,” Tyler said, hurt that they had all three gathered and decided he couldn’t be trusted. Especially Caroline. He knew things were different, she had told him as much, but he didn’t think she still thought...“I don’t want to do anything to you,” he repeated with finality, and he started heading to the other side of the fence.
“So then why ask?” Bonnie asked his back, knowing for sure now that all three of them were wrong. His reaction had been obvious. He was mad.
“Forget it,” he said curtly without turning back. “Forget the whole thing,” he said as he walked through the gate.
Bonnie knew she ran the risk of dealing with his rudeness by continuing the conversation. “Tyler, wait,” she said, her fingers in the openings of the fence. “You can’t blame us.”
“Didn’t say I did.”
She sighed. Oh well. She looked at her shoes and prepared to go back to her car. When she looked up, he hadn’t gone any farther.
Tyler stood on the other side, his hands on his hips, and then he walked to her and said, “If I did wanna say something to you? I’d say it. I’m not a coward.” A voice in his head told him otherwise, but he ignored it.
“I’m sorry,” Bonnie apologized quietly.
Tyler heard all the things she was apologizing for. He swallowed and watched her fix her hair after a gust of wind blew it about her face. He didn’t know why considering the situation, but he once again wondered how she felt about the moon.
“I’ll let you...finish,” she said, casting her eyes on the field. She turned to leave, but her name out of his mouth stopped her.
“Before your little meeting with Caroline and Elena...what was your answer?”
Bonnie chuckled at the entire situation and shook her head. “During a good part of the meeting...my answer was yes.” She shrugged.
Tyler swallowed, flexing his cheekbones. He hadn’t known what her answer was going to be, but he had been expecting a text at any moment.
“I guess you can move on to the next name on your list.”
“You were never on my list.”
It was a factual statement. He had never considered her, had never thought her his type. He probably still didn’t think she was his type. But either way, Bonnie took the statement as an insult.
“Right.” She was positive his rudeness was coming out which meant it was time to leave before their friendship or relationship or whatever this was went further south.
“Bonnie,” he stopped her again. She looked impatient, and he had no idea why. “When do you wanna get there?”
After an unsure second, she shrugged and said, “I don’t wanna miss the dinner.”
He nodded. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Okay.”
And then he asked her if she had already bought her ticket, and she said something about the price and why wouldn’t she have bought it when it was cheapest? And he mentioned how some people waited, like him, and then he asked if she wanted a limo or his car, and she had to think because Caroline had suggested a limo for the three of them, but riding in a limo with the three of them plus Tyler too would be awkward, and she wanted to be alone with him. Her heart flipped at that thought. There was that wild factor again. She settled on his car.
***
Bonnie had grown impatient to wear her sequined, one shoulder, champagne-colored gown, so when the day finally arrived she relished in twirling, the shimmery material brushing against her legs. She sat; she stood; she posed; she leaned against her car; she stood under a tree; she blew kisses; and she even popped a leg, all while her dad snapped away.
“Will you look at that,” her dad said in wonder as they looked at one of the pictures, “Your smile actually reaches your eyes.”
Bonnie pursed her lips in fake offense. She knew her dad had noticed her demeanor. She also knew he had written it off as a “teenage thing.” She hated the possibility that he knew that wasn’t true and just wasn’t willing to broach the subject because he somehow knew it involved magic.
“Well tonight is my prom. I’d hate to be unhappy on my prom day,” she answered while flipping through the pictures to figure out which one she would make her profile picture.
“As if Caroline would allow that,” he said, familiar with the girls’ antics, and Bonnie laughed.
One thing Tyler hadn’t expected was how much thought he would give to whether or not he should buy a corsage. This wasn’t really a date, so he wasn’t obligated to buy one. On the other hand, it was prom and that usually meant corsage. But Bonnie might not care if she has a corsage.
Corsage in hand, he knocked on her door. He had expected her father to open it so she could do that grand entrance thing, but it was Bonnie who stood in the doorway. His mouth fell open as he took her in. Her shoulders were bare except for the one part of the dress that went around the right side. Her neck was long, accentuated by the fact that her hair was done up, not a wisp out of place. He had never seen that color on her before, he was sure. She looked amazing. “You look...beautiful.”
Bonnie smiled, dazzling and delighted. “Thank you. And you know how to wear a tux.”
He nodded absently and then cleared his throat. “I got you a...” he gestured with the see-through box. He had gone with white, just in case, white orchid.
“Oh,” Bonnie said, her voice full of awe when she saw it.
Glad he’d made the right choice, Tyler slipped it on her slender wrist.
“It’s beautiful.”
“So are you,” he responded. Her hand still hung in the air, so he took it.
Bonnie tried not to look at where they were touching. Wild. She stepped out of the house and joined him.
“And what time will you be back?” her dad asked, taking her place in the doorway.
“Uh, two?” she tried.
“Hey, Mr. Bennett.”
“Hi, Tyler. Try one,” he suggested after shaking the younger man’s hand.
“Got it.” She didn’t miss the warning her father gave her with his eyes as they turned to leave. He wanted her to watch out with Tyler.
***
The ride to the hotel was silent though it wasn’t too awkward. She had never sat in the front seat of his car before. They chatted idly: he was going to go off to Duke and she would be heading to the University of Virginia.
“Just so you know,” she began after they had given their tickets, “Caroline and Elena will be watching you like a hawk.”
“That’s great,” he said, tongue-in-cheek. She cockily lifted a smooth shoulder in response, and he stared at her a little longer than necessary.
They were caught by the photographer, and both hesitated. Bonnie did want a picture, but once they got in front of the camera, they were at a lost as to what to do with themselves. Neither wanted to look at the camera and smile. They didn’t want to just look at the camera unsmiling either. They looked at each other for an answer and...kind of didn’t look away.
She smiled and he smiled back, stealing a look at her maroon lips. The photographer asked them if they were ready.
“Yeah,” Tyler said softly.
Bonnie nodded, and her breath rushed out when he gently but firmly pulled her closer.
The camera went off, and they didn’t hear the man ask if they wanted another.
Bonnie took in the sharp angles of his face, and Tyler was progressively overwhelmed by her scent. Some of it was put on, he’d smelled this exact perfume on her the day she had come to talk to him by the track field, and some of it was her, that distinctive smell, the kind left on pillows, bedsheets, and sleepwear.
Without hesitation Tyler leaned down to kiss her, and Bonnie closed her eyes and lifted her chin.
“TY!”
Their eyes snapped open, and Tyler’s arm quickly fell from her waist. Bonnie’s lips twitched. His had actually touched hers. She collected herself while some members of the football team engulfed him. A couple of them threw some “yos” and “heys” her way, and she acknowledged them. Walking away from the group, she wondered where the heck that had come from. There was wild, and then there was kissing.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. Taking a deep breath, she promised that there would be no kissing tonight.
“Ready?”
Turning, she couldn’t help her lopsided smile. “Yeah.” He smiled back at her, and she knew he was thinking about the absurd situation that just took place.
They ran into Elena and Caroline, and the girls screamed happily when they saw each other. Tyler hung back as they hugged and Bonnie complimented Elena on her dark purple gown and Caroline on her cherry red mermaid gown. “You guys look so beautiful!” Bonnie said brightly.
Despite his sour attitude about them talking behind his back, he noticed how happy they were, each taking turn spinning so the other two could check her out. And then Caroline told him to take pictures and the restlessness set in.
***
Bonnie looked at Tyler curiously and asked, “Do you even know how to dance?”
He set his drink down and made a face. “Kind of? If I have to?”
The music was picking up as dinner wrapped and people made their way to the dance floor. Bonnie mentally hung her head at her luck. The good news is that no one would make fun of them for Tyler’s dancing because he was the popular defensive lineman. The bad news is that that wouldn’t stop her from being embarrassed. “I didn’t come here to sit,” she said nicely. Storing her heels under the table, she got up, not missing Tyler’s defeated look.
Tyler’s version of dancing is standing very close to her, his hands on her hips while she moved. Of course he didn’t immediately do this, aware that she might hate it and also aware that Caroline and Elena had them in their eyesight, but as he stood there moving side to side, trying to make his hips do something, she got closer and started moving on him. He was glad because he hates standing apart from the girl, just looking at her while she gets into the music, while all he can think about is how separated they are. He danced better when he could touch the person.
Bonnie took pity on him. She needed him to move a lot faster than he was at the moment, so she turned and backed up on him. She was happy for this. It had been a long time since she not only danced, but got up on a guy like this. As the beat blared through the speakers, she shimmied down and up his body, popping her butt in his crotch, and he was finally moving with her, his hands roaming her sides and holding her waist. She turned and wound her hips, running her hands up his chest, around his shoulders, to nestle in his hair.
“Not bad,” Bonnie said, sweaty and out breath as she stood at the bar and downed a cold cup of water.
“It’s pretty bad, come on,” Tyler prodded her to admit.
She laughed. “It’s not...disrupting...so that’s a plus,” she said to encourage him.
He finished his water and threw the plastic cup away, noticing that her eyes were bright as she tried to find her breath. He of course had already recovered from his windedness thanks to his healing abilities.
“Ready?!” she asked excitedly.
***
The mood shifted when the first slow song came on, and it wasn’t for the better. Where they had relaxed around each other before with her smiling and laughing at Tyler’s dancing, and him shrugging and laughing bashfully, the good cheer started to disappear as the song played along and they started swaying. Whereas before he had been touching her all over and checking her out, the distance between them widened again, and it was because of Tyler.
As he held her close and their eyes connected before roaming around the room, Tyler’s thoughts returned to Mason. “What did you think when you learned he’d been killed? First thought,” he said with a stiff lift of a shoulder.
Bonnie wasn’t surprised at the question or the subject of it. Looking into his eyes, she responded, “I thought about how...I hadn’t wanted him to get hurt.”
Tyler nodded. “But you quickly forgot about it, didn’t you. About him.”
She knew what he was implying, and she steeled herself, aware that what she was about to say next wouldn’t matter to him. “It wasn’t like that. So much started happening with Katherine and the Original vampires that...and Elena being in---” she cut herself off.
“Danger?” he asked with clear resentment. He nodded and smiled coldly. “So it was time to move on.”
The look was back in his eyes, the one that called her Judas.
“You forgot about him.”
“I didn’t forget,” she said so low that he didn’t hear her over the music. But she had forgotten. Her eyes watered and she stiffened, wanting to be anywhere but here. She stopped moving and backed away from his touch, the music, the people, and the location disappearing. All she saw was Tyler. All she heard was Matt.
“You acted like you didn’t know her. Like she was a nobody. Like she didn’t have---”
A family.
“I’m sorry, Tyler” she said, trying to control her voice when her tears threatened to spill. “I didn’t want him to get hurt. I didn’t want him to die,” she emphasized as much she could, hoping he’d believe her, knowing it was futile. “I was...”
It was to the point where Tyler had to use his enhanced hearing to be able to hear her.
“I wanted to help. I didn’t want to be wrong. Last time I refused, Caroline ended up in the hospital, and your dad---” she couldn’t speak anymore. Her throat hurt so much that she could not continue even though she wanted to. “I’m sorry, Tyler.”
He only got the last part because he read her lips.
Bonnie brushed past him and quickly retrieved her shoes. Wiping her tears and wanting the ringing in her ears to go away, she got her clutch and ran out of the room.
Tyler stood rigid with his hands in his pockets, eyes glimmering with unshed tears. He turned his head and saw Caroline and Elena looking at him with questions and suspicions as they hurriedly followed Bonnie out. He looked at where he and Bonnie had sat and ate and thought of Mason as everyone around him danced.
***
Bonnie sat on the peach divan in the bathroom, slouching against the wall and wiping her tears. The door burst open, heralding Caroline and Elena.
“Oh my God,” Caroline said when she saw her state.
“What happened?” Elena asked worriedly, taking a seat next to her and catching Bonnie’s hand in hers.
“What did he say to you?”
“He talked about Mason,” Bonnie said, sounding defeated, her eyes in the direction of Caroline’s thighs.
Elena scooped her up so that she would awkwardly lean on her.
“He thinks I forgot about him. That his death didn’t matter to me as long as...” she looked at Elena, her eyes a pale green, “you were safe.”
Elena swallowed.
Bonnie smiled. “And I did forget about him.” Fresh tears sprang in her eyes.
There was nothing Elena could say. If Bonnie had forgotten about Mason...then there had never been anything for her to forget. He had only been Damon’s project in her eyes and that realization had chilled her to her core. She had never brought it up to either of them, her realization of how little she had thought of Mason. She turned the awkward leaning into a hug, wishing she had the words to make Bonnie feel better.
Caroline lowered her eyes. It was funny. This supernatural stuff that they shared should have brought all of them closer, should have forged an unbreakable bond between them. Instead it had served to drift them apart with each of them playing a part, some more important parts than others. She looked at Bonnie crying on Elena’s chest and at Elena who had her eyes closed tight, though that didn’t hold the tears. She knelt in front of them and took Bonnie’s hand and rubbed Elena’s arm.
***
They held hands when they walked out of the bathroom, Bonnie in the middle.
“Guys, I really want to go home,” Bonnie said tiredly. She was fatigued from crying. She didn’t think the night would get better, and she didn’t really want to give it a chance to get better. She was close to rock bottom again, and she wanted to stay there.
“No,” Caroline protested, stopping them but Bonnie noticed that the conviction wasn’t completely there. “This is prom. Remember?” she asked uncertainly. “We’d all look great, and make so many people jealous, and we’d dance the night away.” Promises from Sophmore year. “You can’t leave,” she pleaded softly.
“I agree,” Elena said, sounding more sure than Caroline. She sniffed. “If you leave, then we’ll have to leave.”
Bonnie rolled her eyes in jest. They hadn’t taken three steps forward when she saw Tyler standing opposite the welcome table. He started walking towards them, and she stopped and sighed, looking at Elena in defeat.
Seeing this, Caroline chose to meet him halfway. Having to look down at him because of their slight height difference, she said, “Seriously Tyler? Stop. Just...leave her alone, okay? I’m not saying you can’t be pissed about Mason. You are. I know. But just...don’t talk to her. Don’t talk to any of us, because I’m starting to think you want to make her feel miserable, you want to rub the fact that she regrets it in her face, and that’s mean.” She stopped because she knew he didn’t have to leave Bonnie alone if he didn’t want to. “Please,” she tried because that was her last resort.
Tyler swallowed and calmly said, “I need to talk to her.”
Caroline felt utterly helpless. Bonnie and Elena had reached them, and she looked at the former.
“Tyler,” Bonnie began, still holding on to Elena’s hand, “the date’s over. Okay? I’m...done.”
“I just need to talk to you for a second. Just...one second.” He looked at Elena who averted her gaze.
Taking a breath, Bonnie detached from her friend and went to him.
“We’ll be waiting,” Caroline let her know.
“What I said earlier,” Tyler began. He had taken her back by the bathroom area. They stood shielded from Elena and Caroline’s view. “I didn’t say it to make you feel bad.” But he couldn’t help enjoying that she did.
“You think he meant nothing to me.”
“You can’t blame me for that.”
“I don’t,” she assured, her arms crossed. They stood looking at each other for seconds before Bonnie looked away.
“Are you leaving?”
She exhaled. “Caroline and Elena want me to stay; they want to stay, I guess.” She looked into his eyes and wondered if he would ever understand, if he’d ever understand the position she had been in, if he would ever care. Her eyes started watering again, and she didn’t care.
Tyler knew she wanted to leave; he knew she was miserable; he knew she was sorry. He didn’t want to be mad at her for this, blame her as much as he did, but he couldn’t help it. He took a step forward, leaned down, and kissed her.
The kiss jolted Bonnie; she gasped when Tyler left her lips. Her tired eyes widened and the question was written all over her face.
He answered her with another kiss. He captured her upper lip and brought her closer. She breathed into it, one of her arms trapped between their bodies and the other around his neck. She got on her toes and relaxed in his arms. They never deepened the kiss, but they ended up backed against the wall before he broke it off for the last time. Her chest heaved and her lips tickled.
Swallowing with a dry throat, Tyler said tried to find something to say.
“Um. Have fun. Tonight,” she said, still leaning against the wall.
He nodded. “You too.” He wanted to say more, but he couldn’t think of anything.
Bonnie pursed her lips and then left.
***
She did end up dancing the night away with her friends though they were all a little slow to get back into it and they did end up riding the limo together, dropping by two after parties and leaving halfway through both.
She made it back to her house at one fifteen and she thought over the night as she undressed and got ready for bed. She had been unhappy on her prom night, but she was thankful that had not lasted the whole night. After letting her hair down, she focused on the corsage and thought of Tyler. His kiss had been unexpected but very welcomed despite everything. There’s something that had happened without an explanation. She smiled as she thought back to the moment, how his lips had tasted, how she had felt, how she would not have minded if it had lasted even longer. She chuckled and bit her bottom lip.
She had just finished texting a reply to Elena when Tyler’s name flashed on her phone, a name that usually just sat in her list of contacts. With no clue where this would go, she picked up.
“Hi,” he responded.
She waited for him to go on.
“I was curious,” Tyler said as he sat in his car, a party in full swing in the house in front of him. This was the third spot he was hitting tonight. He had been a little ticked not to have found Bonnie at the previous two. “That’s why I asked you to prom.” He gripped the phone against his ear, his elbow resting on the window, his hand on the steering wheel, his mind on the night she chanted while he stared at the moon. “I...” he focused again, “I wanted to see if you were the same. I wanted to connect the girl who...let my uncle die---”
Bonnie closed her eyes.
“To the girl I grew up with, who...was just always around.” He exhaled and closed his eyes. “Because I didn’t think they could match up. It was either one or the other, you know?” His heart hurt, and he hated the confusion, the uncertainty.
Bonnie opened her eyes. “You could’ve just told me that,” she said tacitly.
Tyler opened his eyes and smiled morosely. “I didn’t know it at the time. Good night.” He thought again of the moon.
“Good night.” After hanging up, Bonnie lifted her head and breathed deep.
Tyler sagged against the headrest and watched her name flash on his phone before it disappeared. He never asked his moon question. Maybe he could catch her in the woods again next month. Or maybe he could sit with her again on Monday. He had asked her to prom before his curiosity had fully set in. He had liked being next to her, talking to her, looking at her, even with the uncertainty, the distrust. She wasn’t the same, and at the same time she kind of was. There was a sense of responsibility surrounding her that he didn’t quite get. He closed his eyes and saw her bright eyes when she had been trying to catch her breath after dancing. But he wanted to. He wanted to get it.
The End
Author:
angryzen
Pairing: Tonnie
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Timeline: After 2.22 AU
Summary: Bonnie and Tyler navigate the Mason link between them. It's push and pull as one tries to redefine the other.
A/N: Written for
razycrandomgirl. Happy Super Belated Birthday! Thanks for being patient with me, and I hope you enjoy this!
***
Bonnie stuck the red and white straw into her milk carton and sipped. White milk in the morning and chocolate in the afternoon, that’s how she had done it since elementary school. She looked at the two slices of Mexican Pizza on her plate and dreaded eating them. She had known it would be a waste to get two: she had not had much of an appetite for the past month and a half.
“Hey.”
She stopped moving for half a second before looking up at the pouting Tyler Lockwood. She knew he was upset, but the effect was that he looked like he was pouting. “Hey,” she said, reserved.
“Can I sit with you?”
“Where’s Matt?” she asked slowly.
“I don’t know.”
“Where’s Caroline?”
He smiled tightly. “I get it.”
“Wait, Tyler,” she stopped him. “Sorry, but you never sit with us unless Matt or Caroline’s here,” she said with a little smile.
“Well, I’m sitting today.”
“Okay.” She indicated he take a seat. She wanted to ask him where the football team, the baseball team, or the track team was, but she didn’t want to turn this into some kind of game. “Jeremy’s gonna join me, you know,” she said in warning.
“That’s fine,” he said with mild irritation.
Bonnie blinked three times, confused. She watched him start in on one of the five slices of cheese pizza on his plate. He had confronted her about Mason one month ago. There had not been many words exchanged, but the words she had said had not sounded like much to her own ears. She had tried to explain because she couldn’t not say anything. He had told her not to bother, sneered at her, told her to stay away from him, to pass the message to Elena so she could pass it to Stefan. He had looked at her like she was the biggest backstabber in the world. It sliced her heart, and she had felt lower than scum, barely able to look him in the eye. Tyler Lockwood had made her feel that way.
Hence her confusion as to why he now wanted to sit and eat with her.
“Wait a second,” he said, drawing her attention. “Matt’s talking to you?”
“No,” she said somberly, shaking her head. “He’s still keeping his distance.” He nodded slowly, and she knew he hadn’t broken ground with Matt either. Another one who had made her feel like a traitor. After the disaster that was her mission to kill Klaus, she’s been walking around with the unbearable weight of her failure, the disappointment in herself, so facing Tyler and Matt’s judgment had been exactly what she had needed to keep her spirits rock bottom.
Tyler didn’t say much, and that didn’t change once Jeremy showed up. He and she talked and the conversation occasionally flowed three ways to include Tyler, but the latter mostly ate and looked at her. She wondered if he knew the naked accusation made her want to squirm.
***
Tyler stumbled out of his family’s old property and fell on his hands and knees. He gasped for breath and tried to orient himself. “Shit!”
Curling chunks of cold soil into his fists, he sometimes thought this part was as bad as transitioning. His chest expanded as his organs adjusted to a taller, leaner frame. His body shook, and he sweated as his temperature dropped to normal. His eyes watered, and he trembled terribly. He fell on his back, the chilled earth a stark contrast to his heated body, and he tried to calm down. Closing his eyes, he willed his heart to slow before he suffered cardiac arrest. He stretched his legs, his heel catching on a small piece of rock as it slid on the dirt. Showering after all of this was always a bitch.
His heart rate started to drop to normal, and that’s when he sensed it. It, the aura so subtle yet powerful, the one that permeated the woods and rolled through the trees in fat waves. It was magic. Bonnie’s magic. It had taken him a while to make it out. When he came to the property to check the chains and make sure he would have everything he needed for this full moon, he sometimes felt strange, like he was sensing something he wasn’t aware of. And then it had come up in a conversation with Caroline that Bonnie was always in the woods performing a ritual. She must have come in the middle of his transformation.
He focused on it now as another stream touched the leaves, sunk into the soil, moved through him. He wondered how far away she was. He wondered if this might help his transformation. Maybe he could focus on it next time and that might alleviate the pain. He didn’t commit himself to trying though; he knew it wouldn’t work. The agony of transforming was all-consuming. He couldn’t focus on anything else but the stretching of his body.
His eyes drifted to the moon, his mistress, the one that caused all of this. It’s become so much a part of his life. He was always looking up at it now, the thing he dreaded, the thing that brought about mood swings and increased his body’s temperature. He was a slave to it. But why the full moon? Why not the new moon or the...waning gibbous? Jules had not been able to give him a straight answer. There were many origin stories for lycanthropy because unlike the vampires, there had never been a “first,” and so many of their kind had died that many truths had been lost over the years. One origin story, which was overwhelmingly rejected among werewolves, is that the curse had started because of a witch. That’s why they were like this.
He understood perfectly well why that particular origin story was widely discarded. The thought that he was like this because of some mystical punishment or because some witches wanted to amuse themselves pissed him off.
One thing Jules had been able to tell him for sure was that from the beginning there had been those with a natural affinity for the moon, those more affected by it than others. The lycanthropy, however, had not come until later. Why it had come at all was an answer Tyler still lacked.
His thoughts returned to Bonnie. He hadn’t been able to believe it when Caroline had told him what she’d done. He and she had never been close, but this? She had played judge, jury, and executioner. She’d led his uncle straight to his death, weighed his life against Elena’s and decided his could be thrown away. Caroline had said she was kind of everyone’s protector. Everyone but his uncle apparently.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, his thoughts shifted and he wondered if the moon meant anything to her. Did she use it in her magic? Did she pay half as much attention to it as he now did? Did she think it was beautiful or did she never look up?
He figured tonight was as good a time as any to find out.
***
Bonnie completed her fourth round of chanting and sighed. She tightened her jacket and stared into her fire. She could do this ritual at home, has done it at home, but she liked the open air. And there were so many things to channel here. The dirt, the fire she’s able to make, and, tonight, the full moon. She had found that tonight she was even able to pull at the Falls from where she sat.
Tyler appeared behind her. “Dangerous night to be out here. Don’t you know a werewolf roams the woods?” Later he would think over the fact that he’d used his lycanthropy as a conversation starter. And the fact that he’d used the word “roams” in casual conversation.
“You scared the hell out of me.” She had turned around so quick, she hurt her neck.
“Sorry,” he apologized.
“Don’t come any closer, or you’ll burned,” she commanded quickly and sternly when she saw he wasn’t going to stop walking to her.
Tyler abruptly halted in his tracks. She had planned on burning him?
“It’s a protective circle,” she explained at his incredulous look. Truth be told, she had forgotten what the full moon meant as far as her safety until well after she had started her ritual.
“Meant to burn me?” And all of a sudden he didn’t want to be here. Was she always...intense? First she gets his uncle killed....
“If you don’t want someone coming around you, is there any way to make sure they don’t and make sure that person is comfortable with it?” She raised her eyebrows and waited for an answer.
Tyler swallowed his acknowledgement of her point.
“No,” she answered. “Not in the mortal world and not in the magical world. You wouldn’t have...gone up in flames,” she felt the need to specify. “Your reflexes wouldn’t have allowed it. You would’ve backed away in time.”
Tyler gave her a tight, unconvinced smile.
Bonnie bit the corner of her lip, positive she hadn’t earned any brownie points with him. She turned around and faced her fire.
He cautiously walked around the circle, never taking his eyes off her, until he stood at her side.
She threw more incense into the flames in preparation for her next round of chanting and waited for him to leave.
Tyler licked his lips. “What are you doing?”
Looking at him, she answered, “Stalling. Making things worse for myself.” She considered him for a moment and then asked, “How did you know I was here? Were you even...looking for me?”
“Mind if I stay?” he asked noncommittally.
Not an answer. Bonnie stopped herself from sighing. “Sure.” Maybe he wasn’t ready to go home. Seeing how dirty he was, she thought of asking how the transition went but that might be rude.
Lying on the ground, still outside of the circle, Tyler watched her.
She closed her eyes and connected with all around her. She felt the earth beneath, connected with the air filling her lungs; she pulled at the fire and imagined she was sitting under the Falls, the cascading water like her magic, unyielding yet fluctuating. She was surrounded, uplifted, and sustained by the very things she controlled, and so finally, she drew down the moon. Though more than two hundred thousand miles away, her magic brought it to her, in front of her. It rotated above her fire, it floated because of her, she pulled at it while it pulled at her, and she began chanting:
Creator magicae deus luna/ sapientiam Deumverba mi et iudex vera ponderus /Thoth, mediator Dei
She plead with Thoth, the Egyptian deity known for being a mediator among other things. She knew invoking him, inviting him into town and into this whole Klaus business not only meant that it would be harder for Klaus to get one over on her, it also meant it would be more difficult for her to gain an advantage. Hence, stalling and making things worse for herself.
Derivare libræ / praesidius oppido /eieci mi carminos / thymiamum meum expandus / audi verbos mi atqueexistimama verum
Tyler was intrigued. He had never seen real magic before, though he wasn’t looking at the vibrant fire that seemed to reach new heights with every word, and he wasn’t paying attention to the air wavering around him. He was looking at Bonnie; he was enchanted by her voice. He never thought she could sound like that. Her voice was strong, her words sounded a little scary, and he felt the magic was in what he was hearing, not the effects it was producing. The moon once again drew his gaze, and he listened.
Huic tueris derivare libræ / audi verbos mi atqueexistimama verum.
He heard no more, and he felt secure in turning his head back because he knew there was no way she could be looking at him. And he was right.
Bonnie’s smile was small and serene. She wished she was doing another ritual, wished she was using her magic without this huge responsibility attached to it, a responsibility she had created for herself because she had messed up. She sighed and closed her eyes.
Tyler saw she wasn’t having the best of nights, so he figured it was okay to ask his question. Had she been...calm or happy or something, he felt the question might be inappropriate. But as things stood, “What were you saying?” She looked at him now.
“Uh, an incantation. To an Egyptian god named Thoth. I’m asking him to help with the Klaus situation.”
“Stalling?”
“Yeah. He’s all about...balancing things. Making sure everything’s equal,” she nodded, “Meaning Klaus can’t easily kill me and I can’t easily kill him.” She turned to the fire. “It’s the best thing I can think of at the moment.”
She sounded and looked so bummed, like she truly wanted to fix this, and Tyler tried to reconcile that with the girl who had apparently left his uncle for dead. He tightened his jaw, suddenly tired of this whole supernatural mess.
“How did you know I was up here?”
“Are you going to prom?” He sat up and looked at her, resting his right arm on his right knee.
Bonnie frowned. Another dodge. “Did you hear what I asked?” She didn’t mask her irritation.
“Yeah, I did. Are you going to prom?”
Bonnie inhaled. What was the point of this? Why was he here? Why did he keep talking to her? “Yes Tyler, I’m going to prom.”
“Do you have a date?” He asked casually though not so casual that she couldn’t guess where this was going if she put a little thought to it.
“I’m going stag,” she said impatiently, ready for this conversation to be over.
“You mean you’re not going with Gilbert?” He was truly surprised.
“What is this? What business is it of yours?”
“You spend so much time with him. I’m just asking.”
“And I’m asking why.”
“If you’re not going with Gilbert, you wanna be my date?”
Bonnie was speechless, made more so by how mellow he sounded, as if this was a normal conversation, as if they were friends right now and it was even in the realm of possibilities that he would ask her this. “Excuse me?” He rolled his head in that way of his that meant he had something to say, but he remembered tact so he wasn’t going to say it. She was really close to telling him to leave.
“I don’t have a date. You don’t have a date. So I’m asking you to be my date.”
Bonnie’s mouth stayed open and she slowly turned her head in the direction of her fire.
“You can think about it,” he said, standing.
“I’m not gonna think about it,” she said in protest because she couldn’t just let him leave after he started this weird conversation. “Where is this coming from, I mean...”
“I want you to be my date,” he said confidently, and Bonnie had never heard him sound like that before, and she thought she heard an emphasis on the “I” and the “want” and the “you”. “Good night,” he said, and she couldn’t say anything in response. She watched him leave until she realized what she was doing. She was now confused on top of being irritated. He wanted her to be his date? Why would she ever enter his mind as a possibility?
***
“And what did you say?” Caroline questioned. She was literally walking back and forth like some kind of military general, grilling Bonnie.
“I didn’t say anything,” Bonnie responded, a little guarded, ready for her to explode at any moment. And the moment came.
“How could you not say anything?!” Caroline went off.
They were all gathered in the head cheerleader’s bedroom; Bonnie rarely headed straight for her own house after school, with Elena lounging on Caroline’s bed, Bonnie sitting on the chair in front of the vanity mirror, resting her arms on the back, and Caroline pacing barefoot.
“I didn’t know what to say!” she defended. “I mean...Tyler Lockwood asked me to prom.” It has been one day, and she was still having trouble letting it sink in.
“You say no. Duh. Wait a second....you’re not actually thinking of saying yes are you?”
Bonnie wondered how she could still see with her eyes narrowed like that.
“Since when did you want to go out with Tyler Lockwood?” Elena asked, amused.
“Never! I didn’t say I was gonna say yes.” It wasn’t lost on Bonnie how Elena was letting her fend for herself, just sitting back and enjoying the show. Her taller friend had taken on a more easy disposition ever since Stefan left with Klaus. It was strange, but she has never seemed more at peace.
“Yeah well we’ve been talking for eleven minutes and you haven’t said you’re gonna say no,” Caroline challenged.
“That’s because you’ve been talking for nine of those minutes,” Bonnie pointed out.
“Not the point.”
“Do you like him?” Elena asked.
Caroline’s eyes became impossibly narrow again. “I don’t like him,” Bonnie enunciated to make sure the blond heard her. She paused. “But I am...kind of considering saying...yes.”
Caroline actually shrieked and Elena actually laughed. Bonnie was startled.
“How could you?!”
“Why are you so...scandalized? You’re his friend!” Bonnie said on a laugh. She could hardly believe her friend’s reaction.
“Yeah but not like before! It’s different; he was going to let me get killed; he was going to just stand there, so things are different now; we’re not that close, so us not being that close means none of my friends can date him.”
She didn’t say ‘duh,’ but Bonnie heard it all the same. She wiped her face with her hands.
“Oh my God, Bonnie,” Caroline said when she saw Bonnie was not only considering saying yes, but she kind of wanted to say yes. “Whatever happened to you not liking him?”
Bonnie always hated the way Tyler talked about and looked at Caroline. He would sometimes do it in her presence, but mostly Matt told her. “We had a conversation. And I don’t like him now; it’s just one night. Trust me, no one’s more surprised that he asked me than me.”
“Why would he ask you though?” Elena asked thoughtfully.
“Oh my God,” Caroline said softly, ceasing her pacing. “What if it’s a trap?”
“What?” Bonnie’s smile froze. The lightness she had felt since this conversation started began to evaporate.
“Think about it. You said he’s been giving you attitude since last month. What if he now wants revenge? What if he wants to get back at the person who trapped his uncle? You. What if this is all part of some plan?”
And all of a sudden Bonnie felt duped. Stupid. How had this not occurred to her before? How could she think Tyler just weirdly wanted to go to prom with her? There was always an explanation.
Elena saw Bonnie retreating from her happiness, so she quickly said, “Maybe you can ask him.”
“Right, like he’d tell the truth,” Caroline said cynically, turning to Elena.
“What did you say when Bonnie asked how you could be his friend again after what he did?” Elena argued with her. “You said people change.”
“And what did Bonnie say when I told her that?”
“She didn’t say anything.”
“Exactly. She just gave me a look. What if she was right and I was wrong? I don’t want her finding out the hard way.”
What had started out as a fun afternoon of gossip and Caroline’s freak out turned into Elena and Caroline crowding her and reassuring that it’s okay, she couldn’t have known, with Elena volunteering that they could be wrong. Bonnie didn’t say much. She was once again questioning her judgment.
***
Bonnie gave it an extra day, her disappointment in herself morphing into anger at Tyler, before she sought him out. She found him running laps on the track field. She leaned against the fence and watched him, squashing a new current of disappointment. As he ate up the laps, she thought about how she really had wanted to go with him. The more she had thought about it, before Caroline had opened her eyes, the more she had seen the appeal of going with him. She thought it kind of wild. She had played a big part in his uncle’s death. They didn’t think much of each other, though he with more reason these days than she, but for one night they would go somewhere together and be in each other’s company.
And she had also figured out what had left her so speechless about him asking her to prom. She hadn’t known he could sound like that. Confident and sure. She had been present more than once while he flirted with girls. He didn’t have one smooth bone in his body, in her opinion. He was full of pick up lines, he even sounded like a player, and, more than anything, he was full of money and prestige. Tyler didn’t make an effort. He expected the attention from girls, and she couldn’t blame him because there were always a couple ready to grant him theirs. But the other night had been a different kind of confidence, more a confidence in his asking than a confidence in her answer. It had been a different kind of sincerity. Or so she had thought.
She straightened her spine when he noticed her. He ran one more lap and then jogged over.
“Hey,” he said, out of breath and sweating.
“Hi,” she said courteously.
“Hang on a second.” He walked around the fence to her side, his feet crunching gravel, and drank from the water fountain. When he walked back, he crossed his arms and waited because he knew why she was here.
Bonnie smiled but there was no humor. “Why did you ask me to prom?”
He inhaled deeply, looking away from her for a split second. “Because I wanted to,” he said as if that was an explanation.
“I talked to Caroline and Elena about it.”
“Oh so that was the screeching I heard from my house,” he said, smiling.
“Ha ha. They think it’s a trap. That you’re planning to do to me what your pack did to Caroline.”
Tyler’s smile slowly disappeared.
“That this is all so you can get back at me for Mason, and I want you to know Tyler, if you have something to say to me or if you want to do something, then go ahead and say it or do it. Name the time and the place, be upfront about it, because I cannot tell you how tired I am of surprises.”
“I don’t wanna do anything to you,” Tyler said, hurt that they had all three gathered and decided he couldn’t be trusted. Especially Caroline. He knew things were different, she had told him as much, but he didn’t think she still thought...“I don’t want to do anything to you,” he repeated with finality, and he started heading to the other side of the fence.
“So then why ask?” Bonnie asked his back, knowing for sure now that all three of them were wrong. His reaction had been obvious. He was mad.
“Forget it,” he said curtly without turning back. “Forget the whole thing,” he said as he walked through the gate.
Bonnie knew she ran the risk of dealing with his rudeness by continuing the conversation. “Tyler, wait,” she said, her fingers in the openings of the fence. “You can’t blame us.”
“Didn’t say I did.”
She sighed. Oh well. She looked at her shoes and prepared to go back to her car. When she looked up, he hadn’t gone any farther.
Tyler stood on the other side, his hands on his hips, and then he walked to her and said, “If I did wanna say something to you? I’d say it. I’m not a coward.” A voice in his head told him otherwise, but he ignored it.
“I’m sorry,” Bonnie apologized quietly.
Tyler heard all the things she was apologizing for. He swallowed and watched her fix her hair after a gust of wind blew it about her face. He didn’t know why considering the situation, but he once again wondered how she felt about the moon.
“I’ll let you...finish,” she said, casting her eyes on the field. She turned to leave, but her name out of his mouth stopped her.
“Before your little meeting with Caroline and Elena...what was your answer?”
Bonnie chuckled at the entire situation and shook her head. “During a good part of the meeting...my answer was yes.” She shrugged.
Tyler swallowed, flexing his cheekbones. He hadn’t known what her answer was going to be, but he had been expecting a text at any moment.
“I guess you can move on to the next name on your list.”
“You were never on my list.”
It was a factual statement. He had never considered her, had never thought her his type. He probably still didn’t think she was his type. But either way, Bonnie took the statement as an insult.
“Right.” She was positive his rudeness was coming out which meant it was time to leave before their friendship or relationship or whatever this was went further south.
“Bonnie,” he stopped her again. She looked impatient, and he had no idea why. “When do you wanna get there?”
After an unsure second, she shrugged and said, “I don’t wanna miss the dinner.”
He nodded. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Okay.”
And then he asked her if she had already bought her ticket, and she said something about the price and why wouldn’t she have bought it when it was cheapest? And he mentioned how some people waited, like him, and then he asked if she wanted a limo or his car, and she had to think because Caroline had suggested a limo for the three of them, but riding in a limo with the three of them plus Tyler too would be awkward, and she wanted to be alone with him. Her heart flipped at that thought. There was that wild factor again. She settled on his car.
***
Bonnie had grown impatient to wear her sequined, one shoulder, champagne-colored gown, so when the day finally arrived she relished in twirling, the shimmery material brushing against her legs. She sat; she stood; she posed; she leaned against her car; she stood under a tree; she blew kisses; and she even popped a leg, all while her dad snapped away.
“Will you look at that,” her dad said in wonder as they looked at one of the pictures, “Your smile actually reaches your eyes.”
Bonnie pursed her lips in fake offense. She knew her dad had noticed her demeanor. She also knew he had written it off as a “teenage thing.” She hated the possibility that he knew that wasn’t true and just wasn’t willing to broach the subject because he somehow knew it involved magic.
“Well tonight is my prom. I’d hate to be unhappy on my prom day,” she answered while flipping through the pictures to figure out which one she would make her profile picture.
“As if Caroline would allow that,” he said, familiar with the girls’ antics, and Bonnie laughed.
One thing Tyler hadn’t expected was how much thought he would give to whether or not he should buy a corsage. This wasn’t really a date, so he wasn’t obligated to buy one. On the other hand, it was prom and that usually meant corsage. But Bonnie might not care if she has a corsage.
Corsage in hand, he knocked on her door. He had expected her father to open it so she could do that grand entrance thing, but it was Bonnie who stood in the doorway. His mouth fell open as he took her in. Her shoulders were bare except for the one part of the dress that went around the right side. Her neck was long, accentuated by the fact that her hair was done up, not a wisp out of place. He had never seen that color on her before, he was sure. She looked amazing. “You look...beautiful.”
Bonnie smiled, dazzling and delighted. “Thank you. And you know how to wear a tux.”
He nodded absently and then cleared his throat. “I got you a...” he gestured with the see-through box. He had gone with white, just in case, white orchid.
“Oh,” Bonnie said, her voice full of awe when she saw it.
Glad he’d made the right choice, Tyler slipped it on her slender wrist.
“It’s beautiful.”
“So are you,” he responded. Her hand still hung in the air, so he took it.
Bonnie tried not to look at where they were touching. Wild. She stepped out of the house and joined him.
“And what time will you be back?” her dad asked, taking her place in the doorway.
“Uh, two?” she tried.
“Hey, Mr. Bennett.”
“Hi, Tyler. Try one,” he suggested after shaking the younger man’s hand.
“Got it.” She didn’t miss the warning her father gave her with his eyes as they turned to leave. He wanted her to watch out with Tyler.
***
The ride to the hotel was silent though it wasn’t too awkward. She had never sat in the front seat of his car before. They chatted idly: he was going to go off to Duke and she would be heading to the University of Virginia.
“Just so you know,” she began after they had given their tickets, “Caroline and Elena will be watching you like a hawk.”
“That’s great,” he said, tongue-in-cheek. She cockily lifted a smooth shoulder in response, and he stared at her a little longer than necessary.
They were caught by the photographer, and both hesitated. Bonnie did want a picture, but once they got in front of the camera, they were at a lost as to what to do with themselves. Neither wanted to look at the camera and smile. They didn’t want to just look at the camera unsmiling either. They looked at each other for an answer and...kind of didn’t look away.
She smiled and he smiled back, stealing a look at her maroon lips. The photographer asked them if they were ready.
“Yeah,” Tyler said softly.
Bonnie nodded, and her breath rushed out when he gently but firmly pulled her closer.
The camera went off, and they didn’t hear the man ask if they wanted another.
Bonnie took in the sharp angles of his face, and Tyler was progressively overwhelmed by her scent. Some of it was put on, he’d smelled this exact perfume on her the day she had come to talk to him by the track field, and some of it was her, that distinctive smell, the kind left on pillows, bedsheets, and sleepwear.
Without hesitation Tyler leaned down to kiss her, and Bonnie closed her eyes and lifted her chin.
“TY!”
Their eyes snapped open, and Tyler’s arm quickly fell from her waist. Bonnie’s lips twitched. His had actually touched hers. She collected herself while some members of the football team engulfed him. A couple of them threw some “yos” and “heys” her way, and she acknowledged them. Walking away from the group, she wondered where the heck that had come from. There was wild, and then there was kissing.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. Taking a deep breath, she promised that there would be no kissing tonight.
“Ready?”
Turning, she couldn’t help her lopsided smile. “Yeah.” He smiled back at her, and she knew he was thinking about the absurd situation that just took place.
They ran into Elena and Caroline, and the girls screamed happily when they saw each other. Tyler hung back as they hugged and Bonnie complimented Elena on her dark purple gown and Caroline on her cherry red mermaid gown. “You guys look so beautiful!” Bonnie said brightly.
Despite his sour attitude about them talking behind his back, he noticed how happy they were, each taking turn spinning so the other two could check her out. And then Caroline told him to take pictures and the restlessness set in.
***
Bonnie looked at Tyler curiously and asked, “Do you even know how to dance?”
He set his drink down and made a face. “Kind of? If I have to?”
The music was picking up as dinner wrapped and people made their way to the dance floor. Bonnie mentally hung her head at her luck. The good news is that no one would make fun of them for Tyler’s dancing because he was the popular defensive lineman. The bad news is that that wouldn’t stop her from being embarrassed. “I didn’t come here to sit,” she said nicely. Storing her heels under the table, she got up, not missing Tyler’s defeated look.
Tyler’s version of dancing is standing very close to her, his hands on her hips while she moved. Of course he didn’t immediately do this, aware that she might hate it and also aware that Caroline and Elena had them in their eyesight, but as he stood there moving side to side, trying to make his hips do something, she got closer and started moving on him. He was glad because he hates standing apart from the girl, just looking at her while she gets into the music, while all he can think about is how separated they are. He danced better when he could touch the person.
Bonnie took pity on him. She needed him to move a lot faster than he was at the moment, so she turned and backed up on him. She was happy for this. It had been a long time since she not only danced, but got up on a guy like this. As the beat blared through the speakers, she shimmied down and up his body, popping her butt in his crotch, and he was finally moving with her, his hands roaming her sides and holding her waist. She turned and wound her hips, running her hands up his chest, around his shoulders, to nestle in his hair.
“Not bad,” Bonnie said, sweaty and out breath as she stood at the bar and downed a cold cup of water.
“It’s pretty bad, come on,” Tyler prodded her to admit.
She laughed. “It’s not...disrupting...so that’s a plus,” she said to encourage him.
He finished his water and threw the plastic cup away, noticing that her eyes were bright as she tried to find her breath. He of course had already recovered from his windedness thanks to his healing abilities.
“Ready?!” she asked excitedly.
***
The mood shifted when the first slow song came on, and it wasn’t for the better. Where they had relaxed around each other before with her smiling and laughing at Tyler’s dancing, and him shrugging and laughing bashfully, the good cheer started to disappear as the song played along and they started swaying. Whereas before he had been touching her all over and checking her out, the distance between them widened again, and it was because of Tyler.
As he held her close and their eyes connected before roaming around the room, Tyler’s thoughts returned to Mason. “What did you think when you learned he’d been killed? First thought,” he said with a stiff lift of a shoulder.
Bonnie wasn’t surprised at the question or the subject of it. Looking into his eyes, she responded, “I thought about how...I hadn’t wanted him to get hurt.”
Tyler nodded. “But you quickly forgot about it, didn’t you. About him.”
She knew what he was implying, and she steeled herself, aware that what she was about to say next wouldn’t matter to him. “It wasn’t like that. So much started happening with Katherine and the Original vampires that...and Elena being in---” she cut herself off.
“Danger?” he asked with clear resentment. He nodded and smiled coldly. “So it was time to move on.”
The look was back in his eyes, the one that called her Judas.
“You forgot about him.”
“I didn’t forget,” she said so low that he didn’t hear her over the music. But she had forgotten. Her eyes watered and she stiffened, wanting to be anywhere but here. She stopped moving and backed away from his touch, the music, the people, and the location disappearing. All she saw was Tyler. All she heard was Matt.
“You acted like you didn’t know her. Like she was a nobody. Like she didn’t have---”
A family.
“I’m sorry, Tyler” she said, trying to control her voice when her tears threatened to spill. “I didn’t want him to get hurt. I didn’t want him to die,” she emphasized as much she could, hoping he’d believe her, knowing it was futile. “I was...”
It was to the point where Tyler had to use his enhanced hearing to be able to hear her.
“I wanted to help. I didn’t want to be wrong. Last time I refused, Caroline ended up in the hospital, and your dad---” she couldn’t speak anymore. Her throat hurt so much that she could not continue even though she wanted to. “I’m sorry, Tyler.”
He only got the last part because he read her lips.
Bonnie brushed past him and quickly retrieved her shoes. Wiping her tears and wanting the ringing in her ears to go away, she got her clutch and ran out of the room.
Tyler stood rigid with his hands in his pockets, eyes glimmering with unshed tears. He turned his head and saw Caroline and Elena looking at him with questions and suspicions as they hurriedly followed Bonnie out. He looked at where he and Bonnie had sat and ate and thought of Mason as everyone around him danced.
***
Bonnie sat on the peach divan in the bathroom, slouching against the wall and wiping her tears. The door burst open, heralding Caroline and Elena.
“Oh my God,” Caroline said when she saw her state.
“What happened?” Elena asked worriedly, taking a seat next to her and catching Bonnie’s hand in hers.
“What did he say to you?”
“He talked about Mason,” Bonnie said, sounding defeated, her eyes in the direction of Caroline’s thighs.
Elena scooped her up so that she would awkwardly lean on her.
“He thinks I forgot about him. That his death didn’t matter to me as long as...” she looked at Elena, her eyes a pale green, “you were safe.”
Elena swallowed.
Bonnie smiled. “And I did forget about him.” Fresh tears sprang in her eyes.
There was nothing Elena could say. If Bonnie had forgotten about Mason...then there had never been anything for her to forget. He had only been Damon’s project in her eyes and that realization had chilled her to her core. She had never brought it up to either of them, her realization of how little she had thought of Mason. She turned the awkward leaning into a hug, wishing she had the words to make Bonnie feel better.
Caroline lowered her eyes. It was funny. This supernatural stuff that they shared should have brought all of them closer, should have forged an unbreakable bond between them. Instead it had served to drift them apart with each of them playing a part, some more important parts than others. She looked at Bonnie crying on Elena’s chest and at Elena who had her eyes closed tight, though that didn’t hold the tears. She knelt in front of them and took Bonnie’s hand and rubbed Elena’s arm.
***
They held hands when they walked out of the bathroom, Bonnie in the middle.
“Guys, I really want to go home,” Bonnie said tiredly. She was fatigued from crying. She didn’t think the night would get better, and she didn’t really want to give it a chance to get better. She was close to rock bottom again, and she wanted to stay there.
“No,” Caroline protested, stopping them but Bonnie noticed that the conviction wasn’t completely there. “This is prom. Remember?” she asked uncertainly. “We’d all look great, and make so many people jealous, and we’d dance the night away.” Promises from Sophmore year. “You can’t leave,” she pleaded softly.
“I agree,” Elena said, sounding more sure than Caroline. She sniffed. “If you leave, then we’ll have to leave.”
Bonnie rolled her eyes in jest. They hadn’t taken three steps forward when she saw Tyler standing opposite the welcome table. He started walking towards them, and she stopped and sighed, looking at Elena in defeat.
Seeing this, Caroline chose to meet him halfway. Having to look down at him because of their slight height difference, she said, “Seriously Tyler? Stop. Just...leave her alone, okay? I’m not saying you can’t be pissed about Mason. You are. I know. But just...don’t talk to her. Don’t talk to any of us, because I’m starting to think you want to make her feel miserable, you want to rub the fact that she regrets it in her face, and that’s mean.” She stopped because she knew he didn’t have to leave Bonnie alone if he didn’t want to. “Please,” she tried because that was her last resort.
Tyler swallowed and calmly said, “I need to talk to her.”
Caroline felt utterly helpless. Bonnie and Elena had reached them, and she looked at the former.
“Tyler,” Bonnie began, still holding on to Elena’s hand, “the date’s over. Okay? I’m...done.”
“I just need to talk to you for a second. Just...one second.” He looked at Elena who averted her gaze.
Taking a breath, Bonnie detached from her friend and went to him.
“We’ll be waiting,” Caroline let her know.
“What I said earlier,” Tyler began. He had taken her back by the bathroom area. They stood shielded from Elena and Caroline’s view. “I didn’t say it to make you feel bad.” But he couldn’t help enjoying that she did.
“You think he meant nothing to me.”
“You can’t blame me for that.”
“I don’t,” she assured, her arms crossed. They stood looking at each other for seconds before Bonnie looked away.
“Are you leaving?”
She exhaled. “Caroline and Elena want me to stay; they want to stay, I guess.” She looked into his eyes and wondered if he would ever understand, if he’d ever understand the position she had been in, if he would ever care. Her eyes started watering again, and she didn’t care.
Tyler knew she wanted to leave; he knew she was miserable; he knew she was sorry. He didn’t want to be mad at her for this, blame her as much as he did, but he couldn’t help it. He took a step forward, leaned down, and kissed her.
The kiss jolted Bonnie; she gasped when Tyler left her lips. Her tired eyes widened and the question was written all over her face.
He answered her with another kiss. He captured her upper lip and brought her closer. She breathed into it, one of her arms trapped between their bodies and the other around his neck. She got on her toes and relaxed in his arms. They never deepened the kiss, but they ended up backed against the wall before he broke it off for the last time. Her chest heaved and her lips tickled.
Swallowing with a dry throat, Tyler said tried to find something to say.
“Um. Have fun. Tonight,” she said, still leaning against the wall.
He nodded. “You too.” He wanted to say more, but he couldn’t think of anything.
Bonnie pursed her lips and then left.
***
She did end up dancing the night away with her friends though they were all a little slow to get back into it and they did end up riding the limo together, dropping by two after parties and leaving halfway through both.
She made it back to her house at one fifteen and she thought over the night as she undressed and got ready for bed. She had been unhappy on her prom night, but she was thankful that had not lasted the whole night. After letting her hair down, she focused on the corsage and thought of Tyler. His kiss had been unexpected but very welcomed despite everything. There’s something that had happened without an explanation. She smiled as she thought back to the moment, how his lips had tasted, how she had felt, how she would not have minded if it had lasted even longer. She chuckled and bit her bottom lip.
She had just finished texting a reply to Elena when Tyler’s name flashed on her phone, a name that usually just sat in her list of contacts. With no clue where this would go, she picked up.
“Hi,” he responded.
She waited for him to go on.
“I was curious,” Tyler said as he sat in his car, a party in full swing in the house in front of him. This was the third spot he was hitting tonight. He had been a little ticked not to have found Bonnie at the previous two. “That’s why I asked you to prom.” He gripped the phone against his ear, his elbow resting on the window, his hand on the steering wheel, his mind on the night she chanted while he stared at the moon. “I...” he focused again, “I wanted to see if you were the same. I wanted to connect the girl who...let my uncle die---”
Bonnie closed her eyes.
“To the girl I grew up with, who...was just always around.” He exhaled and closed his eyes. “Because I didn’t think they could match up. It was either one or the other, you know?” His heart hurt, and he hated the confusion, the uncertainty.
Bonnie opened her eyes. “You could’ve just told me that,” she said tacitly.
Tyler opened his eyes and smiled morosely. “I didn’t know it at the time. Good night.” He thought again of the moon.
“Good night.” After hanging up, Bonnie lifted her head and breathed deep.
Tyler sagged against the headrest and watched her name flash on his phone before it disappeared. He never asked his moon question. Maybe he could catch her in the woods again next month. Or maybe he could sit with her again on Monday. He had asked her to prom before his curiosity had fully set in. He had liked being next to her, talking to her, looking at her, even with the uncertainty, the distrust. She wasn’t the same, and at the same time she kind of was. There was a sense of responsibility surrounding her that he didn’t quite get. He closed his eyes and saw her bright eyes when she had been trying to catch her breath after dancing. But he wanted to. He wanted to get it.
The End