We're Golden

Chapter 12

How she ended up in Matt's house choking down sweetened water was a mystery to her.

You ever gotten so livid that you just lose time? That's what happened to her. The last thing she remembered was hanging up on this man claiming to be her father. Determined to forget about it, she walked into the grill fully intending to enjoy a blissful lunch with the blue-eyed waiter that's somehow wormed his way into her life without her even knowing.

Bliss. That's all she wanted, and if ignorance was a whirlpool, she'd swim in it forever. All that changed when she saw Abby casually having lunch with one of her favorite people, and it all came back; the phone call, the sound of his voice, her mother showing up unannounced expecting an obedient child, all of it, going all the way back to when she was five years old.

And for the second time in her life, she couldn't remember how she reacted to any of it.

"You doing okay?" Matt asked as she swallowed down more of the water he handed to her when she sat down in his living room. It helped: her anger washed down with every sip. Now, if only it could take away her embarrassment. She knew it was bad- one look at the concerned, slightly cautious look in his eyes told her all she needed to know, and She couldn't bear it...

"I'm fine." She mumbled into her glass, tearing her eyes from his as he sat down on the coffee table opposite the couch she was on.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he pushed, but that was the last thing she wanted to do. Plus, her brain has already given her reprieve so why dredge it all up other than to make her feel like shit.

"I'd rather not."

He nodded, "Well, would you like me to take you home?"

She shook her head, "Can't go home." She didn't want to. She didn't want to go to the Boarding House either. She wouldn't be able to look her best friend in the eye and tell him that she couldn't be fixed. No matter how hard they tried, no matter how much she wanted to be.

She was going down; she didn't want to take him down with her.

Stefan was going places; he was going to become a famous author who wrote stories about things that mattered. If Elena Gilbert got her way, he was going to marry her and have beautiful kids with forest green eyes and chocolate hair. But, if Bonnie went to him now, none of that would happen because he'd spend the rest of his life trying to put her back together again.

Almost immediately after she decided to spare him from having to deal with her, her phone buzzed in her pocket and when pulled it out to check, a picture of herself and Stefan smiled back at her because of course. Of course, he wouldn't make it that easy.

"Are you gonna get that?" Matt asked when he saw who was calling and she shook her head, pressing ignore.

He was about to comment on her impulsiveness, she could see it from the way his mouth hung open before he decided against it. Instead he got up, pulling her up with him and said "If you're gonna stay here then you'll have to help me make dinner. I'm starving." Then he pulled her along with him towards the kitchen.

"Matt, I can't ask you to let me stay here." She declared when he finally let her go and started to pull out all the ingredients he needed to make homemade lasagna.

"Why? Do you have somewhere else to go?" he asked curiously.

She shook her head, "Well, no, but-"

"Then you're staying here." He said plainly, "Look, you can take Vicky's room. It's fine."

Something in the way he was looking at her made her skin tingle a little so she cave despite her reservations. It wasn't that she didn't trust Matt, he was this unexpected surprise that suddenly walked into her storm and decided to make himself comfortable there. It was her fear of being abandoned; it made it hard for her to believe that nice people like him would stay.