I haven't been spending a whole lot of time with Brooke, and it was only now really starting to bother me. When she finally came back, I was waiting for her on her bed.
"What are you doing here?" she asks.
"I've been waiting on you, I thought we could hang out, and talk for a bit before we call it a night. We haven't exactly been hanging out much, you know."
"Yeah, sorry about that, I have a lot on my mind."
"Since when?"
"Since I first came here."
I sit, stunned, and finally pull myself together enough to ask "Do you love him?"
She is quite for a moment, and finally says, "I don't know, but I definitely feel something for him."
I am shocked, but not surprised. I should have expected this to happen. They were made for each other after all.
"I still love you, I just feel like I'm tied to him in a way I can't explain or shake off. It is our fate to be together, sure, but I'm willing to fight that with you."
I get up from the bed, and walk the three steps to meet her. We hug, and I kiss her forehead. "I love you, Boo."
She nuzzles her head into my neck and says, "I love you too, Ayden."
We stay like that for a few minutes, and eventually she pulls back and says, "Stay with me tonight."
I don't even have to think. I tell her sure, and we get into bed together. We snuggle into each other, and sleep soundly all night.
When I woke in the morning, I looked over to see Brooke still sleeping. She looks so peacefull and beautiful. I kiss her forehead, and her eyes begin to flutter open.
"Sorry," I tell her.
"Good morning," she tells me.
We kiss and then hop out of bed, and right then there was a nock at the door. Stefan walks in with perfect stride and stops abruptly when he sees me.
"What is he doing in here?"
"We just slept, that's all, now calm down," Brooke tells him.
"No! I won't calm down! God, I should have known this would happen." He walks right up to me and punches me right in the face. "Come here, you fucker! I was going to go easy on you, because you aren't one of us, but forget it. I'm going to show you how we really treat those that betray us, then I'm sending your ass back home. Alone!"
"No, Stefan, stop!"
Stefan and I both look at Brooke, and see she's crying. She runs up to Stefan and tries to pry his hands off me, but it's no use. He's too strong and is already brushing her aside when he hits me in the gut. Then again, and again. SOon he sets me down and looks at Brooke.
"It had to be done. This is getting out of hand. I should have known to leave him home when I brought you here. He's never going to let you go."
"You're out of hand!" Then she did the one thing I never thought I would ever see her do. She slapped him. Hard.
His head wips to the side but he looks back at her right away. "I'm calling the deal off. He's going home."
He picks me up by the ear and drags me out of there, Brooke screaming the whole time. Soon we come across a guard, and Stefan tells him of what he is doing. Together we four walk to the lake we arrived here in, and look down at our reflections.
"Brooke, you're staying here," Stefan says.
"No, I'm going to return him to his grandma, and say goodbye. You owe me that much after what you did to him!"
