What Lies Beneath

Chapter 14: Nicest Thing

Bonnie Bennett's big green eyes were trained on nothing as she gazed into space, her finger rubbing at a small imperfection in the wood of her table inside the Mystic Grill. She was lost in her thoughts and all of the information that Elena had been forwarding to her concerning Stefan, his condition and of course Damon. The brunette had crashed at the Salvatores while helping Stefan deal with his new addiction to human blood, and she'd requested that her best friend join her, but after being away for so long Bonnie thought it was best to visit but remain with her father. He needed her support as he was having a hard time dealing with Grams being dead.

It was very strange to walk into the grand home and find Elena's stuff laying around, to know that she was staying there. But she had managed to keep her thoughts to herself because she wanted to be there to help her best friend cause she was going through a tough time. It wouldn't have been right to bring up her relationship with Damon or his motives for being so nice where his brother was concerned. However a part of her could tell that he was honestly worried about Stefan, and it made her see him in a different light than the one he always tried to portray. Of course she knew a lot of what he did was an act. Him using that offswitch he went on about when it came to vampires because he didn't wanna feel.

What's the point though if you don't feel?

She was also thinking of Stefan differently now that she knew he was the first to take the immortal plunge. It was weird to think of Damon as the mopey, wanting to die one. It was also annoying to have to hear it from Elena instead of the man himself. But it was times like that when she remembered he liked to fight tooth and nail to stay as emotionally detached to her as he possibly could. He would probably never open up if she didn't threaten to do something that would cause herself harm. It wasn't much but seeing him fired up over her safety did make her smile.

Anyway she'd heard it through the grape vine that Stefan was fine now, and Elena was back at home. Everything worked out I suppose…

A hand on her shoulder jerked her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to find Tyler Lockwood staring down at her. He showed off his bright smile. "Didn't mean to scare you. I'd call your name but you didn't seem to hear me."

She chuckled softly. "Sorry I was totally spacing out. What's up?"

He shrugged and sat down in front of her. "I know we're not like good friends or whatever, but everyone else is kinda avoiding me. And by everyone else I mean Matt."

She nodded slowly. "Well you did make out with his mom. Some people frown on that."

He smirked, stealing one of her fries. "In my defense I had been sneaking vodka all night. Ya know, I think he's more pissed off that I tried to choke him…"

"Where did that come from anyway?" She inquired.

Tyler shook his head. "I…have no idea. Lately I've been feeling all of these different emotions like…reallystrongly. I blame it on the booze most times but…" He trailed off. "Maybe I just have anger management problems. I don't know."

Bonnie watched him for a moment. Or it could be something else entirely, especially knowing this town."Well I think you should apologize to Matt for starters, even if he doesn't seem like he wants to listen. And maybe give him some space afterwards. Let him process everything that is going on in his life."

"Yeah." Slouching in his chair, he sighed. "I really screwed up this time."

"Everyone deserves a second chance though."

"What about third and forth?"

"Depends on the person."

"Matt is like the closest thing I have to a brother, ya know? If I could go back I'd totally not drink that night."