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Chapter 8

"Elena, I'm telling you, the numbers went off the roof," Bonnie says, squealing into my phone - which is how I know she's trying really hard not to yell - excitement evident in her voice. "Katherine almost smiled. Almost," she points that word out, chewing on it, "Still, it was freaky."

That makes me chuckle, because Katherine never smiles. Sometimes the corners of her lips start twitching uncomfortably, but she rarely manages to pull off a whole smile, as if she's physically incapable of doing that.

"I can't believe it," I say, half surprised, half excited by this revelation. It was a good idea, even though I never really thought it's going to work. New Yorkers are very self absorbed people. Those who were born there don't want to leave, and those who moved there did so so they can get away from the rest of the world. There's no reason they would want to go back in any form - physically or mentally.

Maybe there is, though. Maybe it's the same reason why I haven't packed my suitcase yet and told Stefan to send me the divorce papers back by mail. Because as much as I'm trying to deny it, this place is my home and it's always going to be, no matter where I move to.

"Why?" I can hear her lips creak over the phone as she pulls them into a mischievous grin, "Because the only reason you suggested it was as an excuse to handle your private affairs and now you'll most likely be stuck traveling to towns with no decent coffee or bagels, to review them?" she ends up giggling, not because she's evil, but because the whole thing sounds incredibly unreal and funny.

And when she says it, when I hear it outside of my head, it doesn't even sound so bad, or scary. Not the coffee and bagels part, but the traveling part. I have always wanted to travel more, and I have always wanted to write more.

"Also, the title - America's Darling? Absolutely genius!" she exclaims, pulling me away from the train wreck which are my thoughts, "We've been getting e-mails from people, asking are we interested in writing a piece about their towns! And it's only been a day!"

I stop, shaken up by the news. "Really?" I ask suspiciously.

"Yes!" she raises her voice, "Didn't you get at least one out of million e-mails Katherine had sent you?" she sounds as wearily as I do when those words leave her mouth.

"Uh," I exhale, "I didn't really get a chance to check through my e-mails yet.."

I'm met with silence on the other side of the line, until I hear her say, teasingly. "All play and no work makes Elena a very, very bad girl. You had fun last night?"

"Hmm, well, let's see," I say sarcastically, rewinding to last night, trying to remember all the things that went wrong, which is not such a hard thing to do since pretty much everything went wrong. "I met up with a bunch of girls from high school who hate me more than they did back then, then I served my ex with our divorce papers in front of all of them, including his brother, had one dance with a friend who's miraculously not angry with me anymore, and then I left."

"Oh, a brother? Is he hot?" Bonnie perks up.

"Really? That's the question you decide to ask?" I roll my eyes, "And he's married."

"That wasn't my question," she says mischievously. "Anyway, I have to go now, and you better reply to Katherine's e-mails as soon as possible. Love ya!"

"Got it," I reply, but before I'm able to say that I love her as well, she hangs up.

I look at my screen, thinking about opening my e-mails right here, right now, but I throw my phone back into my bag instead, biting my lower lip guiltily.

"Elena," I hear a soft, gentle voice saying my name while I'm thinking about what I've gotten myself into, work related.

I look up only to see April standing in front of me. "Hey, April," I'm a bit surprised to see her here, even though there's no reason to be. She's the one who belongs here, not me, not anymore.