Fic: Second Verse, Same as the First (Vampire Diaries; Bonnie/Jeremy, Tyler/Caroline)
Title: Second Verse, Same as the First
Author: empressearwig
Pairing/Fandom: Bonnie/Jeremy, Tyler/Caroline; The Vampire Diaries
Spoilers: All aired episodes
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~ 2800
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is all for fun. This hasn't happened. Yet. Etc.
Summary: "I thought it might fun if we all went out," Caroline says brightly. Too brightly. "The four of us."
Author's Notes: Set a non-specific amount of time in the near future. Thanks to leobrat and torigates for looking at this for me.
One of the first things that Bonnie discovered about dating someone younger is that that the only class you're likely to have together is lunch. This is both good and bad. It's good, because if you happen to find your new boyfriend incredibly distracting (and she does, she'll admit that), there's less opportunity for him to interfere when you're supposed to be paying attention to trig. But it also means that when lunch comes, you don't really want to be bothered by the rest of your friends, the ones you see all day, anyway.
Somehow, Caroline didn't get that memo.
Bonnie's sitting with Jeremy at a table in the corner of the cafeteria that's got the overhead light that's always flickering, when Caroline comes up, smiling widely and dragging a cranky-looking Tyler along by the hand. Bonnie doesn't like the looks of this.
"Bonnie, hey," Caroline says, dropping down onto the bench across from them. "Hi, Jeremy." She tugs on Tyler's hand again. "Sit."
Tyler sits, and Bonnie hears Jeremy start to laugh. She elbows him in the ribs and he turns it into a cough instead. "Hi guys," Bonnie says. "What's up?"
"What are you doing tonight?" Caroline asks, and it's clear that she's trying to make it sound like an innocent question. It's also clear that it's not.
Bonnie's eyes dart towards Jeremy's face. He's looking back at her with a look that plainly states "please don't be what I think this is" and Bonnie would be willing to bet money that the same look is on hers. "I don't know," she says, hedging. "Why?"
"I thought it might fun if we all went out," Caroline says brightly. Too brightly. "The four of us."
"A double date," Bonnie says, her voice flat.
Caroline nods. "It'll be fun!"
Somehow Bonnie doubts that. From the look on Tyler's face, he doubts it, too. And she knows, without even having to ask, that Jeremy is in complete agreement. The question is why Caroline doesn't think this is a bad idea. "I don't know," she says again. "Are you really sure --"
"Yes!" Caroline exclaims. "When's the last time any of us did anything normal?"
Bonnie doesn't really have an answer for that.
Caroline sees her advantage and presses ahead. "It doesn't have to be some big thing," she says, giving Bonnie her very best pleading look. "A movie, the Grill--" Bonnie raises an eyebrow and Caroline looks more than a little guilty "--okay, maybe not the Grill, but you get the idea. Just something."
"I vote we get drunk at Tyler's," Jeremy says, and Bonnie turns to look at him with surprise. He shrugs. "We all know she's going to win eventually. At least this way it's on our terms."
"Why my house?" Tyler objects, with a frown on his face.
Jeremy shrugs again. "You have a pool table. And a lot of booze."
Tyler looks like he wants to argue, but can't really find anything to argue with Jeremy about.
"Great, it's settled!" Caroline beams at them. "See you at seven?"
"Fine," Bonnie sighs. This isn't going to end well, she knows that already. But there's nothing she can do to stop it.
The bell rings and lunch ends. Jeremy walks her to her next class and they pause in the doorway. "This is going to be a disaster, isn't it?" she asks.
He laughs and kisses her. "Of course it is." He kisses her again and sprints off towards his next class without another word.
She frowns at his back. They're going to have to work on the right time to lie thing, she thinks. That is if they make it through tonight alive.
She wishes that she were more sure that was actually going to happen.
***
Promptly at seven, Bonnie knocks on Tyler's front door. While they wait, Jeremy takes her hand and squeezes. "It'll be fine," he says, running his thumb across the inside of her wrist in the way he's learned is guaranteed to distract her. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Bonnie just looks at him and he nods his head, acknowledging her point. "Okay, yeah." He's going to say something more, but the door opens and Tyler's on the other side, looking a little bit rumpled and a little bit grumpy.
"Hey," he says and opens the door wider. "Come in."
"Where's Caroline?" Bonnie asks as she walks through the door.
"Here," comes Caroline's voice from down the stairs. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She practically runs down the stairs, and skids to a stop once she's reached them. She flashes a wide, distracted smile. "You made it!"
Bonnie bites her lip and tries not to smile. Caroline's shirt is misbuttoned.
"I can't pass up an opportunity to kick Tyler's ass, you know that," Jeremy says. He raises an eyebrow, in a clear challenge. "Are we going to play or what?"
Tyler snorts. "Whatever, Gilbert. "You don't stand a chance."
The two of them start off down the hall, the sound of their bickering carrying behind them. Caroline hooks her arm through Bonnie's. "See?" she asks. "Not terrible."
"Caroline," Bonnie says. "Your shirt."
"What? Is there something on it? What --" Caroline looks down "--oops?" she trails off, her cheeks flushing a little. She drops Bonnie's arm to fix them. "Did anyone notice?"
"I don't know," Bonnie says, watching her fingers fly over them. "They're boys, do they notice anything?"
"True," Caroline says, linking their arms back together and forcefully steering Bonnie down the hall. "Come on, I don't want to leave them alone together for too long. You know how they are."
"Yes, I do," Bonnie says, trying to walk faster to keep up, "which is why I don't know why you thought this was a good idea."
Caroline waves her other hand through the air dismissively. "They have to learn to get along sometime."
"I don't think you can actually will things like that into existence," Bonnie tries to say, but then they're walking into the game room and it doesn't appear that there's been any blood shed yet. It's sad how grateful she is for that.
"Everyone playing nice?" Caroline asks, one eyebrow delicately arched in Tyler's direction.
"Define nice," Jeremy quips as he bends down to take his shot. Bonnie lets herself admire the view, thinking there's no way he'll catch her, but when he straightens he winks at her and she can feel her cheeks get hot.
"Ha ha, very funny," Tyler says flatly. He wraps an arm around Caroline's waist, and she leans against him, into him. He whispers something in her ear she laughs and Bonnie realizes something.
It looks right. Bonnie doesn't know how she never noticed that before, but it does. They do.
There's a kiss on her cheek and Bonnie looks up to find Jeremy at her side.
"Everything okay?" he asks, and there's a crease between his eyebrows that she knows means that he's worried.
She reaches up to touch it, smoothing it down. Her hand trails down his face and she cups his cheek, stretching up on her toes to kiss him. She means it to be brief, but Jeremy wraps an arm around her waist and makes it something more.
"Get a room," Tyler's voice interrupts them.
Bonnie pulls away, blushing furiously. Caroline's grinning at her, knowingly, and when Bonnie looks up at Jeremy, he's grinning at her in that infuriating boy-like way.
She elbows him in the side and he grunts, just a little. "Weren't you two playing a game?" she asks pointedly, nodding her head towards the pool table.
Jeremy takes pity on her. "Yeah, and it's Lockwood's turn."
"Great," Caroline says. "You two play, Bonnie and I will get drinks." She makes a little shooing motion with her hands. "Go. Play."
They go.
Bonnie follows Caroline to the bar and she grabs glasses while Caroline studies the available bottles.
"What do you want?" Caroline asks. "Vodka, tequila, Jack, what?"
Bonnie wrinkles her nose. "Not tequila," she says. "You know what I’m like when I drink that."
She regrets saying that the minute the words leave her mouth. The grin on Caroline’s face only makes it worse.
"But that’s why we should drink it," Caroline argues, and Bonnie groans. "Has Jeremy seen you drunk on tequila?" She spins around. "Jeremy!"
He looks up. "What?"
"Caroline," Bonnie hisses. "Don’t -"
"Have you ever seen Bonnie drink tequila?" Caroline asks. "I need to know."
Jeremy raises an eyebrow. "No," he says, dragging the word out. "But I’m thinking that maybe I should."
Caroline claps her hands. "Excellent! Tyler, there are limes somewhere, right?"
"Check the mini fridge," Tyler answers, not bothering to look up from his shot. He makes it and straightens, a satisfied smile on his face. "And if there aren’t any there, I’ll go find some. Because Gilbert needs to see this."
"I hate you all," Bonnie says.
***
Three shots later and Bonnie can’t remember why she said she hated them. Well, that’s not true, she does remember why, somewhere in the back of her mind, but she feels so good that she doesn’t really care.
All she cares about is having another shot, and Tyler is being so nice and pouring it for her.
He slides it across the bar and Bonnie beams at him. "You’re so nice now," she says. "Were you always this nice? Or does nice come along with being a werewolf?"
Next to her, Jeremy chokes on his drink.
"Are you okay?" Bonnie asks, patting him on the back.
"I’m fine," he says, between coughs. "Are you?"
He looks worried. Bonnie doesn’t understand why. "I’m fine," she says, waving a dismissive hand through the air. She falls sideways just a little bit and he steadies her. "I’m great!"
Jeremy frowns. "Are you --"
"She’s sure," Caroline finishes for him and Bonnie beams a smile at her.
She loves Caroline. Even if she’s a vampire now and Bonnie knows she shouldn’t love her anymore.
"You didn’t take your shot," Tyler says, nudging the shot glass closer to the edge of the bar. "Don’t you want it?"
Bonnie turns her smile on him and reaches for the drink. "Of course I do," she says, picking it up to drink. It's halfway to her lips when she remembers what she didn't do. She takes Jeremy's hand and shakes salt over the inside of his wrist. She licks it off and then takes the shot. She grabs a lime wedge from the bar and sucks on it, finally looking up at everyone else.
Jeremy's looks shocked, and maybe a little turned on, and two months ago Bonnie wouldn't have known what his turned on face looks like and she loves that she does now. Tyler and Caroline are grinning at her, knowingly, and Bonnie wrinkles her nose at them and looks back at Jeremy.
"What's --" is all she manages to get out before he kisses her, kisses her like there's no one else in the room and even though she knows that Tyler and Caroline are standing right there, Bonnie doesn't really care. She just wraps her arms around Jeremy's neck and pours herself into the kiss.
When Jeremy pulls back, he nips at her lower lip. "Was this what they meant when they said I needed to see what you were like when you drink tequila?" he asks, his breath hot against her ear.
All she can do is nod.
She feels him grin against her neck. "Remind me to thank them later."
"I hate to interrupt," Caroline drawls.
"Then don't," Jeremy says.
"It's my house," Tyler replies.
Bonnie decides she can't hide in Jeremy's shirt front forever, no matter how nice the flannel feels. "Let's play pool!"
"You hate pool," Caroline and Jeremy say in unison, and they frown at each other.
It makes Bonnie laugh so hard her sides hurt. "So?" she gasps out between laughs. "Let's play anyway. Boys versus girls."
"You're going to regret this," Jeremy says, shaking his head and looking at her with something that might be pity. She can't really tell anymore.
"I don't think so," she says, and steals another kiss just because she can. "What's the thing? Oh, right. Rack 'em."
He shakes his head again and heads over to do just that, Tyler close on his heels.
Caroline comes up beside her and wraps an arm around her shoulders. "You know what you're doing, right?"
Bonnie just grins.
***
Ten minutes later, when they've beaten the pants off the boys, Caroline is hugging her so tightly Bonnie can't breathe and Jeremy's staring at her with absolute disbelief.
"But you can't play pool," he says, again and again. "I don't understand."
"Apparently drunk Bonnie can," Tyler says, clapping Jeremy on the shoulder. "Cheer up, dude. She might not even remember this tomorrow."
"Oh, but I'll remember," Caroline says. She looks at Bonnie in awe. "I didn't know you could do that."
Bonnie tries to shrug and take a bow at the same time and ends up tipping over, so that she has to grab the table for balance instead. "It's nothing I like to brag about."
Jeremy's by her side so fast that she'd think he was a vampire too if she didn't know any better. But does she know that for sure? She blinks up at him, trying to decide. "You're still human, right?"
"And I think that probably means it's time to leave," Jeremy says, taking her by the elbow and starting to steer her towards the door. "Good idea, Caroline."
"It was," Bonnie agrees, her voice muffled from where she's leaning against his shoulder. "I can't believe I thought this was a bad idea."
"You what?" Caroline asks, and Bonnie looks back. Caroline looks hurt, just a little bit.
"But it wasn't," Bonnie says. She wiggles out of Jeremy's grasp and runs back to throw her arms around Caroline's neck. "I had the best time. And even if I hadn't I would have told you that I did. Because I love you so much. But it really was so much fun. I'm not lying."
"Okay, okay," Caroline laughs, stroking her hand against Bonnie's hair. "I believe you."
"Good," Bonnie says, beaming at her. "Bye, guys!"
She practically skips back to Jeremy's side and slaps his arm. "Home, Jeeves."
"Yes, ma'am," he says, wrapping his arm around her once more. "Later, guys."
"Drive safe," Caroline calls after them, and Bonnie waves over her shoulder. Then they're outside and Jeremy's helping her into the car and before they've even pulled out of the driveway, she's asleep.
***
Jeremy wakes her once they're parked in her driveway, gently nudging at her shoulder until her eyes flutter open. "Hi," she says.
"Hi," he answers, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "You had fun tonight."
She nods, a sleepy, happy smile on her face. "I did."
"Good," he says, and he kisses her forehead. "Now we just have to get you into the house without your dad noticing that you're drunk."
She shakes her head. "My dad's not here. There's no one here." She tries to smile, but it never quite makes it all the way there. "Just me."
Jeremy frowns, looking worried. "I don't really want to leave you alone."
"You could stay," she says, taking his hand and tucking it against her cheek. She likes the way it feels. "Stay."
"I shouldn't," he says.
"You should," she answers and fumbles with the handle of the door. "Are you coming?"
She starts to try to get out of the car without waiting for his answer and he does the thing where he moves really fast again and she remembers that he never actually answered her question before.
"Not a vampire, right?" she asks, and he laughs.
"Not a vampire," he says, taking the keys from her hand and opening the door for her. "Just me."
She steps inside the door and turns back around to face him. "I like you," she says, and holds out her hand. "Come in."
He does.
Author: empressearwig
Pairing/Fandom: Bonnie/Jeremy, Tyler/Caroline; The Vampire Diaries
Spoilers: All aired episodes
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~ 2800
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is all for fun. This hasn't happened. Yet. Etc.
Summary: "I thought it might fun if we all went out," Caroline says brightly. Too brightly. "The four of us."
Author's Notes: Set a non-specific amount of time in the near future. Thanks to leobrat and torigates for looking at this for me.
One of the first things that Bonnie discovered about dating someone younger is that that the only class you're likely to have together is lunch. This is both good and bad. It's good, because if you happen to find your new boyfriend incredibly distracting (and she does, she'll admit that), there's less opportunity for him to interfere when you're supposed to be paying attention to trig. But it also means that when lunch comes, you don't really want to be bothered by the rest of your friends, the ones you see all day, anyway.
Somehow, Caroline didn't get that memo.
Bonnie's sitting with Jeremy at a table in the corner of the cafeteria that's got the overhead light that's always flickering, when Caroline comes up, smiling widely and dragging a cranky-looking Tyler along by the hand. Bonnie doesn't like the looks of this.
"Bonnie, hey," Caroline says, dropping down onto the bench across from them. "Hi, Jeremy." She tugs on Tyler's hand again. "Sit."
Tyler sits, and Bonnie hears Jeremy start to laugh. She elbows him in the ribs and he turns it into a cough instead. "Hi guys," Bonnie says. "What's up?"
"What are you doing tonight?" Caroline asks, and it's clear that she's trying to make it sound like an innocent question. It's also clear that it's not.
Bonnie's eyes dart towards Jeremy's face. He's looking back at her with a look that plainly states "please don't be what I think this is" and Bonnie would be willing to bet money that the same look is on hers. "I don't know," she says, hedging. "Why?"
"I thought it might fun if we all went out," Caroline says brightly. Too brightly. "The four of us."
"A double date," Bonnie says, her voice flat.
Caroline nods. "It'll be fun!"
Somehow Bonnie doubts that. From the look on Tyler's face, he doubts it, too. And she knows, without even having to ask, that Jeremy is in complete agreement. The question is why Caroline doesn't think this is a bad idea. "I don't know," she says again. "Are you really sure --"
"Yes!" Caroline exclaims. "When's the last time any of us did anything normal?"
Bonnie doesn't really have an answer for that.
Caroline sees her advantage and presses ahead. "It doesn't have to be some big thing," she says, giving Bonnie her very best pleading look. "A movie, the Grill--" Bonnie raises an eyebrow and Caroline looks more than a little guilty "--okay, maybe not the Grill, but you get the idea. Just something."
"I vote we get drunk at Tyler's," Jeremy says, and Bonnie turns to look at him with surprise. He shrugs. "We all know she's going to win eventually. At least this way it's on our terms."
"Why my house?" Tyler objects, with a frown on his face.
Jeremy shrugs again. "You have a pool table. And a lot of booze."
Tyler looks like he wants to argue, but can't really find anything to argue with Jeremy about.
"Great, it's settled!" Caroline beams at them. "See you at seven?"
"Fine," Bonnie sighs. This isn't going to end well, she knows that already. But there's nothing she can do to stop it.
The bell rings and lunch ends. Jeremy walks her to her next class and they pause in the doorway. "This is going to be a disaster, isn't it?" she asks.
He laughs and kisses her. "Of course it is." He kisses her again and sprints off towards his next class without another word.
She frowns at his back. They're going to have to work on the right time to lie thing, she thinks. That is if they make it through tonight alive.
She wishes that she were more sure that was actually going to happen.
***
Promptly at seven, Bonnie knocks on Tyler's front door. While they wait, Jeremy takes her hand and squeezes. "It'll be fine," he says, running his thumb across the inside of her wrist in the way he's learned is guaranteed to distract her. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Bonnie just looks at him and he nods his head, acknowledging her point. "Okay, yeah." He's going to say something more, but the door opens and Tyler's on the other side, looking a little bit rumpled and a little bit grumpy.
"Hey," he says and opens the door wider. "Come in."
"Where's Caroline?" Bonnie asks as she walks through the door.
"Here," comes Caroline's voice from down the stairs. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She practically runs down the stairs, and skids to a stop once she's reached them. She flashes a wide, distracted smile. "You made it!"
Bonnie bites her lip and tries not to smile. Caroline's shirt is misbuttoned.
"I can't pass up an opportunity to kick Tyler's ass, you know that," Jeremy says. He raises an eyebrow, in a clear challenge. "Are we going to play or what?"
Tyler snorts. "Whatever, Gilbert. "You don't stand a chance."
The two of them start off down the hall, the sound of their bickering carrying behind them. Caroline hooks her arm through Bonnie's. "See?" she asks. "Not terrible."
"Caroline," Bonnie says. "Your shirt."
"What? Is there something on it? What --" Caroline looks down "--oops?" she trails off, her cheeks flushing a little. She drops Bonnie's arm to fix them. "Did anyone notice?"
"I don't know," Bonnie says, watching her fingers fly over them. "They're boys, do they notice anything?"
"True," Caroline says, linking their arms back together and forcefully steering Bonnie down the hall. "Come on, I don't want to leave them alone together for too long. You know how they are."
"Yes, I do," Bonnie says, trying to walk faster to keep up, "which is why I don't know why you thought this was a good idea."
Caroline waves her other hand through the air dismissively. "They have to learn to get along sometime."
"I don't think you can actually will things like that into existence," Bonnie tries to say, but then they're walking into the game room and it doesn't appear that there's been any blood shed yet. It's sad how grateful she is for that.
"Everyone playing nice?" Caroline asks, one eyebrow delicately arched in Tyler's direction.
"Define nice," Jeremy quips as he bends down to take his shot. Bonnie lets herself admire the view, thinking there's no way he'll catch her, but when he straightens he winks at her and she can feel her cheeks get hot.
"Ha ha, very funny," Tyler says flatly. He wraps an arm around Caroline's waist, and she leans against him, into him. He whispers something in her ear she laughs and Bonnie realizes something.
It looks right. Bonnie doesn't know how she never noticed that before, but it does. They do.
There's a kiss on her cheek and Bonnie looks up to find Jeremy at her side.
"Everything okay?" he asks, and there's a crease between his eyebrows that she knows means that he's worried.
She reaches up to touch it, smoothing it down. Her hand trails down his face and she cups his cheek, stretching up on her toes to kiss him. She means it to be brief, but Jeremy wraps an arm around her waist and makes it something more.
"Get a room," Tyler's voice interrupts them.
Bonnie pulls away, blushing furiously. Caroline's grinning at her, knowingly, and when Bonnie looks up at Jeremy, he's grinning at her in that infuriating boy-like way.
She elbows him in the side and he grunts, just a little. "Weren't you two playing a game?" she asks pointedly, nodding her head towards the pool table.
Jeremy takes pity on her. "Yeah, and it's Lockwood's turn."
"Great," Caroline says. "You two play, Bonnie and I will get drinks." She makes a little shooing motion with her hands. "Go. Play."
They go.
Bonnie follows Caroline to the bar and she grabs glasses while Caroline studies the available bottles.
"What do you want?" Caroline asks. "Vodka, tequila, Jack, what?"
Bonnie wrinkles her nose. "Not tequila," she says. "You know what I’m like when I drink that."
She regrets saying that the minute the words leave her mouth. The grin on Caroline’s face only makes it worse.
"But that’s why we should drink it," Caroline argues, and Bonnie groans. "Has Jeremy seen you drunk on tequila?" She spins around. "Jeremy!"
He looks up. "What?"
"Caroline," Bonnie hisses. "Don’t -"
"Have you ever seen Bonnie drink tequila?" Caroline asks. "I need to know."
Jeremy raises an eyebrow. "No," he says, dragging the word out. "But I’m thinking that maybe I should."
Caroline claps her hands. "Excellent! Tyler, there are limes somewhere, right?"
"Check the mini fridge," Tyler answers, not bothering to look up from his shot. He makes it and straightens, a satisfied smile on his face. "And if there aren’t any there, I’ll go find some. Because Gilbert needs to see this."
"I hate you all," Bonnie says.
***
Three shots later and Bonnie can’t remember why she said she hated them. Well, that’s not true, she does remember why, somewhere in the back of her mind, but she feels so good that she doesn’t really care.
All she cares about is having another shot, and Tyler is being so nice and pouring it for her.
He slides it across the bar and Bonnie beams at him. "You’re so nice now," she says. "Were you always this nice? Or does nice come along with being a werewolf?"
Next to her, Jeremy chokes on his drink.
"Are you okay?" Bonnie asks, patting him on the back.
"I’m fine," he says, between coughs. "Are you?"
He looks worried. Bonnie doesn’t understand why. "I’m fine," she says, waving a dismissive hand through the air. She falls sideways just a little bit and he steadies her. "I’m great!"
Jeremy frowns. "Are you --"
"She’s sure," Caroline finishes for him and Bonnie beams a smile at her.
She loves Caroline. Even if she’s a vampire now and Bonnie knows she shouldn’t love her anymore.
"You didn’t take your shot," Tyler says, nudging the shot glass closer to the edge of the bar. "Don’t you want it?"
Bonnie turns her smile on him and reaches for the drink. "Of course I do," she says, picking it up to drink. It's halfway to her lips when she remembers what she didn't do. She takes Jeremy's hand and shakes salt over the inside of his wrist. She licks it off and then takes the shot. She grabs a lime wedge from the bar and sucks on it, finally looking up at everyone else.
Jeremy's looks shocked, and maybe a little turned on, and two months ago Bonnie wouldn't have known what his turned on face looks like and she loves that she does now. Tyler and Caroline are grinning at her, knowingly, and Bonnie wrinkles her nose at them and looks back at Jeremy.
"What's --" is all she manages to get out before he kisses her, kisses her like there's no one else in the room and even though she knows that Tyler and Caroline are standing right there, Bonnie doesn't really care. She just wraps her arms around Jeremy's neck and pours herself into the kiss.
When Jeremy pulls back, he nips at her lower lip. "Was this what they meant when they said I needed to see what you were like when you drink tequila?" he asks, his breath hot against her ear.
All she can do is nod.
She feels him grin against her neck. "Remind me to thank them later."
"I hate to interrupt," Caroline drawls.
"Then don't," Jeremy says.
"It's my house," Tyler replies.
Bonnie decides she can't hide in Jeremy's shirt front forever, no matter how nice the flannel feels. "Let's play pool!"
"You hate pool," Caroline and Jeremy say in unison, and they frown at each other.
It makes Bonnie laugh so hard her sides hurt. "So?" she gasps out between laughs. "Let's play anyway. Boys versus girls."
"You're going to regret this," Jeremy says, shaking his head and looking at her with something that might be pity. She can't really tell anymore.
"I don't think so," she says, and steals another kiss just because she can. "What's the thing? Oh, right. Rack 'em."
He shakes his head again and heads over to do just that, Tyler close on his heels.
Caroline comes up beside her and wraps an arm around her shoulders. "You know what you're doing, right?"
Bonnie just grins.
***
Ten minutes later, when they've beaten the pants off the boys, Caroline is hugging her so tightly Bonnie can't breathe and Jeremy's staring at her with absolute disbelief.
"But you can't play pool," he says, again and again. "I don't understand."
"Apparently drunk Bonnie can," Tyler says, clapping Jeremy on the shoulder. "Cheer up, dude. She might not even remember this tomorrow."
"Oh, but I'll remember," Caroline says. She looks at Bonnie in awe. "I didn't know you could do that."
Bonnie tries to shrug and take a bow at the same time and ends up tipping over, so that she has to grab the table for balance instead. "It's nothing I like to brag about."
Jeremy's by her side so fast that she'd think he was a vampire too if she didn't know any better. But does she know that for sure? She blinks up at him, trying to decide. "You're still human, right?"
"And I think that probably means it's time to leave," Jeremy says, taking her by the elbow and starting to steer her towards the door. "Good idea, Caroline."
"It was," Bonnie agrees, her voice muffled from where she's leaning against his shoulder. "I can't believe I thought this was a bad idea."
"You what?" Caroline asks, and Bonnie looks back. Caroline looks hurt, just a little bit.
"But it wasn't," Bonnie says. She wiggles out of Jeremy's grasp and runs back to throw her arms around Caroline's neck. "I had the best time. And even if I hadn't I would have told you that I did. Because I love you so much. But it really was so much fun. I'm not lying."
"Okay, okay," Caroline laughs, stroking her hand against Bonnie's hair. "I believe you."
"Good," Bonnie says, beaming at her. "Bye, guys!"
She practically skips back to Jeremy's side and slaps his arm. "Home, Jeeves."
"Yes, ma'am," he says, wrapping his arm around her once more. "Later, guys."
"Drive safe," Caroline calls after them, and Bonnie waves over her shoulder. Then they're outside and Jeremy's helping her into the car and before they've even pulled out of the driveway, she's asleep.
***
Jeremy wakes her once they're parked in her driveway, gently nudging at her shoulder until her eyes flutter open. "Hi," she says.
"Hi," he answers, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "You had fun tonight."
She nods, a sleepy, happy smile on her face. "I did."
"Good," he says, and he kisses her forehead. "Now we just have to get you into the house without your dad noticing that you're drunk."
She shakes her head. "My dad's not here. There's no one here." She tries to smile, but it never quite makes it all the way there. "Just me."
Jeremy frowns, looking worried. "I don't really want to leave you alone."
"You could stay," she says, taking his hand and tucking it against her cheek. She likes the way it feels. "Stay."
"I shouldn't," he says.
"You should," she answers and fumbles with the handle of the door. "Are you coming?"
She starts to try to get out of the car without waiting for his answer and he does the thing where he moves really fast again and she remembers that he never actually answered her question before.
"Not a vampire, right?" she asks, and he laughs.
"Not a vampire," he says, taking the keys from her hand and opening the door for her. "Just me."
She steps inside the door and turns back around to face him. "I like you," she says, and holds out her hand. "Come in."
He does.