(2) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Eight

Cassandra leans against a stall as she looks out over the rest of the carnival which is now in full swing. People from all around town mill around with their friends and family. Laughing. Joking. And here she is...stuck. Overseeing everything. Bored out of her freaking mind. She's just praying for Damon to hurry up and get his butt here, because then he can at least entertain her. Bonnie approaches where Cassandra is stood and then clears her throat. Cassandra glances at her and raises an eyebrow.

"The ring toss is out of Bart and Homer dolls and Team Jacob T's" Bonnie states, Cassandra nods.

"Okay, I can grab some from the science club" Cassandra counters and goes to walk away, Bonnie stops her with a hand on her arm.

"Cas" Cassandra sighs and looks at her. "Look, I am sorry," Bonnie tells her. "You were never meant to get caught up in the device....and I never meant for you to get hurt" Cassandra clenches her jaw.

"What about Damon?" Cassandra asks her. "Did you mean for him to get hurt?"

"Yeah" Bonnie admits. "I did..." Cassandra raises an eyebrow but at least Bonnie is being honest. "Things with Grams and then the tomb vampires...But what happened to you...to Caroline, Matt....even Tyler....it wasn't worth that. I made a mistake" Cassandra sighs a little and nods. "And I am sorry that you almost...." Bonnie shrugs a little. "I didn't want you to get hurt" It is at least an apology. Cassandra supposes that is something. But it still happened. And she was still hurt. Caroline was still hurt. Tyler's dad died.

"I should never have said we weren't friends" Cassandra offers. "I don't mean that"

"I know" Bonnie assures her.

"But that doesn't mean I'm not still upset or mad at you"

"You be mad as long as you need..." Bonnie adds. "I'll be here when you're ready. Because that's what friends do, right?" Cassandra hums. "Cas, we've fallen out before. But we've always fixed it. And with what we can do, we should be leaning on one another for support not fighting..."

"We're not fighting" Cassandra argues. "Fighting implies a grievance for both parties. I didn't do anything to you. You screwed me over"

"I didn't do it on purpose specifically to screw you over" Bonnie defends. "You were just...." Cassandra cocks her head.

"Collateral" Cassandra finishes. "As was Caroline. If Damon had died in that fire. We would both be dead too...." Bonnie looks away from her. She knows this. She has thought of that herself. "Look, I should get those prizes" Cassandra mumbles and then walks away. Bonnie lets out a sigh and closes her eyes.

...........

Cassandra leans on a stall top texting. Her attention on her phone screen. She's waiting on Damon, her shift at the carnival sorted and done. Now she gets to actually enjoy it.

"Hey, Buttercup" Damon greets behind her. Cassandra smiles to herself.

"Hey..." She turns around only to scream and turns away again. "Damon!" She scolds and clutches her heart as he chuckles.

"Wow, he really gets to you" He looks at the stuffed Spongebob in his hands and raises an eyebrow at him.

"Please, can you just...Just get rid of it...I can't...." He hums and walks away, throwing the toy into the trash can before he moves back to Cassandra.

"All gone" He assures her, touching her arm, she glances at him to check before she turns to face him. "When you said he freaked you out I assumed, you know, that it was just a strong dislike" He pulls her closer. "But that was full-on weird fear...." He comments, she gives him a look.

"I told you that I have nightmares about the...creature, that usually implies fear" She points out. He hugs her, pressing his head to the side of hers.

"I didn't realise" He whispers. "But I get it now"

"This counts as PDA," She tells him, uncomfortable with the attention. He pulls back and gives her a look. "Sorry" She whispers, he pokes her nose and shakes his head.

"Don't worry about it" He reassures her. "It's just one of those things." She nods a little and then scrunches up her nose. It's not one of those things. She's never met anyone else that feels about PDA the way she does. Her parents were always touching one another. Always showing affection, one way or another. She doesn't understand where she got this quirk from.

...........

Elena opens a fresh box of stuffed teddy bears for one of the stalls when Damon walks towards her without Cassandra. Elena raises an eyebrow at him when he leans next to her.

"What's her deal with the whole Spongebob thing?" Damon asks. Elena gives him a weird look. "Cas" He elaborates. "Why does he scare her?" She thinks on it a moment, debating telling him or not. She sighs a little and then nods.

"Okay," She starts. "When we were younger, Cassie got food poisoning, really, really bad food poisoning. And our mom looked after her, blankets on the couch sort of looked after her......and on the television was Spongebob" Damon frowns, not sure where this is going. "Only Cassie started hallucinating" Damon lets out a breath, Elena hums and nods already seeing that he's there. "He was the main focus of those hallucinations. She doesn't talk about it anymore, what she actually saw, and I can barely remember what she said at the time. But she's been terrified of him ever since"

"Rabid Spongebob" Damon realises. That makes more sense now. Why that is what she has in her dreamscape. That must have been what she'd hallucinated of as a child, and yeah, he can understand why she's terrified of them. Oh boy, that Spongebob plush was a huge mistake.

"What did you do?" Elena asks him, he shrugs and smirks a little, but even she can see the nerves and the regret behind it.