Falling Back With You || Stefonnie

Chapter 4

Somehow she knew something was wrong the moment she stepped foot into the office the next morning. It was just a feeling she had that something was off, but she could not put her finger on what it was so for now, she decided that she’d just continue with her morning as normal. She was supposed to go over her next issue with Stefan before it went to the printers this morning and he wasn’t there yet. She can’t quite recall when this became a thing, but it was one of the few things she looked forward to because even though it left her feeling drained and exhausted, at least she got to spend some time with him and that was enough for now.

“Morning, Elena” she said walking up to the assistant’s desk who gave her a warm smile in return. “Hey, Bonnie”. She tried not to be threatened by the newest addition to their team, but Elena wasn’t an idiot, she could see the way they looked at each other, the way he was around her and if he wasn’t fighting with her then he was looking at her from his window. What she and Stefan had wasn’t much and she knew that going in, she just hoped she could change his mind since she liked him so much, but then Bonnie came and it was like she didn’t exist anymore.

“Is Stefan in?”

“Uh no, he won’t be coming in today” she said snapping out of her thoughts and Bonnie furrowed her brows in confusion. “Why not?”

“Because today’s the 22nd, every year on the 22nd of April he never comes in. No one knows why, but we respect him enough not to ask” Elena said. She kept talking after that but Bonnie didn’t seem to hear any of it after Elena said 22nd April and it hit her like a ton of bricks, almost knocking her off her feet.

“Bonnie, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” she said quickly going to get her a glass of water and all Bonnie could think was she might as well have.

“Here, drink” Elena said handing her a glass of water. She quickly downed the drink, but it did absolutely nothing to calm her rapidly beating heart, how could she have forgotten.

“Bonnie, I’m gonna need you to breathe, come on breathe” Elena was saying and she didn’t even realize she was hyperventilating until right then. She followed the girl’s instruction, feeling herself gain semblance of control of her emotions. “I need to go. I-”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll tell Matt”.

“Thank you” Bonnie said gratefully before bolting for the door as tears stung her eyes. “Shit” she cursed as she got into her new car and sped down the road. In the back of her mind she knew she probably shouldn’t be driving in her current state, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. “Shit shit shit shit shit” she said banging on the steering wheel repeatedly.

***

There was a knock on the door. They’ve had a bad feeling since he left and didn’t return ten hours later and the knock on the door only seemed to cement their suspicions. Bonnie was the one to get off the couch they’ve been sitting on for the last five hours hoping he’d walk through the door and tell them that he went a little nuts for a moment there, but that now everything would be okay because he was back and he wasn’t going to leave again.

But life wasn’t fair that way, instead it gave you a knock on the door at two in the morning with a police officer on the other side about to turn your entire world upside down. “Is this the Salvatore Boarding House?” The officer asked once she opened the door with shaky hands and she nodded, but instead of letting him in she stepped outside and closed the door. She didn’t want Stefan to hear this, she wanted to be the one to tell him. Better your best friend completely shatter your world than a complete stranger, right? She didn’t even know if that made sense, but it’s what she was going with so she looked up at the police office and waited for him to tell her what happened.