Ni Hao! Happy Holidays [AN at the bottom] So much love xo.

BUTTERFLIES, MERCY AND ICE-CREAM

She scrunched her toes together, stretched her legs and then pulled the duvet back over her head, in attempt to hide from the warm rising of the sun beaming through her window, making every object in the room, including her, glow.

It's January, Sun go away.

She'd had this really, really weird sensation in the pit of her stomach all night. She tried so hard to fight whatever it was and fall asleep, but every time she thought that it had gone away it came back full force.

All because she couldn't stop thinking about Damon God-damn Emilio.

Is this what, dare she say it, attraction feels like? If so, she's not liking it. She hates the way that he, a normal guy is the one that is preventing her from sleeping, his presence Isn't even required for her to feel like the whole Earth is devouring.

I know what you're thinking, 'chill'. Try telling her butterflies that.

Bonnie had never been able to control her feelings, whether she loves you, hates you or just simply doesn't give a damn about you, she'd always get this stupid little sensation in her stomach that just wouldn't go away until whatever it was that's causing said feeling, evaporated out of existence.

And shamefully, she didn't want him to go away.

It's a lose, lose situation.

Her date with Emilio was last night, after walking round the area once more Damon dropped her off by the dormitories on campus where Caroline stayed, but she didn't go to her room. She called Stefan who, picked up on the first ring, might she add. God he's such a dad.

No, no dad talk.

She was on a high after her date and didn't want to disturb Caroline in the middle of the night, especially if she had class tomorrow. And she kind of didn't really feel like sharing all of it with Caroline just yet, not to say that she didn't trust her, but getting back into that routine they used to have was going to be hard.

Thinking about it she didn't fully want to jump back into it, she's changed, everything about her has changed and she's come to terms with that stone-cold fact.

After Stefan picked her up they went and got ice-cream, weird? Na, there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about having a triple scoop of Vanilla, Strawberry and Mint Chocolate Chip at 1 am in New York freaking City.

What more would you expect from a city like New York.

During the events of the night Bonnie might have planted hers in Stefan's face and vice-versa, instantly leading to an ice-cream war in Scoopy's Ice-Cream Parlour in the middle of New York...and maybe getting themselves kicked out and banned... but that's a tale for another time.

Now here she is underneath this white ruffled duvet, sleep deprived, ice-cream in her hair and a freaking butterfly the size of a boulder fluttering in her stomach. Ironic huh? Seeing as how boulders can't fly.

Perhaps in a-

"What are you thinking about?" Her derailed train of thought was interrupted by a male voice so close to her ear it was as if she'd dreamt it.

"Holy shhh-ugar!" Bonnie jumped a little, with a force enough that her whole body was raised at least a centimetre off the bed. Hand placed on her chest and her eyes zeroing in on a very, not-so-sleepy-any more, Stefan rubbing his eyes and running a hand through his brown locks.

Uhh…

"You scared the crap out of me"

Stefan chuckled at that and stared at her as if to say 'Really? Sugar?'

"How do you think I feel" with a smirk held in place he then proceeded to imitate her little screaming moment.

"It's a good thing you didn't take Drama, with all this bad acting you're doing" Stefan raised a questioning brow at her attempt to deflect the prior moment "First at the hotel with my 'fainting'… and this, dude let the master show you how it's done." She then brought her palms together and closed her eyes.

"Teach me master, you're my only hope"

She then peeled her left eye open to stare horridly at him.

"Poorly constructed Star Wars reference Stefan… really?"

Stefan inched closer to Bonnie so that he had one arm on the right side of her ribs, her back semi flat against the mattress and half on the headboard, he then whispered with a raise of the corner of his lips,

"How did you know it was a Star Wars reference?"

Before she could respond, she began to erupt with laughter as Stefan started tickling her. His hands roamed from her torso to her waist and all the way down to her thighs.

"Say it"

She refused, Bonnie never gave in, she always conquered. She shook her head in the negative.

And in doing that she knew she made the wrong choice once she saw the look in Stefan's eyes as he disappeared under the duvet and began to blow raspberries on her stomach.

Right, that's it bravado over!

"Mercy, mer-rcy" She cried out between the laughter, a tear escaped from her eye.

"I can't hear you" He taunted, daring to blow another one.

"Mercy, you big douche!" She spoke through laboured breath and pushed him.

Stefan got out of the bed and began to walk out of the room with a certain victory in his promenade

"I'll get you back for that one Spiros" She shook her head whilst trying to retain her laughter.

"Yeah, yeah" Stefan called out from inside of his room.

Jerk she thought as she sat there flustered with a shit-eating grin on her face.

Bonnie sat up fully in bed and stretched her arms, sniffing her armpits and instantly regretting it. On one hand she smelt like mint chocolate chip and on the other she smelt like a week old cheese sandwich.

This is coming from the girl that lived without showering for a year without complaint.

Damn, let's get in that shower.

After a well needed cleanse, Bonnie changed into a pair of black jeans and an emerald tank top with Stefan's jumper that she found on the banister, thrown on top.

She didn't have any lessons today so she decided to study. She realised that in order to stay in the game she needed to work harder than any of the other players. Despite the difficulties.

Grabbing her big-ass psychology book she took a seat at the kitchen table with the view of the clear sky and green garden as her canvas.

It was moments like these that she cherished, when it was just her and the silence, the raw cold that reminded her that this was real, this was her reality. She loved it.

She'd missed it.

After two strong hours of studying and analysing case studies, Bonnie checked her phone for the time and found that she had three messages. She'd been hearing a beeping noise whilst studying, but since it's been so long since she used her phone she didn't pay attention to it.

The first message read 'Good morning Bennett' Bonnie smiled at that, it sounded like Damon, he's still going to call me that huh.

The second read 'Remember I told you I could help with your career choice? My friend's free today, let me know if you're interested Princess.'

The last one read 'Meet him at the Psych Centre at 3. He's got brown hair, is wearing a white lab coat and looks like a douche. You can't miss him.'

Bonnie checked the time on her phone, it was two o'clock right now, she didn't know where the Psych Centre was but she hoped that it wouldn't take more than an hour to get there. Getting up to go and grab Stefan her phone beeped, and she didn't ignore it this time.

It was another message from Damon.

'Oh and bring your friend.'

A small smile was tugging at her lips as she started towards Stefan's room.

Knocking at his door, Bonnie stood outside.

"Come in Bonnie" He said in an almost telling tone.

Bonnie walked in with a lift of her left eyebrow.

"How did you know it was me? I could've been a thief or something."

"No one has knocked on my door since the day I arrived at this house, you're the only one in this house with any manners." He winked and she did something in between a scoff and a laugh. "An thieves don't knock so gently, you've got such tiny fingers"

"Well, however much I would like to stand here and listen to you say good things about me" He snorted, causing her to break her façade. She started to explain how she got the appointment and the details.

"That sounds cool"

"I asked if I could bring a friend that I know would be interested in something like this and he said yes and seeing as I don't have many friends..." She began to tap her chin with her index finger.

"I wonder..."

"I gladly accept your invitation your honour"

"Great, we have to be there at three, so lets go!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him off of his bed and out of the house.

They arrived at the Institution of Psychology 15 minutes early and decided to waste 10 minutes playing eye-spy before they began scanning the area of the building for a guy with brown hair wearing a lab coat.

They found a man with said characteristics, but underneath the lab coat he was wearing, tight fitted dark blue trousers, a white and blue striped shirt tucked in with shoes that looked really expensive.

Well, he is Damon's friend. What more should she have expected.

"He doesn't really look like a douche" Stefan said and Bonnie poked him with her elbow.

They walked up to him, Bonnie was intrigued, and she'd decided that the building looked bigger and so much more intimidating up close.

The building was all glass, forming a spiral with a soft edge at the top where the name of the building was engraved.

"Miss Bennett?" The man asked her, his voice deep yet warm. "Damon was right, your beauty really can't be put into words" He picked up her hand and placed a chaste kiss on her knuckles.

Bonnie's whole face was so hot that if she didn't know any better, she'd think it was summer. In hopes of not trying to convey her coyness she lifted her head and looked at Stefan, who had his arms folded and winked at her when she looked at him.

His winking didn't really help the situation.

"You are Bonnie right?"

"Yes, I am" She affirmed and nodded her head for reassurance. "And this is Stefan" She noticed he wasn't paying attention to their conversation so she tugged at his shirt.

"Ah, yeah, nice to meet you..?"

Then, the man started to chuckle.

"I'm sorry, my name is Alaric Vlakovitch, Damon probably failed to mention my name"

"Yeah" Something seemed off about the guy, but Bonnie smiled at him anyway, who is she to judge a book by it's cover.

"Great, since pleasantries are done with, how about we get this show on the road?"

Stefan and Bonnie nodded their heads in unison and followed Alaric, paying attention as he started talking about the Institution.

So sorry about the late update! It's really small, but I'd had this written up for about a few months now, but I felt like I needed to add more... But guess what, I have/had writers block and so it kind of just ended here.

Hope you guys enjoy this, it's been a year now, I think since i started this story! Thank you all for those who have stuck with me and were patient, it makes me happy that even when I can't update people still read.

Have a blessed holiday all! Eat the hell out of that food and turn up! Lots of Love! xo