"I was already going," Caroline said, now through her teeth. "And don't youdare preach atme about purity ! Here, with all this going on! You probably just want to watch it going on yourself, two girls kissing. You probably - "
"Enough." Stefan said it almost expressionlessly, but Caroline was swept off her feet, up and out of the door, and deposited there by invisible hands. Her purse trailed after her.
Then the door quietly shut.
Fine hairs rose on the back of Bonnie's neck. This was Power, in such amounts that her psychic senses were stunned and temporarily paralyzed. Moving Caroline - and she wasn't a small girl - now that took Power .
Maybe Stefan had changed just as much as Elena had. Bonnie glanced at Elena, whose pool of serenity was rippling because of Caroline.
Might as well take her mind off it, and maybe make herself worthy of athank you from Stefan, Bonnie thought.
She tapped Elena's knee, and when Elena turned, Bonnie kissed her.
Elena broke the kiss very quickly, as if afraid to set off some holocaust again. But Bonnie saw at once what Meredith had said about it not being sexual. It was...more like being examined by someone who used all her senses to the fullest. When Elena moved away from Bonnie she beamed at her just as she had at Meredith, all the distress washed away by - yes, thepurity of the kiss. And Bonnie felt as if some of Elena's tranquility had soaked into her.
"...should have known better than to bring Caroline," Matt was saying to Stefan. "Sorry about butting in. But Iknow Caroline, and she could have gone on ranting for another half hour, never actually leaving."
"Stefan took care of that," Meredith said, "or was that Elena, too?"
"It was me," Stefan said. "Matt had it right: she could keep on talking forever without actually leaving. And I'd just as lief nobody run Elena down like that in my hearing."
Why are they talking about those things? Bonnie wondered. Of all people, Meredith and Stefan were least inclined to chatter, but here they were, saying things that didn't really need to be said. Then she realized it was for Matt, who was moving slowly but with determination toward Elena.
Bonnie got up as quickly and as lithely as if she could fly, and managed to pass Matt without looking at him. And then she was joining Meredith and Stefan in small talk - well, medium-small talk - about what had just happened. Caroline made a bad enemy, everyone agreed, and nothing seemed to teach her that her schemes against Elena always backfired. Bonnie would bet that she was hatching a new scheme right now against all of them.
"She feels lonely all the time," Stefan said, as if trying to make excuses for her. "She wants to be accepted, by anyone, on any terms - but she feels - apart. As if nobody who really got to know her would trust her."
"She's defensive," Meredith agreed. "But you'd think she'd showsome gratitude. After all, we did rescue her and save her life just over a week ago."
There was more to it than that, Bonnie thought. Her intuition was trying to tell her something - something about what might have happenedbefore they had been able to rescue Caroline - but she was so angry on Elena's behalf that she ignored it.
"Why should anybody trust her?" she said to Stefan. She sneaked a peek behind her. Elena was definitely going to know Matt anywhere, and Matt looked as if he were fainting. "Caroline's beautiful, sure, but that's it. She never has a good word to say about anybody. She plays games all the time - and - and Iknow we used to do some of that, too...but hers are always meant to make other people look bad. Sure, she can take mostguys in" - a sudden anxiety swept over her, and she spoke more loudly to try to push it away - "but if you're a girl she's just a pair of long legs and big - "
Bonnie stopped because Meredith and Stefan had frozen, with identicalOh-God-not-again expressions on their faces.
"And she also has very decent hearing," said a shaking, threatening voice from somewhere behind Bonnie. Bonnie's heart leaped into her throat.
That was what you got for ignoring premonitions.
"Caroline - " Meredith and Stefan were both trying for damage control, but it was too late. Caroline stalked in on her