SEASON ONE — EPISODE TEN
"𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚'𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩"

‧˚꒰🍷꒱༘‧—

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'✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹ IF BROOKE'S HATRED TOWARDS DAMON WASN'T ALREADY THE STRONGEST IT COULD EVER BE, it definitely was now after his latest misconduct. Bonnie almost died if it wasn't for Stefan, she breathed her last breaths, Brooke felt so many waves of emotions in that moment but now as she held Bonnie in her arms by Elena's car, all the pain had faded away, the only feeling lingering being relief.

"I don't understand, Brooke. What happened to me?" Bonnie spoke tiredly, her eyes full of tears and Brooke stroked her back in comforting. Bonnie eventually pulled away, looking at Brooke with a confused expression, "He attacked me and his face was like..." She looked at Brooke wide—eyed and Brooke smiled sympathetically, shaking her head.

"It's okay, Bonnie, everything will make sense soon. How are you feeling?" Brooke placed her hand on Bonnie's cheek, her green eyes searching her brown ones for any signs of pain, or discomfort.

"I'm fine. It's just this blood, I don't—" Bonnie's eyes drifted away from Brooke, looking distant, scared even and Brooke glanced over at Elena, who stared in the same direction. She turned her head to look at what was pulling their attention away and she locked eyes on Stefan, causing her to snap her eyes back to Bonnie.

"He won't hurt you, BonBon, trust me. Let's just go sit in the car, okay?" Brooke watched as Bonnie nodded and she led her over to Elena's car, opening the passenger door for her to climb in. Brooke closed the door and rounded the front of the car, she glanced at Stefan, then at Elena knowingly before rounding the car completely, opening up the boot.

Elena usually stored snacks in her car, that was one of the reasons Brooke hung out with her in the first place. She leaned in and pulled out a box of honey granola bars, opening up the box. She hadn't eaten much of anything that day, so she pulled out a granola bar, opening the wrapper.

As she took a bite into the sticky oats, she heard Elena's distressed voice, "Don't walk away, Stefan. Stefan!" Elena cried out and Brooke quickly closed the boot, rushing towards her cousin. She glanced back at Stefan, who slowly disappeared amidst the trees before setting her eyes on Elena, a sympathetic expression on her face at the sight of the Gilbert's tears, "Go after him." Elena begged, beginning to sob and Brooke hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do, "He says he's leaving, I can't lose him, Brooke. Please."

Brooke let out a stressed sigh, squeezing her eyes shut in annoyance before turning and running after Stefan, the granola bar still clutched tightly in her hand. She was honestly sick of running that day, seriously considering quitting cheerleading because of her lack of stamina, but she pushed herself nonetheless, finally reaching the end of the woods.

She stopped in the middle of the pathway, her eyes scanning the rather large house before her — The Salvatore Boarding House, a house she'd been to many times before. She facepalmed with her free hand before biting into the granola bar again, fuelling herself for the conversation she was bound to have with the younger Salvatore brother.

As she strolled across the courtyard, jumping down off of the ledge in front of the entrance, she couldn't help but regret not comforting Elena instead. Yeah, they weren't as close as cousins should be, but she loved Elena, much more than she could love Stefan. Once she rushed to eat her granola bar, throwing the wrapper in the trash can nearby the door, that said door swung open, revealing a broken Stefan.

"Brooke?" Stefan's voice cracked, it was clear he'd been crying and Brooke sent him a saddened smile, taking a step towards him with her arms opened wide. He sobbed once more before rushing towards her, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly, but not too tight as to crush her bones.

"Hey, hey, you can talk to me." Brooke rubbed his back, resting her chin on his shoulder as he continued to cry into her hair. They stayed in that position for a while, her comforting him whilst he cried until eventually he pulled away, his eyes super—glued to hers.

"Thank you." He let himself smile, their faces just inches away from each other until she patted his shoulder, her hand gripping his elbow as she led him inside the house, closing the door behind them.

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BROOKE STROLLED DOWN THE SCHOOL HALLWAY WITH ELENA, clutching the strap of her shoulder bag as she strolled, focusing on her feet when Elena spoke up, "Did I miss something?" The younger girl asked, a brow raised in confusion and Brooke glanced up, a smile reaching her lips.

"Aw, they're so cute together." Brooke awed, knowing fully well Elena wouldn't mind considering she was completely over Matt, but for some reason, Elena was acting more awkward than usual.

"It's kind of weird, don't you think?" Elena hugged her books closer to her chest as they walked side—by—side and the Elliot only shrugged, shaking her head in disagreement.

"She deserves a nice guy like him, unlike the homicidal vampire... Ugh." Brooke scrunched up her face in disgust at the mention of Damon Salvatore, when Elena's eyes trailed over to her, the topic of Caroline and Matt completely vanished from her mind.

"Oh, yeah, did you talk to Stefan?" Elena tapped her fingers nervously against a notebook, having asked a question she wasn't quite sure she wanted to know the answers to.

"I did. I talked to him for hours, actually, it was sorta awkward but..." Brooke scuffed her shoes against the marble flooring, her eyes trailing up to Elena's and when she noticed the pointed look, she let out an annoyed sigh, "Fine— he's in love with you, Elena, and he cares about you, he doesn't want to hurt you anymore."

"Okay, but I can deal with it." Elena shrugged but Brooke only shook her head, heading towards her locker with her cousin hot on her tail, leaning against the locker beside hers.

"I'm sorry, but you really can't, Elena." Brooke told her bluntly, wincing apologetically as she pulled out her books and Elena scrunched her face up in offence, scoffing lightly under her breath. She loved Stefan, more than anything, and she knew they could make it work but it just broke her heart knowing Stefan didn't want to because he thinks he's protecting her.

"I can protect myself, Brooke." Elena stood her ground and Brooke closed her locker, her eyes wide in questioning.

"Against crazy vamps? No, I don't think so." Brooke chuckled ever so slightly, the two girls on the move again towards their next class and Elena let out another scoff, picking at her fingernails anxiously.

"Is he leaving or not?" Elena snapped and Brooke furrowed her brows, sending her a warning look, "For all I know, he's already gone."

"He isn't gone yet, he told me he'd text me before he leaves." Brooke shrugged, acting as if it was the most simple statement ever but Elena felt the complete opposite, her thin eyebrows brows knitted together.

"So, he'll say goodbye to you but not me?" She was offended to say the least, and Brooke couldn't blame her, yet she knew exactly why.

"Well, in my defence, I'm not as attached to the boy." Brooke chewed on her bottom lip, knowing she was lying to herself. It upset her to know Stefan, the boy she'd quickly became close with, was leaving like a click of her fingers but it was what it was, there was nothing she could do about it, "Maybe it's for the best."

"What?" Elena placed her hand on her arm, stopping the two in the middle of the hallway.

"I mean, what kind of future could you have with him? If you didn't want to look like a pervert, you'd have to turn and nobody wants that." Brooke turned, moving to walk down the hallway again and she quickly realised that Elena stayed quiet, raising her suspicions, "Would you seriously allow yourself to— You know, I would never do that. Please, if I'm ever dying, don't let that happen to me."

"I promise." Elena smiled, the cousins heading into their History class and Brooke skipped over to Alaric, who stood with his back faced to her, leaning over his desk as he sorted through some papers.

"Hey, Ricky." She tapped his shoulder and he turned his head to look at her, a grin on his lips.

"Hey, Brookey." He nicknamed in a silly manner and she chuckled as she reached into her back jeans pocket, pulling out a folded sheet of paper, "You did the homework already?" His eyes lit up with surprise once he took the paper from her, opening it up to scan it over.

"What can I say? I feel extra motivated with cool teachers." She smiled wide before spinning around, heading towards her seat beside Elena and Bonnie and as she left, Alaric couldn't help but notice how much she resembled Mary, the familiarities too much for him to handle yet he forced himself to anyway.

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THERE WAS A CAREER FAIR, and Brooke wanted to attend it so badly that she was considering skipping work but after a warning message from Nate, she decided against it, knowing there'd be another fair in the future. Miserably, she wiped down tables at The Mystic Grill, Ben McKittrick watching her intently from the bar.

She huffed after organising the messy table decorations before placing her cloth between the string of her apron, heading towards the kitchen with multiple glasses in her hands in order to wash them. Brooke placed the dishes in the sink and pulled her post—it off of the stack, placing the order on the top of the oven for Tony, "Gracias, señorita."

Tiredly, she dragged her feet over to the sink and rubbed her eyes before washing the dishes under the running boiling water. Ben entered the kitchen and leaned beside her to rinse his sticky fingers under the water, only for it to burn him, causing him to yelp in pain, "Why is it so hot? What the hell?"

"I'm Superwoman." She joked, scrubbing a glass carefully and Tony laughed loudly, nodding in agreement.

"I second that, you should see her carrying twelve plates and five glasses at once." Tony continued to chuckle cheekily under his breath at the memory and Ben smirked, his eyes glued to the back of her head.

"See?" She looked back at him and when her green eyes locked onto his mocha ones, she couldn't help the blush that rose on her cheeks at the sight of his beautiful smirk.

"I'm gonna take the fish out." Tony excused himself, accidentally knocking a frying pan over in the process, causing a laugh to erupt from the two as they watched him exit the kitchen. Brooke continued with the dishes, oblivious to Ben moving closer to her with every second that flew by until eventually, he was leaning against the counter beside her, his fingers brushing against her thigh.

Her stomach was doing flips, her cheeks definitely red at that point in time and she attempted to stay in control of herself, but eventually... she couldn't help herself. She slowly looked up at him and for the third time that day, he was already staring at her with eyes she couldn't help but get lost in. And he wore a smirk, a smirk she was heavily obsessed with, a smirk that she couldn't hold back from.

In a split second, they both leaned in, leaping from where they were stood into each other's arms, their lips crashing onto one another's. Her soapy hands reached up to the back of his neck whilst his hands squeezed her hips, spinning her around the small room, causing them to knock into boxes and condiments.

Brooke giggled loudly into his lips, her sweet laughter causing him to laugh too, it was too contagious not to.

If only Tony thought her laugh was contagious, his scream of fear saying otherwise.

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