Meredith was listening, with an amused smile, to the guy next to her - Marcus, she thought his name was - Zander's friend with the shaggy brown hair, explaining his weight-lifting routine.
"Shots," another friend of Zander's said succinctly, joining them with a tray ful of shot glasses. "Let's play quarters."
Bonnie giggled. "They're not al owed to serve us here. We're underage."
The guy grinned. "S'alright. I paid for them, not you."
"Wanna dance?" Spencer, the one who had asked Elena a minute before, said again, asking Samantha this time.
"Sure!" she said, and jumped to her feet. The two were quickly lost in the crowd on the dance floor.
"God, I was so drunk last night," the guy next to Elena, Jared, said, tipping his chair back on two legs and regarding her cheerful y. His friend on his other side gazed at him for a minute, then poured a shot into his lap.
"Hey!" In a moment, they were on their feet and shoving each other, the guy who had poured the drink laughing, Jared red-faced and angry.
"Knock it off, you guys," Zander said. "I don't want to get kicked out of here, too."
Too? Elena raised her eyebrows. This guy and his friends were definitely too wild for innocent little Bonnie.
Elena looked at Meredith again for confirmation, but she was stil lost in jock world, now giving her opinion on the best weight training for martial arts.
Bonnie squealed with laughter and bounced a quarter directly into one of the shot glasses. Al the guys cheered.
"Now what?" she said breathlessly, her eyes bright.
"Now you choose someone to drink it," the guy who had brought the drinks said.
"Zander, of course," Bonnie said, and Zander gave her a long, slow smile that even Elena had to admit was devastating and drank, then winked at her as she laughed again.
Bonnie looked ... real y happy. Elena couldn't remember the last time she had seen her laughing like this.
It must have been at least a year ago, before things had gone crazy in Fel 's Church.
Elena sighed and looked around the table. These guys were rowdy - tussling and shoving at one another - but they were friendly enough. And this was the kind of thing people did at col ege, wasn't it? If it made Bonnie happy, Elena ought to at least try to get along with them.
Samantha and Spencer came back to the table, both laughing, and Samantha col apsed in her seat. "No more," she said, raising her hands to fend him off. "I need a water break. You're a madman, you know that?"
"Wil you come dance with me, then?" Spencer said pleadingly to Elena, widening big brown puppy-dog eyes at her.
"He'l try to pick you up," Samantha warned. "And dip you. And spin you around. But don't worry, I'l be back out on that floor in no time."
"Pretty please?" Spencer said, making an even more pathetic face.
Bonnie laughed triumphantly as she bounced another quarter into the glass.
Dancing with a group of friends isn't betraying anyone, Elena thought. Besides, she was single now. Sort of, anyway. She should try to enjoy col ege, to embrace life.
Wasn't that the whole point of tonight? She shrugged.
"Sure, why not?"
Chapter Sixteen
When Stefan walked by Elena's room again, the daisy was gone, and the subtle scent of her citrusy shampoo lingered in the hal way.
No doubt she was out with Meredith and Bonnie, and he could depend upon Meredith to protect her. He wondered if Damon was watching them, if he'd approach Elena. A bitter strand of envy curled in Stefan's stomach. It was hard being the good one sometimes, the one who would abide by the rules, while Damon did whatever he wanted.
He leaned back against the door to Elena's room.
There was a window across the hal , and as he watched the cold crescent of the moon sailing high in the sky, he thought of his silent room, of the books of economics and philosophy waiting for him.
No. He wasn't going back there. He couldn't be with Elena, but he didn't have to be alone.
Outside, there was a chil in the air for the first time since school had started; the sultry heat of a Virginia summer was final y giving way to autumn. Stefan hunched his shoulders and tucked his hands into his jeans pockets.
Not real y knowing where he was going, Stefan headed off campus. Vague thoughts of hunting in the woods crossed his mind, but he wasn't hungry, just restless, and he turned away from the trail that led that way. Instead he wandered the streets of the smal town around the col ege.
There wasn't much to do. There were a few bars hopping with col ege kids and a couple of restaurants, already closed up. Stefan couldn't imagine wanting to press into a hot and crowded bar right now. He wanted to be around people, maybe, but not too many, not too close, not close enough to sense the thrum of blood beneath their skins. When he was unhappy, like tonight, he could feel something hard and dangerous rising up inside him, and he knew he needed to be careful of the monster he carried within him.
He turned down another block, listening to the soft pad of his own steps against the sidewalk. Near the end of the street, a faint thud of music came from a dilapidated building whose buzzing neon sign read EDDIE'S BILLIARDS.
None of the few cars in the parking lot had a Dalcrest parking sticker. Clearly a townie spot, not a student one.
If Stefan hadn't had this burning, angry loneliness inside him, he wouldn't have gone in. He looked like a student - he was a student - and this didn't look like a place that welcomed students. But the ugly thing inside him stirred at the thought of maybe having a reason to throw a punch or two.
Inside, it was Welllit but dingy, the air thick and blue with smoke. An old rock song was playing on a jukebox in the corner. Six pool tables sat in the middle of the room, with smal round tables around the sides, and a bar at the far end. Two of the pool tables and a few of the round tables were occupied by locals, who let their eyes drift over him neutral y and then turned away.