milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

Bonnie walked in clutching a clipboard that she was checking off as she went. Funding is a go, approval is a go, there were still things left to do, and she'd left all her dynamics books here. And her laptop. So she was there to do ... a lot of stuff, not all of them related to work, thank heavens.

She and her clipboard took a place at the bar, pencil sketching out possible hydraulics systems.

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"I told her that if things were going to end it's better they end sooner rather than later," she shakes her head a little. "Their relationship has a complicated backstory." She takes another bite of the cake. "But as we all know, you can't control who you love."

"God don't I know that," muttered Bonnie, spearing a strawberry with a self-effacing, semi-amused smile.

"How are things with you and Karr?" Michelle asks softly.

"Things are... things," Bonnie said with a shrug. "We're still us. That's... not going to change for a while, if it ever does. I hope it doesn't, really - it makes the partnership easier, at least to a degree."

And you love him

"That side of things can make things easier or more difficult, depending."

Bonnie nodded, picking at the next forkful of cheesecake. "Yeah. When I don't think about it, it's easier."

"Are you two still...together?"

"Huh? Oh - yeah, we are. As together as we've always been. I ... don't think that'll change for a while."

"I just don't want to see my friend hurt, but he thinks that I...betrayed him."

"Betrayed him... for recommending that they treat it like a bandaid? Rip it off faster and it'll hurt less in the end? Yeah... It depends on the love," she admitted, "but... it's hard to hear sometimes, especially when it's true."

She winces a tiny bit, "Considering the situation it's kind of...doomed. But I think it's too late, he loves her and she at least likes him enough that she doesn't want to break up."

"Holding out hope?" she asked, wondering if it applied.

"Bonnie, I honestly can't even begin to explain this relationship."

She couldn't stop one small laugh. "Yep, I believe it."

She can't help but laugh a little, too. And eat another bite of cake. "Mostly though it's the things I told him during our fight that made him really angry. Do you remember when you and Michael had that fight? It's...kind of like that."

"And that was a hell of a fight." Bonnie nodded. "I hope you two can work it out. It took me and Michael a while, but... we managed."

"I really hope that I can fix it," she looks up. "How did you and Michael fix things?"

"Time and honesty, and... talking about anything but the subject of the fight for a while, when we did talk," she said. "And me realising precisely what it was in what I said that set him off."

She nods, "I know exactly what I said that upset him. It's more that he feels betrayal very strongly."

"And with Michael, it was loss," she agreed with a nod. "It's harder to solve betrayal than it is loss."

"I didn't mean to betray him, I was really just trying to keep him from being hurt," she pokes at her cake. "He hasn't had the easiest life. Well, none of us have. And...loss?"

"Loss," she agreed. "He was pulled from a generally happy life to a strange situation that included, of all things, a talking car. He'd known me for ...less than a year, and here I was going off on a sabbatical. I don't think he knew, I don't think he still knows, that he managed to bruise me before I managed to bruise him."

"I can see why he would feel loss - I think that friends and family know the best way to hurt you, unfortunately."

"I completely agree. Nobody knows how to step on my temper faster than my mother." She chuckled. "But... the situation with Michael was, is, very complicated, and at that moment, it was getting worse. And sometimes it has to hit rock bottom before it can get better."

"Same here, when I told my mom about my remarriage, she was not pleased. But, some relationships are very complicated." She pushes down the cake with her fork. "The thing is, I didn't even think that Jack and I had any problems, really."