"What do you think they're talking about?" Caroline asked, sipping her beer and staring at the couple on the bridge.
Matt shrugged, refusing to take his eyes off Elena.
"Does it matter?" asked Bonnie, "That's the first time I've seen Elena smile in a long time."
"No, it isn't," said Caroline, "She's smiled lots of time. She even gave me a smile in the hall today." Caroline spun around and nodded her head a little too vigorously at Bonnie. "So there."
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Might want to slow down a bit on the Budweisers, Care."
Caroline frowned at her, but Bonnie continued before Caroline could say anything, "And you know that's not what I meant. Those are her fake smiles. The kind she's been giving everyone since after the funeral," Bonnie pointed to Stefan and Elena standing on the bridge. "That's a real smile."
Caroline sighed and took another sip from the bottle. She glanced at Matt and noticed he had barely moved since they had walked away from the party to not-so-subtly spy on the new guy in town talking with their friend. Her heart gave a sharp, sympathetic twist. She reached forward with her bottle and clinked it against Matt's to get his attention.
"Come on," she gestured with her bottle, "what do you think they're talking about?"
"I don't know, Caroline," said Matt, "let's just leave it alone." He looked down and kicked softly at the underbrush with his shoe.
"No, come on," she pressed, "I bet it's…" she trailed off, trying to come up with something sufficiently absurd to put a smile on her friend's face. "Hair products. They're comparing the latest gels and hair sprays to see which one is the best at getting that 'I'm not really trying' look that takes an hour every morning."
"What on earth are you talking about, Caroline?" asked Bonnie.
"No, seriously. Come on, Mattie - you be Stefan. I'll be Elena." Caroline waved her hands around as she spoke, spilling a little of her beer. "'So Stefan, just how do you get your hair to do that twisty thing in the front?'"
Matt stared at her for a second before shaking his head.
Caroline continued, "Seriously, is it Pantene? Tigi?'" She gave Matt a mock-horrified look and sniffed. "'It's not Herbal Essences, is it? You don't smell like strawberries.'"
"I don't want to do this, Caroline."
"'My name's not Caroline, it's Elena. Caroline's that hot blonde girl over there. But I can totally give you her number if you want.'"
"Caroline."
Caroline threw up her hands, beer from her bottle spilling onto the ground beside her, "Ugh, fine! I'll stop."
They lapsed into silence, sipping on warm beer and listening to the heavy bass traveling through the trees from the party behind them. Twigs snapped over to Caroline's right and she turned, her eyes searching the trees. She saw a flash of Tyler Lockwood and Vickie Donovan as they wandered off into the woods surrounding the Falls.
"Gross," she said softly turning back around.
"What's gross?" asked Bonnie turning her head in the direction Caroline had just been looking.
"Nothing," Caroline said quickly, hoping Bonnie wouldn't press her about it. Matt didn't need to see his sister going into the woods to do God-knows-what with one of his guy friends.
At that moment, Stefan and Elena turned and looked towards where Matt, Caroline, and Bonnie stood watching them.
"You should talk to her, Matt," said Caroline, taking another sip of her beer.
"What now? No. No way." He turned his head, unwilling to watch Stefan and Elena watch him right back.
"No, not right now, silly. But they've got to come off that bridge sometime and they won't be glued to each other all night. You owe it to yourself, Mattie. You owe it to you and Elena."
"Caroline…" Bonnie started, but Caroline interrupted her.
"No, I mean it. Elena needed time to deal with her parents' death. Time that apparently didn't involve you. Fine. But that was almost five months ago, Matt. She needs you now. She needs all of us. She needs to know we haven't stopped loving her. That we're not going to give up on her. That we won't let her fake her way through the rest of her life."
"And there's your chance," said Bonnie pointing to the bridge where Stefan was walking away from Elena.
Caroline turned back to Matt with a determined look on her face and placing an unsteady hand on his shoulder. "All right, now go over there and tell her how you feel." She pulled on his shoulder to turn him towards the bridge and gave him a light shove. "Chop, chop Mattie, before Stefan sex-eyes gets back and steals her away again." Caroline finished off the last of her beer. "Come on, Bons. Let's go get another drink."
Caroline looped her arm through Bonnie's and began walking back towards the light cast by the large bonfires.
"'Stefan sex-eyes?' Really, Care?" Bonnie asked incredulously.
"It's a good night to go check out the Falls, don't you think?" Caroline beamed, "Now wouldn't that be romantic?"