I was drowning my sorrows in liquor. My best friend got to kill the guy I was crushing on, but did anyone get on to her? No. Elena, perfect Elena got away with everything. Why was I even surprised?

"Caroline, talk to me."

"No, Stefan. I don't want to talk about this! I don't. Not right now. Okay?"

Stefan grabbed the liquor bottle out of my hand and gave me one of those looks he usually gave me when he was trying to get his way, but I wasn't budging. Not now. I wanted to drink; I wanted to release my pain in something. Anything.

"Give me the bottle, Stefan."

"No." He said his words with assertiveness trying to make his point clear.

"Why is it that Elena gets to make all of her own choices but the second that I want any type of control you freak out?"

Stefan frowned at me not seeming happy with my comparison, but it seemed to shut him up pretty quick.

"So, why don't you leave me alone and go whine about how Elena is with Damon to someone else? Okay? Your sober coach has currently taken the day off." My words were cruel and straight to the point.

"This isn't you Caroline. You aren't that shallow. You don't need to be here drowning your sorrows in liquor over some boy you just met."

"I am shallow. Okay? Why? Because I am focusing on me? I focus on me and no one else. Because if I don't who will? I don't know how to be deep like you. I have never been like you, and you hold me on this pedestal. You act like I am some little girl you need to protect. Well stop it! Stop saving me. I don't need you to protect me. I am not girly little Caroline anymore." I was furious at him by this point. I could have slapped him across the face. I could have slapped him and I probably would not have felt any guilt either. He deserved it.

"Don't. Don't say stuff like that because it isn't true. You aren't shallow. And, so what? So what if I hold you to higher standards than those other girls? I care about you." Stefan said this with such sincerity but he wasn't telling me any news. I knew he cared about me. He had been there for me when everyone else had left me, so I knew he cared. But, that wasn't enough.

"Care about me? You care about me?"

He seemed so confused by my sarcastic tone.

"Well, I love you! I love you! I have loved you every single day since I met you! But you are so focused on your lying, manipulating ex-girlfriend that you don't see me! You have never seen me, Stefan!"

Stefan stood there in awe as if I had just blind-sided him with the truth, but I thought he already knew. He had to know. Everyone knew.

"You are drunk. Come on. I will get you home and you can sleep it off." Stefan gently grabbed my arm and started to pull me towards the door of the bar but I was not going to have it. I put my foot down so that if he wanted to make me leave he was going to have to drag me out and make a scene.

"No! I am not going!"

Stefan leaned down and picked me up throwing me casually over his shoulder not seeming to care what anyone said. I kicked him; hit my fists against his back, hoping he would put me down. I even tried screaming but Stefan did not sit me down until we were next to his car.

"I hate you."

Stefan laughed softly at my words.

"Well, right now I don't like you very much either right now."

I looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes feeling betrayed by his words and I turned away from him, my eyes filling with tears now. The liquor really was toying with my emotions by this point.

Instead of laughing at me this time he stepped forward and turned me around gently pulling me in to his arms, wrapping them instinctively around me just like he always did when I needed a little extra support.

"Caroline…"

I leaned forward and captured his face in my hand gently stroking his jaw line with my thumb for a moment, looking in to his forest green eyes. I knew I loved him. I had always loved him but now I wanted to act on it, so I leaned up trying to kiss him but he tried to pull away from me. Slightly annoyed by this I pushed my body in to his capturing his lips in a kiss. Stefan pulled away quickly and it was over so suddenly that I felt like I had whiplash. But my lips were tingling with an odd sensation I had never felt before. A new, exotic kind of tingling that made me want to kiss Stefan again and again. But maybe that was just the alcohol. I was a little tipsy after all.

Stefan stood there for a moment, his hands plastered on his hips and his lips pressed together just like they always did when he was deep in thought.

"Stefan, Stefan I am so sorry. I shouldn't have-"

Stefan's lips pressing against my own again interrupted me, and my arms instantly wrapped around his neck, partially because it felt so naturally, but I also felt as if I might fall over from the intensity of this kiss. Did Stefan kiss everyone like this? God, this is the way a girl should be kissed. I felt sorry for the girls who had never been kissed with this type of intensity. Those girls didn't know what it felt like to be kissed by someone who you loved. Someone who made you feel safe, someone they knew would always protect them. But I knew Stefan was always going to protect me. Stefan was always going to be here, and this was the way I wanted him. I wanted him right here, kissing me for as long as time would allow.