Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
-Albert Camus
"Caroline" he says weakly.
"Stefan. This is going to work, now come on" she says cheerfully as she slaps him on the back while he finishes tying his shoelaces. She had went out and bought a new adorable outfit; a blue sports bra and cute black short shorts, for her new exercise regime with Stefan, part of operation SS, 'Sober Stefan'. After the ordeal with Elena and him breaking up and now on top of that Elena moving into the Salvatore boarding house he needed a big distraction, which is why she had suggested they go on a few runs, some hikes, a 'Caroline boot-camp' to the extreme. He won't know what hit him.
They started with a light jog. Step in step with each other. A silent spell had hit them, and they hadn't spoken since they had left Caroline's place. But it wasn't awkward, quite the opposite. They found solace, comfort in it, both mentally alone in their thoughts, but both physically there for each other. Caroline broke the silence first, "Stefan can I ask you something?"
"Mhmm" he responded, breaking from his thoughts and focusing all his attention on her while still keeping up their pace, jogging.
"Doyoutinkhayleyndtylerrehook inup?" she mumbles, all in one go, slightly pulling ahead in her jogging pace, leaving Stefan in her trails.
"Caroline" he says as he catches up to her and touches her shoulder, to which she just shrugs off, and continues jogging.
"Forget it. It's stupid." She says putting more speed, shifting from jog to run, leaving Stefan almost a mile behind.
"Caroline!" he shouts as he catches up to her again. "Caroline stop" as he grabs her hand pulling her to a stop, she relents. Her eyes stare into his sea-green orbs, while she tries to furiously blink away her tears.
"I think he—she—they—" She hiccupped as she started to sob. "It hurts Stefan, it hurts so much. I saw them at the pageant. He—he told me he never fell for her, but he didn't say he never slept with her. Oh gawd! He did, he slept with her." She hysterically said.
"Hey" he soothingly says, as he tries to calm her down, his arms pulling her in for a hug, one hand petting her head. "Shh—"
"Why am I never enough?" She mumbles into his chest. He tenses at her words. She can smell the sweat that lingers on his wife beater. It's oddly comforting.
"Caroline! I don't ever want to hear those words come out your mouth. Do you understand?" he says as he pulls her from him and looks into her gorgeous blue eyes. "You shouldn't put yourself down. You are more than enough" he says as he wipes away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. "You are beautiful" he says as a watery smile makes its way on her face, "You are smart. You're kind, look at all you do for this community, you never give up or go back on your word, you are brave and you are one of the most loyal people I've ever known, and I've known a lot of people. Remember when we—you were distracting me so Elena could talk to Katherine. You said that I'm always looking out for you." He moves his hands so that they're now cradling her face. "Caroline I'll always look out for you; you're my closest friend, my only friend actually." He says as a sombre tone hits his voice as he thinks about his broken relationship with his brother. He stares into her eyes with such intensity that it unleashes a million butterflies into the dark pits of her stomach. Another tear makes its way down her cheek. He can't help it, as he leans down and kisses it away. Her eyes flutter close at his touch as he slightly lingers on the softest flesh of her cheek; he slowly pulls away, and presses a short kiss on her forehead as he pulls her back in to a tight hug.
"Stefan—" she begins to say
"Shhh—" he soothes, as he presses another kiss in her hair, enjoying the fruity smell from her golden curls as his nose accosted by its pleasurable aroma. "Everything will be alright. You'll see. And if Tyler laid on one move; I'll stake him and rip his head off" he growled out the last words.
"Stefan" she says softly, the movement of her lips tickle his chest just slightly, and it stirs something up, something he hadn't felt in such a long time he couldn't quite place the feeling as of yet, but he knew it would come to him at later time. All he knew was that it was something he associated with happiness. "Thank-you" giving him one more tight squeeze before pulling away and slapping him lightly in the stomach. "Stop slacking off, and get back to jogging we have a regime to stick to." She says sternly before a twitch of a smile takes over her face.
"Yes, Ma'am" he mock salutes as she giggles.
"Race ya" she yells as she sprints.
After a long day of physical abuse, Stefan and Caroline enjoyed the last of the sun's rays sitting on her porch. They were both a sweaty mess. She was giggling from something he had just said. Stefan watched her, enchanted by the way wisps of her hair slightly fluttered in the light wind. She was really beautiful. Her smile made him smile. Her laughter was contagious. That feeling from earlier still remained, and he still didn't know what it meant. But he knew Caroline was the reason for it.
They had grown back into a comfortable silence.
"Stefan—earlier you said you'd always look out for me." She said while scooting over closer to him grabbing his hand "I just want you to know that I'll always look out for you too. I know things have been difficult with your brother, but just know that you can always count on me. Kay?"
"Thank-you Caroline" he said after a brief moment, stunned by her compassion for him, pulling her into a side embrace, they watched the sun set together. "Everything will be okay, especially if you're by my side" he said softly before kissing her hair once again.