"Stefan, breakfast is ready!"
He heard Elena calling for him, but he just wasn't ready to get out of bed.

Stefan would do this every morning. He woke up hours before he needed to, and just laid in bed wide awake, his mind going a million miles per hour.
Why didn't he see it sooner? Why couldn't he see that she hadn't been happy? Maybe if he had just opened his eyes, she wouldn't have hurt him, he could have saved them. Maybe if he had made her happier, she wouldn't have cheated on him, and most of all, maybe he wouldn't have walked in on her screwing one of his friends.
That image would forever be burned into his memory.

FLASHBACK:
Katherine, the girl who was supposed to be the love of his life, writhing underneath Enzo, neither of them even noticing that he was standing there.
Stefan went into a blind rage.
He charged into the room, Katherine scrambling to cover herself as she rolled off of Enzo. He stood, raised his hands in the air and prepared for what he knew was coming. Stefan shoved him into a wall and started punching him in the face, over and over and over until. He could hear Katherine screaming at him to stop, but all of his senses disappeared and all he could do was to keep throwing his fist into Enzo's face.
He didn't know how long it had gone on for, but eventually he stopped and stepped back, trying to catch his breath, not realizing that he had tears running down his cheek. He looked down at Enzo, on the floor, bloodied and beaten.
He took one last look at Katherine, a burning, livid anger running through him. She tried to grab his arm to keep him from walking away. He pulled his arm away like he'd been burned. He walked out of the room and never looked back.
Last he'd heard, the two of them moved to New York together.
That was 8 months ago.

"Stefan! Come on, we can't be late to the airport!"
Stefan groaned, he forgot they were supposed to be picking up Elena's friend, Caroline.

Caroline use to live in Mystic Falls when they were all just kids, her and her mother moved away when they were 6. Elena kept in touch with her all these years, and now Caroline would be coming to live with them.
Stefan knew it shouldn't be a big deal, it's not like they didn't have plenty of room at the boarding house. He just wasn't thrilled about a stranger living in his house.
Elena had rolled her eyes at him when he told her that. "She's not a stranger Stefan, she's one of my best friends!"
He knew he was being childish, he just didn't care.

He finally rolled out of bed and was in and out of the shower in less than five minutes. He put on his favorite dark jeans and a gray v-neck shirt and headed downstairs.
Just like every morning, his brother was reading the paper and drinking his coffee and Elena was putting fresh flowers on the kitchen table.
Stefan couldn't help but chuckle to himself every time he saw this. Damon and Elena had only been together for two years and yet their morning routine resembled a couple who had been together for most of their lives. They almost gave him hope that maybe one day he could be that happy again too…almost.

"Nice of you to join us little brother."
Stefan was snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to see Damon smirking at him.

"Yeah, whatever" he mumbled. "What time are we leaving?"
Elena looked at her watch, "Five minutes, I really don't want to be late."
"And why exactly again is this girl moving back here?" Stefan asked in an annoyed tone.
Elena gave him a glare, and then her eyes softened as she told him, "It's been a really tough year for her."
Stefan gave her a confused look when she didn't offer any more information but she just looked away, shrugged and finished his breakfast.

In the car, Stefan kept catching Elena staring at him in the mirror and it was driving him crazy.
She did it again and he sighed, "Elena, what is the problem?"
She shook her head like it was nothing, but he just gave her a look and she finally spoke.

"I'm just worried."
"About me?" he asked, giving her a weird look.
"Kind of. About how you'll be around Caroline. She's really sensitive right now, and lately you don't seem to have a sensitive bone in your body."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" he spat back with anger evident in his voice.
"It means that you're not the same Stefan that you used to be! Your personality has hardened. You're angry all the time and you don't have the same spark that you use to.
And you have every reason to feel the way you do after what you've been through. All I'm saying is that Caroline doesn't know you and she doesn't know what you've dealt with lately, and she's been through hell just like you have, so if you could just please, for me, try and be nice. You guys are more alike than you know and I know you're not happy about someone coming to stay with us, but she needs good people around her right now, and so do you."
Stefan didn't want to speak, he was afraid he would blow up on Elena. He didn't really care what this girl had been through, it couldn't be worse than the hell he'd been living in for the past few months. And Elena had seen this first hand, so he didn't understand how she could be lecturing him right now. She didn't understand. Her and Damon had always been perfect. Elena had no clue what it was like to have your heart ripped from her chest and stomped all over. She just didn't get it,
So instead, he simply just nodded his head and kept silent.
"That's enough of the heavy crap for today, okay guys?" Damon said, giving them both looks.
For once, Stefan was thankful his brother spoke up. He loved his best friend, but she was really pissing him off.

After sitting at the airport and waiting for over 30 minutes, Stefan was getting seriously impatient. He wanted to just go home and go for a run to burn off some of his anger from the day. He was just about to express his irritation when he heard Elena squeal.

"CAROLINE!"

And then he saw her.

The long blonde hair; the thousand watt smile that she was giving to Elena; she was stunning.

The girls walked over to him and Damon and his brother gave her a hug, "Nice to see you again, Blondie."
Stefan felt a sudden jealousy that his brother had already met her.
Caroline laughed as she hugged Damon and Stefan swore it was the greatest sound he'd ever heard.
"It's good to see you too, Damon. I've missed you guys!"

Elena finally turned toward Stefan, "Caroline, this is my pain in the ass best friend that I've told you about, and Damon's brother, Stefan. Stefan, this is Caroline Forbes."

When she turned to look at him, he felt as though all of the air in his lungs had been punched out.
She had the most beautiful blue eyes that he'd ever seen. He just wanted to stare into them for hours.

He regained his composure when he saw her hand reached out to shake his.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Stefan. These two have told me so much about you." She gave him the most genuine smile and he felt his knees go weak.
He took her hand in his, "It's nice to meet you too, Caroline. And whatever these two have told you, just ignore all of it", he told her with a smirk playing on his lips.
She giggled and he smiled, happy with himself for making her laugh.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he thought to himself.

As Stefan was lost in his thoughts, Elena was helping Caroline get her bags in the car, and unknown to him, Damon was standing back with a smirk on his face after watching the interaction between Caroline and his brother.

So, that's the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed and will continue to read the rest of this story! The next couple of chapters will be posted within a day or two. This is my very first time every writing a fanfic, so any reviews I get will be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone!