Stefan knew that something different was happening. Elena's behaviour with him was not common lately. Apparently, she had decided to try to get rid of her feelings for Damon, whatever they were. And in order to do that, she was trying to distract herself. With Stefan.
Elena flirted with him a lot. Stefan did not know what to do in order to open her eyes and show her that she was doing all of that to forget Damon.
Besides, he did not want Caroline to get wrong ideas about them. The blonde had already seen them talking more than once as Elena got closer to him more than necessary.
One afternoon, Stefan rode his bike to Whitmore to see Caroline. She had not gone to the board house for a long time and that was not a good sign to him. It was weird of her not spending time there whereas her mum was in the hospital. He was in his way to her dorm when Elena took his arm.

"Stefan, I've had a great idea" she said with a wide smile.
"Not now. I'm here to see Caroline. It's been a long since she…"
"Do you remember that day when you showed me your way to start over again? At the bar, when you asked me to marry you."

Stefan looked at her with a frowning. He already knew where she was heading that conversation.

"We were pretending, you know that, right?"
"I think we could try, Stefan. Not to marry, but now than you and I are good friends, who knows? We might develop our feelings into something else until we feel something. Okay, well, I'm not even asking you to feel something, because I don't think I'll feel anything either, but maybe we could be each other's company as a couple. What do you say?"

Stefan watched her as if she had gone mad. Was she so desperate to ask him that?

"Elena, what are you talking about?" Stefan asked her.
"C'mon! It'll be fun."
"You know you're doing all of this to not admit that you still feel something for my brother even without memories, right?"
"Well… I may be doing that, but it would make both our lives easier. I wouldn't think about how to fix my situation with Damon and you wouldn't think about how to tell Caroline that you love her."

Stefan remained silent for a few seconds looking at Elena, who stared him back with her eyebrows raised. He smiled and shook his head, realizing of how much things had changed in his life. Years ago, he would have wanted Elena to ask him that: start and try again. Now, that was not even a remote possibility to him.

"Let's try a thing. A kiss, just a kiss, and let's see if there are sparks or… something" Elena said. Stefan sighed and looked at the door of Caroline's dorm, thinking of her. Her smile, her curls, her blue eyes and her cheeks. Everything about her was perfect.
"Elena, come back down to Earth. We both know it wouldn't work. Go and look for Damon, tell him what you feel at once because, no offense, you're not the person I want to feel like kissing."

Elena sighed and looked at the door of the dorm. Suddenly, Caroline went out and when she saw them, she stayed still with her hand on the knob. Stefan opened his mouth to say something, looking for the appropriate words, but before he was able to say something, Caroline had already closed the door hard and passed them just saying "see you". Stefan clenched his jaw.

"This is my fault. I'll go talk to her" Elena said to him, attempting to follow her, but Stefan stopped her.
"I'll go."

Stefan got away from Elena running, lots of thoughts running through his mind too. He knew what he wanted, he knew more than ever. He wanted to be with Caroline. There was not any person in the world who made him happier than her and this time he would say it to her. Before she went out of the building, Stefan reached her and grabbed her arm. The blonde looked at him, confused.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm here to see you and drive you to the hospital" Stefan said, looking into her eyes. Caroline gave him a cold stare. "Besides, it's been a long since you haven't visit and…"
"I thought you might be busy" Caroline interrupted him, emphasizing the word "busy".
"There's nothing" Stefan said.
"What?"
"There's absolutely nothing between Elena and me. She… well, she's a little desperate. She doesn't know how to handle her feelings for Damon and because of that she had proposed me to leave town."

Caroline clenched her jaw and nodded.

"Bon voyage then" Caroline turned around to go out but Stefan took her arm again. "What's the matter now? You won't expect me to give you a goodbye hug, will you?"
"I think Elena is still affected by the spell Kai cast on her when he kidnapped her and that's why she's acting like this. But although it wasn't for that, do you really think that I would accept her offer?"
"I don't know Stefan, would you?"
"You don't get it, do you?"

Caroline sighed and looked at her watch impatiently. Stefan could not believe that Caroline had not realized that he felt something for her too.

"I don't feel anything for Elena anymore, I've told you that millions of times and you know it."
"It's not so easy to know when the only thing you do…"

Stefan grabbed her face with his hands and kissed her, making her shut up. Caroline, startled, did not know how to react, but she let his lips kissed hers a few more seconds. Caroline pulled him away gently then and looked into his eyes while Stefan was licking his lips, looking at her too.

"I want to be with YOU. And I don't care about the time I have to wait or the times I'll have to beg you to give me the chance I didn't know how to use weeks ago. Do you really think I would choose Elena when I have you? You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. Better than her."

Caroline smiled shyly and Stefan felt his heart leap when he watched her smile. He grabbed her hand and pulled her until she hit him. Stefan smiled at her and looked at her tenderly, realizing that Caroline was her future, before kissing her again.
Yes, Stefan had fallen in love with Caroline like an idiot without realizing it. But now he knew that she was the girl with whom he wanted to wake up every morning; the first thing he wanted to see when he opened his eyes; the girl with whom he wanted to go for a walk with their hands together; the girl he wanted to hug and kiss all the time; the girl with whom he wanted to sleep at night after making love; the girl to whom he wanted to tell all his secrets; the girl he wanted to tell "I love you" every day.