"So, are you taking me or not?" she rests her hand on either side of her hips, and stares at him.

Stefan looks around himself, but the place seems pretty abandoned to him, with three or four workers on the food counter.

"Now, don't go deaf on me again, okay."

Only if she could stop talking and his head can be free of her constant chatter to think of a way to get her bags.

"Hey, I am talking to YOU and not to those empty chairs over here!" She pointed to the tables around them.

He started to walk again, but she wasn't stopping to talk. And it was driving him crazy. "Will you just…. " He turned around to face her, almost venting the anger out, but he closes his eyes, and counts to ten before finishing his sentence. "Can you stop talking for a second. And let me see what I can do."

The Gas station looks like it has been abandoned for ages now. And he wonders if such places still exists in United States. But, how will he know about it. After all, he has never came out of his lavishing world ever before. The only times he went on a road trip was when Damon came to his university and dragged him for it.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan was a little tired from his study schedule and seeing his cousin brother standing in his dorm room, took him in a shock.

"What? I can't come to visit my little brother?" The wide grin came on Damon's face, and he pulled his brother in a hug.

"Damon… please don't do that ever again."

"Do what?"

"Hug me.. I don't do hugs and all."
"I know… and you should know by now, that how much I love irritating you." Damon put his hands on his shoulder and tapped it twice. "So, start packing." He threw a duffel bag towards him.

"Uh, where are we going?"

"what can be better than a road trip to take your mind off from all the stress you have been having recently."

"A road trip?"

"Yup!"

"But-"

"No if and no but, now chop-chop, and pack. Also, if you want to take some hot undergrad chicks… I am all in. The girls in Stanford are kinda hottt." Damon wiggled his brows and gave his usual Damon smile.

"Damon… it's illegal. You know that, right?"

"What is illegal?"

"You hitting on the underage girls."

"And when did I said I am a saint."

"Damon-" Stefan's warning tone shut Damon up, but he did dragged him for an outing that weekend.

/\/\

"Vegas! We are going to Vegas!" He saw the history of Damon's ipad, with the booking in Hotel Caesar.

"Yup, we are going to party and play poker like hell."

"I am still nineteen Damon."

"Not according to your I.D." Damon passed him his fake I.D. and according to that, Stefan was a twenty-five year old.

"Really? Twenty-five!"

"What, you kinda look like a twenty-five."

Stefan didn't say anything, and just smiled in the wilderness of the blowing wind, that swept through him in the blue Camri of Damon.

"You can thank me later."

Stefan chuckled on Damon. His ways have always been wild, but maybe he needed some fun in his life.

"What the hell are you looking for?" Caroline was right behind him, still her voice being high pitched and pricking his ear.

He didn't answer her, and heads straight to the only car standing at corner.

"We have to reach Lancaster to the bus which she missed. So, can you give us a ride?" Stefan couldn't say what the driver is actually thinking. By the looks, the person looks like he is in his late fifties, and Stefan isn't good with that age group.

"I am not going in that direction, man." The guy said in a bored tone.

"I will pay you five hundred bucks for it." Stefan's statement makes the guy's ears perk up, and that is exact moment when the blonde catches up with him.

"What are you waiting for then? Hop in." Stefan starts to walk towards the passenger seat, when she calls him back.

"Where are we going?" She asks him cautiously.

"Lancaster. The bus will be there, if we drive straight to the place you can catch it."

The wide eye popping her blue eyes out, and the excitement on her face makes it sure to Stefan that now she has totally forgotten about the worries, just in few seconds.

Unfortunate for them though, the traffic is taking a toll on them.

/\/\

"Can't you drive a little faster?"

"I am going with the traffic speed."

"We can easily change the lane and go." Stefan hears the girl saying desperately from the backseat.

"I am not breaking the speed limit."

"We are not even close to the speed limit."

The guy just ignores her, and keeps on driving.

"Is he insane?" Her whispers reaches the corner of his ear, and he tilts his head slightly on his left. "He is totally insane. We are so not gonna reach there on time." She whines and buries herself deep into her seat.

"I am paying you."

"To take you to the place, and we will reach there. Just not on time to catch the bus."

"Can you pullover in the next exit?" Stefan hands are continuously staying on his head, massaging it, trying to calm himself down.

"What? why?" She keeps asking him but it's like she is talking to a wall when he doesn't reply. "We are already going so slow, and now you are delaying it even more!"

The constant blabber continues, when they stop in the exit, and Stefan comes out of the car.

"What?" The guy was confused at Stefan's behaviour, and when Stefan pushed him to his extreme right, he couldn't get what he is trying to do.

But, when Stefan drives the car in the way which will make it look like flying across the street, the driver was taken aback in the whole drive.

"Slow. it. down."

"Come on, Stefan, chill a bit. Racing is fun."

"I am not a fan of speed."

"Weren't you a Dracula in last year's Halloween?"

"No… I was James Dean. Now will you slow it down or not?"

"Not!"

"Damon-"

"Fiiinne… stop being such a bore, or else your girlfriend will run away."

"Elena isn't going anywhere."

"Confident huh?"

"Pretty much."

"Things changes, brother."

"We will see…"

Damon didn't reply anything on the matter in concern.

"Next time… remind me to not go in a road trip.. with anyone." Stefan was already panicked by the almost crash they were going to get into with the jeep on their side.

In the midst of the swirling winds on the bus station, the whole place looks abandoned. It is almost midnight, and to see the only bus standing there, relaxes him because it's the same bus she missed. After all, they finally made it on time, however fast their hearts were beating because of the race they did with the time.

"Are you nuts… you might have had killed us all." The guy looked as if he had came out of a life-death situation. "Just give me my money, and GO"

"Can I borrow some money as well. I need water." She asks him with her panting voice. She wasn't running, but the drive was crazy. Stefan has a bundle of cash, luckily he didn't left his wallet, or dropped it on the road when he was letting everything go away into the pit.

"Thanks, I will return you in the bus." Stefan stares at her for a moment, wondering if she still thinks that he is going to take the bus. He could see her diminishing body, and totally out of his sight once she is behind the glass door of the station building.

"You shouldn't keep this much money with you. Someone might mug you in this neighborhood."

Stefan turns around to look at the guy, apparently counting each dollar bill in his hand, his sticky fingers doing its work.

Stefan didn't reply and walks away in the loneliness of the dark night. He doesn't care if someone comes and put a stake in his heart. He might stop feeling anything, and it should be a good thing. For a while his head was out of the twisted, and ruined life he had been living for such a long time. But, now once the girl is gone, his head has started to go back to the shreds of his messed up existence. His mind stops at her though. Even though she bugged him with her constant babbles, she did took his mind out of all the worries he was surrounded by a few hours ago.

Caroline… He remembers the name, and like the telepathy, the voice makes its way and surfaces around him. At first, the voice was like the hint of the chimes in the air, but it kept on increasing the tempo, and when he turns around he could clearly see her walking at first and then running towards him.

"Oh my god, you are here!" she gasps, as if she found her way back home, and scratching away the line of fear on her forehead. "Thank you thank you thank you." she keeps on mumbling the words, when in the span of that moment, her arms fly in air and reaches towards his neck, engulfing him in her bear hug.

"You missed the bus again?" Stefan couldn't believe this girl in front of him. Who misses their bus twice in the single day?

"You have no idea how much happy you have made me by being here. I have never been so happy in my entire life to see anyone, like I have been right now after seeing you." she lets him go from her embrace.

"And You brought a joker with you, as well?" His eyes goes straight on the guy who was following her all the way down to them. By the looks of that guy, and the way he walked, he didn't look like he was in his proper senses. Stefan sighs in exhaustion, worries following the temper. Drunkards in the middle of the night are not good for her, or for any girl.

"He followed me from the station. Nevermind he is gone anyways."

"And you missed the bus because?" he prompts her to tell him more, because he is totally confuse.

The nervous laugh leaves her lips, when she tucks her hair behind her right ear. "I was wrestling with the vending machine, and then I was so engrossed into satisfying my thirst that I-" she sees him frowning at her and stops in the middle. "What?"

"By wrestling you mean?"

"Ugh, don't you know these vending machines. They eat your money and laughs at you."

"You know that vending machine is just an object… a non-living object to be specific. They don't walk or laugh."

"Oh they do. You have to see them very closely, and when you do, you can see their mouths opening in giant laughs, that too a devil one."

Her reasonings were even more illogical than the way she has been behaving. "So, you missed the bus because you were busy fighting with the vending machine!"

"Hey, it was two dollars okay. Money doesn't grow on trees. But, I did won and got the bottle." she announces with a proud pat on her back.

"Which costed you in missing the bus."

"And whose fault is that? I mean I agree I missed it right now, but I was out of that bus because of you at the first place."

Stefan raises an eyebrow at her, amused at how she was turning the tables on him.

"So, what I am trying to say is, you are taking me home. I am not leaving you before that."

His frowns deepens when he tries to understand her.

"Now start walking, you can give me the looks and walk at the same time you know." she walks forwards

"What looks?" he follows her.

"The one you are giving me right now." She turns around to face him. "By the way, do you even have a name, or should I just keep calling you Mr. Broody?"

"I didn't hear you calling me that."

"I have been…calling you that… in my head. So…"

Stefan chuckles at her silliness. After a long time, which feels to him like his entire life, he feels like something lifted up from his heart. "Stefan…"

"Stefan…" she grins widely, and shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you Stefan. And I am Caroline."

"I know… you mentioned earlier."

"Oh so you did listen to me."

"You are kind of an antique, you know that right? The museum kind, the one of a kind."

"Ha-ha. Talk about yourself. I mean, is there any invisible clips on your eyebrows, keeping them frowned all the time?"

Stefan licks his lips, trying to keep his smile away. Crazy or not, she did have a way of keeping people's head away from the stress. " What about your bags?"

"I talked with the bus services, and they told me they will keep all my luggage in the locker room in Nevada. So, we will take the bus in the morning and then straight to Nevada, and then home."

"So, you have planned everything."

"Pretty much."

"But what's the deal with you. Like this street is so abandoned, and then I see you walking like a dead man."

"Says the girl who is stuck on the same streets as well."

"Wow, so you do can speak."

Stefan looks at her, and thinks the same. "I can… I just like to keep to myself. Anyways, we should look for some place to stay."

"I can see one motel in front of me. Let's just stay over there for few hours and then come back."

"Caroline…" Stefan frowns again at the place in front of him. "I don't feel like we should go inside." There is something off about the place, and he could sense it.

"Why?"

"I don't know. The place looks weird to me."

"Don't be so picky. Come on." She grabs his hand and drags him into the entrance.

"You wanna know the hourly rate or per night rates?"

When the front desk asked him the question, his doubts were clear. The place did gave an off feeling to him. And the way he was checking Caroline out, was boiling the blood inside him.

"Per night." the stern look on his face could make anyone fear him at that moment.

"Why?" Caroline jumps into the conversation without any hesitation. "We will take it by hourly charges"

"Caroline, let me talk okay."

"Yeah, and you are doing hell of a talk here. Instead of saving the money, you are like wasting it."

"So, as I was saying." she turns around to talk with the front desk herself. "You can give us the room for few hours."

"How many hours?"

"What do you think, how much time is enough for us?"

"Caroline-"

"I think three?"

"Caroline-"

"Or four?

"I think three is enough."

"Caroline-"

"But, for the safe side we should keep it for four. Anyways we will be done by that time."

"Do you even know what you are talking about?"

"I am trying to bargain here, now let me deal with this okay."

Stefan couldn't believe her, couldn't believe that she really didn't understand what was happening there. And what other meanings were getting deduced by others. Somehow, the image in front of him makes a way of the little involuntary smile on his lips. He sees her talking and negotiating the deal which she has been calling it in a hush voice to him.

He felt like the night is never ending, but didn't feel bad like it did few hours back.

Stefan completes the payment and goes to the room, where he already had sent Caroline to. He shouldn't have expected much, but this is worst. The whole room with red satin drapes all around, making it look like coming out straight from the porno and that too the Aladdin porno.

He sees her sitting in the middle of the bed, look straight at him.

"You never know what you talk, do you?" He looks at crossing the room and standing right next to the wall, the lips curling into tiny smile."Anyways, you can take the bed, I will be on the couch."

"I have a black belt in kung fu." The reply to his suggestion was off the topic and it makes him confuse.

"o-kay."

"Yeah… yeah I can do a good kung used to fear me in my college."

"But, why are you telling me this?"

"I am just saying, you know, just an information to be on the table."

"Wait, are you telling me this because, IF I tried to rape you or did something without your consent, then you will knock me out?"

"No, I am just saying this, because previously I hugged you, and I don't want to give any other impression. There must be a lot of those chicks in the city, who would be all over you, but I am not like that. I am a one- man- woman. And I already have my man, Tyler." The wide grin automatically comes on her face just by her boyfriend's name.

Stefan could clearly see the light brightening up in her eyes, and he chuckles in the process. "Well, don't worry I will not make any attempt on you."

"You can't do it!"

"I don't want to do it!"

"Even if you want, you can't do it."

"Are you charging me up so that I would rape you ?"

"No I was just clearing things out."

"well, FYI I am also a one-woman-man." His hands find its way in his back pocket, bringing out the wallet, the one which still had Elena's photograph.

The wide eyed Caroline, completely jumps out of the bed, and snatches the wallet to have a clear look. "Wow, she is so… gorgeous. I mean, the hair, the doe eyes, and the dress. Wow, I mean the dress is totally bringing out the color of her eyes." She looks back at him, still smiling and hands him over the wallet. "Lucky you, Mr. Broody."

"Yeah… not so much." His heads falls down to the photograph in his hand. The ghost of the post haunting him once again.

"Oh…" The smile on her face falters away, as if she senses the pangs of pain inside him. "So, she is the one because of whom you have been walking like a zombie."

Stefan couldn't think of any other answer, and just smiles sadly.

After a second or two, like a flick of a lamp bulb, her eyes brightens with an idea. "Do you have a matchstick?"

"What?"

"DO you have it or not?"

"uh, yeah."

"Awesome. So now take this photograph and burn it"

"What.. no." He has no idea what she was trying to say.

"Come on, do it."

"But this is-"

"Crazy… yeah I know. See she ditched you and now you do the same. do crazy, it will feel good. Trust me. Stefan." Maybe it was something in her eyes, or something in the way she called his name, but his brain had already functioning of thinking in what she was asking him to do.

"Do it… come on, JUST BURN THE BITCH."

And he did the exactly same thing., and waited for her because he still hasn't started processing what his hands were actually working on.

"Now go the washroom, and flush it. Like the obedient kid, he did exactly as she asked for.

The soothing sensation inside his heart, balming and spreading through the veins, hits his brain. "It actually is feeling good."

"See I told you. My ideas are can never be bad." "And don't worry, you will meet someone amazing. There are million girls out there, and well, you are you, so you can find ANYONE. To be honest, this girl was really bland in front of you. I mean, look at me! If I wouldn't have found the love of my life, I probably might have been crushing on you. OMG, just imagine."

He chuckles, thinking that when did he stopped worrying about the day he had been having just in the morning of yesterday. "You love yourself.. don't you?"

"Yup…. I am my favorite person in the world."

"Sure you are." He has smiled more just in one day with her, than he had done in the past few months, or years… he doesn't even remember. "Go take some rest, we have to leave early in the morning."

He falls on the couch, and closes his eyes, still internally laughing at the crazy girl he has been stuck with since yesterday.