Author's note: Once again, thank you for reviewing! Please keep on doing so! This is set in between season 5 and 6 when Stefan has moved away from Mystic Falls.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries.
"Hi Stefan." Caroline bubbly voice burst out the phone. "So, it's been nearly two months and you still haven't called me back so I guess you're busy trying to find Damon and Bonnie or something. I don't know but I do know that I miss you and I could really do with hearing your voice right now. We're not doing so well in Mystic Falls. Elena's a wreck without Bonnie but she refuses to talk about Damon, it's as if he never died." Stefan could almost hear her wince as she realised what she had just said. "I'm sorry, that was blunt. I just want to know where you are and that you're okay which is why I'm not going to stop calling you until you pick up. Please call me."
Stefan put the phone back on his table and it was quiet again, something he used to enjoy but now couldn't stand. Damon should be lazily relaxing on the couch opposite with a glass of bourbon in his hands and creating new nicknames for anyone that annoyed him. Stefan remembered back in the 1850's when they were young boys and they used to play football together. As the faster runner, Damon normally won. If only you were faster this time, Stefan thought. Then maybe he'd still be in Mystic Falls with his friends and not working as an auto mechanic dodging his friend's calls because being reminded of his old life was too painful for him to cope with.
"It's me… again. I got bored of going through Alaric's books looking for a cure when I realised I hadn't called you in a while. I know you'll call back when you have the time…" There was Caroline's trademark positivity, Stefan thought. "I was just hoping there was a chance you'd pick up this time so I could tell you about my terrible day but I guess that's not happening. I've been going through hundreds of grimoires but not a single one has told me anything about how to get Damon, Bonnie and Mystic Falls back and now I've wasted a whole summer trying to read their messy handwriting." He began to laugh at her frustration before stopping himself and slamming the phone back on his desk, cutting her off. He couldn't let himself laugh, he couldn't let himself miss her. He needed to move on and he couldn't do that if he spent his evening listening to her voice and reading her increasingly worried texts. Whatever he'd started to feel for her had to stop.
The next day he met Ivy.
Ivy soon became his girlfriend after he invited her out to dinner. She was nice, if a bit clingy. He'd spent the last three hours at her house having his lips attacked by her and listening to the seemingly endless stories of her past. She asked nothing about him which was really a plus but at the same time it was exhausting.
The phone began to ring. Without answering he knew it was her; everyone else had given up a long time ago except the occasional call from Alaric who still believed he was blindly chasing Witch covens across the country. He let it ring out before picking it up and staring at her name, picturing her sitting in her dorm room and talking into her own phone. He'd completely ignored her last three voicemails but after the day he'd had he couldn't resist the chance to hear her voice.
"Hey again." She said and an unwelcome smile immediately stretched across his face. "I guess it's getting stupid and pointless leaving all these messages here when you're obviously not going to answer anytime soon, I just really wish you would. I miss you, Stefan, I miss you so much. You made everything easy and without you it's falling apart. We're falling apart, all of us. Matt and Jeremy won't even leave Mystic Falls anymore and Elena's become so distant. I know we're all finding different ways to grieve but dealing with it on our own isn't going to get us anywhere. We need friends right now and I need you. I need my Vampire Mentor and even if you don't want to admit it I think you need us too. Please call me, or better yet, come home."
That was the last of her messages he listened to.
Two months later and Stefan didn't mind the silence anymore. He'd built a wall between his past and his life now and she was securely fixed on the other side. Until she showed up for the dinner party from hell.