Chapter Summary: It's not like she is crushed by his aloofness, but it never stops her from wondering "why didn't he went for me."
Bags- check,
All documents- check,
Number of boxes- check.
Making a note, Caroline checked each and everything before leaving her dorm room. She has spent her entire one year in this room and she is going to miss every single corner of it, and most of all she is going to miss her roommate, Sarah. This was the day when all sophomores were entering in their second year and thus, getting an apartment to stay. After a lot of search, Caroline had found a decent place to stay which was nearby the college and pretty cheap to stay (well not so cheap, but she had reserved some money from her part- time jobs and plus she was getting a scholarship for her college so she could pretty much afford it).
"Did you packed everything? Since I have to meet up with some friends before that, I will be leaving after a while." Sarah said coming out of the bathroom.
"I still can't believe I have to move again." Caroline said feeling sad and nostalgic.
"It's not like we won't hang out anymore." Sarah said smilingly and Caroline laughed on that.
"Hell, yeah! Do you think I will stop bugging you? That is supposed to be my best relaxing moments of every day." Said Caroline, and Sarah nodded.
"So, how was your day?" There was something off about Caroline today, and Sarah wasn't the only one who picked on that.
"Ugh, don't ask. I just wish that I can pretend it never happened. I just want this day to get over, as soon as possible. Which is by the way on the list of things I can never do- accelerate the time!" Caroline was being impatient making Sarah worried. Caroline didn't said anything after that to her, and Sarah didn't pushed her either.
Caroline looked into her timetable- 2H21. She was looking for the classroom, and her luck wasn't giving her much today. She was late, and was pissed off because of a random guy and now she couldn't find her class. She finally saw the number, and entered the class. To her dismay, the lecture was already started.
"Um, Hey were you planning for marathon instead of attending the class?" asked the professor when she entered. She looked at herself and she was soaked in her sweat. She flushed in embarrassment.
"I think, I have pissed the guy who creates luck, and so I am stuck with all uncalled events." She said laughing nervously. The professor smiled at her and waved her to take a seat. Without any more thoughts, she took the seat she saw was empty.
'So, as I was telling you guys, my name is Alaric Saltzman. But you all can call me Ric, if you want. I hope you have taken out the prints of the courses…" Alaric continued about the topics they will be covering in the semester, and how their assignment pattern is going to be. Caroline was taking notes of each and everything he was saying, but stopped in the middle when she heard someone talking on her side.
"Are you following me or something?" she heard a voice and when she turned around, she almost choked on her cough. Stefan was sitting beside her, right there, in a proximity of five inches. She tasted blood in her mouth when she cursed and bit her tongue, for choosing a seat right next to him, without even looking at who could be her seatmate.
"I can say the same thing." Scribbling sounds, turning pages, she made more noise than required, mostly to distract herself.
"I am not the one who sat next to you. And I am not the one who tried to talk to you in the café for sure. Plus you are Damon's friend." She waited for him to complete his sentence. He didn't.
Caroline huffed and looked at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe her ears and her eyes. May be being a jerk flows in their blood. She thought.
"First of all, if you don't know the story, just don't jump into conclusions, and second… well don't act as if you know me." She said angrily.
"Are you sure those are two different points, or just one point put out in different sets of words." He said raising one eyebrow.
"I am sure, that you guys must be having an interesting conversation back there, but may be if you can save those talks for the future dates, there will be less awkward silence at that time." Said Alaric breaking their conversation.
Both of them scoffed at their professor, but didn't said anything again. Being the youngest professor in the university, he was an easy going person and so he always crack jokes in the class, making him really famous among the students.
Once the class was over, Caroline stood up from her seat and took her bag.
"I hope we don't cross each other's path again excluding this class, although I wish I can do that." She told Stefan with a fake smile.
"Ditto." That's all Stefan said, and they both went in opposite directions without looking in each other's directions. She couldn't believe she fell for that. Pretty face is not everything for sure.
"So, I was told to collect my keys from the front desk." Caroline asked the lobby guy waiting for the manager to come.
"Here are your keys. You are on the second floor, as you already know. The lease office will be open from 10 am in the morning to 6 pm in the evening, however, the front desk operates if you have any maintenance issues." The guy said with an enthusiastic smile.
"Thanks" Caroline said smilingly.
"Don't hesitate to call if you need anything. Although I know, smart girl like you won't fell in any kind of trouble." He winked at her.
Caroline gave him a smile, unsure of any reply. She took the elevator and one by one brought all her boxes in front of her apartment all by herself. Well not by herself, but with the help of the lobby guy. He was putting too much work in impressing Caroline. Half of the time guys wanted to give her any kind of help without even when she asks for, to which she always said no, as she liked herself to be independent. The major reason behind this was she had admitted to the situations where people left her without caring for her emotions, and so she always thought that she has to deal with everything in the world alone. This time she didn't said anything when he offered to help. He looked like he was in his teens, and was too much of an enthusiast, so she just didn't wanted to break his heart by being mean to him.
"So, the final box, huh!" The guy said out of breath.
"Thanks for the help." Said Caroline with a genuine smile
"Anytime for a pretty girl like you… oh wait, I am so sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Said the guy apologetically for blurting out the words jumping in his head.
"It's okay. I like compliments. I hope that was a compliment though." She said they both laughed. "By the way I never caught your name?" she asked him
"Kol" he said with a smile.
"It is nice to meet you Kol. I am Caroline." She introduced herself.
"I know" he said and then stopped for blurting the truth again. "I think I should leave before I blurt out anything more." He said and then left.
Caroline shook her head smiling while taking out her keys to open the door.
"You have got to be kidding me!" She heard a voice behind, and felt the sound unwelcome. She dropped her keys at that sound and groaned. "Please, not him… Please not him… Please not him…"she prayed before turning, and was kicking herself from inside for choosing this stupid apartment.
Stefan was standing in front of her, with his hands on his hips, looking at her in disbelief.
"Are you sure you are not following me?" he was standing perfectly calm, taking the support of the walls, arms crossed in front him. He looked her up and down before moving on to stare in her eyes. She could smell the alcohol even from a legible distance.
"Believe me, I am not and I am not even interested in doing so. It's like I am in my worst nightmare, which feels like a never- ending soap opera." She said exhausted and tired. "You know what, I don't want to stand here and deal with your stupid opinions about me, I will go to the lease office the first thing in the morning and change this damn apartment." She said turning around.
He moved towards his apartment, jingling the keys in his fingers.
"I am not doing this for you, okay. I am doing this because I can't stand YOU!" She said angrily.
"Whatever suits you!" he said and closed his door.
She felt her vision to go blurry for a while as there were tears which were developing in her eyes. She was angry and somehow his coldness was affecting her. She hated to be so vulnerable to the world. She threw back her tears inside herself.
"I am so not going to ruin my college life on this." She was left with her own thoughts, going back to the conversations and wondering in the back of her mind, thinking, why he was acting like this.