"It's okay. You don't have to give me any reasons. I understand that. And I don't think if she and me… if it can happen. She is my friend, and… that's it!" Bonnie understood him, and left him pondering over his own words.

He doesn't know if he can even learn to love again… ever. So, the only thing he wants to do right now, is to stay away from even the shadow of the word.

He turned around to check on Caroline, who was deep in sleep. He took the chair, and looked at her sleeping sight. She looked a little tensed and sad, and he blamed himself for this. He checked her temperature, and her forehead still felt hot. Thus, he dipped the towel in the cold water, and continued the cycle of applying it on her forehead. With one coffee on the side table, his eyes never left her sight. He didn't want to doze off, drunk or not. The least he could do for her, he thought.

"Since when did you started dating Matt Donovan?" Bonnie was right behind her in the hallway.

"How do you know that?"

"The dork and the queen bee! Do you think this kind of stuff stays away from the gossip? It's a news on the bulletin board, you know. And everyone is whispering about it. But, I am hurt because I am not the first one to get the information from you."

"Well, it's not dating – dating. It's just…. We, uh, we cuddled. But, it was a good cuddle. It felt fresh." The rest of the way was filled with Bonnie's teasing and Caroline's soft giggles.

"Matt and Caroline. Is it just me, or is it kind of weird." Elena and Bonnie were looking at the new couple of the school near the locker.

"It is. But, it's good that it's Matt, she needs someone good like him." Elena stared back on them, still working on the words of Bonnie. It was still weird for Elena, being the ex-girlfriend of Matt. But, she can work on it.

"Caroline, you have to understand. Elena and I, we have a history, and it won't go anywhere. And yes, it's my fault that I have told you that I am still hung up on her, But, you have to understand it." They were sitting in his car after the messy date hangout they did with the group. It was messy because, she wanted to convince herself that she can be the one for Matt. It took a wrong turn, when Elena and Matt started reminiscing about their sneak outs, and… other stuff.

"Yes, I understand it."

"I don't think you do, Care. You have to give us time, to reach there." Caroline slowly nodded, and when he kissed her, it still made butterflies flutter in her stomach. She can do it. She can give time to both of them. Because she is good at trying and she is strong to handle it.

"Hello Mrs. Donovan." She greeted Matt's mother.

"Let's just drop this act of being so good, shall we? We both know your real face, and to be honest you are not so lovable. I really don't know what my son sees in you." Caroline's smile dropped a little, but it was for a fraction of second. The moment later, she was the one with the bright smile on her face.

She thought she was strong enough to handle herself, but she still felt the ghost of Elena Gilbert surrounding Matt. When Matt's sister died in an accident, she wanted to be there for him, but he shoved her away. She was hurt, but the pain came even more when he cried the whole night in the arms of Elena. Her insecurities were turning into a giant tree with the roots going so deep that she couldn't even reach to tear them apart.

One month. Maybe that's the longest she could go in a relationship. The tears were developing in her eyes, but she swiped them away. She is Caroline Forbes, and nothing could break her.

"How are you?" Thanks to Bonnie's worries, she knew that she could trust her at least.

"I will survive. Anyways, we have to do so much of preparation for the decade dance." And the best way to distract herself.

She could feel the warm breaths near her, but it didn't belong to her. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and her heart almost skipped a beat. His forehead was almost touching hers, when she woke up. She had never seen him from so close, and his messy hair meshing with her blonde curls, tickling her a little. Her lips curled up into a little smile, when she realized his hand tightly holding her left one, as if he wanted to make a protective net around her.

She is my friend, and… that's it.

Her smile faltered away, when the memory of those words came back into her mind from the last night. He moved a little in his sleep, and she closed her eyes all of a sudden. He looked at her, his nose almost touching her cheek, and got up with a jerk. He checked up on her, and the temperature was down now, which relaxed his knuckles a little.

"Good morning." He said when he saw her peeking from her eyes.

"Good morning." She stretched her body, and got up all at once, only to be dizzy again. Stefan jumped at once, keeping his hand on her back as a support.

"Hey, I think you are still weak, so you should go back to sleep." She took a big gulp, for the proximity they were at the moment. She cleared her throat, and shifted a little away from him.

"I have slept enough, I have a lot of work to do." She was out of the bed, even though Stefan's disapproval.

"Hey you are awake." Elena was already up when she came out of the room. "I have made French toast." She looked at the almost burnt pieces of bread. "Well, tried to… make." Elena laughed embarrassingly.

"I can make a new round of that. Don't worry."

"NO." Stefan almost shouted, but when he saw Elena in the kitchen, he tried to be strong enough to stand there. He wanted to be there, for Caroline. "I, uh, I can make the breakfast for you guys. It's fine."

"You don't have to do it Stefan." Caroline turned around to look at him.

"I won't burn it, I promise." He teased her.

"Oh, I can guarantee about it. He cooks wonderfully." Elena tried to chime in, breaking their stares.

"No… I mean I am sure he can cook, and all, but he needs rest." She told Elena and turned around to talk with Stefan directly. "You were up all night, and don't say no, because that will be a lie then."

"You are not thinking of going to school, are you?"

"I will be, in the afternoon. I have to go, okay. I have a lot of things to do. Until then I will rest, I promise."

She pushed him out of her house, and he chuckled.

"Caroline."

"Hmm?"

"Take care."

She was still smiling when Elena was observing her.

"You guys look… pretty close."

"What?" she came out of her thoughts, and was confused at Elena. "I, uh, we… we are friends. And he had some drinking issues, so I was just helping him with that." Elena's nods didn't look convincing to Caroline.

"Anyways, where is Bonnie, we have so much to catch up on." Caroline didn't want to discuss any further about Stefan. It felt awkward to her. And so she just pushed the topic away.

"Wait a second." Caroline stopped giggling, all of a sudden. "Damon isn't in this apartment, right?"

"No, Caroline. He is not." Elena's exhausted sigh came louder than she anticipated. "Caroline, why do you hate him so much?"

"Well, because the person is not very likable."

"What do you mean by that? I know you don't like him, but at least you can try… for me." Elena was getting irritated on the constant lack of Caroline's support for her and Damon.

"Are you forgetting that we dated, and…"

"Yes, I am very aware of that, Caroline. And I am also aware of the fact that you are still bitter about this."

"Because I don't understand what you see in that guy."

"And what did you see, when you jumped into the bed with him, the moment you met him." The room was filled with silence for a moment, and the no one knew how to break it.

"Elena didn't mean it." Bonnie was the first one to speak. "You didn't, right?" Bonnie's requested her to say something. She didn't.

Caroline tried to keep her tears in her eyes. She and Elena aren't that close, but she never expected her to defend Damon, of all people.

"God, I can't believe that you are taking his side over me."

"I wasn't saying like that Caroline."

"I know what you were saying….. I am getting late. I will see you at night." She didn't want to stay any longer. She didn't expect them to understand her. Who does anyways?

Stefan almost bumped into the pillar, when he was walking in the hallway towards his class. His head was already spinning because of the hangover, and sleep deprivation wasn't helping him either. And now, on top of it, he was worried for Caroline. She already left her apartment when he went there. Bonnie's face was telling him that there was something wrong. And it felt unlikely of Caroline, because she never goes for that class without him. He has tried her cell as well, but no success over there.

He was glued to his place, when he saw his brother in his own class. And he was talking to Professor Ric.

"Hey, Stefan. I never knew that you are the younger brother of this jerk." Ric patted Damon on his back.

"He is not the kind of person who likes to brag." Damon interjected before Stefan could have said anything.

"Well, Damon is my buddy, Stefan. We met like one year ago, and after that we are kind of close to each other."

Great, this is what he needed right now. He thought.

"But, why are you not staying with your brother?"

"His house is a little congested right now." Damon said before Stefan could have reacted.

"Okay then, I will see you later." Damon smiled widely at his brother, who decided to ignore him, and walked towards his chair.

On the way out of the class, Damon bumped into Caroline.

"Watch it, Blondie." Caroline looked at him, and her blood started to boil.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"None of your business." Caroline tried to walk passed him, but he blocked her.

"I wanted to ask you something." Caroline raised an eyebrow, her face still burning with anger.

"You haven't open your cute little mouth in front of Stefan, did you?"

Caroline gave him a fake smile before saying "None of your business."

Stefan didn't know what they were talking, but he frowned then every. The response between them looked intense.

Caroline came and dropped her bag on the table.

"Is everything…. All right?"

"Yeah, everything is fine." he didn't pushed her any more than that. But, in the back of his head, he wanted to figure out what they were talking about.

"Stefan, can I ask you something?" Stefan looked at her from his book. They were sitting in the library, working on their assignments.

"What, uh… what happened between you and Elena?" she could feel the pain on his face, and now she was regretting to bring the topic.

"I am so sorry, I shouldn't have asked this question. You know what, just let it slip. Forget that I asked anything." She went back to scribble on her notes. And the moment went in silence.

The walk towards her car was awkwardly silent. And she wanted to know what he was thinking.

"Elena was the person, who showed me what love really is. She was the one person, with whom I fell in love with." Caroline turned her head to look at him. Stefan was staring far away, like he was looking back on the flash slides of his own life.

"I thought, that I had everything, the undying love. My epic love story." His laughs were empty. "I, uh, I was stuck with my dad for a summer, when they started falling for each other. And I…. when I came back, I think I had already lost her. I have done bad things Caroline. I do have darkness inside me. I won't deny it. And if she would have left him at that time, I would have been fine. But she didn't. And When I thought everything was perfect again, she looked me into my eyes, and told me that she had feelings for Damon."

Caroline couldn't say anything. She didn't know how someone can love like this. And it was out of her understanding that how can anybody able to leave a love like that.

"she doesn't know what she lost." He looked at her for a while, and smiled genuinely.

another moment of silence crashed in their way.

"Caroline, can I ask you something?" he was fidgeting with his ring on his middle finger.

"Sure." The word was just a whisper. She didn't have the strength to speak after the way he described his love.

"What happened between you and… you and Damon? Why do you hate him so much?" he doesn't like to interfere in other's life. But he couldn't help himself in asking the question.

"There is nothing to love there." she laughed, and tried to lighten the tense air around them. But his one sincere look was enough to break her.

"We… we dated once, when he came to Mystic Falls." He nodded on the information. "Well, it was just for a month. I was sixteen, and-"

"Wait, you were sixteen?" Stefan was shocked. "Damon was twenty- two at that time." The statement was making him agitated for the reasons he couldn't anticipate.

"As I said, I was sixteen and didn't like to think much."

"But, he wasn't. Caroline, he was an adult at that time, and it's against law."

"Stefan, what's the point of looking back at our past. What's done is done." She didn't want to continue the conversation. The more she will talk about it, the more she will be admitting to him. And she wasn't ready for that.

"It's going to be a long night today." She was talking to herself.

"And why is that?"

"Bonnie and Elena will be leaving tomorrow."

"Well, have fun then."

"Yeah, I will." she took a deep sigh, before she ignited the engine.

Few weeks later

"So how was your checkup?"

"Everything is perfect, it's been weeks Stefan. I won't have the pain for such a long time, you know."

"It can be, if you won't take care of yourself."

"By the way, you are making the dinner today." He raised an eyebrow on her direct demand.

"Did you just invited yourself to dinner at my house?" he teased her

"Yes, because someone can cook for the whole world but not for me." She realized a little late what she just said.

"I offered once, and you kicked me out of your house." He nudged her with his elbow.

"Oops!" and she nudged him back.

That was the day, when the dinner at his place became the routine for them. Now, she is so used to his cooking, that she can't go for one day without his cooked food.

"God, I am so hungry. What's for dinner?" she opened the door and came into his apartment. She didn't knock. She never need to.

"Roasted duck."

"I can eat the whole damn thing." Stefan smiled at her.

"It's all for you."

"Wow, is that Stefan Salvatore?" Caroline turned around to see two girls whispering about him.

'He looks so… yum. I can eat him, and I won't even regret it." The girls were in the giggles, when Caroline intervened.

"Do you guys mind in talking less, and working more." One stare was enough to scare the girls.

"What was that for?" Stefan came at once, when he saw her arguing.

"Nothing."

"Caroline, you need to drink the juice. You need some energy inside."

"It's been months since I am preparing for this rally, and nothing is in order, people over here are more into gossiping than work, and now you want me to drink juice. If you can't see it, I am kind of freaking out here." She talked without taking a single breath, and Stefan couldn't hold his chuckles.

"And now you are laughing, great."

"No, nothing is funny. Trust me." The smile was still there when he tried to convince her.

"What?" she was irritated now.

"It's, just when you are stressed, your behavior heightens."

"What do you mean?" he couldn't find any words to explain himself.

"Are you saying that I am basically a neurotic, control freak on crack?"

"Oh, well I wasn't gonna say it like that but…"

"Shut up." She laughed with him, and her most of the stress was gone.

"SUMMER TIME!"

Her text message almost shouted in his ears.

"Yes, I know that."

"Then stop brooding for once."

"I am not brooding."

"Liar."

"What are you doing for your vacation?"

"I don't know, maybe relax and will sleep."

"Boring."

"That I am."

"What's your plan?"

"I am visiting mom."

"You should come with me."

"Why?"

"Because I am your friend."

He was about to answer when in a fraction of two seconds he received her another messages.

"Forget it."

"Forget what?"

"Forget that I asked."

"But you are invited. I don't want you to stay alone."

"It will be a long time after I will be going there.

"So, are you saying that…. you are coming?"

"Sure, why not. And moreover who will tell you every fifteen minutes that you are not crazy."

"Ha- ha. Very funny."

"I am so excited."

"Its 3 am in the morning, Caroline. Don't forget to sleep in the excitement."

"I won't forget, I promise."

"Good night."

"Good night."

"Caroline?"

"Yes?"

"You are my best friend."

She never knew the guy who was so rude to her once upon a time, would become such a friend to her. He was her best friend, her… best person. She went to sleep, smiling peacefully, still holding her phone.

It was the same situation in his room, as well. His smile widened when her selfie popped into his phone, in which, she herself enacted one of the smiley faces, and he chuckled and shook his head. His eyes fell into a deep sleep, with a curled up smile on his face.