4. New Encounters And Beginnings
The early blue sky was dotted with fluffy white clouds drifting in the cool breeze. The morning sun shined softly on the streets of Mystic Falls, bringing with it a flurry of early morning activities.
The overhead doorbell jingled as Caroline made her way into the bustling café. The smell of coffee and baked goods lingered in the air as the early crowd gobbled down enough fuel for the day.
She took her usual seat by the potted windowsill after a quick greeting to the waitress milling about. She had just placed their usual order when the chiming bell announces another arrival.
Bonnie made her way through the early crowd and sat in front of her friend. Caroline watched her, noticing that those vivid green eyes were tired and still circled with dark rings but looked more alive than their last meet-up.
"Grams has officially lost it!" Bonnie remarked with much more energy than Caroline associated with her friend in the early hours of the day.
"She has spent the entire weekend saging the house and muttering about bad omens at every corner." She continued with a huff, "It's decided, she has lost it."
"Good Morning to you too Bonnie, yes I am well this morning" Caroline replied, highly amused. Bonnie ignored the remark and looked at the menu as she continued, "Dad has been thinking about care homes and I am one voodoo talk away from agreeing."
"Doesn't she usually start with the fairytales during Halloween? What prompted the early story sessions?"
"I know! But apparently, the comet has brought the freaky ahead its scheduled time."
"The comet?" Caroline asks, confused.
"You know, the 145- year old harbinger of death? There will be a festival to celebrate its return after school starts. I thought you would know." Bonnie clarified, puzzled; If the town is preparing for a festival Caroline Forbes would be found on the scene. But looking up at her, Bonnie could see the reason for her friend's lack of information on this. Even though Caroline was dressed impeccably as always, her eyes held the bone-tiring exhaustion of the past week, dulling their usual lively sparkle.
Caroline's face tightened with the reminder of the stagnancy that has taken residence in her life but thankfully their waitress arrived with their usual order before she had to reply.
They were both quiet as they enjoyed their meal, comfortable in the silence, both lost in their heads.
Caroline knew she couldn't let things go on like this. She had responsibilities, and commitments she needed to fulfill. Her teammates hadn't banged on her doorstep yet but soon they would need their captain back with another new mind-blowing routine ready for the upcoming tournament. She needed to visit Mrs. Lockwood and enquire about this festival and offer whatever help the town would need to put together a beautiful event. She had been the one doing all the planning and managing these events in town for so long that she didn't know she could trust them to put anything worthwhile together. They would be lost without her. But it was hard to put her mind to these tasks. Not when other important duties required her attention and effort. John had left soon after the funeral. Jeremy was struggling to get out of bed each day. Jenna needed to fill out various paperwork of wills and guardianship amidst her grief and she needed all the extra help she could get. Elena was still in the hospital and the doctors weren't sure when she would wake from her coma. The image of her friend unconscious on the hospital bed was enough to make her want to drop everything and sit by her bed until she opened those doe brown eyes to look at her again.
"Well, I need to go now. Grams has an appointment today and her car has been giving her troubles so I am on driver duty." Bonnie spoke up as she finished the last of her pancakes, catching her attention.
"Is everything okay?" Caroline enquired with concern,
"Yeah, just her half-yearly check-ups."
"Oh, okay I'll see you later then."
Caroline hid her disappointment at their morning being cut short. She had been looking forward to spending some time out of the hospital as Matt was going to spend his free day with Elena today.
"I'll call you later," Bonnie replied, oblivious to the glum in her tone, and skipped off after a quick hug.
Caroline turned towards the road watching as Bonnie disappeared out of view. Watching everyone mill about the day towards their destination only highlighted her desire to stay rooted to that chair until the sun went down and the darkness inside of her finally matched the darkness outside. But pursuing that train of thought would be too tempting to stop and so she got to her feet and settled the bill, exiting the café.
Caroline had quite a load of homework piled up from her AP classes and drowning in calculus and complex wave integrations sounded like a much safer alternative than her thoughts.
Pulling up at the library 15 minutes later, Caroline strutted up the stone stairs directly to the second floor of the beautiful historic building. She had spent one too many summers hoarded up in this place and now every stone, every pillar, every archway and hallway of the almost 100-year-old-building and its thousands of books, felt more like home than her own house. The huge oak wood doors opened into the main floor casing rows and rows of books meticulously arranged on beautifully carved wooden bookcases. The large hall sported high ceilings and bay windows providing the perfect ambiance to lose oneself in a good book.
On the second floor, Caroline sought her usual spot in the corner tucked between Italian and Spanish classics and started her session with the equations of physics.
It must have been a few hours because when she finally finished, the sun was bright and well up in the sky. Her neck was sore and her legs felt stiff but at least she had managed to get all her work done. Deciding to walk the stiffness away, Caroline rose to her feet strolling between the labyrinths of books.
The second floor of the library was less ventured. It had a darker aesthetic and older shelves with a less sought collection of books ranging from town history and founders' archives to classic literature in foreign languages. It was also her favorite part of the library. It might be the soft lighting in the room or the air perfumed with old books but the second floor always held an enchanted touch.
As she moved in the aisle with classic horrors on one side and the town archives on the other, some new books on the top shelf caught her eye. The librarian must have added some more rejected books to the pile. She used the old ladder in the corner to inspect the contents. The pile had some philosophy and a few horror classics and she decided to pick out a couple to browse for the rest of her stay. As she reached for the hardcover on the far left, the rickety ladder creaked and swayed and she lost her footing. Arms failing for purchase as the books cluttered to the ground, Caroline stumbled back with a gasp, and just when the fall seemed inevitable, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and stopped her fall. Her eyes snapped open wide with the shock of the almost-fall and locked with green eyes swimming in concern and shock of their own. Heart still in a panicked rhythm, she looked at the guy holding her up. He had dark blond hair and a face that was all hard edges and sharp cheekbones but his eyes were warm with concern as he looked her over. The dim lights of that corner were doing something achingly breathtaking to his features.
He was handsome.
Beautiful even. Caroline didn't think guys could be beautiful.
He carefully maneuvered her back to her feet, hands lingering around her waist before falling back to his side. With his touch leaving her skin the spell of his looks broke and her cheeks turned red with the embarrassment of her near fall.
"Thank you," she says, at the same time as he asked, "Are you okay?"
Both just look at each other for a while and finally broke out in smiles.
"I am alright, the ladder was older than it looked I guess." She said looking at the broken step and wondering why she had ever trusted the antique furniture to hold her weight in the first place.
"Looks can be misguiding, though the rot should have given the ladder away," the green-eyed boy replied with a smile, seeming to find amusement in the situation. She felt her cheeks turn warmer.
"Speaking of looks, I've never seen you around. Are you new?" she enquired, fairly certain that she knew everyone in her small town. And she would remember seeing him before.
"I am new here. Just moved actually." The green-eyed guy replied still observing her. He didn't seem interested in elaborating further as he crouched down to pick up the book she had managed to retrieve pre-fall. He looked at the title and seemed shocked by what he found. Caroline raised her hand for the book and after a moment, he handed it over.
"That's an interesting choice." He commented looking at her with scrutiny that made her look at the book as well.
" 'Carmillia'," she read the cover out loud, and questioned," have you read this?"
"No, not my usual preferences" he replied tensed, still looking at her oddly.
"There were some new additions. I thought to take a look. I don't read fiction so I just kind of grabbed the pretty-looking ones." His stare was so intense that she felt the need to explain her actions. He seemed to realize that too and nodded glancing away to set the ancient ladder out of the way, returning to the warmer spectrum of emotions so quickly, she wondered if she had imagined his alarm.
"What do you prefer usually?" he enquired looking back at her, trying to move on from the tense mood.
"Not fiction. I prefer facts to pretty stories." She replied, turning to right the upturned carpet with her feet.
"A good story is always more dazzling than a broken piece of truth," he mused and she could hear the smile in his voice. Raising her head to look at him, she confirmed her assumptions. It was a pretty smile.
"Yet it is never the truth" she countered feeling the odd urge to emphasize.
The air crackled odd electricity and Caroline resisted the urge to rub her arms to starve off the chill. They finally face each other again, watching, waiting. For what exactly, Caroline wasn't sure. He took a step towards her, close enough that she could smell his cologne. It was cool like pine, somewhat earthy like the forest fresh after a rain. With an extended hand and a beautiful smile, he finally introduced himself, "I am Stefan."
She looked at his outstretched hand for a moment before reaching for it. She always felt that a person's hands told a lot about them; she had a thing about arms and shoulders as well. His hand was warm and large as it engulfed hers and she had the vaguest notion of them being capable of destroying things and holding them together as well.
"Caroline Forbes," she replied with a slight smile,
"Welcome to Mystic Falls."
hey everyone! Stefan has entered the story! I am so excited about this new project but I am still new to writing and so I apologize for the late updates in advance. Thank you for giving this story a chance and even more for taking the time to comment and follow. You guys make my day with those notifications. Thank you!
Let me know your thoughts on this.:)