7. SHE DIDN"T KNOW HIM YET
Swiping the mascara stick against her eyelashes one last time, Caroline stepped back to admire her outfit with a spin for their conventional Grill night on the first day back to school. Things were turning back on track after months of chaos making her worried and yet giddy about the night ahead. Nervous as she was, she still hoped that her friends could all have a nice time together. They needed it to keep moving forward.
Her white top fluttered with each step she took down the stairs as she straightened her purse across her shoulder. Turning the main lights off and sending the customary text to her mother, she excitedly made her way toward the front door when she felt the familiar vibration of her phone against her leg. Her door locked, Caroline stood on her porch, staring at the unknown digits flashing across her screen. With a nervous bite of her lip, she pressed to accept.
"Hello?" a familiar smooth voice greeted her ears.
"Stefan?" she asked to confirm.
"Hello, Caroline."
Sitting on the top step, Caroline took a calming breath before she breathed out her greeting.
"Hi"
"How are you? I hope I am not disturbing you?" Stefan's calm voice had a nervous tint to it and she rushed to reassure him, "Not at all."
Realizing the tinge of anxiousness in her reply, she closed her eyes feeling her cheeks warm before asking, "You needed some help? With school stuff?"
"Huh? Oh! No, no. Everything went well. You were a great guide. I didn't lose my way once" he reassured.
"I'm glad." She replied with a smile.
"If you are free tonight, could we perhaps meet?" Stefan asked abruptly.
Her fingers clenched around the device as her heart galloped a mile a minute while her brain frantically looked for an appropriate response. She knew Stefan was interested in her, she was neither stupid nor blind, but she didn't expect him to drop the question so soon. Today was, after all, their second meeting only. She wasn't even sure she wanted to pursue something so soon after her last relationship and if anyone asked, the special attention she paid to tonight's outfit in case of a chance encounter didn't count.
"I mean, I'm not really familiar with things around the town so I was thinking maybe we could meet for some food and hang out, get to know each other..." Stefan rambled on at her prolonged silence.
"Where are you?" she questioned, coming to an abrupt decision.
"I am home?" he replied confusedly.
"Do you want to hang out at the grill? I am meeting some friends tonight. You can tag along and I can introduce you to them, you may even share a few classes with some of them," she proposed.
Although they couldn't have lunch together due to her captain duties she knew he shared some classes with Bonnie and Elena from their repeated mentions of the hot new guy over texts. Maybe he just didn't know that many people and simply wanted to make a friend in a new town and she was reading the whole situation wrong. Then this would be the most apt way to handle the situation. They could meet in a neutral setting and he could gain some new friends as well. It was way too soon to think about anything more, she concluded.
"Yeah, I can do that. That will be great." He agreed, "At what time should I be there?"
"I was just leaving for the grill, so half an hour from now?" she suggested.
"Ok, I can do that." he acquiesced with an audible smile, "I'll see you then. At the grill."
"Yes, see you at the grill," Caroline replied before hanging up and holding a hand to her pacing heart. She should get a hold of herself if she wanted the night to pass without any embarrassing incidents. With this hope, she got into her car and drove towards the Grill, and if the speedometer indicated fast, well she wanted to be with her friends as soon as she could.
"His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with his uncle up at the old Salvatore Boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. And guessing from his birthday, he is a Gemini."
"You you got all that in one day?" Bonnie asked in amused surprise, not even a little staggered about Caroline's thoroughness. If there was anyone who could have gotten her filled in on the tea, it was Caroline. She knew she made the right decision to request the information from her.
"Please, I got all that before lunch ended." Caroline huffed, flipping her hair for good measure; proud of her journalistic tendencies of knowing everything that was there to know about anyone or anything she wanted, even though this time the source of her data was overheard conversations in the staff room during lunch when she was assigned file work by Coach.
"Never doubted your skills honey." She said with a laugh.
They made their way through the early rush of the grill with their drinks towards their usual table as Bonnie talked about the other rumors she had heard throughout the day. As they took their seat, the sight of Jeremy at the back with Vicki confirmed Caroline's suspicions that Elena was right to be worried about him and his ways of coping with everything. Every attempt to offer help had been declined but maybe the summer was enough of a time to be understanding and now he needed some tough love before he ruined himself with his destructive ways.
"Elena's late. She text you anything?" Bonnie asked while checking her own phone.
"No, maybe she got out late after her visit to the cemetery. I still don't know if giving her space was the right thing to do." They had decided to let Elena be after the stifling day she must have had with everyone's stares and condolences but her radio silence now worried her to rethink her decision.
"Maybe," Bonnie looked up and the sight behind Caroline caught her by surprise, "or maybe she got distracted."
Turning around her impish grin, Caroline caught the sight of Elena entering through the doors of the grill but her companion must be what caught Bonnie's attention.
Stefan walked in after Elena, both of them seemingly in a pleasant conversation. As if that was not surprising enough, the sight of Matt walking up to them and squaring up to Stefan was enough to get the gossip mills running. Matt was quarterback for their football team but he still fell short in front of Stefan's tall stance and broad shoulders as he greeted him with an awfully tense handshake.
Caroline was thinking whether to intervene to diffuse the tension when, as if he could feel her stare, Stefan looked up. Green eyes locked with blue one across the crowd. Holding in her gasp, Caroline waved and his face lit with an excited smile as if pleasantly surprised at her appearance, as if they had not just talked on the phone half an hour ago to meet at this exact place. Eyes fixed on hers, he made his way to her through the crowd and she allowed herself to roam a look over him as well. He had lost his jacket and was wearing a brown t-shirt which somehow with the Grill's lights made his gelled up hair look shinier than that morning.
"Hey," he stood before her with a soft smile, "I found you."
She wanted to say that the Grill was a fairly small establishment where every face could probably be seen with a cursory glance around but when she tilted her head up to look at him, the sight of his warm eyes curved in delight, made her unable to respond with anything more than a whispered sigh,
"You found me."
"He helped me out at the parking lot so I invited him along, I hope that's okay?" Elena said as she finally made her way over and as if snapping out of a bubble they both turned to girl taking a seat next to Bonnie.
"Oh of course it is," Bonnie affirmed with a wide smile, "You're the new guy right? I'm Bonnie, welcome this hellhole." She raised her glass of lemonade in greeting.
Ducking her head to hopefully hide her warming cheeks, Caroline scooted over to make space for Stefan. She could feel his stare as he took the seat before he turned to Bonnie,
"Hello, I'm Stefan."
"Oh I know, you are all anyone has been talking about today," Bonnie threw a mischievous wink at her before turning back to him. "So you were born in Mystic Falls?"
"Hmm, and moved when I was still young."
"Family?" she asked, continuing the interrogative flow of the conversation.
"My parents passed away, I live with my uncle,"
Stefan's simple response had Caroline jerking his way only to find indifference. Looking down at her clenched fingers, she could feel her chest ache at his emotionless, almost careless response. She was all too aware of memories which required complete dissociation if one hoped to live with them and witnessing someone else coping in the same lonely manner was heartbreaking.
"I am so sorry," Elena placed a sympathizing hand on his, eyes filled were her own grief. Stefan politely extracted his hand out before letting his hands fall on his lap beneath the table, "It's fine; it was a long time ago."
"Any siblings?" Bonnie asked, wanting to disperse the suddenly solemn air surrounding the table.
"Ah, none that I talk to," any further conversation was stalled as their waitress came to take their order. As Bonnie and Elena placed their order Caroline turned to Stefan only to find him already looking her way.
"I am sorry about your parents," Caroline searched his face for any signs of discomfort the conversation might have caused him but found none, "This was not how I wanted you to meet new people."
"Hey, I am okay. In fact I'm glad you invited me," his voice was soft as he placed a warm hand on her arm, "I know I don't look like it but I might have cried if you had turned me down." His fake pitiful face and teasing whispering tone were enough to earn a soft chuckle from her. "I'm glad. After all we don't want any rumors of bullying of the new kid. The student council doesn't have enough tissues," she teased back and they both nodded at each other with complete sincerity before dissolving into giggles.
Suppressing their smiles when the waitress turned to them, they placed their orders when Bonnie's sudden throat clearing made them turn to her. At Elena's subtle nudge, she said "So Stefan, since you are new you wouldn't know about the back to school party?"
At this sudden question, he turned back to Caroline for an explanation. "It's a party near the woods, a back to school tradition."
"Are you going?" Stefan looked at her with hopeful earnest eyes, making it evident that he wanted much more than just an answer for his question. Caroline could feel the piercing gazes from across the table but with the way Stefan watched her for an answer, nothing else mattered but him and her and her next words.
"Its tradition, I can't possibly miss out" Caroline replied with a small smile, and decided to take the risk, "You shouldn't either."
Stefan felt his senses overwhelm with the amount of sensations coursing through him. Her scent, her voice and especially those confident eyes and blushing cheeks brought back so many passionate memories to mind that he didn't want to wait any longer to have her back in his arms. But he couldn't act on these impulses; after all, she didn't know him anymore.
"If you are there, I'll be there."