Caroline stood still at her place staring in the direction for a while. She was still processing the conversation that just happened. Well, it couldn't be a conversation as she never got a chance to say anything, or rather he never gave her a chance in doing so. She took a deep breath and went out of the building.
When she was in the parking lot, she saw him near his bike, but he was standing still. She tilted her head to get a clear view, and saw him staring at his bike questioningly. He was standing with his both hands on his hips with the frowned on his face. She moved a little bit closer to find any clue for his expressions, and when she figured it out, she bit her tongue to hold the laugh that was about to come out of her mouth. Someone had literally dismantled his bike, and left the unbolted pieces over the road. "Serves you best." she whispered to herself with a smug smile, and then started to walk towards her car, obviously crossing him, in the way.
"You must have pissed someone off so badly, that they did this to your bike." Stefan heard her and turned to look. She was trying hard to hold her smile, but was failing.
"Well, hard to say now." He sighed looking at his bike, or to be specific, the pieces of his bike.
"May be I am the one who did it. You should be careful, and behave better with me you know." There was a teasing smile on her face.
Caroline saw his lips curled up a little, but it happened for a fraction of moment. Caroline was somehow getting drawn to the mystery behind the face in front of her. She wanted to turn around and walk away from him, she wanted to be angry on his manipulative apology, but yet, there she was standing with him, trying to ease the situation for him.
"In that case, you should be the one to drive me to the school." He said pointing at her.
"Why should I?" she said, alerted.
"Why shouldn't you?" He gave her a challenging look. "For all I know, maybe it was one of your secret admirer, who saw me behaving like a scumbag with you, and purposely did this." He said teasingly. Stefan saw her smile going away, and he laughed inside his heart.
"Ah ha…. So you do admit that you were an ass with me yesterday!" she said pointing a finger on him.
"Uh, I thought I already did mentioned that earlier, when we were inside." He said with a frown brow. He was back to his serious look again.
"Not exactly." She said looking away. "Anyways, I can give you a ride…. If you want?" she asked him.
"I was joking. You don't have to worry, I…. will manage." Stefan said cautiously. His brain was bringing him to senses, and telling him to stay in his own build in fort.
"I won't bite, you know…. And I am going in the same way. Plus, safe fuel." She said encouragingly.
Stefan stared at her for a while. He couldn't believe the girl had already forgotten how he misbehaved with her, and instead of being pissed, she was trying to help him. He nodded finally and sat on the front seat.
They were on the road for two minutes, but it felt like ages, when the whole car was filled with an awkward silence. Caroline hated such situations, or when the other person tried to keep to themselves. She peeked at him from the corner of her eyes. Stefan was staring out of his window, deeply in his own thoughts. She couldn't fathom him, and it was killing her to know more, anything about him. She had only one information. He is the brother of infamous Damon Salvatore. She snapped herself out of her thoughts.
"What's wrong with me? Last time I fell for a Salvatore, and I scratched myself pretty bad." She scoffed at herself.
"So, what do you study here?" she asked, when she couldn't hold it anymore.
"Uh, I am doing a dual degree. So I am taking literature and medical classes." Stefan said without taking his eyes off the road.
Caroline gazed at her with astonishment.
"Wow, he must be a genius." She thought.
"That's sounds great." She said still not believing the choices of courses he was taking. Science and literature, like two different directions.
Stefan turned around to look at her when he heard the amused tone in her voice. When he saw her face, a smile came on his face. "You think, it's stupid." He stated by looking at her reactions.
"What….. no, I never said that!" she said faster than needed, and Stefan looked down and smiled. He didn't tried to give any explanations, and she didn't asked anything after the embarrassment.
"I will be going to the café, to grab my morning coffee, where do you want me to drop you?" she asked after a while.
"Actually, you can drop me there, I have to go to a shop nearby. So I can take my coffee too." He said.
She got happy to hear that, and smiled at him. "By the way, what should I call you other than 'the jerk from the café'?" She asked him, and he raised his one eyebrow on that. "Uh, it came out all wrong. My foot likes to stay in my mouth all the time, so just ignore my rattles." She said laughing nervously.
Stefan looked at her and couldn't stop himself from smiling. It was a long time since he smiled, since someone made him smile. He looked at her nervousness, and how it was making her all flushed. He was amused at the sight.
"Stefan." He said when he thought she was calm.
"And I am Caroline…. Caroline-"
"Forbes" he said before she could finish it. His smile was vanished somewhere. He looked in front of him, as if a series of memories and talks were flashing in front of him.
Caroline looked at him in surprise.
"Should I be flattered, that people actually know me?" She laughed to lighten the atmosphere, as she could see the change of expressions on his face. He didn't responded anything. Suddenly she felt fear jolting in her stomach. She was frightened to see the look on his face, and dreaded the things he knew about her, which was making him pulling away.
"Did Damon said something about me?" she asked him, her heart beating faster in fear.
Stefan jerked at the name, and was on the verge of losing it.
"Stop the car, I….. I think I can go from here." He was lost in his own thoughts somewhere.
"But I thought, we were going for the coffee." Caroline was confused and feeling a little insulted on his behavior towards her.
"I don't want it." He snapped. Stefan was shaking with little anger now, and he has to walk out of there, before he could control the monster to snap out on her.
"Did I said something wrong?" she asked him trying to reach out for the cause.
"Just stop the car, I am sorry, but I have to leave." Stefan tried to keep it in a normal tone. Caroline was taken aback for the sudden change of atmosphere.
She stopped the car on the side of the road, and without anything further to say, he opened his side of the door and walked away, never looking back at her.
Caroline sat there in shock, and couldn't understand anything that just happened. In a split seconds, their little bonding time went into spiraling and tasted bitter to her.
Stefan was standing with his hands on his face, trying to calm himself down, but he was failing. He removed his hands and looked into the mirror in the washroom. His eyes were red, filled with anger, with pain, and with tears. He has to vent it out or else he would kill himself. He closed his eyes, and took deep breaths in and out, trying to concentrate on the noises outside.
He had spent all his day in the Skull Bar, missing his classes and missing his life. He couldn't take it anymore, and it went to a drastic end with the last call he received. He was drowned with alcohol, and couldn't even stand properly. He managed to walk out of the washroom, and went towards the bartender to ask him for calling the cab. On the way, he couldn't help but hear the voice which was standing out from the rest of the noise.
"You need to let it go." Said Caroline, shaking Sarah.
"I can't, why did he do this to me?" Sarah was in tears, and drunk.
"Because he is a biggest jerk of the world who can't see the mistake of losing you and cheating on you. You are better than this." Caroline waved her hand pointing at the glass of whisky that Sarah was holding.
"What you need is some day off from him." Caroline tried to make her friend smile, who was upset over the guy she used to date for a while.
"Oh no, he is coming here and he is drunk." Said Sarah, when she saw Derek, her ex- boyfriend coming on their direction. Caroline blocked his way, when he tried to get close to Sarah.
"Hey, you are not coming anywhere near my friend in this drunk state." Caroline warned him.
"Get off my way, Blondie." Said Derek, and tried to shove her away. But, Caroline didn't gave him a chance, and punched him on his face when he tried to misbehave with Sarah. She didn't punched him too hard, but since he was drunk, he fell in one shot.
"Did I said how awesome you are?" said Sarah hugging her tightly and Caroline just laughed on that.
"Tell that to the boy next door." Caroline whispered to herself but Sarah was too drunk to hear anything.
Stefan saw the scene in front of him with the blurry eyes. Although it wasn't clear, but it was enough to give him the view of what was happening.
Stefan saw something fly by, but it could have been his imagination. He was too drunk to know the truth. At that moment, the glimpse of Caroline felt like he was looking at Lexi, but there was something more to her. He smiled at the thought of that, and closed his eyes with his phone in his hands clutching it too tight. He felt numb and the noise faded from his ear.