Chapter 2

"Care, Caroline, come look what we got" , said Bonnie and Elena as they jumped on the couch besides Caroline who was painting her toe-nails.

"What is it Bon?"

"Careee…. its game season, the Harvard-Princeton football game is next week Care next week, the boys are all out practicing. Jeremy and Stefan too got selected on the team."

"Stefan's on the team?" Ugh what now along with being great in academics he is good in sports too?!"

"I know right! Isn't he the most perfect?", said Elena with dreamy eyes

"Yeah, perfect snob!", replied Caroline snapping her fingers to break Elena's state of dwam.

"He is not a snob Caroline, he is just effortlessly perfect" said Elena still swooning.

"Yes, exactly that I got it all under control vibe of his is so annoying."

"Just because you like to micro manage things and stress over everything does not mean everyone is like that Care", Elena was starting to now get irritated. She never quite understood Caroline and Stefan's equation, they never really talked much or weren't very friendly and there was always this tension also Caroline was easily annoyed by him but never really said anything bad about him she only really had only good things to say.

"You guys focus, we have so much to do", said Bonnie

"Yeah sorry", both said in unison

"Yeah so games season…..we have to shop! Also Care we decided that we would wear the crimson jersey and it was your duty to jazz it upppp so all three of us could match".

Caroline immediately got started on the jackets while Elena and Bonnie went ahead to shop for week long cute outfits. Caroline now had to make 5 jackets, Elena had asked her to make one for Stefan too for their 3 month anniversary and Caroline thought she would make one for Jenna too so she would match with them girls.

Caroline liked Jenna, she was very sweet also very strong, opinionated and driven. Jenna inspired Caroline

Caroline was working on Stefan's jacket when Jenna entered her dorm,

"Hey, hi, I just stopped by thought maybe we could hangout a bit….. but if you are busy I totally don't want to disturb."

"Oh no, infact I was working on this thing of yours, I thought us 4 girls could wear customized Jersey you know just a little jazzed up versions and dress up for the game."

"Oh my god Caroline thank you so much, is it this one? May I see it?" said Jenna pointing at the sewing machine.

"Oh no that's Stefan's, I thought I would make that one first since it had only some minor details to do."

"You are making one for Stefan?" Jenna asked with an amused look on her face.

"Yeah Elena wants to surprise him with one", said Caroline.

Jenna asked Caroline if she could help and Caroline gladly accepted the offer since it was way more work than she thought.

Caroline instructed Jenna on where to place the glass beads and the rhinestones.

They were enjoying hanging out Jenna never thought she would enjoy this kind of stuff but she was having fun and so was Caroline. They were bonding, sharing stories of childhood and plans of future to talking about absolutely nothing to discussing how much sugar was ideal for a cup of coffee to anything and everything.

Caroline and Jenna had been working on the jackets for over an hour now when Damon decided to join them and obviously demanded he'd get to have a jacket for himself too since he was the captain of the team (this piece of information did deeply shock Caroline) but agreed to give him a jacket if he agreed to help cause there was just too much to do and very little time.

All three of them got to work immediately. Damon was put on cutting and pasting duty. Jenna was still filling in the bead details while Caroline sewed the last button on Stefan's now buttoned jacket.

"Do you think Stefan will like this?", Caroline asked Damon.

"Stefan- plain and boring,

Jacket-plain and boring, of course… he will love it, it's perfect."

"So you are saying this is plain and boring!" said an irked Caroline

"Damon! Stop it! Stefan is going to love it Care, it is perfect" said Jenna

"Perfect? Really? I mean… ooooh but you know what will make it perfect? Three ducks and a cat sticker".

Jenna and Caroline shared a look, Caroline sighed and Jenna was curious.

"You know when we were kids Stefan brought home three ducks and a cat he found somewhere."

Caroline laughed in amusement and asked, "what were they called? Did they have names?"

"Oh yes the eldest duck is called Bubah , the middle one Wekweks and the youngest Puku and the cat is called Chichi."

Caroline and Jenna both burst out laughing and Damon watched them, brows furrowed.

"What are those names!", asked Jenna still laughing.

"Hey don't tell me that's Stefan's army. EVERYTIME we got into a fight all four of them would chase me down. Once they chased me for twenty minutes and finally Chichi jumped on me and I fell and then Bubbah bit my nose! I HATE THEM ALL."

Caroline and Jenna burst into laughter again.

"Hey, Hey it hurt like a bitch." Damon said in his defence.

"Aww babe" , said Jenna and kissed his nose.

"I am hungry ", declared Caroline.

"Me too I am starving", said Jenna.

Damon immediately texted Stefan GET FOOD!

"I got food", said Stefan entering with three bags full of food in his hands.

They moved to the small dining table by the window and placed the food on table

"Omg you brought curly fries!",said Caroline picking them up in excitement. Seeing her excited Stefan was about to offer her fries when Damon interrupted,

"Yeah for himself, he loves them and Never shares. Bad manners brother, Blondie here worked so hard on your jacket and you wouldn't even share the fries with her."

"Wait you made me a jacket?"asked Stefan."

"OH MY GOD DAMON! What part of it's a surprise did you not understand", said an exasperated Caroline.

"Elena wanted to surprise you I was just helping her. I cannot believe I ruined her surprise", she said covering her face with her hands.

Stefan shot Damon an angry look.

After a few minutes of assuring Caroline they sat down to eat.

"So what do you have in mind for my jacket Blondie?"

"You really think you are getting one now? You can forget about that jacket Damon."

"Hey,Hey I helped, did my part, we had a deal." Caroline shook her head in a no.

" Stefan c'mon give the girl her fries!" Stefan offered Caroline the fries.

"How about now?"

"Fine I will consider it", said Caroline accepting the fries.

Stefan really did never share his fries with anyone but was glad to see Caroline's face brighten with joy as she ate them, she looked really adorable.

Now that the surprise was no longer a surprise Caroline asked Stefan to try on the jacket. Stefan put it on and it fit him perfectly, Caroline had made the previously a pullover now into a button up jacket with 'SS' embroidered on the top left and highlighted the pockets with burgundy leather trim and along the trim embroidered 'Bubbah' in dark silver on the left pocket and 'Pukku' on the other pocket and on the inside of his jacket on the top left side was embroidered 'Chichi' and 'Weksweks' on the top right and below it she embroidered 'May Their Force Be With You'. All this was embroidered very delicately to make it visible only when paid attention closely.

Caroline was dreading Stefan's reaction to all the little details that she decided to add after getting too excited and carried away by Damon's story, maybe she even forgot that the gift was from Elena and not her.

"How did you…..? Damon!" Stefan launched at Damon and then one was witnessed another one of their brotherly fights.

Jenna and Caroline watched them laughing at their antics but then they dropped Caroline's favorite limited edition Jo Malone candle and that was it.

They both then silently sat down and got to work without a word fearing Caroline

Hours passed working, talking, laughing, locking eyes, stealing glances. They now finished working on Damon's jacket.

Elena and Bonnie returned with a lot of shopping bags.

"Care look what we…..", Elena looked at all of them wide eyed, surprised to see all of them there, seeing Stefan there.

"Stefan! Hey what are you doing here?" She turned to Caroline with a questioning look.

Caroline quickly got up and led them to her room.

"I know what you are thinking but don't worry Stefan's jacket is here safe in my wardrobe." Caroline showed Elena the jacket.

"Is this incomplete?" asked Elena.

"What? No it's fully done. You don't like it?"

"What is this? What have you written here?"

"Oh these are the names of his pets, you won't believe the story that Damon told me it's so…", Caroline's smile faded seeing the look on Elena's face.

"He will never like this Care."

"I think Stefan will like it Elena, it's cute and different", said Bonnie trying to assure Elena.

"I thought Stefan will like it understated without the bling and stuff" ,said Caroline.

"You mean boring? Just say it!" said Elena, her voice stern. "There was no need to insult him like this. I know you don't like him but this…"

Caroline was almost in tears listening to what Elena had to say.

"What is that?" Elena pulled out Damon's jacket from her wardrobe.

"It's…it's Damon's, him and Jenna wanted me to make one for him and I agreed and…", Caroline was rambling now, clearly very stressed.

Damon's jacket was more out there compared to Stefan's .

Elena was even more furious after seeing Damon's jacket. Bonnie tried to jump in and convince Elena but Caroline stopped her and told Elena that she would make a new one for Stefan to which Elena nodded and left the room. Bonnie gave Caroline a tight hug and left for her dinner date with Jeremy.

Caroline stayed back after Bonnie and Elena left and looked at the jacket and came to a conclusion that Elena might have been right, Stefan did not particularly seem happy ,I mean his first reaction was to hit Damon, she thought to herself.

Outside in the living room Elena sat next to Stefan kissing him. Damon had put Harry Potter on DVD sensing some tension and trying to ease it.

They continued working on the jackets, ordered some more food (Stefan ordered some extra curly fries he thought he would get to see Caroline smile again since she was extremely quite since coming out of the room).

They ate in silence watched some more movie in silence. When Jenna and Damon were ready to leave they saw Elena- her head rested on Stefan's shoulder had fallen asleep. Stefan himself almost dosing off did not realize the already asleep Elena. Caroline too had fallen asleep on the couch. Damon woke Stefan up and asked him to tuck Elena in her bed, Stefan picked Elena up and headed to her room. Jenna covered Caroline with a throw and then her and Damon left.

Caroline woke up to the noise of the door shutting, she looked around her room which was a mess and started cleaning.

"Caroline what are you doing?" asked Stefan walking out of Elena's room.

"Oh just cleaning up."

"Caroline it's three in the morning."

"Oh I know."

Caroline had just finished putting the leftovers aside and was now sorting the beads and rhinestones.

Stefan sat down and started helping her.

"It's okay you don't have to."

Stefan did not answer he just kept on sorting. Caroline held his hand to stop him.

It was still there the way he felt the first time she touched him, the same sensation, the jolt of warmth that her touch sent warmed his heart.

"You are mixing the whites with the transparent ones."

"What?" It took him a few seconds to collect himself and his thoughts.

"It's fine you really don't have to help."

He kept the whites and the transparent separate.

They sat there in silence sorting the mess neither said anything and it wasn't awkward the silence was rather comfortable. When they finished cleaning Stefan went back to his dorm .

It was the day of the game and four girls were wearing their glam jackets with sequins and beads.

Harvard Crimson won against Princeton Tigers and as per tradition Princeton was to host a party for the winning Harvard team and their friends and was held at the Princeton team's captain (Klaus) and vice-captain's (Kol) place.

Elena gifted the new jacket to Stefan after the game, Stefan was very excited to open his present he had loved the jacket Caroline had shown him, it was personal and special. He opened the gift, he was expecting to see the jacket he had seen before but this one was different, this one was deeper in colour , more leather slightly edgy. He liked this one too it was different -done in a very professional way no personal touches this time which made him sad, the other one had made him instantly happy spreading warmth through his heart whereas this one just wasn't happy.

Elena made Stefan wear the jacket, it somewhat matched with hers colour wise, her jacket also had more black and dark sequins on it.

"This looks so good Stefan, you look really hot", she said kissing him, "happy three month anniversary".

They all arrived at the party together, it was like any other college party.

Klaus stepped infront to greet them.

"Aah Damon, great game man", said Klaus congratulating on the win.

Caroline's eyes shot wide when she heard Klaus. She quickly turned her head in the other direction and tried to hide. Caroline quickly pulled Bonnie to the side.

Klaus saw her trying to hide.

"Bon hide me somewhere!"

"Why what happened?"

"Bon it's him it's him my summer fling."

"Omg Care he is hot!"

"Bon FOCUS !"

"I will but first let's get a drink",said Bonnie pulling Caroline towards the bar.

"I knew it Bon i knew this summer fling thing was a bad idea, ugh why did i have to ... and now he is here!"

"Where is he though? Klaus was nowhere to be seen.

" Maybe he wants to keep it a secret like or forget it you know like you want to...", said Bonnie trying to reason with Caroline aaannd failing.

"Why would you say that? So was it that bad?"

"What! Noooo don't overthink it Care, it's good right you didn't want him to make a big deal out of it , it's good."

"Yes, Yes, you are right, it's good."

Caroline was a little tipsy and the room was getting hot, she needed to get some air so she headed out in the balcony removed her jacket kept it in the seating area that was outside and moved towards the railing taking in the fresh air and the breathtaking view.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

Caroline jumped as she heard his voice and lost her balance.

Klaus moved forward swiftly and supported her holding her by the waist, " sorry love didn't mean to startle you."

Caroline smiled at him faintly.

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since the summer Rachel. " Caroline had lied about her name to Klaus.

"Caroline, it's Caroline."

"Caroline", he repeated. She had to admit he was sexy and the way he said her name was sexy too.

They stood there for long taking in the surroundings talking and reminiscing the summer. The cool breeze blowing Caroline's hair softly, she really was very beautiful. Hands still on her waist Klaus inched forward to kiss Caroline when they heard someone... Stefan cleared his throat .

"Stefan what did you do!" Bonnie smacked his hand.

Caroline and Klaus turned to the group that was staring at them.

"Don't mind us we will leave now", said Jenna.

"What! No we are not leaving", Damon moved and took Caroline's hand and brought her near rest of the group. "Never with the loosing opposition team Blondie!"

"Damon!", exclaimed Jenna, Bonnie and Elena in unison.

Caroline red with embarrassment asked to leave. Everyone left, Stefan and Klaus stood there glaring at each other. Stefan broke the stare picked up Caroline's jacket and headed down.

Next day Stefan knocked on Caroline's door.

"Elena is not here."

"I know i am here to return your jacket", he handed her the jacket and turned to leave but stopped and asked, " what did you do to my jacket?" He had to ask, it was making him sad, he wasn't able to stop thinking about it.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the one you made me try and the one Elena gave me are different."

" Oh Elena liked this one better", she simply replied.

"Then why not show me both?"

"Because it wasn't my gift to show! It was Elena's so she decided", her voice now raised.

"Well can i have the other one back?" , him matching her voice.

Marching towards him she shoved the jacket in his hands then put her hand on his chest with the intention of pushing him out the door but the warmth that she felt was distracting and she had to remind herself that she was mad at him.

"Just so you know I wasn't planning on embarrassing you by making that jacket", she screamed .

I thought you would like it", sadness in her voice.

"I...", he got door slammed in his face, "love it too", he said to himself, sad.

Caroline arrived at the Babington House a bit early than she was expected to come so she decided to have some tea while making a list of recipes she wanted Stefan to teach her to make. She requested a cup of Earl Gray. Sipping her tea and munching on cute mini sandwiches she was happily making her list.

Stefan was getting the kitchen prepared for the cooking class with Caroline. By the time he got the kitchen set it was 5:30 sharp and there was still no sign of Caroline. He decided to check with Jo if Caroline had arrived, when he saw her in the tea room. A look of amusement crossed his face watching her jump a little in her seat with excitement every two seconds and then continuing to scribble something in her notepad.

"Didn't take you for a tea kinda girl". Stefan joined her at the table with his own cup of tea.

"I wasn't, but since moving to London i have come to enjoy it a lot. Nothing like a cup of Earl Gray. What are you drinking?" She asked.

"I too am drinking Earl Gray actually."

"Wow you actually drink something besides Bourbon!"

"Very funny Caroline, show me what you are writing."

"Well this is the list of recipes i want you to teach me", she handed him the list.

"Caroline Forbes and her lists", said Stefan tearing the list to pieces.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"I thought you wanted to learn how to cook Caroline."

"I do!"

"Then why did you just hand me some random recipes you want to learn. If you just want me to show you how to make those i suggest you watch some Youtube videos and help yourself. It would save both of our time AND if you actually want to learn to cook we do things my way."

"Okay, Okay, we do things your way, no need to be so dramatic. And they say i am the drama queen ", she murmured the last to herself.

"Now if you are done with your tea may we start the class?"

"Yes Mr Salvatore."

They entered the kitchen. Caroline saw different types of vegetables spread on the massive countertop.

Stefan picked up a tomato and asked Caroline what it was.

"It's a tomato Stefan."

"Good."

"You are not going to make me chop all these are you?" She asked almost scared.

"No i am not going to make you chop these . Not today anyway. We are going to learn different types of vegetables today." He said as a matter of fact.

" Are you serious! I know my vegetables Stefan, i was taught those in kindergarten."

"Hmm so tell me what is this."

"It. Is. A. Tomato. Stefan", she tried hard to keep her calm.

"Yes, good now tell me if it is a vegetable or a fruit?"

"It's a vegetable! Duh!"

"Wrong, it's a fruit."

"NO, it's a vegetable Stefan and what's with the pop quiz on my first day? It's not fair, you did not ask me to come prepared."

" Caroline i am telling you it's a fruit. Why won't you listen? I AM THE TEACHER!"

"Can you team up tomato with chocolate?" Stefan looked at her all confused as to what she was asking. "Tell me Stefan can you eat tomato with chocolate?"

"No Caroline ofcourse not. Why would you eat a tomato with chocolate!"

"Well it's decided then if you cannot eat a fruit or use it with sweets and chocolates then , IT IS NOT A FRUIT STEFAN!"

They argued for another ten minutes on that and Stefan finally gave up concluding that tomato is a vegetable ( even if it's a fruit)

The rest of the class went on with Stefan explaining to Caroline the different vegetables and her rolling eyes at the one's she knew while also complaining about how difficult and ridiculous some vegetable names were to remember.

TOMORROW HERBS AND SPICES

COME PREPARED!

- Stefan