The last couple of weeks seemed to fly on by - at least that's what it felt like to Stefan. He had been busy with school - dealing with piles of papers and his head often buried in a book. The cold weather was already dissipating, and his new neighbors were not so new anymore. And while Stefan enjoyed speaking to Caroline, even the occasional random conversation with Damon in the hall - the same could not be said for Bonnie. Her and Caroline had grown close, but her grudge for Damon still stuck.

With his laundry basket placed on the kitchen countertop, Stefan went in search of a bottle of detergent. With everything else caught up on, he decided he should do the one thing he often put off - laundry. As he leaned over to look in the cabinet under the sink, Bonnie dashed towards the basket and shoved a handful of clothes in with his. Hiding them towards the middle so he wouldn't notice. Just as he stood up, Bonnie made herself busy by sorting through her mail on the counter.

"Oh hey," he tossed the bottle into the basket and picked it up, "I'm gonna throw a load in."

Bonnie nodded her head, acting like she was interested in a piece of junk mail they had received, "Sounds like a plan."

When he arrived, he came to a halt in the doorway when he spotted Caroline loading one of two washers that took up the small laundry room in their building. She was humming along to whatever music was coming out of her ear buds, something that brought a smile to his face. After watching her for a moment he headed inside the room.

Noticing movement out of the corner of her eye, Caroline turned around to see Stefan, "Hey!"

"Hey," Stefan dropped his basket onto the top of the dryer, "Doing laundry?"

"Is it that obvious?" she teased as she opened her bottle of detergent and poured a decent amount in. Once the machine was on and running, Caroline turned around and hoisted herself to sit up on the top of it, "The last two times I came back to put my clothes in the dryer they were both taken and my wet clothes were just sitting out for the world to see."

Stefan didn't look surprised by this, "Oh yeah, the couple in 1A are notorious for doing that. It's like you can't just wait?"

"Right?" Caroline shook her head with a laugh, "And I feel like I wasn't even gone that long for them to have also beaten me to the dryers? How much do they have to wash?"

"I'm scared to know," he threw his clothes into the wash, every so often glimpsing at her as she swung her feet back and forth and looked around the small room. The laundry room consisted of two washers and two dryers, but with only a few apartments in the building it was all that was needed. Except those rare moments the couple of 1A felt the need to occupy all the units. "So, how's your week going?"

Turning her attention to him as he spoke, all she could do was shrug her shoulders, "Not bad, how about you? No work or-," Caroline paused for a moment when she realized she didn't know what Stefan did for a living. She had seen him come and go, but she never knew where he was going - even from the few conversations they had shared. "You know, I don't have the faintest idea what you do. We've lived across the hallway for almost two months and I know nothing about you."

"The same could be said for you," Stefan gave her a shy smile and in that moment decided he would stay down there to watch his clothes. Not because she was there he told himself, but because 1A could show up any minute. "I'm in my first year of trying to get my PhD."

Her eyes widened, "Wow - really? That's amazing!"

"Yeah," he nodded as he observed her. He knew Bonnie had made small remarks about her when it came to him, and honestly when he had suggested they hung out that time a few weeks ago it was just to get her out of his hair. However, he couldn't deny he was a little curious about her, and she was very easy on the eyes. "I'm studying anthropology."

"That's the study of human societies or something?"

"Along those lines, yes." Stefan always felt somewhat awkward about talking about himself, but he knew sometimes that just came with the territory, "I teach a class and am also a research assistant. Bonnie and Lexi do not understand how I even have time to breathe."

Caroline reached up and pushed a few stray strands of hair behind her ear and nodded, "Lexi. Your former roommate or something, right? I know Bonnie mentioned her when we got coffee."

Stefan nodded, "You guys have been hanging out a lot, haven't you?" He didn't know why, but he was a little jealous. Granted he was glad that Bonnie had found a new friend, even if she had been hesitant at first.

"Here and there," Caroline shrugged, "I enjoy getting to know her though. I don't have a lot of female friends in the city, or a lot of friends in the city in general anymore."

"Oh?"

Chewing on her bottom lip, she looked down at her feet and just shook her head before turning to him with a smile, "A story for another day!" She didn't want to get into her drama from before, not when she barely knew him. Although Caroline had to admit that the little conversations she had shared with Stefan (even if they were of nothing of importance) she wanted to know more about him. "Okay, so I have to ask you something? Does Bonnie not like Damon?"

Hissing slightly, Stefan looked at her before nodding, "Yeah, she's not a huge fan of your roommate."

"She hasn't come out and told me, but I had a feeling she wasn't one of his fans. Damon has this ability to either make people love him or make people hate him."

"Apparently they had some run in prior to you guys moving in and she is kind of holding onto this grudge."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Caroline tried to remember if Damon had mentioned to her a prior run in with Bonnie, but she couldn't think of anything. "I don't remember him telling me anything."

"Maybe he forgot? I don't even think they spoke. He kind of bumped into her and then something about the subway," he shrugged his shoulders and reached up to rub the back of his neck, "I can't remember all the details because she was just ranting at high speed and I was trying to absorb what I could."

"Oh," her eyes widened, "Wait, does Bonnie not like me? I mean we've been hanging out so I would hope so, but oh gosh-," she noticed Stefan shaking his head and trying to say something so she shut her mouth.

"She likes you! Honest to god!" He chuckled and lifted his hand to make a motion, "Cross my heart and hope to die."

"Stick a needle in your eye?" Caroline asked with a giggle.

Her giggle only caused him to grin wider, "Stick a needle in my eye. She likes you, I think she didn't want to because of Damon, but she totally does."

"Was it the cookies?"

Tilting his head, Stefan licked his lips and gave a little nod, "It may have been the cookies."

Caroline couldn't focus on anything else but his lips after watching him run his tongue across them. "I-," she let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and reach up to push her hair out of her face. "We totally got off topic here. Weren't we talking about you and school?"

"That's boring," he chuckled.

"I find it fascinating."

"Well, what about you? What do you do, Miss Caroline?"

"I'm going to school for acting," she answered sheepishly, "I'm in the three year conservatory program, second year."

"That's actually really cool," he told her with a smile, "Do you guys do plays?"

"Kind of," she said shrugging, "We do like a smaller production, more like rehearsals. When I'm a third year it will be more intense, but I don't want to borrow you with the details."

"Hey, I find it fascinating."

Opening the mailbox in the entryway, Bonnie pulled out the contents and went through them to see if there was anything of dire importance that had to be opened. However, from the looks of it there was mostly junk mail and stuff for Stefan.

"Bon Bon!" Damon's voice echoed through the hall as he came down the stairs, "Fancy meeting you here."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and grumbled at the nickname, "The name is Bonnie. It's not that hard to remember, but then again I don't know if your mom dropped you on your head."

"You got claws don't ya?" he smirked as he pulled out his keys and opened his mailbox.

"Oh actually I'm really nice to people I like, but see you don't happen to be on that list," she slammed shut her box and turned towards the stairs.

Damon hummed softly, "I'm not sure what caused you to have a stick up your ass, but-"

"Excuse me?" she turned on her heel and stared at him, "I do not have a stick up my ass! And as for what happened, let me remind you." Taking a step towards him, she poked him in the chest as she told her tale. "Does physically running into a girl on the street and knocking her over ring a bell? How about not even offering help or apologizing to the fact all her belongings and coffee spilled? Oh oh, how about this! Maybe this will ring your memory. A few minutes later not holding open the subway door for that very girl!"

"What are you-," Damon stopped as his eyes widened and he looked down at the girl, "Oh. Oops."

"Oops?" She took a step back and her mouth hung open for a moment, "Oops? That's all you have to say?" Taking a deep breath, she shook her head and started up the stairs, but not before calling out, "fuck you!"

Glad to know he hadn't tried to follow her, she quickly opened her front door and went inside. Proceeding to slam the door behind her and toss the mail on the countertop - or attempting to at least. It all landed on the floor and she groaned just as Stefan walked out of the bedroom with a towel around his waist.

"What the hell just happened?"

"That man!" She bellowed as she threw her bag onto a chair and undid her jacket. She was worked up, and although part of her knew it was stupid, she was choosing not to listen to that part.

Quirking his eyebrow, he just stared at her as he dried his hair with a second towel, "Uh what man?"

"Him!" she motioned towards the door.

"Damon?"

"Yes, Demon," she rolled her eyes and sat down on the chair, but not before pulling it out and causing it to squeak against the floor.

"Um," Stefan was flabbergasted, "I'm confused right now."

"He tried to talk to me at the mailbox," she folded her arms on the table and laid her head down, "He didn't even remember what he did! And when I told him, you know what he said? Do you know what he said, Stefan?"

Stefan shook his head, "I don't know?"

"Oops! He said oops!" She threw her hands up and then leaned back in the chair.

"Well," he couldn't even think of anything constructive to say, "Maybe you should just avoid him or something? I mean you could-,"

She put her hand up and shook it, "Do not say let it go, Stefan Salvatore. I know where you sleep."

"Bon," he let out a sigh and went over to pick up the mail.

"AH!" Bonnie covered her eyes with her hands, "You're cute and all, Stef. But I do not need to see that like ever."

It took him a moment to realize that bending over had shown a little more than he meant to. "Sorry," he chuckled as he tightened his towel and looked down at the mail, "Bon, question."

"Hm?" she uncovered her eyes and looked at him, "What?"

"When you were talking to our neighbor," he thought it was better to avoid saying Damon's name in that moment, "Did you happen to like steal his mail?"

"What?"

He held up a manila envelope, "This is addressed to Caroline Forbes."

Caroline was folding her laundry when her bedroom door was thrown open causing her to look up at the intruder - Damon. "You know there is a thing called knocking!" she scoffed.

"I am above knocking," he threw some mail on her bed and plopped down, propping himself up against her pillows.

"Shoe's off bed now!" she hissed as she opened a drawer to put a pile of clothes away.

"Did you know our neighbor hates me?" he kicked off his shoes and tossed them to the floor.

Chewing on her lip, Caroline didn't bother to turn around and look at him, "Hm? Who?"

"Bon Bon," he sighed, "She just reamed me a new asshole. Apparently I had a not so fantastic run in with her."

"Yeah," she turned around and looked at him, "Stefan mentioned it."

"Oh Stefan, huh? And when were you talking to him?"

Rolling her eyes, she went back to paying attention to her clothes, "We were both doing laundry at the same time."

"A laundry date! Did you see his boxers?"

"Damon!" she groaned, "Are you sure you don't want to see his boxers?"

"Ha ha," Damon rolled his eyes, "But back to the point - Bon Bon dislikes me."

"Well, it probably doesn't help that you call her Bon Bon when you don't even know her," she pointed out curtly.

"Everyone loves the nicknames I give them."

"You don't call Stefan boxer boy to his face, do you?" As soon as the question left her mouth she shook her head, "I don't even want to know."

"I bet you do," he gave her a wink and then sat up, "So, yeah our neighbor hates us. Should I apologize?"

"You didn't apologize already?"

Damon just shook his head, "Wait do you know what happened? Honestly I am a little fuzzy on the details. If my memory serves me right I knocked her over and just kept walking. She mentioned something about the subway too though."

"You knocked her over and kept walking?" Caroline sighed, "Yeah Damon, you should really apologize. I want us to not have a war with our neighbors." Pressing her knees to her mattress, she lowered herself down, "I- I really like living here, I feel like things are good again for me."

"Caroline, I need to tell you something," Damon said seriously, unsure if this was the right time to do it. However, as determined as he was at the moment, when he looked at her face he knew he couldn't - not yet. "I- I ate your crackers."

"The ones I just bought? Damon!" She sighed and brought her hands up to rest on the back of her neck, "What am I going to do with you?"

"Put up with me?" he shrugged his shoulders and gave her a little small, "By the way, I'm really glad that are feeling like things are good again. I was worried, you know? I know I can be a real- well, I can be myself and that's not always the best for situations, but I didn't like seeing you like that."

"Thank you," she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Ew, Carebear slobber," he teased as he reached up and wiped his face on his sleeve.

"Get out," she laughed and pointed to her door.

"Bonnie!" Lexi Branson let out a snort as Bonnie regaled her with the saga of her run in with the neighbor, "You're too much!"

"What?" Bonnie exclaimed as she looked between Lexi and Stefan. The three of them had decided to go out for dinner and drinks to catch up since they hadn't had the chance to see Lexi all that much since she moved out of the third bedroom a few months prior. She had moved in with her boyfriend and between work, they did not get out together all that much anymore. "He was the one who didn't even apologize again!"

"Well, that's because men are stupid," Lexi explained with a smirk before taking a sip of her drink.

"Hey! I am sitting right here."

Lexi turned to her best friend and reached out to dishevel his hair, "You Stefan Salvatore are the exception to that rule."

"I don't know about that," Bonnie smiled, her annoyance slipping away, "He can be stupid at times."

Stefan rolled his eyes and brought his beer to his lips, "I hate you both."

"You love us," Lexi blew him a kiss and then looked back at Bonnie, "Is he at least cute? It would be my timing to move out right before we get a cute neighbor."

"He's rude, that's what he is," Bonnie grumbled, and looked at Stefan, "But you should ask Stefan about Caroline."

"Caroline?" With this Lexi's eyes lit up, and she abruptly turned her attention to the male of the group, "And who is Caroline?"

"Demon's roommate," Bonnie muttered before taking a mouthful of her drink.

He let out a groan and leaned back in his chair, "Caroline is Damon's roommate."

"And?" Lexi made a circling motion with her hand as she waited for Stefan to elaborate, but all he did was take another drink of his beer.

"And," Bonnie leaned in and gave Stefan a sickeningly sweet smile, "he thinks she's absolutely beautiful."

"I did not say that," he defended himself and turned towards Lexi, "I did not say that."

"And she baked him cookies."

"Us," Stefan clarified and motioned between him and Bonnie, "She baked us cookies to apologize for being loud the morning they moved in."

"A-K-A the only reason I like her," Bonnie sighed, "But no really, you should see the way he looks at her."

"What does she look like? What is she like? Someone give me details!"

"She's blonde with blue eyes," Stefan answered without realizing it.

Bonnie laughed and put her hand on Lexi's arm, "Oh you should meet her! We're actually taking a naked yoga class together on Tuesday."

The next thing either girls knew they were being sprayed with beer. Stefan's eyes widened as he spit out the liquid in his mouth, "You're taking a what class?!"

Lexi rolled her eyes and wiped off her face, "I'm pretty sure that has more to do with who you are taking it with than the fact you will also be naked."

"Stefan you know I do all that yoga stuff," Bonnie explained as she wiped her face off with a napkin.

"Bu-But why is Caroline doing it too?"

"I was talking to her and it came up in conversation. She was nervous about trying it, but was also intrigued and I've told her how Lexi and I have before and I'd go with her."

"Which by the way, I am so coming with you guys on Tuesday so I can meet Stefan's future girlfriend," Lexi smiled.

"She's not my future anything. You guys know I am not looking for a relationship," Stefan said plainly and looked down at the table.

"For fucks sake," Lexi sighed and reached over to grab Stefan's hand, "Stefan we love you."

"We do," Bonnie added with a nod, "But you need to get back out there."

"And please don't say you are out there because bringing home girls you met at the bar does not count. You deserve to be happy," Lexi frowned, "We're not saying you have to be in a relationship."

Bonnie decided to take over, "But you don't have to stay away from them either because of Elena messing you up."

"She didn't mess me up," he grumbled, feeling uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going.

"We know you thought she was your epic love. Heck, we thought that too, but it didn't work out."

"Can we just please stop this fucking conversation?"

Both Bonnie and Lexi turned and looked at each other before nodding, "of course!" Bonnie stood up, "How about I get us another round of drinks?"

Once Bonnie was out of sight, Lexi gave Stefan a long hard look. She often worried about him, but she knew that he was going to do what he was going to do, but that wouldn't stop her from butting in from time to time. "You know, we're only messing around with you. About that Caroline thing that is."

"Yeah," he pulled his bottom lip into his mouth and scanned the bar before turning his attention back to Lexi, "Bonnie just keeps-"

"She wants you to be happy," she cut him off, "We only want you to be happy. I won't push this conversation, but if there is a chance that you can be happy then take it. Oh and please don't tell me studying all day long makes you happy."

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

"Hm," running her finger around the rim of her glass, Lexi could not stop herself from asking a question, "So, do you plan on taking a girl home from the bar tonight?"

He avoided her gaze and finished off his beer, "Busy morning."

"Uh huh," She turned her face to hide her smirk. Maybe all he thought was Caroline was pretty, but Stefan was notorious for his one night stands, mostly to bury his sorrow. Lexi wasn't going to say it, but she had a feeling his possible attraction was the actual case and not a busy morning. "Those busy mornings sure mess things up, huh?"

"Why are you being weird?" he didn't want to deal with any of this, "You and Bonnie both. Like I have such weird friends."

"And you're stuck with us forever."

Authors Note: Well, I am getting the third chapter out way sooner than I had anticipated! I had originally considered adding another part to this, but I am thinking it will fit way better in chapter four. I found myself listening to Daughter - Youth on repeat all morning as I finished this chapter. I will probably compile a playlist at some point for the story and post it over on tumblr at MAKEMEABANELING. Which you are more than welcome to follow me on! I do post sneak peeks, and if people want will totally post other things for the story as well. Okay, so this is turning into a ramble!

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Bonnie amuses me greatly, and don't worry there will definitely be more Damon and Bonnie moments coming soon. Perhaps a little event to make things go smoother! Oh, and there are so many secrets to be revealed! Thank you again, and please please please review! xoxo