May, 2003
They started to meet more often, and that weekend they were going for a movie.
"So, all set for your date?" Bonnie asked in between the sip of her coffee.
"It's not a date."
"Then why are you getting worked up just for a dress. You have been standing in your closet for about four hours now."
"Hey, A) I am Caroline Forbes. I always wants to look good. And B) don't exaggerate, I have been here only for two hours."
"Weren't you like into Stefan or something?"
"I was."
"Then?" Bonnie prompted, pushing to open up more.
Caroline sighed and turned around to face Bonnie. "Then…. we became friends, and in this friend-zone, everything is delicate. One wrong step or thought, and the relation is ruined."
"Then why do you still taking that wrong train, Caroline?"
"I…. "Caroline had no answer to that. She had tried to stop herself. But, she always ended up walking into that train, and watch him smiling at her. "I don't know."
They were going to meet at the common point near the fountain square. She walked straight towards the spot from the bus stop, and Stefan was already sitting on one of the bench.
"I thought the time was supposed to be 1 p.m." Caroline looked at her watch, which was saying it was around 12.50 p.m. of the day.
"It is."
"How long have you been here?"
"Not much." He looked somewhere else, as if he was trying to escape that question.
There was something in the white shirt he used to wear. Caroline's heart started to explode with the way he looked in that shirt. But, then it was the effect of Stefan Salvatore on Caroline Forbes. They started to walk towards the movie theatre, side by side, with Caroline talking and Stefan listening to her.
"I am boring you, right?" she asked him after a while.
"No, of course not."
"Then, what is it? Why are you silent today?"
"Um, because I talk less." Caroline laughed at him, while he smiled.
"No, I mean what is it that's bothering you? You can tell me." He sighed but didn't say anything. "We are friends, and we can tell each other things, and trust each other with their worries." Stefan nodded and his eyes bored into his shoes.
"I wanted to tell you something?"
"What?"
He took a step closer, and raised his thumb towards her face. "You have dirt on your cheek." He rubbed his thumb softly on her cheek, and she laughed lightly.
"Is it about Elena?" Stefan was shocked to see how easily she guessed it right.
"They seem happy together." He looked at her face and continued. "It's not that I hate them for being together."
"Then what is it?"
"Every time I tell myself that I have moved on, or I am moving on, a part of me comes out that still couldn't shake her."
Her face dropped on hearing his thoughts, but she gave her honest answer as she always did. "Well, its normal, Stefan. These things couldn't go away just because you declared to be moving on."
"Then how can anyone ever… seem to move on?"
"I don't know… maybe one day you will meet someone, and you will fall madly in love with her… and at that moment… you would have moved on, without even realizing it."
He didn't know how and when, but he was already feeling alive again. As if she flicked a switch, and everything became refreshing, and normal for him.
"So I have put the popcorn in the microwave, pizza is on its way, and would you like to have coke or something stronger than that?" Caroline was looking into her collection of movies.
"I am fine with anything, but first of the important question is what are we watching?" Bonnie came out of the kitchen and jumped on to the couch.
"I am still looking for a good one."
"mmm… anything is good." Bonnie was lost in her own thoughts while smiling of her own.
"Bonnie?" Caroline called her once she saw her not being normal. "Um, why are you acting like this?"
"Like what?"
"Acting all weird?"
"Am I?" Bonnie was abnormally cheery, and the detective inside Caroline was dying to figure out the reason for the same.
It wasn't even a second when Caroline deciphered her best friend's happy face, and her jaw almost dropped. "Bonnie Bennett! You met someone didn't you?" Bonnie started laughing on watching the excited all over Caroline's face. "OH MY GOD, BONNIE. I want all the details. Tell me EVERYTHING."
"What about the movie?"
"Screw the movie. We are gonna talk about the mystery guy. This will be like our high school slumber."
"There is not much to talk about. But, Ben is an architect, and we bumped into each other on the road, when he was running with his sketches on the pathway."
"What's the name again?"
"Ben."
"Bonnie, do you have any idea how much you blush when you take his name." Caroline teased her.
"Like you do when you think about Stefan." Bonnie raised her eyebrows, and teased her back.
"Hey... I don't… I don't blush, okay."
"Yeah, sure if you say so." Bonnie said sarcastically. "By the way, how is everything between you two? I mean how far did you reach?"
Caroline sighed. She didn't know the answer to that. "Well, we are friends for sure. And I think somewhere he is still stuck on Elena, and I don't think he is looking for something new. At least not right now." Bonnie looked at her, thinking if she should keep the information she had to herself or not.
"What? Why are you looking like that?"
"When I was having a dinner with Ben last night, we saw Tyler."
"Okay, you saw him. So what?"
Bonnie didn't know how to proceed. "He was with Liv, Liv Parker." Caroline was going to say something else, when Bonnie completed her sentence. "And they were kissing each other."
The room became so silent that Caroline was able to hear even her own heartbeats. "Ben is Tyler's friend, and he said they have been dating for around three or four months now."
"We broke up around three months ago." Caroline stated almost angrily.
"I know… Caroline are you okay? I just thought you should know."
Caroline looked at her lost at the words. "Yeah… Yeah I am fine. It's good that he found someone. Good that the whole world is moving on. And here I am stuck on someone who is stuck on someone else." Her laughs were humorless, and Bonnie regretted to bring the topic of Tyler.
"Caroline, I know how it feels to see one to be going in for the new relationship while you are still single and-"
"I am fine with that Bonnie. You know what? Today isn't about worrying. It's about celebration that you found your Ben. And praying for the hope that my Ben can move on in his life." She stood up and walked towards the kitchen.
"Where are you going?"
"I need something stronger than coke now." To tell the truth, she wasn't feeling fine after hearing about Tyler. But she can deal with such things.
She thought that the slumber will be a blast, instead it turned out to be gloomy inside her head. But, she was stronger than that, and she wasn't going to be affected by any of it.
"Are you okay?" Stefan looked at her once, and it was enough to know that something was off.
"Yeah, why did you asked?"
"Caroline, if something is bugging you… you can tell me. You know that right?"
She looked at him, and her looks followed with an "I know." However, in reality she was fighting with herself on whether she should tell him about Tyler or not.
She chose to tell him about the conversation with Bonnie last night.
Silence was engulfing them for more than ten minutes, when they reached their destined station. And that was the moment, when he decided to finally tell her what he had been trying to say for a while.
"Tyler is a dick. You know that, right?" Caroline was almost shocked to hear him calling Tyler like that.
"Stefan, he is not-"
"He doesn't know what he lost…" he looked straight into Caroline's eyes, and took one step closer to her, and she cursed her heard to thump like a maniac at that very moment. She never realized when her hand was enclosed between the palms of his hands, and his thumb stroking the back of her hand, slowly, in circular motion.
"You are going to meet someone who you deserve, Caroline."
Caroline laughed lightly, the lump in her throat was making it difficult for her to talk.
"Thank you… for saying that." She was wishing that someone to be him, but maybe time will tell what she will end up with.
"I am just saying the truth."
"Or, you are just saying that because I told you the same last time, you know as a return gesture." Caroline decided to lighten the mood, and so she started playing around with the words.
"Is that what you think I am doing?" Caroline's smile dropped when she saw the seriousness on his face. Looked like he was really hurt.
Shit.
I shouldn't have said that.
"Stefan, I didn't-"she started, but it was getting hard for Stefan to keep the composure, and the hint of a smile was already there on his face. Caroline tilted her head, figuring out the little play he was doing with her, and slapped his shoulder.
"SO funny, aren't you?" She commented
"But, did that work?" he asked still smiling, and Caroline shook her head.
Her thoughts turned from Tyler to Elena, and she was still confused with the fact that how can anybody leave him. How can someone even try to break a heart like the one he had.
And the thought of losing him was scarier than a wardrobe malfunction to her those days.
A/N: I really love the response I am getting for this fic. Thank you so much for all your love. Don't forget to let me know what your thoughts are :) Happy reading