September, 2003
"So today's plan is fixed right?"
"Yup. I will directly meet you at El Gastro." Caroline was keeping the phone between her ear and her shoulder, while checking out the bunch of mails, going through the envelopes one by one.
"See you." Jesse ended the call from the other line, and Caroline put the phone on the table. She was so concentrated into reading the letters, that she didn't notice when Bonnie came out of the room. It was one of their sleepovers. But Bonnie used to stay at her place most of the time.
"Are you leaving already?" Caroline's eyes were still on her letter when she asked her.
"How do you know that I was going?"
"Bonnie, I don't have to look at you to know the details about you, okay."
Bonnie laughed at her adorable best friend, and took the couch beside her. "I can tell the same, you know."
"What do you mean?"
Bonnie waited for her to look straight at her, and when she didn't she snapped her fingers in front of her. "Hey when I talk to you, look at me. Don't try to hide okay."
"I wasn't… I wasn't hiding anything."
"Of course you weren't. So did you called Stefan?"
"I did, and he looked kind of busy."
Bonnie raised an eyebrow waiting for her to tell more. Caroline released a deep sigh on the silent persistence of Bonnie. "Stefan is a really good friend of mine. Kind of best friend. I can't believe in just few months, he became kind of close to me."
"And?"
"And I don't want to lose him. I really don't know why, but nowadays we don't have much time for each other. When I am free, he is not and when he is… well, I really don't know if he is even having any free time. Maybe he is just busy with studies or Ivy."
"And you are okay with it?"
"Yeah." Caroline told her with the straight face, and Bonnie could exactly read her eyes. And looked like she really did moved on. "Look, Stefan is a really good guy, and I am with Jesse now. I would rather keep him in my life than to whine about the little crush, you know."
"When did you grew up so much?" Bonnie put her one arm around her best friend, and pulled her closer in a hug.
"I will never grow up for you Bonnie Bennett."
"Good for me." Bonnies started to laugh when Caroline bumped her elbow into her stomach softly.
"Weren't you leaving though?"
"Oh, yes. Stop making me late for work Caroline." Bonnie said in the way mimicking someone familiar, which Caroline couldn't let to slip from her observation.
"Were you mimicking someone?" she narrowed her eyes.
"Why? Did it looked like I was?" Bonnie threw a question back at her while walking towards the front door.
"Whatever!" Caroline rolled her eyes and stood up to get ready for her own work.
"Care?" Bonnie was standing on the door, when Caroline turned around. "You deserve the best of the world."
Caroline grinned at her, and replied "We both do."
/\
When Caroline met Jesse in the evening, he smiled and looked at her as if she was the only girl he ever have seen on this world.
"You look gorgeous." He commented when they took the booth side of the restaurant.
"Thanks." Caroline returned a smile.
"You are making me feel like I have never seen the girl in my whole life." Jesse chuckled, and Caroline almost chocked containing her laugh. People have flirted with her. But the cheesy kind of lines never worked on her.
"So, is this how you flirt with other girls?" she raised both of her brows, teasing him.
"Ha, I wish I could flirt like others. But, I am kind of a serious guy."
"Why are you saying that?"
"Tell me about yourself, something that I don't know." He deflected the question to her instead.
"Well, my life is sometimes very exciting and sometimes it's so tragic, I feel like throwing up."
"It can't be more tragic than mine."
"Well there are instances."
"Like?"
"I sucked at mathematics in high school." Caroline started.
"I dropped out of one of the class."
"Well, I am a control freak with insecurity issues."
"I am over-possessive about my things."
"Like, my own boyfriend who had issues in his family business and went for a revenge path and left me, and when he came back he thought that I was making out with his mortal enemy. Beat that." When she blurted the truth out she felt like it was the four glasses of wine talking at the moment.
"Well I actually caught my girlfriend making out with my best friend."
Caroline looked at him in silence, nothing to say in words to him. "People usually leave me." She said softly.
"Something in common, it seems." Jesse held her hand, giving it a light squeeze and gave her a sly smile. "At least, Stefan seemed nice though."
Caroline's mind went numb on his name. Apart from Bonnie, and other common friends, Jesse had met Stefan as well. And it surprised her that out of all of those people, he chose to take particularly Stefan's name.
"Yeah… he is….. He is one of the best people I know."
Jesse nodded slowly, smiling once again as if he knew more than he was showing her.
/\
When Caroline reached home, she finally checked her landline which had ten voicemails. All belonging to the same voice, the one she was dying to listen to. Not because she still felt something, but because she missed her friend.
Hey Caroline, it's me Stefan. Just wanted to check on you. Call me back…
Hey, it's me again. I was really busy lately so couldn't call you. Hope you are doing fine….
Hey, once again me. You must be thinking that I am bugging you or something, but it's been half an hour or so, and you usually call me back when get the message…
I hope you are not avoiding me?
You don't think I was avoiding you right? Because I wasn't.
Ca-ro-line, just take the call already.
Or are you busy with Jessssss
Caroline's mouth was a little open in a shock. Stefan had left one sentence voice messages on her phone. And by the end of the messages, his voice was slurred and she knew that he was drunk calling her.
She called him back, and after ten seconds or so she heard his "Hello."
"Hey, did you called me?"
"Where were you?" He jumped straight on the question, making he frown.
"Uh I was out at the dinner."
"With Jesse!" The irritation was prominent in his words.
"Stefan, are you drunk?"
"What if I am?" his voice slurred once again.
"Why were you drunk calling me then?"
"Because you are my best friend. And you are ignoring me."
Caroline's heart raced as if she had been running for a while. Best friend! Stefan had never called her his best friend. They were good friends, close to each other, the high-school classmates who met after a while, and ended up being friends. But, when did she became his best friend?
"And moreover you are trying to be with someone who is not your type."
"Stefan, I have called you lately but every time I did, you were busy." Keeping the thoughts aside she continued.
"But… But you didn't come to see me either."
"You could have done that too, you know."
"I did, you know. I came to meet you. And when I came, you were going out to on a date." He pressed on his last word.
"And how many times did I called you after that Stefan? God, Stefan we both were busy, what's your point."
"Never mind."
Caroline snapped at his tone. "You know what Stefan? I hate you for ruining my peaceful night for me. We will talk when you are not drunk and when we can have a normal conversation."
And without furthering the talk, she cut the call. Her one hand automatically went on her head, keeping it straight. She was getting confuse at Stefan's behavior.
Neither Caroline tried to call him, nor did he.
/\
It had been a week since she talked to him last, which wasn't a good one either. She took the basket from the aisle of the grocery story, and went straight to the ice-cream aisle. She was looking for one particular flavor, which wasn't anywhere to be found, and that was making her cranky. Not like there were not many other things occupying her mind at the moment.
"Are you looking for this one?" She heard the guy talking to her from one corner. She turned around, with wide eyes. Tyler was smiling at her, with the tub of Choco-chip truffle in his right palm. It was a common flavor but the product company mattered to her.
"Tyler!" the name came as a sigh from her mouth, when he put the ice-cream in her basket. "What are you doing here?"
"I was waiting here for the basketball match to start." Tyler rolled his eyes and smiled. "Of course I am here for taking out the grocery."
"You don't do grocery." Caroline laughed nervously, trying to think past the awkwardness. Last time she met him, he went all wolf angered person on her.
"People change all the time." It was nice to see him smiling and conversing with her with not that much of an uneasiness.
Caroline answered him with her shy smile.
"So what's going on?" he asked her.
Caroline raised an eyebrow, as her mind was going to their last conversation back in the party, and he sensed that as well.
"I am sorry. I shouldn't have behaved the way I did with you. Anyways you find the good in people, so…"
Caroline frowned at him. He still was oblivious to the fact that even though she was drunk, and even though she was standing so close to Klaus, she didn't kissed him. He just assumed it by the way they were standing, and he was still holding on to that. She was tempted to tell him that he was wrong about her, but then her brain told her, what's the point, and she backed off.
"How is Stefan?"
She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw him talking.
"Good… I don't know, I mean, we have been busy lately, and didn't have much time to talk to each other." He paid for her ice-cream, and they headed out of the door.
"Well, I didn't know you two…. You know."
"No, I don't actually."
Tyler was confused on her reaction. "Are you two not dating?"
"Who told you that?" her eyes went wide and he could clearly see the vein on her forehead popping out.
"No one, I just assumed it."
"Well, we are just friends."
"Oh." The confusion became more visible all over his face. "Well, I have to run now. Liv is waiting at the apartment for me."
"Sure."
"Nice to see you, Caroline."
"Yeah… same." Caroline looked up and cursed under her breath. "Are you testing my patience or something? Why the hell everyone is jumping on this assumption, when there is NOTHING happening between us. Ugh." She stomped her feet and went straight towards her apartment. She needed to have that ice-cream even more now.
/\
"Bonnie, stop pulling me into this."
"Come on Caroline, from work to home and home to work. The Caroline I know, doesn't do that."
"So what does she do?" Caroline crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"SHE knows how to live the life, SHE can make even a boring stone lively. SHE knows how to make things fun."
"So, you decided to drag me in this stupid carnival!"
"Hey, it's not stupid okay. Let's remember the high school time, and ride off our worries for today, shall we?" Bonnie dragged the not so interested Caroline again, even though she scoffed on her.
Caroline and Bonnie almost bumped into Stefan and Lexi on the way, and the air around them started to feel weird.
"Hey, I didn't know you are coming here as well." Lexi went for a hug with Caroline, while Stefan stood at his position as if glued to the place, and his eyes fixed on Caroline.
"Breathe Stefan." Caroline heard Lexi whispering to Stefan.
"Hey." It took him a century to say one syllable word to Caroline, and she replied him with her "hey" as well.
"God, you and your heys. Don't you have anything else to say?" Lexi's complaints were synced with Bonnie's nods.
Caroline waited for Stefan to say something. She was still angry at him for letting her go just like that, ignoring her as if her friendship didn't mattered. And moreover he could do the drunk call but he wasn't able to talk to her straight now. When Stefan remained silent, it irked her even more.
"Nice to see you, Caroline." Stefan started again.
"That's it?" Caroline snapped, which was the beginning of her statement. "That's what you have to say after meeting after like ages. "Nice to see you." I mean, you can ignore all of my calls and my voicemails, and one day I miss your calls and you get drunk and blame me for ignoring you."
"Caroline," Stefan looked around to see the faces of Lexi and Bonnie, whom Caroline has forgotten were standing there. "Caroline, I am trying okay."
"You are trying?!" Caroline laughed humorlessly. "This isn't trying okay. This is far from trying. Anybody of my friend could have bombarded with me here. It was coincidence that we met here otherwise you were not even trying to talk to me. At least Tyler knows what apologizing means."
Stefan frowned at his name. "Yes, Stefan he apologized. I was shocked but that is something I call TRYING, okay. So, don't say that you are trying or something." Caroline took a breath after the endless words she threw on him, like it was on the brim and was waiting to explode.
Stefan nodded, looking away from her, and turned around, leaving everyone standing there. That was the moment Caroline realized the other company around her, when they stared at her in exhaustion.
"What?" she asked them in the same angry tone she used on Stefan.
"Caroline, you shouldn't have said that." Bonnie's face was serious and Caroline didn't know why her own friend was not taking her side.
"Why? Did I said something wrong?"
"Yes, Caroline you did."
"God, Bonnie, as a friend you should be taking my side not his."
"I am not taking side Caroline, but you shouldn't have said what you said about Tyler."
Caroline remained silent, because she knew there was something off about the topic, something she didn't know.
Bonnie sighed and continued. "Stefan and Tyler had a fight."
"What? When?"
"At the party. When he misbehaved with you, apparently Stefan punched him."
Caroline's heart stopped at once on the new information. It was hard to sink in the news. "Since when did you knew about this?" she asked her slowly.
"I heard someone talking about this by the end of the party."
"And you are telling me this NOW?" Caroline's anger shifted from Stefan to Bonnie. She turned her face to look at Lexi. "Did you know about this as well?"
"Caroline, the whole party knew about the tiff. Hell, even the mirrors of my washroom knew about it."
"Also, bringing you here in this carnival was kind of his idea." Bonnie's words were hard to digest now. "He knew that how much you love such kind of things, I mean Carnivals, and festivals, and he also knew your hectic schedule these days. He just wanted you to have some relaxed time and have some fun."
Caroline's eyes found Lexi, pleading for a helping hand. Yes, Stefan did avoided her, but her whole speech about him not trying was eating her now.
"Don't look at me. Your mess, you both solve it." Lexi held her hands up, and Caroline knew that the only person she had to find now was Stefan.
She looked for him everywhere, and finally when she found him sitting on one of the bench, she took a breath in relief. Without any word, she took the seat beside him, sitting inches away from him.
"You should have told me… about Tyler, you know."
Stefan looked at her in confusion, as if she was talking a bird language. "You punched Tyler."
The frowned head smoothened, and he took his eyes off of her and buried in his hands on his lap. "I didn't do it to let you know about it." He mumbled the words softly.
"Why did you do it Stefan?"
He looked back at her, like she should know better than to ask him the mere question. "Because he was wrong, and he shouldn't have had talked to you like that."
Caroline could feel the lump in her throat, and her eyes itching to drop the tear developing there. But she contained them. "I am sorry for the way I talked before." She turned her face to look straight.
"You were right though. I should have been trying."
"You were trying-"
"I should have been trying harder then. And I am sorry for drunk calling you that night. I shouldn't have done that."
The night was glowing with the lights of the carnival, and even though there was the hustle of the public around them, the only voice that mattered to her right now belonged to him.
"Just tell me you have accepted my apology, and then you won't have to deal with me."
"Is that what you think I will do?"
"I don't know… you tell me."
"On one condition." Caroline saw him frowning on her words. "I will accept your apology, only when you will accept mine."
Stefan chuckled on her answer, and she did the same. For a minute the silence started to crawl into their space. Since when were the words so difficult for her to phrase into a sentence?
"When you told me that you hated me… that was pretty much the worst thing I had heard… in a long time."
Caroline couldn't help herself but to look at him, and feel guilty for speaking that word for him. "To tell you the truth, I never really hated you… and I don't think I can ever hate you, Stefan."
His looks lingered on her and stayed longer than she ever thought.
"So, are we friends again?" He asked softly yet cautiously not wanting to read too much into the things happening.
Caroline laughed and wrapped her hand on his hand, on the bench. "What do you think dummy?"
Stefan laughed as well but it was more like the sighs he took, releasing the tension, relaxing his muscles.
A/N: Hey long time right. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks to all of you who are reading this, and were waiting for the update. Love you.