Chapter 18

With their spring break coming to an end it was time to pack up and head for the airport for their flight home. Things had become quite hectic in the morning as everyone was rushing around packing their suitcases and trying to be sure nothing was forgotten. The girls moved around the bedroom collecting their stuff rather silent and Jenna and Bonnie couldn't help but notice the distance Caroline and Elena had been since the other night. The two were standing back-to-back packing up their bags but seemed miles away from each other.

"Everything okay with you two?" Jenna asked as she watched the two best friends act like the other wasn't there.

"Fine" they both answered without even acknowledging the other. They both looked up at Jenna from their bag but while their mouths said fine, their body language told a different story.

Elena seemed to be aware that Jenna wasn't very satisfied with that response but before Jenna could say anything else to them, Elena zipped up her bag and as she tossed it over her shoulder and walked out of the room.

This left Jenna and Bonnie standing there, knowing that something had definitely happened between the two friends. Caroline wouldn't make eye contact with the girls as she continued to pack up her bag and tried to ignore the stares from Bonnie and Jenna.

This only confirmed to Jenna that something was going on or had happened and it was definitely more then Caroline trying to get Elena to go back to Stefan. Elena looked pissed off about something and Caroline look as if she was guilty of something. Jenna also saw that the girls seemed very distant at the bonfire last night so it seemed like it had to be a big issue that was coming between the two friends.

"Caroline what's going on?" Bonnie asked as she moved closer to Caroline and trying to find out what had happened.

"Nothing everything is fine" Caroline assured her but not very well.

Jenna was standing there rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest as she shook her head. "God that word fine has been used all week it has no meaning anymore. Elena has used it as he answer to everything so what the hell is going on?" Jenna asked again but more firmly.

Caroline turned to look at Jenna and the guilt just grew even more on her face. She seemed to be on the verge of tears as she looked at Jenna as if pleading her not to ripe her apart for what she had done because she herself knew what she had done was unforgivable.

"What is it?" Jenna repeated. She wasn't about to let Caroline leave without informing her about what the hell was going on.

"I kissed Stefan" Caroline confessed as she started to cry while Jenna and Bonnie's jaw dropped at the new piece of information that was being revealed.

Jenna was staring at Caroline as if she thought that she might of heard her wrong when she said she had kissed Stefan but when the tears were pouring down her face she knew she had heard right. Without saying a single word to Caroline, Jenna ran out of the room after Elena now that she knew what was wrong.

"Jenna!" Caroline cried out as Jenna ran out of the room but Jenna didn't turn back to answerer her.

Elena brought her suitcase to the front door and set it down on the floor along with everyone else's. Soon they would be heading for the airport and this spring break trip would be over. Her beach days had met their limit and she was definitely ready to go home and put this spring break trip behind her. With a sigh she peaked her head out the front window to see that that Damon and Ric were packing up the cars for the trip to the airport.

Turning around Elena almost ran into Stefan as he was bringing his bag out to set it with the others. The two made eye contact and the tension between the two was so thick it could be cut with a knife. They both were very uncomfortable, as they stood alone together in a room for the first time probably all week. As Stefan staring at her he could tell that she was very much aware of what had happened between him and Caroline.

"Elena…" Stefan said with a shaky voice.

"We don't have to talk about it" Elena stated as she shook her head and tried to move away from him.

"Elena please, what happened with Caroline shouldn't of happened, I'm sorry" Stefan told her.

Elena stopped in her tracks at hearing Stefan apologizing to her about kissing Caroline. Biting his bottom lip Elena turned back to look at Stefan and saw the guilt on his face. He had spent a good portion of this trip mad at her for sleeping with Damon and may have kissed Caroline to get back at her, even though her sleeping with Damon had nothing to do with Stefan at all. "It is none of my business" Elena responded honestly and as if somehow she forgave him for his action and wasn't going to hold it against him. As he stood there watching her he knew it was time he forgive her and finally let her go.

"ELENA!" came Jenna's voice as she came running out of the bedroom after hearing Caroline confess to kissing Stefan. Without saying another word Jenna was running over to Elena and wrapping her arms around her.

"Jenna I'm fine" Elena said as she had a pretty good idea that her aunt had found out about Stefan kissing Caroline.

"Fine? How can you be fine? Stefan kissed your best friend!" Jenna stated as she glared over at Stefan.

"Can we just drop it please?" Elena begged. She had spent enough time going over Stefan kissing Caroline just as much time as she had having to discuss why she slept with Damon. Right now all she wanted to do was get this vacation over with and forget about everything because it was just too painful.

"Okay who is ready to get out of here?" came Damon's voice as he walked into the house grabbing more of the suitcases to load of the cars. At first Elena wasn't sure if Damon had heard their conversation but as he was staring at Stefan it was obvious he was aware of what happened.

"I am" Elena stated as she quickly moved away from Jenna and Stefan to help Damon and Alaric pack up the cars as everyone else slowly followed behind with their bags.

Sadly Stefan stood there watching as Elena, the girl he loved to see smile was so miserable. She looked like she hadn't slept at all this trip and he was starting to forget how she looked when she was happy. As much as he wanted to think they were happy before they left for spring break he knew she wasn't or at least she wasn't truly happy. As much as he didn't want to believe it he didn't make her happy anymore. Picking up his bag he followed everyone out of the house doing his best to avoid Caroline and the evil glares he was getting from Jenna as she stood by the other car most likely filling Alaric in on his and Caroline kissing.

"Okay we need a picture!" Kol called out as everyone was trying to figure out who would ride in which car and not kill each other on the way to the airport.

"A group shot of how much we all hate each other now? No thanks" Damon stated as he pulled the keys out of his pocket and made his way to the driver seat of one of the cars.

"Okay maybe not today or maybe not any time this year will we find something to laugh about on this trip but there day will come when looking back on this will be a riot" Kol told them all as every single on of them seemed to have a frown on their face.

"One picture" Alaric agreed while the others just moans and groaned.

Damon hopped out of the driver seat and followed the others as Bonnie got her camera all set up for the group shot in front of the beach house. Pulling at the ends of her hair Elena moved to stand beside Jenna and Alaric on the far left. On the other side of Alaric was Caroline with Kol in the middle of her and Stefan and Damon on the far end. As Bonnie set the camera up she looked at the faced through the lens of the camera and she saw a group of people who had been through so much in a period of a week. Some found love and were happy, some saw love fade away or friendships being tested and some found love and were now being kept apart. This was not the spring break they had hoped for but there was hope that something good would soon come out of it for everyone. "Okay here we go" Bonnie called to them as she set the camera to a timer and quickly ran to get in the shot as she wrapped her arms around Kol with Stefan on the other side of her. At the count of three everyone smiled, or faked a smile and the flash took the shot.

The ride to the airport was a quite one as everyone thought about how much things had changed or for some how changes had to happen for people to be happy again. With Damon and Alaric driving the cars the rest split up between the two cars with Jenna, Elena and Bonnie riding with Alaric while Damon had Kol, Caroline and Stefan with him. Each car drove to the airport with awkward silence and no one wanting to be the first to break the silence.

From an outsider that saw the group walking through the airport or going through security you would have had no idea that the whole group knew each other. Everyone seemed to be avoiding eye contact. None of them had smiles on their faces as they made their way to the gate and found themselves seats while they waited for their flight.

"Seriously Elena how are you not flaming mad right now" Jenna asked as she stood at the counter of the coffee shop in the airport waiting for the coffees that they had ordered. "Stefan and Caroline?"

"Yeah who would of thought," Elena mumbled as she looked down at her shoes while leaning against the counter. Biting her bottom lip she shrugged her shoulders not wanting to really get all upset over something like this even though Jenna seemed to think she should be upset.

"Has Stefan said anything about it?" Jenna asked, as she wasn't ready to let the issue go yet.

"I told him I didn't care" Elena responded.

"Don't care? Elena he is your boyfriend!" Jenna snapped at her just as Bonnie was coming over to join the girls as they waited for their coffees to be set on the counter.

As one coffee was brought over and set in front of them Elena thanked the girl and then rolled her eyes as she turned back to Jenna who seemed to be more upset about Stefan and Caroline kissing than she was. "He isn't my boyfriend anymore," Elena reminded her as she handed Jenna her coffee.

"Yeah but it has only been a week" Bonnie stated as she too was a little upset that Caroline would make a move on Stefan, especially when she was so vocal about Elena getting back together with him.

"And I slept with Damon so I think its okay if Stefan moves on" Elena stated.

"With Caroline?" Jenna asked not sure how Elena could be so calm with Stefan dating her best friend. "How can you be okay with it being Caroline that he moves on with?"

"They kissed once, he didn't buy her a diamond ring" Elena laughed just as another cup of coffee was brought over to them. Picking it up Elena took a sip doing her best to stay calm even though Jenna was doing her best to get her to let out anger over the situation. "Is Caroline the ideal girl I want him to move on with, maybe not but I broke up with him I don't get a say. Something I wished I could do" Elena stated.

"Wait are your pretending to be happy for them so you and Damon get together?" Bonnie asked as she got her cup off coffee and then girls started to walk back towards the gate.

"I'm not doing anything, I'm just simply not telling my ex boyfriend who he can and can not date." Elena told them. "Now if we could just drop it I don't have anything else to say, other then Stefan and I are done and I would like everyone to stop telling me how I should feel!" she told them one last time before picking up the pace and making her way towards their gate where the others were sitting and waiting.

As Elena, Jenna and Bonnie came back with coffees they took their seats together beside Alaric and Kol. Stefan couldn't help but notice how not once during this trip to the airport had Elena and Damon ever looked in the others direction. Elena sat there with her coffee next to Jenna making small talk while checking her watch for when they would be boarding the plane acting like she didn't even know Damon. After Stefan had witnessed Damon and Elena during last night's confessions to each other he couldn't help but notice how distance they were from each other now. If he hadn't seen how they were the other night he would have never known how deep their connection was. They were sitting on opposite sides of the bench at the gate and Stefan found himself watching two people he cared about staying away from each other because of him.

His brother was sitting beside Kol as he read a newspaper or at least pretending to be reading it. Stefan had never seen his brother care for anyone other then himself ever especially a woman. When it came to relationships Damon always had one foot out the door so that he could run off when he got bored. He also had no problem going after what he wanted no matter who got hurt but this time Damon was a whole other person. It was obvious he cared about Elena but was sacrificing his happiness because she was his ex. In the beginning when Stefan had learned that they had slept together he was angry and felt so betrayed by them but now he saw two people he cared about miserable. It was because of him that both Elena and Damon had a bad spring break and while in the beginning he didn't want them getting together he was now starting to wonder why?

"We are now boarding for the flight to Charlotte, North Carolina" came the announcer.

Slowly everyone got to their feet as they were prepared for the four hour trip home as they had one stop in Charlotte before continuing on to Charlottesville Virginia. Collecting their bags they all got in line to board the plane with Elena in front and Damon standing all the way at the back. Slowly everyone moved to take their seats one the plane and place their bags above. With Seats having three on each side of the isle Elena sat with Jenna and Alaric, Kol and Bonnie sat with Caroline and this left Damon and Stefan to sit together in front of Kol, Bonnie and Caroline.

Taking a deep breath Stefan looked over at his brother who was sitting next to him staring out the window of the plane and never saying a word. "Listen Damon about…" Stefan started to say but suddenly Damon cut him off.

"Look we have a long flight, lets continue to ignore the elephant in the room while we are 35, 000ft in the air trapped in a cylinder tube" Damon replied.

Looking at his brother Stefan gave him a nod and them moved to pull out a magazine and started flipping through it. Biting his bottom lip he glance back over at his brother who seemed to be trying to sleep. He then turned to look at Elena as she was sitting in her seat just staring straight ahead, looking sad and like no one else was around her. It was really starting to get to Stefan as he was seeing how much pain both Damon and Elena seemed to be in with their attempts to stay away from each other. He knew he couldn't watch two people he cared about so much be kept apart because of him, especially since him and Elena were truly finished as a couple. He couldn't believe he was even thinking about it but something had to be done.

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