AN: Thanks y'all for the amazing reviews ! They make me absolutely happy :) I hope that I haven't lost your interest in the story..

To TVDlover99: I've dedicated a part of this chapter to you, I'm sure you'll spot it right out :P

To Guest: No, Elena and Elijah aren't going to be a thing, they're just best friends and he's always looking out for her.

To everyone else: Thanks again for the great reviews. Your support is what keeps me writing, although it may not be the best story ever invented ;)

Everyone, let me know what you think of the chapter or story overall, you know that reviews make my day :)

Love y'all

Damon stared at the Skype Message screen on his computer. He re-read the last sentence Stefan had sent him to make sure that he has understood the exact meaning. 'I love her, Damon. I'm in love with Elena and I have no idea how to fix the mess I made. I love her, Damon.' Stefan loves Elena. Stefan loves Elena. Stefan LovesElena. StefanlovesElena. He kept on repeating it to himself to the point where the words were foreign to him and were mushed up together to form one. Damon smiled in front of him computer. His best friend was in love with his other best friend, could things get any better?

Damon: What about Caroline, Stef?

Stefan: I don't know D. I mean Caroline is this amazing girl who I've known my entire life and now that we're more than just best friends, it doesn't feel bad or awkward. But whenever I'm with Caroline, I keep on wishing that she were Elena. Then when that phase is gone, I'm happy about what I'm living with Caroline.

Damon: Enough Stefan! Pick your girl. If it's Caroline, then let go of Elena completely. I will NOT let you play her like that; she's my best friend. But if you pick Elena, then you've got to let Caroline know, she doesn't deserve to be played with it either.

Stefan: I know D, and you know me, I'm not that type of guy. Whatever it is that I'm living with Caroline right now, I'll just enjoy it. What happens when Elena comes back next summer is a different story. A lot can happen in a year.

Damon: All right, you know what to do best. But for your own good, don't throw that 'I Love You' sentence at anyone anytime.

Stefan: What do you mean? I've never thrown it at anyone without meaning it.

Damon: You just told me you love Elena, Stefan! But with your actions, it sure as hell doesn't look like it. Damon knew that his words could be read in an aggressive way, that was his point anyway. He was mad at Stefan for telling him moments ago that he loves Elena yet still doing whatever he's doing with Caroline. It's not right, and it definitely doesn't seem like it's something that Stefan would do.

Stefan: It's because I do, Damon! I love Elena, but she's a thousand miles away, what can I do? Wait for her, pine for her? I don't even know whether she feels the same way towards me. Like I told you, next summer is a different story, whatever happens, happens.

Damon: Fair enough. But just remember one thing: Break her heart, and I'll break your face.

Stefan: Got it.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~

It's been a couple of week since Elena and Stefan last talked to each other because of the silent treatment. She had broken the silent treatment only yesterday. She figured that she'd rather have Stefan still part of her life as a friend instead of completely ignoring him and become strangers again. That's the thing when people walk into your life, you suddenly don't understand how you managed to live without them. Some people manage to walk in your life and walk out without leaving a trace of ever meeting them. Other people, they randomly come into your life and leave marks in your heart, marks that will stay with you forever because those people have changed you. After you meet those people, you're never quite the same person you were before you met them. That is exactly what happened to Elena and Stefan when they first saw each other again at the New Years Party. They didn't understand how they could have lived for so long without knowing what the other person had to offer. Elena accepted the fact that she and Stefan might never be an item, they could only stay friends, but it was far better than becoming strangers all over again. Whenever they talked, whether it was on Skype or Facebook, it lasted hours. They alwys had things to say and never got bored of each other. Caroline left Mystic Falls over a month ago and like she had said, things were now over between her and Stefan. Elena felt less guilt talking to Stefan knowing that he wasn't dating her best friend anymore. Before, whenever she talked to Stefan, she unconsciously felt guilty towards Caroline, she felt as though she wasn't allowed to talk as much to Stefan. However, Elena was glad that she had broken the silent treatment and started to talk to Stefan again, Elijah however, thought differently.

"How do you even manage to keep on talking to Stefan, after everything that he's done to you? He's. Such. An. Asshole. Elena," Elijah said exasperatedly.

"Stop saying that," Elena snapped back. "Stop saying that Stefan is a dick or an asshole! Just freaking stop it! I get the fact that what he did wasn't the most gentleman like manners, but it doesn't give you the power to keep on disgracing him. It doesn't mean that Stefan isn't the good guy you thought he was when I first told you that we kissed. You know what, Elijah? I still believe that Stefan is a good guy, no matter what he did, he's still a good guy."

"He hurt you Elena. No one is allowed to hurt you; you don't deserve it."

"Yes, Elijah, people are allowed to hurt me and they will! I don't get to choose when and if I'll get hurt, but I get to have a say in who can hurt me. You're so sure that what Stefan did is hurting me. Yes, it's not the best feeling in the world, but I'm not in agony, life freaking goes on. I get that you'll always look out for me and I appreciate it, I really do. But you need to understand that I'm a big girl now, I can take care of myself."

"You were about to write 'I miss you too' in that chatbox a few weeks ago."

"So what? What are you trying to say, Elijah? I can't tell Stefan anything because he 'hurt' me? Let me write and do what I want. If it's a mistake, then I'll learn from it. You've got to stop telling me what to do all the time. Let me screw things up or do something extremely stupid that I may regret for the rest of my life. Let's get one thing straight: I'd rather lead a life of 'Oh Wells' rather than 'What ifs'. Those are the two words that can and will haunt you for a lifetime and you have absolutely no control over that. I don't want to live in doubts, Elijah," Elena concluded and walked away. She hated fighting with Elijah, he was her best friend and it didn't feel right to argue with him. For some reason though, she didn't feel guilty about this fight. She felt as if Elijah deserved it; he had to know that what he was doing was bothering her. He couldn't keep on controlling her life and her decisions all the time. If she wanted to say 'I miss you' to Stefan, she should be able to do so without any judgments being done. Elena knew that the argument they just faced had an effect on Elijah. He usually came back 10 minutes or so after their argument to apologize with his puppy face and everything would be back to how they were, but today wasn't the case. An hour passed. Two hours passed and eventually the clock was indicating that a third one was about to pass; yet Elijah kept on ignoring Elena. She wasn't bothered and she knew that if someone had to apologize, it's Elijah. Elena felt like a child for thinking in such a way, but it was true. Yes, she was the one to snap at him first, but he was the first one to make a rude comment about Stefan. She didn't exactly understand why she defended Stefan, but she felt as though he deserved to have someone stick up for him. It really didn't make any sense to her, what she was feeling towards him, therefore she decided not to talk about it to Elijah. Everything she felt towards Stefan, she just decided to blame it on the gravity, the magnetic pull or the force that was constantly pushing them together all the time. She hated that pull from time to time. Whenever Elena was having an epic time, she always wished that he was there so he could enjoy it with her. But then, she remembered everything that has happened with Caroline and her mood goes completely down. It takes her about 15 minutes for her moment to pass and then she's as good as before. Eventually she talked about the event to Stefan the day of or the day afterwards. His response would usually be: "I wish I was there to live those moments with you." She always wanted to tell him that she wished he were there too, but never managed to. She didn't want to open her heart up too much to him again only to get it destroyed once more. He hurt her once and he probably didn't even know it, she thought. To him, she was probably just another girl in his parade of girls.

When Stefan and Elena talked, they never talked about them and what happened during her last night in Mystic Falls. To her, it was painful because of what happened afterwards, to him, Elena was someone so special that he didn't want to ruin what had happened by talking about it. He had questions he'd always wanted to ask her about that night, but he was too afraid to hear the answers and therefore never asked. They managed to find a thousand of other topics to talk about, but it never got too personal and never did it get awkward.

Elijah eventually came to apologize to Elena just before the end of the day. He felt bad for what he was doing to her and what he kept on saying about Stefan. He knew that Stefan was still a good person deep inside but what had upset Elijah was that he had hurt Elena in the process without realizing it.

"Elena, I need to talk to you," said Elijah running up to catch up with her in the corridors and grabbed her wrist.

"Why, are you not done insulting Stefan?" asked Elena while snatching her wrist away. She really wasn't in the mood to hear him complain about Stefan anymore.

"Actually, I wanted to apologize about that. I know that what I said is wrong and I shouldn't have said or done anything. Stefan is still one of the good people. I didn't mean to have upset you like that."

"Elijah, I've told you more than once to stop commenting on what happened with Stefan and I or what he did with Caroline. I mean him and Caroline only dated for the few weeks that she had left in Mystic Falls. But you kept on ignoring me, telling me what to do and what not to do. I could've made my own decisions, I'm capable of that."

"I know, I know. And I'm sorry, Elena, for not letting you make your own decisions. It's just that when I saw your face the morning after you learnt the news, it crushed me. Your look was so sad and I didn't want anyone to make you feel that way again. So I tried to make you see the bad side of Stefan, calling him a dick and an asshole. But you're smart, Elena, you managed to see right through it and kept in your mind that Stefan is a good guy, because by the end of the day, he is. Stefan is a great guy, I still stand by that statement; the statement I made when you first told me that he kissed you."

"I knew I'd be able to make you see clearly again," Elena answered with a smile on her face. She stepped forward and hugged Elijah. Students were rushing past them in the corridors not even trying to walk around the two hugging best friends, just walking into them. Elena and Elijah let go of each other and followed the troop of students towards the cafeteria with their arms looped around each other. Everything was right again in the world: Stefan and Elena were back on talking terms while Elena and Elijah were back to being sisters and brothers from different families.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

Elena soon found herself revising for her finals. She had not realized how quickly time has passed. She remembered Stefan telling her that when January will come around, time will not only fly by, it would blast by. She only half believed him since the first half of her year was already going by extremely fast. Stefan, however, wasn't wrong, January came and went and the months were just FebruaMarcApriMay. Elena felt as if she couldn't even finish saying the name of the month before it was already the next one; that's how fast time was going. More or less everyday Stefan would email her just to say goodluck for whatever exam she had that day.

Elena and Caroline talked a few times, but never about Stefan because a) it still pained Elena to talk about them as a couple and b) she still wasn't sure whether Caroline knew what happened between her and Stefan during her last night in Mystic Falls. If Caroline got to know, things might just get awkward between the two of them. Yes, they were best friends and they are able to tell each other everything that there is to tell, but when a situation like this comes up, things are far more delicate. Caroline has been back in Mystic Falls for three weeks now. Jeremy left two days ago, leaving her alone with Aunt Jenna. They didn't talk much these days; Aunt Jenna was busy writing her thesis while Elena was in her room revising for her finals. Elena was leaving to Mystic Falls in a week time and she was more than excited. Elijah was also going to Mystic Falls for the summer but he was flying a week later. Aunt Jenna had other plans for her summer, she wanted to travel and discover a new country. Damon on the other hand has been back in Mystic Falls for at least a month and he only had one idea in mind: the Elena would just hurry and join him. He missed her immensely and he just wanted to sit down with her and talk for hours.

Elena wrote her finals and she walked out satisfied, the results were coming out in two weeks. She was packing little by little everyday and before she knew it, she was in the car with Aunt Jenna driving her to the airport. Only one thought kept coming to mind and made her keep her smile throughout the whole ride. It wasn't because of Mystic Falls or Mystic Grills or seeing Jeremy and Caroline; it was because of Stefan. Just the thought of "I'll see him tomorrow or the day after" made her heart skip a beat. Overjoyed wasn't even close to what she was feeling.

AN: Soooo, Stefan and Elena are going to see each other again next chapter :) Exciting ! But, with Caroline back in Mystic Falls, things might not be so smooth.. I decided to change the triangle from Damon, Stefan and Elena to Stefan, Elena and Caroline.. Makes things interesting since we haven't seen that on the show..