Chapter 10

Peyton James stood outside The Grill with a cigarette in one hand and her phone in the other. She figured it was time to get even with Damon Salvatore. He had a habit of loving and leaving and she decided that this time she would return the favor. She inhaled her last puff of smoke before she tossed the bud onto the floor and crushed it under the heel of her boot. She smiled to herself, oh she was going to crush Damon alright.

Stefan had found a motel about twenty minutes later. It didn't look to shabby and after convincing Caroline – which had taken about thirty minutes, they had proceeded to the office to get a room. Caroline was skulking behind Stefan, rolling her eyes at the hideous floral decorative arrangements in the reception area. Honestly, good taste was affordable these days. It wasn't the hippy seventies any more. Now that she was thinking about it, perhaps she could get Stefan to talk about those times. She was really interested in knowing if the fashion was as hideous as it looked.

A wrinkly old man sat behind the counter with a hideous trucker cap, resting on his head. He also smelled strongly of soup and Caroline couldn't help but wrinkle her nose. Having a heightened sense of smell really did have its drawbacks sometimes. Stefan walked forward and smiled politely.

"Excuse me, do you have any rooms available?"

The old man eyed the couple and smirked.

"You're not staying here. You're both underage and I don't want no cops or your folks snooping around my place." He said gruffly.

Caroline intervened immediately.

"You're going to give us rooms." She compelled the man and watched as his pupils dilated.

Stefan coughed.

"What? He wasn't going to give us a room." She said defensively. She knew that Stefan wasn't a fan of compulsion. But hey it had its perks.

"I only got one room tonight." The old man replied.

"That will be fine." Stefan passed the man some cash.

The man slapped down a key and eyed the two out yet again.

"Don't make a mess and if I find any condoms in that room tomorrow morning, I'll hunt you down and get you to clean it up." He said grumpily before he turned on his heel and made his way to the back office.

"Old fossil." Caroline said through gritted teeth. Some humans just made her mad as hell.

Stefan just shrugged his shoulders. They grabbed their things and made the long walk up to their room. Caroline almost fainted. The room was absolutely hideous. Just like the reception area it too was decorated in floral patterns. What the hell was up with the flowers? Another thing that bugged her was that there was just a double bed in the room and a small ancient TV in the corner of the room. Meaning that she would miss her TV line up tonight and she would have to share the bed with Stefan.

"There's only one bed." Stefan said puzzled.

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Obvisously."

"We'll just have to share I guess." He answered as he tossed his luggage on the floor.

Caroline nodded.

"I'm going to take a quick shower. Is that okay?" She asked nervously.

For some reason the small room was making things rather awkward between the pair. Stefan couldn't figure out why – although he had his suspicions that it was the bed in the room that was becoming the elephant in the room.

"Sure." He sat on the corner of the bed.

Caroline quickly grabbed her bag and made a hasty retreat towards the bathroom. With unhurried movements she turned the shower on and stripped out of her clothes. Once the room was engulfed in steam did she jump into the shower. The hot water scorched her skin – but she didn't mind. She really wished that she could just stay in there till the morning.

She quickly bathed herself and climbed out. She pulled on a pair of black sweat pants and a green t-shirt. There was no way that she was going to bed in her nighties or her rabbit pj's.

Stefan meanwhile was kneeling in front of the television set trying to pick up a channel. The damn thing was out of the medieval times so it didn't come with a remote. Boy was he grateful that technology had advanced over the years. Once he stumbled on what looked like a normal channel he climbed onto his feet and made his way towards the bed. He pulled out his cell from his pocket and turned it on. He had three missed calls from Damon and ten from Elena. What did she want?

He was debating on whether he should call her, in case something was wrong, when the bathroom door opened and Caroline stepped out. A mist of steam followed her out, along with the smell of vanilla. She smelled divine.

"I might have used quite a lot of hot water." She apologized as she dropped her things on the floor.

Stefan watched as she quickly pulled back the covers of the bed and climbed in.

"No worries. I think I'll bath in the morning." He answered awkwardly.

Caroline nodded and watched as he proceeded to open his own bags. He pulled out a white sweat shirt and grey track pants. He quickly pulled off his shirt and Caroline was greeted to the sight of Stefan's naked torso. She squeaked.

Stefan gave her a puzzled look as he reached for his tank.

"Nice six pack." She blurted out. She wanted to slap herself the minute the words left her mouth. Did she have no filter in her brain?

Stefan chuckled before he pulled on his sweat shirt. He quickly stripped off his jeans and pulled on his grey track pants before climbing in next to Caroline. Caroline couldn't help but notice that the double bed seemed to shrink the second he got in. He was so close to her.

"Thanks. I guess." Stefan chuckled.

The pair watched a few shows in silence. Caroline could feel Stefan's eyes on her every few minutes. It made her feel flushed. Why the hell was she having this reaction to him? He was her friend. Nothing more.

"I think we should sleep now." Stefan said as he climbed out the bed and manually switched the television set off, before he returned back into the bed.

"Yeah I'm exhausted." She answered.

"Well goodnight Caroline. And thanks for this. I really think I've needed this for a long time now." Stefan said as he gazed at her with his green / blue eyes.

Caroline smiled.

"Night and you're welcome." She said out softly.

Stefan reached over to his bedside table and switched the light off. Darkness flooded the room. Caroline battled to breathe as she lay dead still. An hour or two must have passed before she heard the change of breath in Stefan. He had fallen asleep. She sighed out relieved. She didn't know how she was going to fall asleep when he was so close next to her.

Caroline must have dozed off, because she awoke to the sound of a small knock on the motel door. She glanced towards Stefan and noted that he hadn't woken up. She quietly fumbled out of bed and made her way towards the door. Who was knocking on their door at this hour?

An: So I decided to post this today rather than on Monday. Thank you again for the continued support! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend.