Cassiopeia Forbes has spent years distancing herself from Mystic Falls-a town steeped in memories of her younger sister, Caroline, and the mother she never truly connected with. Leaving at just nine year old to live with her father, Cassie vowed nev...
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The drive was quiet, the tension in the air thick as the car rolled down the empty roads. I focused on the passing scenery, trying to keep my thoughts from wandering too far into dangerous territory. But, of course, Caroline couldn't handle the silence for long.
“Am I allowed to talk?” Caroline asked, her voice cutting through the stillness.
I glanced at her, amused. “No one’s stopping you, Caroline.”
“Then why is everyone so silent?” she huffed, crossing her arms. “I’m bored. I thought this ride would be a getaway, but it’s more like a funeral procession.”
Stefan kept his eyes on the road, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips. “So, what do you suggest, Caroline?”
“Talking,” she replied with a dramatic sigh. “We could, I don’t know, have a conversation?”
“About what?” I asked, knowing I was about to regret this.
Caroline didn’t miss a beat. “About you.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“No means no, Caroline.”
She pouted. “Fine, then we’ll talk about Stefan.”
Stefan didn’t even glance over, his gaze steady on the road ahead. “What do you want to know?”
“How did you two meet?” Caroline asked, her curiosity piqued.
“Caroline…” I warned, but she ignored me.
“I’m not talking to you,” she retorted playfully. “If Stefan doesn’t want to talk, that’s fine.”
Stefan’s tone was casual as he answered, “We met at school.”
Caroline’s eyes widened in surprise. “You went to school with her? Woah, so he was your first boyfriend! But wait, you told me you dumped a guy in high school. Was Stefan the boyfriend?”
I groaned inwardly. “No, no, no.” Caroline kept going, completely ignoring my attempts to derail the conversation. “Yeah, I should’ve known. That guy wanted kids, and Stefan… well, that’s not really possible, is it”
Stefan’s grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly. “He asked you for kids?” he repeated, his voice tinged with something I couldn’t quite place as he pulled the car to a stop.
Caroline, blissfully unaware of the shift in mood, nodded. “Yeah, he kind of proposed, but she freaked out and dumped him.”
“Caroline!” I snapped, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks.
Caroline finally seemed to catch on that she might’ve overstepped. “Oh… I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to share that.”
Stefan turned towards me, his eyes filled with questions I wasn’t ready to answer. “He proposed to you?”
