eunoia, 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍 ¹ ✔

𝟔𝟓

"Don't."

"I am just checking on my best friend who has started dating my other best friend, it sounds so weird when I say it out loud," Charlotte chuckled, taking a bite of her burger, "Just...how are you two doing?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," Damon pursed his lips together, revealing, "That day on the bridge, she had to leave for—"

"Us. Not Stefan but everyone else," She cut him off, stating, "Elena chose you, just cut the drama and go be happy."

The Salvatore turned to her, raising an eyebrow as she shrugged, "What? I want you both to be happy, why does it have to be complicated?"

"Your advice could work really well if you, yourself, used it..."

"I do use my advice before anyone does," Charlotte claimed, huffing out as she took a sip of her lemonade, "Or else I wouldn't recommend it."

Damon raised both of his eyebrows, "Really?"

"Mhm."

"Where is Stefan right now?"

"I don't know and it's not my business to know," She replied, folding her arms together.

He took in a deep breath, reminding the stubborn brunette vampire, "He did choose you. So, take your own advice. Just cut the drama and go be happy."

Charlotte rubbed the back of her neck, starting, "Stefan and I...we are different. Okay, a year and a half ago, I would want this, I would more than anything but things have changed. I have grown more as a person and I realize that Stefan and I don't work, if we do then that implies I am the girl on standby, the one on the shelf—"

"You are not the backup, he chose you."

"It's too late, Damon," She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, claiming, "I love him, I do...it's one of the only things I am sure of...I just don't know if I am still in love with him and there's a huge difference right there."

"C'mon, it's you and Stefan...isn't that like a forever kind of thing?"

"It used to be," She had a small smile on her face, replying, "Sometimes people are just not meant to be and it's sad and depressing but it's just the world we live in."

"Right..."

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and took another sip of her lemonade as Damon asked, "So, how are you?"

"I am good," She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, nodding.

"Now the real answer?"

She crossed her arms together, "I am telling myself that I am on the right of the track but my subconscious is telling me that abandoning Lina doesn't exactly stand for right...so, I finally picked a side and my guilt is seeping through," Charlotte took in a deep breath, brushing it off, "But don't worry, she is probably out of town already and out of sight is out of mind, right?"

He hummed, seeming to look at something behind her, "Yeah, that's going to be a little hard."

"Why?" She furrowed her eyebrows together, turning around to his line of sight before spotting the one and only Lina Gilbert taking a seat at one of the booths, "Oh..."