It's been a year since her and Stefan broke up. A year since she saw him and Arianna, a year since she talked to him. It took her weeks to fight off the urge to talk to him, just to hear the sound of his voice. She had still talked to Caroline, Bonnie, Jenna and Jeremy but no one ever brought up Stefans' name. And for that, she was grateful.
Over the past year, she thought, and on occasion, she would go out with some people that she had met in her apartment building. She wasn't close to any of them but every once in a while she needed a night out. And she sure as hell deserved one.
When she entered her apartment that night, she kicked off her shoes and made her way into her kitchen to grab a drink out of her fridge. She took a sip of her water and let her eyes wander around the apartment, letting them fall on the door that leads to the room that has been closed off for the last year. Everything is still the same in there. She didn't have the heart to take everything out to throw it away or to donate it. It held too many memories for her. Memories that had haunted her for the past year. Because as much as she hated to admit it to herself and out loud, she wasn't over Stefan. He had made such a huge impact on her life and she knew that by now, she should be over him. But the truth is she feared that she would never, fully, be over him.
Earlier in the day, Elena declined going out with her friends. She just wanted to sit home, possibly have a glass of wine, and just relax. She had a long and tiring day at the school. Luckily it was Friday so she had the whole weekend to do nothing but relax. But then she looked around her apartment again and knew what she had to do. She got up from her seat on the couch, grabbed her jacket, keys and purse and left her apartment.
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365 days. He has regretted his decision everyday for the last 365 days but thought that it was for the best. He would be lying if he said that he didn't think about her, or miss her. He would be lying if he said that he hasn't picked up his phone and went through his contacts and saw her name. He would be lying if he said that he hasn't almost called her countless times.
A week after he broke up with her, he packed up the things that she had left at his house and sent it to her. Caroline had told him that Elena called her when she got the box of her things and she had broken down crying on the phone because she had missed him. She wasn't ready to have her things back and she wasn't expecting them so soon.
Stefan and Elena weren't the only ones that had been affected by their break up. Arianna was affected by it too. When Stefan told her that they wouldn't be seeing Elena again, she thought that it was her fault. She thought that she did something to upset Elena and that it was her decision to never see them again. But after Stefan told her the truth, that it was his decision to end things with her, she was upset that she wouldn't be seeing Elena again, but knowing that it had nothing to do with her, had calmed her a little.
Stefan had felt bad though. Sometimes she would ask if she could call Elena and he would tell her no. He hated saying no to her. He knew that she missed her as much as he did. But he did what was best for all three of them.
After he picked Arianna up from school, they went to The Grille to eat and he took her out for ice cream, after. They met up with Caroline at the ice cream shop and they sat down and started talking.
Stefan was one of Caroline's best friends and she wanted nothing more than what was best for him. And she knew that the best thing for him was Elena. She could tell that he wasn't over Elena still. When Stefan loved someone, he loves them with everything that he has. She had seen it with Rebekah and she saw it with Elena. And when her and Elena talked, even though they never talked about Stefan, she could tell that Elena was still missing him just by the sound of her voice.
"She still misses you, you know." She blurted out after she took a bite of her ice cream. Stefans head shot up from the spot that he was staring at on the wooden bench that they were sitting at. They decided to take advantage of the weather. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day in the middle of winter. Why not take advantage while you can? "She won't admit it because we don't bring you up in any conversation but I can just tell."
Stefan stared at Caroline, not sure what to say to her so Arianna spoke up for him. "Daddy misses her, too." She said and Stefan turned his head to the side to look at his daughter waiting to see if she will continue with what she was saying. Stefan could feel Caroline's eyes boring into the side of his head because he never told her that. Caroline just has a way of reading people. He thought that Arianna could keep a secret. Apparently she can't. "When I tell daddy that I miss Elena, he tells me that he misses her, too."
Stefan could still feel Caroline's eyes on him so he decided to lift his head so that he could see her. She has a slight smirk on her face and a look of "Aha, I knew it." was written all over her face. "Maybe you should call her." She said breaking the silence between the two of them.
"I can't call her, Caroline." He didn't think he could. And he didn't think that she would want to talk to him anyways because he hasn't talked to her in a year. Why would she want to hear from him? "I doubt she would want to hear from me, anyways." He said resting his elbows on the table and rubbing his hands over his face.
"You won't know unless you try." Caroline told him in response. "Besides, I know the two of you will eventually find your way back to each other." She said. He took his hands from his face and put them on the table. Caroline reached across and grabbed a hold of his hand in a friendly manner. "You're soul mates." Stefan tried to fight back the smile that was trying to form but gave up on trying to fight it. Caroline gave his hand a gentle squeeze before pulling away to finish her ice cream.
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Stefan had given Arianna a bath when they had got back from eating ice cream with Caroline. She had said that she had to go after she was done her ice cream and Arianna had ice cream all over her shirt anyways so they left right after Caroline left. After her bath, despite the still warm temperature, Arianna wanted a hot chocolate so Stefan made one for him and for her while she got settled on the couch.
When he went back into the living room, he put the mugs down on the coffee table and put a DVD in the player for them to watch. He shut the lights off on the way back to the couch and when he sat down, he grabbed their mugs before she got on his lap. He handed her the cup and she took a sip. "Yummy." She smiled and nestled back into his chest and put the cups on the end table and covered her up with the blanket that was laying on
The movie started and about half way through, he could hear light snores coming from Arianna. He chuckled lightly and slowly and gently lifted her and he made his way up the stairs to her room. After she was tucked in, he went back downstairs to take care of the mugs that had the hot chocolate in them before making his way back upstairs to get ready to take a shower.
He let his thoughts wander during his shower and he decided that Caroline was probably right. It doesn't hurt to try and call her. He wanted to know how she was doing and how her job was going so he decided to try and call her.
He discarded his dirty clothing in the hamper in his room and grabbed his phone, deciding that now was as good a time as ever to give her a call. He made his way down the stairs, grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and made his way back into the living room and was about to sit down on the couch when someone rang the door bell.
Agitated that someone interrupted his current plans, he let out a frustrated sigh, threw his phone on the couch and made his way over to the door. Without bothering to ask who was on the other side because he assumed that it was Bonnie or even Caroline, he opened the door to find those doe brown eyes that he hasn't seen but sincerely missed over the last year looking back at him.
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Moving On
RomanceTHIS IS NOT MY STORY This is written by xostelenaox on Fanfiction.com Stefan Salvatore had everything that he could ever ask for. A good job, a wife, and a now growing family. Then tragedy strikes and he feels like he shouldn't move on with his lif...
