Imagine smiling after being slapped. It was how I constantly felt after Stefan Salvatore continued the game of breaking my heart. He had promised me a forever, but I didn't know that his forever had a time stamp of several months. It appeared that both Salvatore's had given promises of a forever, but both Salvatore's broke them. 

   I had become more like the eldest Salvatore in the past four months, more like him in the past few days. Ever since I last saw Stefan, which was at the party at the swimming hole near Mystic Falls, I had been binge drinking. At first, I had been drinking with Enzo, but he disappeared after Caroline told him to go get some ice. I could have gone to Ric to have a binge drinking party, but he would bring more pity than necessary and it would not be binge drinking, but drinking for sadness. 

   I drank a bottle of whiskey while staring at nothing, something I had become good at doing. Staring at nothing and drinking, the two pastimes I have accumulated in the past few days. A scoff fell out of my mouth as I realised that I was more like Damon than I realised, which was terrible. 

   There were several knocks on the front door, making me groan. I stood from where I sat, laid the bottle on the table, and went to the door. "I can hear it," I mumbled as they knocked again. When I opened the door, my breath got caught in my throat. "What are you doing here, Stefan?"

   He stared at me for a couple of seconds, then cleared his throat and marched in with a black trunk in his arms. "I need a favour," he said. 

   "What makes you think I'll help you?" I muttered as I closed the door and turned to him. "And what the hell is in that trunk?" I walked around the trunk and was temped to touch him, but held myself back. "Why are you here, Stefan?"

   He turned around and stared me again. Since I first saw him for four months, he seemed to stare at me every time we saw each other. This was the third time. He pointed behind me. "That's why."

   I turned to see Ivy, the girl friend or friend or whatever she was. She was sitting in the trunk, glancing around with confusion in her eyes. "Where am I?" she asked. She looked at Stefan. "What did you do?"

   I furrowed my brows and crossed my arms. "What happened to you?" I asked her. 

   "Enzo turned her," Stefan said, with barely any emotion on his voice. 

   "Then Stefan broke my neck and I woke up in a trunk," she finished.

   "Right," Stefan nodded. "So, I need a little bit of help."

   "Oh, no," I said with a smile. "No, no, no, no. I'm not helping."

   "Just watch her for a little while," he said, "while I get Luke to make her a daylight ring." He was staring at her as she got out of the trunk. "Show her the ropes, teach her some control."

   "If you want someone to teach her control, you shouldn't have come to me. I'm the least person in this world now that has control." I said with a sarcastic smile at my lips. "You should have gone to Caroline. Out of everyone here, she had the most control."

   "She's not picking up her phone," he said with a sigh.

   "Did you try calling Elena?" I turned to the sofa and picked up my phone. "She's staying at the dorm for a while, thanks to our vampire hunter problem." I began to type a text message, but stopped when I noticed Ivy walking around and staring at everything. I glared at Stefan. "This is your mess, Stefan, why are you bringing it to me?"

   "A mess that wouldn't have happened if you just left me alone," he said.

   "Um, I can hear you, you know," Ivy said from behind me. "I can hear everything, like, perfectly."

   I ignored her and took a deep breath. "Friendly reminder that there's a vampire hunter lurking around."

   "He's not here," Stefan said. "He's in Savannah, which is why we're not."

   "You know the real tragedy in all of this?" Ivy began, plopped on my couch with her legs beneath her. "I read He's Just Not That Into You, and..."

   "Shut up!" Stefan and I told her in unison.

   Stefan let out a sigh and placed his hands on his waist. "Look, Tripp Cooke has somehow decided to become the eastern seaboard's self-proclaimed vampire hunter. None of us are safe, if we can control ourselves. I figured that you and Caroline could teach her how to control herself. If anybody can, you two can." 

   "I already told you, I'm the least person with control," I said, softly, as if I were too afraid to listen to my own words. "You should know that more than anyone. If you want someone to teach her, Caroline's the only one."

   "It's just for a couple of hours," Stefan softly said. His amused tone had died down. "Then you'll never have to deal with me again."

   I stared into his eyes, just drinking him in. "Is that what you think I want?"

   "I don't know, you tell me."

   "You know exactly what I want," I said, biting the inner corner of my lip. "But, maybe you don't." The thing about Stefan was that no matter how much I wanted to stop thinking about him, to stop loving him, I just simply couldn't. So, I sighed and let out one small nod. "Okay." Maybe by helping this girl, I could somehow see Stefan once more before he decided to leave again.

   Stefan stared at me for several seconds. He nodded and brushed past me, his shoulder slightly touching mine, and went out the door. I stood in my position, my arms appearing as if I were holding myself together instead of just being crossed out of annoyance. It took me several seconds to realise that I was not alone. I turned to face Ivy, flipping through a book with her lips pursed. 

   "Were you two together?" she asked, glancing from the book to me. 

   "No," I said with a sigh, grabbing the bottle of alcohol from the table. "I told you I used to date his brother."

   "I saw the way you looked at him that night you came over for dinner," she said. "I saw the way he looked at you. I don't think you dated his brother."

   I stared down at the bottle of alcohol I had been nursing for the past hour. "My relationship with him is complicated," I mumbled. With a sigh, I pushed the bottle towards her. "Lesson one, alcohol will be your best friend now. It will help with the cravings."

   "I don't drink," she said, shaking her head. 

   "Like I said, Ivy, it will help with the cravings," I repeated. I let out another sigh as I continued the text from before. "I don't have any blood bags, but Caroline's coming by with some so hang on until then."

   "What kind of vampire doesn't have blood bags?" Ivy asked as she laid the bottle of alcohol on the table.

   "The one that has no control," I mumbled as I pushed my phone into my back pocket. "Sit tight until she comes, okay?"

   Caroline arrived a few minutes later, her bag full of blood bags. Like a mother that was taking care of her child, she began to lecture me about the needs of feeding regularly. It was the same lecture I received from her the day of the swimming hole party, when Enzo got me to feed on some waitress and I almost ended up killing her. I stared at nothing and nodded, hearing her words.

   "Clara!" she groaned, slamming her foot down on the ground. "Are you listening to me?"

   "I'm listening," I said as I shifted my eyes towards her, "but I'm not the one that needs to me lectured. Ivy is our brand new vampire problem, so she's the one that needs to get your class on Vampire 101."

   Caroline, with her arms crossed and slight anger in her eyes, turned from me to Ivy. "Fine," she said, a hint of reluctance in her voice. "Ivy, I'm going to teach you what you need to do to be a good vampire. Stefan and Clara taught me this when I first turned, so listen carefully."

   The next few hours passed with Caroline teaching her the ropes. I, on the other hand, drank and stared at nothing. No, not at nothing. I drank and stared at the letter that had remained close for far too long, the letter Elijah had given me from Klaus. It had been between the pages of a book for far too long, and I had been afraid to read it for far too long. I passed my fingers through my name, feeling he gentle bump of the pen that had been carefully used to write my name so neat.

   I took a deep breath, and decided that it was time to open it. So, I did. I gently opened it to read the words that were so neatly written, all letters capitalised. A smile formed on my lips as I read the few words he had written.

Dear Clara,
My promise still stands of wherever in the world.
Yours,
Klaus

   Klaus Mikaelson was a man of little words but with a lot of emotion. I couldn't help but smile as I read the nine words again, and again, and again. They were just nine words, but I have spent long enough with him to know that those words had meaning behind them. I pressed my fingers against the paper, grinned to myself, then pushed the letter back in the envelope and back between the pages of the book. When I looked up, I noticed that Caroline was sitting across from me, staring at me with arms crossed and eyes hard.

   "Where's Ivy?" I asked as I stood. 

   "She's taking a shower," she said as she straightened her back, "and she's borrowing some of your clothes. Sorry about that."

   "Great," I sighed. "So, does she know her Vampire 101?"

   Caroline nodded. "I hope so, but she kept asking questions about you and Stefan. Does she know that you two are together?"

   "I told her no." I brushed my hair out of my face with my fingers. "I told her I used to date his brother."

   "Which is technically true," she nodded, "but I don't think you dated him. Wasn't it a courtship?"

   "A courtship is when someone is dating and they intend to marry, but have no physical contact." I cleared my throat as I noticed my words, my cheeks turning a bit red. "Uh, that didn't imply to Damon and I."

   Caroline made a face. "Ew, I didn't need to know that," she mumbled. "Anyway, who sent you a letter? Was it Stefan finally confessing his mistake and telling you that he will forever be yours?"

   I glanced down at the book and stared at the letter that could clearly be seen. Caroline already knew about the letter, but she didn't know about the contents inside of it. A smile formed around my lips as I grabbed the letter from the book. "Remember when we were at The Grill and you were writing your invitations for graduation? Remember that I told you that Klaus sent me a letter?"

   She suddenly stood and stared at me with surprise. "You finally read his letter?"

   I took a deep breath and I nodded. "I don't know why I took so long to read it, but somehow, I'm glad I did." I bit my bottom lip and continued to stare at the letter. "There's a part of me that wants to take his advice, to be honest."

   "What advice?" she curiously asked, tilting her head to the side. I handed her the letter and stared at it as she read it. When she finished, she stared at me with furrowed brows and mouth slightly open. "Again, what advice, Clara?" She glanced back down at the letter and stared at it for several seconds. "Oh my god, you're not thinking of leaving again, right?"

   I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know," I mumbled. "Care, sometimes I feel like I should just leave like I did two years ago. But, then I think about leaving and it feels so wrong. There's a part of me that's just tired of running away whenever everything goes terrible. Then, there's another part of me that just wants to run as far as possible without looking back. But, I think about leaving and my chest just swells up and it hurts." I pressed my hand on my chest and frowned.

   "That means you shouldn't leave," Caroline softly said. "Out of everything, you should stay." She suddenly stood and clapped her hands together. "Oh, how about we go to that corn maze party tonight!"

   I let out a soft chuckle and shook my head. "We can't go to the party, Care," I said with a small smile. "We have to take care of the problem Stefan brought."

   "Right," she sighed and sat back down. "Damn it, Stefan."

   At that moment, Ivy entered the room and twirled in a dress. "What do you think?"

   "I think you're wearing my dress," I said with discomfort and annoyance. "And, I don't know why you're wearing that because we're not going to any party."

   Caroline threw each of us a blood bag. "Yeah, the party's not happening."

   "So, you'd rather be locked in an apartment with a newbie vampire?" Ivy asked as she ripped a blood bag open and began to drink it.

   "No," Caroline answered, "I would rather be at the party, just like I'd rather have friends who didn't ignore us for months and then use us when they need help." She crossed her arms in annoyance. "Or a friend who ignores my great-aunt, aka their girlfriend, for months."

   "Care..." I sighed, shaking my head. 

   "Whoa," Ivy mumbled. "Just realised why Stefan brought me here to learn control." She looked at Caroline. "Just do yourself a favour. Unwind."

   "Excuse me?" Caroline snapped, slightly glaring at the girl. 

   "Chill."

   "Okay, aren't you supposed to be practising your vamping or something?"

   Ivy used her speed to move to the other side of the room. "Done," she smiled. "See? I'm fine. You two already put your numbers into my phone as my emergency vampire contacts. I know I burn in the sun, we covered compulsion and snatch, eat, erase." She glanced out the open window. "Look, it's getting dark. Let's go party! You two can teach me how to eat someone without killing them."

   "Stefan will be here very soon, and then he can teach you!" Caroline snapped again, slightly glaring at her. 

   "Can we at least play a board game or do something non-vampire related?" Ivy suddenly asked, walking closer to us with the blood bag close to her lips.

   "Finally, a good idea!" Caroline stood and turned to walk towards my bookcase. "What kind of game do you want to play?"

   "I don't know. Scrabble?"

   I stared at the pair as they moved closer to the bookcase. Caroline searched and mentioned the games that were there, the ones she had brought over months ago. Ivy stood behind her, and I didn't know whether she was watching the games or watching her. Suddenly, Ivy snapped Caroline's neck and sped out of the apartment. 

   I rushed towards Caroline first, then stared at the open front door. "Shit..." I muttered. I picked up Caroline and laid her on the sofa, then ran out of the apartment to look for her. There were college students everywhere, laughing, all of them speaking about the homecoming maze party they were going to. I was tempted to ask them about Ivy, but I was sure none of them would know who the hell I was talking about. 

   I pulled out my phone and dialled the familiar number. Three times did I call, and three times did it go to voicemail. "Stefan, now is not the time to ignore my phone calls!" I groaned into the phone. "This is my third message warning you that your psychotic little she-vamp snapped Caroline's neck and disappeared. If you haven't noticed, it's dark outside, so every dead frat boy tonight is officially on you." I ended the call with another groan and decided to go down to the city and search around. 

   For thirty minutes did I walk around the city in search for Ivy. No one spoke about an accident or someone bleeding, which made me think that she learned the whole snatch, eat, erase thing pretty quick. I stopped and glanced around, scratching the back of my head as something began to bother me. At that moment, the sweet scent came to me. It danced around me, thrilling and teasing. It was the familiar scent of blood; I followed it towards a car. There was no body, but the car was covered in blood, which indicated that she did feed.

    I let out a groan and covered my face in frustration. A light shined on me and made me turn. Stefan's red car parked on the sidewalk, and he stepped out with an annoyed look. 

   "Thank god," I mumbled. 

   "You lost her?" he asked.

   I rolled my eyes. "So you decide to listen to your messages a million hours later?" I took a deep breath and crossed my arms. "No, I didn't lose her. She snapped Caroline's neck and I had to take care of her first. What the hell took you so long?"

   "I got caught up."

   "You got caught up doing what?"

   "Driving half-way out of town." He finished his words with a bit of regret laced in his tone.

   I had to stare at him for a couple of seconds, take him in. "You were leaving?"

   He looked down and away from me. "I slid Ivy's daylight ring right under—"

   "No."

   "—your front door."

   "No, I don't care about some stupid ring, Stefan!" I my hand through my hair and shook my head. "Were you seriously going to dump this girl onto my lap and then just skip town?" He slightly nodded, leaving me puzzled. I let out a scoff and shook my head. "God, who the hell are you now?!"

   "I'm someone who's trying to start over," he said, "and then suddenly you, Enzo, and Caroline show up and now I have hunters on my trail and a brand new vampire who wants to kill me and everyone else in her path. And that's not how someone start's over, Clara!"

   I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. "If you wanted to start over, we could have gone together," I softly said, my emotions getting to me. "When we were in Bill's cabin, you told me that we should get away from Mystic Falls for a while. And I told you we should go somewhere far, far away. And you agreed. What happened to that, huh? What happened to us?" There were tears falling down my cheeks as I spoke, the pain already burying itself in my chest. "No, what's happening to us? What are we? Because, I still love you, Stefan, and I don't want to end this, but..." I swallowed hard. "If you still love me, please stay. Please..."

   Stefan stared at me, just like he had done for the past couple of times that he had seen me. He stared with his mouth slightly open, eyes boring into mine. I wanted to know what he was thinking, what he wanted, whether he still loved me. Out of nowhere, he grabbed me by the head and pulled me towards him, his lips pushing onto mine. He kissed me hard, rough, as if it was the last time. I kissed him back with every emotion running through me: anger, pain, sadness, happiness. I kissed him back, pouring my emotions into that simple kiss. 

   He pulled away, but kept his hold on my cheeks. "I'm sorry," he whispered against my lips. 

   I pushed his hands away from my cheeks and shook my head. "You know what the worst part about all of this is?" I asked, my voice breaking, tears spilling. "Every day, I wished that Damon would come back because I missed him, and because I knew that if that happened, I'd get you back, too. But, right now, all I want you to do is to just get back in your car, and go."

   He licked the side of his lip, let his hands fall to his side, and took several steps back while still facing me. There was a visibly hurt look in his eyes, but it disappeared when he turned and walked back to his car. I shut my eyes and sniffed, wanting to hold back the pain until I was back in my apartment, nursing a bottle of alcohol. 

   My phone began to buzz from my pocket. I took it out and saw Ivy's name flashing on the screen. With a groan, I answered it. "Where are you?" My voice still broke when I spoke. 

   "I did a really bad thing," Ivy said, a hint of panic in her voice. 

   "Besides breaking Caroline's neck and then escaping from my apartment?" I asked, sarcasm laced on my tone. "Yeah, I noticed."

    "Okay, two bad things," she mumbled. "Look, I'm sorry—"

   "I'll come get you," I sighed. "Tell me exactly where you are and stay put."

   Ivy was further away than I thought. She was on one of the main roads, close to the corn maze where the party was being held. Frustrated, angry, and sad, I hurried to my car. There was a part of me that was questioning why the hell was I trying to get to this girl when she had been with Stefan the past four months, while I was not. The other part of me answered my wondering; because I helped people and I hated myself for doing so. 

   Caroline was waiting a few feet away from me, frowning. "I'm sorry," she simply said, softly. "I'm sorry, Clara."

   "For?"

   "I saw and heard what happened between you and Stefan." She walked closer to me. "And I'm sorry that happened. He's a jerk!" 

   I let out a soft laugh and shook my head. The laugh quickly subsided and the tears began to spill. I didn't know whether I was crying because of Stefan, or because of Damon, or because I was miserable, or because Caroline was holding me. I only knew that I felt pain in my chest, the one where it seeped deep between my bones and made home between my organs. After a few minutes, I pulled away from her and wiped away my face as I let out a soft laugh.

   "I'm sorry," I sniffed. "I shouldn't be crying..."

   "Yeah, he's a jerk," she said as she pushed my hair out of my face. "You shouldn't cry over a jerk." She laid her hands on my shoulders and gave me a bright smile. "Clara, I can go and pick up Ivy, okay? You go back to your apartment and clean yourself up, and take a shower because you kind of stink. Really, when was the last time you took a shower?"

   A small laugh escaped my lips. "Care, I can go," I said as a small smile formed around my lips. "I can pick her up, you can go to the party."

   She shook her head. "Ivy is our responsibility, Clara. I'm going to pick her up and give her a piece of my mind for snapping my neck, how being a good person means not snapping someone else's neck." She let out a small huff and pushed her hair out of her face. "Then, I might snap her neck just so she knows that it doesn't feel good."

   Caroline, being a good friend, accompanied me up to my apartment and made sure I was okay before leaving. I stood in my empty living room, staring at the spot where Stefan stood in the morning. I could clearly picture him standing there, arms crossed. Instead of frowning or not showing any emotion, he was smiling. He was smiling at me, bright and happy, as if nothing had happened. It was a life I wished I had, one I couldn't have.

   My phone buzzed at that moment, pulling me out of my daydream. I reached for my pocket and pulled it out. "Care," I answered, "did you find her?"

   "Uh, wrong person," they answered. 

   I pulled my phone back and looked at the name. "Stefan, what do you want?"

   "I think you should come down to the Salvatore crypt," he said, softly. "No, I need you to come down to the crypt right now."