IT HAD BEEN FOUR MONTHS SINCE BONNIE AND DAMON DIED. The Other Side collapsed while they were over there, making it impossible to bring them back, especially when they did not have Bonnie on their side. All of them were working on moving on, but Charlie and Caroline kept checking up with Stefan who was looking for leads out of town.

So, the two girls were working on a way to break the spell that was casting a barrier around their town and making it impossible for their friends to enter. Charlie was the only one that could do so because she was human now, and she was kind of freaked ou by it. Every time she stepped across the line, she expected for her neck to snap again like it did when she and Tyler died.

They met Alaric at a diner outside of town since Caroline could not enter the border, and they saw him sitting at a table in the middle of the restaurant. They walked over to him and dropped all of the books that they had borrowed on the table. Alaric looked up at them in shock. You already read all that?"

"Both of us did. Cover to cover, with no mention on how to undo an anti-magic force-field," Caroline answered. They had spent the entirety of the past week just sitting under a tree outside Mystic Falls and reading witchcraft books. "And if we're going to single-handedly take back our town, we're gonna need a little bit more to go on."

"Got it. All right, well. I brought 'Ancient Witchcraft, volume two.' How about 'The Art of Hexing' and 'Elements of Magic'?" he offered, pulling a bunch of books out of his bag. Each of the girls grabbed one of the book and sat down across from him so that they could discuss.

Caroline nodded gratefully at him before asking the question that she had been itching to ask since they even talked about meeting up. "Thank you. So... how's Stefan?"

"He's okay," Alaric answered, not giving much detail. The blonde girl smiled awkwardly, happy that he was all right but mad that Stefan did not want to contact her. If Alaric was speaking to him, that meant that he had service and was capable of calling. He just did not want to talk to her.

Noticing that her best friend was still contemplating that part of the answer, Charlie then raised her eyebrows at the man in question. She knew what else her friend wanted to ask him, but she was honestly a bit scared for the answer. "How often do you talk to him?"

"I don't know. Couple times a week," he answered, but he was more focused on the blonde girl's expression and reactions to what he was saying. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here, Caroline. Is something bothering you?

"He didn't say goodbye. Damon and Bonnie died, and he just left. No phone calls, no e-mails. Just disappeared into thin air. And I haven't heard from him in months. I actually convinced myself he was in some remote mountain region and couldn't accept my calls," Caroline explained, shaking her head and running a hand through her hair. Having no contact with the man was clearly bothering her, and Charlie thought she knew why.

Alaric tried to make her feel better, and Charlie did not know if his conclusion was more or less probable. "Or maybe he just doesn't want to bother you with every half-lead that goes nowhere."

"Or maybe I just need to get over it. Thanks for the books," she sighed, climbing to her feet and trudging toward the door. Alaric and the Lockwood girl exchanged worried looks before she got up and followed her best friend out the door.

☾❄☽

THEY MET UP AGAIN THE NEXT DAY IN THE SAME DINER. They sat at the exact same table in the exact same positions, and Charlie was getting a huge sense of deja vu from the previous day. Apparently, new information about Stefan had surfaced, and Alaric was telling them. The Lockwood girl furrowed her eyebrows. "You said that Stefan was looking for a way to bring Damon and Bonnie back."

"I thought he was. I've been feeding him leads for months. He let me believe he was following them," the Saltzman man explained. He had just told them that Stefan was apparently somewhere in Savannah, Georgia, starting his life over and not even trying to look for information about Bonnie and Damon.

"Well, we've been a little focused on magic bubble duty. And as you can see by the lack of magic in Mystic Falls, it's a spectacular fail of a missio,"the Forbes girl groaned, and both of them wanted to bang their heads against the table. There was no way that it was impossible to remove a spell like that. They had searched every book and found nothing. "And now you're telling me that this whole time no one has been doing anything to help Bonnie and Damon?"

Caroline got out of her seat and stormed out the door. Charlie and Alaric exchanged looks just like. they had the day before, and the brunette girl stood up and followed her friend out the door. She sighed as she watched her friend kick a fire hydrant outside Charlie winced because that would be extremely painful had she not been a vampire. "Caroline, are you sure that you're mad at Stefan for a different reason?"
"What are you talking about?" She questioned with a confused and slightly angry expression. She was not mad at Charlie. She was mad at Stefan, and they both knew that.

The Lockwood girl shrugged, and she was treading really carefully so that she did not open up anything that would start a fight or upset her best friend. She pointed out, "I mean, you and Stefan got really close."

"Yeah, and he left without saying goodbye," Caroline continued. She had said that the previous day when she was explaining the whole situation to Alaric. It was no secret that she was mad that he left her.

Charlie knew that there was more to it than that, and she trie to hint at it without saying anything directly. She just emphasized, "Really close."

"What are you trying to say? That I'm in love with Stefan and that I'm mad he didn't want to be with me?" Caroline scoffed, and that was a lot more than Charlie was expecting out of her. She had never a said anything about being in love, but the Forbes girl just kind of hinted something to her with that, even though she was denying it. "Of course not. We're friends."

"I believe you," the Lockwood girl assured her, but there was a slight smirk on her lips that gave her away.

The blonde girl noticed this, and she narrowed her eyes at her friend, as if threatening that she would do something if she did not shut up about this. Charlie could tell that she was trying to convince both of them that she did not like Stefan. "No, you don't."

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't have feelings for Stefan," Charlie requested with a shrug. It should not be that hard if it was true. She awaited her friend's eyes to land on hers, but they never did.

She just stared at a spot in front of them, looking in the direction of the highway that would lead them to Savannah. She smiled slightly and shook her head. "I don't have feelings for Stefan."

"Girl, you are nowhere near my eyes."