Falling → Stefan Salvatore [2]

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Chapter 26: For Whom the Bell Tolls

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"Please tell me that when you say, Oh, Amalia, by the way, your boyfriend has amnesia, you don't actually mean that my boyfriend has amnesia." Amalia paced around Mystic Falls Cemetery anxiously, allowing the heel of her shoe to sink into another patch of grass with every step she took, which also added an extra amount of dramatic effect to what felt like a breakdown to her.

"Yeah, about that..." Damon trailed off, which was enough for steam to nearly blow out of her ears. "Don't freak out."

At the sound of him telling her not to freak out, which was the complete opposite of what was happening, she couldn't help laugh without any sense of how to stop herself. "You've gotta be kidding me. Seriously? Stefan doesn't even know any of our names, and you want me to stay calm?"

"We'll get him back." Damon seemed so sure of himself and that he would be able to somehow magically retrieve every last one of Stefan's memories. "Eventually."

"Thank you, Damon. That's very reassuring." Amalia scoffed just loud enough for Damon to hear. She then turned her head around to look back at the boy that she was supposed to be spending her time with, noticing that his eyes were focused on her and that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. "How is he?"

"See for yourself. I'll send him your way." It had become abundantly clear that Damon was eager to shove Stefan off of his plate and onto Amalia's, but she wasn't exactly in a position where that was possible in that moment.

"Sorry. No can do right now. Gotta go. Bye." She rushed her way out of the conversation and slid her phone back into the pocket of her jeans before walking back over to Jesse and taking a seat right in front of him onto the picnic blanket. "So... what did I miss?"

"Nothing." He answered her question, informing her that she hadn't missed a thing. "Togavirus. Go."

"Hm. Okay." She thought back on the information she had retained thus far in the day, attempting to conjure up whatever it was that the Togavirus was. "Alright, I got it. Togavirus causes congenital rubella. What that means, I have no idea."

"Okay, hot shot. Red Queen Theory." He challenged her yet again to see if she truly knew as much information as she had previously claimed to.

"A theory often used to explain the contradictory relationship between predator and prey." She answered with the perfect textbook definition, impressing him with every answer she gave.

"And why does the supposedly weaker species always stay one step ahead?" He questioned.

"Fear of extinction." She sat herself up a bit, adjusting the position she was in before. "The rabbit is faster than the fox because the fox is chasing its dinner. The rabbit's running for its life."