A/N: For EtherealDemon, who asked. Takes place middle-ish of season 2.
Elena is not home.
Elena is not home and yet Caroline's sitting on her living room couch. She's staring blankly at Jeremy who is staring just as blankly back at her.
He blinks.
She blinks back.
He sighs.
She sighs.
"Would you quit mimicking me?" she asks, exasperated.
Jeremy shrugs. "Seemed you were mimicking me," he responds.
She sighs again. "I'm bored. When's Elena getting back?"
"She's out with Stefan," Jeremy says, repeating the phrase he's told her almost a thousand times in the fifteen minuets she's been over today. "I don't know when she's getting back—if she's even coming back."
"Well…you could go do something…somewhere else," she says. She hates feeling like he's studying her.
"I'm good," he answers.
Minuets go by. Caroline passes the time by tapping her fingers in the rhythm of various songs she knows. She resists the urge to hum them—she doesn't think Elena's kid brother needs to hear her attempt that.
"You want anything to drink?" Jeremy asks in the middle of her tapping.
Her eyes instinctively travel to his neck and Jeremy laughs.
"Not what I meant," he corrects. "We have milk, orange juice, root beer, maybe a coke or two."
Caroline pouts. "Coke," she says.
He disappears for a moment and Caroline can't help but watch him as he walks by. Maybe Bonnie's on to something there, she thinks as she admires his back side. She shakes the thoughts away in the next second. He's Bonnie's, and he's too young for her.
"I'd of given you blood if we'd of had any," he says by way of apology as he hands her the glass of fizzing liquid. "For some reason, we don't keep any here, though."
Caroline smiles. "I suppose Jenna might catch on if you did."
Jeremy nods. "Although it's not like we—Elena and I—haven't talked about telling her. It's just…it's a lot to handle, you know?"
And Caroline smiles. She never would have guessed talking to Elena's kid brother would be so easy.