Caroline was practically foaming in her frustration at the world. Her hair, straightened today for ease, swung around her face as she spun on the spot, yet again. She was hunting down the items scrawled across a crinkled shopping list, carelessly written by her mother before she ran to work on 'desperate business concerning the local wildlife'. The Sheriff had insisted that the items must be gathered exactly to her specifications, meaning that the 'double whip, no fat cream' Caroline had just picked up would have to be replaced by 'double whip, low fat cream' a little ways down the aisle.

Caroline was honestly considering calling Elena and Bonnie to come along and suffer with her. At least then they could turn the experience into a gossip marathon which would undoubtedly last for the next few hours. After a few moments of inner debate, Caroline decided.

With a huff and well-timed wrist flick, Caroline performed her well practiced move of simultaneously reaching into her back pocket to smoothly remove her phone and tuck her hair behind her ear in what she knew was a cute, no nonsense manner. With that, Caroline unlocked the screen and began trawling through her contacts.

In the split second that her finger hovered over Elena's name, a sultry, familiar and thoroughly hated voice whispered over her shoulder, "What are you doing here, love?"

Earlier...

Klaus was bored, and had been bored ever since Elijah announced that he was going to be out of town for a few days. He'd said something about fulfilling promises to beautiful young witches. The younger brother hadn't really been paying attention after he'd realised that there would be no one to keep him occupied over the week. Klaus still couldn't understand the need for Elijah to be so unbearably predictable, even if he did come to rely on Elijah's promise-keeping nature from time to time.

In a self-imposed defiance against Elijah's firm and yet unnecessary insistence to "stay out of trouble", Klaus decided to go out for a drink. Should he go for a blond, he thought, or a brunette?

As he parked his car in the next town over's large and consumer orientated shopping centre a half an hour later, he briefly caught the fruity scent of a certain young blond vampire. Caught between reacting ecstatically over finally having something to do and strangely feeling a sense of unease coiling in his gut, Klaus warily made his way inside, quickly abandoning his plan for a quick snack.

The shopping centre was unusually quiet for a Saturday afternoon. A few mothers grabbed their children's wrists and pulled them aside as he strode by and a few teenaged girls tittered to each other, frantically slapping shoulders and pointing in his direction. All of them blushed deliciously when he glanced over and provided them with a casual smirk.

He was about to walk over and compell a drink from them when he heard her. She was frustrated by the sounds of it, whispering curses to her mother and unconsciously tapping her foot in a steady rhythm on the floor. He heard the sounds of crinkling paper and packaging and the quiet thump of someone returning an object to a shelf non too gently. His head jerked in direction the sounds came from. A supermarket of all places. Definitely not Caroline's usual choice of stores.

Lengthening his stride and quickening his pace, he made it to the entry in seconds, ignoring the disappointed sigh the teenagers released in the wake of his departure.

As Klaus entered the shop, he sauntered past an assistant stacking baskets and another restocking already full shelves with gossip magazines. After a few seconds of weaving past shoppers and listening for Caroline's increasingly frustrated breaths, he saw her. She was standing with a piece of paper in one hand and a small tub of cream in the other, her golden hair sliding across her bare, hunched shoulders. Shoving the cream back into the fridge, Caroline huffed angrily before cocking her hip to pull her phone from her back pocket. Klaus watched in fascination as she used her long, elegant fingers to tuck her hair back at the same time, a ring glinting in the artificial light.

Without bothering to wait for her to finish finding whatever she was looking for on the tiny screen, Klaus silently slid up behind her before whispering in his sexiest tone, making sure to add on his trademark nickname.

Caroline jumped before spinning furiously to face Klaus, hair flying from its hold behind her ear to swish around her face. Cheeks flushed and brow pinched, she hissed in reply, "Klaus! What are you doing here?" Even more infuriating was the fact that all he offered in response was a lopsided smirk and head tilt that Caroline refused to consider adorable.

"Well?" She pressed.

"Just a chance meeting is all, love. I was hoping to get a drink when I heard your rather furious shopping expedition. What did that cream ever do to you?" He leapt backwards with a laughing grin when she swung the hand holding her forgotten phone gracelessly towards his face.

"Careful, that phone looks expensive." He said while taking the step back towards Caroline, infuriating smirk still gracing his handsome features.

Digging the heel of her boot in the ground, Caroline spun to face the shelves again, decidedly ignoring the warm flush spreading across her cheeks. "Whatever, you've found me. What do you want?" Caroline was careful to apply her best bored tone in the hopes that he would decide that bullying her was not worth his time.

"Don't be like that, love, I'm only here to help." His grin fading until only his lips pressed together in quiet amusement. "Now, I'm assuming that your problem has something to do with that list in your hand. Why is little Miss Mystic Falls doing grocery shopping so far out of town?"

From his vantage point behind Caroline, he was able to see the way her shoulders bunched up towards her ears before she forcibly relaxed them. "Just a change of scenery and a need to grab some things that Mystic Falls doesn't stock." The words came out partially mumbled and with a carefully casual lilt.

"Oh?" Came Klaus's measured reply, "This wouldn't have something to do with Tyler being away for a few weeks, would it now?"

Caroline's silence was all the answer he needed.

"Don't worry, love, I'm sure you two will patch things up in no time. He would be a fool to ignore one such as you for too long." He spoke with a smile and forced joviality. No matter his dislike for the Lockwood werewolf, Caroline was clearly upset and he had a feeling that Tyler was the cause.

Caroline shook her head, "I don't think that will be the case this time."

They stood in silence for a few moments, Klaus understanding that now would be the time to apologise to Caroline, or steer the conversation to happier topics but unable to bring himself past his annoyance at Tyler.

Her moment of self-pity gone, Caroline seemed to shake herself and glance back down at the list in her hand, forgotten and half crumpled.

"Well this has been yet another lovely conversation, but I have more important things to be doing than ruin my day by looking at your face. Later." Picking the basket from the ground beside her, Caroline marched away from Klaus, determinedly not looking back in his direction.

This was one of the things he admired about Caroline, her desire to push past all hints of sadness by insulting the object of her dislike, even if it turned out to be, more often than not, himself whom her accusations were directed at.

Pleasantly discovering his boredom to have disappeared, Klaus made to leave the store. However, before he'd even made the boundary, his amusement rapidly increased on witnessing the sight of Caroline turning her rampage on the poor boy behind the checkout.