It started with a towel.
She's spent the night at Elena's again, having another one of their sleepovers and she's just stepped out of the shower reaching for her fluffy pink towel when the door opens without a knock and Jeremy Gilbert stood there, mouth agape and staring at her nude form with great interest.
She screamed and he fumbled out a "sorry" before getting out of there as fast as possible.
She can't look him in the eye after that and he can't either but sometimes she would catch him staring at her, almost leering, as if trying to remember what she looked like without the clothes. This both freaked her out because, come on, he was Elena's little brother (this was the same boy who ran across their yard naked at four) and it also, scarily, excited her.
Because she knew what those looks were like. She'd been having them since she was fifteen and she finally filled out. Attention was attention and Caroline was nothing but an attention whore. So it may be wrong to enjoy the looks she was getting from Jeremy but she still liked it.
They were both stuck at the Gilbert house, rifling through musty old journals while everyone went on a road trip. She's getting sick of reading about Jeremy's ancestor and wanted to chuck it into the fire when he 'aha!'s and jumped from his seat.
He's quick to show her what he found and she tried to muster up the same enthusiasm he felt when he picked her up and twirled her around like they were in a fifties movie. She squealed and they both laughed when she's back on her feet.
He's staring down at her and she's staring up at him and it just felt electric the air around him so she can't resist and she reached up and kissed him flat on the mouth. He responded quickly nibbling on her lips and lifting her so she could wrap her legs around his waist. He's half unbuttoning her blouse when she realized what was going on and departed from him with vampire speed.
She's pressed up against the staircase, him at the living room doorway, both of them with hair mussed and swollen lips and the both think 'oops'.
They kissed again three days later. She's over for lunch and Elena's out buying pie. Alaric's nowhere to be seen and it's just him and her in the kitchen. The air was tense and she fidgeted in her seat as he tried to look anywhere but her.
"So…" She finally said after a while, breaking the silence. "Been drawing lately?"
He looked surprised that she'd been interested in his artistic talents, much less knew about them but replied, "Yeah. I'm working on this portrait of someone right now."
"Really, who?"
He looked sheepish but his smile was sweet. "You."
That made her heart stopped beating and she was blushing so wildly it almost hurt. "Why?"
"Why? Why not?" He countered and his eyes were warm as he said, "You're very beautiful, Caroline."
She should've said thank you, taken the compliment but instead she sputtered out a bunch of words that made no sense until he laughed, came over and kissed her soundly.
She'd always had a slight suspicion that nice guys were just allergic to her or something. Most guys that asked her out before were jerks. Matt was the exception and he was the nicest guy there was but he broke her heart into a million tiny pieces and she didn't think she'd recovered.
And then Jeremy came.
"I brought the food," She said as she took a seat on the picnic blanket with Elena and Jeremy.
"Do we have to do this?" Elena pouted. Both Gilberts were in sour moods, not wanting a Gone with the Wind marathon but guess what, they were going to have to do it anyway.
"Yes!" Caroline exclaimed. "You are going to see through this movie and be happy. Right, Jer?"
He looked like he wanted nothing better but to argue but just nodded deciding that fighting with his girlfriend was just too tiring. He'd lose anyway. She smiled and cuddled closer to him, fitting herself at the crook of his neck and breathing in his scent.
"I love you," She muttered in his ear and he smiled.
"Me too."
