A/N: I decided I needed to write some Forwood. There was a scene from one of the episode in this past season [Season 2] where Tyler asked Caroline why she cared so much, and she says something along the lines of "I've known you my whole life Tyler" so I highlighted on some younger Caroline and younger Tyler since you never actually see that. It's kind of like a flashback I came up with in my mind that adds to the rest of the oneshot, which by the way is supposed to take place first season, Vicki's alive so that should clue you in to that. So the 'present day' you see is first season, not literally present day. And as per usual there's slight tweaking in the storyline. Now this note has become entirely too long, I hope you guys like it :) –Kay.
Three years in the past-
"Oooooh! Caroline and Tyler!" Elena giggled from where she sat in Matt's lap.
This whole spin the bottle meets seven minutes in heaven idea was totally stupid. The only reason the group of incoming freshmen were even trying it was because they had heard it was what the older kids did at parties. Caroline, usually bubbly and jumping at the chance to do anything that may seem fun, even found this idea immature. Who wanted to sit around spinning a glass bottle and then sit in a closet for seven minutes with someone you were supposed to be making out with but knew you weren't actually going to. Out of all the fourteen and fifteen year olds gathered at the Lockwood house –Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood were out of town for the weekend- the only two who had probably done anything in that closet were Matt and Elena and that was only because they were actually dating each other at the time. Caroline kinked a brow and looked up across the circle at Tyler who had a half smirk on his face.
She and Tyler had never exactly gotten along. In elementary school she had admitted to having a crush on him and he had told her he didn't date crazy girls. Even at seven, she hadn't exactly taken it lightly. He also hadn't really been the nicest guy in middle school either. Most times she just did her best to avoid him. He stood up and offered her his hand to help her up. She wrinkled her nose and swatted it away, getting up for herself and stepping into the closet ahead of him. The space was small and it was uncomfortable. When Tyler came in behind her and shut the door it was even worse. She got as far away from him as possible and sat down on the floor of the closet, ignoring people's shouts about how the time had started already and they needed to 'get to it.' Tyler looked down at her for a moment before sitting down across from her. For a moment they were both silent. Tyler squinted up at the hanging lightbulb above them. Caroline tapped her fingers against her knee.
"So…" he trailed off.
She nodded slowly, puffing out her cheeks as she let out a breath, "So."
"Aren't we supposed to kiss or something?" he asked bluntly.
Caroline rolled her eyes, "I'm not kissing you Tyler."
Tyler shifted to lean his elbow against his knee, his chin resting in his palm as he smirked at her. "How come?"
"Because I don't like you." She sneered.
"You used to like me." He noted.
"Then you called me crazy and said you could never like a girl like me." She responded with a glare.
"And that made you stop liking me completely?" Tyler raised his eyebrows.
Caroline's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything right away. Was it really that obvious? She avoided Tyler as much as she could, not just because he had turned into a bit of an asshole, but because she didn't want to make it obvious that that little crush she had on him hadn't gone away completely. She would still steal glances at him every now and again when he was out on the football field or basketball court with his friends when she walked by. She would still daydream in class about how things would be if he weren't such a jerk to her. She folded her arms across her chest and sneered at him across from her.
"Yes, it did." She said finally.
Tyler chuckled and shook his head, scratching the back of his head, "Well you know, you don't have to kiss people just because you like them."
"I'm not having my first kiss with you in a closet." Caroline mumbled, letting her eyes wander to the closed closet door.
"You've never kissed anyone?" Tyler asked curiously.
"I'm fourteen Tyler, the world doesn't exactly revolve around kissing in middle school." She replied then paused to think about it, letting her eyes move back over to him slowly. "Have.. have you kissed anyone?"
Tyler pursed his lips and looked down at his lap, giving her his answer. Half of her wanted to laugh. He tried to act like he was this big hotshot and he hadn't even kissed a girl yet, the other half of her felt some kind of relieved that he hadn't kissed anyone. Not just because she hadn't –though that was kind of reassuring on its own that she wasn't the only one who hadn't ever kissed a person- but also because it meant he hadn't kissed some other girl just so he could say he'd done so. The blonde twisted her hands together nervously in her lap, her mind running in a hundred different directions. She cleared her throat awkwardly and looked up at him again to find that he was staring at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing, I was just…" he trailed off, shaking his head.
"You were just what, Tyler?" she asked, starting to get irritated with him already.
"Well you've never kissed anyone, and I've never kissed anyone, so…"
"So what?"
"So that means neither one of us would be able to know if we're bad at it or not, and it might be good practice and stuff.."
"You… you want me to kiss you for practice?" Caroline scowled.
"Well I mean, you're pretty and stuff too. Come on Caroline, please. I can't go back out there and tell everyone that we did absolutely nothing for a whole seven minutes in here together." Tyler pleaded.
She rolled her eyes and suppressed a groan, "I can't believe I'm gonna do this…"
She was already leaning closer to him. Truth be told, she really wouldn't have minded the fact that Tyler was about to be her first kiss, she just wished it was under different circumstances. Tyler realized she was actually agreeing to his proposal and sat up straighter, leaning closer to her too. Their faces were just inches from each other's and for a moment they just stared at each other. Caroline jumped when one of their friends outside tapped on the door and told them they only had three minutes left. Tyler took the opportunity to lean in and press his lips against hers. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting exactly, but whatever she expectations she had had for her first kiss completely faded away as he kissed her. It wasn't even anything all that amazing, it was just the fact that it was him kissing her. It made her head all foggy and brought butterflies to her stomach. Of course she was never going to admit to that, especially not to Tyler. After a minute, he pulled back from her, back so that they were just a few inches apart again. They stared at each other, holding each other's eye contact. Then a smirk came to Tyler's face.
"How does it feel to know that I'm your first kiss, huh Forbes?" he laughed.
She scowled and shoved him away from her, "I hate you, Tyler."
Present Day-
He's kissing her again. God, it's disgusting. Why does he want to kiss her? She's a total junkie. Not to mention she's his freakin' best friend's sister. All she wants is drugs, he doesn't even have those, can't he just let Jeremy have her? Ugh, why is he still kissing her? Just STOP already.
"Caroline?"
Her eyes moved away from where Tyler was busy sucking face with Vicki Donovan to look at Bonnie and Elena in front of her again. "What?" she asked, her voice snappier than intended.
Bonnie raised a brow in question, "What's wrong with you? Two seconds ago you were all excited about this haunted house thing."
Caroline rolled her eyes and shrugged, "I don't know. I'm just tired I guess. I'll be there though. No way am I missing that, I got the hottest witch costume."
She couldn't help the smirk that came to her face as she met Bonnie's eyes. Bonnie's jaw tightened and she shook her head before she walked away. Elena sighed and turned a serious look on the blonde.
"You really need to stop with the witch thing, Caroline." She said.
"Oh come on Elena, it's a joke!" Caroline replied defensively.
"Well it's not to Bonnie, so maybe you should just stop." Elena responded, eyes already moving away from the blonde in front of her as Stefan approached. "I'll see you tonight."
"Yep." Caroline mumbled, making a face.
Caroline looked back over at Tyler for a moment to find that he was still kissing Vicki, just for a minute though. As she pulled away with a laugh to walk away from him, his eyes locked with Caroline's. She looked away quickly, biting the inside of her cheek. She started walking towards her car and froze immediately as soon as Damon appeared in front of her and she flinched.
"What do you want Damon?" she snapped.
"The necklace I gave you, I want it back." He replied.
"Well I gave it to Bonnie, so good luck with that." She sneered, moving passed him.
He grabbed tightly onto her arm to stop her. She winced and attempted to pull away, but he only held on tighter. He turned her to look at him again. She avoided his eyes, looking passed him with her brow furrowed as Tyler made his way over toward them.
"Let me go, Damon." Caroline said through her teeth.
"Get me that necklace back." Damon retorted.
"Hey, leave her alone." Tyler said seriously, coming up to them.
Damon's grip loosened just barely on her arm. Caroline couldn't help but roll her eyes at Tyler's attempt to swoop in and save the day. As if he actually cared. He should have just gone back to sucking face with Vicki.
"We're having a little chat here, leave." Damon said.
Tyler looked at her, "Caroline, is he bothering you?"
"You're both bothering me!" she raised her voice, finally tugging her arm free from Damon's grasp. "You two chat, I'm going home."
She walked to her car, not bothering to look back and see whether or not Tyler and Damon actually said anything to each other. She didn't care. She didn't want to deal with Damon because he hurt her. She didn't want to deal with Tyler because… well because he hurt her too, she just wasn't exactly making that known to everyone. A week ago had anyone asked her if she was excited for the haunted house that the school held every year for Halloween, she would have told them without hesitation that she was ecstatic, now on the other hand she was just looking forward to the night being over already.
…
Caroline reached for the bottle sitting on the table she and Bonnie were standing near. Thankfully there were no adults standing near this particular table or she totally would have been busted for the alcohol she had snuck in. Tyler was standing there in front of them, in his gladiator's costume that left his upper body bare except for the cape with it. Caroline had to actively remind herself not to stare. She was just buzzed enough to tolerate the fact that he was standing with them.
"I'm gonna drink until someone is hot enough to make out with." She muttered.
Tyler laughed and tapped his plastic cup against hers, "Sounds like a plan."
She eyed him over the top of her cup as she took a sip of her drink. Her eyes wandered away from him as she saw Elena come through the gym door with Jeremy. Tyler's jaw tightened and he shot a glare in Jeremy's direction. Caroline understood better a moment later when Vicki appeared and dragged Jeremy by the arm into another room, a grin on her face. Caroline's eyes moved back to Tyler just in time to find him throwing his half-full cup on the ground and walking in the opposite direction, outside around the back of the gym.
"Tyler, wait!" she called, setting her drink down on the table and following after him.
She was surprised by how empty it was back behind the gym. Usually that was where most people who wanted 'alone time' ran to. It was oddly empty now. She hurried to catch up with Tyler, putting a hand on his shoulder. He turned around quickly, his eyes narrowed as he looked at her.
"What do you want? Rub it in my face?" he snapped.
"No. Why would I- You really think I chased after you just to say 'I told you so'?" she retorted.
"Why else would you follow me?"
"Is it so hard to believe that maybe I care about you Tyler?"
He ground his teeth together and swallowed thickly, but he didn't say anything, just looked at her. She stared back at him levelly. She wasn't sure if she should have said something or if he was going to. Just as she opened her mouth to break the tension-filled silence, his lips crashed against hers, his hands on either side of her face. At first all she felt was shock, and then those butterflies that she remembered feeling three years before in that closet during that stupid game they had played, the butterflies that she never felt when she'd kissed anyone else were back. It only took her a moment longer to process that the kiss wasn't breaking right away, so she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in closer. She felt her witch hat fall off her head, felt herself step on it as she stumbled backwards when he led her backwards so that her back was against the back wall of the gym. All too soon, Tyler ripped his lips away from hers. She took a deep breath to try and even out the heavy that her breathing had become.
"I'm sorry." Tyler said quickly, out of breath.
Caroline shook her head, speaking quietly, "Don't be."
Tyler ran his hands down over his own face and groaned. He turned his back on her and she frowned.
"Look at me." She said.
"I'm an idiot, Care. This whole time I've been with Vicki.. I knew she didn't want me. I didn't even really want her, this whole time I've wanted-" he cut off and shook his head. "This isn't me. I don't do this touchy feely bullshit."
"Look at me." Caroline repeated, slowly this time to annunciate each word separately.
Very slowly, Tyler turned to look at her again. He kept his teeth tightly clenched together, his eyes still narrowed just slightly. He was putting up a front and she wanted it gone. She put her hands on his shoulders and pulled, surprised when he actually took the couple steps closer to her again.
"What is it you wanted if you didn't want Vicki?" she asked softly.
Tyler shook his head slowly and looked down through the space between them at the cement. Caroline used a finger to tilt his chin back up again and he cracked the tiniest hint of a smirk.
"I told you, I'm not getting into this. I'm not a sissy, I'm not gonna get all romantic and crap right now." He said.
She dropped her hands from his shoulders and folded them across her chest, "Then go back inside and find some other girl to spend your time making out with." She snapped and turned back toward the door she had followed him out of.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back right back to where she had been with her back against the wall. He leaned in and kissed her again and as angry as she felt, she couldn't even think about pushing him away, because he was kissing her and god she liked it when he did that. One of his hands rested against the side of her face, the other on her hip.
"You." He mumbled under his breath, barely even pulling his lips from hers to let the word out.
"Hmm?" she responded –the only thing she could get out now that he had started kissing her again.
Tyler snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him, his body pressing against hers. Her breath caught in her throat, her arms going back to their place over his shoulders, around his neck. When he pulled away again, she made a noise of displeasure she was immediately embarrassed by, but as soon as she realized he wasn't completely pulling away from her, she forgot about it. Then his lips were at her ear, his voice a whisper.
"I've wanted you."