The Month of Koroline #4
Title: Meds
Fandom/s: Vampire Diaries, Love Is a Drug
Love Is a Drug is an original story of mine and the first three chapters can be found on my Fictionpress account if you're interested. Sorry for the late updates but I'm usually vidding when I'm not writing and it's hard to squeeze writing in sometimes.
It's been a month since Philax (the leading drug distributor in the world) announced Love. It was a new drug thought to be better than Lust and Happiness since it could imitate all the other Emotions like Happiness, Fear, Anxiety and many more.
Testing for it started a week earlier. Test subjects from ages of fifteen to sixty were being tried out.
Caroline stood in line of the young adults being handed small plastic cubs with the drug. She was handed hers and she stared at the two bright pink pills, trying to gauge what their mystical powers were. They didn't look any different from any other Emotions or just the regular drugs so what made these so special?
"Swallow, please." The nurse told - commanded her briskly, the 'please' obviously just for show.
Caroline suppressed an eye roll and swallowed the pills drugs, grimacing as they stuck to her throat. The nurse handed her a small amount of water and she bit her tongue to not snap at her for not giving her that before Caroline choked on the meds. She just chugged down the small amount of water and let out a relieved sigh as the pills went down easier.
"Follow me." The nurse commanded again and Caroline resisted the urge to disobey. She didn't like this bitch already and it's only been five minutes.
The nurse led her to a small room, barely the size of a shoebox with white walls, white floors and no windows. The only furniture in the room was a metal table and two metal chairs. How cozy. The nurse told her to wait for her 'partner' and that she would be back in an hour. Caroline took a seat on one of the cold, uncomfortable chairs.
Caroline stared at her watch for a full minute before the door opened and a male nurse escorted a boy – no, young man into the room. He looked older than Caroline a few years perhaps with dark hair and eyes and porcelain skin. He was dressed all in black from his sweater (was that cashmere?)r to his boots. And he swaggered over to her like he was a fucking prince.
The male nurse gave the brunet the same instructions given to Caroline and he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him but it echoed in the small silent room.
The boy took the seat opposite of her, not taking his eyes off her like he was assessing every movement she made. She didn't back down though and held his gaze, noting for a fact that his eyes were dark brown, almost black.
There was a strange excitement in the air, like something was about to happen. Which one of them would pounce first after all? Caroline tried to control herself against that bubbling excitement, almost euphoric and she stared into pools of bitter, dark chocolate before he. – finally – relented and smirked at her.
"What's your name, sweetheart?" He asked. "I'm Kol."
He spoke with a British lit and as any giddy eighteen-year-old who watched Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice, she wanted to swoon. But she didn't cause that would be way too embarrassing.
"Caroline." She answered, easing up a little when he leaned back against his chair, arms still on the table and eyes never leaving her face.
"So, tell me, Caroline," –Oh God, the way he said her name. Like a three syllable melody. Ca-ro-line- "What got you into the world of Emotions testing?"
"They were signing people up at the mall. I was bored."
He nodded, appeased.
And she gave him a look. "What's your reason?"
"My brother works for the company. He got me the gig, citing that I needed to at least understand what working and the blue collar people have to deal with."
Blue collar people? What a snob. He must be a son of a millionaire and went to that posh private school across town with the preppy uniform. Yup, she could just imagine him in the blue and black outfit with the Mikaelson crest on it. Heck, he's probably related to the family that owns the school.
"Well, aren't you one of the people?" She said dryly, eyes narrowed in annoyance.
He smirked again at her expression. "Oh and I already made you angry." He looked at his watch. "Five minutes, that's like my all-time best."
"Sounds like pissing people off is a regular thing for you."
"Very observant," He remarked. "And true. My siblings can attest to that."
"How many siblings do you have?" She asked, genuinely curious. She wondered what kind of people had to deal with this prick on a daily basis or worse yet, share DNA with him.
"Many, actually." He answered. "Four insufferable brothers and one spoiled rotten little sister. Now that I think about it, you do remind me a bit of Bekah…."
She scowled at the thought of being compared to a snobby private-school British girl and Kol chuckles at her open disgust. "She's not that bad, really. I think you would like each other. You could help her run the school with her iron fist adorned in Chanel nail polish."
"Lovely." She pouted and looked down at her watch. Fifteen minutes. Really? So much more to go.
"Oh, come on. I'm not boring you already, am I?" Kol cajoled her. "How about some jokes? You heard the one about the blonde that went to the doctor? No? Okay, so a woman goes to her doctor and complains that she feels pain when she touches any part of her body-"
She sighed and looks up at Kol with bored eyes as he continued his joke.
"-and so the doctor asks, 'You're a natural blonde, aren't you?'"
"Kol,"
"-and she said, 'How did you know?'"
"Kol."
"And then he went, 'Cause your finger is broken!'" He finished with a flourish and grins down at her, waiting and expecting her to laugh and she just glares at him, wanting very badly to smash his face into the table until he was bloody and dead. "Oh come on, Caroline, that was one of my best!"
How could one human being be so annoying?
"You know, other girls would laugh at everything I say."
"That's because they're brainless trollops that would laugh at anything a boy they like would say."
He hissed and made a stabbing motion into his heart. "You're a cruel woman."
"And don't you forget it."
He laughed loudly. It sounded like the hyenas from Lion King and it made her smile even when she tried not to. He stopped laughing and stared at her, eyes dancing. "You know what, I like you. You're a hard one to crack."
"I'm the video game you can't cheat." She returned his smile before looking down at her watch again. Ten minutes to go. She looked back at him and he was staring at her, eyes almost probing. "Could you stop giving me the Ian Somerhalder stare? It's seriously creeping me out!"
"I can't help it." He grinned widely. "It's the meds. I think I'm in love with you already."
She scoffed. "No way. You had one dose and this is just in the product testing so stop saying crazy things or I'll tell the nurses that you're a registered sex offender."
He balked at her. "And I'm the crazy one?"
She couldn't help herself, she fucking giggled like when she was a freshman and the football players would wolf-whistle when she would walk by. God, was it him or Love that was turning her into a brainless ninny? She outgrew giggling last year and she refused to giggle for arrogant British boys anymore.
"Outlandish threats aside, what's so wrong about insta-love?"
"Cause it only exists in romance novels and movies."
"What kind of role reversal are we doing here? You're the girl. Aren't you supposed to be telling me that Edward should be with Bella and that 'Oh my Gosh, they're like the most epic romance ever!'" He said the last bit in a shrill, girly voice and she winced out of horror alone.
"What is wrong with you?" She shook her head. "Sadly, a few years ago, I might've said that too."
"What changed?"
She stared at him and she read into the sincerity in his eyes before she looked away and cleared her throat, changing the subject quickly. "So, you believe in 'insta-love'?"
"Nah, not really. My sister does but after witnessing my parents' catastrophic relationship I've sort of stopped buying into romantic tripe."
"Like soul mates and destiny and love matches?"
"Exactly." He nodded sagely. "Load of shit it all is."
She giggled. Again. Ugh, she had to stop. But come on, he's charming, absolutely charismatic once you got past the arrogance and obnoxiousness.
"But doesn't that make us hypocrites that we're testing insta-love, right now?" She asked.
He thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "This is purely scientific stuff, chemicals and toxins and pheromones, nothing romantic about this at all. If it was, there would be candles, food and music and we'd be outside so we can see the stars."
She agreed. "True love shouldn't come in a bottle anyway."
Kol opened his mouth to say something but the door opened and the nurses told them that the time is up. Caroline stood up first and Kol followed, trailing behind her as her nurse ushered her away. She's stepped one foot in the hallway before she's stopped by a hand on her arm. Friction, nothing but friction and the effects of Love made her heart flutter when she realized it was Kol, she tried to rationalize.
"See you next time, Caroline?" He grinned hopefully. "Let's talk more about insta-love."
She smiled back. "Looking forward to it."
His hand dropped from her and he walked away. Caroline stared at his retreating form for two seconds before the nurse (who she's really beginning to dislike) is drilling her with questions.