Eighteen Chapter 4: Rational

Caroline was squished in the back of the gilberts SUV along with several members of the cheer team on the way to Tyler's party. The bonfire had started to die down around nine as people seeped into the parking lot and piled into cars headed towards the Lockwood estate on the other side of town.

By the time Caroline and her friends pulled up, the house was already alive with life. There were people on the lawn and crowded onto the porch. The music was so loud that anyone could hear it the second they turned onto the Lockwoods long driveway. Katherine, frustrated with the crowded driveway and minimal parking, made a sharp turn of the wheel and drove up onto the lawn. The girls poured out onto the lawn and made their way through the people and towards the house. Bonnie hooked her arm through Carolines and pulled her towards the house's entrance.

" Come on. It's not going to be that bad. If you really try you might even have some fun." Bonnie joked, as she lead her friend up the front steps. The house was packed almost wall to wall with people, all speaking loudly over the music and clutching cups of foamy beers from one of the kegs in the kitchen. Almost the whole senior class was in attendance along with most of the juniors and sophomores, and a select few freshmen. Despite the fact that both of Tyler's parents were prim and proper upstanding members of the community, they always turned a blind eye to their sons many outlandish parties and behaviors.

Within minutes Caroline's friends and ex teammates had all melted away into the crowed in the search of drinks or their boyfriends, leaving her alone. At this point Caroline felt there was only one appropriate thing to do. Get outrageously drunk.

Now Caroline had been to plenty of parties before, but she was never one to get crazy. She had gone to her first real party in the 10th grade. Matt and Vicki Donovan's mother had been off on one of her benders and her children had taken that opportunity to invite over half the class and get drunk on the liqour their mother had hidden under her bathroom sink. Katherine, Elena, and Caroline had all allowed themselves to get out of hand and ended up sleeping on the Donovans bathroom floor. When she had been reigning Miss Mystic she hadn't drunk at all, as she had a certain image she needed to maintain as part of title. But now? Well now she was standing alone at a party at her ex boyfriend's house, and she sure as hell deserved a drink.

Caroline pushed her way through the people and towards the kitchen. Two football players were manning the kegs, charging people a few dollars per cup. Fate was on Caroline's side that day however, as Matt was one of the players distributing the beer. He poured a cup and reached through the crowed to hand the drink to Caroline. She shouted a thank you to him, and moved out of the kitchen. She took a sip of the beer and her expression soured. The beer was cheap and foamy, but she downed it none the less. However, Caroline wasn't prepared to drink that swill all night. She moved through the house, scanning the rooms until she found who she was looking for. She grabbed Katherine by the arm and drug her down the hallway and towards the back of the house where the party had yet to spread. Caroline pushed open the door to Mr. Lockwood's office, where she knew there was a locked cabinet full of liquor. Caroline pulled a bobby pin out of Kats hair and pressed it into her friend's hand and directed her towards the booze lockup. One of the qualities in herself that Katherine was most proud of was her ability to pick a lock.

In a matter of minutes Katherine had broken the lock and the two were digging through the bottles. Katherine unscrewed the top of a tequila bottle and took a long swig. Caroline swipped a mickey of vodka, and pulled her friend with her out of the room.

…..

Not to long later Caroline had a strong buzz going, and was hoping to start to enjoy herself any minute now. She'd hung out with Matt in the kitchen for a while while she dug through the cabinets looking for something to chase her vodka with and been forced into dancing with a very intoxicated Katherine to an old Britney Spears song. She was nearly two hours into the party and she had yet to see Tyler. She wasn't complaining. It would be easier if she got through his party without encountering him, especially since she was holding his father's stolen vodka in her hand.

There were several people smoking close to open windows, but the smoke still filled the room and stung Caroline's eyes. She felt around in her bag for her eye drops and found nothing. She hoped there might be a spare set in one of the bathrooms. Caroline made her way through the party and towards the bathroom by the kitchen. When she arrived she was disappointed to see the long line that had formed for it. She circled around to the other side of the house and was frustrated to find an equally as long line heading up the other bathroom. Caroline didn't have the patience to stand in line and wait and wondered if anyone would notice if she snuck upstairs and used one of the bathrooms in the bedrooms.

The one rule of house parties at the Lockwoods was that no one was allowed on the upper floors. It was the only part of the house that was fully carpeted and if anyone spilled a drink on the cream coloured fabric, Carol Lockwood would set the town ablaze. When she and Tyler were dating she used to sneak upstair during parties to stash her stuff in his room, or skip the bathroom line. No one would know if she did that now.

Caroline made her way casually to the front room and slipped up the staircase, hoping that no one would take notice of her. Tylers room was the first at the top of the landing, and after a moment's hesitation she twisted the handle and entered the room. She crossed the room and ducked into the bathroom. She looked in the bathroom cabinet and was disappointed to see nothing but toothpaste and some bandaids. A thought came to her, and unsure, Caroline crouched down and pulled open the cabinet under the sink. To her surprise her small pink makeup bag still sat there behind a bottle of bleach. She'd stashed that there months ago, for occasions such as this. The small bag contained such items as makeup remover wipes, q-tips, concealer and most importantly, the eye drops she needed.

Once she was finished with the drops she motioned to return the bag under the sink and then thought better of it. She should just take it with her. She didn't plan on making visiting tylers room a regular thing. She didn't need to keep her safety net there anymore.

Caroline turned out the light in the bathroom and headed towards the door back towards the party, not noticing the other person in the room.

" I've been meaning to give that back to you." Tyler stated, referring to the makeup bag in his ex girlfriend's hands.

Caroline jumped, startled to find Tyler sitting on his bed, as if he had been waiting for her. Her hand flew to her chest, and she let out a huff of breath.

"Jesus. You scared me." She let out another breath and then continued to speak.

"I'm sorry i'm up here, there was just a line for the bathrooms and-" Tyler cut her off with a laugh in his voice

"It's alright. I know you're not one to wait." He joked. Caroline, slightly uncomfortable, pushed her hair behind her ears and looked down at her shoes. Tyler filled the silence.

" i saw you coming up the stairs, and i followed you up here because i was hoping we could talk.. About like us." He said unsurely, a crooked uneasy smile on her face. Caroline narrowed her eyes at him and shifted slightly in the direction of the door. She let out an awkward laugh, hoping to relieve some of the tension.

"I don't really have anything to say about that." Caroline said, pushing up the sleeve of her sweater to keep her hands busy. Tyler stood up from his bed and started to walk towards her.

" Care. It's been months. I've been giving you space or whatever, but i think that if we talk about it that we could-" this time it was Caroline who cut Tyler off.

" We could what? Get back together? Because i'll tell you right now that that's not going to happen. I'm not going to pretend to understand why you did what you did. I mean yes, Haley was very pretty, and she was here for a semester so you thought i'd never find out. Look i don't get it, but i'm over it. We don't need to talk. We don't need to get together and discuss our feelings. I didn't come here to get back together, I came here to hang out with my friends, you know wherever they are, and make lasting senior memories or whatever bullshit Elena said." Caroline could tell that Tyler was winding up to say something else, so she turned on her heel and headed for the door.

As she hurried down the staircase she could hear Tyler behind her, and as she reached the main floor she felt his hand clasp hard around her wrist as Tyler spun her around to face him. She tried to yank her arm away but his grip was tight around her wrist. His face was filled with frustration but his eyes showed his anger.

" let go." Caroline hissed at him, not wanting to speak any louder and cause a scene. Tyler was about to open his mouth to speak when a figure appeared over Caroline's shoulder.

"Everything all right?" Klaus asked, his voice cool but menacing. Caroline have a final tug on her arm and her wrist fell free from Tyler's loosened grasp. Tyler looked Klaus up and down and seemingly decided against starting a conflict began to back away.

" It's fine" Tyler spat as he melted back into the party.

Caroline shook out her now sore wrist and turned to face Klaus, trying to act composed.

"Two social events in as many hours, not bad for a social pariah." Caroline joked, as she opened her bag and reached inside.

" Yes, well i've watched you reinvent your life. It's been inspirational." He joked, as he watched Caroline pull out the mickey bottle and down what was left of it straight. Klaus's eye's widened in slight disbelief, his expression becoming slightly incredulous. Caroline placed the empty bottle on a nearby table and shook out her hair still feeling slightly flustered.

Caroline leaned against the banister of the stairs her head spinning slightly as she spoke to Klaus.

" How long have you been here?" She asked him, watching as he placed his empty plastic glass beside her empty bottle.

" I arrived about three beers ago." Caroline smiled and shook her head. She pushed her hair out of her face again still feeling flustered from her Tyler encounter and then she blurted out,

" It's hot. Do you want to go outside?" Klaus considered and allowed Caroline to take hold of his wrist and tow him through the house and to the backdoor. Kat caught Caroline's eye as she walked through the house. Katherine tilted her head and smirked at her friend as she saw her walk by with Klaus in tow.

There were a few people on the back patio, So Klaus and Caroline continued over the vast manicured lawn and towards the edge of the property where the lawn ran into the Lockwoods reservoir.

Caroline flopped down on the water's edge, and laid down in the grass, looking up at the sky above her. Klaus plopped down by her side and leaned back against the grass as they both watched the stars. The moon was almost full that night, lighting up the whole lawn like a large spot light.

" Thank god we're out of there. I was beginning to feel as if my skin was on fire." Caroline stated, pulling up clumps of grass with her fingers.

" Yes, well i imagine several shots of Vodka could do that to a person." He joked. Caroline rolled her eye's even though she knew he couldn't see.

" I needed something to cut loose, i don't think i could have been in there sober. I don't know how i did it before." She started, flipping over onto her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows to look at Klaus, who was leaning back on his own.

" So becoming a crazy party girl isn't how you'll be filling the gap left from your extra curriculars?" He asked, the trace of a grin on his lips. Caroline pursed her lips as if considering before answering.

" I'm not sure. Maybe crazy yes, party no." A glint came into Klaus eye.

" Crazy?" He asked a full grin on his face now. Caroline shrugged her shoulders, looking down and letting her hair fall over her face.

" So say if someone asked to, i don't know, jump in the lake right now. You'd do it?" He asked. Caroline let out a laugh.

" Maybe" she answered coyly. Klaus smirked and began to get to his feet as he spoke.

" I'm calling your bluff." He said, offering him her hand to pull her to her feet. Caroline narrowed her eyes at him.

" Do it then. Jump in." He countered, watching her, amused. Caroline's jaw dropped automatically and she pulled her sweater tighter around her.

" Are you insane. It's freezing out!" Caroline said although that wasn't strictly true. It was early september and unseasonably warm.

" and besides we don't have any towels or-" He cut her off as he pulled his shirt over his head.

" You're overthinking it. If you want to be crazy, then you can't be rational. Just jump." and like that Klaus was kicking off his shoes and jeans , and Caroline was shedding her sweater and pulling her t shirt dress over her head.

Before Caroline could think anymore Klaus had grabbed her hand and they had dashed into the water.

The cold stung her skin but she dove under the water letting the water wash over her skin. She came up for air gasping as a laugh escaped her chest. In that moment a wave of water hit her. She yelped as the splash came in contact with her skin. She slashed at the water to send a spray back at Klaus. They soon forgot how cold they were as they shrieked, splashing back and forth like they were four years old. Soon enough they were wrapped up, trying to wrestle the other person under water laughing all the while. Klaus only managed to dunk her by wrapping his arms around her and throwing them both backwards into the water.

When they surfaced his arms were still around her and they were standing in chest deep water. She was pressed against his chest with her hands against his arms the way they had been when she was trying to push him away from her. But now her hands rested against his skin, as she fought the urge to run his hands up and down his muscles. Their faces were inches apart and Caroline was distracted by the feeling of his warm hands against her lower back. Their eyes were locked in a gaze and Caroline couldn't help up breath a little heavier looking at him.

" What the matter" He breathed moving his lips ever so slightly closer to her own.

" Don't want to kiss me when Daddy isn't around to get you in trouble?" he teased her. Caroline laughed, throwing her face back to look at the sky and shaking her head

" Shut up." She joked, grinning, before leaning forward and pressing her lips hard against his. Klaus brought one of his hands up to press against the back of her neck and deepen the kiss. His other hand cupped around the back of her thigh and lifted her so her legs were wrapped around his waist, so he and the water could hold her combined weight. In that moment Caroline knew that Klaus was the only one she wanted to teach her how to be crazy.