Story: Control

Chapter: Four- Because He Was Just Too Easy and Too Nice

Pairing: Caroline/Damon, with some Caroline/Other, Damon/other

Summary: "If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough" -Mario Andretti. A study in control; one who considers her life in control and one who does everything he can to control those around him.

Opening and Closing Lyrics Used in this song are NOT mine they are the lovely Emily Haines, from the song Knock You Out by Tiesto and Emily Haines.

"Somebody to take you out
Somebody to show you how
Somebody to train you
Somebody to love
But wait...

Is it still love you want
Somebody to put you down
Somebody to smack you 'round
Somebody to love
But wait..."

She doesn't usually drink, and on the rare occasion of if and when she does she never drinks this much. She hung out with those kids, she went to those parties, she threw those parties herself, she had sips in between tight-lipped smiles but she never really drank. It's a control thing maybe, but she's never bothered to look that deeply into it. All those other girls, those party girls, she dances circles around them, she goes to more parties than them and sleeps with more boys- or rather, better looking boys- than them. The only thing she doesn't do is stumble into a room to pass out, the only thing she doesn't do is puke her guts out on the lawn after making out with a guy in the bushes. The only thing she doesn't do is make a fool of herself. She never saw a reason to throw away her calculated (and luckily genetically blessed) rise to the top of the social food chain for one drunken moment, and she has seen many girls do it, and she has laughed at those girls and sent them in tears to hang with other cast outs and failures. Circle of life right? She's always thought herself one step ahead of the game, or maybe she knows she doesn't have the backbone to handle the embarrassment. "Police chiefs daughter caught publically intoxicated", she just couldn't do it. Not that she would ever admit that to herself.

Tonight however seems have been designed for exceptions, and tonight she is the exception. These college boys don't know her name, and considering her outfit she doubts they know her face either, but at this point she doesn't really care. At this point she is drunk. Wasted, toasted, hammered, flat out fucking drunk. At this point she can barely control her words, let alone her limbs and in this moment in time she loves it. She loves every shiny can; she loves the throb of the bass in her chest and the pulse of the music in her veins. She loves the colorful shots and the broken glass in the kitchen and the cigarette butts lying listless and used by the door. Right now she loves Adam and his plaid shirt and the guitar in the corner. Thirty minutes ago she loved Troy and she's pretty sure he loved her back, but apparently his girlfriend loved him too. But none of that matters because Adam and his blond hair and his green eyes framed with unfairly long eyelashes -"they belong on a girl" she's told him several times already, hands stroking his face- none of this matters because Adam has promised a private concert in his bedroom. Right now Adam is a big of a star as she wants him to be, and right now she can pretend to be his biggest fan without realizing she's pretending.

She is giggling and the room is spinning and Adam is having a hard time carrying her and the guitar, but somehow he manages and the three of them tumble to the ground and she giggles some more. Some part of her in the back of her mind tries to remind her not to be this idiot lush, some part is frantically trying to remind her of Damon, who probably is at her house right now, looking at an empty room. But she just can't bring her self to care; she drank that uptight conscience part away playing some game with cards and a shit-mix of vodka, rum and something tasty and green.

Adam is leaning against the bed, his plaid shirt open, guitar in his hands and singing. If she were sober, she probably would have pointed out- none to kindly- that he should seriously stick to strumming and leave the singing out all together. But right now she can't stop grinning uncontrollably, the ceiling is spinning and the carpet is soft and he's singing some silly romantic song that is making her giggle. And then suddenly that isn't enough, lately high school, her high school friends, her cheerleading, her hair, her life just isn't exciting enough, isn't wild and dangerous enough. She wants to do something, he is playing too slowly and she wants something fast, she wants the lights to blur like they did downstairs, she wants her heart to race and she knows the only guy who can make it race is Damon but she wants to prove he is not alone. She wants to prove that other boys can be exciting, she wants to prove that she can find exciting on her own, and right now she should be drunk enough that everything is exciting and unpredictable, and it is…but just not enough.

This itchy hungry part of her is restless and wasted, so she does what she does best and takes action: Adam stops playing when her bra hits his face.

Adam is a good kisser, his chest is smooth and hard underneath the long-gone plaid shirt, his hands are nimble and just a little callused and rough in the right places. He is good and he is nice and he continues to sing that silly romantic song when his lips are free of her skin. But he is only good, and she is bored as fuck. He is too easy to please and his song is annoying her, so she kisses her way down his stomach and undoes his jeans with her teeth. She can't help but feel disappointed as he shudders and moans and forgets how to speak- and she can't help but feel let down when she looks up at him and he is completely under her spell without much effort at all.

Afterward he is panting and smiling and promising to return the favour, and she is trying to feel enticed but can't quite sum up the enthusiasm she so wanted to have. She leaves him on the bed to freshen up, he tells her not to take long and she doesn't bother answering. Under the harsh lightening of dirty bathroom she glares at her reflection and wonders if this is what a loser looks like, because so far it seems like Damon is winning. Damon is winning at a game he isn't really bothering to play. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are glazed, but she feels remarkably sober, and that giggling silly girl from moments before seems like a stranger.

Suddenly, she just wants to go home; suddenly, she doesn't care about proving anything because losing to Damon is exciting and twisted. Besides, the very fact that she went here tonight, the fact that she sought out a guy and made him loose control should mean something, should mean that somewhere inside she still is a tenacious fighter, should mean that he isn't holding her helpless just yet. And even if he is, at least it's never boring.

She twists the facet and lets the water run frigid before splashing it on her face, her hands pressed against her cold pink cheeks, she counts to ten and then turns around and opens the door.

Adams guitar is lying in pieces and there is blood on the floor, Adam is nowhere to be found.

Damon is sitting calmly on the bed, not smiling, not frowning, just sitting and looking at her.

She feels a rush that is more intoxicating than every drink she's every had tonight and any other night put together; relived and enthralled and excited. She fights to control her reaction and pull herself back; twisting her lips she aims for a half smile.

"Jealous, much?"

At this Damon scoffs incredulously and gets off the bed looking anything but impressed. She steels herself and whatever she is feeling on the inside, she is not going to let it bleed through for him to see.

He walks toward her and she stiffens, half frightened but never bored.

She closes her eyes and waits for his teeth on her neck, wanting it and hating herself for it.

Instead he grabs her hand and pulls her toward him. This scares her more than anything he has ever done. His arm around her waist, his hand on her elbow, she doesn't even think to resist. He is walking them to the door and down the stairs and past all the people dancing and drinking and stumbling into each other. Outside, the cold air seems to bring her some sense and she pulls away.

"What are you doing?"

He holds out his hand palm up and looks irritated, almost like a parent scolding and unruly child. He sighs.

"Give me your keys, I'm taking you home"

Part of her wants to say no if only to fake a bit of resistance, but she is tired so she hands the keys over without looking at his face and gets in the passenger seat without a fuss. It's only as they're speeding frantically down the highway that she wonders how he got there if he's using her car to get back. She knows better than to voice it, and she doesn't really want to ruin the mystery, because she can think back to this when things get really rough, and she can twist it into some romantic gesture.

She looks at him and he stares straight at the road.

"So, should I be expecting a chaperon every time I go out now?"

He glances at her, with a tired smirk.

"Do I really seem like that type Caroline?"

She bites her lip and doesn't take her eyes off his profile.

"Then why did you come?"

He keeps his eyes on the road, and his face as smooth as a sheet of glass.

"Because I was hungry…and right now, you're my favorite snack"

She forces herself not to make anything of his words, forces herself not to feel just a little bit privileged like she just received some twisted compliment.

Instead she looks at him; instead she looks at the lines on his face, looks at the curve of his lip, the slope of his nose, the angle of his brow and his lashes which curl enough to graze his skin.

She looks at him and he doesn't take his eyes of the road.

"High hopes
High hopes
She got high hopes"

I really hope there is more Caroline/Damon on the show - from the looks of it there wont be for a while, which really sucks. I adore the dynamic between the two of them, there is so much "spark". That said, drunken Damon with Viki last episode was hhhhot. Seriously, haha I wish he got a scene like that with Caroline.

She might seem a little out of character this chapter, and I'm having a lot of trouble with Damon because there is such a fine line between him being a total ass and too much of a redeemable sap. But it was fun to write.

Anyways thanks so so much for reading, it would be amazing if you could drop a small review, it would mean the world.

-Merci