Eighteen chapter 7: Radio

Klaus was gone by the time Caroline's mothers cruiser pulled into the driveway at 12:30 that night. He'd stayed the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. They'd made out on the couch for a few hours and then Klaus had sat on top of the kitchen counter while Caroline flitted around, making dinner and going off on tangents about her friends and family.

After he had left Caroline had wandered around her house feeling strangely high. She felt as if she had lost complete and utter control of herself and all her actions. She was running on autopilot, and apparently her cruise control was set to Klaus's speed. Her old self from a few months ago would probably think that she had completely lost her mind. But as of the moment, Caroline was pretty pleased with her new self, at least for now. She was having fun. Genuine fun, for the first time, in a long time. She deserved to be reckless and unpredictable for a while.

Caroline had left the left overs from dinner on a plate sealed with plastic wrap in the fridge. She had placed a sticky note on it for her mother the way she used to when her mother worked late and her father wasn't home. It was her form of repayment for the hangover care package her mother had left her that morning.

Caroline had tried to stay awake until her mother arrived home. She layed in bed listening for the sound of her mother's car coming down the street, trying to ignore the tingling sensation on her skin, but she'd accidentally fallen asleep before her mother had gotten off work. Despite the fact that she had slept in that morning, and taken a good two hour nap that afternoon, she was still utterly exhausted.

Care had gotten up the next morning and expected her mother to still be asleep in her room before her next shift, but she was surprised when she exited her room and found her mother's cruiser not in the driveway. She guessed liz and gotten up and gone back into work right away. The house suddenly felt very quiet to Caroline. She could hear her heart thump in her chest and her thoughts swirled in her head. She shut the door tight to her bathroom and cranked the knobs on the shower up to almost full heat. She stood under the stream of hot water and listened to the sound of the drops hit hard against the glass wall and tile shower floor. She didn't know how long she was in there, but by the time the hot water began to run out she was sitting on the shower floor with her legs up against her chest.

She pulled all the blinds in the living room and double checked to see if the doors were locked. She turned out all the lights and huddled down on the couch, the glow of the tv the only light in the room. She heard her phone bleep and buzz throughout the day but she didn't feel like talking to anyone. She didn't want to hear anymore of Bonnie's apologies, or Elena's excuses, her head was already too full.

That night she heard her mother arrive home, almost as late as the night before, but she didn't get up to speak to her. She listened as her mother got ready for bed, and then turned over and attempted to go to sleep herself.

…..

Caroline woke up the next morning feeling as if she hadn't slept at all. Her eyes were sore and red, and the dark circles beneath them seemed to age her about 10 years. She considered staying in bed. Her mother had probably already left for work and her father wasn't home until the next day. They would never know if she didn't show up for school, but just as she was thinking this her phone buzzed with a text from Elena. Caroline had overslept and her friends were already outside and waiting for her. She groaned as she rolled out of bed. She pulled on the first clothes she could find on her floor, a pair of beat up faded jeans, t shirt, and oversized button up sweater. She grabbed her school bag off the kitchen counter and headed for the door. The sky was dark and grey that day, the air cool against her skin as she made her way down the walkway towards the street. The bleak weather seemed to match Caroline's mood for the day.

As soon as Caroline slide into the back seat of the car and the gilbert twins got a look at her they knew something was up. Kat demanded that Elena drive through one of the coffee places in town as there was no way that Caroline would make it through the day without crashing unless they plied her with copious amounts of caffeine.

After pulling through the drive thru, Kat pushed a large sugary coffee and a fluffy pastry into Caroline's hands.

" Eat up Care. You look like hell." Kat quipped in her usual oh so sensitive tone. Caroline rolled her eyes but took the food gratefully as she hadn't had the opportunity to have breakfast that morning.

Caroline avoided Bonnie's gaze as she leaned against her locker and waited for her friends to collect their books so they would be ready to head to class when the bell rang. Caroline had biology first period, and tho she didn't mind the class, today she was dreading it. She'd just have to suffer through her classes and look forward to climbing back into bed the second the final bell rang.

The signal to move to class sounded through the hallway and students began to bustle and move towards their classes. Caroline lagged behind her friends, dragging her feet and trying not to look as if she was amount to commit mass homicide.

"Having a good morning?" Someone asked from over her shoulder. She didn't have to turn around to know who the voice belonged to.

" Oh just the best" She answered taking a long drink of her coffee, letting it burn her tongue and throat as she drank. Klaus quicked his pace until they were walking in stride, Caroline's friends still a few meters ahead of them.

" Do you want to get out of here then?" He asked, smirking at her. Caroline slowed her steps until she had stopped in her tracks and narrowed her eyes at him, her books against her chest.

" We have school." She stated as if it wasn't obvious, Klaus who was now a few steps ahead of her twisted to face her.

" So?' He asked, now walking very slowly backwards.

"So? So there's classes, and attendance, and missed homework, and" Klaus cut her off,

" So? What happened to being crazy?" He asked again, his eyes glinting.

Caroline considered for a moment, biting the inside of her lip in thought, before letting of a sigh and nodding. Klaus's smirk turned into a grin as he lead her past her biology classroom where her friends were waiting and towards the exit to the student lot.

Klaus had his car again that day, so rather then climbing on the back of his bike, Caroline pulled open the passenger side door and slide onto the leather bench seat. Klaus slide in in front of the wheel and turned the key in the ignition.

" So," Caroline began, looking over to watch Klaus as he backed up the car and turned out of the student lot.

" Where exactly are we going?" She asked, finishing her coffee and picking at the edge of the cup, rolling up the rim and shredding it to small pieces. Klaus considered for a second, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, before he answered.

" What about the beach?" He asked, looking over at her to seek her approval.

"The beach?" Caroline asked incredulous.

" Why not?" Klaus pressed, a slight laugh in his voice as he questioned her.

" We could be in Virginia beach in what? Less than two hours? We could be there and back far before the end of the school day". Caroline thought about it for a moment, her eyes narrowed slightly while she considered.

" I'm not going swimming again." She said, crossing her arms across her chest. Klaus smiled and turned on his signal onto the exit towards Hampton and Virginia beach.

…

Caroline sat sideways with her back against the car door as they drove down the highway towards the beach, her feet up on the seat rested against Klaus's legs as he drove. She had kicked off her sandals on the floor, and she wriggled her toes, looking at the faint and chipping pale pink nail polish. Her head fell against the back of the seat, and she struggled to keep her eyes open, the coffee unable to combat her exhaustion. The vintage radio hummed quietly in the background. A song by the bangles began to play and without realizing it Caroline began to sing along quietly,

" Close your eyes, give me your hand, darlin', do you feel my heart beating? Do you understand?"

Caroline noticed Klaus glancing at her from the wheel and smiling.

" what?" She asked, lifting her head slightly off the seat.

"Nothing you just have a nice voice." He complimented, turning his eyes back to the road.

" Shut up." Caroline said quietly, chucking her crumpled up coffee cup at him while rolling her eyes and then shutting them. She leaned her head sideways against the seat again.

"What?" He asked, deflecting the cup, with a laugh in his words.

" Im serious! You're quite good. You could definitely be the only girl in a karaoke bar that people don't hate." Caroline rolled her eyes again but let a smile sneak onto her face. She reached over and turned up the volume on the radio.

….

High season was just coming to an end, so late monday morning on Virginia beach wasn't the most exciting place. Not to mention the storm clouds that were rolling in made the whole sky dark and menacing while the water crashed against the beach in strong grey waves.

Caroline and Klaus sat in the sand several feet from the water edge, watching the waves crash in silence. Caroline eyes still felt heavy and weak and almost against her will she let her head fall against Klaus's shoulder.

" Do you ever have those days where it feel like everything wrong with your life falls on you at once." Caroline asked, her voice soft and quiet.

" I know i'm not the best at dealing with my problems, that i just push things around and don't deal with anything. I mean there's the whole deal with my parents, but right now i feel like everything is sitting on my chest, and i can't breathe." Klaus reached over and brushed the stray strands of hair out of her face, brushing his fingers softly against her cheek. Caroline tried to let out a sad smile, but her attempt faltered. Caroline could tell that Klaus saw that she didn't want to talk about it, or that she didn't know how. Klaus got to his feet and offered Caroline his hand to pull her to stand.

…

"Better than a school lunch?" Klaus asked as Caroline took a large bite into the burger that the waitress had placed in front of her.

"That's not hard." Caroline said, shuddering to think of the slop that her friends were surely eating at the moment.

Caroline's mood had picked up slightly as the morning had come to a close, as she and Klaus had walked along the beach and then through the streets just above, window shopping and talking but not saying much of anything. Her chest didn't feel so heavy, but all her earlier thoughts had just been pushed to the back of her mind. She knew they would come back and consume her eventually, but hopefully that would be much later, like when she was in bed that night. Then she could tie her anxiety into tight knots in her stomach that she could work around.

They sat in a peeling white and blue leather booth at a diner a few blocks up from the beach, eating greasy burgers and baskets of fries, musing about what they might be missing in class that day, and not really caring. It was only the second week of school after all.

By the time they started their drive back to Mystic falls the storm clouds over head and just began to open up, and rain began to splatter across the windshield of the car. The rain fell harder as they drove, the windshield wipers working at top speed to provide even a shred of rain interfered with the radio reception so rather than listen to static, caroline laid down across the car seats, her head rested against Klaus leg as she read the novel she had stashed in her bag out loud.

The rain slammed hard against the car as they drove, but Caroline's voice was sure and strong as she spoke, bringing to life the characters on the page to life.

By the time they pulled into Mystic falls, it was just after four o'clock. The rain had slowed their drive but it didn't matter. There was no one waiting at home for her. They pulled onto Caroline street and the rain continued to pour down. The car came to a complete stop in front of Caroline's house, but she wasn't ready to go inside yet. She wasn't ready to be alone again. She glanced up at Klaus, whose arm was rested across the front of her shoulders. The rain was loud outside the car, but inside the heater was running on full blast. Caroline sat up, so she and Klaus were face to face. She looked into his eye's, hoping he couldn't see the insecurity in her own. In an instant their lips were connected. His hands worked her sweater off her shoulders, and then worked their way up the back of her tank top, her skin warm against his fingertips. She pulled at the hem of his t shirt and lifted it up and over his head. His lips found their way to her neck before before finding their way back to her own lips. Her hands roamed his chest, and traced over his stomach was just working on the snap of her jeans when a sharp knock sounded on the passenger side door.