Hey guys!

New update, finally! I should warn you all that the next update might take a bit longer as well. The next two weeks or so I will have to work a lot, which means not much time to write, unfortunately. :(

I work at a diner. I'm diner-girl. I come up with fluffy love stories while I bake other peoples' fries. That's how I roll. 8) Anyway, I digress. It's just that I wanted you all to know that I will do my very best to update as soon as I can! Thank you for understanding! :)

Also; Thank you very much for reviewing; Laoya, Drakulina, Girl96xoxo, Musicalexpert, Dockfangirl, Emowyen and Luvit81.

So, new chapter! Have fun reading. :)


Dinner

Naturally, Klaus owned a very fancy -and undoubtedly expensive- car. I was nervously fumbling with my hands as I gazed out of the window of aforementioned car. Pretending to absently stare at the surroundings was a lot easier than actually facing him.

"Thank you for coming with me. I appreciate that you are at least giving me a chance." Klaus said conversationally, breaking the silence. "For a moment I thought that you were going to turn me down."

I sat a little straighter before answering him, but I didn't turn my head. "So did I… Quite frankly, I still can't believe I'm doing this."

Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could make out the smile in his voice as he replied. "You must be truly starving then."

"You have no idea." I said, my tone lighter now.

He laughed softly, sensing that I was starting to relax.

God, it was difficult to remain distant and cold while he was acting all charming and… Dare I say it? Friendly. No! No, no, no! 'Klaus' and 'friendly' were two things that didn't match! Just like 'Klaus' and 'Caroline' were two things that didn't match. This was ridiculous…

"We're here." He announced as he parked the car.

"Great." I muttered, for the first time glancing in his direction.

He was determined to turn my mood around. "Come on, sweetheart. You could show me some more enthusiasm. I, for one, am not afraid to admit that I'm looking forward to spending an evening in the presence of a beautiful woman such as yourself."

His smile was reserved, but his azure eyes were shining, giving away that he was genuinely excited to go and have dinner with me. Unless he was the world's greatest actor, he appeared to be nothing but sincere.

"I'm sorry. I really need some time to get used to the idea of voluntarily hanging out with you." I said, half serious, half joking.

Klaus grinned at me. "Fair enough."

-xxx-

As we entered the restaurant, it took me less than a second to observe that the entire interior was screaming 'overpriced'. I didn't comment though. After all, it was him, taking me out to dinner. If he wanted to spend a fortune on delicious food, I was not the type to complain. The place was pretty crowded, and I briefly wondered if Klaus had even bothered to make a reservation.

Before I had a chance to ask him, he confidently approached one of the members of the staff. Said employee was wearing a pricy suit, and when Klaus addressed him, he replied by nodding stiffly.

"Give me a second." Klaus told me offhandedly.

Not giving me a chance to argue, he left me at the door so he could have a private conversation with the host. They were both using hushed tones, but my sensitive hearing didn't stop me from catching what they were discussing.

When Klaus turned around, focusing on me again, he looked satisfied. "I managed to get us a lovely table."

I rolled my eyes at him. "You compelled the poor guy."

"He asked for it. When living in a town like this, one should always keep in mind the benefits of consuming some Vervain every once in a while." Klaus responded dismissively as we followed a waiter to our 'lovely table'.

"Sure, buddy. Whatever floats your boat." I mumbled under my breath, getting annoyed.

He chuckled. "I heard that."

The waiter pointed at a secluded table somewhere close to a window, and we both sat down.

"You have to admit, it is a very nice table." Klaus said, cocking his head to the side.

"There's no point in denying that..." I agreed absentmindedly.

As it was, I was feeling more than a little weird. Probably because it was slowly starting to sink in that I was having an almost-date with the enemy…

The struggle within me was becoming a full-blown war. All of my thoughts were fighting amongst themselves. There were thoughts about how Klaus could be very charming when he wanted to be, as well as thoughts about how I should've never allowed any of this to happen. And then there were thoughts about how Klaus and I were from completely different planets. Thoughts about how I was betraying Tyler. Thoughts about how I was betraying my friends...

The waiter distracted me by handing us the menus. I eagerly took this opportunity to look away from Klaus, gluing my eyes to my menu instead. I was merely looking at the words, unable to actually read any of them.

"So, why don't you tell me what's going on inside that beautiful head of yours, sweetheart." He suddenly asked, taking me by surprise. "It's obvious that something is bothering you."

I glanced up at him, deliberating. His blue eyes were watching me closely. I couldn't actually tell him the truth, now could I?

"Nothing that I can discuss with you." I finally said. My tone was confident, but not unfriendly. I was just being honest with him, like he wanted me to.

"Why not? You could try me." He attempted to persuade me, giving me a half-smile.

I ignored his charming plea, but started a round of questions of my own. "Seriously… Why are you acting so… Interested? I mean, why do you even care about my thoughts and problems? I don't get you, at all. You've been around for centuries… You must have met like, a million girls, over time! Spectacular girls, special girls… Why are you even bothering to get little old me to like you?" I asked, actually curious to hear his answer.

For several moments, he seemed to be contemplating. However when he answered my question, it was without hesitating. His expression was nothing if not sincere. "In case you've forgotten, it was you who told me that I didn't connect with people because I didn't even try to understand them. Taking into account that you often say things that make a lot of sense… I decided to take your advice."

"What?" I asked, momentarily stunned.

"Your advice… That I should try to understand others. Surely you remember."

Hell yes, I remembered. I cringed inwardly as I thought back to the night of the Mikaelson ball. The night when I had recklessly lectured Klaus about his poor people skills.

I worked to keep my face straight. "I might have mentioned something like that."

"Good. So let's say, purely hypothetical, that I'm willing to do something about that… Then I would have to start somewhere. There are a lot of people on this planet, so I'd say it would be best to take it one person at a time. So why not start with you? I want to understand what's going on inside your mind." He defined, trapping my eyes with his own.

It was clear that he was using the very best of him to make me surrender. This was all getting too serious, and so I tried to make things a little less intense by throwing in a joke.

"Hmm, I don't know if that's such a good idea. I mean, look at it this way; If you're truly prepared to try and understand people, and you seriously want to give it a shot… Then wouldn't it be easier for you if you started with a more interesting person? At least that would keep you from giving up too quickly."

Klaus rolled his eyes, but didn't get a chance to respond seeing as our server was back, asking us if we were ready to order. At this point I realized that I hadn't paid any attention to the menu, which meant that I had no clue what to order.

Klaus must have noticed how I was brainlessly staring at the waiter, for he decided to save me. "We'll just have a little bit of everything." He simply said.

The waiter frowned, blankly looking at Klaus. He was probably wondering if he had heard correctly.

"But sir, there are about twenty main courses on our menu." The waiter informed us as soon as he recovered.

This earned him a glare from Klaus. The scary kind of glare. The compelling kind of glare.

"I don't recall asking you how many courses there are on the menu. So why don't you keep your useless information to yourself, and serve us a little bit of everything."

"Klaus!" I snapped, successfully distracting him, disturbing his eye contact with the waiter.

"What?" He asked, eyes filled with fake innocence.

This guy was unbelievable! He was pretending that he was doing nothing wrong. And failing. I turned my attention to the waiter. The poor soul appeared to be confused. He didn't snap out of his daze until I directly addressed him.

"I'm sorry, never mind him." I said, apologizing for Klaus' behavior. "What would you recommend?"

Our server seemed to be back to normal, sounding strictly professional when advising me. "We get many compliments about the salmon, Miss."

"Then that's what we'll have." My statement was accompanied by a warning glare in Klaus' direction.

"Very well, Miss." He said, picking up our menus before departing.

Klaus gave me a look that was partly astonished, partly amused. "What was that all about?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Ten minutes ago you claimed that you wanted to try and understand others, right?"

"I never said that. It was a hypothetical case." Klaus disagreed.

"Too bad. Otherwise you could've considered this lesson number one; Most people don't like it when their free will is taken away from them." I hinted curtly.

Klaus shrugged. "I don't care about most people. I care about you."

I sighed, shaking my head in disbelief. "I wish you wouldn't say things like that."

He didn't go against me. For a moment he was simply observing me, not talking. It kind of gave me the creeps. I reached for my drink, hoping that it would stop him from staring at me like that. It worked, sort of; He detached his eyes from my face, but was now watching my hand as I picked up my glass of wine.

"You're wearing it." He remarked smugly, nodding at the bracelet.

I laughed nervously, knowing that there was no way that I could talk myself out of this one. "Yeah, I suppose I am... Any excuse that I would come up with right now would sound extremely lame, right?"

"Why would you want to make up an excuse? You have every right to wear a marvelous piece of jewelry that was given to you by a dear friend." His blue eyes wandered, leaving my wrist and returning to my face.

I critically raised one of my eyebrows at him. "You consider us friends?"

"I'd rather be much more than your friend." He said flat out. "But I'll take what I can get."

How was it that he constantly managed to choose the words that succeeded at shutting me up? The waiter couldn't have picked a better moment to show up with our food. He placed our plates on the table, avoiding every form of eye contact.

"Enjoy your meal." Was all he said before rapidly walking away.

Even though the guy was totally clueless, his human instincts were probably telling him that something eerie was going on at this table.

Klaus seemed oblivious to the boy's distress, and he was smiling at me almost warmly. "That's right, love… Enjoy your meal. I reckon this must taste a lot better than that sandwich you planned on eating."

"Well… You should know that I make a mean peanut butter sandwich!" Was my feeble defense.

I could see that he was trying to keep himself from grinning. "Oh, don't be offended. I wouldn't dare to doubt your sandwich-making-skills."

We both began to eat, and a content smile made its way to my face after taking the first bite. Yes, this was much better than any sandwich could ever be. I briefly closed my eyes in delight.

Klaus' chuckle made me open my eyes again. "I assume this means that it is better than what you were planning to eat at home?"

"It's not bad." I said nonchalantly, chewing slowly.

"So it is safe to say that you don't regret coming with me?" He checked.

"The food is good. And the company could've been worse." I confessed.

"Good." He said after taking another sip of wine. "You know if you asked me, I'd say that the company is amazing. I know you're still having trouble believing me, but you are by far one of the most interesting girls I've ever encountered."

I snorted. "Oh come on, be realistic. I'm not interesting. Everyone who knows me would probably describe me as 'shallow'. And if you asked them, they would tell you…"

He interrupted me. "They're wrong. They don't know anything."

I put down my fork, leaning against the back of my chair. "Are you sure about that? You're talking to the girl who, up until a year ago, had no other goals in life than to become homecoming queen. The girl who was dying to become Miss Mystic Falls. The girl who read Twilight, wishing for a hot vampire to climb through her window at night..." I summarized a bunch of my unattractive sides.

"Isn't that ironic?" Klaus dryly reacted to my last statement. "Did no one ever tell you to be careful what you wish for, love?"

I laughed humorlessly. "Things have definitely changed since then. Nowadays, most nights I'm wishing for vampires to stay out of my house."

"Not to mention you've become one of them yourself." Klaus reminded me. "But you see, that's why you're wrong. When you became a vampire, you changed. You became more mature, you grew up…"

"How would you know that I've changed? You didn't know me back then." I challenged.

Klaus being Klaus, he already had an answer ready. "That's easy, Caroline. When looking at you, I see a strong, independent woman. You're not shallow, or immature. You're never afraid to speak your mind. You're brave. You always stand up for yourself… Even when it's against me. I see absolutely nothing that represents the shallow teenage girl that you just described."

"I…" I was on the verge of coming up with a brilliant reply, but at that exact moment my annoying phone went off.

The polite thing to do, would be to ignore the person calling me, and call back later. But in a town like this, you never knew. What if it was my mom, calling me because she was in some kind of trouble?

"Excuse me, I'm going to… Take this." I said apologetically as I searched my purse for the damned phone.

Klaus didn't seem to mind, encouraging me to proceed. "It's fine, go ahead."

My cheeks started burning as I saw a familiar name on the screen of my cell. There was such a thing as bad timing, and there was such a thing as disastrous timing. This call couldn't have been more unwelcome. I was at a loss what to do as the screen persistently kept lighting up. Two little words were staring me in the face, turning the entire evening around.

'Tyler Calling'.


Thank you for reading, and have a nice weekend. :)