Recommended Soundtrack: Cecilia and the Satellite / Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness

A/N: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU LISTEN TO THE SONG ABOVE, I AM SO OBSESSED WITH IT, IT IS BEAUTIFUL, PLEASE LISTEN THANKS ENJOY THE CHAPTER :-)

KPOV

It had been a week. One full week since Caroline and I had made our deal. One week since she moved into my home. One week since she had appeared at my bedroom door, needing assistance with her dress. One week since the night that I spent the better part of an hour imagining the most unsavory things on Earth to get rid of the hard on the scent of her skin brought on.

Although it hadn't been the only night in the last week where I found myself feeling rather...uncomfortable.

Being alone with Caroline proved harder than being in public with Caroline, pun not intended. A fact that I could not figure out for the life of me.

We had gone out into town three times this week, which was a record for me since that was the amount of times I went into town in one month.

But we had established that we needed to be seen, and Caroline was making sure that we were seen. I have to hand it to her, she did a pretty fantastic job. She was earning every cent I was paying her.

We mostly just walked around town holding hands. She had told me about her run in with my old mate Stefan, and how she had been driving ten miles per hour below the speed limit because she was trying to figure out where the post office was.

So on those three outings, I gave her a tour of Mystic Falls. I could have done the tour in one outing, but Caroline insisted on going into all the establishments I pointed out. She mingled with the townspeople well, and I was no longer surprised at how easily public relations came to her. She was a true natural.

Sometimes we would sit and just talk for a few minutes, because that was something normal couples did.

On our second outing, Caroline had insisted that we get ice cream from a vendor.

"Oh, I so knew it," she said when we sat down to enjoy our ice cream cones.

"What?" I said, looking around. Had she seen Camille? But when I looked back at her, her eyes were trained on my cone.

"I knew you were a vanilla guy," she smirked, taking a long lap of her own ice cream. She had gotten a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of strawberry, covered in Caramel sauce, sprinkled with peanuts.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I sounded defensive. Was I defensive? Yeah, I was.

"Nothing," she snickered, going for a lick of her ice cream. I acted fast, gripping her cheeks with one hand and smushing them together, giving her fishy lips. She let out a disgruntled cry, unable to get to her ice cream.

"Tell me what you meant, or no more ice cream," I said sternly. She glared at me and tried to wiggle out of my grasp. She brought her ice cream to her lips, but wasn't able to get any into her mouth and just ended up smearing chocolate and caramel across her lips. She huffed and looked at me as if to say "fine".

Unable to really resist, since my restrain had been tested more than once in the week, I leaned in and captured her lips with mine, letting go of her cheeks. I cleaned up the chocolate and caramel, careful not to use my tongue.

We had set an unspoken barrier for kissing. Neither of us had ever said anything, but whenever we kissed, it was simply lips, no tongue. Our kisses wouldn't last more than a few seconds, either.

I pulled away when I was satisfied that she was clean enough, and looked down at her pink lips.

"Hmm," I hummed, licking my own lips, tasting Caroline and ice cream on my tongue. "You were saying?"

She was silent for a second, then swallowed. "Nothing, forget I ever said anything." She went back to her ice cream, eating it slowly.

I chuckled, finally starting on mine.

If she thought I was vanilla, she was sadly mistaken.

I smirked at the memory. That had been fun.

Pretending to be Caroline's boyfriend was easy. She made me laugh and hardly ever filtered her thoughts on things that I would point out to her. Her opinions were refreshing, and her perspective of the world continued to surprise me.

But that all changed when we were alone in the mansion.

It was like a switch was flipped when we were alone, as if there was a line at my door that separated pretend-girlfriend-Caroline from stranger-living-in-my-house-Caroline.

We found ourselves in awkward silences whenever we were in each other's presence, which only made me slightly relieved that we hardly saw each other.

She never showed up at my bedroom door in the middle of the night again.

Most of the time Caroline would either be in her room or in the kitchen. Recently, after discovering the heated lamps and heater of the pool, she had been out there more.

I was always in my office, making calls and making plans.

There was a non-profit organization in Richmond that wanted to raise money through an art auction, and I had submitted my resume to be the head coordinator of the auction, but there was tough competition.

I had been a co-coordinator for a small auction about three years back, and had wanted to head an auction ever since. This was the perfect opportunity.

Aside from putting in my bid for the auction, I was also working on getting some other jobs in line in case the auction fell through. I would probably have to travel soon…

Finding nothing else to keep myself busy, I went to the kitchen to get a drink.

Every time I left the office, I got a little tense. Tense because I could bump into Caroline.

Not that I didn't want to talk to her, I did. But things were strange here, and I didn't know how to break us out of it.

Sure, I understood the professional angle. She was keeping a distance when we were alone because we weren't together together, so there was no reason for us to be around each other, really. I should be glad for that.

But I wasn't.

She's the first person to stay in this mansion with me, and even though it's awkward, it feels...different to have someone in the house all the time. Not different in a bad way, just different.

It would be nice if we could just hang out once in a while, make this arrangement a little more bearable.

I recalled a memory from the day before when I had called Caroline into my office.

She sat in the chair that was across from my desk, her hands clasped and on her lap.

"You needed me for something?"

I looked at her for a second before opening my desk drawer and taking out an envelope I had there since the early morning.

I handed it to her, unable to really look her in the eyes as I did.

She took the envelope, lifted the flap and peaking in, glancing at the cashier's check I had retrieved that morning. She quickly closed it and looked back up at me.

"That's your first payment," I said, needing to fill the silence. "You've done a good job this week."

Her expression was unreadable. She nodded.

"Will that be all?"

"Yes...that's it."

And then she was gone.

I ran a hand through my hair, chugging down the rest of the water in my glass. That had been the worst time ever. Caroline had looked so...cold. I didn't like it. She was warm, she was sunlight.

Determined that this awkwardness would not overtake us for the next week, I placed my glass in the sink and went out in search for Caroline.

I checked the pool first, and there she was.

It was late September, and the air was already getting a little chilly, even with the Sun out. But I had had a heater installed to keep the pool water warm and heating lamps to keep the surrounding patio warm as well. So you could go out there in December and still be able to enjoy yourself.

I liked to swim, it was relaxing. But I had hardly used the pool in my time here. In the last week, Caroline had used it more than I had in the last month.

She was floating in the middle of the pool, her arms outstretched and her feet straight out. She kicked her feet every few seconds to move around through the water, and her fingers were constantly wiggling.

I stepped closer to the edge, the heat of the lamps washing over me. It was almost as if the warmth was coming from Caroline and not the lamps. She was always surrounded with warmth and light.

I frowned, realizing she was singing.

Her voice was soft, soothing. Her lips moved around the words slowly, and I could tell she had slowed down the tempo of whatever song she was singing.

I stepped closer, catching the words as I approached.

"If I could fly,

Then I would know,

What life looks like from up above and down below.

I'd keep you safe,

I'd keep you dry.

Don't be afraid Cecilia,

I'm the satellite.

And you're the sky."

She dragged out the last word, making it a harmonious melody. After sustaining the note for a few seconds, she let it die out and continued to hum.

She opened her eyes and seemed to catch sight of me because she shot up, not longer floating.

"Nik!" She said, definitely sounding surprised.

"You have a beautiful voice," I blurted without a second thought.

"Uh," she started, swimming over closer to the edge where I was standing. "Thanks."

I crouched down to be more level with her.

Her hair was slicked back because of the water, several shades darker than it was when it was dry. Water beaded on her skin. She was wearing a black one piece she had found during one of our excursions. It was strapless, so from this angle, with her chest pressed up against the wall of the pool, only her shoulder peeking out, it was almost like she was naked.

Fucking focus.

"I didn't know you could sing," I continued. I was avoiding my original mission because apparently I had turned into a coward, but this new aspect of Caroline interested me. She really did have a magnificent voice.

She shrugged. "I don't really do it much. Just when it's silent or I'm in the shower or something."

Caroline in the shower. Holy shit.

"Well, you're very good." I had already said this.

"Thank you," she answered again. I could feel the awkward silence coming on, so I quickly put an end to that.

"I just wanted to know if you would like to go out tonight," I said. It didn't sound like a question. Should I have made it sound like a question?

"Sure, like on a date?" She asked, not seeming as nervous about this as I was.

"Yeah, like a date," I nodded. After all, she was here to be my pretend girlfriend. This is what we're supposed to be doing.

"Okay, where are we going?"

"The Grille," I said. "I realize you probably haven't been there, and that's basically the only place to eat around here."

She chuckled. "You're right. I haven't been in there yet."

"We'll go for dinner," I said.

"Sound's like plan."

It was Friday night, and since the Mystic Grille was the popular hang out for people of all ages (I wasn't kidding when I had said that it was one of the only places to eat), it was bustling.

All the pool tables were occupied with teenage boys trying to show off to their girlfriends, or potential hook ups. I remember being one of those many years ago.

The bar was full, too. Almost every stool was taken as adults whined down with their friends and co-workers after a long week of nine to fives.

I hadn't intended on taking Caroline to the bar or the pool tables. I found us a booth, but not one that was extreme secluded. Caroline slid into her side, and I slid into the seat across from her. A young girl with bright blue eyes and bouncy black hair came over to us, two menus in hand.

"Good evening. My name is April, and I'll be your waitress for the night. Would you like to start off with anything to drink while you look over your menus?"

I glanced at Caroline who just asked for a water. I did the same.

I already knew what I wanted. I glanced at the menu to make sure it was still there- yeah, it was. They didn't change the options much. And when they did, they made a big deal out of advertising it. But even then, all they did was add one or two items to the menu.

I closed my menu and waited for Caroline, glancing around the establishment. Cami would probably be here tonight, seeing as Marcel-

"Eyes over here," Caroline said, not looking up from her menu. I looked at her, and she flipped a page, looking at the burger options. "Since the moment we walked in you've been surveying the place like a hawk." She put down the menu and folded her hands. "What's up?"

"Nothing," I replied, way too fast. Caroline cocked one perfectly plucked eyebrow, and I was nailed. I knew I was caught, but that was probably the sexiest look I had ever seen in my life. And she probably wasn't even trying to be sexy. Fuck.

"Actually," I started, but then the woman in question walked through the door. I was looking over Caroline's shoulder watching as Cami walked over to the bar. Marcel came out of a back room, leaned over the bar and kissed her full on.

When Caroline looked back to see what I was looking at, I looked away. She turned back a couple of seconds later, a small smirk on her face.

"This is good," she said.

"Yeah," I nodded, wishing that April would hurry up with our water. I couldn't look at my menu since I had already put it down, and looking at my phone would be rude. I had to look Caroline straight in the eyes when I spoke."Marcel owns the place."

"Oh, really?"

I nodded.

I hadn't exactly remembered that fact until we were already on our way here. He had acquired it about two years ago when the old owners decided to pick up and leave town. He had made some improvements to the place, brought in even more and frequent clientele.

Successful bastard.

"You are a genius!" Caroline whisper yelled, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I am?" I already knew that, but what was she referring to exactly?

"Yes!' She exclaimed enthusiastically. "We are here, on a date, in Marcel's very own establishment! And Cami is here! And this place actually looks like it could be fun," she looked around, more specifically at the pool table area. She hummed appreciatively. "This has so much potential."

"Potential?"

"Oh, yeah. We're gonna make Cami so jealous today. If she has any feelings lingering on the surface, we're bringing them out tonight."

April came then with our water and to take our orders. I took a sip of water, glancing at Caroline as she smile mischievously and then turned a kinder smile to April.

She was excited about this. Huh.

I decided to make a tumblr bc I want to interact with you guys way more and I know most of you are on there, if not all.

So... I'm missmariawrites on tumblr, feel free to go find me :-) I'll mostly be posting updates and even some sneak peaks of upcoming chapters and stories and maybe a few drabbles. I'm so excited.

What do you think Klaus is ordering for dinner? (His and Caroline's orders are very important in the next chapter) (I am also really excited for the next chapter because it is one of my favs)

Thank you all for the really lovely and amazing reviews (keep it up!), I appreciate them all :-)