A/n: Hey readers! Long time, no see. Or…read. Yes, that is completely me and Kaitlin's fault. We are so sorry! We'd send you all conciliatory sundae's if we could. But sadly, email has not evolved to that yet. And no, because we suck, this isn't an actual chapter. Well, flashback. So kind of. We wrote this-mostly Kaitlin- forever ago and never posted it. But you deserve something to read during the stupidly long wait. And I have some more ideas for flashbacks, maybe even a different version of the meet. Could be fun to write. Give us some suggestions if you have ideas. We love drabble requests and they're much easier to finish quickly than full chapters. Anyway, enjoy and review, we love you! See I rhymed. How cool.

Disclaimer: Me do not own nothing. I also have horrible grammar for a writer.

Klaus dropped his duffel bag unceremoniously on the floor of his and Stefan's room, his sweatpants hanging loosely on his hips, the hood of his swim team jacket covering his wet head. He hated swim practice. He hated his coach. And he hated the stupid record he was trying to break that was proving to be rather difficult. Damn it all, he thought to himself as he sat at his desk, remembering that he had a paper, which was halfway finished, due at midnight.

Had he mentioned that he was beyond glad that it was his last semester as a swimmer for Lake Forest College? Probably not.

Knock, knock, knock.

Klaus growled again at the obnoxious giggles that were coming from the other side of the door. Even if his roommate was seeing that girl (Lexi? I think that's her name, He thought to himself), Stefan had too many female friends and Klaus couldn't keep up with them all. He decided to ignore the knocks on the door by shoving his headphones in his ears and pretending there was no one home.

"Stefan Salvatore you better open this damn door before I kick it down!" A much too bubbly voice called from the other side.

"Come on, Stef! We know you're in there, the light's on." Another, happy yet somewhat monotone feminine voice said in a singsong manner that made Klaus' head throb.

Bloody hell, he thought, angrily standing up and striding to the door, He yanked it open to reveal three people, the girl in the middle holding a birthday cake.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STE-" the two girls started yelling before realizing the boy they were looking for hadn't opened the door. Klaus didn't recognize them. Well he did, from Stefan's pictures, but it took him a minute to realize that they were his friends from back home. One had blonde hair that fell to her shoulders in gentle curls, her smile was breathtaking and it lit up her entire face in a way Klaus had never seen before. The first thing he noticed about her however, was her eyes- crystal blue.

The other girl had long, pin-straight brown hair, with large doe eyes to match. Elena. He knew who she was, of course, he'd seen her with Stefan when they were together at the start of the year. He wasn't the type of person to acquaint himself with his friend's friends. But he had a particular reason for not wanting to know this one, or the man beside her for that matter. Damon, the brother, and this Elena girl were, in Klaus' mind, one of the things that fueled his friend's still shaky addition. His new girl seems to be helping though…seeing as I can't even manage to talk to him about it…He felt guilty for not stopping Stefan's problem when he first realized the extent of it. At least he hadn't come back to the room drunk this month at all. Klaus regarded that as a good sign.

This Elena was pretty in a 'I'm so cute' kind of way- one of the things that annoyed him about her was her ability to seem harmless, to mean well and hurt someone anyone…he couldn't stand that. But she was nowhere near the level of effervescence that defined the blonde girl. Klaus opted to look at the guy standing with them, even if he was only giving Damon a sparing glance of distate. The other man's ice- clear blue eyes unnerved Klaus slightly. But, it would be rude for him to ignore his roommate and best friend's brother. It wasn't like they hadn't met before.

"Damon," he greeted, nodding at the guy. "Sorry to disappoint you, but Stefan's not here at the moment."

"Baby brothers. Can't live with them, can't surprise them in the middle of the night with cake," Damon said with a sarcastic tone in his voice as he shook his head. "Any idea when he'll be back, Klaus?"

"No. I'd rather he not, though. Not if he's going to bring that girl he's been seeing back. I'm not interested in Stefan's love life in the slightest." Only if she's helping him…

"Well, would you mind if we waited around a little while? We don't get to see him very often so we thought we'd surprise him. I'm Elena, by the way," the brunette said with a nervous smile.

Klaus scowled and rolled his eyes, "I know who you are, Sweetheart." He hated the way this girl could still act so caring about Stefan after what Klaus viewed as almost ruining his life.

The girl only stared at him uncomfortably, almost like a deer caught in the headlights. He scoffed and answered her, just to get her to stop giving him that righteous offended look.

"As much as I love birthdays I'm going to have to deny that. It's been a long day, I hope you three understand as much. I'll tell Stefan you all stopped by when I see him next."

"Yeah, sure. Thanks," Elena said again, clearly wanting to leave the difficult situation.

The blonde had a different idea. She narrowed her eyes at him, the color quickly changing from cornflower blue to steel, he noted, "I've heard about you," at his surprised look, she gained confidence and kept going, "Yeah,Stefan's told me all kinds of things about you. And I'd be willing to bet he's nothing but nice to you because that's who he is-Stefan's a nice guy. But here you are being a complete dick!"

"Caroline," Elena hissed, elbowing the blonde in the side.

"What? It's true! We haven't seen Stefan in months 'cause we haven't had the chance to get out of Virginia yet and this guy won't even bother letting us wait around."

Damon snickered, his eyes never leaving Klaus' face. Klaus knew good and well that he had never been, and probably wouldn't ever be, Damon Salvatore's favorite person. The feeling was reciprocated.

"Care to enlighten me on what our mutual friend Stefan has told you about me, love?" Klaus dared the blonde, Caroline, with a slight raise of his eyebrow as he drew himself to his full height in what he knew to be an intimidating stance.

"That you've had a rough life, your father hates you, and sometimes you're a complete ass because of it. Big deal. Just because you've had it tough doesn't give you the right to treat people so awfully. Don't you think everyone has something that makes them want to be jerks? Duh! But none of those people continue to throw tantrums once it's over. I don't like you," she ended her rant with a bold, flat-out glare as her eyes captivated and infuriated him all at once, " You're despicable and I do not understand why Stefan Salvatore befriended you. At all. Not so tough now, are you, Klaus?" Caroline said, a smile playing on her lips as she turned on her heel and strode back down the hall.

Klaus had the decency to look taken aback, much to Damon's amusement, as he watched Caroline stride down the hall with such a confidence he'd never seen before. The elder Salvatore couldn't help but letting a chuckle escape before he followed Caroline, eager to catch up with her, "Bravo, Blondie! I didn't think you had it in you!"

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. On the obvious hand, he was pissed; he wasn't comfortable having people now even the outline of his life's story. In fact, he went out of his way so almost no one did. And this girl, whom he'd just met, threw it all in his face and informed him he was an ass, like it was her job to judge him. The first thought that crossed his mind was How dare she. But the second thought was a flash of pressing her into the wall and kissing her skin…He shook his head to dispel the errant thoughts long enough to see her turn the corner in a huff. He almost laughed at the petulant, somehow adorable, gesture.

They disappeared down the hall, leaving Elena standing in front of the door. Klaus, completely aware that Elena was about to speak, regarded her with a cold look.

"Um…sorry about them. Caroline's really wonderful and Damon…well I'm sure you know Damon- he has his moments. But…Caroline's right. Stefan has told us you have the tendency to be a pig headed dick, and that's saying something coming from me…I'm dating Damon…," his glare intensified as he raised his eyebrows in a 'yes, I'm aware of that. You done?' kind of way, "But, well, um, do you mind giving this to Stefan? And telling him 'Happy Birthday' from us?" Klaus didn't respond so Elena tried to smile but couldn't. "Well…thanks, I guess," she said before handing Klaus the birthday cake and leaving to go find her friends.

Back behind the safety of the closed door, Klaus growled. He was going to give Stefan a piece of his mind for what that Caroline girl had said.

But, as he tried to get back to writing his essay, Klaus couldn't concentrate on anything but how Caroline had regarded him. Yes, she was beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful women Klaus had ever seen. But what caught his attention was the way the blonde girl had spoken to him. It was without fear, her emotions pure and unrelenting. Completely honest. And, even if it was brutal, honesty was something the Klaus valued.

He made a mental note to tell Stefan that he wanted Caroline to know he was grateful for her honesty the next time Stefan saw her.

And no, he reminded himself, it's not because she's beautiful.