FH 10

Caroline woke up just after dawn. The sun was peeking through the flimsy gossamer curtains that covered her window and did little to block out the light. She groaned, pulled the pillow out from under her cheek and covered her face with it. Moments after she opened her eyes, she found that her head was pounding, she didn't understand how she had been sleeping through it until that point. Doing shots had been a mistake. They were always a mistake.

The air in her room was stuffy, warm, and stagnant. At some point in the night the floor fan she had had pointed at her bed had stopped rotating. Sweating, nauseous, and with a splitting headache, Caroline knew there was no chance she'd be falling back to sleep. She dragged herself out of bed and in the direction of the small bathroom, dreaming of a long shower.

She grabbed her robe from the back of her door on her way to the bathroom. Her vision was slightly blurred and she rubbed at her eyes as she reached into the shower and fiddled with the handles, trying to get the water temperature just right. Caroline pulled off her clothes and kicked them into a corner, before stepping into the shower and pulling the curtain closed.

She stood under the spray, letting water rush over her skin. She closed her eyes and fought the urge to sit down on the shower floor and let the misery take over. Just as Caroline was considering opening her eyes and washing her hair when the bathroom door banged open.

Carolines eyes flew open as she jumped, startled by the sound. The heavy footsteps outside the curtain made it clear that someone else had entered the bathroom, either oblivious or uncaring about the fact that Caroline was in there.

Torn between fury and embarrassment, Caroline pulled back the curtain just enough to stick her head out and see who had violated her privacy.

Klaus, who had clearly just woken up himself, had shuffled into the room.

"Um excuse me!" Caroline hissed, her annoyance overpowering any self consciousness.

" I don't know if you couldn't tell from the running shower, but the bathroom is occupied"

Klaus was facing away from her but caught her eye in the mirror.

"Relax love" he began, reaching to pull open one of the vanity drawers.

" I've just got to brush my teeth. My mouth tastes atrocious" he complained, squeezing a healthy portion of toothpaste out onto his brush and placing it under the running water of the sink. Caroline's eyes went wide with fury.

"Not a valid reason to walk in on me naked!" she protested, pulling the curtain around herself.

"Come off it. It's not like I can see anything"

" but not for lack of trying i'm sure" Caroline whipped her head around at the sound of a second male voice. Kol, looking thoroughly disheveled from the previous night's drinking, was leaning against the bathroom door jam, looking amused at the scene he had happened upon.

"Get out!" Caroline said between her teeth, her heart pounding from the frustration. Kol took no notice of her annoyance.

"I seek shelter" Kol said dramatically, sauntering into the room and dropping down to sit on the closed toilet lid.

"Mother is on the warpath downstairs. She's doing a dramatic reading of her newest chapters and I think she can tell that i'm hungover because her voice is a little extra shrill and she's really ununciating"

Klaus smirked between his tooth brush and Caroline let out a huff.

"Can't you go literally anywhere else?" she pushed. Her head hurt too much to be dealing with this. Kol picked up her robe from where she dropped it and held it up, examining it.

"How charming" he teased, playing with the silk stash. Caroline seethed before becoming very aware of the fact that her underwear were sitting on top of her pile of dirty clothes, a few inches from Klaus's foot.

"What are you talking about?" Henrik appeared in the doorway, a graphic novel in hand, looking between their awkward little group of three.

"Really?" Caroline said, unbelievably exasperated. " There are like 19 other rooms in this house!"

"Henrik! Mother is looking for you" came Rebekah's voice from the hallway.

Caroline couldn't take much more.

"Oh please come in!" she said, thinking that it couldn't get much worse.

She drew her head back behind the shower curtain.

"I miss living alone" she muttered to herself before reaching for her shampoo and resigning herself to showering with an audience.

….

After finishing her shower, pulling on her robe and making her way back to her room, Caroline picked up her phone from it's place on her night stand for the first time since the night before. Having been a little tipsy the night before they left for the party, she hadn't bothered to bring it out with her. When her screen sprang to life she was overwhelmed with notifications.

She had 14 texts from Tyler.

7 missed calls.

3 facetimes

And dozens of snapchats.

She sighed. She'd been so caught up last night that she didn't think about the hell she'd have to pay with her boyfriend. Tyler had always been a bit of the jealous type and going over 12 hours without a response would have set him off, and when he found out she'd been at a party? She shuttered a bit at the thought. Tyler ran hot and cold. He might go days without speaking to her, but then expect her to pick up the phone the second that he called.

Dating Tyler wasn't always easy. He was a little possessive and more than a little hot headed, but she loved him, temper be damned.

Her head hurt too much to deal with her boyfriend at the moment, so she clicked her phone off and tossed it onto the bed, swearing to herself that she'd respond to him later. She doubted a few extra hours would make him that much more upset. Besides, it was barely 7 am, far too early for her to reasonably be up after a night out. Tyler was at football camp anyway, meaning that he was already up and on the field and that his phone would be locked away until at least lunch.

She looked between her bed and the door, trying to decide if it was worth it to go back to bed, or if she'd only end up sweating again, completely negating the shower she had just taken.

She spun on her heel when she heard the floorboards outside her door creak.

Rebekah was standing just outside her door, looking bored and uncaring but holding a blue gatorade and a plate of plain toast.

"By the looks of you, I figured you might need this"

Caroline considered this for a split second. Rebekah's words themselves were a bit of an insult, but she was dying for something to wash down the 4 advils she needed to relieve her aching head, and she knew the toast would settle the acidic feeling in her stomach that was itching up her throat.

Maybe Klaus had been right, and confronting Rebekah had broken down some unseen wall between them. Maybe this was her olive branch.

"Thanks," Caroline said as Rebekah stepped into the room and placed the plate down on her dresser. She tossed Caroline the sports drink. Caroline caught it and almost shivered as the cool plastic came in contact with her fingers.

"Mothers going out. It'll be safe to come down stairs soon" Rebekah said casually, turning on her heel and heading out of the room.

Caroline lifted the gatorade to her lips and took a slow, long drink, thinking maybe she'd secured another ally in the house.