AU/AH. When the unrequited crush she has been harboring is outed to the whole school, Caroline finds herself feeling humiliated and in dire need of a contingency plan. Enter: Klaus, a broody loner who seems like A+ fake!boyfriend material. Just until the rumor dies down, of course.
Running down the hallways a sobbing mess on the very first day back was not how Caroline had imagined her junior year of high school to go.
Because she had imagined it, in vivid detail, planned it, even.
Katherine Pierce—cousin to one of her best friends, Elena Gilbert—had graduated the previous May and passed the head cheerleader title on to her. With it, reign over the whole school came and Caroline loved being in control, both of herself and of other people. She had been eagerly awaiting this opportunity with folders upon folders of ideas for new extracurricular activities, social events, cheerleading routines, and much, much more.
Everyone knew it was her time.
She was supposed to have the perfect life with the perfect grades and the perfect friends and the perfect boyfriend.
But... the last bit threw her for a loop.
All right. Maybe, in a very, very, very tiny, practically nonexistent, part, it was her fault, for setting a June date for their future wedding before Stefan Salvatore had even been made aware of the fact that she had been harboring a slightly more than regular-sized crush on him ever since middle school.
It didn't matter, anyway. He knew just fine, now. And not because of Caroline.
Bursting through the main doors, Caroline kept on running, the wind cold against her wet cheeks.
Bonnie—Bonnie Bennett, her other best friend—had tried to go after her, after she had sprung away from the cafeteria, but one of Caroline's folders consisted only of blueprints of their high school building full of annotations regarding possible renovations so, with a shortcut through an unused classroom, it had been an easy tail to shake off.
She just wanted to be alone.
Tripping over her own two feet, Caroline barely saved her face from an up-close encounter with the concrete pavement surrounding the small back garden, coming to an involuntary halt.
She sniffled pathetically as she tried to regain her balance and bearings, wiping one hand under her nose while the other rubbed at her reddened eyes. Her sight cleared. It hadn't been her own two feet, after all, but someone's cross-body bag.
She recognized its owner and stiffened.
"Uh. Sor—" —a sob forced into a hiccup, a throat clearing— "—sorry to be encroaching on your territory."
Hayley snorted. "This is public ground, Forbes," she shrugged, busy shading something across the notebook balanced precariously on her ripped-jean-covered knees. "Suit yourself."
Despite the fact that she had meant to get as far away as possible from any fellow student, with somewhat hesitant movements, Caroline proceeded to sit down on the damp grass, careful to leave enough space between her and Hayley.
Because she and Hayley Marshall weren't exactly friends.
Mostly, because the latter didn't have friends, to begin with. There had been a pregnancy scare two years ago, the news spreading like quicksand throughout a town as small and as close-minded as Mystic Falls, all but leaving her a pariah. After having just experienced being ridiculed and shunned on her own skin, Caroline felt like a grade-A bitch for having just jumped on the exiling bandwagon when it had all happened.
The two girls remained in companionable silence for a few minutes, the only sound breaking the stillness the faint scraping of pencil on paper.
However, the inability to keep quiet sat at the very top of the mental pyramid made up of Caroline's character flaws.
"I didn't know you could draw."
"You don't know me." It was a statement rather than an accusation, yet shame stung a line up Caroline's spine as it straightened. "Besides," Hayley continued, "is that really what you wanna talk about?"
A frown. "What do you mean?"
"I just sense you might need someone to vent to without being judged? I know you lot think I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but I do have ears, if you want."
"I—" Caroline's jaw shut mechanically. "I don't think that." Maybe just a little. Probably up until ten minutes ago. Not anymore.
"Does that mean you're open to a suggestion?"
Caroline—control freak, back-up plans to her back-up plans, everyone-else-is-hardly-competent Caroline—was, for once, desperate to be told what to do, so she gave a slow nod.
"Okay?"
"Get a rebound?"
"A rebound?"
"That's what I said."
She scoffed, incredulous. "I don't need a rebound. I don't want a rebound." Was rebounding on a guy who had never given her the time of day even a thing?
"No. You just want to wallow in self-pity," Hayley pointed out, looking up, at last, with a knowing glint in her hazel eyes. "Think about it: having a boyfriend will pretty much nullify having a crush on Salvatore-number-two which will get people off your back, nip the rumor in the bud."
"Maybe it is just a rumor," Caroline snapped.
"Please. I know you're a bit neurotic, but you wouldn't be half as distraught as you currently are if it were. Don't worry. It's not like you're the only one. Surviving an unrequited crush is like a high school rite of passage."
Caroline raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Is it?"
"I mean," Hayley shrugged, "I know of plenty."
"Who?" Caroline couldn't help herself.
But Hayley made a teasing, chiding noise, sucking on her teeth, and shook her head in mock disappointment. "I'm not Aurora."
Aurora de Martel. She who shall not be named.
"No, you're not," Caroline agreed, a soft look of understanding passing between the two girls.
And, despite herself, despite the utter craziness of the mere idea, Caroline found herself considering Hayley's words, acknowledging that there might have been some merit to them. She couldn't stand the thought of people looking at her with pity whenever they saw her and laughing behind her back whenever they didn't, something that was, most likely, already happening as they spoke.
"So," she hedged, eventually, "do I just snap my fingers and make a boyfriend appear out of thin air?"
"If only," Hayley laughed. "It took me months to get mine to agree to go out on a date with me. He thought I was too young," she explained, tone a mixture of indignation and fondness.
"You have a boyfriend?"
"Try acting a little less shocked, Forbes. Yes, I do. Remember Jackson?"
Right. Jackson Kenner. A senior during their first year. Her almost-baby-daddy.
"You guys are still together? Sorry," Caroline cringed when Hayley shot her a pointed look at the loud incredulity in her tone. "Bad habit."
"It's okay."
It really wasn't, and Caroline privately vowed to work on fixing that.
"No out-of-thin-air-boyfriend, then. What about a pretend-boyfriend?"
"Uh. Not sure where I'd find that, either."
Hayley mulled the situation over for a few moments. Caroline feared they had already reached an impasse, lowered her gaze to her wringing hands, but, all of a sudden, as if a fuse had been lit inside of her brain, Hayley's lips stretched high and wide into a grin.
She turned around and asked, "Do you trust me?"
Caroline bit down on her bottom lip. "I don't don't trust you."
"I'll take that. And I know exactly who to use."
:
:
"I'm not sure."
"You agreed to the plan, Forbes!"
"To the plan in general. Not to this particular boyfriend."
"You two remember I'm right here, don't you?"
Both Caroline and Hayley whipped around to look at Klaus.
Klaus Mikaelson was Mystic Falls High's resident broody artist. He wasn't an outcast by any means: he had enough siblings attending different years to start an army and, admittedly, he was attractive, in that mysterious, blond curls and cute dimples and British accent kind of way—not that Caroline had ever given much thought to how he looked, of course—something that tended to give people a free pass on weird behaviors. Needless to say, however, they ran in completely opposite social circles and had never interacted past polite greetings at school, even those being rare occasions since Caroline didn't remember them sharing many classes during the previous two years.
Luckily, as far as their peers were concerned, summer could have changed that.
As always, she had spent most of her break traveling through the country with her father, Bill, and his husband, Stephen, while her mother, Liz, kept the town safe as the sheriff. No one was really privy to what she had been up to throughout those last three months. She'd have to come up with a good story, especially for Bonnie and Elena, but a new relationship wasn't completely out of the realm of possibilities.
Hayley sensed some lingering hesitancy and pushed on.
"Come on, Forbes! Think about the added bonus of getting back at Aurora—" —a grin— "—she's crazy about Klaus."
Klaus snorted, adding under his breath, "Aurora is crazy, period."
"That's... not wrong."
Biting the inside of her cheek, Caroline observed the two friends, debating more pros and cons in her mind. All things considered, she could do way worse for a fake boyfriend.
"Fine!"
"Yes!" Hayley fist-pumped the air, looking entirely too invested in their scheme for Caroline's comprehension.
What was in it for her?
What was in it for Klaus?
"What do you get from this?" Caroline asked, crossing her arms over her chest and studying Klaus warily through thinned eyes.
Klaus smirked, a curve crooked to the left that called to attention only one dimple. "Perhaps, sweetheart, I'm just a good person who is willing to help."
Somehow, she doubted that.
Not the 'good person' bit—Matt Donovan, another friend of hers, had been steadily dating Klaus' younger sister, Rebekah, for almost a year, now, and always went on and on about how ridiculously proper and nice the whole Mikaelson family was—but the fact that he was willing to pretend to be the boyfriend of someone he barely knew, consequently stepping into the spotlight for the first time in his whole high school career and subjecting himself to a teenage circus, without gaining anything in return.
Literally anything he could have told her would have been less suspicious than nothing.
Something didn't add up.
Caroline pursed her lips, took a breath, set on probing further, but Hayley intervened.
"He's embarrassed about it!"
"Hayley—" Klaus interjected with the hint of a warning in his voice.
"I promised him some art nerds stuff if he went along with our plan. You don't wanna know, Forbes."
The faint blush that appeared on Klaus' cheeks in response, so out of place yet endearing on such chiseled features, usually either stoic or smug, convinced Caroline to believe Hayley and leave it at that. Momentarily, at least.
She had bigger issues to focus on.
"Let the games begin."
:
:
"You two are going to have adorable, blue-eyed babies!" Camille O'Connell, her English class deskmate, gushed, then must have noticed the look of absolute terror on Caroline's face and added, "In the future, of course."
"Uh. Yeah. Ten years, at the very least."
"Aww. It's so cute that you still see yourselves together in ten years!"
If people kept reacting to her and Klaus the way Camille was, Caroline doubted they were going to last until the next period.
After Aurora had spread the rumor of her crush on Stefan—something she still had no idea how the other girl had found out about—and Stefan had started ignoring her, followed by his one-year-older brother, Damon, and most of their friends, Caroline had needed to act fast. She and Klaus had started spending some time together, trying to learn as much as possible about each other in view of going public, making sure they could actually pull off pretending to be dating. Surprisingly, they got on really well. Their interests clashed, for the most part, but their ideals seemed to be on the same wavelength and that made for pretty engaging conversation, fun banter included. He was more mature than any other guy she had ever spoken to yet never failed to tease her in a charming, good-natured way that had her rolling her eyes to divert his attention from her blushing cheeks.
When, on Friday night, they showed up to Tyler Lockwood's back-to-school party, his hand holding hers didn't add to her nerves but, rather, felt comforting, a lifeline in the chaos.
And was there chaos!
They were the talk of the party and, after everyone had gone home well in the wee hours of Saturday morning, of the town for the whole weekend.
Caroline had wisely chosen to remain cooped up at home, fending off her cheerleading group-chat's incessant questions while giving Bonnie and Elena the story she, Klaus and Hayley and crafted via several phone calls.
She was pretty sure she had lost partial hearing from all the squealing her two best friends had done. For some reason, she had even found herself genuinely giggling along with them as she talked about Klaus.
Out of satisfaction, most likely.
Caroline loved winning and Stefan's confused frown plus the outraged fury etched across Aurora's face during the party felt like two pretty big wins.
"I mean," Camille continued, completely oblivious to Caroline's inner musings, "it makes sense. With the way he looks at you..." Caroline's entire body turned warmer and she looked down at her English textbook in a feeble attempt to hide her reddening face. "He's a keeper."
The bell saved her from having to reply.
Throughout the whole morning, people had been coming up to her to comment on how cute she and Klaus were together, some even apologizing for paying heed to Aurora's words. Caroline had no intention of stooping down to the other girl's level and refused to badmouth her in the wake of the dwindling rumor, but knowing the plan was already working its magic was nice.
Would Klaus think the same, given the near harassment it had brought about?
Caroline was used to popularity and swarms of fellow students trailing behind her. It was new territory for Klaus.
A smile unconsciously blossomed on her lips when she found him waiting for her outside of the classroom.
"Hi!"
"Hello, love," he pecked her cheek, making her blush—he was almost too good at fake-dating.
Camille and a couple of other girls giggled as they passed by the two of them and Caroline rolled her eyes. Yes, the pet names were kind of swoon-worthy, but he didn't need to know that.
Klaus chuckled.
"I don't know if you've heard," he noted as they started walking towards the cafeteria, "but we seem to have a fanclub."
"So I've been told."
He raised a questioning eyebrow and Caroline balked.
"You mean to tell me that you haven't been pestered with questions the whole morning?" A shrug. A scoff. "Typical. You're too intimidating—"
"I resent that, love."
"—so I'm the one left dealing with the modern version of the Spanish inquisition."
"Aren't you being a tad dramatic?"
Caroline shot him a sideways glare and he made a motion as if to zip up his mouth. Letting his hand fall back down, he took a hold of hers and intertwined their fingers.
She bit down on her bottom lip and looked everywhere but at him.
It was ridiculous how everyone loitering in the hallways seemed to be ogling them, not even trying to be subtle about their snooping.
At least, at the rate things were going, the Stefan-crush rumor would soon die down completely and they could both go back to their normal lives.
That was the plan, after all.
:
:
"You don't have to come," Caroline insisted, carefully sliding a pair of hoop earrings through her lobes. "I know you don't like these things."
From where he lay on her bed, back against the headboard and the trademark duo of sketchbook and pencil in his hands as he focused on the page in front of him, Klaus sighed.
"I don't," he admitted, "but you do—" —an odd sort of warmth encompassed her. "Plus, I can think of worse ways to spend a Wednesday evening."
She sent him a grateful smile through the mirror towering over her vanity and he smiled right back, eyes trained solely on her now.
It was a little over a month since the whole fake-dating ordeal had begun and things were going really well. No one even seemed to remember that someone had once said Caroline had a crush on one of the Salvatore brothers, and those who did couldn't recall which one it was for it was impossible to imagine her with anyone other than Klaus.
Much to Aurora's chagrin, they were definitely an it-couple.
Although they weren't a couple at all.
It felt all too easy to lose themselves in the charade. Not considering the fact that displays of affection happened only in public and were limited to hand holding and kisses on cheeks, what they had was, for all intents and purposes, very much like a real relationship. Klaus had met the sheriff and had dinner over at the Forbes' house more often than not. Caroline had met all of the Mikaelsons and was well acquainted with the labyrinth-like mansion they lived in. She had shared her college dreams with him. He had showed her his personal art.
If it were just friendship, it was unlike anything Caroline had ever experienced before.
But how could she know how much the circumstances of their situation played into how they behaved around each other?
"Thank you," she whispered.
She had always hated having to go to most of the founding families events alone, what with her mother working around the clock. Sure, Elena had always been there to keep her company, but because of her own parents' involvement.
No one had ever gone with her, for her.
Klaus would.
It meant all the much more, as Caroline had learned that Klaus never did anything he didn't want to do—even within the parts they had to play, they pushed and pulled in equal measures.
Whatever Hayley had used to convince him to help had to really matter to him.
"Of course, love." Not for the first time, her heart treacherously skipped a beat at the familiar pet name. Everyone else was 'sweetheart'; she was 'love'. "I would never let you go into the lions' den alone," he only half joked.
Caroline groaned. "Ugh. You really have no idea how bad they are."
"I guess I'm about to find out."
His words didn't appease her as much as they would have if she hadn't just remembered that the Salvatores would also be present and that it would be the first time she and Klaus would basically have no choice but to interact with Stefan, who, for some reason, still persisted in giving her the silent treatment.
Did he not believe their ruse?
If so, who else didn't?
Klaus must have sensed the jittery shift to her mood—it was addicting, how well he was attuned to her emotions—because he left the bed, sketchbook forgotten on the flowery quilt, and moved until he was standing right behind her.
Caroline turned around to look at him.
"Tonight's dinner is about the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, right?" A nod. "It's something you've been working very hard for, love. Don't let Stefan ruin this moment for you."
An emotion so swift Caroline didn't get the chance to decipher it shadowed his features as he mentioned Stefan. She knew he didn't approve of how the other guy had handled—or not handled—finding out about her possible crush, but, sometimes, it felt like there was some deeper resentment there, like Klaus was annoyed Stefan even existed.
"I would never," she promised, springing up to her heeled feet and resting her hands on Klaus' shoulders, covered by a light blue button-down shirt, his navy jacket folded neatly over her desk chair. "Thank you," she emphasized, feeling the need to say it again.
On instinct, she rose on her tiptoes to press a delicate kiss on his clean-shaven cheek, smiling against his skin as a grin spread across his face.
It was half an hour later, as she slipped into the passenger seat of his car while he kept the door open for her, that it hit her.
They had never been affectionate when alone, before.
:
:
"Caroline Elizabeth Forbes!" Mayor Lockwood announced and the crowd cheered.
She had worked tirelessly to make it happen, had ensured to be more qualified than any of the other contestants, but, still, it came as a shock to Caroline when her name was called as that of the new Miss Mystic Falls.
She searched through the familiar faces down below and found Klaus beaming at her.
As her escort, he started to make his way up the lavish spiral staircase, carrying himself with the elegance of a true prince.
Her heart took to beating a thousand times faster.
Elena hugged her from the side, people all around her congratulating her, clapping their hands in celebration of her victory, but Caroline barely noticed. It all faded away as blue locked on blue and Klaus finally reached her.
"I did it!" she exclaimed.
His answering smile was so wide his dimples cut neatly into his cheeks. "I never doubted you would, love."
A chant broke through the onlooking crowd.
"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
Caroline wondered if the shade of tomato-red she was most likely donning complemented, at least, the deep blue of her dress.
She was sure Klaus would be looking amused, perhaps something between pleased with himself over her reaction and embarrassed at having been put on the spot. Instead, there was a piercing intensity in his gaze as he stepped into her personal space. Caroline trembled under the scrutiny—she had no idea whether out of fear or excitement.
All she knew was that she could get used to being looked at like that.
Needing to avert her own gaze in order to breath, she was surprised to spot Hayley among the chanters.
She frowned. The other girl winked.
"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
Could she afford to not go through with it?
Could she afford to go through with it?
Klaus trailed one hand, knuckles feather-like along the goosebumps on her skin, up her bare arm, fingers briefly curling around her shoulder, caressing the tulle of her sleeve, until he was cupping her cheek. Unconsciously, Caroline leaned into his touch, nuzzling into his palm.
The noise around them quieted down.
Caroline fought the urge to close her eyes long enough to read the question in Klaus' gaze.
She gave an almost imperceptible nod.
It was enough.
Klaus' mouth descended upon hers.
Content to let him take the lead, she held onto his forearms with her gloved hands and sighed. He didn't waste any time pushing his tongue past the parted seam of her lips and Caroline's head swam at the first taste of him, heart beating so fast she feared it was going to burst straight out of her chest.
He brought his other hand up to the nape of her neck, long fingers threading through silky curls, prompting her to tilt her head to the side so he could deepen the kiss, coaxing little whimpers from her lips.
Even as their lungs started burning in their need for air, he refused to pull away and, instead, exhaled softly onto her heated skin.
Slowly, what felt like an eternity later, Caroline's eyes fluttered open, only to find Klaus' still closed, forehead creased as if he was straining to believe what had just happened, what had just irrevocably shifted between them.
Caroline, herself, was still in a daze, but, in her heart of hearts, she knew, feeling like she had just won something much more important than a tiara.
:
:
Caroline wished a ten-steps guide existed for how to ask a fake boyfriend to become a real boyfriend.
It was the Monday after the Miss Mystic Falls pageant and she had barely gotten a moment to herself since.
Moments with Klaus—she wouldn't have minded. But it was always them and someone else: her mom, one of his siblings, one of her friends, a random person who wanted to take a look at her up close as if she hadn't lived in that godforsaken town her whole life.
It didn't help that Klaus appeared amused by her frustration, a timid yet knowing smile playing on his lips as he kept stealing more glances than usual at her.
She knew he knew.
She was happy he knew.
Unlike with Stefan... though, in hindsight, she couldn't help but be happy about that, too.
There was no anxiety or fear of rejection at the thought of confessing her feelings to him, just a giddy excitement, the inability to wait any longer to be able to properly kiss him again.
One more interruption and she was going to scream that she liked him at the top of her lungs square in the middle of the hallway.
She should have probably pieced the clues together sooner: how their time together had become her favorite part of each day, how he had become the first person she wanted to see or call whenever she had something to share, be it good or bad, how she couldn't fathom the idea of going back to life before him, without him.
He brought out the best version of her, one less preoccupied with what everyone thought of her, one who lived in the moment, and Caroline liked to think that she did the same for him, shone a light on a Klaus who was more open, willing to trust her with the darkest parts of himself and show her that soul hidden underneath years of pretending he didn't feel anything at all.
They just... fit together.
Everything about being with him felt right.
And she wanted—needed—to really be with him.
"I've heard congratulations are in order," Aurora sniped, appearing out of thin air beside Caroline's locker as the latter slammed it shut.
Caroline ground her teeth together in annoyance. Aurora was the very last person she felt like entertaining that day.
"They are," she flashed her best fake smile, lips thin and stretched. "Thank you. You can go, now."
Aurora arched one perfectly-styled, auburn eyebrow. "I don't recall actually congratulating you. Though I think you will still want to thank me for what I'm about to tell you."
"I highly doubt that."
"So you don't wanna know how I knew about your crush on Stefan?" Caroline froze and Aurora grinned, singsonging, "Thought so."
Clearing her throat, Caroline tried to pull her defenses back up, features slacking into a neutral expression.
"What do you gain from telling me?" she asked, critically studying the other girl, searching for a sign of what she was up to.
Aurora pouted, pretending to be offended. "Maybe I'm just doing it out of the goodness of my heart."
"You don't have a heart."
"You're not as good a judge of people as you think you are, believe me."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Aurora ignored her question in favor of tutting with a shaking head of red hair. "Interesting how you haven't corrected me saying you have a crush on Stefan yet, by the way. I wonder what your boyfriend would have to say about that."
"Leave Klaus out of this!" Caroline seethed.
"You're the one who brought him into this, Caroline," Aurora reminded her in a steely tone that made Caroline understand it wasn't just petty rivalry driving the other girl, anymore, it was jealousy. "You and Hayley. If you're looking for someone to blame, it's her. She started this."
Caroline frowned, the taste of bile sloshing in her mouth as she swallowed, then a sinking feeling settling at the pit of her stomach.
"What?"
"See? Not a great judge of character. She's the one who told me about Stefan."
"She... she didn't even know," Caroline whispered, the realization of Hayley's betrayal too painful for her to care about what she was revealing, or, better yet, not denying.
Aurora shrugged, looking at her with genuine pity, probably the kindest she had ever been to her.
"Don't worry," she said, "I'll keep this little conversation to myself. I have a feeling that, this time, I won't have to lift a finger to ruin you, anyway."
Caroline swore time stopped as Aurora walked away.
Truthfully, she was kind of praying it would. Because she had no idea how to react to what she had just learned, wanted, desperately, to not have to, to just give into the urge to curl into a ball on the floor and cry.
Hayley had told Aurora about the crush she used to have on Stefan.
Someone else must have told Hayley.
Was that why she had been so adamant on helping her? Was she even really helping or was it all one big joke to her? Was Klaus on it, too?
Cold sweat started trickling down her back, heartbeat hammering in her chest as she fought through the haze of sadness and panic weighing down on her.
She felt sick.
Part of her tried to reason that Aurora might have been lying, but, deep down, Caroline knew that wasn't the case.
She needed to speak with Hayley.
"Caroline? Can I, uhm, speak with you for a moment?"
Caroline whirled around to find a fidgeting Stefan looking at her expectantly.
She really wanted to say no.
Even just fifteen minutes ago, even if she didn't like him anymore, Caroline would have jumped at the opportunity to hear something Stefan had to say to her, would have been curious to know what had finally pushed him to grow some balls and stop ignoring her, but, in that moment, he wasn't even a blip on her radar of consideration.
"I–I'm gonna be late for class," she stammered out, lying only partially.
"It's important," he begged, "and it will only take a minute, I promise."
He gave her a pleading look that only made her even more annoyed, but she hadn't been raised by wolves. Sighing, Caroline motioned with one hand for him to go ahead and say whatever he deemed to be so urgent.
He really couldn't have had worst timing.
"I like you," Stefan blurted out.
Caroline did a double take, sure her eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. "You what?"
"I like you," he repeated, then, words coming out of his mouth like a waterfall, pressed on, "I know I've been acting like a douche for the past couple of months, but I was... confused. Everyone was talking about how you had this huge crush on me right when you started dating someone else. I..." he shook his head, one hand running nervously through his hair, "I didn't know what to think. Actually, I thought you or someone else was messing with me and I felt humiliated."
"You felt humiliated?" Caroline asked, incredulous. "You were the golden boy while I was the pathetic groupie!"
"You had a boyfriend!"
"I have a boyfriend! I'm only hearing you out because I thought you were going to apologize for acting like I didn't exist this whole time!"
"You're right. I'm sorry. I should have come to you long ago, but I was too prideful."
Caroline raised her hands to her head, started tracing soothing circles over her temples with the pads of her fingers, closing her eyes.
"I'm sorry," Stefan repeated in a low voice that almost made her feel bad.
Almost.
She didn't blame him, not really.
Sure. Whether he liked her or not, he could have and should have gone differently about the situation, but she realized now that she hadn't exactly given him a choice.
It didn't matter, anyway.
She had liked the idea of Stefan.
She liked the reality of Klaus.
Caroline reopened her eyes. "Thank you, Stefan, for telling me. But—"
"You don't feel the same way."
A small, rueful smile. "I don't."
Stefan nodded, mostly to himself, averting his gaze to concentrate on the hallway's dirty linoleum.
"It's okay," he promised, looking back up after a few seconds, eyes sad but gentle. "Friends?"
Caroline had a feeling she was going to need all the friends she could get.
"Friends."
:
:
Caroline was pacing in front of Hayley's car in the almost deserted parking lot.
All students were supposed to be in class, so, except for some latecomers hurrying past and a few randoms who seemed to be planning on ditching school for the day, no one was around.
After her conversation with Stefan, Caroline had sent Hayley a quick text, aiming to not make it seem like anything was out of the ordinary but still convey enough distress that the other girl would agree to meet her outside.
She had been successful, apparently, because Hayley showed up not five minutes later, a worried frown marring her features.
"Forbes, are you okay?"
Caroline skipped the pleasantries. "I know."
"You... know? Know what?"
"I know you're the one who told Aurora."
The last shred of hope she had been holding on to shattered together with the easy look on Hayley's face.
"Caroline—"
"So it's true."
"Let me explain," Hayley pleaded.
"Explain what, exactly?" Caroline screeched, not caring about the fact that they were out in the open and anyone passing by would have clearly heard their argument. "You looked me in the eye that day and promised you weren't like Aurora when this is all your fault!"
"My fault? Does that mean you regret everything that's happened since?"
Caroline bristled, eyes widening as she took a step back as if physically struck by Hayley's words. "Tha–that's not the point."
"I think it is. I've made a mistake and I'm sorry, Caroline. I'm even more sorry that I didn't come clean about it on my own. I didn't really know you and I judged you too harshly and went and shot my big mouth off. Sounds familiar? But, at least, I am trying to make things right."
"No, you don't get to do this. You don't get to take credit for fixing something you broke in the first place!"
"Well, I don't know what else to do to make you forgive me!"
Caroline ground her teeth together, nostrils flaring, doing her best to keep herself from crying. "Who even told you?"
"No one told me. No one talks to me," Hayley scoffed, "which, if anything, made me an excellent people-watcher. It was obvious you had a crush on Stefan. Just like it's obvious you have a crush on Klaus."
Caroline's heart thumped painfully. "Did he—does he—"
"He has no idea I was the one who outed you," Hayley understood what she was trying to ask. "That's not why he's doing this."
"Then... why?"
Hayley shook her head. "It's not my story to tell."
Caroline snorted. "Oh, so now you're good at keeping secrets."
"I'd like to think I know how to learn a lesson, yeah. You won't have to wonder for long, if it makes you feel better," she tipped her head forward, looking towards the entrance to the school. "Here he comes."
Heart now in her throat, Caroline spun around. Indeed, Klaus was walking in their direction in swift strides, appearing, from a distance, almost angry.
"Hi," she greeted him in a tiny, trembling voice when he reached them.
"This is my clue," Hayley announced, starting to make her way back inside. "Again, I really am sorry."
Neither of them turned away from the other to watch her leave, but Klaus frowned.
"What was that about?"
"Long story," Caroline breathed out. "I'll explain later."
"Does it have to do with Stefan?"
"Uh. Kind of, yes."
"Makes sense," Klaus chuckled, but it sounded wrong, somehow, bitter. "Congratulations, sweetheart," he switched back to the general pet name, the word spat like an insult, making her recoil, "you finally got what you wanted."
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw you," he accused, "in the hallway, with Stefan. He likes you back."
Caroline gasped. "No. Klaus—"
"You don't have to explain. This, us... it was just pretend, after all, wasn't it?"
His expression was unreadable, now, and Caroline hated it, much preferred the anger from a moment before to the way she could literally feel him building all of his walls back up.
"I hope you're happy," he muttered, leaving before she had a chance to reply, to even gather her thoughts.
The worst thing was he had sounded sincere.
:
:
Caroline was miserable.
Like a coward, she had skipped the rest of the school week, claiming a fever. She wasn't the type to lie to get out of studying, so her mom didn't even question it, leaving her home alone with her thoughts and feelings. A lot of thoughts and feelings.
She didn't know what to do.
She was still upset that Hayley had gone behind her back, but, back then, they weren't friends, and, admittedly, she probably deserved it for her passive part in ostracizing her after her pregnancy scare. Before, Hayley had been quite popular, a beautiful, headstrong girl on the cheerleading squad with an older boyfriend. Pretty much everyone's dream. Caroline couldn't believe how easy it had been for everyone to dismiss her, all of a sudden, to judge her as if none of them had ever had sex, to abandon her when she was the most vulnerable.
Society was way past the 'an eye for an eye' mentality, but Caroline could understand why she had felt the need to get back at someone who was still living her old, seemingly perfect life.
And she did try to make it right, had led her to Klaus—literally—so Caroline couldn't find it in herself to keep a grudge.
Klaus, himself, however... he was a whole other story.
One she had no idea where to even begin to unravel.
Caroline knew she hadn't just made their connection up in her head.
If anything, his reaction to thinking she still liked Stefan, on top of all the hints Hayley had been dropping that she couldn't believe she had overlooked for so long, had only further proved that what she felt for him wasn't one-sided.
Had Klaus agreed to help her because, from the very beginning, he had had a crush on her?
Then, he had lashed out because he was hurt. And while Caroline did not appreciate him making assumptions without hearing her out first, which was something they were definitely going to need to work on, she could sympathize with not being used to be the one.
She had never been, either. Not until him.
She wasn't willing to give up on him without a fight.
However, contacting him was proving to be impossible. He had been steadfastly ignoring her every text and phone call, putting her carefully rehearsed speech to waste. Tracking him down without a set place and time felt too scary a variable, too out of her control for Caroline's liking, and she was terrified of the outcome it could have produced.
She didn't want to lose him.
Shit.
That was exactly what she was letting happen.
With new-found energy, Caroline all but leaped up from her bed, her only companion for the past five days, and ran down the stairs. She was already dressed, having gone grocery shopping while her mom was working her Saturday morning shift—not that the sheriff was ever not on shift—and only briefly stopped in front of the mirror by the entryway to check the state of her nest of hair. Once she had made sure she looked presentable, she texted her mom to let her know she was going out to get some fresh air and left.
She was going back to school on Monday, but she needed to sort things out with Klaus immediately.
The Mikaelsons lived on the outskirts of town, but the twenty-minutes walk did nothing to quell Caroline's anxiety. By the time she had reached the familiar mansion, she was equal parts excited and terrified, the butterflies in her stomach suffering from severe motion sickness.
She took four deep breaths and rang the doorbell.
She heard footsteps approaching on the other side and had a split second to consider who she would have preferred it to be, coming up with no answer.
"Oh. It's you."
It was Rebekah.
"Hey, Bekah."
Rebekah crossed her arms over her chest and glared even harder, making Caroline flinch. She had hoped the nickname would soften the other girl's attitude, but, clearly, she had been wrong.
Out of all of Klaus' siblings, Rebekah was the one Caroline had grown the closest to. The two of them were eerily similar and, in a way, Rebekah looked up to Caroline, was determined to succeed her as head cheerleader.
In that moment, however, it wouldn't have been too far-fetched to assume Caroline was the person Rebekah hated the most in the whole world.
"What do you want?" she snapped.
A sigh. Shoulders slumping. "I was hoping to talk to Klaus?"
"Mmh," Rebekah cocked her head to the side, eyes barely two slits. "Were you, now? Does your boyfriend know you're making house calls to other guys?"
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"Did he dump you, already?"
"Well, let me in and I'll go find out."
Something suddenly lightened up in Rebekah's expression.
Caroline had no idea how much about their relationship, or lack thereof, Klaus had told his sister, but she took that lukewarm reaction as a good sign.
Indeed, after a long moment, Rebekah conceded, "Fine. He's holed up in his room. Brooding. Painting. Probably listening to Boyz II Men," she opened the door wider to let Caroline in, giving her a pointed look. "Fix this."
If only she knew how.
Caroline took the steps two at a time as she made her way up to Klaus' bedroom.
A part of her felt validated by the knowledge that she hadn't been the only one taking to acting like a hermit after their falling-out. The other, much more prominent, just felt guilty.
She rapped her knuckles on his door twice.
A lament of a song was playing in the background and cushioned his reply.
"I told you to leave me alone, Rebekah."
"It's, uh, it's not Rebekah."
The music stopped at once.
The ensuing silence, however, felt even sadder, and Caroline could hear her own heartbeat echoing through the emptiness, her own blood pulsing in her ears.
A latch clicked.
The door swung open.
God, she had missed him.
She had gotten used to seeing him and talking to him on a daily basis, to his dimples peeking out whenever he sent her a particularly fond smile, to the twinkling of his eyes whenever he regarded her with that softness that seemed reserved for her only, to the small gestures of affection and to the way he moved and smelled and existed together with her within a bubble of pure, unadulterated happiness.
Having him in front of her again after so long was... everything.
He was everything.
Caroline couldn't choke back a sob.
"Love—"
The special pet name only made things worse, or better—she couldn't distinguish one from the other, anymore—and the floodgates burst open.
Gingerly taking hold of one of her shoulders, Klaus pulled her into his room, closing the door behind them.
It really was just the two of them, now.
As it should have always been.
"Caroline, what's wrong? Did Stefan hurt you?"
His tone was strained, full of anger at the idea that someone might have caused her pain as well as at the mere mention of another guy in connection to her.
Surprisingly, it made Caroline laugh through her tears.
He was so oblivious. Just as she had been all those months.
"No," she shook her head, wiping the underside of her eyes, "no."
Klaus frowned, wearing an adorably dumbfounded expression. "What happened, then?"
"You," Caroline replied, simply, smiling. "You happened."
"I–I don't understand."
Caroline reveled in how he took a step forward, unconsciously, elbows bent, palms outstretched, as if he was itching to reach out for her in the same way she was dying to launch herself into his arms.
He looked so hopeful.
And it gave her the final push she needed, words rushing out of her mouth.
"I like you, Klaus. Like really like you, like I want to be your real girlfriend and take you places where no one knows us and kiss you when no one sees us. Yes, Stefan told me he liked me and past-me would have been over the moon about it but, Klaus," she, too, took a step forward, inched closer until their respective warmths were a shared fire, the rising sun of a whole new universe, then raised her hands to frame his face, boring her eyes into his, wide and disbelieving, "I can't even remember being her, because any other emotion pales in comparison to what I feel for you."
The last syllable had barely left Caroline's lips that Klaus was covering them with his own.
Gone were the tentativeness and the tenderness of their first kiss, replaced by the overwhelming urge to try and convey the magnitude of their feelings for one another.
Caroline looped her arms around Klaus' neck while his hands worked their way up her spine, pulling her more tightly into him in the process, chest against chest, hearts on opposite sides but beating as one.
She tilted her head, parting her lips, and Klaus groaned as their tongues met, still awed by the fact that he didn't have to hold back anymore, that this wasn't pretend, that she was his.
Running her fingers through his curls, Caroline gave a slight tug and deepened the kiss even further, the two of them breathing hard into each other's mouths, reluctant to break away even for one single moment.
Once they had gulped in enough air, Klaus swept Caroline off her feet, twirling her around the room in a symphony of giggles.
"Klaus!" she shrieked, instinctively bringing her legs up to wrap around his waist. "Put me down!"
Klaus slowly came to a stop on the spot but did not ease his grip on her.
"Never," he promised, solemn, resting his forehead against hers. A beat passed. "By the way, love, I really like you too."
Caroline rolled her eyes, the motion of fake exasperation rendered void by the blush coloring the apples of her cheeks.
"I had kinda gathered."
Klaus smiled, brushing the pad of his right thumb along the swell of her lips, admiring his handiwork.
"So," he mused, "do you approve of this particular boyfriend, now?"
Throwing her head back, curls astray, golden under the sunrays filtering in through the windows, Caroline laughed.
"I think I could get used to him."
:
:
The cafeteria was bustling with activity, decorations for the end-of-the-year party finally starting to take shape.
Klaus and Caroline were sitting at their usual table, holding hands under it, Hayley chatting with Elena just a seat over, Kol, Klaus' younger brother, twin to Rebekah, shamelessly flirting up a storm with an unimpressed-looking Bonnie.
Their lives had fit quite nicely together, perfectly, even.
"Oh. My. God!" Rebekah all but screeched, running to the group with a bewildered expression on her face and effectively immediately claiming everyone's attention.
Klaus and Caroline shared an amused look between them, then turned to her expectantly.
Rebekah grinned.
"Did you guys hear the last rumor—"