Music in chapter:

AZEDIA- Agony

Massari - Real Love (Bentley Grey Nu Disco Remix)

Unfaithful

Chapter Seven

I have sacrificed all that I believe in…

Music was playing loudly in Klaus's car stereo while he drove. Caroline was sitting shotgun, Elijah was in the back with Elena in the middle, and Bonnie next to her. The Hybrid occasionally glanced at the radiant doppelganger through his rear view mirror, and sometimes Elena caught his gaze. Anyone who was curious enough to observe their interactions would have noticed the potency of passion in the way they looked at each other. No words had to be spoken. All Klaus had to do was look at Elena and her body would catch fire from the inside.

Caroline suddenly changed the track and switched to her favorite pop radio station. "I can't stand your taste in music!" she complained to Klaus. "I get a headache listening to dubstep!"

If there was one thing Elena had in common with Klaus: it was the same musical preferences.

He turned off the radio and let his music play again. "Hands off my stereo, Caroline."

"God, you are impossible!" she said as she changed the track that was hooked up from his iPhone. After she was satisfied with the song, she relaxed and said, "At least this song won't give me a migraine."

It was a song that Elena had heard once before, and only once. But hearing it again only brought back the buried recollection.

Klaus glanced at Elena when he stopped at a red light, as if to tell her that he remembered, too. This time Caroline noticed, but she figured he was only checking the traffic in the back.

Elena held his gaze for as long as she could before she looked away. She was worried that tonight would be the night he would leave, and Caroline would come crying to her, explaining that he'd broken up with her. She realized that she was in a horrible situation. She had lied to her friend, and lied to herself. Even if Klaus broke off the engagement, it wouldn't have soothed her battered conscience.

Feeling more conflicted than ever, Elena sat back and remembered the last time she heard the lyrics that were echoing from the speakers. She had been sitting in that very car, right next to Klaus. But her feelings then were very different compared to how she felt now.

ELENA

Ten months ago

Having your car break down while you're driving is not fun—especially when it's raining cats and dogs and you're pretty much stranded on a very remote road. Oh, and I forgot to mention the part about the sky getting dark—and you're all alone with your cellphone about to die. Yeah, that's what basically happened to me while I was on my way back from visiting a friend out of town. I didn't have any fancy membership for roadside assistance, so the first person I thought to call was Bonnie. But she wasn't picking up, so I called Caroline instead and explained what had happened. She told me that she'd be on her way and I was so relieved. However, imagine my reaction when I received the following text, twenty minutes later:

I just pulled up behind you. I'm not stepping out. I don't want to get wet. Get out, and get in.

It was too blurry to see who was parked behind me because the rain was literally pouring in bucket loads over my rear windshield. So when I stepped out and noticed a very expensive black Audi behind me, I knew exactly who that text message came from. There was a reason why I had never saved his number to my contact list. I never considered him a friend, so why pretend that he was one? I hated Niklaus Mikaelson.

The loud sound of his car horn startled me as I stood there getting soaked.

I can't believe Caroline would send her maniac boyfriend to pick me up and not even tell me that she was sending him instead! I raged in my head as I scurried back to my car to grab my handbag.

Pounding house music got louder and louder as I approached the sexy sport car. I was anxious now for some reason. As I opened the passenger door, I froze when Klaus looked up at me. He had just got a haircut… and it looked… good… real good.

"Well?" he voiced in annoyance. "What in the bloody hell are you waiting for? Get inside!"

I stepped in and shut the door.

"Wonderful, you're soaked—and ruining my leather."

I scowled at him and said, "Don't start. You weren't even supposed to pick me up, so I don't understand what you're doing here."

Klaus slid down the gear shift and pulled out on the road.

"I had just left the barbershop when Caroline called me and told me to come get you because your car broke down."

"Why didn't she come?"

"She was entertaining some guests with her mother and it would have been rude of her to leave, so she called me."

Great.

"Don't be upset at her."

"I'm not," I said, determined to keep staring out the window. "I just can't stand you," I mumbled.

"Come again?" He lowered the volume and waited for me to speak.

"I said, I can't stand you!"

"Well, that makes the two of us, sweetheart."

The song finished and another track began to play. Surprisingly, I liked it.

"You have a terrible personality," I added, "but you have great taste in music."

I tried to hide my smile when I saw the way his mouth curved up to the side after he heard my comment.

"Don't I at least get some points for coming to your rescue? You were a damsel in distress."

"Hardly!"

"Behold, your Prince Charming," he sarcastically jested.

"Prince Charming?" I laughed. "More like My Bloody Valentine."

"I'm your Valentine, now?"

"No—that's not what I meant."

"Thank you for the promotion, Elena. But I'm already taken." He chuckled at my embarrassment, but I quickly recovered.

"Why would you score any points with me when you weren't even nice enough to get out of your car and open my door like a gentleman?"

"What's the bloody point in doing that?" He snickered. "Then I would have got soaked. You're perfectly capable of opening your own door. I may be centuries old, but I don't cling to outdated values."

"Elijah would have done it," I stated with confidence.

"I'm not Elijah."

"I noticed."

"Good." His tone turned serious. "Don't forget it."

He shifted gears and sped faster, as another song faded into the mix that was playing on his stereo.

It's real love…

(Don't really know you)

That you don't know about.

The minutes passed in silence as we listened to the music while my mind began to wander to a place I would have much rather avoided. The intoxicating scent of Klaus's cologne had permeated the air in the car, and I kind of had a thing for good looking guys in black leather jackets. To be quite honest, Klaus was always impeccably dressed. Unlike his brother who always fashioned expensive Italian suits, Klaus seemed to be the poster model for men's urban fashion—and that annoyed me because I didn't want to like anything about that man.

"Are you cold?" he asked, breaking the silence between us.

"No, the temperature's fine—thanks."

We were still too far from my house, and then I remembered that I forgot to tell him my address.

"I live on 15—"

"Suncrest Avenue, I know."

I was quiet for a second, baffled as to how he had remembered. But then Klaus chuckled lightly and answered my question for me, as if he had read my mind.

"I stalked your house long enough to memorize your address, sweetheart—not that I stalk the premises anymore… But I apologize if that makes you feel the faintest bit of sadness." He chuckled again.

"God, you are so full of yourself, Klaus—seriously."

As beautiful as this particular song was, the lyrics contradicted how we felt about each other. I didn't believe in "real love" anymore. Not after breaking up with Stefan. And Klaus was certainly not in love with me. In fact, he and I falling in love was just as unlikely as Ellen Degeneres being straight. You can't force someone to change their sexuality, and you can't force people to like each other, much less fall in love.

The windshield wipers kept gliding side to side in swift motion. It was raining so hard, I wondered how Klaus was able to even see, given the horrible driving conditions. But we managed to make it to my driveway in once piece.

After he parked the car, he turned his attention on me.

"Aren't you going to invite me inside for a cup of coffee?"

"I'm not Caroline," I answered in that same arrogant tone he had used with me.

Klaus looked amused as he snickered under his breath. His eyes seemed to glimmer with flirtation as he reached out and brushed a wet lock of my hair out of my face. I froze when I felt his fingertips graze my skin.

"I noticed," he finally said.

"Good. Don't forget it." I smiled smugly and opened the door, feeling relieved to not have to sit so close to him anymore.

"Thanks for the lift!"

As I walked up my driveway, I kept wishing he would leave, but I could still hear the sound of that idle engine as I made my way to the porch. Even as I fished for my keys in my bag, I could still sense his car loitering in my driveway. It wasn't until I opened the door that he finally pulled out in reverse and disappeared down the road.

When I got inside, I pressed my back against the door and took a deep breath. My cheeks felt so hot, like they were burning up. I couldn't understand why. I was grateful that I didn't have to sit in my car for hours until someone would come get me. The drive with Klaus hadn't been so bad. I think a part of me enjoyed our playful banter. Maybe the reason why we publicly voiced our mutual hatred for one another was because we've always been known as enemies: mortal vs. immortal. He had needed me to become the Hybrid that he was, and I had needed him dead. Well, we were both alive still and perhaps it was destiny that had kept us involved in each other's lives somehow.

He only helped you out because Caroline told him to, don't be so quick to paint him as the nice guy, Elena. Klaus is bad news and he will always be bad news, my conscience warned me loud and clear, and I immediately sobered up to reality as I dragged my feet up the stairs.

~oOo~

A/N: Hope you guys liked this flashback! Thanks for the reviews! All songs listed can be found on YouTube