What the Heart Wants
A/N: Here's the next chapter in this story. There was some sort of error yesterday and the site wouldn't display the story but it's been fixed now, obviously. Thank you for everyone that reviewed, favourited or followed this story. Your support means a lot. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Someone Like You
Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you, too
Don't forget me, I beg, I remember you said
Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead
By the time Caroline and her mother got there, the party was in full swing. Caroline spotted Rebekah in the corner, dressed in a gorgeous red dress, and flirting with her boyfriend three months, Matt Donovan. Matt was a newcomer to the world of the rich and famous. His parents had won the lottery two years ago and they now own a chain of restaurants. Knowing better than to interrupt them, Caroline let her gaze wander the room and she spotted Kol Mikaelson talking to a man who looked remarkably like him. This must be the eldest Mikaelson. Kol spotted her and walked over to her, pulling her into a hug.
"Caroline!" Kol exclaimed, grinning. "How has New York been without my beautiful self?"
"Oh, the colour drained out of the city the moment you were gone. Everything was lifeless and dull," Caroline replied sarcastically.
"Care, this is my older brother Elijah," Kol motioned to the man next to him, who looked like he was feeling uncomfortable yet amused.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Caroline said politely, holding a hand out for him to shake whilst privately thinking that Katherine would be very happy once she got here because the eldest Mikaelson was indeed attractive.
"The pleasure is all mine," Elijah shook her extended hand.
"Caroline!" There was a squeal from the other side of the room and Caroline found herself being pulled into a hug for the second time in 5 minutes. Over Rebekah's shoulder, Caroline saw Kol drag Elijah off to meet someone else.
"I've missed you too, Bekah," Caroline smiled at her other best friend.
"Is Kat here yet?" Rebekah asked, glancing around the room.
Caroline shook her head. "No, not yet."
"I need to go talk to some people but I'll be right back," Rebekah sent Caroline an apologetic look before going off to go talk to the children of some of her father's business associates.
Caroline went to go get a drink and she looked around for either Stefan, Katherine or Tyler.
"I've always preferred you in blue, love," an accented British voice whispered in her ear.
Caroline scowled and turned around to face none other than Klaus Mikaelson, the bane of her existence. "Klaus. I knew it was foolish to hope that time away would turn you into a tolerable person," Caroline crossed her arms over her chest.
"And then who would you take your anger out on?" Klaus raised a blond eyebrow. "Besides, you know I'm far too valuable when it comes to getting information."
Caroline let out a huff but she didn't reply. She hated it when he was right.
Before Klaus could make another flirtatious remark, her white knight appeared, in the form of her final best friend, Stefan Salvatore. "I'm surprised you two haven't killed each other yet."
Caroline grinned and pulled him into a hug. "I've missed you."
Stefan shot her a grin. "Nik!"
Caroline watched as the two hugged. "Hello mate, haven't heard from you in a while."
"Yeah, Damon broke my phone," Stefan turned to Caroline. "Katherine was looking for you."
Caroline nodded and left the two to their reunion. Despite the fact that she would rather walk over hot coals than say a single positive thing about Klaus Mikaelson, Caroline did have to admit that when Stefan was around, Klaus was somewhat tolerable. The two of them had become friends as soon as the Mikaelsons had moved to New York from England when they were both 15. After Klaus' mother, Esther, and little brother, Henrik, died in a car crash two years ago, Stefan was the only person other than his siblings that Klaus would talk to. Caroline shook herself out of her thoughts when she spotted Katherine, dressed in the dark purple dress that she had bought earlier that day.
"Hey!" Katherine greeted, walking over to Caroline. "Who's the hot guy over there?" Katherine nodded in the direction of said hot guy.
Caroline glanced in the direction that Katherine nodded, and laughed quietly. "You'll be pleased to know, Kat, that the hot guy is Elijah Mikaelson."
Katherine looked Elijah up and down. "Well, if you'll excuse me," Katherine winked at Caroline before disappearing into the crowd.
xxx
Katherine wove her way through the crowd, in the direction of the handsome Mikaelson in a suit. Luckily for her, he was getting a drink. Katherine walked so that she was standing next to him and she got a drink of her own. "So, I'm guessing you're the guest of honour at this party?"
Elijah looked over at her. "Yes, I am. How did you know?"
Katherine laughed. "Well, around here pretty much everyone knows everyone and I don't recognise you."
"You could have met me before and just forgotten about it," Elijah said, turning to face her properly.
Katherine shook her head, smiling. "No, I wouldn't forget a face like yours," Katherine held out a hand. "Sorry, you must think I'm really creepy. I'm Katherine Gilbert."
"Elijah Mikaelson," Elijah took her hand and pressed a chaste kiss to the back of it.
xxx
Caroline sighed, looking around again for Tyler. When she didn't see him, she headed off to find her mother, whom she eventually found talking to her boyfriend, Caroline fought down a shudder at the thought, Giuseppe Salvatore. Caroline had nothing against Stefan's father, but it was kind of weird that her mother was dating her best friend's dad and it was kind of awkward. Caroline started to walk towards her mother but she stopped when she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around to see the person that she had been searching for the entire night. "Tyler!" She exclaimed, kissing her boyfriend. "You're here."
"Hey," Tyler smiled briefly at her. "There's someone I want you to meet."
Caroline nodded, slightly confused and, honestly, a bit hurt at the fact that he didn't seem all that happy to see her. She let Tyler take her hand and pull her towards this person that he wanted for her to meet.
"Hi," a pretty, dark haired girl said as soon as she and Tyler stopped in front of her. She looked slightly uncomfortable. "I'm Hayley."
"Hi," Caroline sent Tyler a surprised look. "I'm Caroline," she held out a hand, which Hayley shook.
"Hayley's staying with my family. Our dads have known each other since they were young and she was thinking about moving here, so my parents offered to let her stay with us," Tyler explained.
"Oh. That's nice," Caroline said, smiling politely.
"Hayley and I are going to go now. I promised her that I would show her some sights around here," Tyler kissed Caroline's cheek. "I'll call you later," he said before he and Hayley left.
"Bye," Caroline said quietly.
"Whoo, the eldest Mikaelson is even more attractive up close," Katherine joked. When Caroline didn't reply, Katherine's joking look turned to one of concern. "Hey, is everything okay?"
Caroline sighed. "It's just boyfriend drama," she shrugged.
"What happened?" Katherine pulled Caroline to a more quiet area of the penthouse.
"Some girl is staying with him and he completely bailed on me so that he could show her the sights of New York," Caroline admitted. Katherine sent her a sympathetic look and put her arm around the younger girl's shoulders and she gave her a small squeeze.
"Come on, Queen C, let's go find Bekah."
Caroline nodded and the two of them wove through the crowd until they located Rebekah standing with Kol and Stefan. "Hey, Stef, I haven't seen you in ages!" Katherine said, hugging him.
"I know my family is throwing this party, but it sucks," Kol said, sensing that Caroline was upset. "I mean seriously, you'd think that I was one that wasn't a Mikae-" Kol stopped talking when Rebekah stamped on his foot. Hard.
Caroline sent him a confused look and he merely smiled charmingly at her. "It's a figure of speech."
Kol was saved from any further questions when Mikael Mikaelson tapped his glass with a spoon. "I would like to thank you all for coming to this gathering celebrating the fact that my eldest child and heir is joining us here in New York. Appetisers will be served in half an hour. Thank you," Mikael stopped talking and Caroline saw that he had walked towards Klaus, who was stood near Elijah, getting himself something to drink. Mikael said something quietly to Klaus and he seemed to recoil. When he was finished saying what he wanted to, Mikael walked away and Klaus stared after him with an odd expression on his face.
xxx
A phone rang, loudly and shrilly and the three girls who were asleep groaned.
"Bekah, answer your phone," Katherine groaned, turning over onto her stomach.
Rebekah reached her hand out and grabbed the offending phone. "Hello?" She paused for a moment, listening to the person on the other side of the line. "Yeah, I'll meet you there at 7. Bye."
"Why did your boyfriend have to call you now?" Caroline moaned, sitting up.
"Yeah, R, I was asleep," Katherine complained, her voice muffled by the pillow.
"Take it as revenge for flirting with my older brother most of last night," Rebekah said, getting out of the bed.
Suddenly, Caroline was reminded by the odd conversation between Klaus and his father. "Is everything okay with your family? Last night, it looked like things were tense between your father and Klaus."
Rebekah acted as if she hadn't heard the question. "So, are you guys ready for the second half of our back to school tradition?"
Caroline immediately brightened. "Croissants and Breakfast at Tiffany's!"
"That's actually a decent reason to get out of bed," Katherine sighed, getting out of the bed too.
The three girls headed into the kitchen and heated up the croissants before they walked over to the huge flatscreen TV. "What time is it?" Katherine asked.
"It's 11am," Caroline replied after looking at the clock. The three girls settled down on the couch and played the movie.
Halfway through the movie, Rebekah spoke up. "I really don't want to go back to school tomorrow."
"Who does?" Katherine asked. "At least you're not dreading going home."
Caroline sent the brunette a sympathetic look. "Maybe things will be better?"
Katherine laughed derisively. "Yeah, right. Like my parents aren't going to keep talking about how perfect Elena is and how I should be more like her."
"Well," Rebekah said in a light-hearted tone of voice. "I'm lucky. I mean, Kol is a loonie, Nik's a drunk... The only person that I have to compete with is 'Lijah."
Caroline laughed, although she knew that Rebekah was joking. Despite the fact that the Mikaelsons may be a dysfunctional family, you couldn't find one that loved each other more.
Katherine laughed weakly. "Yeah."
xxx
After the movie and ended and Katherine and Rebekah had gone home, Caroline had gotten into the shower to relax and distract herself from the fact that Tyler had some girl staying at his house. When she stepped out of the shower, she saw that there was a new message from Stefan.
'Want to hang out? -S'
'Sure. The usual place? -C'
'Meet you there in an hour. -S'
Caroline put her phone down and smiled slightly, picking out her clothes for the day and starting to get ready.
An hour later, she and Stefan were sat at their favourite café. "So, there Damon was, running out of the building with Enzo chasing him like a mad man," Stefan was saying. "And of course I asked them what they were doing, and it turned out that Damon had been flirting with Enzo's fiancée, Maggie James, although he didn't know who she was."
Caroline laughed. "Oh, how is Enzo?" Caroline asked, recalling the Salvatore's cousin with fondness. "And what about this Maggie girl? Is she nice?"
Stefan nodded. "Enzo says she's way too good for him," he grinned, taking a sip of his coffee.
"I hope I'll get to meet her someday," Caroline said, taking a sip of her own drink. "So, where else did you go, other than Italy?"
"We also went to the Hamptons and Spain, but enough about my holiday, what about yours?" Stefan leaned forward, raising an eyebrow at his best friend.
"Well, we went to the Hamptons at the beginning of the holiday and we then went to France. You know how much I love Paris, after all."
"Did you clear out all the shops on Champs Elysées?" Stefan asked, grinning.
Caroline kicked Stefan's shin under the table. "No, but I did get you a gift. But, since you're being horrible, I won't give it to you."
"Well then, I suppose I won't give you your gift," Stefan stuck his tongue out at Caroline.
Caroline rolled her eyes but gave in, passing Stefan a gift wrapped box and he did the same to her. Stefan opened his first and his eyes fell on a gorgeous leather jacket. "I knew you wanted a new one."
Stefan grinned brightly at Caroline, leaning over the table and kissing her on the cheek. "Thank you, Caroline," he said. "Now open yours."
Caroline did as he told her to, gasping quietly. Inside the box lay a pair of beautiful opal earrings. Caroline let out a squeal. "Oh my god, Stefan, I've wanted these since before I was born, thank you!" She threw her arms around her best friend, hugging him tightly. Stefan laughed, hugging her back.
"Anything for my little sister," Stefan joked.
Caroline rolled her eyes as she broke the hug. "You know that I'm not actually your little sister, you know that, right?"
Stefan smiled. "You might as well be. Besides, if things go well between our parents, we might be step siblings."
"On the one hand, I'd love to be related to you, on the other hand... Damon," Caroline said, grinning.
Before Stefan could reply, his phone vibrated with a text. "Sorry," he said, picking it up. "It's from Elena. She wants to talk," Stefan looked up at Caroline.
"It's fine, go. You guys do need to have this conversation, after all," Caroline gestured from him to leave. Stefan grinned, kissed her on the cheek and gave her the money for the lunch. Before she could protest, he was gone.
xxx
Later that night, Rebekah Mikaelson walked into a bar, heading straight for the bar, and ordering a drink. When she glanced to her left, she was surprised to see Stefan Salvatore nursing a glass of bourbon. "Stefan?"
Stefan looked up over at her. "Hey."
"You look depressed," Rebekah commented as her drink was brought over. "How long have you been here?"
"Stefan shrugged. "About two hours, give or take."
"You're tipsy, aren't you?"
"Just a little," Stefan said.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Rebekah asked.
Stefan sighed. "Er... I was at lunch with Caroline today, after you guys slept over, and Elena texted me to say that we needed to talk. So, I met her in our spot in the park and then she told me."
"Told you what?" Rebekah asked gently.
"At the end of school party, she slept with Damon. My brother," Stefan said, even though Rebekah knew perfectly well who Damon Salvatore was and he didn't need to explain his identity.
Rebekah placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "Well, if we're going to share breakup stories, mine isn't nearly as bad as yours, but here I go," she took in a deep breath. "Matt called me this morning, he said he wanted to go to dinner together, so I met him at the restaurant and we had a lovely meal. Then, before I got in the limo to go home, he told me that he wanted us to stop seeing each other because he wanted to, and I quote, 'focus on his studies'."
Stefan winced. "Ouch."
Rebekah nodded, taking a sip of her drink. "Yeah."
"You know, I think we're going to need something stronger than this," Stefan said, gesturing at their drinks. He waved over at the bartender. "Hey, can we have some tequila and some shot glasses?"
A/N: So, that is the second chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! Again, thanks to anyone that left feedback!