"O Love, You who have been called by a thousand names,
You who know how to pour the wine
into the chalice of the body"
— Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (Rumi)
"It was like making out with Hannibal Lector; I swear he was trying to eat my face! Seriously?! Who the fuck thinks, 'I know —this kiss needs more teeth?!"
Caroline watched in irritation as Bonnie flatly replied, "I'm supposed to be living out my teenage dating fantasies through you and now you go and tell me Kol is a lousy kisser? Is NOTHING sacred, Caroline? Couldn't you at least have lied and said he gives incredible hugs or that he smells like a sun-dappled field of wildflowers or recites Shakespearean sonnets?"
Kol actually smelled like he vaped strawberry kiwi 24/7 and bathed in Captain Morgan. She could hear the tiny sliver of hurt in Bonnie's voice underneath her friend's signature sarcasm. This wasn't about Bonnie's silly teenage crush from back in the day or that Caroline was ruining some starstruck fantasy her friend had of Kol. This was about how worried Bonnie had been when Caroline's engagement fell apart; Bonnie had felt her hurt so deeply that she seemed to suffer right along with her. She helped Caroline to move on from what Matt did to her. Her friend refused to let her stay broken.
"I'm sorry, Bonnie. That was mean and I shouldn't have said it like that. I promised you I'd go into this with an open mind and I swear I'm trying." Even though the thought of Matt and Elena no longer left her a heartbroken mess, it still took a while for Caroline to feel ready to try again. "And I've been having fun with Kol. He's wild like you'd expect from his public persona. But also really funny and surprisingly deep and in tune with what I'm feeling."
Bonnie's expression softened and even through the monitor, Caroline could see her friend's relief. "So...do you think you could have a connection with Kol?"
Not as long as Klaus was around. Caroline quickly banished that traitorous thought as quickly as it came. "I...I want to," she said awkwardly, looking at everything in the private study but the monitor.
"Hey, you don't have to talk about this stuff if you're not ready. I know you said our chats are private because of that bet you won with Klaus, but it's not like you really trust him."
"I trust Klaus!" Caroline's blue eyes widened at her unexpected outburst, face instantly hot. "I just mean that...as far as shady Hollywood types go, he seems alright. And he hasn't lied to me yet." Rolling her eyes, she added begrudgingly, "He even did this whole awkward apology thing and then there was this moment where we bonded over um...some childhood stuff." Even though Bonnie was her best friend, it felt...wrong to talk about the private things Klaus had told her. Best not to think about that. And she certainly shouldn't talk about it.
Bonnie studied her carefully, a brief look of understanding flashing in her face as she changed the subject. "Do all these crazy bitches you live with know you're the reigning Hair Pulling Champion?"
She visibly relaxed, grateful that her friend understood her so well. Giggling, Caroline said, "Elena totally deserved that hair-pulling fiasco your fifth-grade slumber party turned into and, by the way, you're welcome," she finished smugly.
Rolling her eyes, Bonnie said, "Elena plagiarized my book report and then told our teacher that I stole her work — it didn't even have anything to do with you. But as soon as Elena showed up at my house, you tackled her on my lawn and ripped out handfuls of hair."
"She fucked with you, so I fucked with her. That's how it works with us," Caroline replied with a grin.
"That's how it works with us."
Horses. It just had to be horses. Klaus watched with dismay how Caroline's entire body went rigid as the ladies were led out to the lakefront stables to reveal the horses being outfitted for a trail ride. After a rather emotional rose ceremony with a double elimination in which both contestants dissolved into hysterics until one passed out and needed the on-site medical team and the other tried to barricade herself in a guest room. Even the producers thought the drama was somewhat undesirable and decided to lighten the mood and "reward" the remaining contestants with a group date on horseback.
"Hey, Nik, you think Caroline and the girls would be up for a little detour in the lake when we get done? Bathing suits optional of course," Kol cheekily ventured while wriggling his eyebrows.
Idiot. Grabbing his brother's arm, Klaus hissed, "Caroline is wary of horses. She was thrown as a child and broke her arm. You need to go over there and put her at ease." At Kol's obvious look of alarm, he sighed and said, "I'll talk you through it."
"Quite clever, brother. How did you know all that about Caroline?"
How indeed. In between takes, he and Caroline tended to chat. And in the kitchen. And a few times when she was in the library. And that time she'd been in the gazebo with Katherine, giggling like a naughty school girl because they were pretending to diagnose the contestants using a clinical handbook of psychological disorders that one girl inexplicably had brought. Perfectly harmless interactions. He was just doing his job. In fact, the network had been pleased with his Caroline "reconnaissance" and claimed that their editing had benefitted greatly from his insights.
Ignoring Kol's question, Klaus impatiently pushed his brother toward the stables, quietly speaking in his earpiece, "Lead Caroline over to the paddock where she can interact with horses with the fence in between. Confess that you weren't much for horses growing up and then tell her about Rebekah's accomplishments in dressage and how you never missed our sister's events despite your unease around horses." He was fairly certain Kol had managed to stumble into a few of Rebekah's events in a somewhat coherent state when they were younger.
Klaus barely kept the scowl from his face when he saw the frank gratitude on Caroline's face as Kol led her away with a charming smile. Together they leaned against the fence railing, a bit too close in Klaus' opinion, and he wondered if Kol could count the light dusting of freckles across Caroline's cheeks. Not that Klaus ever had. Also, the morning sun that filtered through her curls did not turn them to spun gold — it was merely a trick of the lighting equipment.
Muttering to himself, he tried to focus on Kol's words, impressed despite himself when he overheard, "And that's how I taught my sister the traditional button braid rosettes before the regional competition."
"You managed to braid her Hanoverian's mane in 20 minutes," Caroline asked skeptically.
"Even back then, I excelled at rolling joints; it's an underrated skillset."
Klaus cringed, worried that his brother's cavalier attitude about such things would offend her, but instead Caroline giggled, regaling him with a story about how she and Bonnie were caught pawing through her grandmother's spice rack when they were teenagers to supplement their dime bags. The confounding punishment involved learning Latin phrases and cleaning out some sort of tomb-like cellar.
That should have been his story.
Caroline tucked an errant curl behind her ear, a hesitation to her voice that Klaus found endearing as she told Kol, "It was really sweet of you to notice I was a little afraid of the horses. Thank you for distracting me." She seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then surged forward to plant a sweet kiss on Kol's cheek.
A small crack suddenly appeared on Klaus' phone underneath his white-knuckled grip, and he hastily shoved it in his pocket, cursing under his breath. It was just a kiss on his brother's cheek. Like from an elderly aunt.
As the crew ushered Kol toward a small group of contestants for a few "candid" group date moments, Klaus found himself sauntering over to Caroline, unable to stop himself from heeding her siren's call.
"You and Kol are getting on well," he murmured, foolishly hoping that she would disagree.
She favored him with that sunshine smile of hers, chuckling as she observed Kol try and fail to mount the temperamental Andalusian while several contestants rushed to his side as though he'd lost a limb.
"Your brother's definitely more than what the internet says he is," she observed. "I knew he was charming; I mean, how could he not be given his success in Hollywood? But I didn't think he could be so thoughtful. It's nice to see."
Klaus ignored the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. This is good. This is what you and the producers wanted. He distracted himself from his irksome thoughts by watching Caroline tentatively reach out to pet another Andalusian that had wandered over to their fence row. He was delighted to see that she seemed more at ease, and together they petted its glossy black coat.
"Kol was telling me about how you guys grew up with horses. Did you ride very often?"
He swallowed back the familiar sting when he thought of how their stables had been a refuge growing up; a place to escape his father's ever-present disapproval and his mother's blatant indifference. "Yes, I spent some time at our stables as a lad; it was...a nice distraction from things." Blocking out the insipid chatter of the excitable contestants across the pasture, he confessed, "I've always admired a horse's loyalty. It's not freely given; you have to earn it. But once it's yours, they're fiercely devoted creatures." Feeling uncomfortably exposed, he avoided the weight of her curious gaze.
"You deserve someone's loyalty," Caroline blurted out, blue eyes widening as though she hadn't intended to speak in that moment.
A silence fraught with...something came over the pair as they continued to pet the horse, and when their fingertips brushed together, Klaus swore the thudding in his chest could be picked up on the set mics. Their touch was soft, and far too brief (but also far too long). Swallowing harshly, Klaus jerked his hand away, signaling one of the PAs to get Caroline settled into the next "unscripted" portion of the group date. He pretended not to see the tiny flare of hurt that flashed in her gaze before Caroline walked away.
Charcoal was a messy medium, but beautifully rendered an object. Klaus admired the definitive curve of Caroline's cheekbones, adding a bit of shading to the sleek Andalusian she was petting. He hadn't thought to sketch in years, but Caroline's lovely visage called out to him. She possessed a singular beauty that was somehow both confident and innocent. Radiant. Stunning. It was bloody inconvenient is what it was.
"I see you didn't let that minor in fine arts go to waste," Kol drawled, making Klaus jump slightly as he guiltily shuffled papers on his desk. Peering a bit closer at the sketch, the teasing left his tone as he said, "That's actually quite impressive, brother. She's a lovely bird, that Caroline. She snuck up on me a bit, I must say. A charming, bossy little thing and it's been ages since I've really had to...you know, actually try at this sort of thing."
Feeling the tips of his ears burn, Klaus scrambled for a plausible excuse for his sudden artistic inspiration. "Yes, well, she certainly stands out. And I was doing a quick sketch because..."
"Because you wanted me to give it to Caroline to show her my sensitive side. That's bloody brilliant," Kol eagerly interrupted, giving him a companionable pat on the back.
An angry red haze settled over Klaus as he pictured Kol passing off his work as his own, and Caroline's delighted, adorable squeal as she fawned over his "talent". Clearing his throat, Klaus handed over the sketch, gruffly agreeing, "Yes, that was the idea, brother. Glad to see you're starting to understand how this game is played."