Chapter 4: Unexpected Company
Klaus was the last one to pack up his things in the dressing room. Everyone had already left to celebrate their victory in whatever was the most famous, luxurious club in town. He would catch up with them later. For now, Klaus just wanted to saviour the moment of victory. Of course, there was no contest The Originals were obviously the better, more influential, musically talented band. But there were moments where he had his doubts. For example, the moment when they were announcing the winners and the distant screams of audience members cheering for The Mystics… he had to admit that he thought they were close to losing but he supposed that because they were Mikaelsons his father had probably pulled some strings being the sole owner and producer of Mikaelson records. Klaus didn't know why his father had insisted on them entering this stupid competition anyway. It's not like they needed to win a record deal when they owned a recording company, the best one in the country in fact. He guessed it was just his father's way of claiming dominance in the industry, to say that the Michaelson's will forever be in power.
Sighing, Klaus walked out of his dressing room and onto the stage once more and looked out into the empty chairs of the Stadium. In a months' time The Originals would be performing in many stadiums just like this one on their victory tour. It's not like it was anything new. After winning the Battle of the Bands last year and officially becoming the best band in the country, Klaus' life had become insane. His family was always travelling from one city to another, performing shows, signing autographs, posing for photos, signing CDs, doing interviews, performing more shows. It had become more than a little tiring. Just for this moment he wanted some peace and quiet before returning to the havoc of his life.
Klaus closed his eyes and breathed deeply, letting the silence take over him…
Only, there wasn't silence. Somewhere in the stadium Klaus could hear faint sniffling like someone was crying. Opening his eyes, Klaus scanned the stadium. There didn't seem to be anyone in the seats and turning around there wasn't anyone on the stage either. Curious, Klaus walked to the wings of the stage and checked both sides as well. The sound was close but there was no one sight. Walking back on stage Klaus finally looked up to see 2 legs hanging over the lighting bridge. Getting a better view, Klaus could tell that it was the blonde from The Mystics. Caroline was her name if he recalled correctly.
"Don't tell me that losing to us was that dreadful now love?" he said trying to lighten her mood.
Caroline started and looked down. Her eyes were all red and puffy from crying but she was still relatively beautiful, Klaus thought.
"What are you doing here?" she asked trying to wipe away her tears "Shouldn't you be out getting drunk and hooking up with all the groupies who want to sleep with you after you're big win?"
Klaus chuckled "I prefer to soak in the feeling of being on stage after every performance before 'getting drunk and hooking up with every girl I meet' as you so loosely put it. Mind if I join you?"
She shrugged. "If you want I guess. It's not like my opinion matters anyway"
"Everyone's opinion matters, love. Although I must say, I don't care for many people's opinions but you are an exception" Klaus walked off stage to find the ladder to the lighting bridge and soon enough he was sitting next to Caroline with his feet dangling off the edge, but not too close to make her uncomfortable. Sitting next to her Klaus could smell her sweet vanilla perfume. "Because I don't know what makes you think you don't have an opinion but if I were to take a guess it would have to be the reason you ran off stage halfway through your set earlier tonight?"
Caroline said nothing, letting the question linger in the air. A buzzing sensation suddenly occurred in her jeans pocket. Checking her phone, Caroline saw that she had numerous missed calls from everybody in the band.
"Did you want to talk-" he started but Caroline cut him off while replacing her phone back in her pocket.
"Why are you talking to me? We are rivals, enemies even! Aren't you breaking some band code by talking to competition?"
"I don't know what strange band code you live by Caroline Forbes but I definitely don't have one. Anyway let bygones be bygones. The competition is over now, there's no point in being enemies, especially with a woman as beautiful as you." Caroline scoffed at that last part, swinging her legs back and forth over the edge until she quickly faced him again.
"You know my name?"
"Of course I do sweetheart. I make it my business to know who I'm competing against. Why? Don't you know who I am?" he said with a smirk.
"Well of course I do. Who hasn't heard of Klaus Mikaelson and his infamous band The Originals. It's hard to miss all the gossip columns as well about all the girls that leave your apartment as well just so you know. I just thought that the rest of the competition was too insignificant to catch the attention of the famed Originals. And also, can we stop with the pet names? It's kinda creepy. I'm not your love or your sweetheart.
"Okay sweetheart. Whatever you say" Klaus smirked
"ARGH!" Caroline got up from waking away from Klaus, climbing down the ladder at the end of the bridge.
"And where are you going?" Klaus asked still sitting on the lighting bridge
"Home" she replied "Because as much as I love spending time in this gloomy stadium with your annoying remarks, and I really do, I'd rather sleep forever in my bed and never get up"
"Can I at least interest you in a drink? We've booked the VIP room at The Mid if my instincts are correct"
"Oohhh how fancy but I think I'll pass thanks"
"I never picked you to be so feisty"
"Yeah well, I always picked you to be a dick so-" Caroline shrugged, turned on her heel and just before she left the stage added, "Hopefully I won't see anytime soon Mr Mikaelson"
Klaus just smirked, watching her walk away, "Looking forward to seeing you too, Ms Forbes"
Ring Ring… Ring Ring… Ring Ring… Sorry your call could not be connected-
"Argh, Caroline is still not picking up and this is the tenth time I've called her" Elena said ending the call while pacing around Bonnie and Caroline's hotel room.
"I'm sure she'll call soon and let us know she's okay." Bonnie replied
"But it's a big and foreign city Bonnie! She could be anywhere right now! You know Chicago has the highest crime rate in the country. She could be in trouble!"
"Well it's not like she's got anywhere else to sleep. She'll turn up sooner or later, plus Caroline's a big girl now, she can handle her own" added Katherine
"She's got a point you know" Damon said walking in with Stefan, Matt and Tyler in tow. "I'm sure Caroline will be absolutely fine. Although, I do have to wonder why Caroline abruptly ran off stage in the middle of our set, costing us the competition and putting us in this position in the first place" rounding his accusing gaze onto Tyler.
"Why are you looking at me? I didn't make her run off the stage! She was looking at Elena and Stefan before she bolted. Maybe you should ask them!" Tyler pointed towards Elena.
"Dear god, Tyler, please tell me that you didn't forget in that little pea brain of yours to tell Caroline the change in song and that instead you broke her little heart by breaking up with her and after we finished 'Lovefool' the lyrics got to her in such a way that she just had to run off stage and ruin our chances of winning against the arrogant Originals"
"Well… I didn't exactly get to tell her…" Tyler muttered. Damon threw his hands up in the air.
"Great. Just… great"
"Tyler!" Elena cried. "Do you know how much she must be hurting now? What that song meant to her?! She'll think we've betrayed her!"
"You had one job Tyler. One job. Did you even try to find Caroline?" Damon hissed
"Of course I tried-"
"Until he spotted the girls from Lemonade Mouth" Katherine muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. Everyone turned to look at Katherine sitting on top of the table, wondering what exactly she was implying. She just shrugged and continued to swing her legs back and forth under the table.
"No, shut up Katherine. I couldn't find Caroline until the very last second, I swear. Why are you all getting upset at me?! It's not like you guys couldn't have told her either" Tyler stated turning to face everyone again.
"Well he didn't exactly deny it. Maybe she was hanging out with those guys from The Preatures. Probably Gideon I'm guessing. Ooh that hair and that suit…" Katherine bit her lip in lust just thinking about the particular competitor.
"What are you implying Katherine?" Tyler snapped
"Nothing" Katherine smiled sweetly in reply.
"Look Tyler" Matt spoke stepping forward from the group. "Unlike you, the rest of us don't know the song that well. We've only practiced it a handful of times before, we had to go over our chords. We didn't have the time to find Caroline"
"We really should stop arguing about this and go out and find Caroline instead" Elena stood up, changing the subject and taking action.
"I agree, this is pointless unless we go out there, find Caroline and explain to her this misunderstanding" Stefan agreed.
"We'll need to split up" Elena spoke again. "We should go in twos for safety reasons. Matt you go with Tyler. Damon you go with Stefan. Bonnie and Kat you come with me"
Everyone was gathering their stuff to leave when Damon spoke, "Why don't we just wait here? She'll need to pick up her stuff anyway and our plane leaves for Mystic Falls at 9:00am tomorrow. It's not likely she'll miss that"
"As much as I love Caroline, I have to agree. Plus, I'm super tired from performing tonight. I just want to relax and drink until I pass out. Is that so much to ask?" Katherine stated.
Elena sighed and massaged her temples. This was going to be a long night she thought.
"Fine. You and Damon can stay here and wait until Caroline gets back. When I say stay here I mean here as in this room. Don't go down to the hotel bar, we can't afford to miss her and explain what's happened. Please call us as soon as she walks through the door. Okay?"
"Will do" Katherine saluted.
It had been at least an hour of searching the city for Caroline with no luck and Matt was exhausted. As much as he wanted to go back to the hotel and just sleep, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep easy until he knew Caroline was safe. Street after street he walked down next to Tyler, peering into each open pub they came across but it was near impossible to find one particular curly haired blonde in such a big city. They decided that walking down the pub street would be a good start. They figured that whenever Caroline got upset she would always busy herself with some other task or drown her sorrows away in a pub. The only problem was, everywhere they looked there was at least one curly haired blonde sitting alone at a bar. When they tried to call Caroline's name and go up to her, it never was her and ended with more than a few awkward conversations on Matt's part. Tyler on the other hand didn't seem to be 100% focused on finding Caroline, noticing all the girls in the bar that seemed to be checking him out.
"You don't think Caroline will be in that club would she?" Tyler asked not really trying to look inside the club but at the girls waiting in line to enter instead.
"No I don't think so. I don't think she would be in the mood to be dancing" Matt replied. Something is up with Tyler but Matt didn't know what. Ever since they left Mystic Falls, started this competition and started performing in front of thousands of people in different cities Tyler had been acting a little different. It was surprising that Matt had caught on before Caroline, and she notices everything. "Are you okay Tyler?" Matt asked, looking at Tyler quizzically.
"Yeah, I'm fine but I am a little worried about Caroline if that's what you mean" Tyler replied not focusing much on the conversation but on the girls walking around him.
"Well yeah of course everyone's worried about her. But it just seems like I'm more worried about her than you are and I'm not even her boyfriend" Matt stopped walking, waiting for Tyler's answer.
"Well you were once, remember?" Tyler said turning around to face Matt.
"That doesn't mean I have to stop caring about her. She's still my friend, Tyler. You've been acting so strange ever since we left Mystic Falls for this competition. I'm starting to think that what Katherine said back at the hotel room is true because you seem to be paying more attention to other girls than on Caroline that's for sure"
"You're really gonna believe whatever Katherine says? Dude, you know she's known for her backstabbing and lies. She's only ever been honest to Elena and that's only because they're sisters" Tyler snapped. "Have you ever thought that maybe it's you who's changed? You've been my best friend since freshman year but right now you're not acting like one. Just drop it okay? Whatever you're thinking, just drop it"
"Okay" Matt put his hands up showing he wasn't going to say anymore on the matter. For the rest of the night the two walked in silence hoping they could find the missing blonde soon so this night could finally end.
"Well this is boring" Damon spoke aloud from where he lay on the bed. When Katherine didn't answer Damon sat up on the bed to look at her. Katherine was leaning on the vanity applying makeup and redoing her hair.
"You are totally gonna go to the hotel bar aren't you?" Damon asked laying back down on the bed.
"Damon, you think so low of me. Do you really think I would disobey my sister's orders?"
"Yes" he said bluntly
Katherine sighed "Okay you got me. I am totally gonna go to the hotel bar. But it just so happens that you can see the entrance hall of the hotel from the bar so technically I'm not disobeying orders. I'm just working around them, killing two birds with one stone. Care to join me?"
Damon got up and checked the mini fridge. "Well since this mini fridge is now severely lacking bourbon, yes I will join you. I don't like ignoring Elena's orders but this hotel room isn't going to be much fun for the rest of the night"
"Perfect" Katherine smiled. Then, they too left Bonnie and Caroline's hotel room.
A/N: This was a pain to write. I have a habit of putting in too much dialogue and not enough descriptive language. I hope you guys still enjoyed it though! What started as my shortest chapter has now become the longest so far. Let me know what you think!