AN: I am once again soooo sorry for the late update :( This time I really did think about giving this fic up but all the nice reviews, especially some of my regulars like NikMik ( I LOVE YOU) really inspired me to keep going so thank you so much. Also, awesome news, Hollywood Heartbreak has officially gotten over 200 reviews and over 300 follows, which is un-freaking-believable, so thank you to each and every one of you! I love you guys so much!
Disclaimer: I don't own TVD
Caroline's POV
She was standing in the spot where they were going to film the park scene, waiting for them to finally start, when she felt him approach. He didn't say anything, and she wasn't looking in his direction, but she knew it was him. Neither of them spoke, both stuck in a verbal stalemate, completely ignoring each other. Finally, her curiosity got the best of her and without turning to look at him, she questioned in a flat tone,
"Who was that guy you were talking to?"
She could see out of the corner of her eye that he turned to look at her, but she stayed facing forward, arms crossed over her chest, serving as a small barrier between her and Klaus, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of her full attention.
"Why do you want to make out with him as well? Two men just isn't enough for Caroline Forbes?," he joked in an amused, yet cold tone, and she could almost hear the cocky smirk in his words.
Her heart clenched at his words; maybe she deserved them, but they still stung. She tried to play it off with an exaggerated scoff though, as she rolled her eyes, still not facing him.
"You caught me Klaus, what can I say, you just left me less than satisfied…"
She saw his expression deflate for a second, fierce pride coursing in her veins at wiping that smug smirk off his face, even if she felt a tad bit guilty at her little white lie, because of course she realized that satisfied didn't even begin to describe how Klaus made her feel. A few seconds passed with neither of them talking, the only sound the hustle and bustle of the camera crew around them, as David yelled out directions. The awkwardness was growing by the second, and she tried to focus on the scene to busy herself from her thoughts of him, but unfortunately since the scene she was about to perform in heavily involved Klaus, it was pretty hard to not think about him.
She told herself everything was going to be okay. They could do this. They were both professionals, and they couldn't let some personal problems, or whatever the hell they had together, interfere with their work. But then again, maybe it would be best to clear the air before they shot? You know, just a little peace offering, you don't shoot me, I won't shoot you, and then nobody gets shot kumbaya shit. Be the bigger person Caroline. Come on, you can do it. Reluctantly, but with a purpose, she turned to him to say…she didn't exactly know what. She noticed the surprised look in his eyes when he saw her move towards him, as he raised his eyebrows in confusion. She opened her mouth, about to finally break the awkward silence in order to make some kind of amends, "Klaus, I-"
"Alright everybody, in 3,2,1, Action!"
X
The scene began with the two of them sitting on a cliché red and white checkered picnic blanket. Klaus was sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him, leaning against a tree trunk, while Caroline lay with her head in his lap, curled up in what was described in the script as "a loving embrace."
She forced herself to attempt to stay in character while she lay there; trying to ignore the feeling of Klaus' warm fingers running sensually through her wavy blonde hair, and the tiny tingles at the back of her neck that erupted at the feel of his hands. She tried to imagine that they were just Lizzy and Eric enjoying a nice day in the park together, and not Caroline and Klaus being in anyway intimate, even if it wasn't real.
This was the point in the script where they had their big romantic moment, and it was a highly anticipated scene in the movie. Fans of the book had been tweeting them, and posting messages all over social media about how furious they would be if the movie got this scene wrong. She tried not to focus on that as she laid there, her head in Klaus' lap, attempting to hide any awkward tension she was feeling from bleeding through onto film, as she awaited his first line.
"Hey," Klaus murmured in her ear, as he continued to stroke her hair.
She continued rubbing small circles with her thumb on Klaus' other hand as she lay there, peacefully,
"Hmm?" she hummed back, her eyelids flitting shut, as a fake breeze caused leaves to drift past them in the scene.
"Do you believe in heaven?"
Caroline looked up at him then her hand reaching up to grasp his own that was still running casually through her hair,
"I don't know…," she answered, mentally preparing herself for the turning point in the scene,
"Why do you ask?"
She watched with true admiration as Klaus masterfully displayed an array of emotion on his face, his blue eyes gazing off into the distance, his tongue darting out to wet his lips before his next line.
"It's just…when I die"-
-"If you die," she cut him off, apprehensively, sitting up so that she was now eye to eye with Klaus/Eric.
"Everybody dies eventually, Liz," Klaus smiled sadly as he looked over at her.
Caroline gazed at him seriously,
"But you're not going to anytime soon," she insisted.
He looked away, as if mentally debating something, and then turned back to face her, nodding reluctantly,
"Okay… when I die... I just…I wonder if we'll ever see each other again you know?" Klaus' voice cracked, and she could see tears in the corners of his eyes.
"Because I don't know how I will be able to go on, here or anywhere else, if I'll never see you again," he continued, the tears now flowing down his face as he looked at her, blue eyes meeting blue eyes.
She brought her hand up to cup his cheek, trying to ignore how clammy she felt, this was it, this was the big moment. She wet her lips, and forced her eyes to look deep into his, trying to muster up the unconditional love that her character was feeling, and not the apprehension and uncertainty towards her co-star that she herself was.
"Hey," she whispered, "whatever happens, we'll always be together."
He scoffed as he tried to pull his head away from her,
"You don't know that..."-
-"I know," she said stronger now, pulling his face back towards hers,
"I gave my heart to you a long time ago…you'll never truly be without me."
They stared at each other for what felt like 20 seconds but in reality were really only about 6, hesitancy in both of their eyes about what came next, despite what their characters current emotions were.
Then finally, she leaned in closely, their faces only an inch apart, their breath mixing warmly together, she breathed,
"I love you."
And then they kissed. Caroline tried to melt into it like she wanted to and like "Lizzy" wanted to, but she couldn't. The minute her lips touched his images flashed in her mind of the previous night, and what it really felt like to be good and kissed by Klaus Mikaelson, and about how she shouldn't know what it felt like in the first place because she had a boyfriend, and never should have kissed him to begin with. He must have been thinking something similar because his lips felt tense against hers, not moving with the fluidity and passion that they had the previous night. The awkward kiss lasted a few seconds longer before finally the two pulled apart, and the awkward kiss came to an awkward end.
"AND CUT!"
Caroline and Klaus broke apart, awkwardly avoiding eye contact as the whole crew stared at them with dubious, confused looks. They all seemed to be wondering the same thing,
"What the hell happened to our two main leads chemistry, and why can't they seem to act at all anymore?"
David walked over to them, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, as he bit his lip.
"Right, guys that was really good…! The only thing is the kiss seemed a little…off."
Caroline looked at David, as he attempted to find a kind way to tell them that that was the worst kiss in all of movie history.
"It's just…you know it needs to be a little less…technical…and a little more…romantic." he finished, eyeing both of them carefully as if to ask if they understood.
They did, and so they both nodded, while also avoiding making any type of eye contact with each other.
"Awesome!," David said excitedly, then why don't we just take it from the top and try it with a little more…passion!
Everyone got back in position as they got ready to begin the scene again. Something told her this was going to be a very long day…
"3, 2, 1... ACTION!"
X
29 takes later and the kiss might have actually gotten worse. She swore, if she had to hear herself say "I love you" one more time she was going to punch someone in the face. And by someone, she meant Klaus. The two had started taking out the unsuccessfulness of the scene out on each other, right around the 5th or so take, so now, after take 30 they were about to rip each other's heads off. They were taking a five minute break, both getting their makeup touched up as they sat in chairs bickering back and forth underneath the shade of an oak tree. A crowd of onlookers had grown at the edge of the park, but they were blocked from viewing the actual scene by barricades put up by the crew to ensure secrecy.
"I mean honestly Klaus; I've kissed dogs with more passion than that!" Caroline sighed exasperatedly, as Cassandra redid her makeup.
"Well you didn't seem to mind my kissing last night, sweetheart!" Klaus bit back, a smug smirk on his face, as he watched all the blood drain from hers.
Caroline sat dead still, her eyes raging with anger as she glowered at Klaus. Cassandra had faltered momentarily at Klaus' words but continued working very quickly as if she hadn't heard a single thing. When she was done, she smiled at Caroline and said
"You're good to go gorgeous," before high tailing it out of the danger zone.
The minute she was gone, Caroline was up out of her chair, dragging Klaus behind her, away from all the prying ears and eyes. She pulled him away from the set, and when they were far enough away so that no one could hear them, pushed him roughly against a tree trunk.
"What the hell was that!" she hissed, gesturing wildly to where they had just been sitting.
Klaus nodded in understanding as he faked a look of hurt,
"I agree! I mean you practically kidnapped me back there, not to mention put a few good wrinkles in my shirt!"
She narrowed her eyes at him, as she took a deep breath through her nose.
"Klaus this is serious! You can't just go saying things like that in front of people!"
"Things like what? The truth?," he countered, grinning down at her with his blue eyes as she flinched at his words. She looked up at him with a look of disgrace, and contempt, before she turned around to head back to the set. However, before she got very far, she whipped around, looked him right in the eye and informed him coolly,
"For the record, I didn't enjoy your kissing nearly as much as you think."
With that she turned back around and walked back over to the place where they would again shoot this god awful scene, her back to him so that she missed the dejected expression on his face at her jibe.
However, he quickly recovered his cocky trademark smirk and yelled after her,
"That sounds like a challenge to me!"
X
TAKE 31
Klaus' POV
The entirety of the scene Klaus kept hearing her words play over and over again in his head.
"I didn't enjoy your kissing…"
Surely she was lying! I mean he had been there after all and she seemed to enjoy a lot more than just his kissing. God why did she get to him the way she did? Most of the time he found himself annoyed by her rather than anything else it's just…sometimes when she looked at him…the way she was right now in this scene, he felt something he's never felt before in his entire life, and it scared him, because he wondered if she felt it to…He wondered if her heart skipped a beat whenever she heard him laugh, or if just the mere mention of his name in a conversation was enough to turn his stomach into knots. God he sounded like a girl but he thought that it was quite possible that he might…
"I love you." she said staring up at him with those big beautiful blue eyes, and suddenly he didn't know where he was or what he was doing when he said,
"I love you too,"
He saw a faint look of confusion in her eyes before he was kissing her. And it was amazing. He let go of all the uncertainty he felt in the 30 other god awful takes they had done before and instead he imagined they were all alone, on the top of a Ferris wheel somewhere, just the two of them. At first he could feel her hesitation, but then all at once it was like she gave in, and then there lips were moving as one. He didn't know if it was possible to bottle electricity, but that's definitely what it felt like to him. He wound his hand in her hair, and massaged her scalp with his fingertips, as he found himself getting completely lost in her lips. Her hands found their way around his neck, and he smiled into her lips as he felt them tugging at his curls. Somewhere in the distance he dimly heard David call "cut" but it didn't process in his mind, his entire focus at the moment was on the blonde goddess in front of him.
Apparently she didn't register David's words either though, for she kept kissing him too. His tongue teased her lips and soon was caressing hers, the feeling sending shocks through his entire body, making him feel warm with desire. Then, again, as if in the distance he heard someone yell "cut," and this time Caroline did seem to hear it. She started to pull back, retracting her hands from behind his neck, and attempting to pull her lips off of his but he wasn't done, he wasn't ready for this to end, and so he pulled her back against his lips, wanting to relish in the moment for just a little longer. He tried to move his lips against hers with the passion that had just been there a minute ago but she wasn't responding, and then all of a sudden he felt two hard hands against his chest, as she pushed him away, their lips finally breaking contact.
Klaus had no idea how long they had been kissing but it felt like forever. He didn't look away from Caroline, but he couple feel all the sets of eyes gawking at the two of them at that moment. The entire crew was silent, as the two of them sat there, chests heaving, trying to catch their breath.
"What the hell was that?" she huffed, again pushing him away from her as she glared at him accusingly.
Everyone watched silently as the two actors sat there in silence, eyes locked in a silent conversation, waiting for Klaus' reply.
"I told you you'd enjoy my kissing," he joked halfheartedly, taking in the outrage in her eyes.
Eventually David walked up to the two of them braking whatever weird tension had begun to spread.
"Well, that kiss was definitely something," he said awkwardly with a smile, "I think we've about got what we need, why don't the two of you call it a day."
Klaus nodded, and murmured thanks while Caroline stood silently fuming in Klaus' direction. As the crew started to wrap up and pack up all the equipment, Caroline started walking over to the groups of people waiting by the edge of the park.
"Where are you going?" he called after her curiously
She turned around, her eyes still dancing with anger, as she bit out,
"I'm going to say hi to the fans, they've been waiting here for hours… it's the least I can do."
He stood there and watched her walk away from him, a site he was getting all too familiar with, as he shook his head in wonder. God, even when she was absolutely furious she still managed to do something nice, albeit not towards him, but still.
Klaus watched as she walked over to the large group of people, most of them young girls (probably fans of the book). She was no longer scowling, instead present on her face was one of her many smiles that he had come to know and memorize. This one he called her "press smile," it was the one she put on in front of the cameras. It fooled almost everyone, but not him. His favorite smile of hers was the smile she used when something made her laugh. It started as just the corners of her mouth turning up in to a small, no tooth grin, but if something was really funny it eventually took over her whole face, radiating life and making it impossible to not laugh along.
He followed her over to where the fans were standing behind the make shift fence. Some of the girls started squealing when he approached, and he couldn't help but earnestly grin at their enthusiasm.
"Well hello there ladies," he greeted them all, flashing his dimples, and shooting the group a quick wink that had them blushing.
Caroline didn't turn around when he approached, but he saw her roll her eyes as she continued signing autographs and taking pictures with all the fans. Klaus started posing in peoples pictures as well; signing anything they asked him too. There were a lot of books, pieces of paper, and even a shirtless poster or two, but he signed them all the same. Niklaus Mikaelson. He tried to stay focused on the fans that he was interacting with, but his eyes were of a different attitude, and they couldn't help but follow Caroline as she spoke and joked with the fans. When they were both about done signing everything and ready to leave, one fan who was standing in the front row with a video camera shouted,
"Did you guys film the park scene today?"
Klaus saw Caroline tense out of the corner of his eye, and so he jumped in
"We did indeed love, but sorry no spoilers, you're just going to have to wait for the movie."
He grinned teasingly, causing all the girls to giggle, and giving Caroline enough time to recover her composure, and paste that "press smile" back on.
"Alright, well thank you guys so much for coming! It means the world to us, but we really have to get going!" Caroline apologized, as she started backing away, Klaus following her lead.
"Wait!"
They both stopped in their retreat and turned back to the source of the shout, a young blonde girl with a video camera in her hand.
"How do you guys like working with each other?," she inquired curiously
Klaus and Caroline met each other's eyes, trying to determine what exactly to say. He had no idea how she would answer the question, or really what her honest answer was, but he knew his.
"I am so glad that Caroline got to be my Lizzy," he said smiling at her, "and I hope she's glad that I got to be her Eric…"
Klaus watched as some of the anger in Caroline's eyes dissipated, as she looked at him. She seemed to be debating what she was going to say back, as the crowd watched on in silence, not really understanding the gravity of the exchange.
"I am," she spoke finally, smiling at him shyly, before turning back to the fans and again bidding farewell, and walking away. Klaus stood rooted in his spot, left wondering if she really meant it, and praying that she did.
X
Caroline's POV
The next couple weeks, Klaus and Caroline reached a silent agreement. They weren't friends, like they tried to be before, but they weren't enemies either. Instead they were…coworkers…and got along amicably when necessary. Of course the rumors about them in the media were still running rampant, but they both did their best to ignore them, however, it proved difficult for her when every day that she walked into work she was reminded of her brief fling with Klaus.
What surprised her the most about the last few weeks however, wasn't how difficult it was for her to forget what happened between them, but instead, the fact that she found herself missing him. They were only actually friends for a couple of weeks before everything went down…but it had been nice. And that day they spent together at the pier had been the most fun she had had in a long, long time. She had felt so…alive. She found herself surprised with who he was when he thought no one was looking. When he held the door open for a stranger, or stayed after his call time to take pictures with fans. It all reminded her of the time he went to take care of his sister; the first time she saw this side of him. All these things made her want to get to know that side a little better…but whenever her thoughts started to head in that direction, she reminded herself that it was those thoughts that had made her a cheater, and the guilt that came with that realization almost overwhelmed her, so instead of getting to know him better up close, she regaled herself to observing him from afar, which is exactly what she was doing on set when Katherine popped up out of nowhere.
"Hey, there you are I've been looking for you everywhere!," her friend said dramatically, as she stood in front of Caroline.
"Hey," she replied half-heartedly, not entirely paying attention, eyes still trained on the man that haunted her every waking thought, as he chatted with David across the set.
"Listen, as you know Stefan's birthday is coming up this weekend, and I was thinking that since it's the first birthday in a while that we have all been in the same city, it would be nice to throw him a big surprise party!"
"Mhhhmm," Caroline relied, as she watched Klaus' dimpled face break out into laugher at something David had just said, his blue eyes lighting up with mirth. She couldn't help but smile herself at the adorable look of amusement on his face, wondering what it was that made him laugh so hard…
"CAROLINE! Are you even listening?!"
She tore her eyes away from Klaus to look back at her best friend, who was currently staring at her with a look of annoyance.
Shaking her head to clear her head of thoughts of him she tried to remember just exactly what Katherine had been saying…
"Yes of course! Something about Stefan right..?" she said, vaguely remembering Stefan being mentioned.
"Seriously how long is this going to go on?" the brunette questioned, raising her eyebrows at Caroline, as she stood arms crossed defiantly in front of her.
"How long is what going to go on?," she tried to play dumb.
Katherine however, was having none of that,
"Oh come on seriously? You've been mooning over Klaus for weeks now! Not only is it getting just plain sad, and totally cliché, but need I remind you that you have a boyfriend!"
Caroline narrowed her eyes at her friend as she feigned confusion,
"I don't know what you're talking about I am not, mooning over Klaus", she said in a hushed tone, looking around to make sure that no one could hear her. Not that it really mattered though, the whole movie set was pretty well informed about the…unusual...type of relationship that she and Klaus had.
Now it was Katherine's turn to narrow her eyes, as she arched an eyebrow,
"Oh, so you haven't been staring at him for the last 10 minutes admiring his super sexy smile?" Katherine mocked,
"Look I'm not trying to tell you what you should do here, I'm just saying to do something, or everyone will be unhappy!"
At this point, Caroline truly was confused, and she stared at her friends trying to figure out what she meant.
"I have literally no idea what you are trying to say.."
"Oh my god," she huffed,
"What I am saying is if you want to be with Klaus than be with Klaus, but if you don't want to be with Klaus, then don't be with Klaus, get over him and get focused on the relationship that you are actually currently a part of."
Caroline stayed silent for a while, trying to digest everything that Katherine had said, because for once her friend actually seemed to be making sense. The only problem was-
"What if I don't know who I want to be with…," she admitted out loud, unable to meet her friend's eyes as she looked down at the floor. Finally, she looked up, and instead of seeing a judgmental, or pitying look on Katherine's face like she expected, she saw one of understanding, and maybe even clarity.
"Caroline," she said softly, "if you don't know if you want to be with the man who you have spent the last 6 years with…then I'd say it's pretty clear who your choice is."
Her pulse quickened at her friends' words. She had just voiced what Caroline had known for a long time but was never quite ready to admit. She maybe even still wasn't ready to admit it, but she knew she had to do something.
"I have to talk to Tyler."
X
The rest of the day, and the entire ride home she was extremely nervous. She had no idea what she was going to say, or even any inclination of how Tyler was going to take it. The past few weeks hadn't been great between them, although she wondered if he even noticed anything off at all. She was so consumed with guilt, and she had taken most of it out on Klaus when it was her own fault for what happened between them. However, due to all the guilt she felt over what happened with her and Klaus, she had been avoiding Tyler almost completely. Something that surprised her even more than the fact that she missed Klaus, someone she had only known for a couple of months after only a couple of weeks without talking, was that she didn't miss Tyler at all; Tyler, someone she had known and loved for 6 years, her boyfriend, and she used to think one day her husband, the man she lived with, she didn't miss him at all. That scared her for a long time, but now it just made her feel sad. And as she pulled up to their apartment building she knew that she was making the right decision. Regardless of whatever has happened between Klaus and her, or whatever might happen in the future, Tyler isn't the one for her, and he never really has been.
She took a deep breath as she turned the key in the lock, and stepped over the threshold into her apartment. She smelt pizza, and figured Tyler must have ordered in again. She could just picture him sitting on the couch with a slice watching TV, like she had seen him do so many times over the last six years. Sure enough, as she rounded the corner, she saw him sitting on the couch, just as she had pictured. He didn't turn around when he heard her come in, but he did yell out to her, eyes never leaving the TV,
"Hey babe I ordered Hawaiian, your favorite!"
She swallowed dryly, as she made her way to the living room, dropping her purse on the counter. Hawaiian wasn't her favorite. In fact she had never enjoyed Hawaiian, or even understood the appeal of having so many strange toppings on a pizza, but Tyler didn't know that. Hawaiian was his favorite, and so it was hers too.
She sat down next to him on the couch, and turned to look at him,
"Hey Ty, we need to talk...,"
He didn't turn to look at her, his eyes still glued to the flat screen in front of him,
"Just a minute babe, they're about to show my segment on Letterman."
"Tyler, this is serious," she said lowly, trying to not let herself get annoyed.
"Alright, well it can wait 5 minutes babe, chill out," he mumbled, through a bite of his pizza.
She took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to say. There was only one way she was going to get his attention and that was to just come out with it.
"Tyler, I think we should break up."
AN: Okay...so to be honest that chapter was definitely not one of my favorites but at least it's something and the story is moving along! So Caroline finally is breaking up with Tyler...How will he take it? What does this mean for her and Klaus? We will see my prettys, we will see... *evil laughter* Haha Okay leave me a review letting me know what you think! :)
ANN: Oh and also, I'm developing a new multi-chapter fic idea...It's called "The Right Kind of Wrong," and it is going to be amazinggg (modest I know) lol I'm not quite sure when it'll be out just yet but be on the lookout!
-Mandy