Perfectly Imperfect

Chapter 4: The Price of Entertainment

"Are you going to be okay over there?" Elaine, a longtime friend and teacher to Belle, asked in a concerned voice. "I can have someone down there by this afternoon."

"Ellie you worry too much. I'll be fine. No one's tried to take a bite out of me yet, well, Damon Salvatore might but it won't be that kind of bite." Belle groused with an unhappy face as she switched the side of her face her phone was on.

"I know." Belle could imagine Elaine rolling her eyes. "It's bad enough that they're a leech, they have to be a letch too."

Belle laughed. "You've been saving that one, haven't you?"

"Oh yeah." Elaine agreed. "Do you want me to come down there to kick his ass? 'Cause I would be more than happy to."

"No you'll blow my cover. I'm the ignorant human that can't be compelled." Belle smiled. "A human that is completely bored when her cousin is at school."

Elaine snorted. "What do you expect me to do about it? It's bad enough I'm paying you when you aren't doing shit."

Belle twiddled with her hair. "Riiiight… Thanks for that by the way."

"You do know you owe me a huge favor, right?"

Belle groaned. "Can't you be nice to me just this once? It was a family emergency, an even bigger emergency because of the vampire thing." There was silence on the other end of the line. "Fine be that way."

"I will. Now if that is everything I have customers, because some of us are covering for our lazy ass friend." Elaine said pointedly.

Belle rolled her eyes, wanting to call her a bitch but fearing the consequences. Elaine had a thing about respect. "Okay, thanks again, see ya."

The dial tone answered back. Elaine also had a thing about goodbyes, she didn't do them… at all.

Belle leaned back in the kitchen chair staring at the ceiling in boredom. Now what?

She wished she got that hot British guy's number instead of just giving her number. He would have been fun to pass time with, that is if he was available and not working. Like she should be…

Maybe she should get a job waitressing, just to pass the time while Caroline's in school and Aunt Liz is at work. She's been a waitress before, not the most glamorous job but it was okay. Mostly because of the tips… She flirted with the customers a lot.

Her phone vibrated and she answered it without looking, not caring if it was a telemarketer or not. She was bored. Aunt Liz had nothing fun to do in the house and day time TV sucked balls. "Hello?"

"Hello love, are you free?" Said the answer to her prayers. Score! Hot British guy, speak of the devil and he will come.

"Mmm… I'm kind of in the middle of something... That is unless you make it worth my while, then I'm completely free." Belle said, disinterestedly. Her mom taught her to make every guy work for it. Wonderful woman that drove men absolutely bat shit crazy until she settled down with her luck as fuck father. She was quoting almost verbatim from various people she met growing up.

"Love, if there is any man who can make it worth your while it is me." His smooth tone voice made chills shoot down her spine. Dirty images surrounding that voice filled her mind.

"You sound awfully cocky." She teased with a slight smile.

"Cocky means I can't deliver, and I most definitely can." He answered back.

"I'll be at the Mystic Grill in an hour." She smiled and purred her next sentence. "Don't disappoint me Sweetie." She hung up with a large grin on her face. Oh yeah she was a tease.

Now only an hour to get ready, what to wear. Man she should have gotten whether to dress casually or not from him instead of hanging up. It would be nice to know not to wear heels if they were going on a hike. But it was the most perfect spot to hang up abruptly.

Belle hummed absentmindedly as she drifted into her room, thinking of the clothes she brought with her.

Her phone vibrated again, this time a text.

Dress in your best clothes

Her eyebrow rose. Okay formal it was. She smiled a bit, time to bring out the little black dress.

How fun.

Klaus set his phone down, a smile playing on his lip. His little vixen was too surprising for words. 'Don't disappoint me Sweetie.' She was good and the way she purred into the phone. Well, any thoughts of prey were traded for thoughts of, let's call it romance.

She really was entertaining. He'd have to keep her around for a while and if she kept this up he might even consider turning her. It is so hard to find good entertainment now and days.

Well now his plans for a casual lunch were out the window and he only had an hour before he picked her up. Planning an extravagant afternoon wasn't the problem, but setting everything up in an hour was. Even for him, so much compelling to do.

…Well, it's a good thing he had a small army of sired hybrids to do his bidding. As soon as his mother was freed from her coffin and Stephan lost his leverage, he had his hybrids come back into town. Although not to the house, his family would probably kill all of them, but they were in town. Just in case he needed them for something, like compelling the people at the Golden Lion, hands down the best and most expensive restaurant in town, to give them the best service available.

Klaus picked up his phone to call one of his hybrids. They could have everything set up by the time he picked up Arabelle.

"Hello Arabelle." The way he said her name with that sexy accent of his sent chills down her spine, not that she would let him know that. "You look ravishing." She sure hoped so, she spent a lot of money on this dress so she could look 'ravishing'.

It was a sleeveless empire style dress that was cut short and only reached mid-thigh, with a rhinestone belt just under her bust. It flowed perfectly when she walked. It really was a nice, simple, expensive dress. Well worth the money spent, especially since it more than made up for its cost in free drinks. Guys could really be desperate…

She had put her long dirty blonde hair up into a bun, letting some of her hair frame her face. She had fixed her makeup from casual to going out. Add a nice necklace, a clutch, and some sandal heels and you completed her look.

It took a lot of practice to get all this done in under an hour and from the look of his appreciative stare she really outdone herself. With practice comes perfection.

She gave him a glance over, God he looked good. He was in a nice expensive suit, the type of suit you didn't have just lying around, this one was tailored to fit him perfectly. He looked good enough to eat. Mmmm… Don't mind if I do. "Thank you. You don't look too shabby yourself." She gave him another once over, making sure to take her time. When she reached his eyes again she smiled. "So where we going?"

He was smiling, looking highly entertained. "That, love, is a surprise." He opened the door to a really nice car. "Ready to go Arabelle?"

Dang, he is on his game. Most guys she knew would be a mess by now. Between being challenged to make the evening 'worth my time' in under an hour to the lingering once over she gave him, they would be an absolute chaotic mess. Man he is smooth, obviously not his first rodeo. "Why thank you." She entered the car and sat down, gracefully, like a fucking lady. The car door closed.

This evening was going to be fun~. She tried not to grin like the Cheshire cat and only keep it to a dainty smile.

Okay… So the guy is loaded.

She really didn't see that coming, although the nice suit and car were fair warning signs. But in a town like Mystic Falls, there were very few filthy rich people, and they did not slump it in a bar like the Mystic Grill picking up strange chicks they never met before.

She glanced over at him quickly before darting her eyes back up onto the stage where they were getting a private performance by Mystic Fall's best performers. While being served on hand and foot by some very muscular smartly dress guys. Her wine glass was never empty, the wine was never cheap, and the tray of little tasty bite sized snacks was never bare.

Okay this was a bit much. Sure she liked being spoiled as much as any other girl, but she didn't like getting the special treatment if she didn't earn it. She wasn't that much of a bitch. If this kept up she would feel obligated to put out. 'Cause, damn it, if a guy goes to this much trouble he deserves a reward. She didn't care if he went to these lengths because of his very obvious competitive nature. Guy still deserved something for all the money he put out to do this and in such short notice; because she was positive this wasn't part of the original plan.

The performance ended and they both clapped, the sound strange when it was just the two of them in that big theater. "So, love, what did you think?" He asked, sounding way too smug. Okay he had a reason to be proud, but he didn't have to be smug about it.

She wanted to knock him down a peg, cause if there was one thing that annoyed the hell out of her it was arrogant men. But she was the type of girl who gave credit where credit was due, learned that one from her dad. "I am honestly impressed. I can't believe you pulled this together in an hour."

"Oh I'm not finished yet. We have yet to go to lunch." He offered his arm to her, like a gentleman in one of those old black and white movies Ellie was so fond of. She slid her arm around his and let him guide her to the exit.

"You have more planned?" She asked a bit shocked, how much could a guy pull together in an hour. "Really Klaus, if it's as extravagant as this then I'm going to feel like I have to put out just to make it up to you." Because her dad raised her better than that, to be better than that… but he also didn't raise a tramp. "And I can't do that… But I also can't let you do this without repaying you for this in some way."

He looked at her for a moment, an expression on his face that she couldn't quite read. His lips curved up into a smile. "You have got to be the first woman to ever tell me something even remotely similar to that, and trust me love, that is a very impressive thing."

"Uh… Thanks?" That was a compliment right?

He stopped them in front of the car. "You never cease to surprise me." They looked into each other's eyes. "I will forget about lunch and drop you back off at the Mystic Grill, on one condition… You meet me tomorrow and this time you plan our activities."

She smiled, that was one thing she could do. "Okay you got yourself a deal."

They shook on it.

End Chapter 4: The Price of Entertainment

This chapter was so hard to write. I hope it came out okay. I kept on stopping and coming back to it. I hope it doesn't seem too choppy. The next chapter is probably going to be hard to. I'm no good on dates, and it seems I'm not good at them in the world of fanfiction too. Eh, oh well. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed and if you want to see the pics of Belle's dress and her hair style the link is right here.

Hair style: www. glamour beauty / blogs / girls-in-the-beauty-department / 0210-dianna-agron-bun-hairstyle-side _ bd . jpg

Dress: www. dressesinbuy images / view / 201304 / 2013-new-arrival-empire-strapless-ankle-lnegth-bri desmaid-dress-with-pocket-little-black-dresses- dib012900113660955971 . jpg

Take the spaces out of the links. And yes I know the dress is longer than I described, but I'm the authoress and I'll do what I want.

So anyway these past couple of chapters take place right after the episode where Caroline's father dies. The next episode, the ball one, isn't going to come for a couple more chapters. I always thought it strange that Caroline got over her dad's death and went to a ball almost right after he died. So I'm adding some time passing.

Anyway, thank you to all of those who reviewed. You are awesome people for showing your support, even if it's asking for an update, lol. I got a couple long ones that really made my day. So thank you all. So until next time my readers.