Jeremy's worried about how their plan is going to affect everyone. Everyone in town it feels like, as Kol listens to Jeremy list them off, while they drive to pick up Nick's body. Kol can count on one hand the number of people he actually gives a fuck about. Elijah, Nick, Rebekah, Jeremy. That's it. Jeremy? That little worm. How the hell did he manage to squirm onto the list? Ah, who's Kol kidding? Certainly not his overwhelmingly persistent light passenger. Kol really does care about Jeremy. Oh. With that admission it's like a haze clears and Kol can see Jeremy clearly for the first time. Thank God he's driving or who knows what he would do. Looking over at Jeremy, Kol can't help but notice Jeremy is hot. The lines and angles of his face are perfectly proportioned, his nose, his jaw, his chin. And those big brown eyes and a smile to die for. How has Kol never noticed this before?
"What?" Jeremy asks, a hint of a smile playing at his delicious mouth. Delicious? Did he really just think that? Great. Now it's going to be that much harder for Kol fight this unnatural attraction.
xxx
"Do you ever feel like your life's something out of a bad movie?" Jeremy asks Kol after they've been silent for a while.
Movie? "I don't know, I've never seen one."
Jeremy looks at him incredulously. "You've never seen a movie, how is that even possible?"
"I've been asleep for the last hundred years, remember?"
"Oh right, of course," Jeremy says, sinking back into his seat. It doesn't take Jeremy long to bounce back, that's one of the things Kol lov- ahem, likes about him. "Then we'll have to go see one when we get back."
"I'd like that," Kol says, fighting hard not to let that 'sappy smile' he can feel pulling at the corners of his mouth form.
xxx
They load the coffin into the truck and it occurs to Kol that Nick killed Jeremy's Aunt Jenna. Suddenly the notion that Jeremy is here helping to retrieve Nick's body is very strange. Unfortunately Kol has developed an annoying habit of wanting to understand Jeremy, to know what Jeremy's feeling, so he points this fact out. And because he's so tactful Kol follows it up with the question, why? Jeremy frowns, and when he answers Kol he uses a tone that says he thinks this is the most obvious thing in the world; "because you asked me to."
xxx
On the drive back Kol is thinking about all the fucked up shit that Jeremy has had to witness since the Salvatore scum came back to Mystic Falls. Even what Kol has dragged Jeremy along to do today Jeremy shouldn't have had to witness. How many 16 year olds spend their weekend fetching the dead body of their friend's brother? The dead body of their vampire friend's hybrid brother? None, that's how many. What Jeremy needs is some normal.
"I think you should try out for the school baseball team."
"What? No. I'm nowhere near good enough."
"I disagree."
"Na, I couldn't."
"Yes you can. What if I promise to come to every game?"
"Really? You'd do that?"
"Of course. So you'll do it?"
Jeremy considers for a moment and then says with a shrug, "sure, I'll give it a go."
"Great. I promise when you make the team I'll be there to watch every home run." That earns him a smile from Jeremy.
Kol's got a good feeling about this because there's a small fact that Jeremy is unaware of, one that Kol knows will give Jeremy the edge to become the star of the team.
