I originally promised writing this while drunk but whatever. Having been drunk in the past was definitely an inspiration. ;) Enjoy, this is one of my favorites.
„Drunk… as a skunk," she mumbled, frowning at her empty glass.
She hadn't gotten that drunk since before she became a vampire. She had basically downed half of the bar tonight (after compelling the bar tender to serve her) so it made sense. Wait – what?
Yeah, right. College sucked. Balls. It sucked balls.
She giggled and the bartender shot her a worried look.
"No, I'm alright. I'm alright," she said, awkwardly holding up her hand. "I'm one fuzzy ball of happiness." His frown deepened.
Then she leaned in and caught his eyes in compulsion. "I'm okay. You will serve me another glass of your scotch. I look perfectly fine to you. Like one fuzzy ball of happiness."
Then she released him, grinning brightly and he proceeded to fix her another drink.
As soon as he placed it in front of her, however, a hand reached out and took it from her.
Ready to protest she turned her head, maybe a little more furious than appropriate.
"Fuck," she said, her face falling.
Standing behind her was Klaus. Klaus with a very amused expression on his face.
"Excuse me?" he asked, his grin widening. Then he sat down on the stool beside her. "I think you've had enough for now."
Her face was still screwed in a mixture of disbelief and horror. She realized it and quickly tried to turn it into a somewhat neutral expression. She failed. And he chuckled.
"Thisss," she finally said, raising her eyebrows. "is a very, very bad idea."
His smirk grew unbelievably wider.
Suddenly, the bartender interrupted.
"Excuse me, but you can't just steal her drink. She is perfectly okay. One fuzzy ball of happiness." Then he frowned, seemingly irritated by his own words.
Klaus face that had first turned hard at the interruption now broke out in laughter. He turned his head towards her, barely able to contain himself. "Oh love, you're priceless."
Then he turned his head back to the bartender, compelling him. "You will not serve her any alcohol anymore. Until I speak to you directly we don't exist for you."
The man nodded, then, released, frowned again and turned back to other customers at the other side of the bar.
She frowned, trying to process the information.
"What's wrong with fuzzy balls of happiness? I like that… I really like that."
He raised his eyebrows, grinning again.
"Now, love, would you mind telling me what made you put yourself into that state?"
Adorable… dimples… No!
"You should go!" she blurted out.
He cocked his head to the side. "Why?"
"Because you're a jerk," she said, trying to put conviction behind her words. "And I don't like jerks."
He didn't seem to feel insulted, just amused. "I beg you to specify."
"You're a psychopath!" she hollered. "Sociopath," he corrected, grinning.
"I don't care! You kill people!"
He looked around, seeing if anyone had heard her.
Trying to contain his amusement he leaned in closer. "Would you mind tuning down the volume a bit, love? I would very much prefer spending this evening without unnecessary bloodshed."
She could feel his breath on her face and she could smell him. She felt the sudden urge to just lean in and cuddle herself into these arms. No! Fucking, no no no no! What was he even doing here?
"Are you stalking me or what?" she asked, leaning back as far as she could, feeling slightly dizzy from the motion. "Whoops."
He raised his eyebrows. "How about we switch to a location requiring a lower amount of motoric skills." He pointed to a sitting boot off in a less crowded part of the room.
She frowned, staring at the point for a moment. Maybe, yes, but then again he shouldn't even be here. She shouldn't even be talking to him right now.
He was already standing, the drink in his hand, waiting for her with that stupid adorable amused expression.
She decided to just get off her seat and she succeeded. Triumphantly she took a few steps, of course stumbling over her heels at once. He caught her with his free hand, chuckling and proceeded guiding her to the boot. She flushed at the contact, trying to catch herself once again and then turned towards him angrily. "Don't do that!"
"Do what?" he asked, guiding her onto the sofa, sitting down beside her. Ugh. As if there weren't any other seats available. She shifted away a little, into the corner of the boot. He responded by shifting away from her a little, too. UGH. WHY. Why did he have to be so fucking considerate. That made it even worse.
"So are you stalking me?" she asked, placing her elbows on the table, glowering at him.
He shook his head. "No," he said. "Yes, I am here to visit you. There's a piece of information I'd like to share with you."
She frowned. "What information?"
He chuckled. "Not now, tomorrow. I am in this bar because it is the only place this petty excuse of a college town to get a drink." He took a sip of the scotch, scrunching his nose. "And not even a good one, apparently."
She frowned. Okay. This was probably a lie. Whatever.
"So, love, pray tell, why did you get yourself so drunk that you can barely hold yourself on your feet."
She glowered at him. "Thank you very much, asshole."
He chuckled.
"And what kind of insults do I have to throw at you to make you go away!"
He smiled. "Well, as of now I think your efforts have the contrary effect. You're adorable when pouting, sweetheart."
She blushed and then tried to get rid of it by getting angry again. "Seriously?"
He nodded, taking another sip of his drink, but never his eyes off her.
He was wearing a leather jacket and a Henley underneath it, that, as always – fucking bullshit, accentuated his sculptured chest. That she had seen naked. And sweaty.
"Ugh!" she blurted. Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He chuckled again, raising his eyebrows in a suggestive manner and she knew he had caught her.
"College is boring," she said, fixing her eyes on her hands, trying to switch the subject.
"Is that so?" he asked, his voice more serious now.
"The people are boring, classes are boring, everything is boring. I don't even wanna be here," she said, frustrated for a whole other reason now. Then she turned her head towards him. "But you can't take me seriously, I'm fucking drunk."
He smirked, although his overall expression was serious. He was leaning forward on his elbows, too, now. "I noticed."
She sighed.
"You can always go anywhere else you want, love. I could take you."
UGH. These words again.
"No!" she snorted and he sighed, defeated.
"Your choice."
She stared down at her hands, intensely now.
"I'm thirsty," she finally said.
"I could get you a glass of water," he said but she shook her head.
"No," she said. "I am thirsty."
He halted, cocking his head to the side to catch her eyes. He looked worried, yet intrigued.
"Are you sure?" he asked, his voice serious.
She frowned at him, thinking for a moment. Blood, delicious, warm, blood.
Before she could control it she could feel her vampire face emerge. Shocked, her mouth fell open for a moment and then she quickly shut it down again.
She immediately noticed the change in his stance.
His gaze was now feral, excited in a way that made her rather uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. Actually, rather very hot. Stop it!
She gritted her teeth and looked away.
He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.
"Well, I suppose there is a way I could arrange that."
She listened, concentrating her gaze on a random place in the room.
"Since I don't think you'd appreciate me choosing someone to make a donation I can always offer you mine."
She turned her head towards him in one a little to swift movement, shocked.
"What?" she asked.
He smirked at her, raising his eyebrows, both mirth and familiarity in his gaze.
"I can offer you my blood."
Oh. God. Okay. Somewhere in the back of her mind a voice, very distinctively screamed: NO! – but a rather big part of her was beyond happy to take his offer.
The truth was that his blood was probably the best thing she'd ever tasted. In her whole life.
And tonight she'd come here with a need for something, anything to take her mind off her college-induced frustration.
This sounded very tempting.
But, no, no no no no. She blushed instantly, turning away from him, when she remembered. Being pulled flush against him, in his arms, his hand affectionately caressing her hair. No, no, no. This was the least smart idea ever.
He took his glass and downed all of its content in one big slug.
Then he turned towards her, out of sight of the other people in the room.
She looked at him, frowning. The proximity was unnerving her.
Suddenly, his face turned into hybrid-mode and he bit his wrist.
Her eyes widened. Oh.
Fascinated, she watched him. Why did she like watching this? Why did it – intrigue her like it did?
She couldn't take her eyes off him as he languidly guided his arm over the glass, filling it with the liquid without spilling any of it. Then he offered it to her, his eyes glinting at her while he licked the excess blood off his wrist.
Oh. Fucking god.
"There you go, sweetheart."
She gulped and took it.
She turned away from him, towards the table and then, without hesitating another second, took a huge gulp of it.
Oh.
This was probably the worst idea ever.
She felt his gaze on her and she decided to just get it over with, downing the rest.
The ecstasy.
Then she set down the glass on the table, sighing, closing her eyes.
He didn't make a sound.
She gulped again. "Thanks… I guess," she remarked awkwardly.
"Always," he said, his voice crawling under her skin.
She wanted a lot of things right now, most of which she was not supposed to want. So she pushed them down, her facial expression stressed and tense.
"How about I take you home now?" he asked and she quickly turned her head towards him.
Wait, what? Yes, NO! What the fuck?
He chuckled, throwing his head back. "Back to your dorm. I will take you back to your dorm and then spend the night in the hotel room I rented."
Her face was probably deep red in embarrassment. She looked away, glowering. "Yeah, what did you think? Jerk."
He chuckled, getting up and walked up to the bartender, paying probably a little too much. Was that a hundred dollar bill? Fucking showoff.
She got up herself, feeling herself sobering up a little. The perks of being a vampire.
He smiled when he walked back up to her and she turned towards the door. This time she was in no need of help in the motoric skill department.
When they were outside he spoke up. "Shall we take the car or is your dorm in walking distance?"
She shook her head. "Walking. And you really don't need to accompany me, I'm a vampire, god damnit."
"A very drunken one, though." He remarked, his arm brushing hers as if in accident but she knew better. He never did things in accident. Oh god, she needed to get away from this situation. It made her want things she didn't want to want. No, no, don't go there.
They walked in silence, and she was glad about it.
"Caroline, there is something I need to ask you." Fuck.
She nodded, keeping her head straight on the ground before her.
"We are friends, are we?" he asked.
She turned to look at him, frowning. He looked back at her, his gaze serious.
"What – yes? I guess so, I don't know? There's the Tyler-thingy, you know."
He sighed exasperatedly, turning away.
"Also. You tried to kill me," she added, looking away herself. They were in front of the dorm now.
His eyes widened. He halted, his hand on her arm. She looked at him, turning serious herself. She was still dizzy and most definitely drunk. Was this a dangerous situation? Why had she said that? It didn't even bother her anymore. Or did it?
He licked his lips, there were a myriad of emotions crossing his face.
Finally he sighed. "I realize… I never apologized for that. It was… a mistake. Can you forgive me, Caroline?"
She stared but at him, kind of overwhelmed. Then she felt the calmness return to her senses, the one that usually came over her when she was faced with this kind of situation.
"Maybe," she said.
He sighed and nodded, his gaze fixed on a vacant point and then back to her.
"We're here," he said.
She nodded, looking up at the dorm. "Yeah."
His stance relaxed a little and a small grin lit his face. "So – how do friends say goodbye, Caroline?" She looked at him, questioningly. "Do we shake hands? Do we-" hug.
Ugh.
"Uhm," she mumbled, but before she could take control of the situation he had already pulled her into an embrace. Not a tight one, it was purely friendly put it had her blushing nonetheless. Oh.
It felt good. Very good. Too good.
"Thank you Caroline, I had a very… entertaining evening. I will see you tomorrow," he whispered in her ear. She shivered, her eyes falling shut for a second.
Okay, now this was definitely boundary-breaking.
But before she could even complain he'd released her and vanished into thin air.