3.

They didn't have to wait long to be seated in one of the back booth at the Mystic Grill. The waitress came right over and got their drink orders and Caroline looked around awkwardly since Tyler wasn't trying to make conversation.

"So you're on the soccer team," she started, figuring that he would like to talk about himself.

Tyler smiled a little too long at the waitress as she brought them a coke and a sweet tea. "Yeah, I've played since I was like five so I've been on varsity since freshman year. They are really lucky to have me and I can finally be the captain next year when I'm a senior and Mikaelson leaves."

Caroline went to speak but was interrupted.

"Speaking of him, what is the deal with you and Mikealson? He totally freaked out the other day."

Having just taken a sip of her soda, Caroline chocked and almost spit her drink out all over the table, "What do you mean? There's nothing going on."

Tyler rolled his eyes, "It's cool if you want to keep it on the DL, but he decked me pretty good that day in the weight room." He pointed to the fading bruise on his cheek.

"He hit you?"

"Twice!" Tyler laughed at her stunned face.

Nik had punched Tyler in the face just for getting her phone number. Taking that, along with his backwards way of telling her that he loved her, and Caroline didn't know what she was doing here, on this God awful date with the schools man-whore.

She giggled before she caught herself, all the while Tyler was giving her a disapproving glance, "It's not funny, he could have messed up this perfection." He pointed to his face and gave her a smirk and a wink.

It was her turn to roll her eyes. "He is just protective over me, like Rebekah…" Yes this sounded convincing, "…he only thinks of me as a sister, so don't worry."

Tyler nodded smugly, "As if he could compete with this," and gestured towards his body.

Caroline again laughed as his cockiness. Perhaps some girls ate this kind of thing up, but she knew that it was just an act, an over compensation for something.

The date went on in this fashion, she ordered a salad and he ordered a burger. He offered to shoot pool with her but she made up an excuse about having to be home early to help her mom with something.

Tyler paid the check and drove her home, "I had a great time tonight Caroline." He moved in close to her.

Turing her face at the last moment, Caroline felt his rough lips touch her cheek. "Me too, we should do it again soon."

Reaching for the doorknob, she slipped into her house before he could try anything else. She waved at him though the window in the door and waited for him to turn and walk down to his car so she could let the chill run through her.

"What was I thinking?" She mused to herself.

She took a shower to get the smell of his over powering cologne out of her hair and then sat down on the couch with a pint of cookies and cream and reruns of Friends.

Two weeks later in the car on the way to school, Rebekah leaded over towards her friend, "So what are your plans for Valentine's day?"

Caroline's eyes met Nik's in the rear view mirror, "I think Tyler is taking me out." She answered.

"Ugh, you're not over him yet?"

Caroline sighed, "He not that bad Bekah, plus we went over this, it's my choice who I date." She whispered the last part hoping that the boys in the front seat didn't hear.

"Whatever," Rebekah huffed, flipping her blonde hair out of her face.

Trying to get her mind off of Tyler, Caroline turned back to her friend, "What are you doing for Valentine's day?"

"Same thing I do any other day…"

"Why don't you ask Matt out? He seems nice enough."

Rebekah scoffed, "Matt is hot and all but there isn't a whole lot going on up stairs if you know what I mean."

Matthew Donovan was on the football team and while his blonde hair, blue eyes, all American look was tempting, Rebekah didn't feel any sort of draw towards him. She would rather sit home alone than waste energy pretending to be interested in someone; too bad she couldn't say the same from her friend. Caroline and Tyler had nothing in common and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why she kept going on dates with him.

"He has that sweet innocents to him though…" Caroline tried to press.

"Gosh Caroline, I'm not into him, stop pushing."

Caroline felt embarrassed now, she knew that Rebekah was very guarded, and didn't like to put herself out there to get hurt. She shouldn't be pushing her into a already doomed relationship.

"I'm sorry Bekah. If you want I can cancel with Tyler and stay in with you."

"That sounds like a great idea," Nik said under his breath from the drivers seat.

Kol glanced at his brother in question before turning back to his comic book.

"No, don't worry about me. You go have fun with Tyler." Rebekah smiled softly.

What Caroline was expecting to be a romantic dinner out with Tyler turned out to be a large house party. His parents had gone away for a long weekend so he invited half of the school over to the Lockwood estate. The house was decorated more like a old whore house rather than a romantic environment.

The red candles, turned down chandeliers, and Mrs. Lockwood's red velvet settee grouping just added to the cheesy atmosphere. Caroline had to giggle to herself at the sight of it.

She recognized a few girls from the cheerleading squad, including Elena with her new boy toy from the community college one town away.

"Hey Care, I want you to meet my friend, Damon." Elena came up with a dark haired man with intense eyes.

Caroline smiled and waved a quick hello before Elena pulled the man further into the house towards the Mayor's study where a small bar was set up. Pulling out her phone she sent a text to Rebekah, asking if she was coming to the party. She had been here for ten minutes already and hadn't seen Tyler yet.

She almost screamed when someone came up behind her and grabbed her around the waist.

"Hey babe, when did you get here?" Tyler asked moving from behind her and putting one of his arms around her shoulders.

Cringing at his endearment, Caroline faked a smile back to him and answered, "Just a few minutes ago," she lied.

"Good, come and let me get you a drink."

This wouldn't be the first time she had ever drank alcohol, but when she did it last time it was in the safety of the Mikaelson's basement. Rebekah and her had spiked their milkshakes with some Irish Cream, which just gave them a bad case of the giggles while watching Bring It On.

Deciding to take it easy, she made herself a rum and coke, easy on the rum, and watched as Tyler did two shots of whiskey before pouring a big helping into a glass and topping it off with coke.

So much for a nice quiet night with the guy I'm pretending to like, Caroline thought seeing Tyler fist bump one of the guys from the soccer team. She wondered if maybe Nik was around here somewhere, but he wasn't really one for partying, so most likely not.

Seeing that Tyler was busying himself with talking to some seniors that Caroline didn't know, she made her way towards the living room, which had some music playing over the surround sound. Caroline found a few girls she knew and danced for a few songs, finishing her drink and going to the kitchen to put her glass away.

Again Tyler was nowhere to be found, but Elena and Damon were in the kitchen huddled around a bottle of amber liquor.

"Caroline! You must join us!" Elena drunk slurred at her.

Bored with dancing, not wanting to seem desperate in going to find Tyler, and thinking it was too early to go home she stepped up to the kitchen island with them.

"Damon brought this from his dorm," Elena said, pouring three shots.

Caroline nodded once, "Don't you think you've had enough?"

Elena laughed, "You only live once Caroline, don't be a stick in the mud."

"I am not a stick in the mud, I'm just reasonable and responsible."

"Boring!" Elena yelled at her with a giggle. "When you are older and look back on this time in your life won't you regret not taking more chances?"

Her drunk rambling made Caroline think of what she was really doing here. Avoiding the boy that she loved, and who loved her, to hang around with a guy that pretty much disgusted her.

"You're right Elena, pass one of those over." Caroline held her hand out to take the shot glass and with a slow exhale she brought the glass to her lips and threw back her head.

The liquor burned her mouth and down her throat as she swallowed. It had a bitter taste and she grimaced, slamming the empty shot glass down on the counter top. "Pour me another!"

This went on for another hour before Caroline heard one of her favorite songs come on the stereo and she pulled Elena out onto the make shirt dance floor.

Tyler watched from across the room as a very drunk Caroline grinded on an equally intoxicated Elena Gilbert. He was rather liking the view, but in Caroline's condition she wouldn't last long and his window of opportunity was closing quickly.

He moved through the mass of people and grabbed her around the waist again, turning her to face him.

"Having a good time babe?"

"Absolutely! I've never had this much fun," Caroline yelled over the music.

Tyler smiled, "I'm glad…" he licked his lips and looked down at her, "You are so sexy right now."

Not a moment later he leaned into her and their lips met. The kiss was sloppy and he used too much tongue for Caroline's liking. He gripped her tightly against his chest as he continued to try and eat her face.

Without warning Caroline felt her stomach roll. She didn't know if it was just the alcohol or Tyler's cigarette tinged breath, but if she did not get away soon she would end up throwing up all over him.

With a firm shove she pushed Tyler away from her, throwing a hand over her mouth so he might understand and ran for the half bath on the lower level of the home. Pushing past a few girls that were waiting for the bathroom, Caroline slammed the door behind her, turning the lock and only just made it to the toilet before all of the snack foods and alcohol she had consumed that night violently came up.

She retched three or four times before she could come up for air. She was pale and sweaty, looking into the mirror her vision was blurred as she rinsed out her mouth and splashed some water on her face.

There was a knock on the door, "Care are you alright in there?" Came Elena's voice.

Clicking off the lock, she let the brunette into the bathroom. "I'm not feeling so well, I think I drank too much."

"How did you get here?"

Caroline fished around in her small shoulder bag, pulling out her phone, "I came with Anna, but I think she left already."

Elena thought for a moment, "Do you want me to call your mom?"

"No!" Caroline almost yelled. "She's a cop, you know how much shit I would be in if she had to come get me, plus she would shut the party down."

"So who can I call for you?"

Caroline knew who, but didn't want to go there, so she picked the next best thing, "Rebekah."

Elena scrolled though the numbers until she found the right one and hit the call button, four rings later a tired sounding female voice picked up, "Care it's one o'clock in the morning…"

"Hey Bekah, it's Elena. I'm with Caroline at Tyler's party and she sick, can you come get her?"

Rebekah groaned, she was only fifteen and didn't have a license and her parents would kill her if she drove without one, so she would have to go to one of her brothers. "Tell her to hang tight and I'll be there in as soon as I can."

The phone clicked as the call was ended and Rebekah shifted out of bed. Kol had his license but the car was Nik's, so she went right to him, knocking on his bedroom door.

When there was no reply, she cracked the door open seeing that the room was completely dark, "Nik!" She whispered loudly.

Still nothing, so she entered the room, crossing the wood floor and stood next to his bed, looking down on his sleeping face. She liked him best like this, he looked so peaceful, without a care in the world when she knew that he was stressing about graduation and going off to college soon.

"Nik, get up!" Rebekah used her normal voice and shook the bed with her foot.

In a delayed reaction, Nik shot straight up in bed, "What? Huh…I'm up, I'm up." His eyes focused in the dark seeing his sister standing over him, "God Rebekah what do you want?"

She put her hands on her hips, annoyed by his tone but it was understandable, she had just woken him up. "Caroline is at Tyler's party and got sick. She needs to be picked up."

At the sound of Caroline's name he pushed back his covers and put his feet on the cold ground, "Alright, give me a second to throw on some clothes."

Rebekah looked down at him and noticed that he was just in his boxers, "Yes please do. The last thing we need is her seeing you like that." She said with a disgusted look.

Nik decided to let the comment roll right off of him, too tired to come up with a smart reply, he just stood out of bed as his sister exited his room. Padding over to his dresser he pulled out a pair of lined track pants and an under shirt, it would have to do.

Grabbing a zip up sweater on his way out of the door he was surprised to see the hallway vacant and his sister's door closed. Shrugging his shoulders he headed down the stairs, thankful that he didn't park his car in the garage tonight. Taking his keys off the hook in the mudroom he slipped out the side door and got into his car.

Making sure to not turn on the headlights until he was out of the driveway, he headed for the Lockwood property. The drive took him about fifteen minutes since the two large estates were on opposite sides of town.

Pulling up outside of the smaller, but more historical home, he saw that the party was still in full swing. He parked at the end of the driveway so that he wouldn't have a problem getting back out onto the main road and headed for the front door.

Upon entering the house he had to push his way through drunken couples making out on every available surface. He spotted the dark spiky hair of Tyler from across the room, what he didn't expect was the leggy red head that was wrapped around him.

Crossing the room, Nik tapped Tyler on the shoulder.

"Hey Mikaelson! Join the party!"

The red head looked miffed for being disturbed from her make out session with the infamous Tyler Lockwood.

"I'm just here to pick up Caroline," he narrowed his eyes at the younger boy, "I'm surprised you are not with her since you guys are dating and everything."

"Yeah well I think I last saw her in the sunroom with Elena." Tyler completely ignored Nik's comment about him and Caroline being an item, he didn't want to ruin his chances with the red head tonight.

Rolling his eyes, Nik just walked away, making sure to shoulder bump Tyler on the way out of the room. He had been in the Lockwood home a few times so he knew his way around and went straight for the sunroom off the kitchen.

There laying on a whicker love seat was Caroline, her eyes closed and blonde curls in disarray. He knelt down next to her and touched her bare arm, "Caroline, wake up."

She knew the voice but just thought she was dreaming, with a sly smirk she rolled towards him, "Unless you are waking me up to do that thing with your tongue again…" She trailed off as she heard his chuckle and her eyes shot open.

Her face glowed red, "Nik, what are you doing here?"

Putting his arm around her back, he helped her sit up, "I'm going to take you home."

"Oh," Caroline looked around for other options but Elena was busy in Damon's lap.

"Come on, let's get you out of here before your mom gets home and finds you like this."

He could smell the alcohol on her, it was very unlike Caroline to drink this much and he wondered what had gotten in to her.

Helping her stand he had to support most of her weight. They left the same way he had come in and as he had hoped Caroline's eyes landed on Tyler pressing the red head up against the wall, her skirt almost around her waist.

Caroline knew what Tyler was before she agreed to all of this, and it wasn't that she necessarily like him, but seeing him so uncaring of her made her upset, mostly at herself. All the while the man that she did care for, that cared for her, had his arms tightly wrapped around her.

She didn't know why, perhaps it was the alcohol, but tears started to spill from her eyes as soon as they were out of the house. She managed to keep the sniffles to a minimum as they walked down to his car, but as he helped her into the passenger side she let it all go.

She cried; not only because of what a douch bag Tyler was, but because she had been so stupid giving up on Nik.

Nik got in the driver side and saw the tears falling down her cheeks "As much as I would love to say 'I told you so', I'm just sorry you got hurt."

This made Caroline cry harder. She must look a mess; drunk, crying, most likely with vomit on her dress, and make up running down her face. Yet all he could be was nice to her. What had she done in another life to deserve this kind of misfortune?

The drive to her house was quite. Her cries calmed down and she did her best to clean the tears off her face. The quaint one story home was dark when the pulled up on the street.

"Thank you, I guess." Caroline said, reaching for the door handle, but Nik turned off the car before she could get out.

He was around the car in a flash and helped her stand, walking up to her front door. "You don't have to help me in, I got it from here," she pulled out her keys, dropping them in the process. When she bent down to pick them up, her head was sent spinning and she fell over.

"How about you leave the judgment calls to someone who didn't drink too much tonight." He picked up the keys and Caroline before opening the door and helping her inside.

Reaching for the closest light switch, a dull glow came from the lamps in the living room. It was enough light to get him down the hall to her bedroom. Holding her by the elbow he let her flop down on her bed, "I'm going to go grab you some water and Tylenol." Nik figured that she would take this time to change her clothes and he could leave knowing she was safe in bed.

Once he was gone, Caroline stumbled her way into her bathroom, washing her face and brushing her teeth. She considered taking a shower but really just wanted to go to bed.

Pulling down the zipper of her dress it fell in a puddle at her feet, leaving her in a strapless bra and low rise panties. She ran her finger through her hair, just staring at her self in the mirror.

"Caroline? Are you alright in there?"

Standing there in her underwear, hair tousled, and eyes glazed from the liquor and crying she made up her mind. She stepped towards the door, flicking off the light switch, and placed her hand on the knob.

With one last deep breath she found her resolve and pulled open the door.

Nik had his back to her, setting a glass of water on her night stand, "I put the pills on your dresser and I plugged in your phone for you…"

His thoughts trailed off as he turned around after hearing the door to the bathroom open.

There in the darkened doorway was Caroline. He was forced to do a double take, her pale bra and panties made it almost appear as if she was nude, but her current attire didn't make her any less sexy in that moment.

A little bit of a cliff hanger there but I will try to get some writing done tomorrow at work. Hope everyone likes it so far. Please leave some love and review, they make my day.