Hello all you beautiful readers! Hope you like the newest installment, your reviews are like crack to me, seriously you don't know how excited I get when I get to hear from you guys! So keep to comments coming! Sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors, I didn't do the most thorough editing job...

Anyways, enjoy :) -Cheers

I wake up to my pillow smelling like smoke. Along with my hair and the rest of my sheets- I guess that's what I get for not having bothered to shower last night.

I roll over feeling groggy, the unfamiliar feeling of restfulness, and morning breath.

I sit up too fast, glancing at the clock beside my bed.

9 AM. I slept.

For the first time in weeks I slept all night, no waking up, no tossing and turning, no vivid dreams to shake me from my fragile slumber. Real, honest sleep.

An inadvertent sigh of satisfaction escapes me as I fall back onto the mattress, thanking God it's Saturday.

XXX

I pull my dress over my hips and the sleeves over my shoulders, reaching behind me to do up the long zipper.

"Ugh," Now I remember why I never wear this dress. I twist my arm behind me at an uncomfortable angle, able to slide the zipper only mid way up my back. I attempt to reach over my right shoulder to pull it up the rest of the way, to no avail.

The doorbell rings; Odd. I didn't hear Elena's car pull up; I check the time, she's early too.

I give up on the zipper with a heavy sigh.

"Mom!" I call out in the general direction of her room, waiting a few seconds, but she doesn't reply. She must have gone into work today.

I grab my calf-height brown leather boots, and tall black socks, and hurry down the stairs. I can't see anyone through the windowed door, and I hesitate slightly before reaching for the knob, and opening it—the hinges squeaking slightly.

His scent hits me before I see him—Soap, mint, and that ever lingering smell that I can never seem place, but is so intoxicating it makes my mind buzz.

I step into the door frame and peek out.

Seeing him leaning against the plain white siding of my old house, hands in his pockets, my heart sputters and I have to remind myself to stay strong; keep myself composed in his company.

He's looking at his feet, but when he takes a side look at me, his mouth set in a straight line for a second before it tilts into his crooked smile.

"What're you doing here?" I step out onto my porch, trying to convince myself I'm not happy about this surprise visit.

He pushes himself away from the wall, "Well I just came to make sure you didn't flee town and go hide under a rock after last night," He steps forward , raising his hand to my neck, his eyes glancing at my mouth as he leans a little closer.

I take a small step back, his fingertips grazing against my throat as I put distance between us, though every fiber of my being wants to step closer, melt into him, and fit against him like we did on the motel balcony those weeks ago.

But Elena is due here any second, we're going shopping for Prom dresses all the afternoon, and I don't exactly enjoy the idea of her driving up to Klaus and I in each other's arms.

"Just because you're allowed to do that now, doesn't mean you should ever time you show up at my door..." I raise my pointer finger between our lips, touching it to his lips lightly, causing his smile to reappear, and making it twice as hard for me to refuse his advance. I quickly let my hand drop.

"So I am allowed then?" He's smirking now, a look of delight and smugness dominating his features, making his usual tough expression change into one of boyish merriment.

I roll my eyes and scoff at him, bighting a smile.

It's then that I hear the familiar purr of Elena's car turn the corner onto my street. My heart jumps, and I whirl around to look, squinting through the neighbor's trees.

"Shit." I say under my breath.

Goose bumps blossom across my neck and down my arms as I feel cool hands skim across my shoulders from behind. Trailing to the nape of my neck as he sweeps my hair to one side, pushing it over my left shoulder, as his index finger draws an invisible line down my spine.

I get more nervous as Elena's car gets closer, and his hand travels lower. He comes to an abrupt stop, before pinching the zipper clasp between two fingers and glides it up the rest of the way, the cool air on my exposed skin now flaming hot from his touch.

I feel my cheeks heat from embarrassment, but hardly have time to dwell on it as his lips touch the tip of my shoulder, sending a second shiver through me.

And then Elena is here, her engine cutting off, her seatbelt making an audible click as she pushes her door open and steps out onto my driveway.

"Hey," She greets me with what sounds like a hesitant tone.

I turn around, and I'm standing on the deck alone, Klaus nowhere in sight. I blink a couple times, wondering if I dreamed the whole thing. Swearing he was here only a split second ago.

"Hello..." I force myself back into the present, in which Elena is staring at me like I've gone crazy. I clear my throat loudly, bringing my hand to my mouth, when I realise I'm still holding my boots and socks. My bare toes tingle with the chill of the day.

"You okay?" She takes a step forward, honest concern and curiosity in her eyes.

"Yes!" I say, too enthusiastically as I hold my hand with the socks clasped in it up in her direction, she stops in her tracks. I can still smell Klaus's handsome scent in the air around me, and though she may not be able to place who it belongs to the way I can, I'm sure she would have some pretty good guesses. And now that's she has her keen vampire sense of smell, I'm not taking any chances of her wandering onto this porch and catching a whiff.

"Yes," I say more evenly, and putting on a nervous smile, "I'm almost ready, just give me two seconds," I whip around and hurry back into the house. Dropping my boots to the ground I pull on my socks, checking my makeup in the mirror, and grabbing my purse.

"I like your dress," Elena comments as I slide into the passenger's seat of her car.

I reach up and fix the neckline so it lays smoothly, then slide my hand back and touch the clasp at the top of the zipper, rubbing it absentmindedly between my fingers.

"Thanks, me too."

XXX

I hang the drapey, red silk dress back on the padded hanger. Hanging it on the hook along with all the other "no's". Removing a cream coloured gauzy knee-length from the back of the dressing room door, and slipping into it.

"So last night was fun." Elena says from the next dressing room, her voice muffled slightly with the thin wall between us.

I tie the halter strap behind my neck and push the heavy curtain open, stepping into the small room with a large floor-to-ceiling mirror, and a comfortable looking chaise-lounge in the center. The music is much louder out here I observe; as Taylor Swifts newest song plays through the wall speakers. I just know it'll be in my head later.

"It was, wasn't it," I check out my reflection in the mirror, not loving the short style.

Elena pushes her curtain out of the way, revealing a beautiful sea-green, strapless that fits her like a glove.

"Wow," I say, raising my eyebrows in approval.

"You too!" She looks me up and down.

I make a face and turn back to the mirror.

She rolls her eyes at me. "You're never happy with anything you try on."

"That's not true!" I place my hands on my hips, wracking my brain for a dress I really loved. "I liked what I wore to Miss Mystic two years ago." I smooth the front of the dress, but the tulle just puffs out again, oh geez. "I mean I won didn't I?" I give her a big smile and she laughs out loud.

"Yes, yes you did,"

"Okay," I grab a handful of the dress, and take one last look at the dress in the mirror, "This is definitely not it."

Three dresses later, Elena has decided on the green one, and I've decided that I'm never finding a dress. Ever.

"So what did you do after the fire last night, I didn't see you leave with us." I push the door open to the coffee shop and step inside, Elena throwing her keys in her purse, adjusting the bag with her new dress in it higher up on her arm.

"Oh," I hold the door for her, avoiding her eyes as I scan the room for a table. "You know, I just hung back a little, collecting some of the things we forgot." I shrug.

She doesn't say anything until we're sitting at a table by the window, both of us holding hot cups of coffee. Then she gives me the all-knowing-beset-friend-eyebrows-raised look.

"What?" I ask, leaning back in my chair.

"Oh come on Care," She does the opposite, leaning forward over her cup of coffee and crossing her arms on the table. When I don't say anything, she sighs.

"Okay Caroline, I'm saying this as your best friend. A friend who has known you forever, and loves you dearly."

"This is starting to sound like an intervention—"

"In junior high I watched you fall in love with Dillon Jeans. Always so ridiculously nervous around him, asking me to ask him if he liked you." I can't help but smile at the memory. "And then, in junior year, I watched you fall in love with my ex, have to admit, that one was less fun to watch. But once I realized how perfect you and Matt were for each other, I couldn't help but just be happy for you!"

"Elena where's this—"

"And theeen, there was Tyler. Oh my gosh, you fell so hard, I wasn't even sure you knew where you were anymore. I'd never seen you so happy in my life." She shakes her head and takes a sip of her hot coffee. "He was everything you wanted. He was your perfect match, it just seemed to fit."

Her use of past-tense puts a blanket of sadness over the memories, and our conversation falls quiet.

"I've seen you fall for guys so many times I can't count them on one hand," Her voice sounds far away, I stare at the creamy coffee in my mug instead of into her eyes. "But I have never, seen you look at any of them, the way I see you looked at Klaus last night."

Her words weigh down on us, heavy. There's no sorrow or anger, or even judgement in the way she says those last words.

I blink at the table for another second, clearing away most signs of the inevitable tears that are building behind my eyes.

Stop crying Caroline, stop crying over him.

I look up at my friend, and she's looking back at me, like she wants to say more, but knows that it will push me over the edge. So she just sits in silence, letting me catch my breath, and get my bearings.

"What am I supposed to do...?" My voice is small like a child, my words filled with uncertainty.

"I can't answer that," She reaches across the table, touching my arm carefully, "All I know is—forever is a long time to spend with the wrong person."

I let her words sink in, and then a realization dawns on me, and an unbearable sadness comes over me; I let out a heavy breath.

"I am so sorry Elena." I finally breathe after a few seconds of my sudden grief.

She looks a little startled, "For what?" She touches my arm again, comforting me, like I should have comforted her...

"For ever making you feel like you were wrong, for loving someone who you weren't supposed to love..."