Ruins || The Vampire Diaries [2]

08: The Walking Dead

   Caroline had invited me to The Grill early in the morning. We sat at one of their outside tables, me with a few stamps in front and Caroline with a batch of invitations in front of her. She was graduating, and to be honest I was damn proud. She was my great-great, many times great, niece, and it was a miracle that I was seeing a member of my family graduate. As I stared at her, as she mouthed along to the words she wrote down, I couldn't help but feel as proud as her mother. 

   "Stamp, please," she said. I pulled off a stamp and handed it to her. She took it from me and immediately put it on the invitation. "Thank you."

   I chuckled as I stared at the stack of letters she had besides her. "Are you inviting family and friends or everyone you have ever met?" 

   "This is only my second batch," she defended.

   "Of how many people?" I asked, picking up the stack and reading the names. "Jesus, Caroline, are you inviting a small country?"

   She grabbed the stack from my hand and laughed. "Like I said, this is only my second batch."

   "Of ten?" I continued to tease, smiling. "Ugh, Caroline, I'm so proud of you. You're graduating!"

   "At least you're excited," she giggled. "I think you and I are the only ones that are excited about graduating. Matt and Elena don't care, Bonnie's gone bonkers, and I don't know whether my mom is excited about this or not."

   "She is," I told her, nodding. "Trust me, Caroline. Liz is just as excited as me, probably more. Her little girl is graduating!" I clapped my hands and laughed, throwing my head back. Whenever I was with Caroline, her bubbling personality influenced mine. She made me happy, excited, feel human, and it was all because she was family, and she was my friend. Friend was a strange word on my tongue, tasted bittersweet. Now, more than ever, it tasted more sweet than bitter.

   "So," she breathed, "the Originals are gone, except Rebekah. She's still hanging around."

   "Yeah," I nodded. "Elijah said goodbye, though."

   "Wait." She stopped what she was doing and looked at me with wide eyes. "You saw Elijah? When? What about Klaus?"

   "I saw Elijah the day I got Elena to turn back her humanity by killing Matt," I told her, slowly, unsure of how it would sound by saying it out in the open. "Klaus was long gone by then. But, uh, Elijah did give me a letter from him."

   "Oh my god, what did it say?"

   I scratched the back of my head. "It's yet to be open and read."

   "Good," she nodded. "Throw it away. Burn it. Ugh." She made a face of disgust and continued with what she was doing. "The less you know about Klaus, the better."

   I chuckled. "I know you hate him, Caroline, but I can't exactly hate him."

   "Ugh," she whined, "why?"

   "I've told you countless of times that I have been with him since 1887. How can I hate someone I have spent so much time with and have so many memories with?"

   "Easy," she smiled. Caroline felt like my best friend, like a sister, like I could tell her anything in the world and not be judged. So, right then, I decided to tell her.

   "Hey, Care," I began with a bit of hesitation. "Do you, uh, remember prom?"

   She made a face. "Ugh, yes," she groaned. "How can I not remember the worst day of my life?"

   "You can have as much proms as you want," I told her, giving her a small smile. The smile soon disappeared. "So, uh, I danced with Damon?"

   "So?"