✶ 𝔬𝔫𝔢 ⌢ a tedious summer ˇ !
It was summer, a very tedious one. Caroline's friends, and likely all people in her high school, were all doing their own things, or having fun with their families, while she laid there on her bed - bored with nothing to do herself. She had gone shopping, and bought many things, but sometimes even her favourite coping mechanism eventually stops working.
Meaning, she is lonely, and she hates it.
Her mother didn't have 'holidays' as the Sheriff of the mystic falls police department. If anything, she hadn't seen her properly in days. Properly meaning that whenever the blonde tried to merely glance at her mother, she couldn't. The older woman would either be calling someone or signing stacks of papers she was required to — that's if she was even at home.
Caroline's face marred a bored yet somehow exasperated frown, as she laid down comfortably on her bed, with her soft blonde curls spread on her pillow. Her blue eyes looked up at the ceiling slightly dazed, and her lips felt firm as she pressed them together to form a line.
She was bored out of her mind and was unsure of what to do to solve this problem.
Maybe she could bake something? But after making the many cupcakes that laid now in her fridge? Suppose, she could go and give those to the kids back at the old public school. She hadn't seen any of them in a few days. She smiled in triumph once she realised that she had found something to waste more of her unused time on.
But the second she had lifted her self off the bed, she had paused, seeming to have remembered something. Caroline visibly tensed up, as she got a hold of her phone from the top of a drawer of her nightstand. A thought had just crossed her mind. She had been reminded of him, by him she was referring to a guy she had quite briefly met only a few days ago at the mystic grill.
He had kept sneaking glances at her and her friends, and Caroline did find him semi-attractive, if she squinted. But she was bored and a hook up sounded good at the time, so she picked up some confidence and asked for his number.
The only problem in this was, that he wasn't staring at her, he was staring at her best friend, Elena. But instead of saying anything or just kindly rejecting her, the coward had given her a fake number he had just made up in his head because he felt bad. And that number had actually belonged to— well.. But neither the boy nor the poor blonde knew that yet.
Leaving a fucked up coincidence to happen indeed.
She grasped the phone in her hand as she clicked dial and called the man, waiting eagerly for him to answer and after a few rings, he finally does. Might I add, quite frustratedly. "Hello?," A thick British accent spoke from the other side of the line, causing Caroline's back to stiffen. Wait. What?
She paused before snapping out of her thoughts and put them into words, "Wait what..?" she mumbled softly, as Klaus' eyes widened as he froze, immediately stopping to a halt when he heard a voice, one that he could never forget.
Caroline on the other hand was panicking. had she put the number wrong? She couldn't have. No way. She had checked it like a thousand times already. "Who is this?" He asked, he seemed calmer but his position was a bit stiff. But calmer for klaus wasn't much of an improvement, and she had guessed that he was annoyed by the tone he had used, and he in fact was. Klaus was in his art room, just about to finish a painting but his comfortable peace was short-lived because of an unexpected phone call that had made him lose his focus, not to mention the voice — her voice belonged to the same woman who was eternally fixed in his mind.
"I am sorry, I should be asking you that. Is this ..Liam?," she asked hesitantly still having a scatter of hope that maybe he fakes his really dumb American accent.
"No. Who is this?" Klaus spoke, maybe he was just overthinking things. Yes that must've been it. It can't be her. He stared back at the painting of the blonde woman, and paused. It must've just been his mind playing tricks on him after such a long while focusing.
Caroline sighed, "Oh, great. he stood me up. " she had taken her phone away from her ear to curse, but Klaus had heard it anyway and was now in a very confused-frustrated state. Who the hell was this woman ?
"Sorry I- well ruined whatever you were doing, it's just this guy gave me this number and made me think it was his, but I think he probably just made it up." She swallowed, slightly embarrassed as she bit her lip in regret for not ending the call after she heard him say hello in that attractive english accent.
Klaus picked up on her sad tone and sighed, he pulled the phone from his ear and was about to hang up but something stopped him, although he could ever explain why. Maybe it might've been that small - barely there glimmer of hope that it actually was her. "What happened?" he spoke trying not to regret the words that just came out of his mouth.
That was somehow all she needed to hear. A permission slip to let out her thoughts that had reciprocated the anger he felt just a mere moment ago. "Well, this cute, no—shitty guy I met gave me his number after I asked for it, because I saw that he liked me after he kept staring —more like stalking me and my friends." She ranted but then seemed to pause, oh.
It made sense now. "Oh fuck, he was probably just staring at lena," she then stated before laying her head back on the pillow, a small frown now lacing her soft rose-tinted lips. "Who's 'lena'?" Klaus questioned, with a confused look painting his now less annoyed, nonchalant features. Soulmate or not, this was getting slightly interesting. He wouldn't admit it but there was always a serene feeling of some hope it was her.
Caroline hummed, "we've been friends since we were younger, Everyone just likes her so easily.. without her even trying and yeah I know I - shouldn't, but she always makes me feel like a second option. Even if she isn't even there. I just feel like-," she trailed off.
"-Like everyone would choose her over you any day?" Klaus spoke naturally, as he remembered how he used to feel when he was fighting for Tatia's love, even though it was clear to everyone that she loved his brother. Even to him. "Exactly!," she exclaimed happily, Klaus found himself smiling slightly in amusement at her beaming tone.
She had reciprocated his mood with her usual bright smile before realization hit. "Oh god. I vent to you about all this, without even asking for your name," Caroline covers her face with her free hand in embarrassment as Klaus chuckles. "It's Niklaus, but you can just call me klaus," he introduced with a small smirk at her embarrassed voice.
"I am Caroline," she had spoke with her usual cheery voice. "So Klausy what are you into?" she asked, as he found himself laughing at the nickname she gave him. No one had ever spoken to him so easily before — so boldly. And he somehow didn't mind it coming from her.
"Klausy? ..that's one even my younger siblings never dared to use. And well — my hobbies include art mostly — I was actually painting a mere moment ago," he commented while taking a glance at his unfinished piece. He smirked slightly, he couldn't tell her more of his hobbies now without scaring her off.
A shocked frown marred her face as she sighed, "Oh. Did I make you lose focus? I am sorry. I hate when people do that to me, and I end up losing motivation for the whole piece." She admitted, as her nose scrunched up as she relived the many times that had happened.
"You paint?" he inquired, slightly intrigued, as he sat back on his wooden carved chair.
"Well yeah, mostly just sketch, but oil paints are beautiful, it's too bad mine finished," she informed with a slight whine, as he paused. "Can't you simply buy more?" he asked as she let out a soft, almost angelic laugh at his idea. "It's hard to find good oil paints in bloody mystic falls of all places, and if you do end up finding some they're too way too pricey." She complained with as he hummed. Small towns tended to have that issue.
"I also need to get out of this tragic town to go see some art museums," She states, a small smile marring her face at the thought of leaving. "One of my paintings is hanging in one actually," he admitted with a shrug, as though it was just some mundane achievement. She paused, her eyes widening in surprise. "really?" She asked.
"Yes, I happen to have one in the hermitage," he informed causally. "Wait. The hermitage?" she interrupted stunned, her eyes widened as he laughed a small yes. The hermitage was nothing. He had painted portraits of many monarchs.
One of them being of the beauty Anne Boleyn herself in his days back in New Orleans. After his sister had turned her before her trial for treason and whatever her ex-husband had framed her for, the queen and the original had a slight connection but he wasn't too sure what had become of that relationship after they had to flee the city they called home because of their father.
"Well Nik, how old are you? I really need to be safer around people — god." Caroline spoke with a small smile, but he seemed to be dazed once he heard the nickname come from her lips, since only his family were the only ones who had called him that before, and it somehow felt refreshing to hear it coming from her lips. He liked the way she said it.
"I feel like I am a thousand years old mentally, but I am twenty-one," he replied with a small smirk plastered on his face at the irony of his own words. "I am eighteen, almost 19. senior year," she remarked with a small smile.
"I have never talked about my interest in art to anyone before," she had admitted afterwards, and it was true. She had never really mentioned the pastime to anyone, it was something she started doing to calm her down at first. Finding coping mechanisms that didn't include her harming herself was a difficult task by itself. But after the incident, she had grown to like pen and papers and started using the oil paints in the house's attic to try and distract herself from the world around her.
"unless someone wants something from me, I'd have to agree on that," Klaus admitted. Caroline narrowed her eyes, and cocked a brow, confused. "Not even your family? I'd be surprised if no one said at least 'oh hey congrats klausy' after having a painting in the damn hermitage," she stated bluntly with a small laugh.
Klaus let out a geniune laugh, as he leans back against the chair, his free arm lying on the armrest. "My father and I's relationship is very toxic, and my mothers isn't exactly much better. I have many siblings but they're well— Away as you call it," he spoke with narrowed eyes at the memories, while she slightly frowned at his words.
But Klaus had never mentioned his family so easily to someone before - ever. It felt freeing to speak about such things with someone else — someone like her. Someone who just seems so understanding.
She nods. "my mom is pretty absent.. she usually puts her work over me, and either way - we rarely talk. And my dad.." she clicked her tongue remembering what happened the last time she saw him, making klaus pause. But she then stopped frowning as her lips twitched upwards for a moment. "Wellll.. now that we've established that we're two very lonely artists, with quite major daddy issues - wanna be friends?" She grinned.
𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄, THOUGHTS? For anyone who wants to know or is confused about the time.
this chapter took place two months before pilot, meaning one month before Elena's parents passed away.
BYE LOVEYY<33