Shortfalls and Little Sins
Title: Shortfalls and Little Sins
Chapter: 1/1
Warning: R for language, I suppose.
Character: Tyler/Caroline
Summary: He's getting used to the way she looks at him like that, like she actually cares and stuff. He knows she does, but it's hard to really believe it because not many people do.
Word Count: 7,900
Disclaimer: Don't own.
He feels like he's 10 years old. Only maybe a 10 year old's body wouldn't feel like this; battered, stiff and bruised in places he doesn't have an explanation for, can't remember. He's popping Tylenol like Tic Tacs, for whatever good it's doing.
But he's still an idiot avoiding a girl. He should thank her. He wants to, he just hasn't figured out how to do it without sounding like a total douche. And he figures that if he talks to her, he should lead with the gratitude and if he doesn't she'll probably be pissed.
So yeah. Ignoring.
It's not really working. Mostly since Caroline is apparently the nicest girl on the planet and also practically fearless, if he's not totally crazy. 'Cause the other night was fucked up and she stayed with him anyway. And maybe she's not fearless, since he could see how fucking terrified she was. He wasn't really in any frame of mind to think about it then, but now when he relives that night, all he sees is the look on her face. She was so scared. Of him.
He hates that.
She smiles at him across the courtyard, waves a little, and all he can do is purse his lips and nod at her. He doesn't really get how she can just act so normal. Nothing is normal. Life isn't normal. This whole town is so far from normal. He's a werewolf and she's a vampire and how the fuck can she just smile and hug Bonnie and act like she's still just the ditzy cheerleader (well, former cheerleader now) who organizes every social function the school has? Everyone loves her, practically, which is fucked, because no one even knows her. He knows her. Or at least he's starting to.
He starts getting kind of annoyed, though, that she's not just coming to him. He didn't expect her to actually give him space, because she's Caroline and she doesn't even understand the concept. Or at least that's the impression he got from Matt when those two started dating or whatever it was they did. (Yeah, he knows it was a relationship or something, but he doesn't want to think about that. He's got more important shit going on.) Plus, she hasn't even left him alone since he told her and practically fucking cried in her living room. It's been nice having her around, but it's not like it was a choice. And now she's just over there doing her own thing, and he's thinking she should probably, you know, be near him. He's just kind of used to her now.
She taps him on the shoulder between fourth and fifth periods on Wednesday. It's been a few days and his body's a little less fucked up, but he still flinches until he sees her standing there behind him with an unnaturally perky smile on her face.
"Happy hump day!"
She looks and sounds like she's seven, but he's a teenaged dude and she just said 'hump', so he smirks at her and leans against the wall. He wants to say something kind of dirty, but she's basically his only friend right now and pissing her off is a bad idea.
"You're a weird girl," he says. Yeah, that's clearly better. He wants to hit himself.
She giggles and shrugs her shoulder cutely. It's like everything she does, she's trying to make everyone just totally think she's got the personality of a Cabbage Patch Doll.
He's seen her with fangs, so his opinion's gonna be a little different.
"How are you feeling?" she asks quietly. He's getting used to the way she looks at him like that, like she actually cares and stuff. He knows she does, but it's hard to really believe it because not many people do. "Are you going to be able to go to the pep rally?"
He laughs. "Coach'd kill me if I didn't. Besides, all I have to do is wear my jersey and look hot."
She rolls her eyes at him and shakes her head. She hitches her bag up onto her shoulder a little further. It tugs down her shirt a bit and he can see her collarbone. "Try not to hurt yourself doing that, Tyler," she says sarcastically. He chuckles quietly and turns back to his locker to get his things, then closes it. "But you're alright?"
"Still standing." It feels like the best response. Probably the most accurate. The warning bell rings and she touches his arm. Her hand feels cool, nice against his skin.
"I'll see you later, okay?" She starts backing away and he smiles at her, nods. "Get your beauty sleep!"
He breathes out a laugh and shakes his head, but he smiles for the rest of the afternoon, mostly. His head starts to pound in Algebra, and he isn't sure if it's because of the topic or the fact that this whole werewolf thing is a complete pain in the ass.
He hasn't thanked her yet. He's really gotta do that.
... ... ...
He's never really been all into the whole pep rally thing, but he's always put in an effort and pretended because it made his dad happy and his mom loved the hype. Now he cares even less, but he's one of the better guys on the team and his jersey has Lockwood written on the back, so he has to show up and act like any of it means anything at all.
Caroline isn't a cheerleader anymore, and it's weird to see her in just a plaid skirt and leather jacket (a strangely hot look on her). He saw her hanging posters for the rally, which is kind of pointless since the whole town knows about it anyway, but whatever. She looked happy so he didn't want to make fun of her for it. Things have been kind of heavy around them lately.
He's just walking towards the school when he sees Matt approach her. Okay, that's...Whatever. They can talk. They're friends or something, even if she says it's too hard to date him and Matt seems to still be mostly in love with her.
It's weird, though, because she looks like she's the same girl she was before everything went down. She looks too hopeful and like her whole day depends on whatever words Matt may or may not say to her right now. Then she looks away, towards the school, and when she looks back at Matt, she's kind of just blank.
Then Matt kisses her and Tyler has to clench his teeth together so tight they hurt.
... ... ...
He spends most of his day pissed off, and maybe he's not being a 'team player' or whatever when he goes to the Grill without everyone and grabs a burger on his own. He sits at the bar and flirts with the college girl pouring drinks, mostly because it's the closest thing to normal he's felt all day, not because he actually wants to be hitting on her.
All he can think about is what a lucky bastard Matt is to have gotten to touch Caroline like that and kiss her.
He feels like a fucking idiot for not realizing all this sooner.
He's not supposed to like her. She's abrasive and annoying and irritating as hell. Yeah, she's always been relatively nice to everyone (unless they weren't nice to her) and he never had a problem with her. Hell, he stuck up for her a couple times when people were talking shit about her.
But she's had his back like she's supposed to or something for these past few weeks, and when he thinks about it, yeah, it's kind of fucking natural for him to be a little attached to her.
What the hell's with her this week?
He's in the parking lot when he sees her. She's headed for the football field, but he doesn't want her to get there just yet. He calls her name before he realizes how dumb he'll sound yelling after her, and then jogs towards her. She smiles at him a little and he tries hard not to stare at the way her skirt swishes around her legs.
"Hi. Ready?" she asks.
He doesn't want her to change the subject, even if she doesn't know what the subject actually is.
"Saw what happened with Matt today," he says, arms cross.
She sighs and turns her head. "Tyler."
"He kissed you in front of everyone," he reminds her. It's not like she can accuse him of spying or something. "What'd he say?"
"Nothing," she answers. She finally looks at him, then closes her eyes. "A lot of things."
You know what? Fuck it. Matt had his chance, and if he'd shown her he could handle her at the time she might have had more confidence that he'd be able to do it after she turned. She might like to say she's protecting Matt, but Tyler thinks that's kind of bullshit and that she's protecting herself, too.
So he grabs onto her and looks her right in the eye. "I don't know why you've been hiding, but you can stop now," he says.
"I'm not hiding," she insists quietly. She looks down, almost like she wants to see his hands on her or something. "Things are complicated. Everything is just really complicated."
"Hey," he says. She looks up at him again and he moves closer. "You know you can talk to me."
"Not about this," she laughs bitterly.
"Why not?"
"Tyler," she whispers. She reaches up to brush the hair off her forehead. She's kind of just beautiful. "I can't...I just need..."
"Caroline." He just says her name because she said his. "Whatever you need, I'm right here."
He tries to bring her closer, but there are suddenly a lot of people around and she pulls away from him before he can do something she might hate. But if that look on her face means anything, he kind of thinks he has a shot.
... ... ...
He drives her home after. She came with Elena, who's leaving with Stefan, and Bonnie is hanging out with the new guy or whatever. Jeremy's pouting, which surprises absolutely no one since it's kind of his thing.
So Tyler just looks at her and jerks his head towards his car, and maybe she's not as happy about it as he'd like her to be, but she walks towards him and climbs in the passenger side. She rolls her eyes when she catches him looking at her legs. Not the first time, won't be the last.
"You're not very peppy," he notes about halfway to her house. He doesn't have the radio on because he's had enough noise for today and he assumes she has, too.
"I'm pepped out."
"Is that possible?"
She glares teasingly, but it basically just looks like a cross between her being asleep and making herself laugh. "Of course it is."
He'll just take her word for it.
He cuts the engine when he gets to her house. She looks at him, but he ignores that, because if he's the only one who's felt weird about them not spending all their time together this week he doesn't want to know it.
"I think I can make it," she says jokingly.
Whatever. She can joke all she wants, he's still walking her to her door.
He meets her on her side of the car. "You never know. I hear there's weird stuff going on in this town."
She laughs again, looks at him and raises her eyebrow. "Really?" she asks dryly.
"Can't be too safe."
"You're kind of a huge dork. Has anyone ever told you that?" she says, giggling as she makes it to her door, turns around and looks at him.
He thinks she only ever smiles like this with him and he's going to take that to mean what he wants it to mean.
And fuck it. He's pretty sure he's waited fucking long enough, and she looks way too hot right now, and she yelled his name at the rally earlier and whistled for him. She's being cute and joking with him like everything's normal and neither of them are what they are.
So he puts his hands on her cheeks and kisses her, and it's fast and hard, and he should probably be trying to make it less like that, but he doesn't even care because he's kissing her.
All he wants to do is push her inside and do a whole lot of things to her, and it's really messed up that all this has hit him so hard, so fast. He just wants her to himself. He's never been good with sharing and he sure as hell's never been good with sharing girls. He doesn't like to lose. He's not going to lose her.
She pushes at him a little. She's not being all crazy strong and getting him off her, but he moves back anyway. She's breathing hard and she yells something at him and practically stomps her foot before she slams the door on his face.
But he can still taste her mango lip gloss, so he's counting it as at least a partial win.
... ... ...
"Matt apologized for kissing me," she tells him during lunch. He's straddling a picnic bench and she straddles it, too, faces him.
He gives her a look. Matt's a fucking pussy. "I'm not about to," he tells her.
She licks her bottom lip, then bites it a little, steals his bottle of Gatorade and drinks some of it.
He thinks she wanted him to say that.
... ... ...
He's kind of torn between thinking the game is going to kill him and knowing he's strong enough to battle through it. Their opposition is relentless and Tyler plays his position well, but it still drags his body down, so by the fourth quarter he's finding it a little hard to breathe and he can feel his back seizing up. There's a second, where he's not fueled by adrenaline and the crowd roaring, that he wonders if he'll have to deal with this forever, this thing he is weighing him down and affecting everything else.
Then coach pats him on the helmet and he just takes a deep breath and sucks it up. He's not a whiner and he's not about to start with that shit. He is what he is and he's not going to let it mess with his real life.
Still, he thinks of wrapping his ribs after, when he's showered and mostly everyone's cleared out of the locker room. Sometimes his whole torso feels hollow, and sometimes it's the opposite. He doesn't know what the hell happened to him that night, not really, since he was so out of it, but he knows...Well, his body's fucked. He pulls on a shirt instead of reaching for a bandage, because he can handle a little pain and he's felt way worse. Once he's ready, he heads for the parking lot with his bag over his shoulder.
She's not the first hot blonde to be leaning up against his car after a game, but she's probably the best one.
"Hey," he mutters. He unlocks the trunk so he can toss his bag inside. She throws hers in at the last second before he closes it.
"Hey, Superstar."
She keeps talking like that and she's gonna get herself into trouble. "Say that again."
She laughs and rolls her eyes. "Let's go somewhere."
"Where?" He's got some ideas.
She shrugs one shoulder. "Anywhere. Let's...Let's go crazy! Let's get drunk or something."
He spins his keys on his finger and watches her for a second to see if she's joking. She's not. "There's the Caroline I know," he says.
It's kind of stupid, because he just knows her. It's not like there's more than one of her.
What he means is pre-blood-thirsty-Caroline-who-used-to-only-care-about-parties-and-sex. That's just a mouthful.
"Your place?" he asks.
She shakes her head and reaches for the passenger side door handle. "Trust me?" she asks.
He doesn't know if he should.
He just doesn't have a reason not to.
... ... ...
He doesn't know why they're driving so far if the plan is to get drunk. They'll have to get back at some point. She doesn't answer him when he asks her, just pushes a CD into the stereo and turns it up louder than it needs to be. She puts her feet on the dash and he notices how sexy her boots are. He kind of noticed earlier, but she wasn't sitting in his car then.
He slows down near a pub in the town closest to Mystic Falls, but she tells him to keep going and he doesn't know why. He points out that whole 'no drinking and driving' thing, and she just rolls her eyes and tells him he worries too much. Maybe so, but he's not really in the mood to relive that accident or something.
But he's thinking like a dude, so drunk Caroline on his hands, stranded in some shitty town sounds like not a bad idea.
Going to the town whose team he just helped beat is a bad idea. He drives right through it and she starts laughing in the passenger seat, but he doesn't totally know why. Whatever. He likes her laugh. She laughs like a seven year old, and it's way cuter than it should be.
He's a fucking werewolf and he's calling a girl's laugh cute.
He needs a beer.
The bar she picks is a total dive. Not that he minds, really, or that the Grill is some kind of high class place, but she's going to stick out like a sore thumb in this bar. He knows that already. And she doesn't want to see him jealous. She really doesn't.
He goes to get out of the car, but she's not moving, so he looks at her and she's biting her bottom lip and breathing kind of loudly.
"Okay, just a second," she says seriously, like he probably wants a warning for something.
Then she pulls a bag of blood from her purse and he really wants to laugh, because what the fuck?
"Really?" he asks. She tears the end of the tube off with her teeth, then smiles around her 'straw' as she drinks.
He's never watched her do this.
He knows his life is fucked up when he starts thinking it's kind of hot.
"Capri-Sun for vampires, huh?" She punches his arm (hurts, too) and finishes her little snack. "You done now? Can we drink like normal people?"
"Aww, you still think we're normal people," she says, batting her lashes at him.
He rolls his eyes and opens his car door.
She's still laughing when she catches up to him near the door of this bar. He realizes they don't have I.D., and since this isn't Mystic Falls and no one gives a damn what his last name or who her mom is, they're neither treated like royalty or like kids. The bartender nods at them and Tyler finds a seat near the back. The booth is small and the table is a piece of shit with stuff carved in it that he doesn't really care about. Caroline slides in across from him and she's dabbing at the corners of her mouth. He kicks her foot under the table, then winks at her to let her know there's no trace of her pre-drink, drink on her face.
A waitress who looks like she's done some hard livin' comes over, drops two coasters onto the table and stares at him until he orders a couple beers. He's known Caroline long enough to know she likes beer as much as the next guy. She's got her phone out, texting someone, and he feels weird. He shouldn't care, really, because it's just a text, but they're here alone and it's not like he can talk to anyone else until she's done. So he just crosses his arms and glares at her until she notices.
"What?"
"Who are you texting?" Part of him just wants to know it's not Matt, even if he doesn't honestly think it is.
"No one," she answers. Then adds immediately, "Elena."
"She and Stefan still...What are she and Stefan?" he asks.
Caroline laughs, but it's not really a laugh. It's more like this is a long story he either doesn't want to know or doesn't have the patience for. "They're...Stefan and Elena."
She doesn't explain any further, but he thinks he kind of gets it. Stefan's kind of a weird guy. Nice, but weird. He keeps to himself a lot and Elena used to be the queen of the school (and Caroline hated that). To be honest, Tyler doesn't really get why Elena's all wrapped up in the guy. He's kind of dark, and he makes her kind of dark. Not that he really knows much about her at all anymore, but he'd almost put money on her getting back together with Matt eventually.
He's not going to mention that to Caroline.
The waitress comes back with their drinks, and Caroline's is barely on the table before she's picking it up again and bringing it to her lips. He's watching her, mostly because she's hilarious, but partly because she's sexy.
"What?" she asks after taking a long drink.
"Guess we're not drinking to anything," he laughs. She rolls her eyes, hits the neck of her bottle against his as he holds it, and then takes another sip. "What's your rush?"
"The faster we drink, the faster we get drunk. That's kind of the way it works."
He smiles against his beer bottle and cocks his head. Makes sense, really.
"Shots?" he suggests.
She shakes her head, smiling at him. "Tyler, you know how I get when I do shots," she warns him.
He smirks at her, lifts his brows. "Yeah. Handsy." She kicks his foot under the table as she laughs. "Not like I mind."
She takes her bottom lip between her teeth and looks at the table, plays with her coaster and only looks at his face again when she's drinking her beer. "I'm sure you don't," she says quietly.
Good. At least she's not going to sit here and pretend he didn't kiss her. He doesn't love that she's sitting all the way on the other side of the table, but he can work with what he's given. He signals for the waitress and Caroline shakes her head the entire time he asks for four shots of Southern Comfort.
"Drink up, Barbie," he teases, pushing a shot glass towards her.
"You know, you're really lucky I don't despise you," she says as she picks up the glass.
Yeah, he knows that. Everyone's glad she's still sugar sweet. She's just about the last person he wants to piss off.
He clinks his glass against hers and raises it in the air just slightly, watches her wince as the alcohol burns her throat. For a chick who drinks blood to live he thinks it's funny that she has a hard time with a little SoCo. She's been drinking it for years, too. He knows because he's been the one smuggling it to parties and pouring for her.
"So, you played well tonight," she notes. She catches sight of the chalk board by the door announcing the day's specials. "Oh! Cheese fries!" He wants to laugh, but he just almost chokes on his beer instead. "We're getting some."
Their waitress hates them. He can tell. Caroline probably can, too, but she just says she wants a plate of fries, some ketchup and extra napkins. Oh, and two forks. Also, maybe some salsa.
"Jesus, Care," he laughs. The waitress gives him a look, almost like she's relieved he can get Caroline to stop talking. "You all set there?"
Caroline bites her lip and seems to think he's just asking, not making fun of her.
The waitress walks away without waiting for her answer. Caroline just shrugs her shoulder and drains the last of her beer. Good thing that was on her list of stuff she wanted.
They talk about the game and their night until their (her, really) food comes. She admits (doesn't mean to, but he decodes it) that she thinks he's a good player. He makes a comment about her just liking the uniform, and she just shrugs her shoulder and forks some more food into her mouth.
"I'm almost afraid to lose a hand."
"Shut up," she giggles, poking his hand with her fork.
He sets down his - he's not really hungry - and leans forward. "Does it really even matter?"
She shrugs. "It helps," she admits. They don't talk about it much, the details of her...being. "Besides, now I can eat whatever I want, because I can do a half hour workout in about a minute and twenty seconds."
"Lucky."
She scoffs, dabs at her lips with her napkin and eyes him across the table. "Yeah, you really have to complain, there, Ty."
He smirks. "Been looking?"
"You were practically naked in front of me."
He shouldn't smile, not considering what she's referring to right now. It's just that he's not exactly against her noticing that he stays in shape. "You were playing shy." She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. He pushes the second shot glass across the table, and she picks this one up without a fight. "Return the favour?"
Her jaw drops, but she's still smiling. "Shut up, perv!" she laughs. She tosses back her shot quickly, chases with her beer and blinks a few times. "No more shots."
He shakes his head at her as he smiles. "Shots until you grope me."
Caroline glares at him across the table but she's still grinning at him like she wants to laugh. "You have your credit card? It might take a lot."
He barks out a laugh. "Bitch."
"Jerk!" she shouts. She tosses a fork at him, and his reflexes have been heightened like crazy these days, so he grabs it from mid-air right before it hits him. He looks around to see if anyone saw that, but no one's paying any attention. "Nice grab."
This night is going to get messy. He can tell already.
Then she asks him for quarters to put in the jukebox, says the music here isn't very good (not really a surprise). He hands her five and watches her walk over and pick songs. She looks pretty excited about it. She glances over her shoulder at him and catches him staring, but she doesn't seem to mind at all that he is.
... ... ...
Her feet are up on his side of the booth as she sits across from him. She's lazily sipping her beer and they've been talking about basically nothing, but he can tell right now that she has something she wants to say. He narrows his eyes like he wants her to tell, and she just copies him until she's laughing.
"What?" he asks.
"Remember that time we almost hooked up?"
He laughs and looks at her like she's nuts. "Uh, no, because we've never almost hooked up," he draws out slowly.
"Seven minutes in heaven totally counts!" she argues. He rolls his eyes. "Jess Martin's 14th birthday party."
"Oh, my god. No, that doesn't count," he tells her. She's had a few beer and those two shots, and she's so hilarious and sexy right now. It's barely fair.
"Yes, it does," she says. There's really no room for argument. "I thought you were so hot."
"Yeah?" He grins at her and she nods.
"Shut up. Everyone did."
"So why didn't you let me put my hand up your skirt?" he asks. Seriously, if they're being candid, he wants to know. Because he remembers having a red mark on his wrist from where she'd grabbed it.
"Because you were a horn dog and you were supposed to be dating Kelly at the time."
He shrugs his shoulder. So what? They were 14. "So why won't you let me do it now?" he asks.
She looks down pretty much immediately, plays with the label on her beer and says, "Tyler," all quiet. Maybe he took it too far. "I'm wearing jeans," she says, looking at him from under her eyelashes.
Her eyes are all dark - like, too dark - and she turns her head so she's looking at the wall, puts her hand up so her face is shielded. He can just barely see her face changing, then she takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly and looks back at him after a few seconds.
"You okay?" he asks seriously. He knows it's stupid, since she is what she is and that is part of it, but he worries every time he sees it. Just like she's constantly worrying any time his eyes flash or whatever it is they do. He's never seen it, but apparently it's enough to freak out a vampire, so it can't really be good.
"Fine," she says, sitting up in her seat. "You just..."
She doesn't finish, so he leans forward and takes his beer in both hands. "What?"
She looks around, then looks at him, leans toward him and says, "You give me these urges."
He sits back against the booth, grins, and eyes her as he takes a sip of his beer.
He wasn't expecting that, but he definitely likes it.
... ... ...
She slides into the booth next to him when she comes back from the washroom. Her thigh is pressed against his and her shoulder brushes his. She pushes her hair off her face, sets her elbow on the table and rests her head on her hand so she can look at him.
"What?" he laughs. He feels like a lot of their conversations are starting this way. She shrugs her shoulder. She's so drunk. They're definitely not having any more. She's not. He's going to finish his beer.
"You ever think we'd be friends if it weren't for the," she turns her head, turns back to him and whispers, "extenuating circumstances?"
He laughs, mostly because she's hilarious when she's drunk and he's known this forever. "You'd still be with Matt."
"You'd still be an asshole."
"You'd still be obsessed with making everyone like you."
"You'd still pretend not to care when I know you really do!" she says, and she does it fast, like if she says it quick enough she'll have won whatever little game they're playing. "And I wouldn't be with Matt."
He scoffs. "Yeah. Okay."
"I wouldn't," she insists. She sits up straight, turns her body towards his so her knees bump against his. "He kind of wasn't nice to me." Tyler doesn't know what that means, but he really doesn't like the sound of it. "He just played me hot and cold a lot, you know? I hate that."
"You put up with it." He shrugs his shoulder. It's kind of all her fault, and why the fuck are they talking about her old relationship?
"Matt's a good guy," she tells him. Yeah, he knows that. He's been the guy's best friend for years. Everyone loves him. "He's just not for me. The...change just helped me realize it faster."
"Good," he says before he can stop himself. She gives him this little smile and downs the rest of his beer before he can stop her. "That wasn't very nice."
They both know if he was really mad, this situation wouldn't be nearly as playful, and she probably wouldn't still be sitting next to him.
"So?" she asks. "What are you going to do about it?"
It's ridiculously flirty and so is she, in general. They're having so much fun tonight, just hanging out. He's basically forgotten about not having a way home and everything, and his mom will flip. He knows Caroline's will, too, but whatever. His mom'll just tell him to put a hotel room on the credit card and it'll be no big deal.
Now he's thinking about Caroline in a hotel room.
"I could think of some things," he tells her lowly, leaning in a little. He sets his hand on her thigh and feels her flex the muscle. She looks down, then back at him. Her eyes are dark again.
He's kind of surprised it's taking him this long to do anything. She's basically been telling him, since she told him Matt apologized, that he can do whatever he wants. Maybe not in so many words, but whatever. Words just get in the way. He's been hitting on her all night, and until she legitimately shoots him down, he's going to keep doing it.
"Stop propositioning me, Tyler," she says, casting a glance at him. His hand is still on her leg and she's not telling him to move it. Her hair is kind of in her eyes, so she pushes it back and keeps her eyes locked with his.
She looks kind of ridiculously hot right now. "Not until you say yes," he counters, one brow raised.
He doesn't think vampires are supposed to blush, so it feels really good that he just made her do it.
"What if I don't say yes?" she asks.
He can tell she doesn't really mean it.
"I don't really see that being an issue," he states confidently. "Do you?"
Her hand lands on his back, just below his shoulder blade, and the way she says his name again is what makes him kiss her. That and the fact that he really just wants to, and has wanted to, since the last time he kissed her. This is way better, though, because instead of her being surprised, she definitely expected it. She reaches up and puts her hand on the side of his face. Her fingertips brush the lobe of his ear and he moans into her mouth. He can feel her smiling because of it, and that just really doesn't seem fair. He needs to find something that'll make her let out the same noise; keep the playing field even. He pushes his hand up her thigh so his thumb is resting along the crease of her thigh and his fingers are splayed practically on her ass. She seems to like it, because she tries to move closer to him. It's impossible because of the way they're sitting in this stupid fucking booth, so he slips his free hand into her hair and swipes his tongue along her bottom lip.
"Tyler," she breathes, right before she opens her mouth to him and their tongues press together for the first time since they were 14 and locked in a dark closet.
She's obviously gotten better at this since then, but seriously, he doesn't know why they didn't do this sooner. He feels her teeth with his tongue. He's not sure if he's doing it just to see if she's having one of those 'urges' or what, but she moans into the kiss and he pulls away a little bit, grins as she rests her forehead against his and tries to catch her breath.
"Let's get out of here," he says to her, nudging his nose against hers a little, which makes her let out the sweetest breath, this little sound, and open her eyes for him.
"And go where?"
"Who fucking cares?" he answers automatically. She laughs a little, moves forward and presses her face against his neck.
"Your back seat is really small," she notes. He loves that she's already thinking that far ahead.
"The front one reclines."
She wrinkles her nose and pulls away, pushing at his shoulders. "Ew."
He rolls his eyes and reaches for his wallet, throws down enough bills to cover their tab and thumbs his credit card out. He holds it up between two fingers and she bites her bottom lip and smiles.
"Hotel?" he asks.
She takes a deep breath and slides out of the booth, grabs his hand and they walk to the door together. He shoots a wink to the waitress just for fun and doesn't give a damn if she rolls her eyes at him.
... ... ...
They've both called their moms and he's checked them into the hotel in town. It's not the nicest place, but it's not so bad. The room's clean enough and the bed is nice and big. And it feels like the best bed ever when Caroline lays down on it and gives him this look that basically makes him need to walk over and lay down on top of her. It feels really good when he does. He doesn't know how they never hooked up, and it took her mentioning it at the bar for him to give it much thought at all. He's been so focused on hooking up with her now, that he didn't think of something happening before.
Her back arches under him when he slides his hand up her body to rest on her chest, and honestly, if they fit together the way he's thinking they're going to, this is going to be incredible. He's starting to think he needs it. They're close, the two of them, but he needs them to be closer right now. It's been good, being her friend. She's been awesome to him and he likes to think he's doing something for her, too. They've got to start towards something more soon or he thinks he'll probably snap. For all he knows, this could just be a one time hookup. Then again, he wants to think he knows her well enough to know that's not really her style.
She bites at his lip a little, so he pulls away because honestly, he doesn't know if that's some kind of warning or whatever. She just giggles and fists his shirt in her hands, pulls him close and says, "God, this is such a bad idea," before kissing him again.
Feels pretty good to him.
He gets her shirt off her and honestly, the sight of her blonde hair all messy and laying against the pillow is probably one of the hottest things he's ever seen. She pushes his shirt up at his stomach, interrupting him from thinking about how fucking sexy she is, and he pulls the fabric up over his head. She bites her lip so hard he thinks she's going to break the skin, and her hands slide around his body to rest on his back as he lays over her again.
"You're so hot, Care," he tells her. He doesn't think he's ever said the words, and if he has it was when one or both of them was drunker than they are now and it probably didn't mean anything. "So damn sexy."
"This is going so fast," she says. Her lips are skating along his jaw as she says it, and he's doing the same to her.
"I can do slow if that's your thing," he says into her ear, tugging at the lobe with his teeth. She mewls and arches her hips a little. She shakes her head, though, so he pulls away and looks down at her. She does that thing where she runs her fingers over his forehead and through his hair. It reminds him of that other night they spent together. "What?"
"We shouldn't," she says nervously. He disagrees, but, you know. "I really want to, but it's probably stupid."
Now that he has a second to think about it, she's probably right. They should probably slow it down just a little and think about what they're doing or what they are or whatever.
"Okay." He goes to move, but she keeps him there.
"I didn't say stop everything," she says. She smiles up at him and licks her bottom lip.
He grins at her and tugs at a lock of hair before moving it off her shoulder. "You're gonna have to give me some guidelines, Caroline, because I can't just..."
She kisses him, probably to shut him up, and when he unbuttons her jeans she doesn't stop him. He doesn't know how far she's going to let him go, but he's pretty anxious to find out.
... ... ...
He wakes up to sunlight coming through the windows and Caroline sleeping next to him. Her shoulder and the strap of her bra are peeking out from under the covers as she lays with her back to him, and he rolls onto his side so he can get a little closer. He kisses the back of her shoulder and she doesn't stir. His hand moves down under the blankets to rest over her panties at her hip, and he closes his eyes, remembering how she felt around his fingers and how she'd wrapped her hand around him. Last night was really fucking good. He feels like a girl for wanting to know how she feels about it.
"You're breathing too loud."
He laughs and moves closer. "This is how I breathe."
"Are you trying to wake me up?"
He kisses her shoulder again, the side of her neck and the hinge of her jaw. "If I was it'd be like this," he says.
He stops, pulls the covers up over them both a little more, and closes his eyes. He's not really a cuddler, but whatever. She's hot and she's there, and he wants to. And he likes her, and she probably likes this, and he doesn't mind doing things that'll make her happy or whatever.
"What happens when we get home?" she asks as she weaves her fingers together with his over her stomach.
"You know what I want." He doesn't want to say it out loud when it's already obvious and she's playing dumb to try and get him to admit it.
"Me?" she asks quietly, almost laughing. He nips at the vein in her neck because he wants to. She gasps a little and looks at him over her shoulder.
"Yeah, you," he tells her.
She turns in his arms and kisses him before she's even really able to do it comfortably. She doesn't seem to care, and he doesn't either. He just steadies her with his hand on her hip and lets her tangle their legs together.
"I'm starving," she says, pulling away abruptly. There's a look on her face that's telling him she doesn't want pancakes and coffee.
"Right. Yeah." He lets her get up, but he watches her body as she does. She's sexy as hell, and he's really happy that she's kind of his. "You have anything with you?"
She shakes her head and shimmies into her jeans. "But I went out last night, and..."
"What?" he asks darkly. They're in a strange town and she went out in the middle of the night? What the fuck was she thinking?
She giggles and tosses his jeans onto the bed. "I can handle myself, Tyler," she says laughingly. "What are you gonna do, protect me?"
She probably means it as a joke (kind of a low blow), but whatever. He stands up and walks over to her, sets his hands on her hips and forces her to look at him.
"Yeah, I am," he says seriously, stroking his thumbs against her hips. She blinks as she looks at him, smiles a bit and lets him kiss her.
"Okay," she says after. "Get dressed."
She's impatient and craving, so he moves quickly. She goes off to do her thing while he checks them out of the hotel and walks back to his car in the parking lot of the bar. There's a diner across the street, so he picks up a couple cups of coffee while he waits for her.
She slips her hand into his as they drive back to Mystic Falls, and laughs as she says, "Don't worry. I won't let anyone see you doing this."
He shrugs his shoulder. To be honest, he doesn't really care what anyone else thinks about it.
Chapter: 1/1
Warning: R for language, I suppose.
Character: Tyler/Caroline
Summary: He's getting used to the way she looks at him like that, like she actually cares and stuff. He knows she does, but it's hard to really believe it because not many people do.
Word Count: 7,900
Disclaimer: Don't own.
He feels like he's 10 years old. Only maybe a 10 year old's body wouldn't feel like this; battered, stiff and bruised in places he doesn't have an explanation for, can't remember. He's popping Tylenol like Tic Tacs, for whatever good it's doing.
But he's still an idiot avoiding a girl. He should thank her. He wants to, he just hasn't figured out how to do it without sounding like a total douche. And he figures that if he talks to her, he should lead with the gratitude and if he doesn't she'll probably be pissed.
So yeah. Ignoring.
It's not really working. Mostly since Caroline is apparently the nicest girl on the planet and also practically fearless, if he's not totally crazy. 'Cause the other night was fucked up and she stayed with him anyway. And maybe she's not fearless, since he could see how fucking terrified she was. He wasn't really in any frame of mind to think about it then, but now when he relives that night, all he sees is the look on her face. She was so scared. Of him.
He hates that.
She smiles at him across the courtyard, waves a little, and all he can do is purse his lips and nod at her. He doesn't really get how she can just act so normal. Nothing is normal. Life isn't normal. This whole town is so far from normal. He's a werewolf and she's a vampire and how the fuck can she just smile and hug Bonnie and act like she's still just the ditzy cheerleader (well, former cheerleader now) who organizes every social function the school has? Everyone loves her, practically, which is fucked, because no one even knows her. He knows her. Or at least he's starting to.
He starts getting kind of annoyed, though, that she's not just coming to him. He didn't expect her to actually give him space, because she's Caroline and she doesn't even understand the concept. Or at least that's the impression he got from Matt when those two started dating or whatever it was they did. (Yeah, he knows it was a relationship or something, but he doesn't want to think about that. He's got more important shit going on.) Plus, she hasn't even left him alone since he told her and practically fucking cried in her living room. It's been nice having her around, but it's not like it was a choice. And now she's just over there doing her own thing, and he's thinking she should probably, you know, be near him. He's just kind of used to her now.
She taps him on the shoulder between fourth and fifth periods on Wednesday. It's been a few days and his body's a little less fucked up, but he still flinches until he sees her standing there behind him with an unnaturally perky smile on her face.
"Happy hump day!"
She looks and sounds like she's seven, but he's a teenaged dude and she just said 'hump', so he smirks at her and leans against the wall. He wants to say something kind of dirty, but she's basically his only friend right now and pissing her off is a bad idea.
"You're a weird girl," he says. Yeah, that's clearly better. He wants to hit himself.
She giggles and shrugs her shoulder cutely. It's like everything she does, she's trying to make everyone just totally think she's got the personality of a Cabbage Patch Doll.
He's seen her with fangs, so his opinion's gonna be a little different.
"How are you feeling?" she asks quietly. He's getting used to the way she looks at him like that, like she actually cares and stuff. He knows she does, but it's hard to really believe it because not many people do. "Are you going to be able to go to the pep rally?"
He laughs. "Coach'd kill me if I didn't. Besides, all I have to do is wear my jersey and look hot."
She rolls her eyes at him and shakes her head. She hitches her bag up onto her shoulder a little further. It tugs down her shirt a bit and he can see her collarbone. "Try not to hurt yourself doing that, Tyler," she says sarcastically. He chuckles quietly and turns back to his locker to get his things, then closes it. "But you're alright?"
"Still standing." It feels like the best response. Probably the most accurate. The warning bell rings and she touches his arm. Her hand feels cool, nice against his skin.
"I'll see you later, okay?" She starts backing away and he smiles at her, nods. "Get your beauty sleep!"
He breathes out a laugh and shakes his head, but he smiles for the rest of the afternoon, mostly. His head starts to pound in Algebra, and he isn't sure if it's because of the topic or the fact that this whole werewolf thing is a complete pain in the ass.
He hasn't thanked her yet. He's really gotta do that.
... ... ...
He's never really been all into the whole pep rally thing, but he's always put in an effort and pretended because it made his dad happy and his mom loved the hype. Now he cares even less, but he's one of the better guys on the team and his jersey has Lockwood written on the back, so he has to show up and act like any of it means anything at all.
Caroline isn't a cheerleader anymore, and it's weird to see her in just a plaid skirt and leather jacket (a strangely hot look on her). He saw her hanging posters for the rally, which is kind of pointless since the whole town knows about it anyway, but whatever. She looked happy so he didn't want to make fun of her for it. Things have been kind of heavy around them lately.
He's just walking towards the school when he sees Matt approach her. Okay, that's...Whatever. They can talk. They're friends or something, even if she says it's too hard to date him and Matt seems to still be mostly in love with her.
It's weird, though, because she looks like she's the same girl she was before everything went down. She looks too hopeful and like her whole day depends on whatever words Matt may or may not say to her right now. Then she looks away, towards the school, and when she looks back at Matt, she's kind of just blank.
Then Matt kisses her and Tyler has to clench his teeth together so tight they hurt.
... ... ...
He spends most of his day pissed off, and maybe he's not being a 'team player' or whatever when he goes to the Grill without everyone and grabs a burger on his own. He sits at the bar and flirts with the college girl pouring drinks, mostly because it's the closest thing to normal he's felt all day, not because he actually wants to be hitting on her.
All he can think about is what a lucky bastard Matt is to have gotten to touch Caroline like that and kiss her.
He feels like a fucking idiot for not realizing all this sooner.
He's not supposed to like her. She's abrasive and annoying and irritating as hell. Yeah, she's always been relatively nice to everyone (unless they weren't nice to her) and he never had a problem with her. Hell, he stuck up for her a couple times when people were talking shit about her.
But she's had his back like she's supposed to or something for these past few weeks, and when he thinks about it, yeah, it's kind of fucking natural for him to be a little attached to her.
What the hell's with her this week?
He's in the parking lot when he sees her. She's headed for the football field, but he doesn't want her to get there just yet. He calls her name before he realizes how dumb he'll sound yelling after her, and then jogs towards her. She smiles at him a little and he tries hard not to stare at the way her skirt swishes around her legs.
"Hi. Ready?" she asks.
He doesn't want her to change the subject, even if she doesn't know what the subject actually is.
"Saw what happened with Matt today," he says, arms cross.
She sighs and turns her head. "Tyler."
"He kissed you in front of everyone," he reminds her. It's not like she can accuse him of spying or something. "What'd he say?"
"Nothing," she answers. She finally looks at him, then closes her eyes. "A lot of things."
You know what? Fuck it. Matt had his chance, and if he'd shown her he could handle her at the time she might have had more confidence that he'd be able to do it after she turned. She might like to say she's protecting Matt, but Tyler thinks that's kind of bullshit and that she's protecting herself, too.
So he grabs onto her and looks her right in the eye. "I don't know why you've been hiding, but you can stop now," he says.
"I'm not hiding," she insists quietly. She looks down, almost like she wants to see his hands on her or something. "Things are complicated. Everything is just really complicated."
"Hey," he says. She looks up at him again and he moves closer. "You know you can talk to me."
"Not about this," she laughs bitterly.
"Why not?"
"Tyler," she whispers. She reaches up to brush the hair off her forehead. She's kind of just beautiful. "I can't...I just need..."
"Caroline." He just says her name because she said his. "Whatever you need, I'm right here."
He tries to bring her closer, but there are suddenly a lot of people around and she pulls away from him before he can do something she might hate. But if that look on her face means anything, he kind of thinks he has a shot.
... ... ...
He drives her home after. She came with Elena, who's leaving with Stefan, and Bonnie is hanging out with the new guy or whatever. Jeremy's pouting, which surprises absolutely no one since it's kind of his thing.
So Tyler just looks at her and jerks his head towards his car, and maybe she's not as happy about it as he'd like her to be, but she walks towards him and climbs in the passenger side. She rolls her eyes when she catches him looking at her legs. Not the first time, won't be the last.
"You're not very peppy," he notes about halfway to her house. He doesn't have the radio on because he's had enough noise for today and he assumes she has, too.
"I'm pepped out."
"Is that possible?"
She glares teasingly, but it basically just looks like a cross between her being asleep and making herself laugh. "Of course it is."
He'll just take her word for it.
He cuts the engine when he gets to her house. She looks at him, but he ignores that, because if he's the only one who's felt weird about them not spending all their time together this week he doesn't want to know it.
"I think I can make it," she says jokingly.
Whatever. She can joke all she wants, he's still walking her to her door.
He meets her on her side of the car. "You never know. I hear there's weird stuff going on in this town."
She laughs again, looks at him and raises her eyebrow. "Really?" she asks dryly.
"Can't be too safe."
"You're kind of a huge dork. Has anyone ever told you that?" she says, giggling as she makes it to her door, turns around and looks at him.
He thinks she only ever smiles like this with him and he's going to take that to mean what he wants it to mean.
And fuck it. He's pretty sure he's waited fucking long enough, and she looks way too hot right now, and she yelled his name at the rally earlier and whistled for him. She's being cute and joking with him like everything's normal and neither of them are what they are.
So he puts his hands on her cheeks and kisses her, and it's fast and hard, and he should probably be trying to make it less like that, but he doesn't even care because he's kissing her.
All he wants to do is push her inside and do a whole lot of things to her, and it's really messed up that all this has hit him so hard, so fast. He just wants her to himself. He's never been good with sharing and he sure as hell's never been good with sharing girls. He doesn't like to lose. He's not going to lose her.
She pushes at him a little. She's not being all crazy strong and getting him off her, but he moves back anyway. She's breathing hard and she yells something at him and practically stomps her foot before she slams the door on his face.
But he can still taste her mango lip gloss, so he's counting it as at least a partial win.
... ... ...
"Matt apologized for kissing me," she tells him during lunch. He's straddling a picnic bench and she straddles it, too, faces him.
He gives her a look. Matt's a fucking pussy. "I'm not about to," he tells her.
She licks her bottom lip, then bites it a little, steals his bottle of Gatorade and drinks some of it.
He thinks she wanted him to say that.
... ... ...
He's kind of torn between thinking the game is going to kill him and knowing he's strong enough to battle through it. Their opposition is relentless and Tyler plays his position well, but it still drags his body down, so by the fourth quarter he's finding it a little hard to breathe and he can feel his back seizing up. There's a second, where he's not fueled by adrenaline and the crowd roaring, that he wonders if he'll have to deal with this forever, this thing he is weighing him down and affecting everything else.
Then coach pats him on the helmet and he just takes a deep breath and sucks it up. He's not a whiner and he's not about to start with that shit. He is what he is and he's not going to let it mess with his real life.
Still, he thinks of wrapping his ribs after, when he's showered and mostly everyone's cleared out of the locker room. Sometimes his whole torso feels hollow, and sometimes it's the opposite. He doesn't know what the hell happened to him that night, not really, since he was so out of it, but he knows...Well, his body's fucked. He pulls on a shirt instead of reaching for a bandage, because he can handle a little pain and he's felt way worse. Once he's ready, he heads for the parking lot with his bag over his shoulder.
She's not the first hot blonde to be leaning up against his car after a game, but she's probably the best one.
"Hey," he mutters. He unlocks the trunk so he can toss his bag inside. She throws hers in at the last second before he closes it.
"Hey, Superstar."
She keeps talking like that and she's gonna get herself into trouble. "Say that again."
She laughs and rolls her eyes. "Let's go somewhere."
"Where?" He's got some ideas.
She shrugs one shoulder. "Anywhere. Let's...Let's go crazy! Let's get drunk or something."
He spins his keys on his finger and watches her for a second to see if she's joking. She's not. "There's the Caroline I know," he says.
It's kind of stupid, because he just knows her. It's not like there's more than one of her.
What he means is pre-blood-thirsty-Caroline-who-used-to-only-care-about-parties-and-sex. That's just a mouthful.
"Your place?" he asks.
She shakes her head and reaches for the passenger side door handle. "Trust me?" she asks.
He doesn't know if he should.
He just doesn't have a reason not to.
... ... ...
He doesn't know why they're driving so far if the plan is to get drunk. They'll have to get back at some point. She doesn't answer him when he asks her, just pushes a CD into the stereo and turns it up louder than it needs to be. She puts her feet on the dash and he notices how sexy her boots are. He kind of noticed earlier, but she wasn't sitting in his car then.
He slows down near a pub in the town closest to Mystic Falls, but she tells him to keep going and he doesn't know why. He points out that whole 'no drinking and driving' thing, and she just rolls her eyes and tells him he worries too much. Maybe so, but he's not really in the mood to relive that accident or something.
But he's thinking like a dude, so drunk Caroline on his hands, stranded in some shitty town sounds like not a bad idea.
Going to the town whose team he just helped beat is a bad idea. He drives right through it and she starts laughing in the passenger seat, but he doesn't totally know why. Whatever. He likes her laugh. She laughs like a seven year old, and it's way cuter than it should be.
He's a fucking werewolf and he's calling a girl's laugh cute.
He needs a beer.
The bar she picks is a total dive. Not that he minds, really, or that the Grill is some kind of high class place, but she's going to stick out like a sore thumb in this bar. He knows that already. And she doesn't want to see him jealous. She really doesn't.
He goes to get out of the car, but she's not moving, so he looks at her and she's biting her bottom lip and breathing kind of loudly.
"Okay, just a second," she says seriously, like he probably wants a warning for something.
Then she pulls a bag of blood from her purse and he really wants to laugh, because what the fuck?
"Really?" he asks. She tears the end of the tube off with her teeth, then smiles around her 'straw' as she drinks.
He's never watched her do this.
He knows his life is fucked up when he starts thinking it's kind of hot.
"Capri-Sun for vampires, huh?" She punches his arm (hurts, too) and finishes her little snack. "You done now? Can we drink like normal people?"
"Aww, you still think we're normal people," she says, batting her lashes at him.
He rolls his eyes and opens his car door.
She's still laughing when she catches up to him near the door of this bar. He realizes they don't have I.D., and since this isn't Mystic Falls and no one gives a damn what his last name or who her mom is, they're neither treated like royalty or like kids. The bartender nods at them and Tyler finds a seat near the back. The booth is small and the table is a piece of shit with stuff carved in it that he doesn't really care about. Caroline slides in across from him and she's dabbing at the corners of her mouth. He kicks her foot under the table, then winks at her to let her know there's no trace of her pre-drink, drink on her face.
A waitress who looks like she's done some hard livin' comes over, drops two coasters onto the table and stares at him until he orders a couple beers. He's known Caroline long enough to know she likes beer as much as the next guy. She's got her phone out, texting someone, and he feels weird. He shouldn't care, really, because it's just a text, but they're here alone and it's not like he can talk to anyone else until she's done. So he just crosses his arms and glares at her until she notices.
"What?"
"Who are you texting?" Part of him just wants to know it's not Matt, even if he doesn't honestly think it is.
"No one," she answers. Then adds immediately, "Elena."
"She and Stefan still...What are she and Stefan?" he asks.
Caroline laughs, but it's not really a laugh. It's more like this is a long story he either doesn't want to know or doesn't have the patience for. "They're...Stefan and Elena."
She doesn't explain any further, but he thinks he kind of gets it. Stefan's kind of a weird guy. Nice, but weird. He keeps to himself a lot and Elena used to be the queen of the school (and Caroline hated that). To be honest, Tyler doesn't really get why Elena's all wrapped up in the guy. He's kind of dark, and he makes her kind of dark. Not that he really knows much about her at all anymore, but he'd almost put money on her getting back together with Matt eventually.
He's not going to mention that to Caroline.
The waitress comes back with their drinks, and Caroline's is barely on the table before she's picking it up again and bringing it to her lips. He's watching her, mostly because she's hilarious, but partly because she's sexy.
"What?" she asks after taking a long drink.
"Guess we're not drinking to anything," he laughs. She rolls her eyes, hits the neck of her bottle against his as he holds it, and then takes another sip. "What's your rush?"
"The faster we drink, the faster we get drunk. That's kind of the way it works."
He smiles against his beer bottle and cocks his head. Makes sense, really.
"Shots?" he suggests.
She shakes her head, smiling at him. "Tyler, you know how I get when I do shots," she warns him.
He smirks at her, lifts his brows. "Yeah. Handsy." She kicks his foot under the table as she laughs. "Not like I mind."
She takes her bottom lip between her teeth and looks at the table, plays with her coaster and only looks at his face again when she's drinking her beer. "I'm sure you don't," she says quietly.
Good. At least she's not going to sit here and pretend he didn't kiss her. He doesn't love that she's sitting all the way on the other side of the table, but he can work with what he's given. He signals for the waitress and Caroline shakes her head the entire time he asks for four shots of Southern Comfort.
"Drink up, Barbie," he teases, pushing a shot glass towards her.
"You know, you're really lucky I don't despise you," she says as she picks up the glass.
Yeah, he knows that. Everyone's glad she's still sugar sweet. She's just about the last person he wants to piss off.
He clinks his glass against hers and raises it in the air just slightly, watches her wince as the alcohol burns her throat. For a chick who drinks blood to live he thinks it's funny that she has a hard time with a little SoCo. She's been drinking it for years, too. He knows because he's been the one smuggling it to parties and pouring for her.
"So, you played well tonight," she notes. She catches sight of the chalk board by the door announcing the day's specials. "Oh! Cheese fries!" He wants to laugh, but he just almost chokes on his beer instead. "We're getting some."
Their waitress hates them. He can tell. Caroline probably can, too, but she just says she wants a plate of fries, some ketchup and extra napkins. Oh, and two forks. Also, maybe some salsa.
"Jesus, Care," he laughs. The waitress gives him a look, almost like she's relieved he can get Caroline to stop talking. "You all set there?"
Caroline bites her lip and seems to think he's just asking, not making fun of her.
The waitress walks away without waiting for her answer. Caroline just shrugs her shoulder and drains the last of her beer. Good thing that was on her list of stuff she wanted.
They talk about the game and their night until their (her, really) food comes. She admits (doesn't mean to, but he decodes it) that she thinks he's a good player. He makes a comment about her just liking the uniform, and she just shrugs her shoulder and forks some more food into her mouth.
"I'm almost afraid to lose a hand."
"Shut up," she giggles, poking his hand with her fork.
He sets down his - he's not really hungry - and leans forward. "Does it really even matter?"
She shrugs. "It helps," she admits. They don't talk about it much, the details of her...being. "Besides, now I can eat whatever I want, because I can do a half hour workout in about a minute and twenty seconds."
"Lucky."
She scoffs, dabs at her lips with her napkin and eyes him across the table. "Yeah, you really have to complain, there, Ty."
He smirks. "Been looking?"
"You were practically naked in front of me."
He shouldn't smile, not considering what she's referring to right now. It's just that he's not exactly against her noticing that he stays in shape. "You were playing shy." She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. He pushes the second shot glass across the table, and she picks this one up without a fight. "Return the favour?"
Her jaw drops, but she's still smiling. "Shut up, perv!" she laughs. She tosses back her shot quickly, chases with her beer and blinks a few times. "No more shots."
He shakes his head at her as he smiles. "Shots until you grope me."
Caroline glares at him across the table but she's still grinning at him like she wants to laugh. "You have your credit card? It might take a lot."
He barks out a laugh. "Bitch."
"Jerk!" she shouts. She tosses a fork at him, and his reflexes have been heightened like crazy these days, so he grabs it from mid-air right before it hits him. He looks around to see if anyone saw that, but no one's paying any attention. "Nice grab."
This night is going to get messy. He can tell already.
Then she asks him for quarters to put in the jukebox, says the music here isn't very good (not really a surprise). He hands her five and watches her walk over and pick songs. She looks pretty excited about it. She glances over her shoulder at him and catches him staring, but she doesn't seem to mind at all that he is.
... ... ...
Her feet are up on his side of the booth as she sits across from him. She's lazily sipping her beer and they've been talking about basically nothing, but he can tell right now that she has something she wants to say. He narrows his eyes like he wants her to tell, and she just copies him until she's laughing.
"What?" he asks.
"Remember that time we almost hooked up?"
He laughs and looks at her like she's nuts. "Uh, no, because we've never almost hooked up," he draws out slowly.
"Seven minutes in heaven totally counts!" she argues. He rolls his eyes. "Jess Martin's 14th birthday party."
"Oh, my god. No, that doesn't count," he tells her. She's had a few beer and those two shots, and she's so hilarious and sexy right now. It's barely fair.
"Yes, it does," she says. There's really no room for argument. "I thought you were so hot."
"Yeah?" He grins at her and she nods.
"Shut up. Everyone did."
"So why didn't you let me put my hand up your skirt?" he asks. Seriously, if they're being candid, he wants to know. Because he remembers having a red mark on his wrist from where she'd grabbed it.
"Because you were a horn dog and you were supposed to be dating Kelly at the time."
He shrugs his shoulder. So what? They were 14. "So why won't you let me do it now?" he asks.
She looks down pretty much immediately, plays with the label on her beer and says, "Tyler," all quiet. Maybe he took it too far. "I'm wearing jeans," she says, looking at him from under her eyelashes.
Her eyes are all dark - like, too dark - and she turns her head so she's looking at the wall, puts her hand up so her face is shielded. He can just barely see her face changing, then she takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly and looks back at him after a few seconds.
"You okay?" he asks seriously. He knows it's stupid, since she is what she is and that is part of it, but he worries every time he sees it. Just like she's constantly worrying any time his eyes flash or whatever it is they do. He's never seen it, but apparently it's enough to freak out a vampire, so it can't really be good.
"Fine," she says, sitting up in her seat. "You just..."
She doesn't finish, so he leans forward and takes his beer in both hands. "What?"
She looks around, then looks at him, leans toward him and says, "You give me these urges."
He sits back against the booth, grins, and eyes her as he takes a sip of his beer.
He wasn't expecting that, but he definitely likes it.
... ... ...
She slides into the booth next to him when she comes back from the washroom. Her thigh is pressed against his and her shoulder brushes his. She pushes her hair off her face, sets her elbow on the table and rests her head on her hand so she can look at him.
"What?" he laughs. He feels like a lot of their conversations are starting this way. She shrugs her shoulder. She's so drunk. They're definitely not having any more. She's not. He's going to finish his beer.
"You ever think we'd be friends if it weren't for the," she turns her head, turns back to him and whispers, "extenuating circumstances?"
He laughs, mostly because she's hilarious when she's drunk and he's known this forever. "You'd still be with Matt."
"You'd still be an asshole."
"You'd still be obsessed with making everyone like you."
"You'd still pretend not to care when I know you really do!" she says, and she does it fast, like if she says it quick enough she'll have won whatever little game they're playing. "And I wouldn't be with Matt."
He scoffs. "Yeah. Okay."
"I wouldn't," she insists. She sits up straight, turns her body towards his so her knees bump against his. "He kind of wasn't nice to me." Tyler doesn't know what that means, but he really doesn't like the sound of it. "He just played me hot and cold a lot, you know? I hate that."
"You put up with it." He shrugs his shoulder. It's kind of all her fault, and why the fuck are they talking about her old relationship?
"Matt's a good guy," she tells him. Yeah, he knows that. He's been the guy's best friend for years. Everyone loves him. "He's just not for me. The...change just helped me realize it faster."
"Good," he says before he can stop himself. She gives him this little smile and downs the rest of his beer before he can stop her. "That wasn't very nice."
They both know if he was really mad, this situation wouldn't be nearly as playful, and she probably wouldn't still be sitting next to him.
"So?" she asks. "What are you going to do about it?"
It's ridiculously flirty and so is she, in general. They're having so much fun tonight, just hanging out. He's basically forgotten about not having a way home and everything, and his mom will flip. He knows Caroline's will, too, but whatever. His mom'll just tell him to put a hotel room on the credit card and it'll be no big deal.
Now he's thinking about Caroline in a hotel room.
"I could think of some things," he tells her lowly, leaning in a little. He sets his hand on her thigh and feels her flex the muscle. She looks down, then back at him. Her eyes are dark again.
He's kind of surprised it's taking him this long to do anything. She's basically been telling him, since she told him Matt apologized, that he can do whatever he wants. Maybe not in so many words, but whatever. Words just get in the way. He's been hitting on her all night, and until she legitimately shoots him down, he's going to keep doing it.
"Stop propositioning me, Tyler," she says, casting a glance at him. His hand is still on her leg and she's not telling him to move it. Her hair is kind of in her eyes, so she pushes it back and keeps her eyes locked with his.
She looks kind of ridiculously hot right now. "Not until you say yes," he counters, one brow raised.
He doesn't think vampires are supposed to blush, so it feels really good that he just made her do it.
"What if I don't say yes?" she asks.
He can tell she doesn't really mean it.
"I don't really see that being an issue," he states confidently. "Do you?"
Her hand lands on his back, just below his shoulder blade, and the way she says his name again is what makes him kiss her. That and the fact that he really just wants to, and has wanted to, since the last time he kissed her. This is way better, though, because instead of her being surprised, she definitely expected it. She reaches up and puts her hand on the side of his face. Her fingertips brush the lobe of his ear and he moans into her mouth. He can feel her smiling because of it, and that just really doesn't seem fair. He needs to find something that'll make her let out the same noise; keep the playing field even. He pushes his hand up her thigh so his thumb is resting along the crease of her thigh and his fingers are splayed practically on her ass. She seems to like it, because she tries to move closer to him. It's impossible because of the way they're sitting in this stupid fucking booth, so he slips his free hand into her hair and swipes his tongue along her bottom lip.
"Tyler," she breathes, right before she opens her mouth to him and their tongues press together for the first time since they were 14 and locked in a dark closet.
She's obviously gotten better at this since then, but seriously, he doesn't know why they didn't do this sooner. He feels her teeth with his tongue. He's not sure if he's doing it just to see if she's having one of those 'urges' or what, but she moans into the kiss and he pulls away a little bit, grins as she rests her forehead against his and tries to catch her breath.
"Let's get out of here," he says to her, nudging his nose against hers a little, which makes her let out the sweetest breath, this little sound, and open her eyes for him.
"And go where?"
"Who fucking cares?" he answers automatically. She laughs a little, moves forward and presses her face against his neck.
"Your back seat is really small," she notes. He loves that she's already thinking that far ahead.
"The front one reclines."
She wrinkles her nose and pulls away, pushing at his shoulders. "Ew."
He rolls his eyes and reaches for his wallet, throws down enough bills to cover their tab and thumbs his credit card out. He holds it up between two fingers and she bites her bottom lip and smiles.
"Hotel?" he asks.
She takes a deep breath and slides out of the booth, grabs his hand and they walk to the door together. He shoots a wink to the waitress just for fun and doesn't give a damn if she rolls her eyes at him.
... ... ...
They've both called their moms and he's checked them into the hotel in town. It's not the nicest place, but it's not so bad. The room's clean enough and the bed is nice and big. And it feels like the best bed ever when Caroline lays down on it and gives him this look that basically makes him need to walk over and lay down on top of her. It feels really good when he does. He doesn't know how they never hooked up, and it took her mentioning it at the bar for him to give it much thought at all. He's been so focused on hooking up with her now, that he didn't think of something happening before.
Her back arches under him when he slides his hand up her body to rest on her chest, and honestly, if they fit together the way he's thinking they're going to, this is going to be incredible. He's starting to think he needs it. They're close, the two of them, but he needs them to be closer right now. It's been good, being her friend. She's been awesome to him and he likes to think he's doing something for her, too. They've got to start towards something more soon or he thinks he'll probably snap. For all he knows, this could just be a one time hookup. Then again, he wants to think he knows her well enough to know that's not really her style.
She bites at his lip a little, so he pulls away because honestly, he doesn't know if that's some kind of warning or whatever. She just giggles and fists his shirt in her hands, pulls him close and says, "God, this is such a bad idea," before kissing him again.
Feels pretty good to him.
He gets her shirt off her and honestly, the sight of her blonde hair all messy and laying against the pillow is probably one of the hottest things he's ever seen. She pushes his shirt up at his stomach, interrupting him from thinking about how fucking sexy she is, and he pulls the fabric up over his head. She bites her lip so hard he thinks she's going to break the skin, and her hands slide around his body to rest on his back as he lays over her again.
"You're so hot, Care," he tells her. He doesn't think he's ever said the words, and if he has it was when one or both of them was drunker than they are now and it probably didn't mean anything. "So damn sexy."
"This is going so fast," she says. Her lips are skating along his jaw as she says it, and he's doing the same to her.
"I can do slow if that's your thing," he says into her ear, tugging at the lobe with his teeth. She mewls and arches her hips a little. She shakes her head, though, so he pulls away and looks down at her. She does that thing where she runs her fingers over his forehead and through his hair. It reminds him of that other night they spent together. "What?"
"We shouldn't," she says nervously. He disagrees, but, you know. "I really want to, but it's probably stupid."
Now that he has a second to think about it, she's probably right. They should probably slow it down just a little and think about what they're doing or what they are or whatever.
"Okay." He goes to move, but she keeps him there.
"I didn't say stop everything," she says. She smiles up at him and licks her bottom lip.
He grins at her and tugs at a lock of hair before moving it off her shoulder. "You're gonna have to give me some guidelines, Caroline, because I can't just..."
She kisses him, probably to shut him up, and when he unbuttons her jeans she doesn't stop him. He doesn't know how far she's going to let him go, but he's pretty anxious to find out.
... ... ...
He wakes up to sunlight coming through the windows and Caroline sleeping next to him. Her shoulder and the strap of her bra are peeking out from under the covers as she lays with her back to him, and he rolls onto his side so he can get a little closer. He kisses the back of her shoulder and she doesn't stir. His hand moves down under the blankets to rest over her panties at her hip, and he closes his eyes, remembering how she felt around his fingers and how she'd wrapped her hand around him. Last night was really fucking good. He feels like a girl for wanting to know how she feels about it.
"You're breathing too loud."
He laughs and moves closer. "This is how I breathe."
"Are you trying to wake me up?"
He kisses her shoulder again, the side of her neck and the hinge of her jaw. "If I was it'd be like this," he says.
He stops, pulls the covers up over them both a little more, and closes his eyes. He's not really a cuddler, but whatever. She's hot and she's there, and he wants to. And he likes her, and she probably likes this, and he doesn't mind doing things that'll make her happy or whatever.
"What happens when we get home?" she asks as she weaves her fingers together with his over her stomach.
"You know what I want." He doesn't want to say it out loud when it's already obvious and she's playing dumb to try and get him to admit it.
"Me?" she asks quietly, almost laughing. He nips at the vein in her neck because he wants to. She gasps a little and looks at him over her shoulder.
"Yeah, you," he tells her.
She turns in his arms and kisses him before she's even really able to do it comfortably. She doesn't seem to care, and he doesn't either. He just steadies her with his hand on her hip and lets her tangle their legs together.
"I'm starving," she says, pulling away abruptly. There's a look on her face that's telling him she doesn't want pancakes and coffee.
"Right. Yeah." He lets her get up, but he watches her body as she does. She's sexy as hell, and he's really happy that she's kind of his. "You have anything with you?"
She shakes her head and shimmies into her jeans. "But I went out last night, and..."
"What?" he asks darkly. They're in a strange town and she went out in the middle of the night? What the fuck was she thinking?
She giggles and tosses his jeans onto the bed. "I can handle myself, Tyler," she says laughingly. "What are you gonna do, protect me?"
She probably means it as a joke (kind of a low blow), but whatever. He stands up and walks over to her, sets his hands on her hips and forces her to look at him.
"Yeah, I am," he says seriously, stroking his thumbs against her hips. She blinks as she looks at him, smiles a bit and lets him kiss her.
"Okay," she says after. "Get dressed."
She's impatient and craving, so he moves quickly. She goes off to do her thing while he checks them out of the hotel and walks back to his car in the parking lot of the bar. There's a diner across the street, so he picks up a couple cups of coffee while he waits for her.
She slips her hand into his as they drive back to Mystic Falls, and laughs as she says, "Don't worry. I won't let anyone see you doing this."
He shrugs his shoulder. To be honest, he doesn't really care what anyone else thinks about it.