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It's been a long three years since Caroline last called Klaus Mikaelson her best friend. The time, brought on by high school and his father forbidding him from being friends with her any longer, has done what they always say. It's made her heart grow fonder, somehow.
She wishes that weren't the case. She wishes that her heart had grown cold to him and his silence. But the random times they see each other at school is enough to have her pining after him even though she knows nothing of him now.
Caroline looks down at her textbook, bored with note taking and thinking about him. Her eyes wander to the ceiling, to the crowds.
When their eyes meet across the lunchroom, she remembers things she'd rather not.
Like how adorable he was as a child, dressed in his Sunday best, rolling around in her front yard with his brothers. (His blonde hair was in disarray, but the smile on his face always made butterflies flutter in her stomach.) Like how he sat in her bed, eye blackened, drawing whatever she asked of him. (She knew it was hard for him to see, with one eye swollen shut. So she asked for things he could draw from memory, and when they weren't that great, she fawned over them like she always did.) Like how, when he was twelve and she eleven, he swore he would marry her. Like how he kissed her for the first time that day, her first and so far only. (It was barely a peck, but her whole body had flushed and she'd never forgotten the happiness in his eyes.) Like how, when she first saw him at the school, she waved and tried to talk to him. (She remembers him scowling, walking away without acknowledging her. When he tried to talk to her the next day, she ignored him. And now, she's a junior and he's a senior, and there's no chance of reconciliation.)
The thoughts turn her head, make her look back at her table and her friends. She can't look at him and think about those things, not anymore. The thoughts hurt, make her think of things stuck firmly in the past.
Katherine twirls her fingers in her hair, chewing gum and making eyes at any boy that walks by. Stefan is next to her, writing furiously into his diary, tongue sticking out in concentration. Bonnie sits across from him and next to Caroline, going over her agenda for the week, deciding what homework she'll do when she gets home.
Caroline knows that her old friend, in his dark little corner, is half-listening to another story Kol is regaling him with. She knows he's ignoring Damon and Elena, who are probably kissing for everyone to see, uncaring about the trouble they'll get in. He's also, if routine holds, staring at her. (As if she was the one to drop him, to ignore him, to pretend she didn't know him.)
Enzo drops his tray to the table as Kai Parker bumps into him with a snicker, sending his milk all over Caroline's notebook and on her dress. She blinks, noticing that Stefan's pulled his diary off the table, and Bonnie has napkins out already, patting her agenda and the notebook at the same time.
"Oh, Caroline, I'm so sorry. Some closet case bumped into me," he says, a little frantically. The insult leaves his mouth like a curse. He takes a napkin from Bonnie's endless bag. "Here, let me - "
And then Enzo's got his hands in her lap.
He's just trying to dry her off, she knows that. In fact, she's happy he's trying to help. Katherine and Stefan are just looking at the mess, like they can't be bothered to help. Enzo is usually right there with them, sometimes even laughing instead of passively watching. He and Katherine have a great time bumping elbows and making jokes when one of the rest of their friend group makes an fool of themself.
There's a second where Caroline is processing the fact that Enzo is touching her thighs (even through a dress, it's the first time a boy has touched her there since before puberty hit and it's more than a little shocking; it's also a little disappointing that it's not a certain person touching her there, but those thoughts are unbecoming of her). She's going to take the napkin from him and do it herself, but then Enzo's being pulled away from the table roughly.
Enzo's pushed up against the table next to theirs. Marcel and Camille, who were sitting there, flee quickly. He's sputtering something Caroline can't make out.
Klaus is there, shouting over him, "don't you dare touch her!"
He's the one who's got Enzo nearly bent backwards. Her ex-best friend, her ex-future husband, has one of her best friends so curved, he looks like a hotrod after a tree stops it in its tracks. She takes a second to mourn the gentle little boy he used to be, the one she knew so well. But after her second, she stops worrying about him and worries instead about her friend.
She stands quickly, stepping over the bench seat and rushing to Klaus' side.
"Klaus," she says, grabbing onto his leather-covered arm. She tugs, but he doesn't move even an inch. "Let him go. You're hurting him!"
Klaus turns to her, still so close to Enzo that the hands on her friend's chest are pressing him into the table. He looks her over as if concerned. Like he's trying to make sure she's okay.
"Yeah, cool it, Clyde!" Enzo shouts, making both Caroline and Klaus turn to glare at him.
"Shut your pie-hole," Caroline says, a little meaner than she wants. But if he keeps talking, Klaus will hurt him.
He nods and mimes zipping his lips.
Klaus doesn't stop glaring at Enzo, but to her, he grits out, "he was touching you."
"Yeah, Klaus, he was. He spilled milk on me and was trying to clean it up. It wasn't the smartest thing he's ever done, but he was only trying to help."
"Aww c'mon Care!" Enzo says, but he's ignored. And thank god for that, because Klaus is so angry, he really would punch Enzo's lights out.
"Just let him go, Klaus, please. There was nothing else to what he was doing." She tugs again on his stupid leather jacket, which contrasts with his good boy haircut. He doesn't have the Duck Butt that Kol, Damon, Kai, and all the rest did. It gives her hope, hope that she shouldn't have, that he hasn't completely turned his back on their conservative upbringing. That he'll come back to her.
Slowly, Klaus steps back. As soon as Enzo is upright, Klaus jerks forward, making Enzo shout in surprise.
"Get lost, nosebleed," Klaus hisses, and Enzo does just that. He's practically a blur as he hightails it out.
Caroline sighs, letting go of Klaus. She doesn't want to, truth be told - in the time they've spent in different social circles, he's grown firm in places he used to be soft - but she's still a good girl. No good girl squeezes the bicep of a greaser.
Kol cackles, showing off a Jelly Roll hairdo. Caroline absently thinks that it looks a lot better on him than the Duck Butt did. "Jealous, are we, Nik?" His smirk, one that is so familiar, is so wide, all the lines on Kol's face are showing.
Klaus glares, tense still. He looks like he wants to give Kol a knuckle sandwich. "Play dead, Kol."
Then, without warning, Klaus is pushing past the crowd, nearly knocking Tyler Lockwood to the ground. Caroline takes no time at all to hurry after him.
He pushes the doors open, Caroline right on his heels. As soon as they're out of the cafeteria, Klaus, face red with anger and what Caroline suspects is embarrassment, spins on his heel and demands, "what the hell was that?"
Caroline gasps, hand subconsciously going to her chest. "Excuse me? You're the one who almost pounded Enzo over spilled milk! Literally!"
"You think I believe that Caroline?" He nearly shouts, stepping closer so she's pressed up against the wall. "It's obvious that he was, I don't know, trying to wind your little ball of yarn."
Caroline's fists ball. She won't hit him, she will never hit him, but if he says anything else like that, she won't be responsible for her actions. (She doesn't care if his eyes showed regret the second the words left his mouth.)
"You could at least have the common courtesy to do that somewhere more private." He spits the words out, seemingly on a roll and unable to stop.
If there's one thing she hasn't missed about him, it's his temper and his propensity to use it as a defense mechanism.
She releases an angry breath, "I'd never let a boy do that in public! Much less before we were married!" Much less if it wasn't you, you unborn idiot!
A look of horror overcomes all anger of Klaus' face. The regret from before shines much brighter now. "So he was...was he hurting you?"
Her own eyes widen, and a deep blush makes her face red. "No, Klaus. No. He was just trying the keep my dress from staining. I promise."
Calmed down, they make eye contact. Klaus, after a moment, steps away, head lowered.
Caroline sighs, her eyes closing in displeasure. The first time she talks to Klaus since freshman year, and it's an argument. There's certainly no possibility he'll want to be her friend again, not now.
She opens her eyes, determined to not run back to her friends with her tail between her legs.
"Right-o, then, I'm just going to - "
A rough hand wraps around her wrist. She twirls around, wishing he would just let her split.
"I'm sorry I said that. I don't really think you'd...well, do that. And I'm sorry that I almost hurt your friend. I was just so worried that he was…" He shakes his head like he doesn't want to say what's on his mind. "But anyway, I - Caroline, I was wondering. Would you like to go out on Saturday?"
As soon as he says it, he flushes and looks away. Caroline feels her mouth drop open.
"I was serious about getting committed, all those years ago," he says, suddenly confident again. She feels a little dizzy at his mood swings. "I've wanted to go steady with you for years, Caroline. I can think of no one else I would want to be with."
She keeps staring.
He blinks nervously, shifting on his feet. "Let me take you out for a movie. I promise it won't be a passion pit," he says, trying to make her laugh. It doesn't work - she's so shocked over the 180 of the conversation. To go from Klaus accusing her of acting like Elena to him asking her out on a date? Her head is spinning.
It's not spinning enough that she can't flirt a little, though. She's been hoping for a moment like this for three years. She's dreamed of him asking her out - no way is she going to just stand there like an odd ball. "You've gotten better at apple butter, you know," she says, looking at him under her eyelashes.
"Is that a yes?"
Caroline thinks for only a moment - does she want to go on a date with the boy she's been trying to hide feelings for since they were practically in diapers? "Yes."