What She's Not Saying

Untitled Part 1

Heels clicking lightly against the lacquered floor, Candice walked across the floor into a sea of screaming voices. The warm lights illuminated her radiant skin, complimenting the brilliant smile she adorned. In the background, she heard her own voice emitting from the clip they had extracted from The Vampire Diaries.

An exhilarating rush surged through her, causing more heat to circulate through her bloodstream.

She had grown fully accustomed to interviews by now, but finding herself on one of her favorite talk shows was surreal. It was one of those moments where she found herself pausing and realized that she really was living her dreams.

Ellen Degeneres was even more stunning in person. Her heart raced as she embraced the legendary talk show host, her toothy grin stretching wide across her face.

"Hello! Welcome, Candice! We're so glad to have you on the show," Ellen greeted her enthusiastically as they both took their seats.

Candice smoothed down her fitted pink dress, taking her seat on the cushioned chair. "Thank you so much, Ellen! It's an honor, really. I love the Ellen show. I watch it all the time."

"Well, thank you so much. We love you too," she praised. "And may I just say that you are the most adorable thing ever. You are like a real life Barbie doll. Didn't... didn't they call you something like... 'Vampire Barbie' on the show?"

The actress felt her cheeks warm, a coy smile on her lips. "Yes... Damon would call Caroline 'Vampire Barbie.'"

Ellen then proceeded to questioning her about her time on The Vampire Diaries, which had wrapped up over two years ago. She elucidated on the tight-knit family the cast had formed during their seven years together. Leaving each other had been extremely difficult at the time. Living in a city where your coworkers were the only family you had, made it very easy for them to slip into a codependent relationship with one another. She had grown up and learned so much from her time with The Vampire Diaries, and it's an experience she wouldn't trade for the world.

"Speaking of your former cast members, I see that you've been spending quite some time with one in particular..." Ellen wore a cheshire smile, an all-knowing look in her eyes.

Candice opened her mouth to respond, but broke into the fit of giggles she was furiously trying to suppress. She could not for the life of her take Ellen's face seriously. "Um... I don't... I'm not sure what you mean... Uh... no one in particular is registering at the moment..." She toyed with one of the blonde curls framing her face.

"Oh, really?" Ellen asked, guilelessly. Abruptly, the audience burst into a fit of laughter, pointing at the screen behind the two women. "You haven't been caught in any foreign entanglements recently? You haven't driven any hybrids recently? Have you uh... gone out for tea lately?"

She clapped her hands over her mouth, trying to stifle her raucous laughter. Her entire face turned bright red and hid her face towards her knees. When she lifted her head back up, she saw the screen from the corner of her eye: it was a sideshow of a variety of pictures of none other than Joseph Morgan, his face blown up on the screen and others where paparazzi had taken candid pictures of them, or ones from her Instagram.