I'll Be Your Last

The Game Plan

The next morning I woke up early, looking forward to the day. Getting out of the mansion, shopping. A day with Rebekah and Klaus.

And I had kissed Klaus last night. How exactly was I going to handle that today?

As I got dressed in a baby blue sundress and my most comfy sandals, August was a lot hotter here than back in Virginia, I mentally went over every moment of last night. Maybe the champagne was to blame for me telling him my secrets, admitting to my insecurities.

I started on my hair, shaking my head at myself. Klaus should be the last person I’d want to confess anything to, right? If he ever turned on me, he’d use everything he knew about me to exact cruel revenge. It was his specialty.

I stopped, running my fingers along my lower lip, remembering that kiss. I’d initiated it, sitting there hanging on every word he said about how he would have pursued me in the days he’d been human. What had I been thinking? The only thing I knew for certain was that I hadn’t been kissed like that in my entire life. It had been a gentle, romantic kiss and the sheer emotion he poured into it had devastated me. Did he kiss like because he’d been around for a thousand years? Or was it just for me?

Most of the guys I’d kissed in my life? Kiss meant sex. Last night? The kiss had been all he expected. It wasn’t a preamble for sex… At least I didn’t think it had.

I was clearly out of my league here. And I’d be spending the day with Klaus and his sister in Baton Rouge.

Well, it would be interesting.

I finished getting ready and made my way down the stairs. Elijah waited for me at the bottom of the stairs, smiling.

“Good morning, Caroline.”

“Good morning.” I told him. “Are you going with us after all?”

“No, I have something else to attend to. May I have a word with you outside?” he asked, extending an arm to me. It was an old-fashioned gesture that Klaus also used sometimes. I took his arm and he led me through the house and out into a beautiful garden. We came to stand beneath a wrought iron archway. Morning glories wound around it on either side, twisting with ropes of ivy. It was a peaceful place.

“My brother is in an extraordinarily good mood this morning, Caroline,” Elijah began. “Knowing him as I do, I have every reason to believe you are the source of his happiness.”

My mouth dropped open but he held up a hand before I can say anything. “I have no idea what transpired between you. I wasn’t trying to listen.”

“Okay,” I said, feeling relieved.

“Have you given any thought to what we discussed?” he asked me.

I nodded. “Yes.”

Elijah seemed surprised at my monosyllabic answer. He was about to say something else, when I shook my head.

“Yes. Yes I’ve thought about it and I’m more confused than ever,” I told him, feeling my frustration grow by the second. “You know, I’ve been with Tyler for a while now. We’ve been through a lot together. And while I love him, there’ve been times that he asked me to understand while he put something else – or someone else – first. I let it go when I found out about his relationship with Haley. He couldn’t stay with me when I found out about Bonnie because he was on some mission with Stefan to bring her back. And on top of everything, he’d stayed away all summer, even though I told him that Klaus had allowed him to come back to Mystic Falls. But no, he’s not crawling back because Klaus allowed it. He’s going to show him. He didn’t even think about how I felt about any of it. I don’t even have a way of finding out what’s going on right with him. Them.”