Best Friend's Brother // Klaroline High School AU

Thirty Four

Caroline collects her books, searching around the halls for any sign of Klaus. She finally spots him talking to Elena, who has a smile laced on her lips as he speaks. She can't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

What if the kiss meant nothing to him?

Her intruding eyes watch as the brunette laughs, hitting Klaus's shoulder in a seemingly playful way before the two separate with a wave goodbye. He makes her way over to her, noticing the way a small hint of blush lines her cheeks as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hey, you ready?" Klaus greets the girl, leaning on the locker beside her in an overly attractive way that Caroline can't help but to gawk at.

"Yeah. What were you talking with Elena about?" she asks him, unable to keep the question in anymore.

"Oh well I asked her if she wanted to go steady," he states.

Caroline nearly chokes on her own words, "w-what?"

Klaus turns to her, laughing, "I'm kidding, love. I told her we won't work out and that we should just stick to being friends."

She hits his shoulder as they exit the school building, unable to hold in her own giggles, "you're such a jerk."

"Why? Would you be jealous if I dated her?" Klaus teases the blonde.

She rolls her eyes at this, "no. I wouldn't care."

"Right," he nods, trying to hide a small smirk, and badly at that.

"Whatever. Where are we going?" she quickly changes the subject as they both climb into his car.

"Somewhere I always go when I need to think."

"And that is?"

"A park."

"A park?" she asks, unsure of why he would go to a park.

"Barely anyone goes there anymore. It's beautiful, though. There's a flower field beside it and the sunset is amazing," he explains to her who nods in response.

It takes about ten minutes for them to arrive, and Klaus is right- it's beautiful. The sun shines brightly across the flower field, the grass a bright green and the trees swaying slightly.

She breathes in the spring air, sighing, "it's beautiful."

"Come here," he guides her to a nearby tree, taking a seat under the shade.

It's weirdly relaxing, simply sitting and staring at pure nature.

"You're drawing?" she asks as he takes out a sketch pad, his pencil quickly tracing lines on the paper.

"Mhm, it helps me think," he states, his eyes fixated on the paper.

"What is it?" she asks, intrigued.

He smiles, "you'll see."

She rolls her eyes, watching him draw, not daring to speak. What is she supposed to say? That she liked that he kissed her? That it felt amazing and so right?

"I didn't regret it, Caroline."

His voice startles her, interrupting the silence.

"What do you mean?"

She knows what he means.

"Kissing you. I didn't- I don't- regret it," he restates, his eyes meeting hers before returning to the drawing.

She furrows her eyebrows, thinking hard about what to say. It's all so weird to her. How could she hate Klaus for months and now be kissing him? And liking it?

"I didn't regret it either," she finally decides is a good answer.

Klaus pauses, staring at her baby blue eyes, his heart beating unusually quickly.

"You didn't?" he asks as if not believing her.

Caroline frowns, "of course not."

Her eyes look out as the sun begins to fade, slowly dropping. The flower field is dropped in golden sunlight, now hitting Klaus's skin as well. His eyes, now much brighter than before from the sun, look towards her.

"I thought you would have hated me. That's why I ran out," Klaus explains, his voice unusually shaky.

His pencil resumes sketching, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Caroline watches fondly.

"Why would you think that?"

"I guess I'm not exactly used to people seeing the best in me. But you... you, Caroline, you make me a better person. You're the first person who believes that I'm not a terrible person as everyone seems to think. I admire you for that," he smiles slightly.

"I would never call you a terrible person. Anyone who says that doesn't know you- at least not like I do. And whether or not I want to believe it, you make me a better person too. I'm real around you. I can be myself. I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not," Caroline watches him intensely shade in the flowers on his paper. It's almost unreal how good he is.

"So what now?"

"I don't really know. I fear my brother would never forgive me if he found out something happened between us. He's quite fond of you after all," Klaus sighs.

"You know Kol likes me?"

"It's a little obvious," he chuckles.

Caroline shrugs, "I guess it is."

Minutes pass before she decides to speak again, "I could never ask you to ruin your relationship with Kol over me. You know that, right?"

"I know."

"You're just getting back to being friends again, Klaus. We can't risk that. Not now. Not over this," she sighs in defeat.

Of course she doesn't want that to be the truth, but it has to be. Kol and Klaus are just now getting along. If she ever ruined that, she could never forgive herself. Not to mention the fact it would break Kol.

"Okay then. He can never know about the kiss," Klaus states, finishing up his final few sketches.

"So there can't be anymore. We can't be anything more, Klaus. Not now, at least. It's for the better," she lies to herself.

"Friends?" he smiles, looking down at her and placing his pencil down as well.

"Friends," she nods.

"Good," he smiles, a hint of pain flashing in his eyes as he stands up, offering her help to stand as well.

"So you finished?" she asks, referring to the drawing in his hand that he's currently hiding from her.

"Sort of. It's not colored or anything and it's not my best work-"

"Let me see," Caroline nudges him.

He smirks, giving her the sketch. She gasps, staring at it.

It's a sketch of her, sitting in the field of flowers, the sun shining on her skin and her hair pulled back into a braid. The detail in it is amazing and she can't even fathom how he did this in the twenty minutes they were here.

"Klaus...this is amazing," she shakes her head.

"It's all yours. Keep it," he suggests with a small smile at the happiness it brings her.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

She doesn't know what she's doing before her lips land on his in the heat of the moment. He stands, shocked for a moment before he kissed back, holding her waist.

They pull away, breathless.

"This friends thing is going to be a lot harder than I thought."

• • •

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