The Original Love Triangle

8. Just a Kiss

Chapter 8

Ariel POV

 

“Um, Niklaus,” I tapped him on the shoulder after he hugged this Caroline person.

“Oh, yes!” He turned to me, “Ariel, this is my, um, friend, Caroline from back in Mystic Falls.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” she sang.

“Hey,” I forced a smile onto my face. I remembered seeing Caroline around school, but had no classes with her. Klaus and her had been more than ‘friends’. I could tell by the way she showed up and hugged him. I took Klaus’ hand to try to give her a hint, “Elijah told me you were taking me out to dinner tonight. Is Caroline coming now?”

“I, um, well” he looked from me to her, from me to her.

“I was hoping she would tell us to go ahead and she’d stay behind. Instead she looked at me and smiled, “I’d love to”

“Oh, okay” I tried not to sound too bummed out that I would not get to be with Klaus alone.

“Caroline could even take you shopping after,” Klaus said, “She really likes to shop and she would love the centers here in New Orleans.”

“I think that’s a great idea Klaus!” Caroline kissed his ass.

I looked at the phone he had given me, “It’s five thirty, we should get going,”

Klaus gave us some of Rebekah’s fancy dresses to change into for our dinner reservation. I wore a short, tight form fitting black dress with a purple plaid bow tied to my left side and a heart neckline. I tried to walk in a pair of her stilettos, but kept falling, so I put on a pair with a shorter heal that were a metallic silver-black color and pinned a little bit of my blonde hair up, curling the rest. Caroline, ever-so modestly, wore a very low and extremely tight dress, that’s length reminded me of a long sweater I once had where I wore leggings under it. Unlike me, she could wear and walk in the stilettos, so she did.

We rode in Klaus’ car to the five star restaurant and were seated at a small round table as soon as we arrived. I was sitting to the right of Klaus with Caroline on the other side. Klaus must’ve knew the owner because he and Caroline, who was apparently a vampire, ordered a special drink, some type of alcohol with blood in it. Me, never really drinking before order a low-proof beer.

“You’ve been awfully quiet, are you okay?” Klaus asked me. I nodded, “What will you be having?”

“I think I’ll just have a salad with the veggie burger,” I said, after being a vegetarian for a few months I had to try my hardest not to order meat. I had no specific reason for that just that I liked animals so much and didn’t really care for meat.

“Are you sure you don’t want a stake like me?” Klaus asked. Then he must’ve remembered, “Oh, vegetarian, right.”

“Well I’m going to have a big juicy stake as well,” Caroline cuddled up to Klaus. I could see she was trying flirt with him. She made that abundantly clear since I saw her.

I shifted closer to Klaus, “So that painting you made for me, where are you going to put it, seeing that I am going to be your Rapunzel for a while?”

“I don’t know love.” He grabbed my hand.

“Klaus, I was wondering after your little charity case goes to bed, assuming she has a bedtime, maybe we could, you know” she raised her eyebrows. I just chugged the beer harder, not wanting to say something I’d regret. After the waitress came over and took our orders, I ran to the bathroom and tried to call Rebekah. When it went to voicemail, I tried Elijah.

“Hello” He spoke in his sweet English accent.

“Elijah?” I said dumbly, of course it was Elijah, it was his cell phone.

“Yes, Ariel,” he responded, “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay, yes, but there is something I need to ask you. About Caroline Forbes.”

“Caroline? She’s a friend, sometimes, of Rebekah’s”

“What is her history with Klaus?”

“Oh, well, Niklaus and her have had some moments together. Last I knew he was falling for her and her for him.”

“Okay, thanks Elijah,” I tried not to show my sadness.

“Goodbye Ariel, I will see you later,” he hung up before I could say bye. The only other person who’d do that to me was Ethan, who I really miss right now. I spent a little bit longer in the bathroom, then walked back to the table where I saw had already gotten the orders delivered. On my way back, I saw Caroline whisper something to Klaus, then feed him something from her plate. I rolled my eyes, Caroline, he’s not interested anymore. He likes me.  

I politely sat down at my seat, and started to eat my veggie burger, “My god this is good!”

“Really?” Klaus asked, “I didn’t think they were good. I just thought vegetarians ate them to eat them.”

“No,” I laughed, “Here.” I cut off a piece and fed it to him with my fork.

“That is good!” he remarked.

“So, after we eat, Caroline is going to take me shopping, acting like my bodyguard or something?”

“No! We’re just going to get to know each other,” Caroline interrupted.

“Well, you do have to pay close attention to her,” Klaus instructed. I sat there with a smug smile slapped on my face and ate the rest of my dinner in silence.  

“Caroline,” Niklaus said after he paid the bill, “Would you please go wait in the car? I need to talk about something to Ariel.”

She obeyed reluctantly. I looked at Klaus with a hint of annoyance on my face, “What? It’s clear you still have a thing for her. And don’t disagree.”

“Yes, but I have a bigger thing for you. Okay?” He kissed me, and when we break, I smile at him and nod.

When we got to the mall Klaus told us he would pick us up in the parking lot later one. Klaus gave me a credit card that I could use, so the first store I made Caroline go in was Hot Topic. She wasn’t too happy about that. I bought ten or twelve outfits, then we agreed on all the other stores.

“What do you think of Klaus? Is he good to you?” Caroline asked while we were in American Eagle.

“I think he’s nice, I mean when he’s not treating me like a prisoner, more like earlier today when he gave me the painting, then kissed me.” I half meaning let that slip.

“Oh, you kissed him?”

“No, he kissed me.”       

“Well, not to be rude or anything, but we had a past, and obviously have a connection.” She said in a matter-of-factly tone.

“Well, we do to, and he told me that he had a bigger thing for me,” I sassed. That was the last thing we said to each other because we finished and paid. I led the way back to the car, to show I was my own person and would not let her be my leader. When we got home, it was around ten so Klaus helped me get my things ready for bed. I kissed him, rather kissed him multiple times, good night. A few hours later I could not sleep, so I decided to go into Niklaus’ art studio and look around. When I got there, my feet bare from just wearing my no show socks, the light was still on, weird.

I was just about to open the glass door, when between the curtains, I saw Caroline sucking face with Niklaus. I let the knob go out of my hand, which made a louder noise than I suspected. My eyes started to well up, I could feel the heat rush to my face, so I ran to the door, grabbing my converse off the stairwell and grabbed my purse with the phone and my writing journal.

He lied to me. He does still love that bitch! I thought as I ran down the street, away from the prison I would be living in. I can’t take this. I just want to go home.