Who: Tyler and Caroline What: Running into each other for the first time after five years When: Yesterday Where: The mall Ratings/Warnings: Low/none Status: Complete
It was hard not to think about wedding plans and engagement rings when one of Tyler’s best friends, from the same dream world, had popped the question over the Christmas holidays. He knew that, because he’d run off without a word for four months during the summer, he and Blossom weren’t there yet. Maybe they could have been - they’d started dating not too long after Stefan and Bubbles - but they weren’t. They didn’t even live together - yet again something that was entirely Tyler’s fault.
But knowing that they weren’t there yet didn’t mean that Tyler couldn’t take a look at the engagement rings while he was out and about anyway. Whether they were ready to get married or not, Tyler already knew that he wanted to spend the rest of Blossom’s life with her, if she’d have him. And if he just happened to stumble across the perfect engagement ring, the one that screamed Blossom - well, it would save him a trip somewhere down the line.
Caroline had only been back a matter of days. So far all her time had been spent with her mother. Liz was the main reason Caroline was back. Okay, she was the reason Caroline had moved back home. There was no way she was going to let her mother go through this alone. However, in true Liz Forbes fashion she insisted her daughter had a life outside of just taking care of her.
Caroline had applied to a few jobs already hearing back about interviews. Her resume was impressive after all. But interviews meant new outfits. Shopping was one of Caroline’s favorite pastimes and her mom did tell her to take the afternoon to pamper herself. So shopping for the perfect interview outfits it was (not that Caroline didn’t already have ten at home.)
After finding two new outfits she decided to stop in a jewelry store. The right accessories could really make an outfit after all. Stepping inside the store she had to stop. Was that?
No, it couldn’t be.
But it was. Tyler Lockwood, her first time, first love, only love looking at engagement rings. She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment, hell even jealousy. But that wasn’t going to stop Caroline from greeting her ex. She plastered her mega-watt smile on her face and walked up to her former love. “Who’s the lucky girl?”
It had been nearly five years since the last time he’d seen Caroline, but as soon as he heard the voice, he knew who it was. Granted, he had both seen and heard quite a bit of her in the dreams, and those he still had frequently.
But he was surprised to see her. So much so that he’d nearly forgotten. She was a little older than he remembered - he hadn’t seen her since she was eighteen and her dreamself had stopped aging at 17, but she was still the Caroline that he knew and loved.
“Oh my god, Caroline?” Tyler exclaimed, surprised. He stepped forward and hugged her, her question forgotten in the excitement of seeing her again. “What are you doing back here? Have you been here long?”
Of course Caroline returned his hug. However her question was not forgotten. Who could possibly get Tyler to get down on one knee? She had to be pretty special. Still, answering his questions first.
“About a week,” she replied that smile still on her face, a bit more genuine now after seeing Tyler’s excitement. But then in faltered. “My mom’s sick,” she answered honestly. Tyler had never been particularly close with his mother but he still deserved to know. “So here I am. Now, spill! Who’s the girl?”
“Liz?” Tyler asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “What’s the matter?” He hoped it was something passing that had only brought Caroline back for a week, but he had the feeling that wasn’t it. He’d dreamed already of Liz’s death, and the dreams often mirrored real life more than he would have liked.
He couldn’t ignore her question. He didn’t particularly want to avoid it in the first place, but it was a little awkward to talk to Caroline. “Her name’s Blossom,” he said, giving Caroline a bit of a smile. “Though, I’m not planning on buying a ring right now. I was just looking. Seems like everyone I know has been getting engaged lately?”
The smile completely left her face as she talked about her mother. “Cancer,” she replied swallowing the lump in her throat. Caroline couldn’t bring herself to say what kind of cancer, or that the doctors were calling it terminal. Hell, she could barely get out the word cancer.
“She must be pretty special,” Caroline said forcing a smile on her face, pushing aside her jealousy. “I’m happy for you,” a lie. “Even if you’re just looking.”
Tyler took Caroline in his arms again, gentler this time. “I’m sorry,” he said. Caroline didn’t need to tell him it was brain cancer, or that it was terminal. He already knew all of that. He didn’t want to make her cry in the middle of the store, so he didn’t hold her for long. “What are you doing right now? Want to head to the food court and grab some ice cream?”
The hug felt nice. Needed. Caroline always tried her best to stay optimistic, look on the bright side of things. And she didn’t like other people worrying about her. But with Tyler, it was okay.
“Yeah,” Caroline agreed with a small nod. “Ice cream sounds good right now.” She could always shop later, comfort food was definitely needed at the moment. “You can catch me up on what you’ve been up to for the past five years,” she added trying her best to sound chipper and take the subject off the depressing news of her mother. “How was Duke?” she asked as they made their way out of the store towards the food court.
Tyler led her out of the jewelry store with a comforting hand on her back, though he dropped it once they were out of the store. “Duke was good,” Tyler said. “Though I wound up graduating from UCI in the end. I've got my own place now, too.” There was a lot over the last five years, specifically over the last two years, that had happened. He wasn't sure exactly how to go about bringing it up though. Maybe it was better if he didn't. She was dealing with enough as far as her mother was concerned, and she would probably think he was nuts right now anyway. “How was Cornell? Graduated with honours, I assume?”
Caroline was a lot smarter than she let on in high school. Tyler though, he knew just how smart she was and how much she actually cared about her grades. So it was no surprise that he correctly guessed she graduated with honors. “Of course,” Caroline beamed proud of herself. “New York was amazing.” It was hard to leave too. But her mom meant more to her than anything else.
But back to Tyler. “Why’d you leave?” Duke she meant. Obviously. “What are you doing now?” Career wise she meant.
“I always thought you'd do well in New York,” Tyler said. As glad as he was to have her back in the OC, he felt bad that she had to give up her life in New York.
“I got kicked off the football team,” he said, little sheepishly. He still wasn't proud of sending one of his teammates to the hospital. “Since the whole point of college was to play college ball, I thought I'd come back home and play for UCI. I'm a personal trainer now. And occasionally I moonlight as a bouncer at Damon’s club.” Hardly glamorous career choices, but he had trouble thinking of a career as something important when he was a vampire-werewolf hybrid, dating a superhero, and sired to a psychopath.
That caused an eyebrow raise from Caroline. Tyler was the star of the team back in high school. While she knew college football was different he was still a good player. What could have possibly gotten him kicked off the team? “How?” she asked unable to hide her curiosity.
They reached the food court, Caroline ordered herself some mint chocolate chip ice cream with hot fudge. Yum. “You know, if I keep eating like this,” she commented after she placed her order. “I’m going to need a personal trainer. Think you can whip me into shape?”
“I uh… broke our QBs jaw,” Tyler said, hoping that Caroline wouldn’t ask him why. He was even less proud of the fact that the reason they’d been fighting was because Tyler had been fooling around with the guy’s girlfriend. There was not a single way to explain that where Tyler didn’t come off as the bad guy. Which, in that case, he most decidedly was.
He ordered himself a strawberry ice cream, and stepped back to eye Caroline up and down. “Well, I’ve got my work cut out for me,” he teased, “but I think I can manage.”
Caroline could feel her cheeks redden when Tyler looked her over. “Shut up,” she replied with a laugh.
Their ice cream was ready Caroline paide for both orders. Once they were sitting down Caroline brought up Duke again. If Tyler thought she was going to forget or not question her on it, well then he didn’t know her at all. “So, you broke the quarterback’s jaw…” she stated leaving it open-ended for Tyler to fill in the blank while she took a bite of her ice cream.
“And I got kicked off the team,” Tyler repeated, taking a spoonful of his ice cream.
“Yes, I got that,” Caroline replied with an eye roll taking another spoonful of ice cream. Was she really going to have to drag it out of him? “But why did you break his jaw?”
Tyler gave an exasperated sigh. He was hoping that Caroline would drop it, but apparently that was too much to ask. “Because I was sleeping with his girlfriend and he interrupted my pool game. Look, Care, I’m not proud of what I did. I was a different person then.” Or, well, the same person this Caroline knew. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
Caroline frowned, disappointed. Tyler slept with some guy’s girlfriend and then broke his jaw? She couldn’t help but feel bad for the QB who had been completely screwed over. But Tyler seemed genuinely remorseful. And it had been a long time ago. She couldn’t really hold it against him. “Oh,” was all Caroline said shoveling more ice cream into her mouth.
Tyler didn’t like seeing that look of disappointment in him in Caroline’s eyes. He’d seen it enough in the dreams. “See? This is why you shouldn’t pry,” he teased again, smiling. “But hey, I ended up MVP after transferring to UCI.” And hey, if he got it because of his werewolf strength and speed, he deserved it after all those transformations.
“Congrats,” Caroline said still a bit on the disappointed side but she forced a smile back on her face. “Looks like it all worked out for you.”
Tyler tilted his head up and to the side, a wry smile on his face as though he wanted to say something. Things could be worse, but he could hardly consider all of this ‘all worked out.’ He was stuck with his sire bond for good now. And now that Caroline was in town… He’d have to keep them apart.
“Hey, things in New York must have been pretty good to. What have you been up to the last five years?”
It had been five years, but Caroline still knew that look. There was something that Tyler was holding back. It caused another brow raise but she left it at that. She had already done enough prying for one day and it hadn’t turned out all that well.
“Well, school.” That of course was obvious though. “I got an internship at an event planning company my last year and ended up being offered a job.” She couldn’t help but beam, proud of her accomplishment. “Then I had to quit to come back here. My boss was pretty understanding though. Wrote me a nice letter of recommendation.” She didn’t tell Tyler about the interviews though. She didn’t want to jinx herself. Or even worse not get a job and have Tyler know about her failure. Instead she paused, debating whether or not she should add what she was about to say. “No boyfriends though, nothing serious anyway.” Not since him.
“Event planning?” Tyler asked. “Huh. I always thought you’d get into newscasting.” Well, not always, but that’s what she had ended up doing in his dreams. If he thought about it though, event planning was kind of perfect for Caroline.
He couldn’t help but feel a little smug hearing that she hadn’t had any serious boyfriends. After they’d broken up, Caroline had gotten engaged to two different guys, where he’d only managed an on-again-off-again girlfriend who he’d ended up needing to kill. And while he would never, ever wish that upon Caroline, it felt pretty good to beating her in the relationship department right now. He tried not to look too pleased. “Well, I’m sure when you find one it’ll be epic,” he said instead.
“News casting?” Caroline replied a bit shocked. “What like ‘This is Caroline Forbes reporting to you live from Times Square’?” She even did her best mock news casting voice. Choosing to focus on that instead of her love life, or lack there of.
Tyler laughed at her impression. “Yeah, exactly like that,” he said. “I bet you’d be good at it.” Technically, he knew that, since he’d watched his dream Caroline on the news enough times.
“Well, thanks,” Caroline said blushing again as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “But I think I’m good with event planning.”
“I’ll have to pass your name on to my parents,” Tyler said. Caroline knew how they loved to throw big parties, especially to help raise donations for his father’s campaigns, and his mother had liked Caroline. “That is, if you’d want to.” Caroline also had an idea of what his parents were like when they weren’t out in public.
“Of course! Thanks!” Yes, Caroline knew how Tyler’s parents could be But it would be good experience. Especially working with difficult clients.
“Great,” Tyler said, finishing up his ice cream. He pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time, and then frowned. “But I’ve got to run. It was great running into you though. Here, give me your phone.”
Caroline couldn’t help but frown herself. She didn’t exactly want Tyler to go. But she couldn’t exactly protest. Besides she should be getting back to her mom anyway. “Sure,” Caroline said handing her phone over so Tyler could enter his number. At least she assumed that was what he wanted to do.
That was what Tyler was planning on doing. “When you get a job, let me know and I’ll pass your stuff on to my mom. Though we should definitely get together before that sometime. Just whenever you have free time, let me know. I don’t have too much going on.” Assuming Klaus didn’t want him for something.
Clearly he did have stuff going on though. He had two jobs and the serious girlfriend. While Caroline, all she had was her mom for the time being. As much as she wanted to see Tyler again she wasn’t all that sure about reaching out to him. At least not until she had a job. “Thanks,” Caroline said as he handed her back the phone. She quickly sent a text so he’d have her number too. “Well, I’ll let you get going. See you soon.” Hopefully.