Caroline Forbes is full of light (miss_mystic) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-11-07 21:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caroline forbes, peeta mellark |
Who: Peeta Mellark and Caroline Forbes
What: Caroline's turn to semi-stalk Peeta
Where: Mellarky
When: Backdated to earlier this week!
Rating: Low
Status: Complete
It had been over a week since Peeta had visited her at Baxter’s. And still no text. What the hell was up with guys these days? Okay so yeah it was just meant to be a one night stand. She was perfectly aware of that fact. But still, when a guy said he would text he really should text. Enough was enough, she was determined to figure out what the hell was going on.
She had the day off from work and decided to stop by his bakery. Walking inside she had to admit she was impressed, although she still preferred where she worked. Peeta was working behind the counter and Caroline took her place in line, an odd sense of deja vu falling over her. It was almost exactly like when he had walked into Baxter Bakery to see her at work, only reversed. Even though she wasn’t totally pleased with Peeta, her usual bright smile was on her face when she reached the front of the line. “Long time no text.”
A lot of stuff had happened in the past week since Gale suddenly appeared alive and well and in fact not dead. He had spent a lot of time trying to figure all that out and had completely spaced on texting Caroline back. So, when she walked into his bakery and approached his counter his face immediately paled at her comment. “Shiiiiiiiit,” he murmured softly, “I am so, so sorry, Caroline. This is the weirdest reason ever, but my best friend turned out to not be dead. The past week has been absolute insanity because of that. But hey, I’m so glad to see you. I know it doesn’t make up for it, but pick whatever you want and it’s on the house and I’ll take a break.” It was a small thing right now, but he realized that he should make it up to her because that was a horrible thing to do to her.
Caroline raised a brow in amusement as Peeta rambled on. It was a little difficult for her not to laugh. He was kind of cute when he was flustered. And yeah his reason sounded completely insane. “My best friend’s not dead either,” she replied both confused and intrigued. “I still remember to keep up my social life with everyone who isn’t her,” or him depending on which best friend you wanted to refer to, Caroline had a few but that wasn’t the point. “I kind of feel like I should be insulted,” she was teasing, but there was a hint of insecurity behind it.
“How about you pick? Surprise me.” Yes definite deja vu. But it was only fair. Besides she did want to see what Peeta picked out for her.
“No, I mean, we had a funeral and everything for him. His girlfriend said he died in a car accident, but in truth he was hiding out away from people who wanted to kill him. It was completely unexpected, so I’ve been so focused on that and here that I completely spaced,” his face fell when she said she felt insulted, but it took him a moment to pick up on the teasing tone in her voice. Hazel eyes flicked back up to her to check her face, “Don’t feel insulted. You’re the best thing I’ve seen all day.”
Maybe that would make her smile and forgive him a tiny bit. Gale’s reappearance had taken him by surprise and he had tossed a lot of things to the side when he found out. Now he was slowly getting back on track and he was thankful Caroline had shown up to remind him. “Alright, let me find something for you,” he commented as he walked over to his case and carefully considered. He grabbed a small cake and brought it over to her, “Mango mousse cake. I had some left over from a client’s order, so this isn’t something I make too often.”
If she had heard that story any place else she probably wouldn’t have believed it. But living in Orange County strange things happened all the time. Faking death and hiding out from killers probably didn’t even make the top ten. But still she could understand. If she had thought one of her friends was dead and then they suddenly weren’t? Yeah she would be distracted too. “That’s too insane of a story to make up,” she commented with a grin. “Glad to hear your friend’s not dead. Sorry you had to go to the funeral though.” That seemed a bit too elaborate for a fake death but if you had to really sell the story?
He was already forgiven. It wasn’t that big of a deal really. But that didn’t mean the teasing was going to stop. The cake looked delicious, good choice on his part. Not that she doubted his cake picking out skills considering it was part of what he did. “Do I look like a girl who eats a whole cake by herself?” she teased. Okay she did and she probably would but sharing with Peeta would be better and he did say he was going to take a break. “I think you should help me.”
“I don’t know what his girlfriend or he was thinking with having to put together a funeral, but it really sucked,” Peeta explained with a bit of a sigh, “But at least you agree that the story is too insane to make up. It’s the only real explanation about being around this place, I don’t understand it most days.” He was still a little annoyed at the whole fake funeral thing and honestly wish they had gone about it a different way, but Gale was back and that was all that mattered.
When she asked the teasing question he arched an eyebrow at her, “It’s a small cake. But I can certainly help you. I haven’t tasted it in a cake like this yet. I just threw together the cake and the mousse and decided to see what happened.” That was how a lot of things happened around here. He handed the cake over with a couple forks and then tossed his apron onto the counter behind him as he made his way from behind it to join her.
Caroline had a little bit of experience going to funerals for people who came back to life. Well in her dreams. But they had all actually been dead, not fake dead. But going through that in real life had to have been rough. And then to just learn that he was okay the whole time? “Yeah. Funerals don’t seem all that pleasant,” she replied as they made their way over to a table. “I’ve never actually been to one. Well not in real life.” It was an opening. If he was a dreamer he would get it. She had a feeling he was with his previous comment about not understanding ‘this place’. “Doesn’t make sense to have to go through that if it wasn’t necessary.”
Taking a seat she grabbed one of the forks from him, pausing before taking a bite. “Wait, you mean you don’t taste your creations? How do you know if it’s any good then?” She smirked finally taking a bite of the cake, but kept her expression neutral as she chewed, not showing just how delicious she thought the food was.
Peeta was smart enough to pick up on the comment, but chose to wait to comment until he sat down with her. “Try to keep it that way as long as you can. They never get any easier and none of them are any fun, despite the word being in the name,” he was speaking from his military experience on that one. So many funerals and even for people he barely knew, but you always stayed together at those things.
Peeta watched her carefully and chuckled, “I know what the mousse tastes like that and the cake, but not together. But since both taste good on their own and I am an amazing baker I know that it will probably taste good together. So, I noticed a comment you made earlier. Are you on Valarnet?” He knew it was impolite to bother someone with food in their mouth, but who cared.
Considering the fact that Caroline was going to live for like ever (unless someone set her on fire, staked her or decapitated her) she was pretty sure she would be going to her fair share of funerals in her existence. But that was different. “You’ve been to a lot?” that didn’t sound pleasant and definitely not fun. But Peeta seemed to have a good attitude about life in general, able to crack jokes, despite everything he seemed to have been through (which Caroline really knew nothing about).
“I think it’s more just luck than you being an amazing baker.” Obviously a lie, probably not everyone would think to put things like that together. It didn’t happen all that often over at Baxter’s. She nodded as she swallowed her food. “Yeah,” she replied even though her nod had basically already said that. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say you are too?”
“Unfortunately, it goes along with the military service,” he explained simply. He didn’t talk a ton about his time in the military even though he had enjoyed it up until the day of the accident. But when you lose other members of your company and come back with some lovely PTSD you tend to keep it mum for the most part. Definitely one of those need to be drunk to discuss situations.
“An amazing baker? I think I may need to record you saying that,” there was his teasing as he smiled across the table at her. It was sweet of her to say and he was pleased to know he was in the right career path. Her face spoke volumes on how good the cake actually was and he reached over to grab a fork and take a bite, “Yeah. It’s insanity, but for some god awful reason I stick around.”
That would explain it. But she wasn’t going to press for more details. This wasn’t that type of a visit. Besides she figured if he wanted to share more he would. “Well you know, thanks for your service. It’s pretty brave and honorable of you but I should shut up before I inflate your ego too much,” she gave a small laugh. “My roommate was in the Navy,” she added casually just because it was like the only experience she had with that sort of thing.
“Good luck getting me to say it again,” she grinned taking another bite of the cake. She nodded in agreement to the Valarnet comment. “It really is. But I have so many friends on there. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you on there before.”
“You’re welcome and thank you for the gratitude. And your roommate? You have a couple of those?” they had gone back to his place that night at the club, so he hadn’t realized she had roommates. It was probably a good thing that they went back to his place in that case. But he wasn’t really worried about that at all and he was far more focused on how amusing she was when she was eating the cake and trying not to sing her praises for it.
“And I’ll figure out some way to make you say it again,” there was a slight husk in his voice before he scratched at his chin, “And I don’t post a ton. I use it to keep up with my friends as well. So, don’t be too worried about not seeing me on there.”
“Three. We have a house so it’s not like some cramped apartment or anything.” It was more they lived together because they were all good friends than that they needed to live together. Especially Anna. That girl was loaded. “But yeah it gets crowded sometimes. And two of them, well let’s just say they have extra good hearing.” As did Caroline. And she really did not want to hear any of her roommate’s sex lives or have them hear hers.
Caroline raised a brow at his next comment. “Not today,” she replied with a sly smile. “I guess that just means you are going to have to text or call me to see me again if you really want to hear it,” yes she was back to the teasing and giving him a hard time. Because really it was too easy. “It is a good way to keep up, especially if you want to know what they are dreaming.”
“Wow. That’s almost like being back in basic training and living with a handful of guys. I’m much happier to be by myself after years of that and sharing rooms with my brothers,” Peeta chuckled. As long as they all got along in the house then that was all that mattered in the end. It would be hard if there were was friction between them all, “Extra good hearing? That’s a little creepy.”
“Mmm, I promise I actually will text you this time. And if I don’t then you know where I work and you’re free to smash a window or something,” Peeta explained with a half smile and teased her back, “Well, my main friends here all share the same dreams as me, so we’ve kind of banded together to get through it together. They’re certainly not happy dreams.”
“Yes, it’s just like that,” Caroline replied with a laugh. Because obviously Caroline had the experience to be able to compare living with three roommates to basic training. “It’s just been me and my mom most of my life. So living with a bunch of people is new for me but I don’t really have the experience to be burnt out on it.” Plus Caroline was a social butterfly, being around people was her thing. It just became a problem when she wanted to bring a guy home. Which had only happened the one time and Peeta had his own place so it worked out fine.
“That’s too much work,” she replied with a grin taking his teasing in stride. “I know what you mean. There are quite a few from my dream world on there too. But I’m not super close with all of them. So it’s nice to see what they are dreaming about since I probably wouldn’t otherwise.” But then she frowned at Peeta’s last comment. Hers weren’t all that happy either so she got it. Still she hated that other people had to go through sad dreams too. “That’s good that you guys have each other. I’m sure it helps having someone who understands what you’re going through and everything.” It helped her at least, but she was also ahead of almost everyone.
“Well, I’m glad that you’re enjoying it so far. I’m sure you all get along great and it’s probably fun to have people around right now. I think I get my fill of people working here that I’m more than happy to just hide in my apartment,” Peeta explained with a tiny shrug. It was kind of true and while he could be social to an extent some days it was nice to just go back to his place and relax without dealing with roommates. And the whole being able to bring a girl home was a bonus.
“Too much work? It would really help you relieve stress to break a few windows,” he pointed out once again with a laugh as he took another forkful of the cake, “I’m close with all of mine, we’re a small group, but I’m closer with a select few. And it’s incredibly helpful to have them around because it was far worse in the dreams really having no one to help you with what was going on. Basically, in our world the Capitol makes children kill each other to remind how powerful they are. Then everything goes to shit with myself and a girl from my hometown play and win and then we try to bring down the Capitol.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” she took another bite of the cake. “Plus I’m sure you can do more experimenting with recipes and stuff by yourself. Not having to like share a kitchen with roommates.” He probably had a kitchen at the bakery too but whatever.
“Are you trying to encourage me to break your windows?” If only Peeta knew just how easy that would be for her too. Not that she was cruel like that, or that nuts. But the teasing was fun.
And then it was on to the more serious topic of dreams. “Killing children?” she frowned once again. Okay that sounded terrible. And Caroline thought Mystic Falls was bad. “So you had to take part in that? I’m so sorry.” Those big blue eyes of hers were full of sincerity as she spoke. It must have been horrible to have to take part in being forced to kill other children. Caroline couldn’t even imagine. “I hope you’re able to take down the Capitol.” That needed to be stopped. “Mine are just full of vampires, werewolves, witches and hybrids,” she figured it was only fair to share her dreams too.
“True. I do most of it here since this is a way better kitchen, but I do take over the kitchen sometimes,” Peeta chuckled at the idea of how much of a disaster his kitchen would be if he tried things out there instead of here at the bakery.
“Of course not, but I’m giving you an outlet if I happen to disappoint you again. I’m going to do my best not to though, of course.”
“Yeah, it was horrific. And we do end up taking over the Capitol, but there’s still a lot of casualties along the way of people that didn’t deserve it. It was a bit of a shit show,” he answered honestly with a slight flush to his cheeks. He always felt so uncomfortable talking about it because he knew that he wanted to get worked up and rage against it all, but he also didn’t want anyone’s pity, “And yours sound like a Twilight film. Probably not as awful as mine.”
“Well hopefully no one you know has another fake funeral. For both our sakes. And your windows,” she gave another laugh.
“I guess sacrifices are needed for the greater good sometimes?” It wasn’t fair though. At all. But she was sure Peeta already knew that much. “The dreams really suck sometimes,” hers more literally but she was going more in a figurative manner with that comment. “And yeah, no. We don’t sparkle.”
“No more fake funerals, please,” he answered with a laugh and took another bite of the cake. It actually turned out quite good and he was going to have to make sure to add it to the menu. Soon he would be starting to focus on holiday items, but he could still do a few odd things here and there, “Yeah, that’s kind of it. There was a bit of a happy ending in the end, but still bittersweet. And I’m glad you don’t sparkle, that would be incredibly strange. I never fully understood the appeal of a controlling vampire boyfriend, but whatever.”
“So your dreams are over then?” Caroline was pretty sure hers were still going. “What’s that like?” She might be a little jealous. “They aren’t all they are hyped up to be. Well I only had the one in the dreams and I’m not sure he counts. He was basically using me. Unless you count my hybrid boyfriend. He wasn’t all that great either,” she shrugged taking another bite of food. She knew Baxter Bakery was going to do some holiday items. But she would have to come try Peeta’s too. If he texted her. She wasn’t going to just show up again if she didn’t hear from him that would just be that.
“Yeah, I’m finished with them. It’s a little odd to know how things ended, but they do tend to repeat, which isn’t that great. It’s a bit of a relief to know that I don’t have to worry about anything else happening to me,” it was an odd thing to explain, but that was the best way he could do it. It was a little sad to know he would never dream of his children again, but it was best to not dream anything new about Panem, “And that sounds like a douche of the first class. Wait hybrid? Do I even want to know?” Her seems far more complicated than his did when you threw a supernatural aspect into things. She didn’t seem like the type to put up with jerks like that in this life, so hopefully she tossed them aside in the dreams.
“That must be so weird,” Caroline agreed. “Even with repeats. I can’t imagine not dreaming about Mystic Falls and seeing what new things happen. Although it would also be kind of nice to only have the one life to worry about,” she had basically just repeated what Peeta said. But she was trying to understand what it felt like. What it would feel like for her.
“Yeah. He exists here. He’s one of the ones I’m not so close with,” she wrinkled her nose at the thought of Damon. Sometimes she hated that he was the only one around the same spot of her in the dreams. She didn’t want to spoil them for everyone else so sometimes she had to talk to him. She did laugh though at Peeta’s question. “Probably not, but I’ll explain anyway. It’s just a mix of a vampire and a werewolf.”
“It is strange, but I’m happy to not dream about that place. Yours are probably a little happier than mine,” it was a shot in the dark when it came to supernatural dreams because they could be good or bad. Awful ex-boyfriends could fall into the bad category, but who knew. At least she didn’t have to worry about the guy being a douche here since she wasn’t really close to him. But when she explained what a hybrid was made him raise his eyebrows, “That’s a thing? Ok, let’s shelve this talk so I can take you out and find out all about your crazy dreams. Let’s finish this cake instead and think happy thoughts.”
If Peeta did take her out she probably wouldn’t waste it telling him about the insanity that was Mystic Falls. Although if they were going to continue this, whatever this was she would have to share with him how the dreams had changed her here at some point. For now though she was more than happy to just enjoy his company and eat some cake. She gave him her winning smile, “I think I can work with that.”