Tyler Lockwood (lockwolf) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-04-01 14:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caroline forbes, tyler lockwood |
Who: Tyler and Caroline
What: Caroline comes to thank Tyler for all his help
Where: Tyler's apartment
When: Last week sometime
Warnings/Ratings: Low/none
Status: Complete
When Tyler told her the pain of losing her mom wouldn’t be as bad as she thought it was going to be, well Caroline hadn’t believed him. But he had been right. The next morning she had woken up feeling okay. She still missed her mom, but it didn’t hurt so bad that she didn’t think she could survive anymore. Caroline was pretty much back to her usual self. Ready to take on the world. She had gone back to work, throwing all of her energy into it. Life went on and so did Caroline.
However, she hadn’t seen much of Tyler since after the funeral. Granted it had only been a few days, but still. It was quite the change from seeing him everyday. As humiliated as Caroline was about the whole kiss thing, she missed him. More than that she owed him for how much he had done for her. So she picked up a six pack of beer and headed over to his place after work. Placing a smile on her face she knocked on the door, hoping he was home.
Tyler hadn’t necessarily been avoiding Caroline, but he hadn’t gone out of his way to contact her in the last couple of days. He’d still been turning the kiss over in his head over and over again since it had happened, and if he had made the right call in rejecting Caroline. But he was pretty sure he had.
He wouldn’t have left her alone if he wasn’t sure his compulsion had worked, but he’d seen her the next morning before he’d left, and he knew that it had. He was doing some sketches when he heard the knock at the door. He wasn’t expecting anyone, but he closed his eyes and smiled a little when he recognized the sound of Caroline’s breathing on the other side of the door. As uncertain as he was that he had made the right calls after Liz’s funeral, he was still glad to know that Caroline had come to see him. He closed the sketchbook, and went to answer the door. “Hey, Care,” he said, stepping aside to let her into his suite.
There was a look of relief on Caroline’s face when she saw Tyler’s smile. She knew right away that it was genuine. Despite everything that had happened the day of her mom’s funeral, he at least still seemed happy to see her.
“Hey,” she returned the greeting. Usually this would be where she reached out and hugged him, but given how things went down the last time they were close, she opted against it. Instead she just held up the six pack as she walked in. “I brought beer.”
“You’re a saint, Caroline. This is exactly what I needed.” He took the beer from her so that he could go put them in the fridge. Had he been expecting her, he would have moved the blood bags from it in advance. The last thing either of them needed was for Caroline to see his fridge filled with bags of blood so, positioning his body so that it was blocking her from seeing the contents of his fridge, he put the beer inside and transferred the bags to his freezer, and then he grabbed two bottles from the case . “So, what brings you by?” he asked, handing one to her.
“I know,” Caroline joked with her usual smile. She accepted a beer from Tyler popping off the top and taking a swig before answering his question. “I haven’t seen you in a few days. Had enough of me after the past two weeks?” She joked but really she was hiding her insecurity. Yes, Caroline tried to be this strong, confident woman. The woman her mom wanted her to be. But when it came to Tyler? Her insecurities got the best of her. Especially when he just seemed to keep rejecting her. But no matter. She would just play the over confident girl, the girl that wasn’t bothered by rejection. That could just keep on being friends with the man she loved. Because she did still want him in her life. “And I wanted to thank you,” she added her tone softening, a bit more serious. “For everything you did for me. And my mom.”
“I thought you might be getting sick of me,” Tyler said, with a teasing smile. He wouldn’t be surprised though. He knew he’d probably embarrassed her on more than one occasion. He was glad that she kept coming back though. He didn’t know what he’d do if he lost her from his life for good a second time.
“You don’t have to thank me though,” Tyler said, making his way to the couch. He took a seat. “It was the least I could do. I wish I could have done more.”
Caroline remained standing, leaning against the counter as she took another swig of her beer. “Well, I wanted to,” Caroline replied. “You did as much as you could. More than most people would,” she added giving him a small smile. “Definitely more than Ethan did,” she teased trying to lighten the mood.
Yeah, Ethan really had been a piece of work. Tyler had only met him twice, and then only for a couple of minutes each time, but he had never made a very good impression to Tyler. At all. He felt a twinge of jealousy when Caroline mentioned his name, but not much. After all, it wasn’t like Caroline had been saying anything complimentary about him. “Well, that’s not a very high bar to set,” Tyler said, grinning. Almost as an afterthought, he added, “by the way, are you doing anything for Easter?”
Caroline was about to defend Ethan, but there wasn’t much of a point. He was a pretty horrible boyfriend. Besides, before she could Tyler was asking her about Easter. Well that was unexpected. “Um, usually I spend it with my mom….but I guess I can’t do that this year.” She was still getting used to the fact that her mom wasn’t around. But she didn’t feel sad at the thought. She just missed her mom. “So I guess nothing,” she added finishing her thought.
It was a little bit weird to see Caroline mention her mother and her death without seeming even a little sad, but that was Tyler’s fault. For a moment, he wondered if he hadn’t made a mistaken. But how could taking away Caroline’s pain be a mistake?
“My parents are trying to talk me into going to one of their Easter parties,” Tyler said. “It would be less of a drag if you came with me. Or if you wanted we could blow it off altogether.”
He wanted to spend Easter with her? Caroline smiled, clearly relieved. Things didn’t really seem that awkward since she kissed him. But she definitely wasn’t going to do it again. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a Lockwood party,” Caroline commented. Since high school. When she was dating Tyler. “Besides you probably shouldn’t blow off your parents.” She knew he wasn’t nearly as close with them as she was with her mom. But if Caroline learned anything the past few months it was not to take time with your parents for granted. “So I feel like we have to go. Even if I am hurt they didn’t ask me to plan it,” she teased.
Tyler didn’t think there’d ever be a time when he’d be okay spending time with his father. Even when he’d died in the dreams, Tyler had hate him. Hated him for being him, and hated him for dying. His mother had been a different story, and they’d become close after his father had died. But she was a different person when Richard was around, and Tyler hated that too. But Caroline was right. He shouldn’t blow off his parents, especially not after Liz.
“I’m sure they’ll get you to do the next one. Especially once you remind them how much they liked you.”
“Well then it’s settled. I’m definitely going with you to the party,” she teased again finishing off her beer. “What time are you picking me up?”
Tyler thought about it for a moment. Dinner started at seven and his parents wanted him there by six, and he was sure to get an earful if he didn’t follow through on that. His dad would no doubt take it as some kind of personal affront of Tyler showed up late. But that didn’t mean that Tyler had to show up any earlier than he had to. “How’s 5:30 sound?” he asked.
“Perfect,” Caroline beamed. She tossed her finished beer into the recycling before turning her attention back to Tyler. “Well, I should get going.” She had stopped by just to thank him after all. And that task was now accomplished. “See you Sunday.”