Getting Pumped for Summer [Elena]

[Caroline Forbes]

It was a warm day and Caroline blasted the air conditioner in her car as she drove. She loved warm weather, but sweating was out of the question. Paramore flooded through her car from the radio and she bobbed her head along with the song. She was in a good mood and excited for a fun day of shopping with Elena. They hadn’t gotten to spend much time together lately. Ever since Caroline broke up with Damon it seemed like she and Elena had grown apart. It probably didn’t help that Elena was still dating Damon’s brother and Caroline did her best to avoid any place where Damon could pop up. That usually meant avoiding Stefan too – coincidentally, of course.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t as coincidental as Caroline would have claimed if asked. After all, she had tried to hook up with Stefan as soon as he got to town and he’d very quickly shut her down to date Elena. She sort of didn’t want to spend any more time with Stefan than she absolutely needed to, since he probably thought she was some insecure slut who threw herself at every guy in her vicinity.

But, that didn’t matter. For Caroline, this summer was all about changing her karma. She’d swallow her pride and stop being such a drama queen about this whole thing. She’d hang out with Bonnie and Elena, stop avoiding Stefan, and at least not make a pre-meditated effort to avoid Damon. It was already going to be hard enough to keep her friends once they all moved onto whatever they were doing after the summer. She didn’t want to push them all away before that even happened.

As Caroline pulled into Elena’s driveway, she was thinking about what she could do to spend more time with everybody. There were always parties, but those were always so crazy she never got to really spend enough time with anybody. If Matt wasn’t being such a flake they could double-date with Elena and Stefan… but she was having a hard enough time getting him to just hang out with her these days, let alone organize a date involving another couple.

She parked the car and got out, taking her purse and her iced coffee with her. Not only was she already excited – she was caffeinated. Caroline walked up to the front door and rang the bell.

[Elena Gilbert]

Elena panicked a little at the sound of the doorbell, not wanting to keep Caroline waiting, especially not for something like a shopping trip. She was standing in her aunt Jenna's bedroom rummaging through her jewelry box trying to find the match to the one adorable little teardrop peridot earring she had discovered on the bathroom counter. She had already looked everywhere she could think of... the earrings would have been a perfect compliment to the simple lime green tank she wore with a pair of belted khaki shorts, but when the doorbell rang, she knew she was out of time. It was like the buzzer on a game show.

She rushed back into her room and hurriedly ran her brush through her long hair before grabbing a pair of socks out of the top drawer of her dresser, stooping down to hook her fingers into the laces of the sneakers resting just inside her bedroom door so that she could carry them with her as she went to answer the door. Elena bounded down the stairs and over to the door, a little out of breath as she pulled it open and smiling at Caroline. "Hey, come on in," she said, stepping back and heading over to the sofa to sit down and get her socks and shoes on.

She was very excited to be having a girls' day out with Caroline. Her only regret was that Bonnie was unable to join them, but it was only a fleeting thought because she knew that they were going to have a great time today. They were officially done with school, and as much as Elena loved Stefan, it was nice to get away from even him now and then because he usually watched her so intently, so worried about something happening to her, that it was sometimes a little intimidating.

"Where are we going first?" she asked as she laced up her shoe.

[Caroline Forbes]

Caroline waited outside, taking a second to put her keys in her purse and scrunch her hair with her fingers. Humidity always sucked all the volume right out of her hair, despite all the hairspray she tried to spruce it up with.

She sipped her coffee, letting her white handbag dangle at her elbow. It matched her strappy sandals, and was also big enough to carry a pair of sneakers and some socks in case those strappy sandals gave her hell later. It could never hurt to be prepared. She was wearing a turquoise halter top over a black skirt that was short enough to show off her legs, but long enough to keep everything covered. Wardrobe malfunctions were not her style.

Caroline smiled brightly when the door opened, revealing a breathless Elena on the other side.

“Hey,” Caroline said with a wave.

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her before following Elena over to the sofa. While Elena was putting on her shoes, Caroline was studying her outfit. Lime green was not a color a lot of people could pull off, but with Elena’s skin and hair it was an excellent match. Caroline would have looked washed out and sickly in the same color.

Elena asked where they were going first and Caroline thought for a second.

“Hmm. Well, we could start with the store closest to the entrance and work our way through the mall as we go. Or, we could be practical and find the places with the best sales on the cutest stuff first.”

Caroline wasn’t exactly poor, but a sale was a sale. You got more bang for your buck that way.