The Salvatores were throwing another unnecessary party, the kind where everyone dressed like it wasn’t a town crawling with supernatural danger. You didn’t want to go. But Caroline had begged you. “Come on!”she’d said, practically pouting. “We need one night to forget everything.”

Now, here you were — half-buzzed, twirling under dim chandelier lights in a gold-tinged dress, watching Caroline Forbes move through the room like she owned it.

You couldn’t ignore her tonight. Not the way her lips curled when she laughed. Not the way her eyes always found yours across the crowd.

And especially not when she pulled you onto the dance floor.

Her hands slid to your waist, fingers brushing your exposed skin. “You look… wow,” she murmured. Her voice dipped low like a secret.

“You always say that,” you said, barely above a whisper.

“Yeah,” she replied, twirling you before catching you again. “But tonight I mean it in a different way.”

Your breath caught. Her touch lingered just a second too long. The air between you tightened, sticky with something unspoken.

She leaned in, her lips brushing your ear. “Te amo,” she whispered. You froze.

“…What?” Your voice cracked like a matchstick.

She pulled away, smiling like she hadn’t just dropped a bomb.

“Nothing. Just… felt like saying it.”