Klaroline Drabbles

51 part 1

"You can do this. You are smart. You are talented. You are ready."

Caroline Forbes whispered beneath her breath as she stood in front of the glass doors that led into NASH. The downtown L.A. gallery was run by the elusive artist Niklaus Mikaleson and was very low on the list of galleries Caroline had applied to work at. As a principle, she had stringently tried to avoid applying to any galleries run by artists. They tended to thrive in chaos whereas Caroline lived for organization. Not to mention they could be hot-headed and temperamental, two traits Caroline had no patience for. But it had been six months since graduation and she was still unemployed so clearly she couldn't afford to be picky.

Straightening her shoulders and taking in a deep breath, Caroline opened the door and walked into the gallery. Her heels clacked on the marble floor and she felt goosebumps rise on her skin in the heavily air conditioned space. Her eyes had barely scanned the large gallery before a woman with a clipboard appeared in front of her.

"You must be Caroline Forbes. Here for the 2:00 interview. Just give me a moment. The owner will be right with you." The woman said quickly before pulling a phone from her pocket and stepping away from Caroline.

"Caroline Forbes is here for the interview." The woman said into the phone and a second later she flipped it closed and slid it back into her pocket.

"He'll just be a minute." The woman said and Caroline just nodded her eyes, going back to scanning the gallery.

The walls were pure white and the maze of curved walls held various paintings. White blocks scattered throughout the large space held sculptures of different sizes. Caroline glanced up to see a balcony that wrapped around the second floor of the gallery with a set of double doors leading into what she assumed was the artist's office or workshop.

A minute later, a man strode out of those double doors and came to stand at the edge of the balcony. He looked Caroline up and down quickly before speaking.

His voice rang clearly down from the balcony. "No."

Caroline's jaw dropped and the man was already turning to go back into his room when she finally called out.

"Excuse me?"

Klaus smirked at the incredulous tone as he faced the doors to his workshop. So the girl in the stiff skirt suit and the thin briefcase had a bit of bite to her beneath that cool business exterior. Interesting. He spun on his heel and braced his hands on the balcony, looking down at her again.

"Where'd you graduate from?"

"Berkeley." Caroline responded quickly, her arms clasped tightly on her briefcase in front of her.

"Major?"

"Art history."

"Favorite artist?" Klaus asked, still eyeing her contemplatively.

"Rembrandt." Caroline shot back with confidence.

"Favorite century?"

"17th."

Klaus didn't hesitate before speaking again. "No." With that he spun on his heel and rushed back into his office. He was tempted to explore the sweet blonde bleeding innocence all over his gallery floors but he was fooling around with a new medium with clay and it may have been in the oven too long already.

Back on the first floor, Caroline was stewing.

"I apologize, he has a one track mind when he's working. Wait here. I'll get him." The woman said, flushing with embarrassment at her boss' behavior.

"Don't bother." Caroline snapped, storming out of the gallery.

As she stomped down the street, Caroline made a mental note to cross all the other artist run galleries off her list. This was precisely why she'd avoided them to begin with. Egotistical, insolent asshole. She'd just made it to her beat up old Camry when a voice behind her made her freeze.