(no subject)

[brightest_lights]

"Hey, Elena, so I know that things are really- I don't know if you saw, but like, everybody in the city's gone and it's like- I don't even know what it's like, but I have some people I need to check in on, and I don't think anybody else is going anywhere, so-" Caroline pauses, before she presses 2, to delete the message and start over even as she runs - yes, runs, because there's no one to see her- to Jesse's apartment.

It's Jesse, then Aggie, then- It's Jesse than Aggie, really. They're the two people she's worried about vanishing, besides Elena, but Elena's okay. That much she knows, because she just does. She does. "Hey, Elena. Call me, there's more... weird stuff, going on." That should be enough. She pauses, and then- "Stay safe, okay?"

Finally flipping the phone closed, she takes a deep breath as she looks up at Jesse's building. "Please be here. I mean, hate me or whatever, but please be here." Because she doesn't want him to be gone. She doesn't want to lose the friends she's made here, and whatever Jesse is.... she still doesn't want him gone.

She knocks on his door once she takes the elevator, and she has to try really hard not to think about what she actually did the last time they were in front of this door. Shit, this was a mess, but... she's hoping he comes to the door or she hears him, but if not, she's going to break in - it's not hard to snap off a doorknob.

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[a_capella_boy]

Jesse had spent the entire night writing songs, hit with a sudden burst of inspiration he hadn't even noticed how late it had gotten until he had nearly fallen asleep at his dining room table. He had just managed to drag himself to bed before passing out. His sleep was so deep and peaceful though that he was pretty much dead to the world.

[brightest_lights]

"Jesse?" She calls his name, and she realises all too well that he might just not want to talk to her, but she's got to check. She's got to, because he's her- well, friend might not be the right word, but whatever he is to her, that's what he is, and she shakes her head and moves to delicately take the doorknob in her hand, and- crack.

It's simple, really, the way it just snaps off, and she winces at the sound, wishing that it'd just been unlocked or something. "Hello?" She slips into his apartment, calling out, and all the lights are off - her heart just... sinks.

[a_capella_boy]

Jesse groaned and rolled over in his bed. He didn't know what time it was but he was still too deep in his sleep and sure that it was still too early to get up. It was sleeping time whatever time that it was. The sounds were just neighbors or something moving around that sounded extra loud because it was early and otherwise quiet. He just wanted to sleep a few more hours and then he'd wake up and start the day.

[brightest_lights]

She heard the groan. Thank god, she heard the groan, because that meant someone was here, and it was probably Jesse- she only just now realised that he could have had a girl over or something, and that's-- well. That's not something she thought about, and now that she's got his doorknob broken off in her hand it's possibly something that she should have thought about, but she just wants to make sure he's okay.

There's no way this doesn't come off as creepy and weird. No way. Still, she walked to his door, and hesitated by the doorway, her brows furrowing together before she actually knocked. "Hello?" She's a little louder as she opens the door, and- thank god, no company, but he's asleep, and she just wants to kick herself.

She wants to kick herself for coming, she wants to kick herself for- for whatever happened. With her having slept with Rebekah's boyfriend, but that she still really had liked him, before it all blew up in her face. "Jesse?"

[a_capella_boy]

It took Jesse just a moment longer to register that someone was at his door, the door to his room, calling his name. Once that registered he pulled himself out of sleep fairly quickly as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. There shouldn't be anyone in his apartment, let alone his room. No one had a key to this place!

"Wha- what's going on?" he grumbled, half flailing as he tried to sit up in bed and figure out what was happening. "C-Caroline, what- what are you doing here?"

[brightest_lights]

"I... uh." She just sort of runs her hand over her face, it twisting because she's so uncomfortable. "There's- Something happened, across the city, and I just- I was worried ,and I knocked, and you- Listen, I'm sorry, I guess- I mean, I'll replace your doorknob."

Right. The doorknob, half of which is in her hand.

"I wanted to make sure you were still here." That's said quieter, and her voice is more vulnerable before she looks away, and shakes her head. "A lot of people just- like... they're gone. There's cars in the streets, it's like one of those Rapture movie things."

[a_capella_boy]

"Gone?" Jesse said, trying to figure out what the heck she was talking about. All he could really understand at the moment was that she broke into his apartment to make sure that he was still here. That was... super weird coming from her.

"What- why did you come here though?"

[brightest_lights]

"They're just- missing, like, stoves on, cars abandoned, full on they-vanished-in-the-middle-of-their-lives sort of deal." Caroline frowned, her eyes flicking to Jesse, and that's when he asks the question she'd honestly sort of hoped he wouldn't ask.

"Because I didn't want you gone, is why." Even though that's one of the world's shittiest explanations. ".... I sort of broke your doorknob, by the way."

[a_capella_boy]

"Okay," Jesse said as he sat up in bed. It was all still kind of confusing, although people disappearing was sadly one of the least confusing parts of all of this. He definitely needed more coffee or something before he processed all of this.

"Why do you not want me gone? Why specifically me more than... you know, anyone else?"

[brightest_lights]

Her brows furrowed even more. "Because I don't," she said finally. "Because- Because. Okay? I just was worried, so sue me." She rolled her eyes - at herself, not at him, before she looked at the door. "I mean, you're not the only person I was going to check to make sure they're okay. I need to check on Aggie, and I left a message for Elena."

She hates the fact that she's been so closed off that that's who her friends really are, right now. A guy who she's not talking to, a tween girl who used to be a ghost, and her best friend from the time she was three.

"So you're good, right?" Because- because. She's thinking more and more that this was a horrible idea.

[a_capella_boy]

"I'm not upset you came to check on me, just confused," he said, still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. There were people that he needed to check on too, people that were his friends and that he hoped were still here. Or should he hope that they were gone, that they were back home?

"We didn't... part on the best terms?"

[brightest_lights]

"That doesn't mean I want you to have up and vanished like somebody just came and took you from reality, does it?" She's sort of maybe starting to freak out a little, because the questions that Jesse's asking are both 100% valid, and things she doesn't really have answers for.

"I went with my gut, and me going with my gut means.... this, that I'm here, okay? That's it. And I broke your doorknob, and I should probably go, now that I know you're not.... dead. Or vanished. Or whatever." She takes a step forward and just sort of gingerly puts the doorknob on the bed and makes a face, before she takes a step back, because... that's weird. And in a second, she's going to leave, but- but. But they're having a conversation and she's hoping that he just.... stops asking her questions. Maybe.

[a_capella_boy]

"Wait, before you go-"

Because she was going to go, he was pretty sure of it. Every meeting they'd had ended with her just sort of going. And that had sucked. He had genuinely liked Caroline before things had gotten weird and he really hated that it had happened.

"- First, thanks for checking on me. Also... can we talk some time? Because we got along really well and- it would be nice if we could get back to getting along really well. Or I'd really like that at least."

[brightest_lights]

She pauses, and it's so clear that she doesn't even know what to say. Eventually, she nods just slightly. "I.... think that'd be good. Not now- I have to check on Aggie, she's like... thirteen, and I just want to make sure she's okay. But... yeah. Yeah, we can talk sometime." They'd have to see how it went - it may not go well at all, but... she can try.

[a_capella_boy]

"Okay. Go check on Aggie and... thanks again for checking on me," he said. Because Jesse wouldn't have checked on her if he found out that most everyone in town had disappeared. To be honest, he hadn't thought about her all that much since he last saw her beyond a few days after that. It had been kind of shitty and he preferred not to dwell on that stuff.

That didn't mean he wanted things to stay like that.

"I'll see you around, okay?"

[brightest_lights]

"Okay. Okay, I'll see you around, just- Uhm." She pauses in his doorway, biting her lip for just a second. "Be careful. Okay?"

Just... whether they were getting along or not - she didn't want anything to happen to him.