( a soft aww echoes between them as derek mentions glinda's sudden departure. she doesn't mean to interrupt him, but she does feel bad — the city administration had mentioned that people do come and go fairly often, some staying for longer than others, and while caroline didn't really anticipate staying forever, the more she learned about this place, the longer she wanted to stay. there were more reasons to stay than reasons to go home, in any case, and meeting people like derek definitely counted in the 'reasons to stay' column, as far as she was concerned. )

I guess a city that claims to run on cuddling and charity has to be a little weird, to be totally fair... ( she gives a soft shake of her head; her fingertips lift to run absentmindedly over the zipper on his jacket. ) But I don't know. I wasn't expecting anything like this.

( above her head, the canopy clears just enough to showcase the night sky above them. the stars are visible; that in itself is a nice surprise. even in small town mystic falls, the sky was often too cloudy to really see anything. )

I'm glad I came. I mean — ( a pause, and her tongue darts out to sweep over her bottom lip. ) — I'm obviously glad to not be where I was, but I'm glad I'm here too.

( he might not say things outright, but she's never been quite that subtle. )

I'm glad I met you, if nothing else.