As a British person, had a bit of trouble trying to 'Americanise' this, as it were. Forgive me! I'll probably accidently use British spelling… This is an AU Delena fic, please let me know what you think!
Elena fell to the ground, her bag spewing its contents onto the grass.
The group of boys that had been walking in front of her had stopped to talk to some friends, seemingly, but she had had her earphones in with a song blasting, which explained her current predicament. Elena rose up on to her elbows and peered up at the boys through her eyelashes, embarrassed.
"Watch where you're going!" The guy she had walked into was leering down at her, a smirk on his face.
His very cute face. Damn.
"Sorry." Elena mumbled as she took out the earphones, aware of the multiple stares trained on her body. She propped herself up onto her knees and tried to collect her things as quickly as she could, purposefully ignoring the sniggers coming from the huddle of boys.
'Could have at least helped me back up…' Elena grumbled in her head, trying to will the red stain on her cheeks away. The group had moved away, so when she felt a figure crouch down beside her, she looked up, surprised.
Straight into a pair of cool blue eyes.
She blinked. Her first thought wasn't poetic; not some beautiful description of how nice they were, but rather of shock. She had never seen eyes so blue before. Just when the blue gaze started to become uncomfortably penetrating, the eyes seemed to crease at the corners.
"I think this is yours." Oh god. He was holding out her cringe-worthy diary. She had made it when she was fourteen, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to justify herself with that statement without sounding stupid. She quickly snatched the hideously glittery thing up and stuffed it in her open bag.
"Thanks." And then, more to herself, "At least there are some decent people at this college!"
The mystery man snickered, and Elena looked up at him questioningly, but he was rising back up from his crouch. He held out a hand for her, and she looked at it idiotically for a few seconds, before moving her gaze up past his arm, up to his face, into those piercing eyes. There was something so intense in his stare that she almost refused his assistance, but she reconsidered quickly – this strange man had been kind enough to help her after all.
His hand was large around hers, and he seemed to pull her up with ease. Brushing the dirt from her clothes, she surveyed him. He was taller than her, with dark black hair and pale skin. His grey jumper looked subtly expensive, and he was wearing black jeans and shoes. Altogether, he appeared striking, so striking that she wondered for a second if he might be famous. He had that sort of look about him. Perhaps it was just the eyes.
He looked at Elena for a few seconds, and she looked down, a curtain of her dark hair falling in front of her face. She hitched her bag up onto her shoulder.
"Thanks…again." Elena smiled up at him, letting her appreciation show on her face.
After a few agonising seconds, the man smirked, his brow quirking up in a curious way.
"No need. I'm just your average friendly…nice guy."
There was a hint of light sarcasm in his voice, and the look on his face purveyed a sort of dark humour. Elena smiled again, even though she didn't get the joke. The man appraised her with a final look before glancing out over the green.
"I'll walk you to your class? Seeing as I'm playing the good guy today."
Elena smiled for real then, and nodded. His face was turned away from her but his eyes shifted to her, still with that strange half-smirk on his face. She began walking, and he fell into step beside her.
"Where are you headed?" Elena asked, pulling her hair over her shoulder so that it didn't obscure her face.
"B Block. Lipman." Good. That wasn't too far from her block. She didn't want to make this man go out of his way just to walk her to class.
As they walked, he engaged her in light conversation. He was full of dry wit, and she found herself trying to join in with his humour.
Before long, they had reached her building. She came to a stop and turned to face him, rocking back on her heels and glancing to the side nervously, out of character.
"Well. Looks like we've reached the end of the line. It was nice meeting you…"
"Elena."
He looked at her with that piercing gaze once more, before holding out his hand. She frowned – was he expecting her to shake hands? What a strange thing to do. But, she raised her hand and slipped it into his. Rather than shaking it, he just stood there, staring at her and holding her hand.
"Goodbye…Elena." And with that, he tipped his head, smiled that strange smile, and turned to walk away.
It took a few seconds before Elena realised that she was just standing there, whilst other people were walking into the lecture hall around her. She frowned to herself, before turning and entering the building. The lecture hall was packed and heaving, but she slipped into an aisle that had a few seats to spare. She sat down next to a girl with blonde hair, who turned and grinned at her and chatted to her about things that she wasn't really paying attention to.
It wasn't until halfway through the lecture, long after she had given up trying to listen to the teacher that she realised.
She didn't even know his name.
