Hey everyone! Thanks for coming to check out my story! For whatever reason my original authors note disappeared, so basically this is an AU/AH delena story that I've had in mind for a while now that I'm finally bringing to life. Not sure what other pairings I will have in this story yet, just know if you're looking for Stelena they will be nothing more than platonic. Enjoy!

I rushed through the campus quad hoping to make it on time to my Historical Writings seminar. As usual, I was running late for the class I enjoyed the most. Apart from taking a real interest in the subject from my college advisor—and Jenna's current boyfriend—Alaric, I planned on continually signing up for the varying history lectures for one reason and one reason only; Professor Salvatore. While it was my first, it surely wouldn't be my last class with him.

I think back to how I first met Professor Salvatore during one of my first year Graduate advising meetings with Ric as I weave through the crowd of stoners hanging by the atrium entrance of the Whitmore building.

I climb up a flight of stairs and wander around the third floor of the Edward-Rodgers Liberal Arts building trying to remember exactly where Ric's office was, he had showed me a few times before when I had toured the campus with Jenna, Caroline, and Bonnie but in this moment, I couldn't even tell you if I was in the right building—they all look the same!

"…You'll have to come by for dinner one night, I'm sure Jenna would love to have you over!" I hear Ric's voice float down the narrow corridor that lead to a small suite of offices. I begin to follow the sound of his soft laugh when I hear a second voice that sounds like pure velvet to my ears.

"Oh, come on Ric, we both know Jenna does not particularly like me! She thinks I force you to be my drinking buddy, if only she knew we were both raging alcoholics before meeting each other," the mysterious voice boasts loudly causing yet another laugh to escape Alaric's mouth.

"She doesn't not like you, Damon. Besides—" Ric stops his train of thought and gazed happily out his office door, receiving a look of confusion from the raven-black hair colored man sitting in the chair across from his desk.

"Elena! It's so nice to see you! Did you find your way here okay?" He asks me as I stand in the doorway of his office, trying to account for when my feet had betrayed me and led me to his room.

I silently nod my head while staring at the back of the most beautiful, casually messy jet-black hair, surveying what I could from the limited view. He was wearing a worn leather jacket with what looked like a casual black V-neck shirt, he was dressed so not like Ric that it was hard for me to believe they could possibly be friends. I'm pulled away from my thoughts on how these two seemingly polar opposite men could know each other when I hear Alaric clear his throat.

"Oh, um, yeah it wasn't too bad to find," I stamper out, my face feeling flushed. "First week back and all, so I'm still getting used to the campus. It's very different from U of V."

Ric nods his head, his expression showing no signs of how awkward I'm acting around whoever his guest was. Damon, pretty sure he called him Damon. "Well, you're early for your advising Elena, but come in and have a seat."

I slowly walk further into his small office and feel the hot gaze of who I presumably assume is Damon following my every move until I take the seat next to him.

"Elena, this is one of my colleagues, Professor Salvatore, he teaches American History concentrated in the Civil War. You know, Elena loves American History, she double majored in it and writing back at the University of Virginia. However, she's decided to focus her masters' degree in writing." Ric says with a playful frown on his face. Jenna and he had continually tried to talk me into going for my masters in history, but I just loved writing too much to give it up.

I turn to face Professor Salvatore to see he is already staring at me with a small smile on his face and his hand is extended towards me. He is one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen and I am taken back by his defined jaw and how piercing blue his eyes are. I realize I've been staring at him for longer than I should be and quickly shake my head, trying to clear the thoughts of how beyond perfect this man was. He's a professor, Elena! You can't find yourself smitten with a professor! I scold myself mentally.

"Nice to meet you, Elena." Professor Salvatore enunciates each syllable in my name as he shakes the hand I finally raised. Just the way he says my name makes my heart flutter but I push aside any feelings and try to maintain a professional attitude. I don't want this professor to think I'm just another graduate student looking for an easy A.

"It's nice to meet you too, Professor Salvatore"

"Double major and now back for your masters, huh? You must be one smart girl." The compliment seemingly rolls off his tongue but before I can even react he is turning back in his chair towards Alaric.

"Next week for dinner?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there Ric. Just you tell Jenna not to almost kill me again at the table." Professor Salvatore lets out a soft chuckle before standing from the mahogany brown leather chair. "It was nice to meet you Elena. Maybe I'll see you around Ric's office sometime, I'm always here—poor guy has no friends!"

Ric chucks a pen at Professor Salvatore on the way out but misses as Damon ducks and it flies out the door. Damon chuckles, quickly stealing a glance at Elena, a look of mischief on his face before closing the office door behind him.

"I didn't realize how early I was, I wouldn't have come in had I known you would have someone else here." I turn away from staring at the door, the picture of Damon's smile and ocean blue eyes still fresh in my mind.

"Nonsense Elena, you know you're welcome up here whenever you'd like. Besides, Jenna would give me hell if she thought for a second I was ignoring you!"

Jenna and Ric met at the Mystic Grill three years ago, both of them there with friends having one too many shots and the rest is history. Literally, because neither of them remember the rest of the night or how Ric ended up in Jenna's bed; poor Jeremy, I felt bad no longer living at home and leaving him to deal with Jenna's antics. Thankfully, Ric was far from a one night stand and has been a good influence on both Jenna and Jeremy.

"Jenna also expects you to practically baby me while I'm here," I huff. "As if I'm not 23 years old and living on my own." Jenna means well, she's just never been the parental type and doesn't exactly know how to go about things. After our parents died Jenna became sole guardian of Jeremy and I, but she was still always fun aunt Jenna rather than the strict parental figure. I think her dating Ric has helped her mature a bit.

"Elena," Ric sighs, seeming exasperated that it's not even my first day and I'm already whining about Jenna. "She's just concerned, that's all. You know she's been worried since the first day you moved in with Caroline and Bonnie. Being on your own and all and dating Matt…" He trails off and I can't stand this fatherly lecture for another moment.

"You know Matt and I haven't dated for over a year! Can we please switch subjects to like, I don't know, if I'm taking the right classes." Matt and I were childhood friends who decided to try dating our sophomore year of college but realized quickly we were better off as friends…or at least I realized it when I would feel no sort of spark between us whenever we kissed; Matt on the other hand is still determined to win me back, I guess I shouldn't have waited so long to end things with him.

Ric sighs once again, probably contemplating what he'll do with me as he starts up his desktop. The humming of the desktop buzzing alive drowns into the background as thoughts of raven black tousled hair and blue eyes begin to crowd my mind. "Nice to meet you, Elena." Damon's voice echoes in my head.

"Earth to Elena…Hello." I'm brought back to reality as Ric is waving his hand in front of my face. "I know advising meetings can be a bit boring and all but I'm the fun advisor, the cool advisor."

I snort at Alaric calling himself 'the cool advisor' and quickly try to think of a comeback before realizing Ric seems slightly more worried than he normally does.

"What's wrong? Is my class schedule okay? You think I'm taking too many courses, don't you? Listen, Ric, I know I should just stick to 15 credits a semester but—" I spit out like word vomit, trying to justify whatever Ric could be thinking right now as he stares at his computer screen, mouth open ready to interrupt me.

"Woah, Elena slow down, it's not that. However, I do think you should stick to just 15, but that's your choice." He clears his throat. "But…one of the classes you registered for has been cancelled so we'll need to find you a new one before classes start next week."

Ric turns the computer screen to face me and points to my schedule he has pulled up, his finger landing on the three-hour gap now open on my weekly class selection. "It looks like your…Writing with Historical Context was cancelled because the professor teaching it is no longer with the University."

I groan loudly and slump back into the leather chair, sinking lower as I realize the one class I was really looking forward to was now cancelled and I was 3 credits shorter than I'd like. I begin to nervously pull at the bottom hem of my tank top, wondering what I could possibly fill that slot with so last minute.

"Hey, now. Don't look so distraught! We'll find you another class. Sure, it won't be, uh," Ric quickly looks back at the cancelled class notification on my account. "…Writing with Historical Context, but it'll be just as interesting." Ric turns the screen back towards himself and is quickly clicking through a few pages on Whitmore's enrollment site before turning it back towards me again.

I look up from my lap to see what disaster of a class he could've probably suggested when my eyes finally focus on the class title. Historical Writings from 1800-1858 taught by D. Salvatore. He can't be serious? My heart begins to race and I can feel the heat radiating on my face. Did he actually realize how weird I was acting when Damon was here and is suggesting this class as a joke to tease me?

"I know it's not going to be learning how to write with historical context, but you will get to read a shit ton of writings during the Civil War time period and analyze them, and I know how much you enjoy analyzing and history. Plus," I can tell Ric is genuinely getting excited explaining this class to me, truly believing he found a class I would thoroughly enjoy. "I know it says it's full, but since I'd like to consider myself good friends with Da-I mean Professor Salvatore, I'm sure I could convince him to let one more student in. So, what do you say? Want me to email him now so you don't have to stress over the next week about finding a new class to take 18 credits?"

I begin a short pros and cons list in my head, trying to figure out if I could truly find another class so last minute that would still be open. Do I tell him I'm not comfortable taking a class with a professor I find irresistibility attractive that just also happens to be one of his good, much older, friends, or do I just take the class, sit all the way in the back and—wait did I just say he was irresistibility attractive? Elena, get ahold of yourself!

I must've been rambling on in my mind for far too long because Ric has started talking again and is midsentence before I even realize it. "—always this option as well, it's also not centered around writing though but it'll fulfill the three credits to say the least." I nod my head, not even sure what class he was referring to and just hope it isn't some public policy course.

"I really think you'd enjoy Professor Salvatore's course, Elena," Ric leans back into his black leather desk chair, arms crossing behind his head. "He's a great professor and his students always rave about him and his work. If you're worried about grades from him, I think you'll do fine. Only students that ever fail his class are the ones who don't show up."

"I'm just not sure Alaric. I'm on a specific schedule for the course of my masters and this one class could delay me. I just don't want to take a class that won't benefit my major." I sigh deeply, that last line being far from the truth, knowing I would gladly take any course with Professor Salvatore even if it offered no credit.

"Now, actually—" Alaric pauses, taps a few more times on the clicker of the mouse and turns his 360-monitor towards me. "Because your writing credit for Historical Context is no longer going to be applied towards your graduation requirements, that spot does reopen on your transcript and Historical Writings is a close enough subject where I could easily waive the class for the fulfillment if needed." His voice boasts confidence as if he found out the loophole needed to convince me, his eyes lighting up with hope.

"It doesn't seem ideal in the moment, Elena, but trust me, I know this class is a good fit for you. Let's just sign you up, worst case you can drop the class during add-drop."

My eyes dart around his small office, taking in photos from trips him and Jenna have taken over the years and even a photo of Bonnie, Caroline and I pranking Jeremy from a few summers back. Ric's office looks how the typical history buff turned professors would look—full of artifacts and rare documents that one might question how he had and not the National Archives. He's probably one of the biggest history nerds I've ever met, I don't know how he won over my party girl of an aunt Jenna.

"Ok…ok, sign me up for Professor Salvatore's class." I say hesitantly, worrying if this class is going to ruin not only my graduates major but my sanity. You know nothing about this professor apart from his good looks Elena, this isn't the first professor you've thought was attractive. If I just study and focus solely on finding a new internship then this semester will fly by!

If only it had been that easy, I think as I slide into the open front row seat of the lecture I was now 5 minutes late for, trying to be as quiet as possible; while Damon was a laidback professor, he surely did not like late students. Professor Salvatore quickly glances up from his projected lecture notes to find the source of the noise, his eyes landing on me briefly. I think I see the smallest smirk flash across his face, my heart flutters momentarily, before he goes back to his lecture on History of the Expedition Under the Command of the Captains Lewis and Clark.

The semester may have only been a few weeks in, but it seemed to be my slowest one yet, I'm still not sure if it's because of my choice of classes or the fact that I've developed the largest schoolgirl crush on my professor.

Please rate and review and let me know if I should continue :)