Bite-Sized
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except these words.
Elena freezes in the doorway to the coffee shop. Checks her phone again, for the text from her blind date– who says he'll be wearing a a red shirt with a black leather jacket. She glances frantically between her phone and the man sitting alone in the back of the coffee shop who can be none other than her date.
Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. This has to be a mistake.
She's backing out the door when Klaus glances up and clocks her right away. A slow disbelieving smile curls up the corners of his mouth.
He could use his supernatural speed to catch up to her in an instant, but instead seems to take deliberate relish in tormenting her by slowly, languorously sauntering to meet her at the door.
"My, my, Miss Gilbert. I must say I wasn't expecting to meet you here today." The way he says it makes it sound like she set this up. As if she would ever seek him out!
"You were supposed to be some guy named Nick!" she blurts out. "Ava told me she knew you through her mother's gallery."
Klaus's mouth twists, something like bemusement flitting across his features. "I do know Ava through her mother's gallery. I show there, you know. And for the record, you were just supposed to be a nice girl named Elle, from her MFA program."
She ducks her head. "Well. I guess there's something to be said for reinventing oneself."
There's a long awkward pause as they take each other in. They haven't seen each other in years– not since she was in high school. There's an ocean of past grievances between them, but at this point, literally lifetimes removed from those old ills, their past feels like more of a connection in a world where she finds it so very, very hard to really latch on to anyone than it feels like a reason to stay away.
Klaus must feel it too.
"Well, since we find ourselves here in this twist of fate, will you stay and have a coffee with me?"
She says yes.
