Sometimes the smallest actions can change the course of someone's life. Even things that seem completely inconsequential can have drastic and long-lasting effects that no one would ever have predicted. For me, it was a series of tiny, insignificant decisions that led me to where I am now. It started with car trouble outside a small town in Virginia while on a road trip trying to forget how ridiculously stressful grad school was becoming. Had I known what was going to happen to me - to the world, would I have made the same choices? I can't answer that question. I don't know yet if the good outweighs the bad. Perhaps someday I'll look back on this and have an answer. For my own sake, I truly hope the answer is yes.

The rain poured down in sheets and pounded on the roof of Kaelyn's car as it sat on the shoulder of the road, emergency lights blinking in the darkness. She sighed despondently. Her trip had been going so well. It was just her luck that the sky would be trying to drown her when her car broke down. At least her phone was fully charged, and she was close enough to one of the small towns that dotted the Virginia countryside that she had signal. A brief google search gave her the phone number of what apparently was the only towing company in town. She sat in the dry, dark interior of her car while she waited for the truck to arrive. With her emergency lights on, they should be able to spot her even if the rain didn't let up.

She checked the time. It was already after four in the afternoon. She'd made good time that day even with her unexpected stop. There was probably a decent little bed and breakfast or even a hotel in the town up ahead that she could spend the night in while she waited for her car to get fixed. This little town might even have some cute shops or interesting history she could check out. Kaelyn tried her best to stay positive. Sure it was annoying that her car had broken down in the rain, but at least she was close to a town and didn't have a set schedule to be anywhere for the next few weeks. Her road trip was supposed to be a do-whatever-she-feels-like trip. No schedule, no plans. Just a budget and a time limit of six weeks, two of which had already passed. There was no reason to panic. She took a deliberate breath in through her nose and out through her mouth to slow her breathing. Her counselor had introduced this technique as a way to help her prevent anxiety attacks in stressful situations. It usually worked.

The tow truck arrived twenty minutes later. They dropped her car off at the garage and her off at what they claimed was the most popular restaurant in town, a place called the Mystic Grill. At least they'd been friendly. The interior of the restaurant/bar was dimly lit, warm, and dry. Exactly what she needed at the moment. A waiter in a t-shirt with the name of the restaurant decorating the left breast of it instructed her to take a seat at any open table. He brought a glass of water and a menu as she sat down in a booth far enough away from the bar that she could avoid the rowdy crowd that would probably gather as more people got off work and close enough to the wall that she could see the entire restaurant. She didn't like people sitting behind her. It made her nervous to not be able to see where everyone was. The nerves were probably just social anxiety, but knowing what it was didn't make it go away.

Soon a hot plate of fries and a bottle of ketchup was set in front of her. She munched on the greasy fries and sighed with pleasure. This little town did have something good in it after all. As soon as she reached for her third fry, the door leading outside opened and a man with brown hair and an expensive looking suit - entirely too fancy for someplace like this - walked in and set his umbrella in the stand near the door. He held himself with a confident assurance that seemed entirely natural. Their eyes met as he scanned the room and a jolt of electricity bolted through her. They held each other's gaze for what was definitely an inappropriate amount of time for two strangers to do so before a teenager with thick, dark brows and a stylishly unruly mop of hair blocked her view of the man. A few moments later, the two of them walked together - the kid almost nervously and the man with an air of complete nonchalance - and took a seat at the bar. Kaelyn couldn't hear their conversation thanks to the music and their distance from her table, but the air between them was thick with tension. Well, the teenager was tense. The man in the suit still seemed perfectly at ease.

Kaelyn shook her head and tore her eyes away from the man. Whatever was going on at the bar was none of her business and she was going to keep her nose out of it. She tried to focus on her fries. She really did. Something she didn't understand and wasn't entirely consciously aware of kept pulling her gaze back to the man.

He set his glass - now empty of the dark amber liquid it had once contained - on the bar and stood, clearly ending whatever conversation he'd been having. He turned around, buttoning his suit jacket, and their eyes met once more. The electricity that flowed down her spine at the eye contact was strangely exhilarating and ridiculous. Why should meeting some stranger's gaze cause a reaction like that? Sure he was beautiful, but this kind of feeling was entirely foreign to her.

The man took two steps towards her, then gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head, broke their eye contact, and strode leisurely out of the door and out into the pouring rain. Kaelyn watched his silhouette through the windows as long as she could from where she was sitting. When he was finally gone from her sight, she turned back to her table and jumped so hard in surprise she nearly ended up on the floor. Another man with light blue eyes, unkempt black hair, and a black leather jacket sat across from her wearing a predatory smile. His eyes twinkled in amusement at her shock at his sudden appearance. When had he sat down? Surely she would have noticed someone approaching her table.

"Let me guess, new in town?"

Kaelyn nodded, unsure how to react to this situation.

"So, how do you know Elijah?" His tone was a little too casual, as if he was trying far too hard to sound like he didn't care as he took one of her fries and dipped it in the ketchup. It left a small smear of red on the corner of his mouth that he wiped off with his thumb. The grin on his face widened and sent adrenaline coursing through her veins.

"Who's Elijah?" Why on earth would this strange man, who couldn't have been far out of his teenage years, ask her if she knew someone in the tiny little town she was obviously new to? She didn't like his answering smile.

"Oh come on. Don't play dumb. I saw the googly eyes the two of you were making at each other."

Was Elijah the name of the man in the suit? Her heart seemed to skip a beat for no reason at this new information. She had not been making googly eyes at anyone.

"I have no idea who you're talking about. I've literally never been here before, and I wouldn't even be here now if my car hadn't broken down just outside the city limits."

"Having car trouble, huh?" The man leaned forward, casual demeanor replaced by an intense look as he stared into her eyes. She started to lean away from him, startled by the sudden invasion of her space, but her mind went strangely blank as she stared into his eyes.

"Tell me how you know Elijah."

Her mouth opened to speak without her consent or even conscious thought. "I don't know anyone named Elijah."

"The man you've been staring at since he walked in, do you know him?"

"I've never seen him before today."

"Then, why were you two gawking at each other?"

"I don't know."

"Well, that's not helpful at all." He leaned back in his seat and Kaelyn could suddenly think clearly again. "Enjoy your fries." He got up and made his way over to the kid who'd been conversing with the man in the suit earlier. What in the world had just happened? She shook her head and firmly put the matter out of her head.

Several hours later, the rain had stopped and Kaelyn was tucked into bed with a book at a quaint little bed and breakfast a few blocks off the square where the Mystic Grill stood. Her car would take at least three days to fix since the repair shop had to order a part from a larger city nearby, but thankfully it wasn't going to be too expensive. Definitely a hit to her budget, but she could recover. Perhaps she'd just have to cut her trip a few days short. She glanced out the window and watched the sunset over the tops of the trees. This town was small, but it was beautiful and full of that classic Southern small-town charm. Maybe being stuck here for a few days wouldn't be so bad.

The next morning began like any other she'd had since starting her journey to avoid school stress. She woke up with the sun without an alarm, took a leisurely shower, and googled to see if the town had any half-way interesting touristy things to do. Apparently, Mystic Falls had been the site of a battle in the Civil War in 1846, and there was a small museum dedicated to the history of both the war and the town. She decided she'd check that out in the morning since it was only a block or two from the town square and thus, within walking distance of her current location. Perhaps she'd then have lunch on the square then check out some of the local shops in the afternoon. She couldn't go too far, but if she got bored, there was always her book and maybe a hot cup of tea in her room.

Decision made, she dressed quickly and threw open her door, intending to run downstairs for breakfast before her stomach decided to start eating itself. Her plans went awry before she even took two steps out of the door. She ran headfirst into a hard body and found herself being kept from falling by a pair of strong hands holding her by the arms. An actual 'oof' escaped her lips. Warmth, whether from embarrassment or something else - she couldn't tell - flooded through her as her eyes locked with the man's from the bar yesterday. He was wearing a different suit, but it was just as expensive looking up close as the one from the previous day. Electricity seemed to crackle in the air between them and a tingly feeling spread from where his hand held her arms through the rest of her body. They stood there for a long moment, just like a cheesy romance scene from a Korean drama. All that was missing was the slowly rotating camera and dramatic music.

"Excuse me, I wasn't quite watching where I was going." The man's dark eyes bored into hers, and Kaelyn felt a small shiver of fear at the intensity in them. His voice was low and a tad gravelly with the slightest hint of a British accent, though it was almost imperceptible.

"No, I-I'm sorry. I just came barreling out of my room without looking." The warmth and tingling spreading from his hands continued to grow as they stood in the hallway. She felt a blush creep over her face. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her ears she was afraid it was going to burst. What on earth was happening to her?

After what seemed like an eternity of staring into each other's eyes, Kaelyn at least not being able to break eye contact, the man seemed to realize they were standing in a public hallway acting like they were the main characters in a romance novel. He quickly dropped his hands to his side. Luckily, she'd already regained her balance or the moment would've become even more awkward.

"Forgive me. I don't think I've introduced myself. My name is Elijah."

"I'm Kaelyn."

"Awkwardness aside, it is an absolute pleasure to meet you, Kaelyn." Elijah's eyes twinkled with laughter as he purred her name and she couldn't help her heart racing or the smile that spread over her face.

"Uh-likewise." Was that her blush or was her face just completely on fire?

"I'm a writer, currently in town researching the post-Civil War history of small towns in Virginia. I don't know how long either of us will be staying, but I think it would be interesting to get to know each other. Would you like to accompany me for a meal sometime in the next few days? Perhaps lunch?"

Was he asking her on a date? Kaelyn could count on one hand the number of times she'd been asked on a date - well, the number of times she realized it was a date, anyway. She'd never once accepted, but that warmth was still lingering in her body and in the air between them. Was this what it felt like to be attracted to someone? She blinked, realized she'd been staring at him without answering for far too long. This time, her blush was pure embarrassment. Was her blush ever anything but embarrassment? Why did she even blush so much anyway? Who decided blushing was a useful thing for humans?

"S-sure. I'm stuck here until my car's fixed anyway, and it's not like I have any plans." She took a breath to steady herself and to make sure she didn't start rambling. That was a bad habit she was trying to break. "When were you thinking?"

Elijah either didn't notice her awkwardness or he was giving her the benefit of ignoring it, because he simply smiled at her.

"I am meeting with a few members of the Mystic Falls Historical Society this morning, but I should be free around one this afternoon. Shall I meet you at the Mystic Grill then, or would you prefer someplace a tad more formal?"

"The Mystic Grill at one is fine. I guess I'll see you then?" Anxiety shot through her at the thought of actually meeting him for lunch. What was she doing?

Elijah nodded, his smile changing to one of delight at her answer. That smile almost drove away the anxiety trying to flare up inside her.

"Until then…" he left the end of his sentence unsaid and hanging in the air as he walked off, apparently completely and unfairly unaffected by her presence. What was wrong with her? She hadn't felt this flustered in front of someone since her horribly awkward middle school days - which she'd pretty much successfully managed to block out of her memory. Was she really going to meet a total stranger for lunch in a town that she knew nothing about? This was madness. Grad school had finally driven her crazy. Sure, Elijah had beautiful dark eyes that seemed to draw her in and an alluring intensity that made her heart beat faster than was probably healthy, but she didn't know anything about him other than he had impeccable taste in clothing and was extremely polite - maybe even a tad old-fashioned.

She shook her head, trying desperately to clear it. Looking back at the window through her open door, she stood up straight and steeled her nerves. Maybe it was time to take a chance with a handsome man in a place where no one knew her. If she screwed up in front of everyone, well, she'd never see these people again after she left. What did she have to lose?

Kaelyn smiled to herself and closed the door. Breakfast first, then the museum, and then a lunch date with a man with beautiful eyes and an expensive taste in clothes. Today was going to be a good day, she just knew it.

~~A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first story in ages, so please forgive me if I'm a bit rusty. This fic is in a genre called litrpg or gamelit. I've recently been enthralled with the genre and decided to combine aspects of gaming with the Vampire Diaries fandom. For those of you who (like me) look for stories that promise romance with no chance of lemon (perhaps a bit of zest only), this is a good story for you. I never write lemon because I want my stories to be accessible to pretty much everyone. That being said, like the show, this fic does include a fair bit of violence and some pretty serious anxiety/depression. If those are topics you want to avoid, you may want to skip this fic. Thank you all for reading my story, and please don't hesitate to leave constructive criticism or praise! I promise to only cry a little before continuing to write!~~