Eloise tugs lightly at the neck of her sweater for the umpteenth time as she walks into the Grill. David, the owner, was busy putting away the clean dishes. He looks up and greets her with a smile.
"Ellie, how may I help you?"
"Goodmorning, David. I lost my bag last night in front of the restaurant, I was wondering if someone perhaps brought it in?" Eloise shifts her gaze briefly to Damon, who seemed to be the first and only customer.
"I will check for you." David gives a nod before heading into the back, leaving Eloise alone with Damon.
"Thank you." Eloise calls, before turning to look at Damon.
"Ah, if it isn't Ellie." Damon remarks, looking up at Eloise to send her a charming smile. He wouldn't normally be at the Grill this early, and David would have kicked him out if it weren't for the fact that Damon could be incredibly convincing. The meeting with Alaric, Stefan, Elena, and followers had been frustrating. To put it shortly, there had been much chatter with little result.
"Already drinking, Damon?" Eloise asks, words coming out a bit colder than she had intended. Her neck hurt when she spoke and she had a stiff neck from sleeping at an awkward angle. Waking was a strange experience, Eloise wasn't sure what had been a dream and what had been real. She remembers fangs, a searing pain but couldn't be certain if she had also seen glowing eyes or if that had been part of her nightmare.
Eloise had considered calling in sick, but today was a presentation from Tyler and Matt, which she had been looking forward to.
"Of course, best way to start the day." Damon hums, ignoring the apologetic smile Eloise was giving him. He clearly wasn't the only one with a rough morning. He could smell blood, semi-dried up blood, but still.
He lets his eyes roam over Eloise, looking for the source but coming up short. Damon frowns a little before shifting his gaze back on his drink.
"I was wondering... I did not see you at the Parent-teacher conference last night and I hoped we could schedule an appointment to talk about Stefan's progress." Eloise suggests, resisting the urge to tug at the collar of her turtleneck again. This morning she had dared to peel the bandages away, cringing at the sight of the wound. She wasn't certain how often one should change bandages. This morning Eloise discovered that the bandage she was currently using, had been the only one in her cabinet. She would have to buy some on her way home.
Damon bites his lip for a second, thinking over Eloise's proposal. Alaric had warned him to stay away from the woman but Damon loved a challenge and Elena's endless whining over sparing Elijah was starting to piss him off. Besides that, Stefan's academics were very important to him. "I would love to."
Eloise cracks out a smile, happy the man was being compliant to her request. She thinks over her schedule. She did not have planned much this week, except for Friday drinks with Alaric. "Great, would you be available Thursday?"
"Sure, would the Grill be alright? Around 8?"
"That should work." Eloise nods.
"Great, it's a date." Damon grins sharply.
Eloise is about to object to the term that Damon used for their appointment when David returns. "Sorry, Ellie. We did not get anything in."
"It's alright, thank you for checking." Eloise waves at David before turning around.
"See you Thursday, Ellie." Damon calls over his shoulder, smirking when he hears her heart skip a beat, clearly startled.
Eloise purses her lips. "Goodbye Damon."
• • •
"How was your athletic evening stroll?" Alaric teases as Eloise flops down onto the couch beside him in the teacher's lounge.
Eloise's smile wavers a little and her shoulders tense. She would love to tell Alaric about being attacked by some 'vampire man', or whatever he was, in an alley but decides to go with the expected answer. Alaric would probably declare her insane and urge her to take the day off. "It was good, refreshing."
"You're not fooling me, I bet you were miserable." Alaric's grin falters when he sees Eloise pale at his remark. Instant worry creeps into him at her unreadable expression. Alaric leans forward, glancing briefly at the other teachers before whispering. "Are you alright? Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened." Eloise gives him a small smile, folding her hands in her lap to fidget with her ring. "I'm just bummed out. Walking sucks and the mechanic says my car is pretty much beyond saving."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Ellie. I will happily drive you." Alaric offers kindly, knowing full well of Eloise's financial struggles. It was no problem for him to drive her seeing as her house was pretty much on the route. Besides that, she was a nice girl, a friend. Friends did such things for each other.
"That's kind of you Alaric, perhaps only the mornings if that's alright with you? Until I get a bicycle?" Eloise asks timidly. Accepting favors always made her feel a bit uncomfortable, but she appreciated it immensely.
• • •
"Are you alright Miss. Sinclair?" Stefan asks, walking up to Eloise's desk after class. He noticed that his usual energetic teacher was a bit distracted during the lecture, messing dates up several times.
Eloise pops her head up from under her desk. She had decided to dig through her archives to look up the book reports some of her students had made about those vampire books. Perhaps a reread of Bram Stoker couldn't hurt either.
Eloise smiles up at Stefan. He had once again been quite attentive during the class. He had even carefully corrected one of her statements. Eloise knew plenty of teachers who would not like that, but Eloise appreciated it immensely. She would hate for her students to learn the wrong information. "I am alright Mr. Salvatore, thank you. My mind is a bit occupied with other things. It is very kind of you to check up on me."
"No problem." Stefan smiles, eyes narrowing slightly when he sees something peeking up from under the collar of Eloise's turtleneck.
Eloise sees Stefan's eyes wandering and clears her throat.
"You should probably go to your next class, Mr. Salvatore." Eloise reminds him, nodding a little.
• • •
"Miss Sinclair."
Eloise turns her head at the familiar deep voice. Her eyes widen a little and her cheeks heat at the sight of the man she had met in the park last week.
"Elijah, hi." Eloise manages to stammer out. She was afraid that this time she looked even more slouchy than when they first met.
"I have been impatiently awaiting your call." Elijah declares, smiling gently at the flustered-looking woman before him.
It was true, the past week he had been constantly checking his phone for a text from Eloise. He felt a bit like a teenager with a crush, which was nonsense of course considering he was a thousand years old and being rejected by a random woman was not the end of the world. However, he did notice that he was more irritable than usual, and he was also less apt to bear the torment of his siblings whenever they teased him about being stuck to his phone. Especially Kol seemed to enjoy Elijah's troubled state.
"I'm so sorry." Eloise blinks up at Elijah, a feeling of guilt settling into her stomach. She had thought Elijah would have forgotten about her by now. Hearing his confession made her feel so much worse for her untidiness, which reminded her it might be nice to explain why she hadn't called him. "Do you believe me if I say I lost your number?"
"I do actually, you seem like a truthful person," He holds back his desire to comment on her haphazzard nature, remembering vividly how she had ran up to him without shoes. He himself was not disorderly at all, this was apparent from his way of dressing, but he thought it was a nice feature of Eloise.
"I really did want to call you." Eloise assures with a bright smile. Elijah considering her to be a truthful person seemed like a big compliment to her.
"And here I thought it was all about playing 'hard to get' these days." Elijah jokes while scanning Eloise's face. She was even lovelier than he remembered. Her smile made small lines appear by her eyes, amplifying her joyful expression and making her even more appealing in his eyes.
"I promise you, I do not partake in such games." Eloise chuckles, remembering full well how Alex had pulled that trick multiple times. It was not something Eloise liked much. She herself was terrible at picking up such signals and it would surely only lead to miscommunication.
"Then what games do you play?" Elijah teases.
