Hey DE fans,
So sorry for the lateness of this update. I know, I suck. As an apology for neglecting to update, I bring you this chapter AND another one either tonight or tomorrow... which will promise lots of Delena!
Thank you for your amazing reviews, I love reading them! I will get around to replying to some of them which I have been meaning to respond back to, but i've just been super-crazy busy. Again, I know I suck!
I do not own TVD, but if I did, there would be no such thing as a break between seasons. I miss DE so much.
Damon's POV
He'd done it. Damon Salvatore had actually made the impossible, possible. He had successfully avoided conversing with Elena for two whole weeks...
Since the day she returned his jacket he made a dedicated effort to avoid all contact, say for the necessary things; such as answering the register, or a passing 'hello' in the hallway. Yep, the hard part was definitely over.
...Now all he had to do was stop thinking about her, looking at her for lengthly amounts of time, fantasizing about her while in the shower, imagining how his name would sound on her lips - yeah, that was about it. Just those few things he needed to iron out. Damon decided it was a step-by-step process of switching off his emotions. To do it all at once. Well. That would be the impossible.
But who was he kidding; there was no way in Hell he'd ever be able to stop thinking about her joining him in his shower every night. Stood in the busy faculty lounge with a bitter-tasting coffee in his hand, he imagined Elena's naked, olive-skinned body stepping under the spray of water, slowly advancing towards him, lathering her hands with a sweet-smelling soap and gliding her palms down the contorts of his chest... sliding her slick fingers down his stomach... down his abdomen... down to his...
"Damon you wouldn't happen to have any copies of 1984 would you?"
The sound of Isobel's voice shrilling into his ear caused Damon to jump out of his blissful daydream and spill half of his coffee down his crisp, white shirt.
"Ah shit!" he hissed, biting his bottom lip as he felt the liquid soak through the material and scald his skin. Isobel flittered her hands to his stomach, acting all concerned when Damon could clearly see she was enjoying feeling his abs through the material while she 'brushed' away the stains. He wouldn't mind if she wasn't such a bunny-boiler. It occurred to him that she would probably be the only woman he would ever be afraid of.
"I'm so sorry, Damon!"
"Don't worry about it," he bit through his teeth, secretly cursing her, remembering how much this shirt had actually cost him.
"No really, I'm very sorry, how about I pay for your dry-cleaning? I feel terrible."
"That won't be necessary. Really Isobel, it's okay."
"Oh... well," she began, stepping a little closer until she was almost under his nose with her hands resting on her curved hips, "How about I treat us to dinner one evening?"
"You don't have to-"
"No-no I insist!" she said, springing to life with her little innocent, do-gooder act. Damon knew he had been well and truly cornered in her web and she was quickly reeling him in. "How about dinner at The Grill on friday?"
Quick, make up an excuse!
"Ah gee Isobel," he said, scratching the back of his obsidian hair, "I would but I can't make it, I'm busy at that time."
"...I didn't mention any particular time, Damon."
Ah fuck...
"Oh sorry, I thought you... yeah" he sighed, seeing her smirk with content.
"How about eightish? Really, it's just to apologize for this" she said, gesturing to his stained shirt.
Yeah, sure it is.. thought Damon, forcing his face to twist into a happy one.
"Sounds good!" he quipped.
"Wonderful" she smiled, "and before I forget, do you have any copies of that book? I'm a little short for my class."
By the time Damon has successfully found a handful of copies of 1984 in his class storage closet, the bell for his first lesson of the week sounded to his attention.
"Will seven copies do for you?" he said, plopping them into Isobel's hands before she could say otherwise.
"Yeah that should be fine," she said, blinking up at him like some besotted teenager before making her way over to the door. "I look forward to Friday" she said as she left.
"Good stuff!" he called after her, quietly adding to himself, "at least one of us fucking does."
Glancing down at his shirt, he found it was pretty much ruined. And no doubt he'd get more than a few laughs from the kids. Always prepared, Damon remembered he'd kept a spare shirt in the bottom drawer of his desk. Damn, I'm just brilliant he thought. No sooner had he grabbed the handle of his door to close it and quickly change into his spare, Stefan and Matt had come skulking passed him, then followed by several others.
Great... juuuust great. Damon thought, shaking his head with amusement at how shit his day was already shaping out; forced into a date with Isobel Flemming who would probably devour him against his will at the dinner table and he was drenched with coffee before nine in the morning.
And then Elena Gilbert walks into the room wearing a short skirt that exposed her silky, toned thighs. Damon swallowed the lump in his throat, feeling himself get hard at the thought of her legs wrapped tight around his waist. Her back against the wall, her head thrown back with ecstasy...
Just as he managed to force his dirty thoughts away from his manhood he looked up to Elena and she smirked, actually smirked at him as she sat down in her seat, making his thoughts go directly back to his groin once again. This was not going well.
"Good morning, class" he announced. He actually detected a wavering in his voice as he threw on his blazer jacket to hide his once white, but now murky brown coloured shirt.
Everyone groaned back in their half-awake state. Damon desperately tried to keep his focus on anyone but Elena.
"Right I understand that it's Monday morning, that some of you are probably still hung over and dying to roll back into bed, but it's my job to further dampen your spirits by asking for you all to hand in your essays when I call your name from the register. Fail to hand in your essay, you're in detention this afternoon. Got it?"
Damon took note of the various nods and mumbles, in particular the not so quiet whisper of 'we had an essay?' from Matt Donovan's mouth. Damon bit back his amusement as he flicked open his class register. He quickly reeled through his list of students, so far only having Matt come up empty handed with an essay. What a surprise. When the ball of his pen aligned with the name Elena Gilbert, Damon considered the next thirty seconds to be a challenge of those shaky barriers he had in place.
"Elena Gilbert?"
Her head bobbed up from her seat, hair splaying over her shoulders as she stood up. Damon couldn't help it at all, and found his eyes roving down to her bare legs. He subconsciously began tapping his pen, an act he did when he was nervous or getting worked-up. Of which he was currently experiencing both. His hazy, blue eyes crept back to her face and she shyly looked away. She curled her fingers around her hair to tuck it behind her ear, an act Damon was quickly beginning to think was something she did when she was nervous. Were his actions as obvious as her own? Fuck, he hoped not.
Elena presented him with two folded sheets of paper, accompanied with a timid smile.
"Thank you, Elena" he said, unable to look at her any longer when he realized what a complete and utter fail his 'challenge' was. He was hopeless around her.
"You're welcome, Mr Salvatore"
Her eyes lingered on his for longer than necessary before she turned and walked back to her desk.
When Damon felt it was safe enough to stand without the kids noticing an obvious strain in his pants, he was able to get on with his class.
Elena's POV
Elena tried to concentrate on the task Mr Salvatore had set out for the class. He placed people into groups discussions of four and she and Bonnie had been lumbered with Stefan and Matt. It wasn't the fact that Stefan was gawking at her with a forlorn expression throughout the entire exercise that distracted her. It was in fact the man with the porcelain skin and eyes of striking blue that had consumed her train of thought. It wasn't just his beauty, or the memories of them holding one another close after he rescued her from her attacker, but it was the fact he seemed a little... off. Whether Elena was over-thinking things she didn't know. But since their little heart-to-heart before class a couple of weeks ago, it felt like every time they interacted he would retract himself from any prolonged conversation with her. Like he didn't want to be around her. Is the fact I really like him that obvious? she thought, watching his tall, lean body weave through the tables, silently wishing he would come over to them.
"Elena, back in the room please?" snapped Bonnie, clearly tired of carrying the group discussion. For the first time Elena looked around their team; Matt was sat with his mouth hung open in confusion, Stefan was doodling on his paper with a sad frown and Bonnie looked incredibly annoyed.
"Sorry I was just..." she blinked across to Mr Salvatore who was busy talking to another group and then turned back to Bonnie, "... I was distracted. What were you saying?"
"We were discussing the role of women in the play and their negative interpretations."
"Oh yeah. I mean, I think we're all in agreement about Gertrude, right?"
Elena received a shrug from Matt and absolutely nothing from Stefan. Now she knows how Bonnie was feeling.
"God you're both useless!" hissed Bonnie, tossing her pen at Stefan who shook out of his trance.
"What?"
"You two. You're both sat there like zombies making us do all the work. You couldn't find your ass with both hands even if you tried!"
Elena sniggered, giving Stefan a 'she's right you know' look which made him perk up in his seat. As he did, Elena took the opportunity to look over to Mr Salvatore. The blood in her veins rushed through her body, sending flurries of butterflies to her stomach to find he was staring back. Their connection was electric.
Without realizing, Elena didn't see that Stefan was watching her.
"What're you doing?" be blurted.
Elena snapped her head back to face him, panic surging through her.
"What do you mean?"
"You were staring."
"I was trying to get Caroline's attention, is that a crime?"
"No you were staring at him."
Elena heard Bonnie gasp into her ear.
"Who?" she gawked, her eyes landing on their English teacher. "Oh c'mon, everyone's hot for Salvatore" oozed Bonnie, giving Elena a knowing nudge of the arm. Elena felt the blush blaze from her cheeks down to her neck.
"He's a bit, I dunno... girly?" grumbled Matt, looking over to Mr Salvatore with a squint.
"Can we drop the Mr Salvatore discussion, please?" piped Stefan.
"Okay, so you think Salvatore's the girly one, when Stefan is the one here with an Edward Cullen 'do?"
Everyone burst into laughter at Bonnie's comment. Elena found herself flopping against the table, knocking half of her books onto the floor and laughing out aloud, an act so simple yet it was the first time she'd laughed so hard in a long time.
"I didn't realize that Hamlet was a comedy..." came that deep, sexual drawl that Elena knew all too well. She slowed down her giggling to sit up straight as Mr Salvatore wandered over towards their desk.
Elena couldn't help but smile up at him, feeling her body zing to life when his eyes twinkled down at her mischievously.
"Sorry Mr Salvatore, we were just laughing at Stefan's expense here" she joked, hoping she would keep her teacher's attention for longer than fifteen seconds. So far so good.
"Tut-tut, Elena" drawled Mr Salvatore, flashing her the cockiest grin that made her stomach flip, "am I going to have to give you detention for bullying?"
Now if that didn't contain sexual undertones, then Elena didn't know what did. Feeling bold, she discretely bit her plump, bottom lip.
"That won't be necessary, Mr Salvatore. I'll be good."
She felt her heart pound hard against her chest at how brazen her actions were. If Bonnie and Matt weren't overcome with a bad case of the giggles and Stefan had actually looked up from the desk, they would have seen some serious flirting going on between teacher and student. As if her teacher could read her mind, the grin that graced his perfectly chiseled face disappeared, replaced with a disinterested look that hurt her more than she liked to admit.
"Well joking aside guys, I'd like some productivity going on here."
"You got it, Mr Salvatore" said Bonnie with a pleasant nod.
And with that, and without looking at her, Elena watched him walk away to another group.
Something was off. It had to be.
************************
At lunch, Elena's mood hadn't picked up. Her mind was exhausted from being on a constant replay of Mr Salvatore. The first couple of weeks were great; they spoke, they bonded, Jesus he even saved her from a rape attack and now their... thing... or whatever you want to call it was pretty much dead in the water.
Elena picked at the salad in front of her, feeling a little pathetic with herself at how she described her bond with Mr Salvatore like he was a boy she was dating and he was playing hot and cold with her. She knew it was ridiculous and just a silly little crush that would eventually burn out. But despite only having those few, precious moments where they were close she could not let them go. For he was there in her darkest moments and brought a ray of sunshine back into her life.
"So I was thinking," announced Caroline, her voice muffled by her hand while she ate her sandwich with her mouth open, "how 'bout we slumber it at mine on friday?"
"Sure, I'm in. Elena?"
"Yeah sounds good. Shall I bring my manicure kit?"
"Duh! Of course! We're having a girly night in, considering the night out turned out to be a total disaster."
Elena and Bonnie shared their usual look when Caroline said something which should have included slight ounces of sensitivity but never did. It was just her way, but they were used to it.
"Better get homework outta the way then," said Bonnie, which for some reason made a light-bulb ping to life in Elena's head and she began to rummage around in her bag.
"Lost something?"
Flicking her science, history and math books aside in her bag, Elena found she had lost her copy of Hamlet for English.
"Yeah my Hamlet copy. You didn't get it by mistake did you Bonnie?"
Bonnie checked her bag and came out empty-handed.
"I better go back and have a look," Elena said, sliding off the bench and slinging her bag over her bare shoulders.
"Did you leave it so you had an excuse to go back and ogle Mr Salvatore for yourself? I should try that sometime," said Caroline with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Elena gasped, trying to hide her amusement.
"You're so childish," Elena retorted, "save me a seat in Math next won't you?"
"Sure. Say hello to Sexy-ass Salvatore for me won't you?"
Elena laughed and jokingly gave Caroline the middle finger. As she wandered through the school grounds, she silently thanked herself for forgetting it. For the first time in a fortnight she would be alone with him again. Even if it was for a moment it would be worth it. She almost had a spring in her step, but soon found herself slowing down as she approached the English department, finally feeling the nerves kick in.
As she threw open the heavy door, she saw her Uncle John in the distance walk down the hallway. Her heart had skipped a beat and she prayed he wouldn't see her. It had been two weeks since the attack and not a word had been said. If he knew she were out she knew she'd face all kinds of lectures of how irresponsible she was, child-like and should probably hand her inheritance over to him for 'her benefit.' Elena released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding deep in her chest and carried on walking down the lonely hallway.
Classroom E6 came into view and Elena could barely breathe probably. What if he ignored her? What if he treated her like any other random student? If that happened it would crush her. Smoothing her left hand through her tumbles of dark hair while the other nervously played with the strap of her bag, Elena tip-toed towards the door and balled her left hand into a fist, ready to knock.
But the sight she saw through the pane of glass almost caused her legs to give way.
At the far left where his desk was situated, Elena's eyes were met with Mr Salvatore back facing her... bare back to be exact.
He was changing his shirt! Right there at his desk! At least that's what Elena thought he was doing. Whatever it was it didn't matter, she was far too pre-occupied with the way the hard muscle of his toned back moved under his perfect, pale skin. Elena blushed, her breath condensing against the thick glass as she watched his body slowly turn until he was almost facing her.
Frightened of being spotted she drew back, her heart leaping into her throat and a hot flush blooming over her body. Inching back towards the glass, his head was turned to the side, showing his amazing, angular profile while he buttoned up a dark, indigo shirt that sadly covered his taut stomach.
"Just perfect..." Elena whispered, feeling her body go numb.
So numb her fingers lost all reflex and she dropped her bag with an almighty thud, bang and clatter as her belongings scattered across the long stretch of hallway.
"Shit!" she screeched. Her eyes darted through the glass. Fuck - he's seen me!
Not wanting to be there a second longer, Elena stumbled to her knees to violently shove everything she could find into her bag. She heard his door open behind her. Fuck, fucking-fuck!
"Elena?"
Grabbing her notepad and stuffing it into the side pocket of her bag, Elena made a quick glance over her shoulder as she sprang to her feet. He looked completely stunned, yet lost as to why she was there. Mortified, humiliated and wanting the ground to swallow her body whole Elena did the worst thing possible.
She ran.
Soooo... what do we think?
Will Elena stop and turn back? Will Damon go after her? Will their next encounter alone find themselves falling further into trouble.. and dare we say it.. in love? Well I can promise you, you won't be waiting long to find out!
Clickety-click on the review button and I'll be back with chapter nine VERY soon!
Anna x