Hellooo once again! How are you all? Thanks for sticking with this story and to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. It means the world to me 3

I know I said last chapter we'd get some Romitri content but upon reflection I think it was better I give some background to the entirety of the story first. As I said from the get-go, I wouldn't upload it chronologically and the main reason behind that was because Sophia's storyline isn't complete, there are still some gaps AND some of my writing I am not 100% happy with. I like to think of each chapter as 'one-shots' at different points in Sophia's life but still a cohesive storyline if that makes sense ? Sorry for confusing the hell out of everyone but thank you for bearing with me! Btw does anyone know what will happen if I rearrange the chapter order on fanfic once it's already been posted? Maybe that'll help? Let me know?

Anyway, this was (I think?) probably the first story I wrote about Sophia and Damon... how they meet.

Enjoy ~

Donuts and a Handsome Stranger

Third Person P.O.V.

Summer before the start of Sophia's Senior Year - 17 years old

Sophia pushed the door to the cafe open with her elbows and hips as she balanced the large box of donuts in her hands. Just as she stepped out into the fresh air, she bumped into a hard wall of muscle causing her to stumble around. Her grip on the box loosened and slipped out of her hands, straight onto the concrete. The fresh donuts that were neatly packed into the box spilled out and all over the ground. Another person walking down the pathway, not paying attention to where they were walking, stepped right into a few donuts, squashing them completely.

Sophia let out a torrent of Russian swear words, unknowing the stranger she ran into could understand every single word she muttered.

"My mother is going to kill me!" she exclaimed to herself.

The stranger gave her a funny look. "That bad, huh? It's just donuts."

Sophia looks up at the person she ran into and is momentarily stunned. The guy was a young dhampir with an extremely well-built body. Sophia had come across multiple male dhampirs, but none of them were as big and buff as the guy standing in front of her. It was shocking, she had never seen someone with this much muscle in real life. He was tall too, almost as tall as her father she'd guess. The man had gorgeous eyes that you could get lost in. They were ocean coloured, bright blue and deep. He had dark hair that was styled in a way that Sophia could only describe as hot-messy. Sophia blinked and stopped her gawking at the supermodel man.

"You don't know my mother, she's rather particular and serious about her food." She ran a hand over her face and groaned. She didn't have any other cash on her and she didn't want to waste more of her mother's money, especially due to her own clumsiness. She supposed she could ask her father for a few more dollars but he was still on duty for a couple more hours. She didn't want to bother him with some stupid request.

"Sorry I ran into you," Sophia apologised and bent down to pick up the ruined donuts to shove them back in the box, depositing the entire thing in a nearby trash can.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and abruptly turned around with a raised eyebrow. The guy immediately removed his hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just going to offer to buy you and your mother a fresh batch of donuts."

Sophia shook her head. "Thank you but no, there's no need."

A spark of humour glinted in his eye. "Come on, it's only a few bucks. It's the least I can do for almost knocking you on your ass."

Sophia laughed and put her hands on her hips. "You come on. You don't even know my name and you're offering to buy us donuts! It wasn't your fault, it was a simple accident. It's fine, really."

The man's lips curled up into a smirk. "Okay, fine. What's your name?"

"Sophia," she said, looking up at him through her long lashes.

"Nice to meet you, Sophia. I'm Damon." He offers her a hand to shake and she takes it. "Well, then, now that we know each other, I guess it doesn't matter if I buy you those donuts now."

It was a statement, not a question, and she nearly gaped at his confidence. He beckoned Sophia to follow him as he went up to the counter and ordered. She wanted to protest and argue but she had a feeling she would lose. Especially once he asked if she wanted a coffee for herself too. She politely declined and told him the donuts were more than enough.

"So, how old are you, Sophia?" Damon asked, as he leaned against the counter while the server prepared the box of donuts and Damon's coffee.

"Seventeen," Sophia answered.

Damon's eyebrows shot up but he quickly overcame his shock. "Really?"

"Yup." Sophia eyed him. "Why? How old did you think I was?"

"At least twenty," Damon replied. Sophia felt a little smug at that. She knew she had always looked older than her age. It was certainly handy when she needed to get a new pack of cigarettes.

"So, you're a Court guardian?" asked Sophia, continuing the conversation.

"Yes. I just finished my shift."

"Oh yeah? What's your assignment?"

Damon shrugged casually. "Every shift is something different. I'm a Court guardian so I end up doing a bit of everything. Sometimes it's patrolling the wards or the grounds, other days I'm in the office with Hans. If they need extras they put me in the Palace or in Council Meetings." Sophia tried to keep her face perfectly blank when he mentioned the Palace. Sophia knew this guy would definitely know her parents but it didn't seem he knew her. Or he did and he was just being polite by pretending he didn't. If Damon really helped out in the Palace, she wondered why she had never seen him before. Perhaps his shifts and her coming and goings never overlapped before today.

"Where was your shift today?" Sophia asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"I was stationed at the gate," Damon replied. "Real fun stuff."

Sophia laughed. "Why don't you request a new assignment if being at Court is so boring?"

"Hey, I never said it was boring…only some things are. And to answer your question: I have requested a new assignment. It's just taking them a while to process it. They're trying to find something suitable for me."

"Mhmm…I know what that's code for."

Damon rose an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?"

Sophia gave a cheeky grin. "Yup. Top guardians usually get assigned to the royals first. The leftovers get less fun assignments that no one wants, such as a Court guardian." Sophia gave Damon a pointed but non-judgemental look. "I'd guess the reason why your reassignment is taking so long is because they're torn about what to do with you. You're probably a good guardian. If your height and muscle mass is anything to go by, you should be excellent. If you're a great guardian but you're assigned at Court then that would mean that your record probably isn't the best and you have a couple of black marks. They want you on the field but they're not sure that they can trust you completely. Hans is probably keeping an eye on you until he does."

Damon was blown away. Of course, he already knew this and knew the reason why his reassignment was taking so long. And Sophia had hit the nail on the head. Damon gave her a sly grin. "We have a winner." He winked at her.

Sophia ate up his praise and gave him a flirty smile. "Yes, and it seems we have a bad boy on our hands."

"So it seems," Damon agreed. "How do you know so much about what the Guardian Council do, anyway?" he teased, trying to deflect the attention away from him.

Sophia tilted her head. "Guardian secrets," she teased back.

He laughed outright. Sophia liked the sound of his laugh, it was nice. "You could give Hans a run for his money."

"Oh, trust me, I'd love to," Sophia muttered.

Damon opened his mouth to say something when the server called out his name, declaring that his order was ready.

"Thanks, man." Damon took the box and his takeaway cup of coffee. The two left the cafe and fell into step together as Sophia headed in the direction of the townhouses. It wasn't exactly in the same direction of the Palace but she didn't want Damon to know she lived there yet.

"So, which Academy are you at? I take it you're not fulfilling your training here at Court," he asked.

"St. Vlad's," Sophia replied casually.

"That's where I went too."

Sophia nearly stopped walking. "Really? I wonder why I've never seen you before." She looked at Damon up and down. "How old are you?"

Damon gave Sophia a mock-outraged look. "Sophia," he fake chastised. "Don't you know it's incredibly rude and offensive to ask somebody's age."

Sophia giggled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure I really hurt your feelings, you old bag."

Damon laughed. "Well, this bag is twenty-three years old."

"Ah."

Damon sipped on his coffee while Sophia thought of something else to say. She liked Damon, he was easy to talk to and very friendly, but she had wasted enough time and had to go.

"Look, I better head off. Thank you so much for the donuts," Sophia said coming to a stop, taking the box out of his hands. "It was really sweet of you."

"Sweet? I thought I was a bad boy in your books. Bad boys aren't supposed to be sweet," Damon joked.

Sophia gently laughed. "'Bad boy' is just a facade. Deep down, he's actually very kind and caring." Sophia gave him a playful wink. "Sweet, even…thanks again."

"You're welcome." He watched her walk off, her long brown hair twirling softly in the wind.

Sooo what did you think of their meet-cute? And our fave girl, Rose, never changes...always wanting her donuts. Now she has kids she can send on donut-errands :P

More to come!