eternal... damnation?

      She feels a bit bad, but seeing him so quickly turn to get everyone to scatter helps some of the nerves subside. And the blush worsens at hearing him call her pretty. This time when she smiles, it’s less nervous. But she hands him the flowers to put back as well. “Next time, phrase it as a question.” It’s gentle and she rests her hand lightly on his forearm to show him it’s okay. Hopefully. “But it was very cute, I’ll give you that.”  But now that they’re moving into more neutral conversation territory, Josie’s calming down a bit. Her heart isn’t beating quite so loudly in her ears. 

“Oh! Dad sent you, okay. I can definitely help.” If she were another person. If she were Lizzie, she’d probably have some sort of retort for the vampire about his.. prematurity, but instead it just rolls off of her back. Without hesitating now, she takes him by the arm, and leads him back towards the library. “Is it for a class or are you just curious?” She peels away from him and moves to the spelled cryptex to search, then picks a few off of the shelf and lays them out. “And I’m curious about this long story of yours. Maybe over the date you ask me on?” 

Once he realizes that one, Josie doesn’t seem to be mad and two, the outcome went better than expected, he exhales, letting Josie pull him by the arm and back through the library doors. So he settles atop of the table where Josie lays out books for review, legs swinging; he picks up a book with a velvety red cover and flips to the index page. “ Phrase it as a question next time. Got it. Anything for Josie Saltzman.” His grin is toothy and his laugh quiet, suddenly feeling much more at ease than he did just a few moments ago, when he had almost royally screwed up his chances. 

      Chaos in the Salvatore School is not unheard of. If it’s not the wolves starting fights in the dining hall, it’s a monster on the grounds. Or Penelope causing a scene. Or– There’s really too much to touch on, just that her school life is absolutely ruled by chaos. So this scene of a vampire flitting around the library and towards her is– Normal. Well. It’s normal, until he makes himself a whirlwind of papers ( pissing off Alyssa Chang in the process. Not really a smart move there. ) And her eyes finally focus on who it is, only to see him be absolutely determined to cause more inadvertent destruction. 

Her eyebrows raise and, purely out of surprise, takes a half-step back and nearly laughs out loud at the expression on his face. It’s like a trainwreck, she’s sure, to the people watching this happen. It’s so public, and her cheeks burn red. “I– uh.” Is all that comes out but she reaches for the flowers and takes them, even though she knows they should be going back up in the vase in the hall. A quick glance around confirms her suspicions that yes, everyone is watching this like a slow moving car crash. Oh, god. 

She lets out a nervous laugh, more of a huff than anything, and pulls the flowers to her chest. “You.. should probably phrase that as a question. Not a command.” Her lower lip is pulled between her teeth in an effort to not let out another nervous laugh, “Sorry, I– what’s your name again?” 

“ Sorry, you’re right ”. He takes things slow now, putting the vase back where it belonged and pushing it away from the edge, wiping the water from the vase that had spilled over his hands on his demin jeans, and he finally takes his time to look around them. Everyone’s watching (and of course they are), so he turns to their reluctant audience. “ What? You’ve never seen a guy trip over his own feet for a pretty girl? Show’s over. I mean it. Mind your business, this isn’t prime time on Univision ”. 

He spots her across the library, while everyone’s busy burying their heads in books about the History of Necromancy while he sits on the ledge by the window. Like any other vampire, his speed is surrealistic, and he’s a blur when he pushes away from the wall to catch Josie’s attention before she makes it to the end of the hallway, but instead, he runs head first into Alyssa Chang, barely avoiding her and blowing her school papers to the ground, which he catches quickly before they scatter around the library, puts them back in her hands (he briefly hears her calling him an ass hole, an afterthought).