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Hope took in the sight before her. The vibrant blues of the sky met with the fresh greens of the grass. The breezy winds tousled her hair and brushed her fingertips. She closed her eyes to take in the peaceful atmosphere; this would make for a perfect canvas piece.
“Of all places, Dad, you choose a place called Faroe Island ?”
Hope gritted her teeth and opened her eyes. The atmosphere was not so peaceful anymore by the hands—or rather the voice—of Lizzie Saltzman.
“It’s ‘Islands’,” Josie corrected, emphasizing the ‘s’. “There’s more than one island.”
The blonde waved her hand carelessly. “Whatever.”
Josie silently gave her sister a look before turning her head to watch Ric and Raf approaching with a plethora of luggage tucked under an arm and hoisted over the other shoulder. Well, Ric was pulling the luggage with wheels while Raf was doing the heavy lifting.
Hope held up a finger at the two men. “I could have helped with that, you know,” she said. “Or grabbed my own bag.”
Raf shrugged lightly and grinned. “Ah, don’t worry about it. This is nothing. And besides, a gentleman doesn’t let a lady carry her own bags.” He looked at Ric who was giving the ‘fatherly nod of approval’.
Josie smiled appreciatively and went to say thank you, but her sister meant business with her folded arms and pout.
“When I said we should spend a summer on an exotic island, I meant somewhere like Panama or Boa Boa,” Lizzie said, scrunching her nose in disgust. “This is on the level of the slums of Beverly Hills.”
As Josie rolled her eyes, Hope scoffed. “Well you have a one-way ticket off the cliff if you want to leave,” she said. “I could shove you the way.”
Next to her, she heard Raf snort, and she would have smiled at him if she weren’t smugly looking at the blonde.
“Alright you two,” Ric butted in. “While this is going to be a relaxing vacation, this will also be an educational one. You’re going to love it, I promise.”
Lizzie folded her arms and muttered something to herself before following her father’s lead towards the car taking them to their hotel. Josie wasn’t far behind, and Hope saw her whisper something in Lizzie’s ear that earned her a glare.
Hope could only imagine what the twin said to her sister, and those thoughts amused her so much that she chuckled aloud. She was taken from her thoughts by a nudge from Raf, whose brow was raised as he looked down at her.
“Stayin’ in the asylum in your head or are you coming?” he asked.
She leaned her head back mocking offense by the question. “Excuse me?” she said.
The werewolf snorted. “Everyone might see the beautiful badass tribrid with a rude streak, but they have no idea how many people are arguing in that head of yours.” He laughed and tapped her forehead teasingly.
Hope pushed his arm away with a laugh, and he quickly joined in. Just a moment later their laughter died down, and Raf jerked his head in the direction the trio went.
“We better go. I have no doubt Lizzie would try to leave us behind.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Even if Ric was there, Lizzie would try anything to stick it to Hope. With a sigh and nod, Hope walked with Raf to their awaiting ride. There was a comfortable silence between them, but a question was slowly poking at her and trying to wreck that comfortability.
‘Raf called me beautiful.’
Hope sat on the corner of her bed, examining her hotel room curiously. The trip was meant to be more than the five of them, but when Ric announced the exploration of a special island for the summer break, he mentioned that it would be educational.
The whole point of summer break is to get away from educational crap, not jump to it with the headmaster and his daughters. So why in the hell was Hope here? She didn’t want to go to New Orleans, and she sure as hell didn’t want to stay at the school. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been on trips with the Saltzmans before; they just...weren’t the best of times.
This time would be different; Hope had Raf there for sanity support. Not that he explicitly knew that. She heard he’d taken the offer because his foster brother wanted to spend time with his biological mother and Raf didn’t want to intrude on that special moment.
Hope knew how bad it could be with limited familial support around, so she could see how the werewolf had it rough. He was a hothead like most of the werewolves Hope knew, but there was something about him. He challenged her and pushed her buttons like no one else would. He was a hardass, stubborn, and ready to defend at a moment’s notice.
But if she had to listen to Lizzie gush and compare him to the younger, hotter version of Wolverine—it took everything in Hope not to tell her how wrong all of the statement was—Hope would resort to drastic measures and cast a spell to alter his appearance. That would be a shame though…
The brunette shook her head quickly in surprise at herself. Did she really think that? She ran a hand through her hair and blew out some air. She could not ruin this friendship between them. It was one of the only genuine connections she had.
She flopped backwards on the bed and huffed. Get it together, Hope. This was not some teen movie or Hallmark drama from Lizzie’s fantasies.
That pestering thought from before came rearing its head again, and Hope just stared at the ceiling biting her lip with all of her conflicting emotions tangling together in her chest. Crap.
The remainder of Hope’s night was mostly a blur, and morning arrived quicker than she anticipated. Today they were supposed to go sailing or diving, whichever was chosen from a coin flip. What was certain with either choice was that she needed her wetsuit.
The one thing she somehow didn’t have packed in her bag.
An array of clothes were strewn across the hotel room floor, and Hope was in disarray. What was she going to do? None of her shorts was fit for diving or sailing, and she was not going to be the cliche wet t-shirt girl from around the block.
While she knew that Josie would help her if she could, Hope didn’t trust that it wouldn’t be without a ‘Lizzie Sabotage’. Asking Ric or even Raf didn’t make for a good solution, so Hope had to suck it up and do what she had to do.
With her trusty voice-translating spell, Hope went for the phone on the nightstand and dialed for the hotel clerk.
——————
Rule Number Whatever in ‘Hope’s Guide to Maintain Sanity’: Never put your swimsuit trust in a stranger.
Hope held up the flimsy thing, one eye popped open bigger than the other as she examined the tiny pieces of fabric that were sent to her. She thanked the worker, but she was screaming inwardly. She preferred wetsuits because she felt secure and covered. This was insecurity and exposure in a bathing suit. It was the only choice she had, unfortunately. She couldn’t use too much magic around there without knowing all of the territories.
As she held the two-piece up one more time, Hope took a deep breath and went to change with the assurance her clothes made up for what her swimsuit lacked. Out of nowhere, a sing-song phrase came to mind, so she tilted her head.
“I'm pretty sure this was on a horrible commercial somewhere,” Hope muttered to herself.
When Hope entered the lobby to meet the others for their expedition for the day, she expected at least one other person’s expression similar to hers. Yet there was only one person waiting for her.
He was leaning against a column by the elevators, obviously waiting for her there. He wasn’t paying attention to her right then as he was tapping away on his phone. It gave her the opportunity to take a good, swift look at him before announcing her presence.
Raf was wearing a fitted navy tank top and khaki shorts. His muscles were subconsciously flexing as he was on his phone. Her eyes caught a look of concern on his face, and she approached him without a second thought.
“Hey,” she said, looking up at him. “What’s wrong?”
He tilted his head towards her, his demeanor remaining calm by her sudden intrusion. “He didn’t get into the details, but they won’t be able to make it to anything for the time being.” Raf spun around to face Hope completely and clasped his hands together. “Looks like it’s just you and me today if you’re up for it.”
On one hand, this would be some peace away from Lizzie, may whatever the situation be okay despite that. On the other hand, being alone with Raf might not be the best of ideas considering her inner thoughts and feelings are conspiring against her.
Yet when she looked into his eyes, Hope nodded and shrugged casually. “Sure,” she said. Boom nailed it.
While the original plan was to go diving and sailing, Raf suggested that they do something else so they could still experience that with Ric; it was the least they could do, right? And it gave Hope a chance to keep her bathing suit underneath her clothes.
And then they arrived at the shore of one of the outer islands. The tribrid cursed at the waves as they hit against the rocks. She should have known that fate would be a cruel witch to her once again.
He must have sensed that she was one with her thoughts because he cleared his throat and lightly touched her arm. Their eyes met once again, and those bundles of feelings stirred in her stomach again.
“Are you alright in there?” Raf teased, knocking on the crown of her head.
Hope glared at him and pushed him back. “Haha hilarious,” she drawled sarcastically.
Raf placed a hand on his chest, his manner was still playful and teasing. “I think I could have been a comedian in another life.”
The brunette snorted. “Only if your fans were under an allurement spell.”
“Ouch,” he replied with a laugh. “That cheery personality of yours just gets better and better by the days.”
She responded with a small curtsy and impish grin. “Why thank you.”
They laughed together, and a warm feeling swept over her. It was good to laugh; she didn’t do it often if hardly at all. She didn’t have too many reasons to smile around the school, so the things that did get the job done were cherished close.
And the werewolf smiling back at her was now one of those things.
After the hysterics simmered down they trekked over the rocky terrain covered in grassy moss to get closer to the water. They were standing so close Hope could feel the heat radiating off her companion. There was a slither of uncertainty on whether the closer they reached the shore or their close proximity was the culprit for her racing heart. This was way beyond the typical Hope Mikaelson behavior; it’s gotta be some astral shift causing the disturbance.
The sounds of waves crashing grew louder as they arrived at their destination. The smell of sea salt filled her nose, and Hope stared at the crystal blue waters.
“Wow,” she said lightly. It almost made her forget about the swimsuit issue. Almost, because the view Hope had now included Raf in just black swimming trunks running towards the water.
‘So those were hidden under his khakis, huh?’
Hope bit her lip to keep her thoughts from progressing any further. Get. It. Together. They were just two friends enjoying a day together. Just...two friends enjoy each other’s company. That’s it.
“Surely Hope ‘Unbothered’ Mikaelson isn’t afraid of a little water!” Raf called out from the sea. From where he was standing the water reached his waist. His upper body was left exposed, not making this any easier for the tribrid’s hyperactive imagination.
Her stubborn will wasn’t to be taunted either, so the challenge couldn’t go unanswered.
This was the moment of truth for Hope. She shouldn’t be so shy or embarrassed about this; she was a big girl. It was just…
Taking in the air like it was courage, Hope removed her clothes covering her bathing suit and tossed them close to Raf’s. She was now exposed in the thin articles of clothing the hotel provided, so she ran into the water quickly to wash away some of the nerves and attempt to cover the lower half of her body.
She and Raf were standing about a foot apart from one another; his teasing grin had fallen to be replaced by his lips parted like he was in awe. While she felt practically naked every time she thought about being in the bathing suit, the look on Raf’s face made her feel the opposite. A sense of impatience was felt too, so she splashed at the werewolf.
It worked. Raf drifted back slightly and blinked a few times. He cleared his throat and gestured at the visible piece of her bathing suit with his hand.
“I, uh,” he dipped his head a bit with a bashful smile. “Didn’t take you as the perky swimsuit type.”
She glowered and splashed more at him. Sooner or later he was going to retaliate, so she would take the opportunity as much as she could. “The hotel gave it to me because I somehow didn’t pack my wetsuit,” Hope explained. “It reminds me of that old commercial I mocked for years.”
“Itsy bitsy, teenie weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini,” Raf sang in a funny, off-key tone.
“That she wore for the first time today,” Hope finished instinctively. She covered her mouth and shook her head. “Oh God no. We’re never doing that again.”
Raf hummed lightly and tilted his head. His eyes swept over Hope and stopped to meet her eyes once again. “I think the one time was worth it.”
He unwittingly concealed her incoming blush by using both his arms and strength to drench Hope with the water. Before the battle of the splashes continued, she silently prayed that the itsy bitsy, teenie weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini wouldn’t tear or untie itself. Now that would suck.