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Josie finished her chemistry test early, so her teacher gave her a hall pass to spend the rest of the period in the library. She was starting her homework when the bell rang for the period to end. She had chemistry last, which meant the library was about to fill up with students who studied there after school. Elena and Damon weren’t expecting her home until later, so she decided to stay and finish. She made it through three of her pre calc problems when MG came up to her.
“Jo? Jo, did you hear?” he asked.
“Hear what?”
“Check your phone,” he said. Josie pulled her phone out of her front backpack pocket, and saw a text from Ethan in her notifications. She opened it and saw that he was inviting her to a party at the barn behind his host family’s house.
“Ethan’s having a party?”
“Yep,” MG said, “The family he’s staying with is out for the weekend. Ethan’s already rented out a sound system, and he’s ordered the kegs. It’s gonna be epic.”
“How many people are going?”
“Just the kids on the football team, you, me, Finch…” Josie looked back to her homework at the mention of Finch’s name, “You still haven’t talked to her?”
“Since everything that happened when I asked her out, not really. Then she totally disappeared a few days ago, which was fine because I was at the Salvatore School… ” with Hope, she thought, but didn’t say aloud, “Have you seen her?” A nervous look crossed MG’s face,
“Oh I mean, she and I aren’t really that close, we only see each other because of you, not like that’s a bad thing or anything, but anytime I were to see her-”
“MG?” Josie asked, getting a little annoyed.
“No, I haven’t seen her,” he said quickly, “You should call her and ask her to come. Ethan’s not super close with her or anything, but he knows you’d want her there, and he wants you there.”
“I’ll see if she actually picks up,” Josie said. She hadn’t for days, so Josie had stopped calling completely, “What time does the party start?”
“Seven,” he said, “I’ll meet you there, I made plans with Ethan beforehand.”
“Cool,” Josie said, “Hey, are you inviting anyone to come with you? To the party, I mean.”
“I was gonna ask Lizzie,” he said, “And see if she wanted to bring anyone. I haven’t seen Kaleb in days, so hopefully he’ll come.”
“Yeah, and maybe Jed,” Josie said.
“And Hope,” MG said. Hope. When Josie had seen Hope yesterday, she’d almost turned into a monster. A fact that Josie was reminded of due to the magic that was coursing through her body. A choice she’d made to save Hope. A choice she knew had been worth it.
“-and then I should get there around seven thirty,” MG was saying, which made Josie realize he had been talking to her.
“Sorry, what were you saying?” she asked.
“Just that I’d get to the party a little late,” he said, “You okay, Jo?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. She packed up her stuff and placed it in her bag, “I need to get going. I wanna find Finch. I’ll see you later.”
“See you,” he said. Josie left the library, pulling her backpack on. She went to Finch’s locker, but the other girl wasn’t there, and she didn’t see her moped parked in its usual spot when she went outside. Josie pulled her phone back out and decided to just text her.
“There’s a party at Ethan’s tonight,” she said, “I should be there around eight, if you wanted to come.” It was a simple text. Josie sent it, and waited for a response. She got the notification that Finch red the text a few seconds later, but minutes passed without a response.
“I guess that’s a no,” she said.
Hope watched from her bedroom window as Landon played football with Kaleb and Jed outside. Landon hadn’t been close with either of them before leaving, but now they were all best friends! And Landon was playing ball with the same amount of skill as somebody who’d practiced his whole life. At the game last fall, he could barely throw or catch. Josie had helped him.
Josie. Hope hadn’t been able to get her out of her head since yesterday. Thinking about her was the only thing that stopped her from the fear that Landon wasn’t himself. She was still feeling guilty about Josie taking her magic back, even though Josie assured her that it had been her decision, and she was happy she’d made it.
“ It shouldn’t have taken you turning into a monster for me to realize it was time ,” Josie had said. But then she’d said no to coming back to school, so Hope was confused. Part of her wanted to reach out to her, but the other part told her to keep her distance. Josie hadn’t mentioned anything about it, but Hope still worried Josie held some resentment for what had happened that day with the ascendant. And who could blame her?
Hope’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the boys cheering from down below. Landon had his hands up in the air, and was jumping wildly as Jed gave him a clap on the back. He looked cute, he looked fun, he looked like Landon. But what Wade had told her was sticking with her. So, at breakfast in the morning, Hope had tested something out. Before classes, instead of eating in the dining hall, Hope took him to the kitchen and made him a breakfast burrito. She’d put the usual stuff in there. Eggs, cheese, sausage, spinach, but when Landon hadn’t been looking, she’d added a bit of avocado.
When they’d first started dating, the two of them had gotten brunch on a Saturday morning. Hope had ordered pancakes with a side of avocado toast, and Landon had asked to try some. Hope had ripped off a piece and gave it to him. After he’d swallowed, he was fine for a second, but then he immediately broke out into hives, and his tongue started to swell. Luckily, a mother of three at the table across from them had an Epipen handy, which might have just saved his life. Hope had taken Landon to the infirmary, where it was concluded that he had a severe allergy to avocados.
Hope hadn’t put too much in the burrito, but it had been nearly equal to the amount on the bite of toast he’d eaten. She’d taken an Epipen from the infirmary in case she’d been wrong, but sadly, she hadn’t been. Landon was able to eat the whole burrito. He’d even thanked her for it afterwards. Hope knew she should have gone into fight mode. She should have knocked him out then and there, but she’d been in too much of a state of shock, that she’d let him kiss her cheek and leave.
Watching Landon with the boys showed her that her reaction had been okay. Landon wasn’t hurting anybody, in fact, he looked fine, and who knew? Maybe she hadn’t added enough avocado. It didn’t stop the tug of nervousness in her stomach though. Someone knocked on her door a few seconds later, so she said,
“Come in.” The door opened, and Lizzie walked in, “Hey, what’s going on?”
“Do you want to come to a party with me tonight?” she asked, “It’s at Ethan’s place, MG just invited me.”
“A party at Ethan’s house that will probably have a bunch of students I don’t know from Mystic Falls High,” Hope said, “I feel like you don’t know me at all.”
“Please?” she asked, “Things are still kinda awkward between me and MG. Well, they’re getting better, but it’s not where it used to be, you know?”
“Lizzie, if he’s inviting you to the party, he’s probably gotten over it,” Hope said, which was her way of assuring herself that Josie had forgiven her, too, “Plus, I have a lot on my plate.”
“Like what? We’re on a long weekend, and the last time any of us went to a full day of classes was before Landon got here. What do you have keeping you busy?” My boyfriend might not actually be my boyfriend , was her first thought, but she didn’t elaborate, and Lizzie wasn’t taking no for an answer, so she sighed and said,
“Fine, I guess I can go for an hour or two,” she said.
“Go where?” she heard Landon ask. She almost jumped as he walked into the room, followed by Jed and Kaleb.
“Party at Ethan’s,” Lizzie said, “Do you guys wanna come?”
“Will MG be there?” Kaleb asked, and Lizzie nodded, “Then I’ll pass.”
“Wait, why?” Jed asked, and Kaleb just shrugged, not in the mood to talk. Jed turned to Lizzie and said, “I’m down for a party. Lan, you in?” Lan? Where had Lan come from?
“Totally,” he said, high fiving Jed, “When does it start?” Hope turned to Lizzie,
“Seven,” she said, “But I’m not gonna go until eight.”
“Sweet, I’ll be there,” Jed said, “Kaleb, are you sure?’
“Hundred percent,” he said, “I have plans with Cleo tonight anyway. And I need to get ready. I will see you kids later.”
“Bye,” Landon said, and Kaleb left the room. Landon turned to her and asked, “Hope, you coming?”
“I guess so,” she said, “Is Josie going to be there?”
“I think so,” Lizzie said, “MG said she was coming.” She wasn’t sure why, but that made her feel ten times better about tonight.
When Josie got to the party, there were already about fifty kids there. She had to duck to avoid getting hit by a ping pong ball as she passed a game of beer pong, and it took her a while before she found MG, talking with Ethan about the latest Spiderman comic.
“Josie, hey!” he said when he saw her, “I was worried you wouldn’t make it.”
“Yeah, sorry I’m late,” she said. Stefanie had needed help with her book report, and Elena wouldn’t let her leave before she tried some of her linguine.
“It’s all good, you’re here now,” Ethan said, “Did Finch ever decide to come?”
“I don’t think so,” Josie said, “But it’s fine, if she didn’t want to come, she didn’t want to come.”
“You might be wrong about that?” MG said. Josie turned to where he was looking and saw Finch coming up to her, wearing a warm smile.
“Hey Jo,” she said, “I saw your text, I meant to answer-”
“It’s okay,” she said quickly. Finch was here, things would finally be able to go back to normal, “I’m glad you were able to make it.” Josie awkwardly moved in to hug Finch, who hugged her back, but it still felt kind of weird. She wasn’t sure why she’d hugged her, it had just felt right at the time. Now she wasn’t so sure.
“Jo?” she heard, breaking her attention from Finch. She looked over her shoulder and saw Hope staring at her, with her hands in her jacket pocket. Josie didn’t know why she felt caught, but she did.
“Hope!” she said, quickly breaking the hug with Finch. Finch turned around and gave Hope the same confused look she had at the lockers that day, “What are you doing here?”
“MG invited us,” she said. Sure enough, the group MG said would come was there. Lizzie, Jed, Landon...wait, Landon? Where was Kaleb?
“Right,” she said, “He mentioned that he would do that.” The scene in front of her made Josie want to run in hide. Jed and Landon looked way too happy to be there, Lizzie and Finch were in some kind of staredown-something Josie knew she wanted to know nothing about-and Hope just looked extremely uncomfortable.
“I’m gonna get a drink,” Jed said.
“Landon and I will come with you,” Hope said. Landon nodded eagerly before following Hope to the drink stand, not even stopping to give Josie a hello.
“Your friend from earlier is here,” Finch said, with little to no enthusiasm in her voice.
“Uh yeah,” Josie said, “I really didn’t think MG would invite her. They haven’t really been talking.” With everything that had happened with the Ascendant, Josie assumed they were on bad terms.
“Whatever,” Finch said, and Josie winced at her annoyed tone, “I’m gonna go inside.”
“Finch!” Josie called out after her, but the other girl ignored her. Lizzie came up to her a few moments later and asked,
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” Josie said, trying her best to keep irritation out of her voice, “Let’s get a drink.”
Hope watched with a smile as Landon joked around with the boys from Mystic Falls. She loved spending time with him, but she had always wanted him to have friends that weren’t her or Raf. But as usual, she couldn’t enjoy it fully knowing that there was a chance the boy in front of her wasn’t Landon. And that left a sour taste in her mind. That or the horrible vodka she was currently consuming. Lizzie joined her a few moments later, looking ticked off.
“You okay?” Hope asked.
“Nope,” she said, but didn’t elaborate. Hope sighed and said,
“You invited me to come with you, so I thought you’d be a little more excited.”
“I was at first, but I didn’t know she’d be coming,” Lizzie said, looking at Finch, who was sitting by herself on the other side of the room.
“Josie’s friend?” Hope asked, “What’s wrong with her?” Lizzie looked like she was going to tell her, but she just shut her mouth and muttered,
“It’s nothing.” She went quiet, and Hope took one last sip of her drink before throwing it in the trash, “I’m gonna hang with Landon. I’ll see you when you’re ready to go.”
“Wait,” Lizzie said before she could leave.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“You met Finch at the school when you went to get Jo, right?” Hope nodded, “What did you think of her?” To be honest, not much . She’d just kind of been there. The only person Hope had been focusing on in that moment was Josie.
“She was alright I guess,” was what Hope ended up saying, “I wasn’t there long. Why?”
“Just curious,” Lizzie said, “I’m just trying to figure something out.”
“Okay,” she said, “Does it have to do with Josie?”
“Kind of.” Hope raised an eyebrow at her, “Okay, it completely does.”
“What’s going on?” Hope asked, “Is she okay?”
“I guess,” Lizzie said, then she lowered her voice, “Look, about Finch...” Hope leaned in to listen, but Lizzie couldn’t finish since Ethan came up to them.
“Guys c’mon,” he said, “We’re playing spin the bottle!” Spin the bottle? Hope didn’t know what that was, but the irritation on Lizzie’s face told her it wasn’t good.
“Lizzie?” she whispered, “What’s spin the bottle?”
“How do you not know that?” Lizzie asked.
“I’ve never been to a party before in my life,” she said. The closest she’d been was Raf’s going away party, but she’d spent all of that in her room perfecting the spell. And the last party the Salvatore School had...well, no one knew who she was.
“It’s a dumb game,” Lizzie said, “You sit in a circle, spin a bottle, and whoever the bottle lands on, you have to kiss.” Kiss?
“That’s a thing?!” Lizzie nodded, “I’m not playing that.”
“Well you can at least come and sit with us,” she said.
“No thanks,” Hope said. She was in no mood to spin any bottle. Well, that was true until she looked back at the circle that Ethan was setting up and saw Finch coming to sit with Josie. Josie smiled at her, and now they were whispering about something. Hope moved her hair behind her ear, and she used her wolf ears to listen.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Josie was saying. Why was she apologizing? From what Hope had seen at the drink table, Finch had been the one who stormed away for no reason. Hope figured the other girl would say that, but Finch just shrugged and said,
“It’s okay. Let’s just forget it, alright?” That was it? No apology from Finch?
“So we’re okay?” she asked, and Finch nodded, “Awesome.” That was when Hope saw it. Finch placed her hand on Josie’s, and she smirked at her.
“You know what?” Hope asked Lizzie, “I’m in.”
Josie hadn’t played Spin the Bottle since she was 13 and had ended up kissing Jed. Everybody had laughed at her and she’d run out. She wasn’t in much of a mood to play it now, but it was just her close friends playing, so how bad could that be?
“We’re changing the rules a bit,” Ethan said as he put the beer bottle in the middle. Oh God. “We’re mixing Spin the Bottle with Seven Minutes in Heaven. Yeah, this was a mistake.
“I think I’m done,” Josie said, moving to stand up.
“Oh come on,” Ethan said, “You get seven minutes to do whatever you want. You can play on my Xbox for all I care. It’s just good fun.”
“Alright,” Josie said, sitting back down, “Who’s going first?” Ethan smiled at her, “Great.” She was about to spin when Hope came and sat across from her. Lizzie came too and ended up asking Finch to move so she could sit next to Josie.
“Lizzie,” she hissed.
“It’s fine, you’ll see her later. Plus, sitting next to each other will hopefully improve our chances of not getting each other.”
“Oh God,” Josie grumbled. Finch ended up sitting next to Hope, who was with Landon.
“Are you sure about this?” Lizzie asked her.
“Totally,” Hope said, and Landon nodded.
“Yeah, it’s just a game,” he said.
“Just a game,” Hope replied, and Landon kissed her on the cheek. Lizzie looked over at Josie and asked,
“Are you gonna spin?”
“Yeah,” Josie said. She grabbed the bottle, and saw Finch give her a small wink that made her blush. It would be nice to land on Finch, right? They’d get a chance to talk. But as Josie spun the bottle, she saw that want start to fade. She wasn’t even sure why. The bottle was slowing down, and she nearly squeaked as it got closer to Lizzie, and let out a sigh of relief as it kept going, but that relief went away when the bottle came to a screeching halt right between Finch and Hope.
“Lame!” Jed said, “Who’s that even pointing to?”
“I think she knows,” Finch said. But was it pointing towards Finch? The bottle was going more to the left, and Hope was sitting to the left. Josie of course didn’t say that out loud, but MG did,
“No, I think it’s going towards Hope,” he said, “Look, it’s pointed to the left.”
“Oh wait, yeah. I see it too,” Jed said.
“Shut up, Jed!” her sister hissed, and Josie’s face went red. She wasn’t sure what to do, so she looked over at Ethan.
“You’re in charge,” she said, “What should I do?” Ethan was visibly drunk, and definitely not in a decision making mood, so in a slurred voice he said,
“You’re the spinner, Jo. Up to you.” Of course it was . She looked between Finch and Hope. Finch was the easy decision. They didn’t have history, no past crushes, dark magic indiscretions, forgotten memories, boxing ring fights, fairytale adventures, berbalangs. So it would have been perfect for Josie to pick Finch. Finch was the most realistic option. But was she the best one?
“Jo,” Lizzie said, “Make up your mind, it’s getting old.” Make up your mind. Make a choice.
“I had to make a choice,” came Hope’s voice in her ears, “And, I didn’t choose Landon.” Dammit, why did that matter?! Focus on the now, she told herself.
“Um,” she said. It felt like an eternity passed before she said, “The bottle is pointing more to the left. Towards Hope.” A silence spread across afterwards. It was gonna be a long night.
Hope felt frozen in her seat. It wasn’t that she disagreed with Josie. The bottle was very clearly pointing to her. Sure, it was small, but if you looked closely, that bottle was looking right at her. But why had Josie picked her? Why not her new friend Finch, who she’d been so worried about making amends with the day Hope had pulled her away?
“Hope?” Landon asked, breaking the silence, “I think Josie was talking to you…”
“Yeah, I got that,” she said, “Um, Josie? Are you sure…”
“It’s just a game,” the other girl said quickly, then she blushed, “We can play Xbox, right?”
“Right,” Hope said. She turned to Landon and said, “Landon, I-”
“It’s cool, I trust you,” he said, “It’s just a game, remember?”
“Yeah, just a game,” Hope said. She could feel Finch’s glare on her back, so she quickly got up from the circle, “Where should we go?”
“Oh there’s a closet over there,” he said. A small concealed space. With Josie. Alone. For seven minutes. That should’ve sounded scary, but it was almost intriguing. But Ethan started to laugh and say, “No I’m just kidding, there’s a room over there.”
“Great,” Hope said. She looked over at Josie, “Shall we?” Josie nodded. She wanted out of this circle just as much as Hope did. They went to Ethan’s spare room, where sure enough, there was an Xbox system, a TV, and a full bed. Josie closed the door behind them and said,
“So...seven minutes.”
“Yep,” Hope said, playing with one of the throw pillows on the bed. She sat down on top of the bed, and Josie leaned against the wall across from her.
“How have you been?” Josie asked, “Since yesterday, I mean.”
“I’ve been fine,” she said, deciding to leave out the part about Landon. She didn’t want to give Josie something else to worry about, “My head was a little fuzzy after it happened, but I got a lot of rest so, I feel a lot better now.”
“That’s good,” Josie said, “Did the bite heal?”
“One hundred percent,” Hope said, pulling her jacket sleeve up and showing Josie her arm. The monster hadn’t even left a scar.
“Nice,” Josie said, “I’m sorry, I meant to check in earlier, but-”
“You were there the whole day yesterday,” Hope said, before she could keep going, “You don’t have to apologize to me.”
“Right, yeah,” Josie said, but she didn’t sound too sure. The talk of apologies did have Hope thinking about what she’d seene earlier.
“So,” she said, “You and Finch…”
“What about us?” Josie asked.
“Nothing,” Hope said, “I uh, I was pretty sure I was interrupting something when I came to talk to you at school that day.” Josie looked down, “So is everything okay?”
“I guess,” Josie said, “We’re fine, but Lizzie said she’s seeing someone else, so…”
“If she was seeing someone else, then why aren’t they here?” Josie shrugged.
“I dunno, maybe they’re keeping things slow, or they were busy-”
“And why did she look so eager when she thought the bottle was pointing at her?” Hope asked, “If she’s dating someone, I feel sorry for that person-”
“Hope, would you just drop it?” Josie asked, clearly getting agitated.
“Okay, consider it dropped,” Hope said. Josie started drumming her fingers, and minute two of seven was spent in dead silence until she said,
“You know, you may be right.” Well that was unexpected.
“I am?” she asked.
“I’ve never even seen Finch with anybody else at school, and now that I think about it, Lizzie has been acting weird ever since she told me. She ignores me when I want to hang out, she makes excuses, she was out all day yesterday and didn’t tell me where she was when I asked...do you think she’s hiding something from me?”
“No,” Hope said, “I know she’s hiding something from you.” Josie sighed, “Have you tried talking to her about it?”
“I don’t really see her,” Josie said, “I guess I should probably ask, huh?”
“Yeah there’s a start,” Hope said. Josie shook her head, but she could see the beginnings of a smile forming on her face. She came to sit next to Hope on the bed and said,
“I think we’re caught up on my life, what about yours? How are things at the school?” Hope bit her lip as she said,
“You know, same old stuff. Malivore, monsters, rare instances where we go to class.”
“Got it,” Josie said, “Hey, does it ever bother you that we’ve been kind of... stuck in this same sort of cycle every semester?”
“Cycle?” Hope asked.
“Yeah, like with Malivore and monsters. We close one portal, another opens, then we close that portal, and another shows up the next day, like when does this end?”
“To be honest, I don’t know,” Hope admitted. She tried not to think about it, but she had to admit, the thought was starting to gnaw on her brain.
“There’s gotta be something we’re missing,” Josie said, “Something we haven’t done…”
“Maybe you could come back to the school,” Hope said, “Help us figure it out?” Hope knew Josie’s answer was going to be no when she saw her face fall.
“It’s not that I don’t want to help,” she said, “It’s that I’m not sure if I can.”
“What do you mean?” Josie shrugged,
“I thought that I could fix everything with Malivore last semester. I thought by trusting Vardemus, I’d be able to save everyone at the school, but all I did was make things worse. I enchanted that trident that nearly got you killed, I took in that black magic and actually killed Lizzie and Alyssa-”
“That wasn’t your fault-”
“Then whose was it? Kai’s, Clarke’s? I know I wasn’t in my right mind but it hasn’t helped me feel any less guilty.”
“Jo, when I was fifteen, I put a sleeping spell on my mother that got her kidnapped, which led to her death. There was no not being in my right mind, it was just me and my shitty decisions.”
“Hope that wasn’t your fault,” Josie said, “You never meant for your Mom to get hurt, you just wanted to bring your family back together. The only people at fault were the ones who kidnapped her.”
“But they wouldn’t have kidnapped her if I hadn’t first,” Hope said, “We’re all responsible for our own actions, Jo. No one knows that more than me. We have to embrace our pasts, but we also need to move forward. We learn from our mistakes, we work to make amends. Did you make them with Alyssa?”
“Yeah, I did,” Josie said, and Hope saw the small smile back on her face, “You know, you’ve never talked to me about what happened with your Mom before.”
“I’ve never talked to anyone about it,” Hope said, “I’ve never had the courage to. I tried to talk about it with Landon during Miss Mystic Falls, but that ended up terribly.”
“Did you try talking about it with him later?” she asked.
“We didn’t really have the time. Everything happened with Triad, I threw myself in that pit, and then by the time we really got to talk again...no use bringing it up, you know?”
“Yeah I guess,” she said, “I mean, as long as it doesn’t still bother you.” Landon had gotten kidnapped and almost died, being upset about Roman had seemed trivial at the time. But now that Hope looked back, she remembered feeling alone at that dance when Landon had left her with no explanation. She knew that she’d messed up as well by not telling him about his Mom, but it hadn’t made that pain of being by herself at the top of the stairs lessen. And the things he said about her Mom…
“Honestly,” Hope said, “I’m not so sure anymore.” She laid back on Ethan’s bed. The pillows were soft and they gave her a reprieve from her racing thoughts. Josie laid down next to her, so she rolled on her side so she could face her.
“If you need someone to talk to,” Josie said, “You can talk to me. Always.”
“Thank you, Josie,” she said. That meant more to Hope than Josie knew. She checked the clock on the bedside, “Two minutes left.”
“How should we spend them?” Josie asked.
“We can play Xbox,” Hope jokingly suggested. Josie smiled and said,
“By the time I figure out how to turn that thing on, the two minutes will be up.” That made Hope laugh. She thought Josie was laughing with her, but instead she just saw the other girl smiling at her.
“What?” Hope asked.
“Nothing,” Josie said, “I just...really like hearing you laugh.” Oh. Hope figured that was fair, she loved the sound of Josie’s laugh too.
“You poked yourself,” Josie said after pulling the trash pick out of Hope’s foot. It had been the stupidest joke ever, but it hadn’t stopped Hope from laughing. Josie had laughed that day too. It was music to Hope’s ears.
“What? You’re not going to laugh,” Hope asked, then moved to tickle Josie, which made her gasp and exclaim,
“Don’t you dare!” she playfully pushed her back, which started a small shoving war that ended with the two of them falling off the bed. Hope luckily landed on top of Josie, but Josie landed pretty badly on her back.
“Ouch,” she said.
“Are you okay?” Hope asked. Josie beamed at her and said,
“Oh yeah, I’m all good.” She reached up and started to tickle Hope, which made Hope nearly fall off of Josie, but instead she grabbed her hands to push them away.
“You forget that I’m stronger than you,” she teased.
“Definitely not forgetting now,” Josie said, as she struggled to push back. Hope laughed before looking back at the clock.
“One minute left,” she said.
“What do we do?” Josie asked.
“It’s spin the bottle, right?” Hope asked, “From what I know about the game, there’s only one way this ends.” Josie was there, Landon trusted her. That made it okay, right?
“I will if you do,” Josie said, and Hope nodded. Josie pulled herself up, and Hope cupped her face in her hand. Her brown eyes looked soft and gentle, and Hope felt safe with her.
“You sure?” Hope asked, and Josie nodded. Hope leaned in, and her lips gently pressed against Josie’s. The kiss was soft at first, then Josie moved her hands to Hope’s shoulder and leaned more into it. She kissed her harder, and Hope would be lying if she said she wasn’t enjoying every second of it. She had no problem with continuing, but they were stopped then the door loudly opened.
“Okay, time’s up!” came Lizzie’s shrill voice. Hope’s face reddened at the fact that she was still on top of Josie, so she quickly moved away before helping her up.
“Seven minutes up already?” Josie asked as she fixed her hair that Hope had been grabbing. Lizzie just rolled her eyes and said,
“Hope, we need to go. Dad’s doing a night check and is gonna realize we’re gone.”
“Wait, did he not know we were here?” she asked, but Lizzie was already out of the room. She gave Josie a shy look and said, “I guess we better get going.”
“Yeah I guess,” Josie said, “Thanks for this, Hope. It meant a lot.”
“Of course,” Hope said, “And you know, you can talk to me too. If you want.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Josie said. Hope smiled at her, then followed her out of the room. Everyone looked curious, but Hope ignored them and went over to Landon.
“How were your seven minutes?” he asked. He looked a little tipsy, and wore a goofy smile. It was the complete opposite of a guy whose girlfriend had just done seven minutes in heaven with someone else. He just looked happy to see her. It was the perfect scenario. Almost too perfect.
“It was fine,” she said, “I think we need to go. Apparently we didn’t have permission to be here.”
“Then let’s go,” he said, extending a hand to her. She took it gratefully, but her attention remained on Josie, who was going to talk to Finch. Finch was the opposite of Landon. She was glaring at Josie as the other girl came to talk to her, and she pushed her away as Josie reached for her hand. Why was she so mad? From what Hope knew, she and Josie weren’t even together.
“Finch,” Josie said, “Can we talk about this?”
“Do I know you?” Finch asked in an obnoxious tone, “You look a lot like the girl who asked me to go to this party with her. She should have just told me she wanted to spend it hooking up with some rando from her old school.”
“It wasn’t like that, it was just a game,” Josie said.
“Then why did you pick her?” Finch asked angrily, “The bottle was pointing at both of us, and you chose to go with her!”
“She’s my friend, I just wanted to talk to her.”
“You know what? Screw this,” she said, “You weren’t worth my time anyway.” When Hope saw the hurt expression on Josie’s face, she saw red. She could feel her wolf eyes glowing. She blinked to make them go away, then she turned to Landon.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, and he nodded. Hope walked over to Finch, and she grabbed her before she could leave the room.
“What the hell?” Finch asked angrily. Hope wasn’t sure what it was, maybe it was the adrenaline from kissing Josie, the anxiety from her problems with Landon, or the overall anger from what Finch had just said, but either way, she was extremely ticked off. She reared her fist, and she punched Finch so far that she crashed into the wall. There were gasps across the room, and Jed dropped the solo cup he was holding, spilling beer all over Ethan’s floor.
“Man, c’mon!” Ethan exclaimed. Hope ignored the commotion, and she pulled Finch back up. She looked her right in the eye and said,
“I don’t care how upset you are, Josie doesn’t deserve to be spoken to that way,” Hope said, “Apologize to her. Now.” It was taking all the energy she had not to wolf out in that moment.
“You’re such a freak,” Finch spat at her, “Let me go!” Hope would have asked for the apology again, had Josie not come in.
“Hey,” she said, “Hope, it’s okay. Just let her go.” Josie’s voice was soothing in her ear, and it was the only thing convincing enough to get her to let go of Finch’s arm. Once she did, the other girl had the right amount of sense to leave without saying anything else.
“Okay!” Ethan said, “Party’s over.”
After the Salvatore School kids left, Josie had stayed to help Ethan clean up before heading back to her Aunt Elena’s house. It was nearing midnight, so MG had walked her home.
“What happened between you and Hope when you were in there?” he asked.
“Nothing really,” Josie admitted, “We just talked.” For six of the seven minutes at least.
“I’m not trying to be nosy, but what happened with Finch and Hope afterwards was pretty intense, and I know Finch can protect herself, but-”
“Yeah, but Hope didn’t hurt her too badly. All the kids from school saw was two people getting into a fight. Our secret is safe.”
“Yeah, right,” MG said. They were walking up the porch when Josie asked,
“Wait, how did you know Finch would be able to protect herself?” MG froze in his tracks, which made Josie tell that he was hiding something, “MG?”
“It’s nothing,” he said, “I just...get that vibe from her, you know?”
“I’m not sure I do,” she said.
“Jo, there’s nothing you need to worry about,” he said, “Like I was saying, our secret is safe.”
“MG-”
“Just trust me on this, please?” he asked. If he wasn’t her best friend, he would be in trouble. Josie sighed and said,
“Okay, I trust you. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“See you,” he said, before turning away from the porch and heading home. Josie went inside the house, where most of the lights were off, except in the living room where her Aunt and Uncle were on the couch, watching a movie.
“Hey kiddo,” Uncle Damon said, “How was the party?”
“Eventful,” Josie said, “What are you guys watching?”
“The Big Lebowski,” Aunt Elena said, pausing it, “Not a movie for all of us to watch together.”
“Aww,” Josie said, while Damon chuckled. Josie sat in the middle of them and he asked,
“Do you mean eventful in a good or bad way?”
“Mm...kinda both,” she admitted, “I was having fun, then a fight broke out, so the party ended.” That caused some alarm in the room.
“A fight? Between who?” Elena asked.
“And did you win?” Damon asked, which caused her Aunt to smack him on the arm.
“I wasn’t fighting,” Josie said, “Do you guys remember Hope from my old school? Klaus and Hayley’s daughter?” Elena smiled.
“Oh how could we forget? You used to talk about her all the time.” Josie blushed as she remembered her twelve year old self talking about Hope all day on the days she was left with her Aunt and Uncle while her parents were with Lizzie. They were probably sick to death of Hope’s name by the time Josie was finished each day.
“Anyway, she got into a fight with Finch, someone new I met at school, and after that, Ethan ended the party.”
“Ending the whole party for one fight,” Damon said, “Was anyone hurt?”
“Finch got a bloody nose, I think,” Josie said, “But other than that, no real damage.”
“Was Hope okay?” Elena asked.
“I think so,” Josie said, “Dad never gave them permission to be there, so they had to leave to head back to the school. I wanted to check up on her, though.” Elena checked the time on her watch and said,
“Normally I would say no, but it’s not a school night, and it’s not too late, so if you would like me to drive you to see Hope, I can take you.” Josie’s face perked up.
“Really?” she asked, and Elena nodded, “Yeah! Yeah, I’d really like that.”
“I’m glad we made it before Dr. Saltzman got to our rooms,” Landon said as he pulled back the covers to his bed, “I could not handle a lecture tonight.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Hope said as she climbed into bed with him. Before he could turn the light off, she said, “Hey, can we talk?”
“Of course,” he said, “What’s on your mind?”
“So, when I was with Josie tonight...I kissed her,” Hope admitted. She looked at Landon, expecting some kind of reaction, but he was just kind of staring blankly, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, with everything that happened with Finch, I got so angry-”
“It’s okay,” he said, “I’m not mad at you.”
“You’re not?” Hope asked. He shook his head, “Oh.” Hope wasn’t surprised he wasn’t mad, he didn’t get mad at her often, but with how jealous he had gotten with Roman, Hope had expected at least a little animosity, but nothing. He chuckled,
“Did you want me to be mad?”
“No, of course not,” Hope said, “Forget I said anything, let’s go to bed.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Landon asked, “Nothing else is bothering you.” Well, if he was gonna ask…
“Actually,” she said, “There is something.”
“Sure,” Landon said.
“This morning, I made you a burrito.”
“Yep, it was very good.”
“It was a breakfast burrito.”
“Uh huh.”
“It had avocados in it.”
“I know, I tasted them. They were delicious.”
“They couldn’t have been delicious.”
“Why not?”
“Because my boyfriend Landon is allergic to avocados.” A confused look crossed his face, “When he ate them, his throat closed up. I brought an Epipen with me when I gave you the burrito just in case.” Landon still looked confused, so Hope moved the covers out of the way and got out of bed, “How were you able to eat that?”
“Hope, where is this coming from?”
“My boyfriend Landon is allergic to avocados. My boyfriend Landon got jealous when I talked to my ex boyfriend, but you didn’t bat an eye when I kissed somebody else tonight.”
“It was just a game, Hope,” he said, “And I trust you.”
“I know,” Hope said, “But I don’t trust you.” There was a shift after that. Landon’s eyes darkened, and Hope found herself backing away.
“You’re not Landon, are you?” she asked. He didn’t answer, but as he got up from the bed and moved closer, she found herself, getting more and more cold.
“Hope,” he said, “Just let me explain.” Hope knew she had to do something. She couldn’t find the words for the spell, but she still heard it.
“Ad sonum,” she heard. Landon’s eyelids rolled to the top of his head, and he plopped onto the ground. Hope looked at her door and saw Josie standing there, still in her clothes from the party.
“Jo,” she said, “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“I’m glad I came,” she said, “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure,” Hope said, “But I could really use your help figuring it out.” A part of her was worried Josie would leave because of what she’d said earlier, so she got probably her biggest relief of the night when Josie smiled, took her hand and said,
“Yeah. I’m not going anywhere.”