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Hope doesn't really like Ethan.
He's cute, sure, but the whole jock thing and boyish charm really isn't doing it for her.
Granted she's not really into anyone recently. All the people she's met have been far too boring and too eager trying to impress her.
But he is cute, and did ask her to a party. The introvert in her is screaming to run the other way and seclude herself in her room and paint. But her aunt had been standing nearby and heard the boy ask her if she was busy that Friday night and had practically said yes for her.
Curse nosy aunts and their inability to butt out of her love life.
A few short months ago her aunts had moved them halfway across the world to Mystic Falls, Virginia. A small town that was far different then New Orleans.
She still was getting used to it. Used to the small town. Used to living with her aunts. Used to everyone being obsessed with her from the moment she stepped into this godforsaken town.
She's tired of being looked at like a new shiny toy that's been put on display and everyone treating her as such.
Hope grew up in the city, and small town life was not for her. But… even at eighteen she didn’t have much choice but to live with her aunts when they decided to move everything.
Now as she gets ready for said party, she contemplates her life choices and regrets ever agreeing to this damned thing. Granted, she had been more or less told to go by Freya, but alas here she was.
She had on a leather jacket, one that had belonged to her mother before…
Hope’s thoughts trail off as a knock on her door breaks her concentration. “Yeah?” She calls, moving away from the mirror and turning towards the door.
“Hey little wolf. How are you feeling?” Freya opens the door and leans against the frame. “I hate this. People suck.” Hope rolls her eyes as she steps back away from her mirror and turns her back towards her aunt, arms crossed.
“Hope,” Freya starts, an already exasperated tone to her voice. “We’ve been here almost the entire summer, and you have yet to make any friends. School starts in less than a week and you’ve done nothing but paint and brood all summer. People barely even know Keelin and I have a niece. Going to a party and meeting people will be good for you. Please, try?”
Hope sighs and uncrosses her arms. She knows her aunts have been worried about her. Have been since the accident. But Hope will be fine, she has to. And if going to some stupid party will get her aunts to think she is? Even better. What’s one night of socializing?
Her introverted self is hissing and trying to cower from the mere idea but she pushes it away to answer her aunt.
“I’ll be fine, I promise. Just one night, right?” Freya opens her arms and Hope readily accepts the gesture for a hug, wrapping her own arms around her aunt.
Their loving family moment is interrupted by a ringing of the doorbell, the mere sound sending Hope’s heart into her stomach at knowing exactly who it is.
“It looks like your date’s here,” Freya begins in a sing-song voice that already has Hope wanting to recede to her cave of aloneness.
Fucking hell this is going to suck.
“I’ll go answer the door.” Freya squeezes Hope’s arm once more and leaves the room, allowing Hope a few seconds to mentally prepare herself for the next couple hours.
If it sucks she can just leave, right? She asks herself in the mirror and her reflection thankfully doesn’t reply. Maybe if it had she could claim insanity and get out of this.
She's a fucking Mikaelson. A stupid party is not enough to give her anxiety. She thinks as her stomach churns in anxiety.
“Hope! Your guest is here!” Freya calls out not moments after her delusional thoughts. God she really is a mess.
“Coming!”
With one last look at her reflection she concludes she’s as ready as she’ll ever be and heads out to greet the one and only Ethan Machado.
“So you’re on the football team I see?” Hope hears her aunt ask as she goes down the stairs, leaving the sanctuary of her room. Once she sees what Ethan is wearing she understands the very pointed question as the boy is dressed up in his football jersey, minus the football gear.
“Yes ma’am, It’s tradition for the team to throw a party before school starts wearing our football jerseys.”
They both stop talking once they hear Hope start walking down the stairs. “Wow. You look stunning.” Hope raises a single eyebrow at the compliment. “Thank you, ready to go?”
He smiles wide at her and Hope tries her best to give a convincing smile back. ‘He’s cute!’ Is mouthed to her before she can exit the house. Her aunt would be the death of her.
His car is out front, a blue pickup truck which Hope jumps into the front seat quickly. Neither of them say a word for a few moments, content to just drive wherever the party was supposed to be at.
“I’m really glad you could come. Your aunt seems nice.” Ethan smiles at her from the driver's seat, one hand on the steering wheel.
“She is really nice. Albeit nosy, but I love her.” Hope pointedly avoids saying anything about the party that she already doesn’t want to go to. But she pushes forward anyway, attempting to make conversation as well.
“So, where’s this party supposed to be at anyway?”
Ethan takes a turn down a street and into another road. “It’s actually at my house. I live there with my sister and step sisters. My mom’s on a late night patrol and won’t be back until sometime tomorrow which gives us a perfect chance to throw the party before school starts.” He gives her a teasing smirk that she tries to reciprocate.
“How many sisters do you have?” Hope asks, curiously piqued in her voice. “I have Maya who is my full sister, and then I have Lizzie and Josie. My mom married their dad but he died recently and so one sister became three. I love them all, they’re amazing.”
Hope for the first time since they started driving looks over at Ethan with a twinge of affection in her eyes. He speaks fondly of his sisters which has Hope feeling a small bit better about accepting the party proposal.
Within moments after that, they pull up to a house and park, one filled with a ton of cars already out front, music can be heard faintly from when Hope opens the door and gets out of the truck. She only struggles a little as she jumps down, the truck bed far too tall for her and her short stature.
She nearly trips but makes it look like she didn’t and hopes Ethan didn’t see her struggle. She’s not short, okay?
Ethan thankfully doesn’t see and they both walk up together to the house soon after, stepping through the unlocked door easily. Ethan holds it open so she can walk through.
Music and loudness assault her senses the moment she walks fully through the door, pure chaos.
There’s people everywhere dancing and talking while the loud music basically shakes the house. She feels a hand on her back guiding her which causes her body to tense up and shift away. Ethan does take the hint and moves his hand away from her, silently making a way for them to a group of people sitting around a couch.
“Ethan! My man!” Ethan goes into an intense bro hug that Hope pictures two lions fighting each other as the other guy nearly tackles him. As they start to wrestle with each other for a moment, Hope takes in the people sitting around the table.
One guy who also is wearing a football uniform matching Ethans looks like a hundred year old vampire trapped in eternal youth.
There’s a blonde girl sitting next to him, his arm wrapped around her shoulder. There’s a few others who don’t remotely interest Hope, until her eyes land on a brunette.
She stops paying attention to everyone around her. Not Ethan and his weird bromance wrestle session, not the curious looks she’s getting from others around her. Her only focus is on the brunette that sits on the far side of the couch.
Hope can feel the focus shift even more when she looks up, and their eyes meet.
She’s gorgeous.
Hope can’t stop the thought from fluttering to her mind. Her thoughts and the staring contest that had gone on for a few moments too long is interrupted by a hand on her waist once again that shatters her focus and makes her cringe.
“Everyone this is Hope. She’s new to town.” Everyone's focus lands onto her which she hates. Too many eyes, too many people. Too much everything.
She takes a moment to lift her eyes and stares with half interest, trying to appear unfazed. “Hi.” that’s the only thing that comes out of her mouth and she can feel the heat on the back of her neck.
“Wait, Hope Mikaelson?” The blonde girl who was sitting next to the vampire leans forward, looking her up and down.
“Yeah, the one and only.” her voice becomes more confident as she speaks and luckily the focus of everyone doesn’t stay fully on her for long.
“Here,” Ethan moves out of the way so she can sit down on the couch and follows her into the spare seat. With the others sitting on the wrap around couch as well it forces Ethan to press against her. She kind of hates it.
But it does allow her to sit closer to the brunette. They’re far closer than they were before which Hope definitely appreciates. There’s this magnetic pull she feels towards the other girl, and she wonders if the brunette feels it too. She keeps making eye contact with the brunette as everyone begins to talk, drinks are in everyone's hands but Ethans and hers, and she’s tempted to get up and go get one, anything to get out of the circle but she’s stopped before she can make a move by one of the girls. She has black hair and looks attractive. Hope would definitely have been into her had the brunette not caught her attention.
Wait. Fuck. She’s here with Ethan.
The girl asks and sits back looking actually interested in what her answer will be.
Shit. What is she going to say?
Swallowing hard, she sits up straighter. “I paint a lot.” She says simply, shrugging a shoulder as she does, making her jacket stick to her skin. Her leather jacket may not have been the best choice as the party was filled with so many people and made the body temperature of the house way too hot.
“Oh yeah? Are you any good?” There’s still an edge of curiosity to the girl's voice as she speaks, Hope is glad she does, it gives her the feeling that she actually cares what Hope is going to say rather than a pointless conversation.
“I’m okay. I usually do portraits of people. Some realistic stuff.” She shrugs her shoulders and still feels the leather clinging to her skin. Fucking hell she should not have worn a jacket.
The conversation shifts quickly after that, too much chaos in the house to have a proper conversation. That and the football guys started making some jokes between them which Hope quickly tuned out.
The brunette isn’t talking to anyone either, choosing to listen as Hope does but fuck this girl is hot. She’s wearing a yellow sundress and her hair is in two adorable buns. She reminds Hope of princess leia. If they had been friends or even had maybe a conversation between them Hope would tell the girl the comparison. Maybe even call her princess. Hope has to stop the smirk that rises to her lips.
It isn’t until she hears Ethan's voice that she remotely tunes back in, she doesn’t catch whatever it was he said but the group laughs as if he was a comedian. Hope doesn’t think whatever he said was that funny.
She doesn’t really feel like socializing currently and leans over to Ethan. “Hey, I’m going to go grab a drink,” She says it loud enough so he can hear her over the music. He gives her his full attention and almost starts to stand up too. “Do you want me to come with you? I could use a drink too.” Hope puts her hand on his shoulder to keep him seated.
“No, no that’s ok, I’ll grab you a drink too.” He smiles at her and stays seated as she turns to leave, easily getting lost in the crowd as she does.
There’s seemingly an endless stream of kids that are all around the house, making it a hella a lot harder to get through to the kitchen, but finally when she gets there, there’s only a couple others mulling around, giving her a momentary reprieve.
There’s a giant batch of some sort of concoction that Hope knows will probably taste like battery acid and will no doubt make her want to gag. Maybe a little drink won’t hurt and will help her take the edge off.
She looks around the kitchen for cups of some sort, preferably the disposable red ones that seem to be in everyone's hand at this damned party but hers. She looks around and finds nothing, choosing instead to open up a cupboard that seems to hold some snacks. If she wasn't a kind person she may think about stealing food and snacking but she keeps her focus on the mission.
She hears someone come into the kitchen, their steps quieted through the loud music, but Hope doesn’t bother enough to check who it was. Instead she keeps her eyes trained on the red cups that are sitting in the cupboard… on the top shelf.
Well fuck.
She contemplates scaling the whole cupboard to get to the top, she’s not above it, she’s done it before.
Before she can test to see how sturdy each step is, a presence comes up behind her and reaches for the cups, their front mere inches away from Hope’s back. She jumps a little but calms instantly when she turns around to find the brunette from earlier.
“Hi. Sorry, it looked like you could use some help.”
Damn. How tall is this girl? Hope’s eyes sweep her body once quickly only to find legs for days. The little sundress comes to rest about mid thigh, showing off muscular legs for Hope to look at.
She swallows and looks back to the girls waiting eyes, an amused expression in them. “No, it’s ok. I was about to scale it anyway. Thanks for the assist.” She hopes then brunette didn’t notice her ogling but Hope was about as subtle as Ethan in her attraction so she is pretty sure the girl noticed.
The girl moves back out of Hope’s way so they both get out of the cupboard, the newly acquired prize of plastic cups in the girls hand… in the girls very pretty hand… and very long fingers…
Hope shakes her head to stop her ogling once again. Damn her horny hormone addled brain. This is fine. She can be an adult and talk to this seriously attractive girl without gay panicking. She can totally do this.
“Here.” The girl hands Hope an empty cup while grabbing one for herself. She also lays the other cups out next to the container for any others to come and get a drink.
“Thank you, and thanks for getting them, they were a bit too high up for me.” The other girl smiles and nods her head, moving to fill her cup up with some of the alcohol, same as Hope does.
“Of course, I’m always here to help fair maidens in distress.”
As soon as the words leave the brunette's mouth a blush touches her cheeks. She looks down at the cup of alcohol in her hands and places it down on the counter. “I’m so sorry, I don’t drink ever and already had a cup and should never be allowed to speak. I’m just gonna go.” Before she can flee away from her, Hope reaches forward and gently places a hand on the girl's wrist.
“Wait. Don’t go. It was cute, you’re so cute.” Now it was Hope’s turn to blush but she stands by her statement and keeps her gaze locked with the brunette instead. She silently applauds herself as the girl smiles and looks down and stays closer to Hope.
Fuck, she should really ask for the girls name at some point. Calling her “princess leia” in her head doesn’t seem like it would end well if she happened to slip and say that outloud.
Princess Leia bites her lip and looks Hope up and down, “You’re pretty cute too.”
This girl is so painfully adorable, she was going to kill Hope. Her saying that was enough to bring heat to Hope’s cheeks and cause her to look down smirking. That smirk drops the second she realizes that they are still touching, hands together almost as if they are holding each other's hands.
Hope drops them quickly and pulls away, still feeling the burn from her touch. It made her feel all too hot. To distract herself Hope takes a drink from her cup of alcohol, feeling the need for some sort of courage and to taste the burn.
She downs half the cup and pulls it away from her lips and feels a drop drip down off of her lips and run down her chin. Before she can lift a hand to wipe it away the girl comes closer and brings her fingers to Hope’s face, wiping the alcohol away.
The fingers linger there a few long moments as they gently touch back on her lips, swiping once over them and gathering any excess drink on her fingers. Hope can’t breathe, she can’t fucking breathe. She doesn’t for long drawn out seconds until the hand pulls away and she can release the breath she was holding.
She almost chokes as the girl brings her thumb up to her lips and sucks off the drop, making eye contact with Hope as she does. Heat settles low in her stomach and she can barely think as she watches the action, intently zoned in on the perfect lips that seem to be calling for Hope to lean in and capture them.
Before she can do anything however the girl is pulling her hand away and stepping back, a devious smirk on her face.
God. Hope fucking wants to kiss that smirk off the girls lips.
Rather than doing anything else however, Hope steps back as well and Hope leans up against the sink and takes another drink. She needs something to distract herself from the heat in her stomach and the lustful gaze the other girl is giving her right now.l
Hope goes to say something, anything to appear cool and collected but can't come up with anything remotely Interesting to say.
Instead, the brunette keeps staring at her with deep doe eyes that Hope can't help but stare into. They both stare at each other for a long moment intensely.
The stare is broken by Ethan walking in.
"Oh, there you are. I was afraid you had gotten lost." He gives what Hope is sure most girls would think is a million dollar smile. But all she can think of is brown eyes and pouty lips. Said eyes are pointed away with arms crossed.
"Oh, Hope I see you met my step sister. Josie, this is Hope, my date "
Ah irony. You are so terribly cruel.
The world stops for a second as Hope tries to process the words Ethan said. Falling mainly on “Step sister” and playing over and over again in her mind like a broken record player.
Fuck.
Her mind is also sticking on the name Ethan said.
Josie Josie Josie Josie.
Fuck
Josie smiles brightly at her step brother and lifts up the cup she had set down next to her and takes a big drink, “Well, Hope seems amazing, we were just talking, sorry for stealing her away from you.”
Josie turns her attention to Hope now and smiles, more genuinely this time. “It was really nice talking with you and I hope we can talk some more later too.”
She walks out of the room and leaves Hope alone with Ethan, sad that their bubble was interrupted.
“Hi, sorry we got caught up in talking. I was about to bring you your drink.” Hope tries to smile but it falls flat. “Hey you don't have to apologize, I’m glad you met Josie, she’s amazing and super kind. I think she would love to be your friend.”
Well I’d love to be more than friends.
Hope clears her throat and watches as Ethan fills his cup and turns to look at her, holding out his arm for Hope to grab onto. “Shall we go m’lady?”
Hope does smile a more genuine smile this time and grabs on.
The music is actually beating loudly and Hope is surprised she hadn’t noticed it until now, she really was distracted by Josie.
They find their way back to the group except this time, the seating arrangements have changed. The spot Josie had been in prior was taken and so the seat available was right next to Josie with Ethan sitting on her left.
Hope readily goes and sits down, already eager to spend time with Josie even more. She keeps staring at Hope like she wants to eat her, an incredibly lustful gaze making Hope feel like Josie wants to tear her clothes off right now.
She sits down and so does Ethan. The heat of Josie’s skin radiates onto Hope as their thighs are almost pressed together.
Hope can’t pay attention to anything that’s going on. Not with the press of skin, though she does try and listen to what Ethan is animatedly talking about. Football? Maybe…
Any chance she had of actually listening to him flies out the window when she feels a hand placed gently on her thigh.
She almost jumps but fights off the urge and looks around to see if anyone noticed. Everyone else is in their own little world. Ethan keeps talking to her and all she can do is nod and act like she even cares about the words that are leaving his mouth.
It only gets harder when the hand on her thigh begins to go even higher. Hope looks over at Josie and finds a devious little smirk on her face as she types on her phone, acting like she’s not paying attention.
Fuck she’s evil. Pure evil.
The hand goes higher and the heat from before comes back even more, making her entire body feel like it's on fire. Like a hundred degrees.
“Hey Ethan.” Hope cuts him off, unable to take this anymore. He stops talking and looks at her in question. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“Oh, it’s up the stairs and the third door to your left.” He points towards where the stairs are. Before Hope can get up, Josie’s voice rings out. “I’ll show her where it’s at.” sweet innocent and pure evil. Hope knows this girl will be the death of her.
She fucking loves it.
They leave quickly together with Hope following after her as they make their way through the throng of people. Josie was so tall which was good for Hope so she didn't lose her in the crowd. Luckily, for Hope, Josie reaches a hand behind her and takes Hope’s wrist in hers, leading her up the stairs and towards their destination.
Except they don’t go to the third door on the left. No, instead they go further until they’re in a bedroom. Hope steps in after Josie and has a second to look around before the brunette comes over and shuts the door, stepping even closer to Hope.
“I thought you might want some privacy. Ethan can be, a lot.” Josie’s voice while calm and innocent, her eyes scream another thing.
Pure lust fills her gaze and Hope can do nothing but match the same look as she’s slowly backed against the door. “Well someone's hand on my thigh made it a little hard to concentrate on anything.” She lowers her voice and enjoys the way Josie’s eyes drop to her lips.
“Oh, I’m sorry baby, did I make you horny?” a little smirk sat on those kissable lips and Hope couldn’t let this teasing go on for much longer.
Instead she flips them, grabbing Josie by the belt loops of her jean shorts and pushes her so she’s on the door now. They move in sync after that, lips touching heavily, fast, hot. Without any hesitation between them they mold their bodies together.
Hope has a distinct thought that she has only known Josie for an hour, if that and is already tasting her lips, tasting the magic that this girl is.
Pure ecstasy. She fucking loves it.
Hope moves down from Josie’s lips, down further so she’s on her neck, ready to kiss and mark and make the other girl moan so so loudly, so perfectly. Hope wants to hear every sound Josie will make and more.
Those breath moans that are almost gasps fall out of Josie’s mouth and Hope bites down gently on the pulse point of her neck. It only makes Hope want to do more and to tease.
She changes course when she feels two hands wrap themselves up in her hair, hard. She lets out a low moan as they tug once, and then twice before they pull her upwards towards Josie’s mouth once again.
They meet together in painted bliss with each kiss they mark across their lips. It thrums energy through Hope as she almost is on a high, a peak that seems to just be going and going and not stopping. The taste of Josie’s lips is addictive. And Hope is very willing to keep sucking and moving their lips together in sync.
Before she can think straight, Hope leans her weight onto Josie fully, their bodies mold together once again as Hope brings a knee up and places it between Josie’s thighs.
A moan pries itself from Josie’s lips, forcing them to stop kissing for a moment. Hope doesn’t mind in the least as Hope gets to pull back and watch Josie’s eyes flutter shut and stretch her neck back and move her body to grind on Hope’s thigh.
Fucking hell. Hope was a mess for this girl.
That statement becomes even more true as Josie pulls Hope closer to her through the hand that's still in Hope’s hair, moving so their kissing again, lips and teeth clashing.
Josie continues to grind on Hope’s thigh, they continue to kiss, continue to bask in each other's presence as heat coils low in Hope’s stomach.
Everything comes to a halting stop when two distinct knocks land on the door, vibrating against Josie and Hope, feeling them and hearing them.
“Hey Josie? Is Hope still with you? I checked the bathroom but she wasn’t there, I wanted to know if she wanted to dance.” Ethan's voice rings out as both Josie and Hope realize what they just did and try to speak through wide eyes.
Hope pulls back a little before an absolutely terrible, evil idea comes into her mind.
Josie opens her mouth to answer, but Hope instead leans forward again, keeping her knee between Josie’s thighs and gently starts to kiss the other girl's neck. Slowly, barely there, open mouth kisses.
She feels more than hears the muted gasp that follows her action. The hands on her hair tighten their hold, almost a warning.
“Hey Ethan. Hope’s here with me actually. We just started talking and got caught up.” Hope almost applauds Josie for how smooth her voice is, one would almost say she’s used to having a pair of lips on her neck and forced to speak to her step brother through a door normally as to not give anything away.
“Oh, cool, well can I come in?” Ethan's voice is a little confused but happier now that he knows where Hope is. “Oh no not right now.” Hope keeps up the gentle kisses, almost delighting when she gets a shaky inhale in return.
“Why not?”
Hope keeps up the gentle kisses, until she decides to scrape her teeth on the pulse point she had bitten earlier. It seemed to have still been tender as Josie’s hand tugs harder on Hope’s hair and pulls her head away in warning.
“We decided to try on clothes so Hope’s changing in my closet right now….” Josie clears her throat before speaking again. “I’ll send her out to you when she’s done.”
“Sounds good Jo, I’ll be waiting downstairs.” They hear the sounds of him walking off a few steps away after he says that. Josie can only sigh in relief as her brother leaves but that quickly changes as anger comes into her eyes.
“What the hell was that! You could have gotten us caught.” Josie glares at Hope and moves them away from the door, untangling their limbs from each other.
Hope puts on a devious smirk on her lips and looks Josie up and down. “Oh baby I’m sorry, did I make you horny?” That little rise in her pride is her downfall when she sees a look pass in Josie’s eyes.
She suddenly finds their positions from earlier shifted as her back is now leaning on the door.
Josie doesn’t hesitate in leaning forward and placing kisses on her neck, rough kisses that have a gasp prying itself from her throat and into the room, seemingly so loud.
Josie continues to kiss her and turns her into a fucking mess. Now her hands are the ones that are tugging in Josie’s hair, pulling more and struggling to contain herself.
The makeout doesn’t last long, only a few seconds longer as Josie places one last open mouth kiss on a point of Hope’s neck that feels more tender after Josie’s bites.
And then suddenly the kissing stops and she pulls away, letting Hope move and not be pressed against the door. It doesn’t calm down her rapidly beating heart or her heavy breathing. Josie smirks and looks far too pleased with herself. Hope would gladly switch them around and return the favor but she refrains. God this girl was turning her into a mess.
“You should go, Ethans waiting for you.” Josie doesn’t let the smirk leave her face and just grins while she turns toward the mirror at the center of the room and begins to fix her messy hair.
Hope can only watch, feeling so whiplashed but loving every second of Josie’s teasing.
She walks forward and comes up behind Josie as their eyes meet in the mirror. She wraps her arms around the brunette and leans up on her tiptoes to appear taller and to bring her lips closer to Josie’s ear.
“Maybe, we could do this again sometime?”
A small shudder makes its way through Josie’s body and Hope really wants to see more but knows she has to go.
“I’d like that.” This time instead of a smoke is a bright and gorgeous smile that’s pointed at Hope. She kisses Josie’s neck once more before stepping back and starts walking towards the door. She knows Josie’s eyes are watching her as she walks.
“It was amazing meeting you Josie. I really hope we can do this again sometime.” She smiles and walks out the door, making eye contact with Josie one last time before she leaves.
Once she’s outside the room she closes the door and the music that had been muffled before comes back full force.
She needs to go find Ethan and spend time with him unfortunately, since all she wants to do is go back and touch Josie some more, hear her gasps, her moans, to hear everything.
But right now she needs to go entertain her date.
For the first time that night Hope is glad she came to the party and as she walks down the stairs all she can think is
Thank God Ethan introduced her to his sister.