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“Are you… baking?” Josie asks hesitantly as she makes her way into the Salvatore school kitchen. She sees a bit of a mess in the kitchen and she knows that Lizzie is frantic and if she’s frantically baking? That spells out disaster for everyone because she is on the verge of an episode that Josie hopes she can stop.
Lizzie looks up from what she was doing to turn and look over her shoulder at her sister. The teen laughs, shaking her head at her twin. “Oh relax Josette. Whatever you think is about to happen isn’t I’m not in a mood or about to go crazy I’m just feeling the holiday spirit.”
That makes Josie raise a brow only feeling more confused. She goes over to stand at her sister’s side seeing the saucepan sitting on the stove that she was stirring. “Hot Cocoa? Please tell me that’s mom’s recipe.”
“Down to the extra pinch of cinnamon you know I wouldn’t use any other recipe,” Lizzie assures her sister with a smile before she ladles some of the chocolatey mixture into a mug for her sister. “Grab me two more mugs and I’ll get some for Finch. You two can have a hot cocoa date and be all happy lovey-eyed somewhere else.”
Josie grabs a few of their best mugs and sets them down in front of Lizzie. She looks at the amount of cocoa that is left in the pot. “That looks like enough cocoa for four, not three. Who else are you going to share it with?” She knows that she shouldn’t probe but she can’t help it. She’s nosy when it comes to her sister wanting to make sure that everything is alright.
Lizzie can see right through all the questioning, rolling her eyes at her sister again. “Well if you must know I thought Hope might like some. She’s not a big fan of Christmas but it’s nothing mom’s cocoa can’t help. I mean what about whipped cream and chocolate shaving doesn’t make a person want to smile.” She turns off the burner before she finishes distributing the cocoa between the mugs. “Now shoo I’m going to go do my thing you go do yours.”
Josie quickly adds some whipped cream to two of the mugs before she heads off. If her sister wants to be left alone then she will leave her alone. This also means she has a reason to snuggle up to the fireplace and sip cocoa with her girlfriend.
Lizzie watches her sister go before she puts whipped cream and chocolate shavings on each of their mugs. She wants to make it perfect so she even sticks a peppermint stick in both of them. She surveys the two mugs going to wipe a bit of excess chocolate off of one. She knows that they’re perfect and she knows that Hope will love it. She takes the drinks out of the kitchen heading up to Hope’s bedroom.
When she gets there she knocks on the door and a voice calls out for her to come in and Lizzie opens the door. “ Hey there, I hadn’t seen you in a while- figured you could use some company.” She explains before closing the door with her hip. She turns to face Hope and shows her the peace offering. “My mom’s best hot cocoa with extra chocolate shavings.”
Hope closes the journal she had been writing in and sets it on her bedside table. Normally she would have brushed off the suggestion but she can smell the sickeningly sweet chocolate smell from her bed. She remembers a few years when she had first come to Salvatores she would make that cocoa when Hope was upset or dreading the holidays as she usually did. It brought her comfort and she had a feeling comfort was exactly what she needed right now.
Lizzie walks over to Hope’s bed and hands her a mug of hot cocoa before she has a seat on the bed. “You look… troubled.” She gives Hope a bit of a nudge so that her friend looks at her. “I know that it’s different but I do understand. I mean as annoying as the hobbit is I do miss him too. He made last Christmas pretty bearable. Now this year…”
“This year we’re going to have Christmas without him.” Hope mumbles before looking over at Lizzie. She had to kill him when she became the tribrid and it was hard but she had her friends to support her so she was able to get through it. Getting through it had been hard and she thought she was over the worst of it but now she realizes the worst of it hasn’t happened yet. She has to deal with her first of each holiday without him which hurts but she’s sure it won’t hurt as much as the second or the third.
Now that Hope has eternal life she realizes she’ll no doubt spend it remembering every little thing that she is doing without Landon. “It’s strange because those weren’t the things I thought I was going to think about when I turned. I thought I would regret not having children- not getting to turn 21 or get married. I mean we’re eternally stuck in high school aren’t we” She asks before looking over at Lizzie. “I mean aren’t you so excited to relive high school for the next few centuries?”
Lizzie smiles, lifting the mug to her lips and having a long drink of cocoa. After becoming a heretic she had imagined what her life would be like. Sure they would have lots of proms and new high school experiences but that also meant exams and homework. The thought of having to start at new schools every few years until everyone realized they were too long to be there was hard. “We don’t always have to be high school students, you know. I mean my mom is forever 17 and she went to college. We’ve got so long we could try every major.”
Hope has a long drink before she sets down the mug next to her journal. She reaches over and strokes Lizzie’s hair. “We could be roommates at some small-town college. I’ll major in art and you can major in women’s studies. We’ll have minors in french or creative writing. Maybe you could join a sorority.”
Lizzie has another drink before she snorts, “A sorority? I mean yeah I guess but I’ll only do it if you join me. Also, I think you should study art therapy. It's a thing I’ve read about it. Lots of those prissy overpriced schools for rich kids have it. I think you’d do a great job and you could take a hundred different art classes.”
Hope looks over at Lizzie and smiles, “You’ve got uhh-” She reaches over and swipes her thumb across Lizzie’s lip to wipe off some whipped cream. She sticks her thumb into her mouth to lick it off. “Whipped cream.”
Lizzie feels a blush heat up her cheeks as she watches Hope lick away the whipped cream. “We uhh- we’ll probably need a backstory at least after the first time. You know new names or different backstories. Maybe we could…” She starts to say though she’s getting distracted as she looks at Hope’s lips. She hadn’t ever noticed just how soft they seemed or the shape of them. Was she wearing a new lipgloss or were they always naturally that pretty pink shade? “Be uhh- be from California.”
“Is there something I can help you with, Liz?” Hope asks though she has a feeling that they’re both feeling the same thing. She takes Lizzie’s cup of cocoa and sets it down on the bedside table. “Because I was thinking maybe it doesn’t matter where we’re from. The rest of the story is important- the part where we’re … close to each other.”
Lizzie doesn’t realize what she’s going to do until she does it. She grabs Hope by the face and kisses her firmly on the lips. They keep kissing until long after the whipped cream had melted and the hot chocolate had gone cold.