Josie's eyes fluttered open, the room so bright it made her eyes ache. She took in her surroundings, remembering she was in Hope's room. In Hope's bed. She took in a deep breath as she suddenly became aware of the sleeping girl whose arm found itself draped across her side.
Josie mentally cursed Hope for doing that in her sleep, while simultaneously trying to fight the butterflies erupting and the blush creeping onto her face.
She lightly lifted the girl's wrist, slowly shifting out from under her touch. Just as she got out from under her arm, she realized she was incredibly close to the edge of the bed. Too close in fact, because the next thing she knew she was falling onto the floor with a loud thud.
Josie clamped her hand over her mouth, scared that her fall would wake the sleeping tribrid. Luckily, the tribrid was so exhausted she hadn't heard a thing.
She slowly stood up, her eyes trained on Hope just in case she was to open her eyes. Once she was able to turn and leave, she found herself transfixed by the sleeping beauty before her.
She stared at her hair, which was messily sprawled across her face, and her lips, which were slightly parted and the color of a rose. Josie fought the urge to lean over and kiss her before she turned and walked out of the door, peering over her shoulder for one last glance of Hope.
-
"Josie! Where the hell have you been?" Lizzie yelled, rushing towards Josie in the middle of the hallway. "You went to Hope's room last night and never came ba-," Lizzie's hands flew up to her mouth, her eyes widening as realization crossed her face. "Oh. My. God. Josette. Did you- did you sleep with Hope?" She asked, her voice now hushed and laced with what sounded an awful lot like disgust. Josie told herself it wasn't disgust that she heard, it was just shock.
Josie stared at her sister, her face a replica of her sister's as she stared with a dumbfounded expression. "Lizzie! No!" She said, but the blush creeping onto her cheeks told Lizzie a different story.
Lizzie's lips fell into an open-mouthed frown, her eyebrows furrowed together. It was obvious now, the hint of disgust that laced her voice was real, which made Josie's heart sink. The look on Lizzie's face made it apparent, she didn't believe her sister.
"Lizzie I did NOT sleep with Hope Mikaelson. She just asked me to stay in her room, she was scared." Josie explained nonchalantly, hoping her sister wouldn't ask where in Hope's room she slept. Luckily, her sister was more intent on figuring out why Hope was afraid.
"Scared?" She scoffed. "What the hell could the big bad tribrid be afraid of? No boogeyman would even dream of going after her."
Josie thought back to her conversation with Hope, remembering the way Hope could barely meet her eyes when she said she was afraid of the dark as if she was embarrassed. Josie knew she shouldn't be, her fear of the dark after whatever the hell it was she endured in Malivore and again when she defeated him was nothing except rational.
She grew irritated with her sister, upset that Lizzie was the type of person to make Hope feel ashamed of her new fear. "She was in Malivore, or have you forgotten? None of us know what it's like in there. She does." Josie whisper-yelled.
"She lived in there for two months. And then she had to kill him and experience it all over!" Josie finished, her chest heaving and cheeks pink.
Lizzie stared at her sister wide-eyed and with a look of shock, the disgust seemed to have passed. Her eyes met her feet as she realized she was being a bitch and was overwhelmed with embarrassment. She felt like a child who'd just been scolded. She'd been trying to work on it, however, it was much harder than it looked.
