Hosie Stories

Story 16 - "Some things never change"

Authors note:

This is based after 3x08 and everything that happened between the main three girls. It has kinda been sitting in my drafts for a while, and it took me some time to get around to finishing it, but here it is. I read through it like a million times, and if I do it once more I will go insane.

If you couldn't tell, I struggled with the title. Anyways, enjoy :)

Hope pulls her sleeves over her knuckles, holding the fabric between her fingertips. As she walks the few steps across the corridor that it takes to reach the twins' room, she thinks about how insane the last twenty-four hours have been. She thinks of her plan, and how she got Landon back. He's safe, far away from the prison world and in the comfort of his room. Hope releases a heavy breath, one that feels as if it has been held in all day, and she raises her hand to knock on the wood.

"Come in." Josie shouts from inside.

Hope opens the door, talking as she enters. "Hey-" She pauses as soon as she sees what is going on. "What's all this?" Josie stops what she's doing, and looks up at Hope. The tribrid smiles, but Josie doesn't smile back. Her eyes don't hold the same warmth as normal - they don't hold that softness they normally do when the two talk. They feel colder, more guarded and Hope hates it. She wants to get to the bottom of it.

Hope looks across the brunette's bed. Clothes, shoes and other items are sprawled out across it. Josie's hand rests on top of her bag, having just put a t-shirt inside of it. A second of eye contact passes before Josie looks back down, continuing what she had been doing before Hope came in. Her brain would like nothing more than to ignore Hope's presence, but she feels as though it is better she just tell Hope the truth - not that she even owes it to her. Not after today.

"I'm moving out. I'm going to live with my aunt Elena for a while." She throws in some jeans and a few skirts, then zips it up. Josie doesn't dare look at Hope again - she doesn't think she could bear it. One more look and she might completely break. One more look and the anger sizzling under her skin might just boil over the surface.

"Why?"

"A few reasons, not that it's any of your business." Josie moves over to her desk. She's not sure how long she will be living with Damon and Elena, so she wants to take some photos. Josie looks at the collection she has, her eyes stopping on one of her and Hope. Normally, she'd smile at it, maybe her heart would flutter, but today all it does is bring tears to her eyes. It makes her entire chest ache in ways it hasn't since Penelope left. It makes her wish she could turn back time, back to before this day even began. She eventually flips it over so that she is no longer looking at it, choosing to take the framed ones of her and Lizzie, as well as her and MG.

This action doesn't go unnoticed by Hope. She loves that photo of them, the memory alone warms her heart. But now, seeing Josie turn it over, it is causing a small crack. Not big enough to shatter her heart completely, yet enough to make it bleed.

"You don't have to leave." Hope says as Josie carefully slides some pictures in her backpack. These words are enough to dismiss any control Josie had over her emotions. The girl drops her bag onto the bed and turns to look at the young Mikaelson.

"Yes I do, Hope!" Josie raises her voice. She's never done this with Hope before, but she just doesn't know how she can stay calm after everything that's happened. Especially not when Hope seems to be acting like nothing is wrong. Her voice carries so much venom that Hope can easily detect. It comes out of nowhere, making the tribrid step backward. "I thought I could attend Mystic Falls High, whilst still living here, but today proved that I can't."