𝔪𝔞𝔤𝔦𝔠 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔟𝔢 𝔡𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔰, hosie

testing the bond, 10

Hope was able to convince Rebekah to take her into town with barely any convincing. Not that she thought it would take much. Her aunt was always down for a good shopping trip. The downfall to living in a small town was having to hit up multiple shops to get everything on her list. They criss crossed through town, making stops at the drugstore, office supply store, hardware store, general store, before making their way to the grocery store.

"How about this one?" Rebekah asked, holding up a box of cookies and crème protein bars.

"Yeah," Hope replied. "Josie will love them, but we need to find brownie ones for Lizzie... Ah here," she said triumphantly as she reached for a box on the bottom shelf. "That just leaves a multi pack since I don't know what kind Raf and Landon would like."

Rebekah smiled widely at her niece.

"What?" Hope asked, noticing her aunt's strange smile?

"Nothing," Rebekah replied, but Hope was sure her aunts smile was for something. She just wasn't sure if she wanted to know or not.

"I think that's everything I need," Hope said. She pulled out her shopping list and looked over it, double checking that she had everything.

"It's still early darling. Do you want to get dinner before heading back to school?"

Hope slipped the list back into her pockets and nodded her head. She was having fun with her aunt and wasn't ready for the day to end just yet. "Food sounds good." They pushed their small cart up to the front of the store. "Oh... awesome," Hope said when she saw the snacks displayed on the mini fridges. She reached up and grabbed several bags of Flaming Hot Cheetos.

"Since when do you eat those?" Rebekah asked, as she placed the groceries onto the belt.

"I don't. Josie's been craving them for days. It's been driving me crazy," Hope explained.

"You're sharing her craving now?"

"More like aware of her craving. It's like this little voice at the back of my head whispering Cheetos, Cheetos, Cheetos, and I just know the what and the why."

"Is it weird having someone else in your head?" Rebekah asked quietly.

"Sometimes," Hope replied, then pulled her credit card out of her wallet. "Mostly it just feels right. Like it was always supposed to be like this and I just hadn't noticed that it was missing."

They went silent as the cashier rang up their items, not wanting him to overhear their conversation. On their way out to Ric's car, they bumped into the sheriff, quite literally. Hope was reading the bottom of the receipt and didn't see him standing by the carts.

"Sorry," she said, then looked up to see who she had ran into. "Oh... Sheriff, I didn't see you there."

"It's alright Hope," he grunted lowly. "Just watch where you're going."

"Hope, what's taking so long?" Rebekah asked as she made her way back into the store. Hope hadn't realized her aunt wasn't with her any more. "Matty," Rebekah exclaimed when she saw who Hope was talking to. "Matty, I haven't seen you in forever." She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, Rebekah," he replied, and he looked as though he actually was happy to see her. "I didn't know you were in town."

"Oh yes. I'm here visiting Hope and helping out with the monster problem. I'm surprised Ric didn't warn you."

"Well the last time I saw him, we didn't end things on the best of terms. He's keeping me apprised of the situation but has been tight lipped about the going-on at the school otherwise."