Chapter Text
In all seven years of her life, Hope had never met a girl prettier than her mother.
That was, until, she met her father's old friend's daughters.
Miss Caroline's daughters were twins that she'd come to know as Lizzie and Josie, one blonde and one brunette, and both very kind to Hope when she first met them. Hope thought that Lizzie was funny and a bit bossy, but she was nice if they let her pick whatever game they were going to play. Hope thought that Josie, on the other hand, was perfect. She always had her hair tied up with a pretty ribbon and smelled like cookies right out of the oven.
Hope thought her new friend might have been as pretty as her mom.
---
When Hope was 10, she became better friends with the Saltzman girl. Lizzie and MG got close that summer and were too busy to hang out with Hope and Josie anymore, so the two of them spent a lot of time in the cabin that they all shared, Josie braiding Hope's hair and Hope reading Josie whatever school book she'd been assigned that summer.
"What do you think MG and Lizzie are doing?" Josie asked Hope softly, hands pulling apart a braid from Hope's hair.
"I don't know," Hope hummed, enjoying the feeling of her friend's fingers in her hair.
"Do you think they kiss?" Josie asks, Hope hearing the concern and curiosity in Josie's voice.
Hope straightened up nervously. "Ew," she replied quickly. "Why would they do that?"
"Lizzie says they like each other," Josie replies nonchalantly. "That's what people do when they're friends and like each other, right?"
Hope turned towards Josie, about to laugh before she sees the strange look on Josie's face.
"Well, we're friends," Hope said. "Are we supposed to do that?"
"I don't know," Josie said softly, a strange blush appearing on her cheeks. "Can girls do that?"
"You were at my aunts' wedding," Hope replied. "They kissed."
"I'm sure they like each other a lot," Josie replied, fiddling with her fingers.
Hope noted the nervous look on Josie's face and took her hand, forcing the girl to look up at her. Before Josie could register what was going on, Hope was leaning closer, pressing a peck to her lips, and immediately pulling away.
"There," Hope said, dropping Josie's hand. "Now we're best friends."
Hope turned around once again and waited for Josie to return her hands to her hair, but she couldn't feel her friend near her anymore.
Later that summer, Josie's dad told Hope that they probably shouldn't stay in the same cabin anymore.
---
When Hope was 13 she got a boyfriend. When he kissed her, it felt different from when Hope had kissed her friend all those years ago.
---
When Hope was 15, her parents passed away. The Saltzman's sent a card, but Josie's name had been signed in her father's handwriting.
---
Hope's eyes fluttered open to the feeling of someone stroking her hair.
She wasn't outside anymore, rather in Alaric Saltzman's office, the AC blowing and the lights shining too-bright for Hope's tired eyes.
"Hope," a voice says softly, the hands in her hair coming to a halt. "You're awake."
Hope immediately saw the eyes above her relax and could recognize their deep brown hue anywhere.
Josie.
Josie!
How could the girl even look at Hope with what Hope had just done to her?
"Josie, I'm so-" Hope began, but was interrupted by a shushing noise coming from the other girl's lips and Josie's hands pushing Hope's shoulders back towards the couch.
"Can we not talk about it right now?" Josie asked. "Not today. You've been through enough today."
Hope will never understand how Josie can remain empathetic, even after Hope just screwed her over.
"What happened?" Hope asked, holding her head heavy in her hands.
Josie shrugged. "You collapsed on the field right before Lizzie and I's soccer game. MG said maybe you had a panic attack or heat stroke. You were paler than usual apparently," Josie continued, which made Hope laugh and nudger the other girl.
Josie's smile dropped soon after and returns her fingers to Hope's hair, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. The room fell into a comfortable but unpleasant silence. Hope knew she had to say something.
"Josie, we need to..." Hope trails off. "I don't know what to say to you." Hope sat up, ignoring Josie's pleads for her to stay lying down, and props herself up on her elbows, facing the other girl. "How are you so calm about this? I- What I did was a terrible thing. I let Penelope get in my head and I acted on feelings that I..."
Josie's face goes red and Hope can't stop her words before they come out, but Josie just swallows thickly and speaks. "I don't want to hear about it, Hope. Really," Josie says again, sternly this time. "My mom told me a lot of things that I wasn't ready to hear. That I wasn't ready to admit."
Hope doesn't want to hear what Josie has to say next. She knows that if she was in Josie's shoes, she'd be furious; she'd lash out, just like her father would do. But Josie is different. She's kind and understanding, she'd forgive Hope, surely?
Hope knows that she doesn't deserve Josie's grace.
The room has gone silent and Hope was too lost in her thoughts to notice. Josie's closed her eyes, lost in what seems like a memory. Hope can't get over the way the sight of Josie makes her feel, and will never forgive herself for causing the girl pain.
"Do you remember that summer?" Josie began. "When I was eight, you were 10?"
"And I kissed you," Hope finished, laughing in embarrassment and nostalgia. "Your dad almost kicked me out of camp for pulling that."
Josie let out a giggle and blushed which made Hope smile.
"That was my first kiss," Josie said simply, smiling at the memory. Hope wished she knew what was happening in the girl's head. "I immediately told Lizzie about it, who said I shouldn't have kissed my friend."
"That explains why you stopped talking to me," Hope replied, noting the look of regret that washed over Josie's face at the comment.
"Lizzie told me you and I weren't friends like she and MG were," Josie continued. "That they liked each other. They were more than friends." Josie got quiet for a moment. Hope has now sat up with her back against the arm of the couch, legs extended, with Josie sitting normally on the couch next to her. Hope ignores the headache that still pounds behind her forehead as Josie talks; too focused on the sound of the girl's voice.
"I think Lizzie was right," she speaks up again. "I think we were different than her and MG."
Josie looks at Hope intensely when she speaks, not wanting Hope to miss a word she says. "I don't think they felt half the same way that I felt about you."
Hope swallows thickly, Josie's words sending a flutter of nerves to her stomach. Hope silently prays she doesn't vomit or pass out again.
"Feel about you," Josie says.
"Why, Jo?" Hope asked, too shocked to register what Josie's words meant. "I was horrible to you."
"I talked to my mom," Josie said with a shrug, like it was the easiest answer in the world. "What you did hurt, but what we have is- different -than anything I've ever experienced."
"Penelope Park said I was the reason you two broke up," Hope questioned. "She was trying to-"
"Get back at me, I'm sure," Josie interrupted. "Like I said, I talked to my mom. The disadvantages of loving a Mikaelson, I guess," she finishes with a laugh.
Hope's eyes widen. "You-"
"Can we not talk about it?" Josie asks with a cringe. "I'm trying to be more selfish but I'm really not ready to go too much into it."
Hope laughs softly at the other girl. She takes Josie's hand instead, holding it in her own, the simple touch sending heat waves straight to her chest. Hope's forgotten the familiar butterflies that come along with being in such close proximity to Josie.
"Take all the time you need, Jo," Hope replied, leaning in closer to the girl. Hope watches as Josie's eyed flutter closed and she's grateful that Josie can't see her blush when she lets out a shallow breath.
Hope runs her thumb across Josie's pouty bottom lip before pressing her lips to the girls', relishing in the warmth that comes with kissing Josie Saltzman.
Josie sighs once again and smiles against Hope's mouth before pressing her forehead against the other girl's. Josie opens her mouth to speak but is cut off by the door bursting open.
"Jo! You won't believe what-" Lizzie exclaims, having no regard that Hope could have still been passed out in the office. "Ew."
The two girls jerk away from each other, Hope almost falling off of the side of the couch in surprise.
"Well, I'm glad to see you two are close again," Lizzie groans sarcastically, rolling her eyes. The view of Hope half hanging off the couch and Josie all flustered, one hand ghosting over her mouth must be comical to Lizzie. Hope knows she'll relish in the thought of catching them off guard later, but for now, is more preoccupied with whatever she burst in there to say.
Lizzie pulls a trophy that'd been hiding behind her back, showing off a grin that reaches from ear to ear. "We won field day, Jo!"