Chapter Text
Hanging out with friends is not something Hope Mikaelson does. Even if she wanted to, which she doesn’t, she wouldn’t be able to since she does not have any friends.
Normally she avoids all the parties, isn’t keen on the people there, but New Orleans left its mark on her; the desire to drink and party is an all too familiar feeling. It just seems natural to her, partying, drinking to make life more bearable, while listening to great Jazz or stupid modern music. Sometimes, rarely, she does go to the parties, to get drunk, to drown her sorrows in alcohol, which is still better than some of her other ways of coping. And today is such a day, a day on which she goes to a stupid party, hell-bent on getting wasted, on forgetting.
Once there, in the decorated gym, she first is approached by Landon and Rafael, both still hoping that they have a chance with her, optimistic as always. Maybe, if things had gone differently, she and Landon could have been a thing. He is cute, always sweet and nice to her and everybody, and he did make her smile on a very bad day with a silly dance. Nevertheless, he doesn’t know when to stop, always pushing her to talk and trying to be her friend when she made it clear that she isn’t interested. And he's just kind of boring; there is nothing about him that interests her, nothing that keeps her thinking about him. He is just, well, bland.
Then there is Rafael. Good looking, troubled, and a way more interesting person to talk with. She enjoys talking to him and occasionally they do actually talk, but of course, he falls in love with her – as if a guy cannot talk to a girl without crushing on her. Most importantly, though, she doesn’t do boyfriends or girlfriends or friends or even having anyone close.
She drowns the rest of her cup before leaving them behind.
Yeah, she might be an asshole for more or less ignoring them, but she made it clear that she isn’t interested and she is absolutely not in the mood for socializing. She blames herself more than them, really. After all, it is a party, so it’s only natural that they would approach her. It’s not their fault that she is in a bad mood. Sadly, or luckily, she next runs into another person. At least she is infinitely more interesting than the two guys.
“Mikaelson,” the girl greets, raising her cup.
“Penelope,” Hope responds. On a different day, Hope might have offered her a smile, their frenemy-ish relationship, if you can even call it that, being one of the most fun things she has at the school. But today is shit, so she wears a blank face.
Thankfully Penelope is smart, smarter than most people here, so she is bearable, even now.
“How did you lose yourself here?” Penelope asks, eyeing her skeptically. Before Hope can reply, Penelope continues, “Bad day?”
“Mhm,” Hope hums, knowing that Penelope already knows the answer.
“Wanna join me?”
“Depends on if you’re gonna talk,” Hope says, disinterested.
“Lizzie invited me and some other people for truth or dare,” she explains.
“You won’t go there, will you? Knowing Lizzie, she probably has something planned,” Hope says.
“Of course, she would never invite me otherwise,” Penelope agrees. “But I plan on crushing her plans,” she says with a devilish glint in her eyes.
“And what would Josie say about this?”
“Not everything is about Josie. Sometimes I just want to have fun. Well, what do you say? Wanna be my partner in crime?” Penelope smirks with the confidence as if Hope already said yes.
“Oh come on, you need some fun,” she insists.
“Yeah, fun, alone,” Hope counters plainly.
“Sure, you do you. If you change your mind, we’ll be at the Old Mill in half an hour,” Penelope informs her and leaves Hope behind.
She finds herself a lonely corner and drinks. For some time she observes her fellow students.
Landon and Rafael leave, Penelope leaves, Kaleb and M.G. leave, Lizzie and Josie, however, are still there. From the looks of it, Lizzie gestures for Josie to go ahead. Josie agrees and makes her way out. On the way her eyes catch Hope’s and she smiles warmly. Hope only raised her cup in response. Josie waves her hand, signaling that Hope should come to her. Sighing, Hope closes her eyes and takes a last sip. Most likely Josie will also ask her about the truth and dare game. It feels a bit silly, that they have planned for this stupid game and that they will leave the party for it.
She crosses over to the siphoner, not knowing why exactly she is doing it. Probably for the slim chance that Josie has something else to say. Unfortunately, her intuition was right. Now she has to tell Josie that she won’t join them.
“I know you will say no but I had to ask,” Josie says before Hope could reply. “You know, friends are fun, you should give them a try.” Josie's smiling, alcohol pulsing through her system.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Hope hears her mom’s words about not isolating herself. She knows she will regret this, she is certain of it, but she relents. At the very least, there will be more alcohol, so even if it turns out to be shit, which it probably will, she can still get drunk.
“Okay."
“What?”
“I will join you.”
“Great. Nice. You won’t regret it.”
Instead of telling her that will most certainly will, she says, “I can’t promise to stay.”
“Oh, sure, leave whenever you want. It’s just a stupid game, nothing important.”
“Well, let’s go.”
Josie leads the way out of the gym, Hope lazily strolling behind, already questioning her decision. She thinks about Penelope and wonders what Lizzie might have planned. Soon they are outside, making their ways through the woods towards the Old Mill. Josie remains quiet but Hope sees her stealing glances at her and sees her smile.
“Why are you smiling so much?” Hope breaks the silence.
The question seems to startle the siphoner for a second. Slowing down so that she is next to Hope, she mockingly answers, “I’m just so happy that you are coming with me.” She hopes her tone hides the fact that she is, in fact, telling the truth. The game is a great opportunity to get to know more about the always isolating tribrid – it’s exciting.
“Mhm,” Hope says, not believing Josie. Then, sounding bored, “Excited because someone will certainly dare you to kiss Penelope?”
Josie’s expression falls, as if she hadn’t thought about this possibility. A mixture of hope and heart ache settles in her face. “I didn’t think of this,” she replies quietly.
“You can always drink instead of kissing her, assuming that we are playing with this rule,” Hope says, offering Josie a way out. Admittedly, this only works if the dare is for Josie and not for Penelope. Although, thinking about it, Penelope isn’t one to do things that Josie wouldn’t want, the only exception being everything regarding Lizzie.
“Thanks for caring,” the siphoner says, to Hope’s confusion. It doesn’t last long. Once she considered their long history and her lack of interest, Josie’s words do make a lot of sense.
“Don’t confuse small talk with caring,” Hope says, trying to look serious, but the small tug of her lips, the barest hint of a smile, lets Josie know that she doesn’t mean it.
“You can’t help yourself, can you?” Josie asks. “You can’t not poke. You just have to.”
Hope shrugs her shoulders and looks down, hiding a smile.
“Why, though?”
Hope looks up, into genuine eyes. It’s a good question, one that she has asked herself many times, but one that has a very simple answer. Josie doesn’t need to know this, though.
“It’s in my DNA,” she says, raising an eyebrow, challenging Josie to continue probing.
Scoffing but smiling, Josie replies, “So it’s a family thing, huh?”
Hope looks down, the ache in her chest that has come up with the simple word ‘family’ forcing her to hide her emotions. Instinctively, she moves her fingers over her ring that has the Mikaelson M engraved. Normally she wouldn’t react to this word so severely, wouldn’t react at all, but today – well, today she isn’t keen on family talk.
Josie notices her shift but isn’t exactly sure what caused it. Deciding to fill the silence, she just says the first thing that comes to her mind. “We’re almost there.”
Whatever it was, Hope seems to have snapped out of it, replying, “Yeah, I know where the Old Mill is.”
“Well, in case you didn’t know, I just wanted to inform you.”
“How considerate,” Hope responds dryly,
“I know, right?”
They arrive at the Old Mill. Josie walks in first, smiling and being smiled at by the people in the room. Four couches are set up around a table, the students occupying the couches already by lying on them. Surprised eyes meet Hope once she gets in. Penelope raises her eyebrows, clearly questioning her why she accepted Josie’s invitation and not hers, but she makes room and gestures for Hope to sit next to her. Hope only shrugs in response as she sits down next to her.
“You’re here?” Landon asks. He is sitting next to Rafael, who himself is positioned next to Jed, and the surprise in his voice apparent and weirdly annoying to Hope.
“Your eyes work, wow,” Penelope mocks, beating Hope for the reply.
“What’s your problem with me?” Landon asks.
“I don’t have a problem with you,” Penelope answers, sounding amused.
“Then why are you so mean to me?”
“Dude, she is always like this, no matter who you are,” Kaleb explains. He is sharing a couch with M.G.
Hope glances at Josie, the one exception to what Kaleb has said. The siphoner is looking at Penelope, longingly, Hope would say. Her eyes move over to the tribrid, the same affection lingering in her eyes.
“Great, she’s a bully,” Landon utters.
Lizzie storms in and closes the door behind her, silencing all conversations and taking all eyes on her. She scans the room, quickly glaring at Penelope and stopping at Hope.
After a moment of staring, she turns to Josie, who explains, “I invited her.”
Surprisingly, Lizzie doesn’t kick her out nor does she comment at all. She only shrugs and sits down next to her sister.
Pushing her hair back and collecting herself, she asks, “You all know the rules, right?” She goes on once everybody nodded or murmured some form of affirmation.
“Let’s just go clock wise,” Penelope says with a fresh cup of bad tasting alcohol in her hand. “A bottle is so random, someone could be left out,” she goes on, focusing on Lizzie. She has no idea if Lizzie has something planned or, more likely, what she has planned; maybe she spelled the bottle so that it will never point in her direction.
“Okay,” Lizzie responds, her smile challenging and knowing.
Penelope is still wary but nods.
Raising her cup, Lizzie looks around, waiting until everyone has their cups raised as well. “Cheers!” she says and watches as everyone but her drinks.
“Who wants to start?” she asks.
“I’ll go ahead,” Landon says.
“So-” Lizzie is watching Penelope “-who is asking the question, then?”
“Whoever has the best one,” Penelope replies smugly. “But first: truth or dare, Landon?”
“Truth,” he says and takes a sip.
“Do you have a crush on someone in this room?” Penelope asks, smiling.
“Really? What are you, twelve?” Landon counters.
“You said truth. Now answer the question. Do you have a crush on someone in this room?”
“Yes,” he says, looking at Hope, shocked that he actually said it. Hope groans, falling deeper into the couch. Penelope snickers, grinning at the tribrid. Hope is already contemplating leaving. Why did she come here?
“Anyway,” Lizzie drawls. “Next.” Her eyes focus on Rafael, the next one in line. “Truth or dare?”
“Dare, but please don’t make me kiss anyone,” he replies, glancing between Penelope and Lizzie, the most likely suspects to do this.
“Can you handstand?” M.G. asks.
“Sure.”
“Handstand for five minutes,” the vampire says.
“Easy enough,” the wolf replies, standing up and almost losing his balance. Performing a handstand while tipsy, maybe not the best idea, but a dare is a dare, he won’t back down. So, after catching the skeptic eyes of his peers, he brings his hands to the floor and kicks up.
His shirt is falling down, obscuring his vision and exposing his abs.
He hears whistles, not sure by whom, and after some time, he wonders if anyone is keeping track of the time.
“How long?” he questions, the effort of talking while standing on his hand clearly hearable.
The others break out in laughter when they realize that they did not pay attention to the time.
“Just another two minutes,” Kaleb says.
Rafael groans in response, his hands and arms tiring and his rising dizziness making the position increasingly hard to hold.
They start counting down at the thirty seconds mark and when they arrived at one, Rafael all but fell down. His red and sweaty face revealing exhaustion while he kneels on the floor. He stands up and falls back down. Luckily for him, he lands on the couch, or to be more precise, on Jed.
The former alpha pushes him off, leaving Rafael back in his spot between Landon and him.
“So, Jed, truth or dare?” Penelope asks, her eyes glinting. She seems to have so much fun with this game.
Adverting his eyes from Rafael, who looks like he is about to throw up, he turns his attention to the witch and says, “Truth.”
“I have a question,” Josie speaks up, seeking confirmation to ask.
“Well?” Jed asks.
“Are you gay? I don’t know, you give me major gay vibes.”
Penelope bursts out laughing, already knowing the answer, while Jed is blushing slightly. Hope takes a look at him, considering Josie’s words. Possible, certainly possible, she thinks.
“Gay? No,” Jed says with the smugness as if he tricked the question.
“Really? Don’t tell me that you are bi and evaded the question,” Josie says.
“Well, you’ll have to be more specific with your questions,” Jed replies, smirking and drinking.
Josie rolls her eyes, then she focuses on the next person. The tension immediately rises once everybody realizes that it is Penelope’s turn.
“Satan, truth or dare?”
The witch in question blows Lizzie a kiss. “Let’s keep it moderate. Truth.”
Immediately, Landon, feeling like a savage, asks, “Do you have a crush on someone in this room?”
Everyone groans since every single person at Salvatore’s knows that Penelope is eternally in love with Josie Saltzman.
“What a waste,” Kaleb comments and Lizzie glares at Landon.
“Just answer the question and we can get it over with,” Hope says, the game not entertaining her in the slightest, but probably nothing can on this day.
“Don’t worry, Hope, you have soft spot in my black heart, too,” Penelope replies, asking herself why she said this. She hides the slight embarrassment that she’s feeling behind her cup, drinking some more. “Well, you all know that my heart belongs to Josie.”
Turning her attention to the left, Penelope looks at Hope. “Truth or dare, Mikaelson?”
“Truth”, she mumbles, already fearing the questions.
The room turns quiet. Hope is not one to answer questions, so they have a rare opportunity now.
“You’re gonna ask something or what?” Hope snaps, the suspense killing her.
“What’s your favorite memory?” Josie finally asks, taking the initiative.
The question is like a blow to the liver for Hope. Closing her eyes, she focuses on her breathing, trying to remain calm. She feels Penelope’s hand on her back and can hear her whispering.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“Of course,” Hope responds and opens her eyes again. Everyone is looking at her. “My favorite memory is probably the first time,” and only time, “I painted with my dad,” she says quietly.
Guilt overcomes Josie. She hopes her secret fire didn’t destroy this painting. No one comments, instead focusing on Josie.
“Truth,” she says before anyone can ask.
“You’re all so boring,” Lizzie comments, quickly glancing at Rafael. “Only picking truth, so boring.”
Penelope is about to say something, but Josie beats her to it. “You can choose dare if you want it so much,” Josie snaps. Lizzie’s eyes widen momentarily, but she seems to understand.
Penelope lays back, happy with what Josie said.
“With how many people have you had sex with?” Kaleb asks.
“One,” Josie answers with a shrug.
“Of course,” the vampire chuckles.
“Finally,” Lizzie exclaims. “Dare.”
“Should I just do it?” Penelope asks the group. “We all know she wants it.”
Actually, Hope has no idea what she is talking about, but soon catches the meaning behind Penelope’s words when she sees the witch looking at Rafael.
“Lizzie, please just get it over with and kiss Rafael,” Penelope says.
The siphoner tries to hide her happiness behind a glare, but it’s apparent that this is exactly what she wanted. Graciously, too gracious for the amount of alcohol that should be in her system, she walks to Rafael.
The wolf stands up, Lizzie stopping in front of him. She looks up at him, expectant eyes watching him. It’s a short kiss, but it is enough for Lizzie to return to her seat with a smug expression.
Josie, Penelope, and Hope all simultaneously roll their eyes while M.G. looks absolutely crushed.
“M.G., truth or dare?” Landon asks.
“Uh,” he is shaking his head, trying to shake it off, “Dare.”
“Of course,” Penelope mutters.
“Dance for us,” Lizzie says. “You love dancing, don’t you?”
“Sure,” he replies unenthusiastically. He dances a bit but his broken heart is showing in his slow and sloppy movement, leaving Penelope to order him to sit down.
“Kaleb”, she says.
“Truth.”
“How many have you had?” Penelope asks.
“Two.”
“Landon.”
“Yes?”
“Truth or dare.”
“Oh, yeah. Uhm, truth?”
“Don’t you dare ask anything about me,” Hope tells Penelope who replies that she’d never do that.
“Besides Hope, who is, in your opinion, the hottest person in the room?” Penelope asks. All she receives is stunned silence, everyone thinking about the question.
“This might be,” Landon says, “the hardest question anyone has ever asked me.”
“I know, I’m great.”
Slowly, he lets his eyes scan everyone, taking a long time to decide. He takes his time to appreciate everyone’s beauty. It’s insane, he thinks, how beautiful everyone in this room is.
Finally he decides. “Josie.”
“I gotta hand it to you, Landon, your taste in women is excellent,” Penelope says laughingly. Josie is blushing slightly. Hope is looking at the siphoner, suppressing a smile.
“Truth,” Rafael says once the attention is on him.
“I kinda want to ask you the same question but I have a feeling that this might ruin the evening,” Penelope says, looking from Rafael to Lizzie.
“What’s your favorite memory?” Josie asks - for some reason she loves this question.
Looking at Landon, Rafael says, “The day we were accepted here at the school.” Landon nods, agreeing with him.
“Jed,” Josie begins, “are you queer in any way, be it bi, pan, ace, whatever?”
“Yes,” he simply replies.
Realizing that she doesn’t know anymore than before and that she wasted the question, Josie pouts.
“I didn’t even say truth, by the way.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“I would have said truth anyways,” he chuckles, enjoying teasing her.
It’s Penelope’s turn again. Josie was about to ask her the favorite memory question, but then she remembered that it’s likely that she is a part of it and decided against it.
“Okay, before you kill me,” Landon begins, “what do you think about asking her the same question she asked me?”
“Dude, I already forgot the question,” Kaleb says and chuckles.
“Who is the hottest person in the room,” Landon repeats the question.
“Except Josie,” Hope says and adds, when she is met with mildly shocked eyes, “because that would be the obvious answer for her.”
“Nice save,” Penelope whispers so that only Hope could hear her.
“So? You agree with me?” Landon seeks confirmation, not wanting to embarrass himself again.
“Sure.”
In contrast to Landon, Penelope doesn’t even hesitate for a second. “Hope,” she answers immediately. For a second she seems to be surprised by the quickness, but the surprise turns into a smirk.
“You are such a tease,” Hope says, rolling her eyes.
“Oh yeah? And why are you in such a mood?” Lizzie asks aggressively.
“It’s the anniversary of my mom’s death.” Her eyes widen and her mouth is left open. She can’t believe she just said this out loud. How- she would never share this.
The atmosphere in the room changed. Penelope is sitting with her hand holding her head, face palming; Lizzie presses her eyes shut, scolding and asking herself why she has such a talent for embarrassing herself. A few sympathetic eyes watch Hope.
“Well, Josie, your turn,” Hope speaks, hoping to move on.
“Uh, truth.”
The atmosphere is still down, no one saying anything, so Hope speaks up. “What is your kink, Josette Saltzman?”
Josie is too flustered to speak up, so Penelope answers. “Oh, she loves taking care of you, if you know what I mean, but she loves nothing more than being eaten out. You should hear when-“ Penelope stops, blinks a few time, opens her mouth, closes it again, and leans back.
Josie is hiding behind her cup. Hope looks amused.
No one says anything.
“Truth,” Lizzie hesitantly says.
“Any kinks?” M.G. asks jokingly.
“No!”
“Right,” M.G. replies. “Truth.”
“Are you a virgin?” Rafael asks.
Feeling embarrassed, M.G. mutters, “Yes.”
“Truth.” Kaleb clears his throat and leans forward, preparing for the question.
“Who are the two lucky ones that got to be intimate with you?” Penelope asks.
“Hell no, I’m not gonna violate their privacy,” he replies passionately.
“Fine. Favorite sex position, then.”
“Missionary. I know, boring.”
They continue for more rounds, the dares eventually completely stopping and only truths remaining. Eventually, Josie got Jed to reveal that he is, in fact, bi. She didn’t stop smiling for a solid five minutes after this. They were quite shocked when Hope told them that she is a virgin, but it made sense when she explained the obvious, that she is always alone and lets no one close.
As the alcohol takes more and more of an effect, Hope becomes more comfortable. Her touch starved brain even made her lean into Penelope for a second. The witch didn’t mind, Hope, however, pulled away once she realized what she was doing.
Landon, M.G., and Jed eventually left, going back to the party.
So the twins, Hope, Penelope, Kaleb, and Rafael are left. Lizzie changed her place, sitting down next to Rafael and Kaleb took her old position, now sitting next to Josie.
“Do you wanna continue?” Josie asks and receives affirmative hums.
Once it’s Hope’s turn again, Penelope leans close and smiles. With a raspy voice she asks, “Did or do you have a crush on anyone in this room?”
“And if yes, who is it?” Josie adds, having learnt from her previous mistakes.
Looking back at Penelope, Hope easily replies, “I once had a crush on Josie when I was 14.” The tribrid doesn’t see how Josie freezes at this.
Josie isn’t sure if she should laugh or cry about this news. If this is true, then that had to be at roughly the same time she crushed on Hope. Oh the irony.
“Great taste,” Penelope comments, still staring into Hope’s eyes.
“Don’t worry, Penelope, you have soft spot in my black heart, too.”
It takes a second until Penelope realizes that Hope used the same words she used earlier. It takes another second until she realizes the implications.
Her eyebrows rise to the sky.
“You had a crush on me?” she asks, disbelieving. Of all things, she never expected this.
“I already answered the question. You’ll have to wait until next round. Josie, your turn.”
Josie is still recovering from this news. She never told anyone about her crush on Hope, not even Penelope.
“Truth, of course,” she replies.
Laughing, Rafael asks a question he thinks he knows the answer to, but Josie Saltzman is good for a surprise, it seems.
“If you could have sex with anyone in this room, who would it be?” he asks.
“Hope and Penelope at the same time,” she answers immediately. Never before has she been this embarrassed in her life. And she doesn’t know how she came to this answer, the thought never crossed her mind before, only now after Hope’s answer did she think about it.
Hope almost chokes on her drink, Penelope looks equally as shocked.
Lizzie’s face tells everyone who bothers to look at her that she could have lived without knowing this information.
Once the initial surprise cooled off, Rafael broke out into contagious laughter. “God,” he wipes a tear away and laughs some more, “this goes to all of you: Just bang it out.” He laughs again.
Josie is face palming, trying her best to ignore Penelope and Hope. “I swear someone put a truth potion in the alcohol,” she mutters, still feeling incredibly embarrassed. She can’t believe she said this, she would never say something like this.
Lizzie snorts in response. “And why would anyone do that?”
Josie just mutters Kaleb’s name for the game to continue.
“Kaleb,” damn, she sounds drunk as fuck, “would you go down on a girl?” Penelope asks.
“Of course,” the vampire replies confidently.
“Don’t say of course. Many boys, or girls for that matter, wouldn’t do that.”
“Well, I do.”
“Good boy. Lizzie!” Penelope shouts. “Your turn, my friend.” Giggling, she leans back, into Hope’s arm.
Lizzie isn’t nearly drunk enough to deal with this shit. “Well, do you have a question, my friend?"
Rafael snickers at that, making Lizzie smile.
“Why do you hate me so much?” Hope asks.
“I could ask you the same question,” Lizzie replies, scoffing.
Josie is cowering deeper into the coach - this time not because of embarrassment, but because of guilt and fear.
“I don’t hate you and you have to answer, unless you want to be the first person to drink instead of being truthful.”
“Well, which of the thousand reasons do you wanna hear?” Lizzie spits.
“The real one."
“Really? You need to ask this? Wow-” she is shaking her head “-you are really something else.”
“What are you talking about?” Hope questions, confused.
“Mh, I don’t know, Hope. Maybe I’m talking about how you always refused to be our friend every time we tried to reach out to you. Maybe I’m talking about you burning your room to sabotage our spring trip.”
“What?”
“Maybe I’m talking about that you told everyone that I’m witch bipolar. So Hope, why would I hate you?”
“I’m definitely guilty of pushing you away, but I did not burn my own room. And I certainly did not spread anything about your condition. I would never, “she speaks earnestly.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Lizzie dismisses.
“Lizzie, I did not do this!” Hope insists.
“I know from a trusted source that you did, so stop lying.”
“Who? Who told you this?”
Lizzie glances at Josie, who has pushed herself even deeper.
Hope’s eyes widen at the realization. “Josie? Wha- why?” No way, there is no way that the one person who has always been nice to her has done this.
“I might have slipped a note under your door and, in my gay panic, I tried to destroy it with a fire spell that got kinda out of hand?” She's pushing her eyes shut, afraid of the reactions.
Lizzie is staring disbelievingly while Hope looks hurt, deeply hurt.
“What about the rumors?” Hope continues.
“Also me. I made it up. I’m so sorry.”
Hope scoffs, falling back against the back of the couch. “Why?” she simply asks, furious.
“I had to keep my crush on you a secret. I’m so, so sorry.”
Penelope can’t help herself, she laughs, the thought of little gay panicked Josie is too funny for her. Rafael is shifting uncomfortably next to the perplexed looking Lizzie.
Hope mutters something that Josie can’t hear. Shaking her head, she is almost laughing. “Of course you had a crush on me. Of fucking course.” She sounds bitter.
“You?” Lizzie asks. “I-I can’t believe this,” she says and storms out. Josie lets her head fall.
“Can you please go after her?” she asks Rafael. “I would, but she most certainly doesn’t want to see me.”
“Sure.” He flashes her a quick smile and is gone a second after.
“So to be clear, your lie led to years of animosity between Hope and Lizzie and all because you were afraid that Lizzie would know about your crush?” Kaleb asks.
“Thanks for the summary, Kaleb, that’s exactly what happened.”
“Why wouldn’t you just tell us?” Hope asks. “It’s been years. You were what, twelve, thirteen years old back then?”
“Your reactions are the very reasons why I kept it secret,” Josie explains.
“You could have told me at least,” Hope counters.
“You didn’t tell me about your crush on me either, so…”
“Did you know about this?” Hope turns to Penelope who shakes her head.
Hope looks at Josie, closes her eyes while simultaneously releasing a breath. Then, a smile forming, “We could have been a thing back then,” she says.
“That’s your take away from this?” Penelope questions. “Are you sure you’re not still crushing on her?”
“Anyway,” Kaleb interrupts, “are we gonna play some more?” he asks, his voice teasing.
His comment breaks the ice, earning a few laughs.
“I have no idea whose turn it is,” Penelope confesses. “I can go on if you want. Ask me anything, my special unicorn.” She leans into Hope, pressing her into the side of the couch.
“Get off me.”
“Nope. We both know you like the contact.”
It’s true, so Hope keeps her mouth shut.
“Since we are already talking about gay panic,” Josie mutters, the mix of embarrassment and guilt of the last few minutes seriously messing with her feelings, “what was your worst moment of gay panic?” she asks.
“Oh, that’s easy,” the brunette replies, still leaning against Hope who, by now, has put her arms around Penelope. “That was before I asked you out for the first time. I was sooo nervous,” she chuckles as she says it.
“What, really? You looked so confident.” Josie can’t really believe it. Penelope is like, the definition of confidence in her mind, to know that she was nervous before asking her out is making her feel oddly accomplished.
“Well, I’m good at faking,” Penelope replies with a wink. “Wait – that sounded wrong. I never faked an orgasm with you. I’m good at pretending, that’s what I meant.”
“Good to know,” Josie says, nodding and suppressing a smile.
“I think there is some truth to your truth potion theory.”
“Yeah, right?” Hope adds. Without being quite aware of what she is doing, she is moving her hand through Penelope’s hair in a similar way she does with her cat. “My turn, huh?”
“Well, my sex starved friend, do you at least watch porn?” Penelope inquires.
“Eh, rarely, but yeah, my… not sex starved… friend?” Looking at Josie, Hope asks, “Have you ever taken a nude. And if yes, did you send it?”
Blushing heavily, “Yes,” Josie answers.
“Wanna see?” Penelope teasingly asks Hope.
“Penelope!”
“Chill, you know I’d never do that,” the witch defends. “Kaleb, what is the last thing you googled?”
“Uh, gimme a sec.” He gets his phone out to check since he can’t remember. “Chicken Russia. Apparently it’s a crazy insult to call someone chicken in Russia.”
“Cool.” Not really what she expected, but she isn’t entirely sure what she expected.
“If you could kiss anyone in this room, who would it be?” Kaleb asks.
“Hope, just so that she isn’t a kiss virgin anymore,” Penelope answers without hesitation.
“Hey, I’m not a kiss virgin. I kissed Roman.”
“Ugh, this degenerate? What a waste of a first kiss.” Hope’s eyes turn sad again, thinking about Roman leads to thinking about her mom which leads to remembering that she is dead because of her mistakes.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, it’s nothing,” Hope assures her, banning Roman from her thoughts. “So you’d kiss me, hm?” she asks teasingly.
“Mh, maybe.”
“What would you do if I said dare?”
“You want me to kiss you, Mikaelson?”
A rush of jealousy hits Josie. What makes it worse is that she doesn’t know who is making her jealous, Hope or Penelope.
“Rafael was right,” Kaleb says, cutting the building sexual tension, “bang it out. Anyway, so what is it, Hope? Truth or dare?”
“Truth.” She would swear that a wave of disappointment rushes over Penelope’s face. The witch is still lying in her arms, and Hope is still petting her. If Penelope started to purr, Hope wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between her and her little cat.
Surprisingly to Hope, she doesn’t mind the body contact at all. It’s probably the alcohol, she just isn’t thinking straight. Tomorrow she’ll regret this all.
Josie is about to speak when Kaleb’s phone rings. A minute and a disgusted face later, he leaves, explaining that M.G. is throwing up somewhere and that he’ll take care of him.
Suddenly Josie, Hope, and Penelope find themselves alone, the last remaining members of the once lively group.
“So… what about us?” Hope asks.
“Oh, we’re continuing,” Josie decides. Something in her eyes changed, a newfound confidence shining from them. “Let’s do a round of only dares, okay?”
“Sure.”
“Mhm.”
“Great,” she smiles, squinting her eyes and smirking at Penelope. Turning to Hope, she says, “Kiss me.”
In the moment that Hope is stunned by the dare, Josie confidently gets up and walks to Hope, sitting down on her lap, while Penelope is still in Hope’s arms.
Without waiting for a reaction, Josie leans down and presses her lips on Hope’s. It takes a second for Hope to adjust but she manages to do it without difficulty. Josie pulls away after a few seconds, smiling at Hope before turning the smile into a smirk when shifting her attention to Penelope.
In response, Penelope pushes herself up, grabs Hope’s face and kisses her. Hope is even more surprised and confused than before, not understanding the world anymore. What the fuck is happening?
When Penelope stares at Josie, Hope realizes what’s going in and her stomach turns in response.
“Get off me,” she says, her throat feeling tight. She pushes both girls off of her and gets up. “I’m really not in the mood to be in the middle of your break up drama.”
“No, you’re not. I was-“ Josie sighs, “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, you say that a lot. You know what I’m sorry about? You destroyed the only painting I made with my dad. And I will never forgive you this,” Hope says, a tear flowing over her cheek. Turning around, Hope storms out.
“Look what we’ve done,” Penelope says as she storms past Josie, following Hope.
“Hope, wait,” Penelope shouts behind her.
“What?” She stops and turns around. Her eyes are teary.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she says earnestly.
“It wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t do it to make her jealous,” Hope replies, arms crossed.
“Trust me, I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry.”
“Trust,” Hope scoffs. “You know, whatever this thing I had with Roman was, whatever of it was real, I’ll never be able to trust him again. Wanna know why?” She doesn’t wait for an answer, simply continuing. “Because the fundamental part of our - it wasn’t a relationship - of whatever it was, was a lie. He used me. He used me to get to my mom, to kill her!” she shouts the last part. “Everything that happened between us was built on a lie. No Penelope, I don’t trust you. I don’t trust anyone,” she says and sounds so defeated, so tired. “Josie lied, destroyed my relationship to Lizzie for years and as a result also destroyed her own relationship with me. Every friendship, every relationship, it all seems to be built on lies and I’m so tired of being lied to.”
Turning around, Hope leaves without looking back. She should have listened to her gut feeling, joining this stupid game was a mistake, another regret she can add to the long list.
Penelope lets herself fall, leaning against a tree. Internally, she is berating herself for being so stupid and for letting this all get out of control. She should have known better, should have been smarter than this.
Josie is still at the Old Mill, regretting ever inviting Hope. But she knows the truth. Her lies would have come out eventually. It’s her fault, her mistakes that led to this.
“Stupid game,” she mutters and throws a cup across the room.
Arriving at her room, Hope is greeted by her cat. She changes clothes and buries herself under her blankets. When she starts crying, her cat lies down next to her, purring and comforting her.
“You always know when I need comfort, don’t you?”
Petting her absentmindedly, remembering how Penelope felt in her arms, how the kisses felt, she tries to sleep.