I've Never Seen a Mouth that I Would Kill to Kiss (And I'm Terrified, but I Can't Resist)
(Alyssa Chang is going to be in this in the future, but the Saltzman’s never get sent to the prison world!! So she’s a little bit of a bitch but she’s not THAT evil)
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Hope is back from Malivore, everyone’s memories are back; Hope and Landon are back. Everything is back to normal... right?
Then why can’t Lizzie seem to shake this feeling that something is off?
She’s felt it ever since Hope’s been back. She felt it when she saw Hope for the first time since her memories had been restored. She even felt it (along with some other very frustrating emotions) when the auburn haired girl had hugged her tightly right after Lizzie remembered, as if to thank the blonde for remembering her. As if Lizzie hadn’t nearly gone insane without her.
As if she didn’t get that strange feeling in her stomach when she had seen Hope for the first time after remembering everything, then having to watch Hope and Landon reunite.
Lizzie watched as her sister tried to pretend her face didn’t fall while she had watched Hope and Landon that evening. Lizzie pretended too. For the sake of herself and everyone around her, Lizzie pretended. It wasn’t very hard. Having Hope back and safe was enough to ease Lizzie’s consistent frustrating confusion, and as it turned out, Hope had a large crowd of people waiting to welcome her. Ironically, everyone wanted a piece of Hope. The amount of people the tribrid was dealing with on a daily basis made it easy for the blonde to avoid her.
Well, easy in a physical sense at least. Emotionally, she was an entirely different story. But Lizzie had always done a great job at hiding everything, and keeping her composure. Not that it was very hard, again, she was extremely relieved to have Hope back. She just couldn’t seem to face the tribrid one on one without getting angry or confused. Or both.
Thats probably how Lizzie ended up all the way in the kitchen during lunch, her nose buried in a book as she leaned against the counter. She reached for a baby carrot on her plate, and frowned when she realized she only had two left. She missed having lunch with Josie; Josie hates carrots, which means Lizzie gets twice as many. Maybe, it wasn’t that easy avoiding Hope. Because avoiding Hope, meant avoiding all of their friends as well.
“Didn’t you make fun of me once for being a loner?”
Speaking of she-devil.
Lizzie raises an eyebrow at Hope’s comment, as she looks up from her book. “I’m alone by choice. I’m reading.” The blonde answers, and Hope doesn’t miss the lack of a wittiness in her tone. Hope steps further into the kitchen, and she notices the way Lizzie stares at her with a vacant expression.
“What? Aren’t you supposed to be having lunch with the dream team right about now?” She asks, and Hope smiles because there’s the Lizzie she knows. “Aren’t you supposed to be having lunch with us?” The auburn haired girl points out, and her expression causes Lizzie to roll her eyes. “No offense but I would rather eat in the bathroom than have to listen to Rafael ask MG to explain another DC series to him.” Lizzie says sardonically, and Hope can’t help but chuckle.
A momentary silence passes, and it’s a bit awkward. Hope can’t seem to figure out why, because it’s never been awkward between them. Tense? Maybe. Awkward? Never. “I haven’t seen you around much either. It’s a lot harder to get ahold of you these days.” Hope jokes, but Lizzie doesn’t laugh. She only stares at Hope with that seemingly cold expression. “I’ve been busy.” She mutters as she averts her gaze back to her book.
Lizzie’s response doesn’t satisfy Hope at all because the tribrid snorts. “With what? Eating lunch alone?” Hope asks in a teasingly sarcastic way that causes Lizzie’s head to snap forward to look at at Hope. She had nearly forgotten she’s talking to the only person in school who’s not afraid to mess with her. A quality she both loves and hates about Hope.
The witch rolls her eyes, “Studying, if you must know. Some of us still care about our grades.” The blonde mumbles and Hope laughs in a way that makes Lizzie feel as if she’s going to vomit. God dammit. “Hey I care about my grades! Josie even offered to help me get caught up.” Hope says a bit defensively, and after knowing about Josie’s old crush on Hope, that only annoys Lizzie even more.
Lizzie hums in response, as she looks back at her open book, “Good luck with that.” Is all the blonde says, before popping another baby carrot into her mouth, not even bothering to look up at Hope anymore. Hope feels the coldness, and it feels different. Lizzie wasn’t even this short with her when she hated Hope because of those stupid rumors Josie started.
Hope suddenly feels guilty. As if she had done something bad to the Siphoner to cause her to act so distant. The auburn haired girl opens her mouth to say something, but the bell cut her off. Lizzie pretended as if she didn’t feel Hope’s confused gaze pouring into her as she closed her book and hopped off the counter.
“Later, Mikaelson.” Lizzie says in a tone so blunt it nearly burns Hope as the Siphoner walks by. The way the blonde is acting so condescendingly nonchalant, yet so blatantly upset causes Hope to feel extremely confused.
“Lizzie—“ Hope tries, but as she turns around, the blonde is already turning down the hall, disappearing out of the tribrids sight.
Lizzie ignores the way her throat burns, causing her to clear her throat and keep her back straight in order to avoid slouching. She tried to look as unbothered as possible, because there was no way in hell she’d ever let Hope Mikaelson be the reason people finally notice she has emotions.
Lizzie doesn’t look at Hope for the rest of the day.
This time Hope notices.
Hope is normally a confrontational person. She’s never been timid.
But for some reason, there was something terrifying about asking Lizzie Saltzman if she was upset. Maybe that’s why Hope waited about two days just to make sure Lizzie really was upset.
After two days of Lizzie Saltzman refusing to even acknowledge her presence without Hope saying something first, Hope had finally had enough. She made her way up to the blonde who was wearing a tight white collared shirt, and sitting all by herself in the library. As Hope got closer she tried to keep her gaze from falling, and noticing the short uniformed skirt the blonde was wearing.
Lizzie avoiding her was having some strange effects on the tribrid.
Hope forgets everything she’s prepared herself to say as soon as Lizzie’s piercing blue eyes meet hers. Hope nearly gulps.
“We’re going camping this weekend. Did Josie tell you?” Hope asks, and she wants to slap herself because that’s not at all what she came over here to talk about. “Yes. Did she tell you I’m not going?” Lizzie asked, mocking the tribrids tone. “No. She didn’t, that’s why I’m asking if you—“ Hope cuts herself off, because she almost wants to slap that smug look off Lizzie’s face.
“What’s your problem lately?” Hope asks, frowning. Lizzie arches an eyebrow at the auburn haired girl, playing dumb. “What do you mean?” She asks, clearly pretending as if she didn’t already know what the shorter girl was referring to. “Are you angry with me or something? Because ever since I’ve been back you’ve either avoided me every chance you‘ve gotten or acted like some classic, high school mean girl.” Hope pointed out, and the comment angered Lizzie. It took everything in her to keep her composure. She pressed her lips together so hard they hurt, but she forced them into a smile.
“And?” The blonde questioned, in a tone so calm it confused Hope. “You wanted me to forget you remember? You can’t get angry at me for doing what you wanted.” Lizzie responds in a patronizingly sweet tone, Hope’s eye went wide at the brutally honest response.
“I don’t want you to forget me— I don’t want to not talk to you in the halls, and I don’t want to not sit with you at lunch. I thought— i thought we were friends now.” Hope tried, and Lizzie’s emotionless facade faltered. For a moment, Hope could see the pain in Lizzie’s expression. “Do you have any idea how it felt? To feel like something is consistently missing— to feel like you’re crazy? For everyone around you to think you’re a freak for feeling that way? To miss someone that doesn’t even exist? Or I wasn’t supposed to know existed, at least.” Lizzie hisses, trying to keep her voice down so nobody else would hear them. Hope’s face softened.
“And then you came back and you just— you decided we were better off without you? You— screw you, Mikaelson! I’m not Landon Kirby or any of the other idiots at this place, I’m not just going to pretend like what you did wasn’t wrong. And I’m sure as hell not going to let myself feel anything other than hatred towards you anymore. It’s easier for both of this way when you decide to disappear again.” Lizzie added in a whisper yell right before storming away.
“I’m not gonna disappear again!”
That’s the only response Hope could think of. It makes Lizzie scoff as she walks out of the library, and a part of her actually wants to be naive enough to believe Hope.
Lizze thinks Hope Mikaelson is stupid. She thinks the way she’s been smiling at Lizzie with that guilty “I’m going to fix this” smile all week, is stupid. She thinks the way Hope desperately tries to hang out with her and Josie even more now, despite the blonde refusing to even give her more than a few glances and obviously annoyed expressions, is stupid. And she thinks the way her heart swells like the grinch on Christmas every time Hope tries to not so subtly make things right, is especially stupid.
She regrets even telling Hope why she was upset with her, because now avoiding Hope was physically impossible. She was in every room Lizzie would enter! Seriously! Every hall Lizzie turned down, there was Hope Mikaelson with that stupid little smile on her face. Sometimes seeing her truly didn’t even help her own case because half of the time she was with Landon, which made Lizzie even more upset.
All of it was so stupid.
Lizzie even thinks she herself might be stupid, because she feels those “forgive me please” blue eyes as soon as she walks into the room. Everyone’s having a secret party in an abandoned cabin near the woods, and Lizzie finds herself walking in alone. She’s wearing a tight red skirt and an equally tight white turtle neck that’s tucked into the skirt. She tries to ignore her insecurities as she feels a few pair of eyes on her. One gaze more daunting than the rest.
Hope pretended not to look. She really did. But she had smelled Lizzie as soon as she walked in, there was that smell of expensive perfume and lavender shampoo with a hint of Lizzie. A smell Hope didn’t want to admit she actually missed while she was away.
For the first time in her life, Hope feels as if her heart stops, and for a second she’s worried she’s dying. Literally.
But as Lizzie walks past the tribrid, and doesn’t even notice her, Hope feels as if somebody had stabbed her heart back into reality. For some reason, nothing hurts more than realizing Lizzie genuinely hates her. Hope frowns, and she turns around, prepared to call out for the blonde, but somebody stops her.
“Here, I brought you some punch before Jed gets here and spikes it.” Landon says, half jokingly as he walks up to the auburn haired girl. She pries her eyes away from the blonde who’s making her way over to MG, Penelope, and Josie. “Ugh, please don’t tell me Jed’s coming with Alyssa and her little minions.” Hope begged, accepting one of the cups he had in his hands. Landon laughed, “Jed’s going to be here for sure, but I hope he doesn’t bring Alyssa with him. The last thing I need is for one of the twins to end up fighting her tonight. We all know it’s gonna be Lizzie.” He says, and Hope laughs at the thought.
She fights the proud little smile that tugs at her lips as she thinks of Lizzie fighting Alyssa Chang. She knew Lizzie would win by a milestone. Hope finds her eyes trailing back to the blonde, who’s sitting next to Josie, and she’s accepting a flask from Penelope. “Well, maybe not. Maybe alcohol will keep the peace tonight.” Hope tried, and Landon made a face as he noticed Josie, MG, Penelope, and Lizzie drinking.
“What?” The tribrid asked, recognizing that look of concern. “Angry and drunk Lizzie aren’t a really good mix. I mean, I got pretty close to her and Josie because well, you know...” Landon trailed off awkwardly, and Hope nodded, ignoring the fact that he was talking about him and Josie dating. “Uh-huh, and what exactly does drunk, angry Lizzie do?” Hope asked curiously, and he shrugged.
“Well, I’m sure you heard about how Mark Jennings purposely avoids her in the halls now because he tried to make a move on her while she was drunk, and well, she broke his arm without even touching him.” He revealed.
Hope’s eyes went wide, but she couldn’t help but look over at Lizzie, a glimmer of impressiveness flashing in her eyes. The tribrid stared; almost mesmerized by the the girl with the light golden hair, who was taking a shot with Penelope. Lizzie swallowed the shot thickly, and her eyes met a pair of light blue ones. The alcohol burned the siphoner’s throat, and it burned all the way down to her stomach.
Lizzie was sure nothing burned worse than seeing Hope Mikaelson here with someone else.
With that burnt chicken out of all people.
“We should go over and drink with them.” Hope suggests, and Landon flashes her a look.
“Really?” He asked a bit uncertainly, and she nodded, “But you hate drinking.” He pointed out, and Hope shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s a party. I don’t wanna be the only one not drinking.” Hope lied. She doesn’t tell him the only reason she wants to go over there is to be around Lizzie, and she hasn’t even told him that the blonde is upset with her at the moment. She hasn’t told anybody.
It’s not that Hope’s keeping secrets, it’s merely that Lizzie hasn’t seemed to tell anyone about their current feud either. She doesn’t even think Josie knows, and that’s Lizzie’s twin.
And as if it had a mind of its own, Hope’s body starts to make its way over to Lizzie as if they were magnets. “Hey Hope!” Josie says with a big smile on her face. She’s not used to drinking and it’s noticeable that she’s already tipsy. “Hey Jo. Hey guys.” Hope says, and she doesn’t fail to notice the way Lizzie doesn’t even turn her head to look at her. “Wanna take a shot with us, Mikaelson?” Penelope asks, with a mischievous smirk on her face.
Nobody expects Hope to say yes, so when she does, Lizzie’s head turns to stare at the auburn haired girl. She watches as Penelope reaches for her flask and handed it to the tribrid. Lizzie’s eyes practically stare into Hope as she takes a long drink. The alcohol burns but only for a second, and if the taste bothers her, she certainly doesn’t show it. She hands the flask back to Penelope, and doesn’t even bother to use the juice in her hand as a chaser. Not in front of Lizzie.
“What about you, bird boy?” Lizzie asks, as she holds up a flask of her own. Hope wonders where she got it, and what’s in it. Landon hesitates, which makes Lizzie roll her eyes as she takes another sip, that ends up turning into a long chug. Hope’s eyes almost bug out of her head as the blonde finishes whatever’s in the flask.
“Don’t you think you should slow down a little?” Hope asks, and Lizzie flashes her a look that could kill. “Don’t you think you should stay out of my business?” Lizzie snaps. Everyone goes quiet for a moment because Lizzie hasn’t done that in awhile, and they anxiously wait for Hope to respond.
Rafael unknowingly intervenes before the tribrid can say anything.
“Drinks are here!!” He exclaimed, as him, Jed, Kaleb, Alyssa, and a few other students walked into the cabin carrying a variety of different types of liquor and juices, or cases of beer. “I’ll help set up kegs!” Landon offers, practically leaving Hope to the wolves. The metaphor was ironic, but Hope knew it was undeniably true. Maybe if she weren’t already feeling nervous enough with those intense blue eyes staring her way, she would’ve been upset with him for that.
Lizzie pries her eyes away from Hope, “Finally.” She mutters as she stands up. As Lizzie walks by the tribrid, she bumps their shoulders, obviously trying to start something. Penelope laughs loudly, “Jeez, I would hate to be you right now.” The dark haired girl says as she takes another sip of her flask. “What did you do to her?” The short haired girl asks again, and Hope doesn’t realize she’s clearly only trying to get under her skin. “I didn’t do anything to her! Did she— did she say that I did?” Hope asks, and the uncertainty in her tone causes Penelope to raise an eyebrow in suspicion.
Josie leans over, whispering something into Penelope’s ear and Hope tries to hear, but curses herself for not being able to over the obnoxiously loud music. Penelope laughs evilly, as she looks up at Hope, and something shines in her eyes. “My, my, sounds like someone needs another drink.” Penelope said, obviously talking about Hope.
“What? Did Lizzie actually say something about me?” She asks, and Penelope flashes her a mischievous grin. “Why don’t you go ask her?” She suggests, tauntingly. Hope narrows her eyes at the witch, “I always forget how fun it is when you visit.” The auburn haired girl says sarcastically, as she snatches the flask out of Penelope’s hand, and takes a fairly long swig.
Hope walks away from them, and ends up spending her night talking to Jed and Hannah, who thankfully weren’t near Alyssa. Even if they were it’s not like Hope would have noticed; she practically spent the entire night watching Lizzie miserably mingle, and take a drink every time somebody said something that annoyed her.
Hope didn’t mean to stare. Well, she did, but it’s not like she wanted to. She couldn’t help it— Lizzie was drinking quite a bit, and Josie was too busy with Penelope to take care of the blonde! Hope had to do something! So she watched and stood around, listening to Jed go on about some stupid movie he saw last weekend with Nicolas Cage. Hope is just about ready to tell him to shut it, when a certain blonde Siphoner disappears into the crowd.
Without another word, Hope leaves Jed in the middle of his blabbering, and follows the witch. She pushed her way through the crammed room, as she watched Lizzie walk out of the cabin. Hope furrowed her eyebrows as she stepped outside, into the cold autumn air.
Hope grew even more confused as she watched Lizzie walk further into the woods.
“Schools that way.” Hope says, as she points in the opposite direction that Lizzie and her were now walking in. The blonde spun around, narrowing her eyes at the auburn haired girl, “Are you following me, Mikaelson?” Lizzie questioned, causing Hope to roll her eyes. “Yes, obviously. And it’s a good thing too, because you’re drunk and stumbling into the freaking woods alone.” The tribrid said, and now it was Lizzie’s turn to roll her eyes.
“I’m not drunk. Some of us can handle our liquor unlike Josie, Satan, and your Muppet!” Lizzie snapped, and Hope only stares at her. “I came out here to go for a walk. Alone. Not that it’s any of your business.” The witch adds, after she feels a twinge if guilt in her chest. Hope steps forward, taking a step closer to Lizzie. The blonde’s throat goes dry at the annoyingly sexy stern look on Hope’s face.
“It is my business when I’m the only one making sure nothing happens to you.”
Lizzie rolls her eyes at Hope’s stringent tone, because now she’s more angry than aroused. “It’s not your job to “make sure” nothing happens to me! Why don’t you go take care of Landon? Or Josie? Or anyone who actually needs your protection, because I don’t. I can take care of myself!” Lizzie exclaimed, as she turned around and began to walk further into the woods.
“Lizzie!” Hope practically shouted, but Lizzie refused to stop walking. The tribrid let out an exasperated sigh as she began following the blonde.
I hate her so much.
“Lizzie!” Hope calls out again, but the blonde only continues to walk ahead of Hope. “Stop following me Hope!” Lizzie shouts back, her tone sounds angry, but there’s a hint of exhaustion there too. Hope stops walking, now at her wits end,
“ELIZABETH. JENNA. SALTZMAN.” Hope yells in a tone she has never used with the blonde before. Lizzie stops dead in her tracks, her back is still to Hope and her anger is slowly starting to decrease, but that feeling of arousal is creeping up on her mixed with an unfamiliar hint of exhilaration. She had never received that kind of reaction from the tribrid.
After all these years of trying to provoke her, turns out Hope Mikaelson simply can’t stand being ignored. That’s great to be aware of for future reference.
“Look at me. Please.”
Lizzie reluctantly, but obediently, turns around. Every emotion she had felt a split second ago fades away and is replaced by an excruciating sadness, as Lizzie stares at the most beautiful being she’s ever laid eyes on.
The most stupid, beautiful girl in the entire world.
For a good moment Lizzie forgets how to breathe, think, and act. She’s positive Hope can see every form of emotion she was feeling just by looking at the Siphoners face. Lizzie can’t bring herself to look away from Hope’s face. The same face she had forgotten, and it causes her to mentally curse herself because how could she ever forget that face?
Hope pauses as she stares at the blonde in front of her. She feels all of her frustration slowly start to wash away because as the light of the moon illuminates Lizzie’s face, she could see genuine emotion. Lizzie looked unquestionably upset. Hope swallowed thickly because she realized Lizzie wasn’t being dramatic or over exaggerative. She was genuinely hurt because of Hope.
“I never apologized one on one for doing what I did...” Hope started, bringing Lizzie back to reality. And in the blink of an eye, Lizzie’s glare was back. “I don’t need an apology. It’s not like you mean it.” Lizzie snaps, and her tone doesn’t sound harsh but it sounds like that’s what Lizzie honestly believes. Hope frowns, but before she can even say anything the taller girl is starting again. “If I wouldn’t have remembered you, would you have ever restored my memories? Would you have told me the truth?” Lizzie questioned.
Hope inhaled sharply, holding her breath.
“Well?? Speak!” Lizzie barks, her patience wearing thin. “I- I liked it when you didn’t know me. You were nicer to me, and things were easier for me with... everyone.” The auburn haired girl muttered a response. A flash of hurt and annoyance washed through Lizzie’s eyes, “Well, I liked it better when I didn’t know who you were either, Andrea.” Lizzie hissed, and the tribrid knew Lizzie didn’t mean that. She was just trying to hurt Hope the way she was hurting.
“Lizzie I– I’m really sorry.” Hope’s voice sounded exhausted, and Lizzie felt stupid because her heart broke as she saw the desperation on Hope’s face. “I don’t want you to hate me.” She admitted, and her voice nearly cracked. Lizzie sighed frustratedly, “You’re so stupid! Obviously I don’t hate you.” Lizzie hissed, causing Hope to look up at her with a hopeful expression, “You don’t?” Hope asked, and Lizzie looked up at the sky, holding her breath for a few seconds.
The blonde exhaled, “I’m upset because you obviously cared more about bird boy and Josie, than you did about the literal person who remembered you. I— I remembered you despite some old, powerful ass spell, I thought it meant something.” Lizzie confesses.
I thought it meant something to you, because it clearly meant something to me.
The look on Hope’s face is priceless. If Lizzie weren’t so upset she’d laugh, because she watches as everything slowly falls into place and the Siphoner’s behavior over the last month begins to make sense to the tribrid.
“You were jealous...” Hope says, and her tone sounds more like a question than a statement. Lizzie rolls her eyes, “Under appreciated, not jealous. But it doesn’t matter, you didn’t even care enough to give me an apology till now. You clearly don’t—“
“I didn’t know how to apologize to you.” Hope blurted out before Lizzie could even finish her sentence. Lizzie snapped her mouth shut, pressing her lips together as she listened reluctantly. “You are the only person who intimidates me and isn’t afraid of me. You call me out every chance you get and I—“ Hope couldn’t finish her sentence before Lizzie cuts her off.
“You were scared?” Lizzie asks, and suddenly the sarcasm in her tone causes Hope to roll her eyes. “I wasn’t scared! I was— I was ashamed... I thought nobody cared about me, and I was so preoccupied by the way I felt when I saw Landon and Josie, I didn’t realize you...” Hope trailed off, because she didn’t even know how to finish that statement. “What? You didn’t realize my life was completely out of place without you?” Lizzie asked, and Hope felt her cheeks burn up at the comment.
Lizzie rolls her eyes at the stupid, sheepish look on Hope’s face, “I care about you. Even if I do hate it, and a good eighty-two percent of the time I hate you, but it doesn’t stop me from caring. I mean, obviously if I missed you while I didn’t even remember who you were, I care, right?” The taller girl asks, and she sounds a bit perplexed, and Hope thinks maybe Lizzie really isn’t used to caring about anyone. It makes her feel unquestionably special, and for some reason a dorky grin begins to plaster itself onto the tribrids face.
Lizzie suddenly feels shy under Hope’s gaze and stupid grin, so she turns her head slightly, looking away from the auburn haired girl. The blonde clears her throat and crosses her arms over her chest. She shivers softly, and if Hope hadn’t been paying such close attention she wouldn’t have noticed.
“You’re cold.” Hope observes the Siphoner, who’s shivering and there was a trail of goosebumps running down Lizzie’s legs. “It’s the middle of November. Any logical human would be cold.” Lizzie justifies herself for being cold, and Hope rolls her eyes as she pulls off her jacket. She begins to wrap it over Lizzie, but of course the blonde questions it. “What the hell are you doing?”
There’s a scowl on Lizzie’s face as Hope places her jacket so it was hanging off of Lizzie’s shoulders. Hope’s heart nearly stops at the sight of the blonde in her jacket. There’s this fulfillment that surges through Hope’s veins as she gets a good look at the blonde, who still hasn’t put it on all the way yet because she’s waiting for Hope to answer her. “You’re cold. I have wolf blood, the jackets useless to me, it just goes with my outfit.” Hope explains bluntly, and Lizzie merely nods, silently accepting the explanation.
Hope pauses, feeling a sudden urge wash over her, “... and it looks way better on you than it ever has on me.”
Lizzie’s ears burn and her cheeks turn pink at the unexpected compliment. She rolls her eyes, and she tries harder than she wants to admit to stop blushing, because now Hope is looking at her and she has a smirk on her face and this stupid glimmer in her eyes. Lizzie rolls her eyes, as she puts the jacket on properly, pulling it over her arms, and— it really does fit her perfectly.
“Huh, despite how short you are, it fits.” Lizzie snorts, her tone sarcastic and she thinks she’s being witty. Hope gasps at the sudden height insult, “I’m— I’m not short, you’re just too tall!” The auburn haired girl exclaims, and Lizzie raises an eyebrow in amusement. “Tall to you, because you’re short.” The Siphoner is blunt but there is a hint of playfulness in her tone, and Hope swears she’s flirting.
“Is my height a problem or something?” Hope asks, and now she’s crossing her arms. Lizzie’s full on smirking now, visibly enjoying herself. “No, frankly I enjoy looking down on you.”
Hope gasps, “You are such an asshole, my height has never stopped me from doing anything!” She says, and Lizzie scoffs, “Anything except reaching me and the high shelf.” Lizzie says, matter-of-factly. “Fuck you, Saltzman.” The auburn haired girl breathes out as she reaches for a medium sized boulder a few feet away. She places it right at her feet and stands on top of it, now she was a bit taller than Lizzie.
Lizzie raises an eyebrow, and can’t help but chuckle at the smug grin on Hope’s face. “Who’s the shorter one now, Saltzma—“ Hope can’t even finish her sentence before she begins to lose her balance, “Shit—“ Hope hisses as she falls forward—
All of a sudden there are a pair of ice cold hands on her waist and Hope’s hands are on Lizzie’s shoulders, balancing herself. It takes Hope four seconds of staring into Lizzie’s eyes to realize the blonde had just saved her from falling. Lizzie still has that smirk on her face, “Guess you’re just better at being fun-sized, Mikaelson.” She says in a tone that should annoy Hope. She should step off of the rock, and call Lizzie Saltzman an asshole, because she is.
But Hope doesn’t.
Hope is suddenly lost in a pair of dark blue eyes, and her hands are still on Lizzie’s shoulders. Lizzie hasn’t moved her hands off Hope’s waist either. If the blonde is making any indication of wanting to move away, Hope doesnt notice. She can’t notice, because before she realizes it, her eyes are trailing down to Lizzie’s lips.
Hope’s heart stops for the second time tonight.
Have her lips always been this red?
What flavor lipgloss is that?
Hope’s eyes flicker back up to the tenebrous blue eyes that are staring at her curiously and expectantly. Hope stares back, she can’t figure out what to do. She can’t figure out what Lizzie wants.
Then, suddenly there’s a little voice in the back of her head that sounds a lot like Lizzie.
What do you want, Hope?
Hope holds her breath, and her eyes begin to roam around Lizzie’s face.
Have you always been this beautiful?
Did I accidentally drink some of Jed’s punch?
Without thinking Hope begins to lean in. Lizzie’s breath hitches as she snaps her eyes shut, her heart is palpating because Hope Mikaelson is going to kiss her.
Hope can hear the sound of the blonde’s heart racing against her chest as she leans in, and Lizzie’s eyes are now tightly closed, waiting for the tribrid.
Lizzie... wants this?
They’re so close. Hope can smell the alcohol and coconut lipgloss on Lizzie’s swollen lips. Lizzie is holding her breath, because she’s afraid if she makes any sudden moves she’ll ruin whatever this is. They’re inches away as Hope’s eyes subconsciously shut, and their lips grazed together ever so slightly—
“There they are!” MG’s voice in the distance causes Hope to nearly jump, and she almost stumbles off the rock as Lizzie pulls away quickly, as if the touch burned. Hope holds her balance on a nearby tree to keep herself from falling.
There’s a deafening silence between the two girls for a moment as they see MG, Josie, Penelope, Landon, and Raf walking up to them. “We got worried, we thought you two ended up eating some of the brownie’s Jed brought and ran off.” Rafael explained. The wolf then narrowed his eyes, a bit skeptically, “What were you two doing out here? In the middle of the woods?” Rafael asks again, this time he sounds like he’s interrogating them.
Hope almost feels panicked because she wonders if he knows. If he had seen something, or if he could smell out the arousal and tension.
“I drank too much of Jed’s stupid tequila punch. I came out here because I thought I needed to vomit. Hope being the annoying wannabe hero she is, came to see if I was okay.”
Lizzie saves her, because she’s getting pretty good at that. She doesn’t say anything about what had really happened, Lizzie doesn’t acknowledge their fight, or if they fixed it. She doesn’t say anything except—
“Turns out I was just hungry. Who wants cookies? I’ll bake them.” Lizzie says in a tone so nonchalant, Hope can hear how fake it is. She watches Lizzie walk away from the group, without waiting for anyone’s response. It’s clear she’s done here.
“I want cookies!” MG exclaims as he turns around, following her like a puppy. Hope watches as he catches up to her, and they bump shoulders. Hope wonders what would have happened if their friends didn’t interrupt.
“What kind of cookies?” Rafael asks, suddenly interested. “If she’s drunk, we’ll certainly be getting a variety platter.” Josie half jokes, and Landon laughs. “Remember when she made three different kinds of Christmas cookies last October after Penelope spiked her orange juice?” Landon asked, and now Penelope’s laughing with them. “Come on, if we’re lucky, she won’t make any more of those disgusting snickerdoodle cookies.” Josie offers, as she begins to walk ahead of them.
Rafael shrugs, and follows her, “If there’s sugar cookies, I’m in.” He says, before catching up to Josie and Penelope.
Hope is too stunned to speak or even move. She can’t stop thinking about Lizzie. The way she smelled, her hands on Hope’s waist, how close they were. Suddenly Hope thinks about the coconut lipgloss. A nanometer closer and we would’ve been—
“You okay, Hope?” Landon asks, even though it’s so obvious that she’s not. Hope comes back to reality, and she looks at Landon, who has a concerned expression his face. Suddenly she feels immensely guilty, because she knew exactly what would’ve happened if the group hadn’t interrupted. She knows exactly what she would’ve done.
Suddenly she began to think about that strange electrifying feeling that shot through her body when her lips grazed against Lizzie’s. “Hope?” Landon asks again, causing her to shake her head quickly. “I’m fine!” She says a little bit too fast. “Just, had a little too much punch.” She lied. She hadn’t drank any.
He laughed, “Is that why you’re standing on a rock?” He questions, as he looked down at the rock Hope was standing on. The tribrid let out a nervous laugh, “No- that’s— Lizzie was being a jerk about my height so I...” Hope stuttered, as she paused, she stared at his confused yet simultaneously amused face as he tried to understand what she was saying. “It doesn’t matter. Did you enjoy the party?” Hope asked as she stepped off the boulder.
Landon smiled, “Yeah, it was fun, but I missed you. You were gone awhile.” He pointed out. “I got a bit worried.” He admitted. That guilty feeling crept its way back up to Hope. “I’m sorry it’s just–“ Hope pauses, because she genuinely has no excuse.
“It’s okay, I understand. You were just being a good friend to Lizzie.” He said, an understanding smile on his face. It only caused that guilty feeling to increase. A silence fell over them, and it was awkward. Hope tried not to think about it, but she couldn’t help it.
“So... cookies?” Landon asked, breaking the silence. Hope raised an eyebrow, “You want some of Lizzie’s cookies?” She asked curiously, a bit surprised. Landon flashed her a look of disbelief, “Have you tried Lizzie’s baking?” He asked, “She may insult me on a daily basis, but her cookies are undefeated.” He added.
Hope raised both of her eyebrows, refusing to believe that. There was no way Lizzie was a great baker, that would make her officially, annoyingly good at everything. “I’ll be the judge of that.” Hope half joked, and she tried to ignore the cold feeling she got when he held her hand all the way back to the school.