The Date
Lizzie had forgotten how difficult it was to find someone nice. That was why she had stopped looking to begin with; it was just so much easier to just find a one night stand. Even that, it had been a long time. She knew she was beautiful so as soon as she walked into that bar, people started to hit on her. But for the last hour she had been in the bar, no one really interesting had shown up. Her whole point was to make the relationship fail but she had standards and she wouldn’t just choose anyone.
“Come on, Lizzie. Pick one.” Josie said looking around anxiously. “How about that tall one with the purple suit?”
“Nope.” Lizzie answered frowning.
“The one with the pink hair?” MG suggested and Lizzie looked them up and down.
“Nah.” She said sipping on her drink. She was about to go talk a cute girl that had just arrived at the bar when someone touched her shoulder from behind.
“Hey.” The girl said. She was gorgeous. A little shorter than Lizzie would prefer but her looks made up for that. Lizzie looked her from the tip of her feet to the top of her head. Everything on her, from the high-heel boots to the shameless smirk and the curvy body, screamed of sexiness and confidence. Lizzie loved it immediately.
“Hey.” Lizzie answered. “Lizzie Saltzman.”
“Hope Mikaelson.” And that was it. Lizzie knew it would be her. The girl was perfect. And if Lizzie had to be annoying and get Hope to dump her, she would at least get something from it. May that something be Hope kissing her all night long. Maybe doing even more than kissing.
“Wanna get out of here and eat something?” Hope asked and Lizzie smirked.
“Sure. Let me just say bye to my friends. I’ll meet you at the entrance.” She answered and Hope smiled languidly before turning around and going to the door. Lizzie turned to MG and Josie. “It’s her.” She whispered. “The hot one with the leather jacket by the entrance.” Lizzie said and both MG and Josie looked at her. Lizzie noticed how Josie’s eyes widened and she looked at Lizzie impressed.
“She’s super hot.” She said. Lizzie winked at her.
“I know but get your eyes elsewhere. She’s mine.” Lizzie said and Josie rolled her eyes.
“Only until you drive her away.” MG remembered and Lizzie nodded. “How is that going to work anyway?” He asked and Lizzie glanced at the door to make sure Hope was still there before looking back at him.
“I’ll be my usual self tonight, which means amazing and funny. She’ll want a second date. Tomorrow, I flip the switch.” Lizzie whispered smiling cheekily and Josie shook her head laughing.
“I wanna see this.”
“Now let me go. I’ll keep you informed of it throughout the night.” Lizzie said turning around and going to meet Hope. When they left the bar, Hope picked up some keys from her pocket and Lizzie assumed she had a car. “Where’s you car?” She asked just to have Hope smirking at her again. They crossed the street and Hope patted a motorcycle.
“That’s our ride.” She said. Lizzie looked at the motorcycle and then back at Hope. Then at the motorcycle again. She had never ridden one before and it must have been pretty evident because Hope took the spare helmet and gave it to her making sure to linger on the touch of their hands. “I promise not to let you fall.” She whispered winking and getting on it. Lizzie rolled her eyes because Hope seemed like all those over-confident girls people warn you about.
After they arrived at the restaurant, Hope asked her what she wanted to eat and not twenty minutes later, they were eating hamburgers and fries. Lizzie tried not to make too loud pleasure noises as she ate it because it was just the first date but the food was almost too delicious for her to avoid it.
“I’ll take it that you liked the place.” Hope said smirking after finishing her fries. Lizzie nodded a little blushed. “How am I going so far?” Hope asked and Lizzie rolled her eyes.
“I love hamburgers so that gives you points.” She said and Hope grinned. Lizzie really liked that grin.
“Anything else I can do to go higher on you score?” Hope asked raising her eyebrow and Lizzie pretended to think.
“You could answer some questions actually.” She said and Hope nodded.
“Some is a little too vague. I’ll answer three.” Hope said and Lizzie smiled.
“Okay. What do you do for a living?” Lizzie asked.
“I’m an artist. I draw the doodles for big companies and some illustrations. Now I’m trying to get into the field of book illustration which was always my biggest dream.” Hope said and Lizzie noticed something excited and sweet when Hope talked about her job. She was one of those that loved what she did. Lizzie tilted her head smiling softly.
“That seems cute.” Lizzie said and Hope, for the first time in the night, smiled sweetly at Lizzie.
“How about you?”
“If I’m cute? Well, I know I look so damn hot and-” Lizzie started making Hope laugh.
“I mean what you do for a living.” Hope corrected shaking her head amused.
“I work for the Composure.” Lizzie answered.
“The biggest magazine in the country.” Hope said impressed and Lizzie nodded.
“I have a column called How To. Not for long, though. Any moment now, my boss will let me have a column where I can talk about whatever I want.” Lizzie explained and Hope smiled.
“That seems great. What do you want to use your voice for?” Hope asked curious and Lizzie considered answering it but she brush it away. Hope wouldn’t last so why bother explaining something so personal?
“It’s my time to ask now, Mikaelson.” Lizzie said and Hope rolled her eyes. She raised one hand in a gesture for Lizzie to ask. “What’s your hobby?”
“Cooking.” Hope said and Lizzie tilted her head surprised; she would never had guessed cooking. Hope seemed to have this feral energy and loving something so domestic as cooking was a pleasant surprise.
“Maybe you can cook me something someday.” Lizzie said flirty.
“Maybe I can.” Hope agreed and then “And you? What’s your hobby?”
“Reading.” Lizzie said. “I spend all my free time curled up on bed with a book.” She said and she noticed how surprised Hope also had gotten. She guessed that appearances really could trick people. “Last question.” Lizzie started and Hope shifted on her chair to come closer to Lizzie.
“Shoot.”
“True or False… All’s fair in love and war.” Lizzie said and she virtually held her breath while she waited for Hope to answer it. Her answer would make Lizzie sure that she was the right one. She watched Hope’s thoughtful face turn into a grin and knew the answer before she had said it.
“True.” Hope said and Lizzie smiled. This was the most fun and thrilling thing she had done in years. Maybe after this thing she should go out with people. There was something exciting about just keep flirting with Hope and earning her sensual grin as answer for any of Lizzie’s questions.
“Great answer.” She said and Hope bowed her head smiling.
“To an even greater question.” Hope said back and Lizzie knew she was her match; her perfect balance. An equal. When they were leaving the restaurant, Hope seemed to be even more confident than before if possible. She smiled at Lizzie in a way that made her turned on and shy which was a fairly new experience. There was something in her eyes; something competitive and as strong as Lizzie. She almost wished she didn’t have to make Hope’s life miserable for the next days. Unfortunately for Hope, she had walked on Lizzie at the wrong time.
Lizzie was incredible. Funny, sarcastic and drop dead gorgeous. Hope wasn’t used to this bar-picking thing, opting for just watching Penelope and Maya going out with a different girl every night. Maya used to joke that, out of the three of them, Hope was the one with the broader choices since she like both men and women but she was also the less likely to get laid. Hope would just roll her eyes at them and watch them leaving the bar knowing that the next day would be filled with the two of them competing on who got it better.
But now, as she smiled and walked Lizzie to her apartment, Hope thought that maybe she had really been missing something every time she went home alone. Maybe this look of curiosity as Lizzie took in Hope’s apartment filled with paintings she had done was something Hope could get used to. “I love it.” Lizzie said impressed and Hope smiled. She felt somewhat proud that Lizzie had liked it, which was totally dumb in her opinion.
“Wanna drink something?” Hope asked and Lizzie nodded.
“Whatever you’re getting.” Lizzie said distracted as she examined a painting closer. Hope decided that since she had to get Lizzie to fall in love with her, she shouldn’t start their first date trying to get her to bed and alcohol was a fairly good motivator into just that. So while Lizzie went to the bathroom, Hope took her time making something she was sure would make Lizzie laugh. “You made hot chocolate?” Lizzie asked laughing when Hope gave her a mug, a mix of pleasant surprise, admiration and amazement.
“You were kind of cold on the way here and I did say that I would maybe cook you something. My hot chocolate is a favorite in the Mikaelson household.” Hope said cocky and watched as Lizzie shook her head smiling and took a sip of it. Her eyes widened.
“I can see why. This is delicious.” Lizzie said and Hope pointed at the couch for them to sit. Hope watched Lizzie drinking and smirked.
“Let’s play a game. I say something about you and if I get it right, you tell me another thing. But if I get it wrong, you tell me a lie.” Hope proposed and Lizzie tilted her head amused.
“And I don’t tell you whether you got it right or wrong?” Lizzie guessed the rest and Hope nodded. “Okay.”
“You can’t cook to save your life.” Hope said and Lizzie huffed feigning outrage.
“Ouch.” Lizzie said, a dramatic hand to her heart. “Why do people assume I’m bad in the kitchen?” Lizzie asked shaking her head disappointed and Hope went along with it.
“To be fair, I just assumed you’re bad at cooking. I’m sure there are lots of interesting things you are amazing at that could take place in a kitchen.” Hope said slowly and she watched in amazement as Lizzie blushed and looked away.
“My best friend is obsessed with comic books. He’s always trying to get me to read them to but I always tell him that those things are too nerd to me. In reality, I’ve already read them all before he even suggested them.” Lizzie said looking Hope in the eyes. True. Hope smirked and Lizzie rolled her eyes. “My turn.” She said thinking about something. “You have overprotective parents.” Lizzie said and Hope fought the instinctive feeling of gape. Lizzie had gotten on point. Hope tried to keep a neutral face but she knew she had betrayed herself when Lizzie giggled and raised her hand. “Now tell me something true.” Lizzie said arrogantly.
“I think that my two best friends hook up sometimes but I never reunite the courage to ask them afraid that something will change in our friendship.” Hope said looking away kind of embarrassed. She always suspected that Penelope and Maya were a thing at some point or some points during the six years they’ve met but Hope would never tell them that. God forbid they really had something and Hope made their easy friendship weird for asking.
“Awn, you’re jealous of them.” Lizzie said and Hope rolled her eyes.
“I’m not jealous.” She replied even though yes, she maybe was kind of jealous because if it were really true, that meant that Hope had been out of some part of their lives. It was really stupid of Hope to be sentimental over that but since she hadn’t had a boyfriend or girlfriend since college, Penelope and Maya were the closest people Hope had besides her family. She wouldn’t start getting emotional now so she just brushed away the thoughts of people around her finding love and her without the capacity of it like her boss had implied.
“You’re an only child.” Hope tried. She knew she had gotten it wrong, though, when Lizzie’s eyes shone with something that Hope supposed it was love for someone. A sibling, she guessed when Lizzie smiled softly.
“I have an identical twin.” Lizzie said and Hope knew that since she had gotten the last statement wrong, this one would be a lie but something about it made Hope linger on it.
“You do have a twin. Not identical, though.” Hope guessed and Lizzie smiled satisfied.
“Her name’s Josie and she’s the very best person anyone can ever meet. She’s soft and sweet and patient and so very romantic.” Lizzie said with a fond voice. Hope loved the way Lizzie talked about her sister; the way she adored her. “Josie’s the total opposite of me.” Lizzie finished snorting softly and even though Hope only met her for a couple of hours, she was sure that wasn’t true. Lizzie seemed to be totally soft, patient and romantic too. Why she would say she wasn’t was beyond Hope. “You’re competitive and you would do anything to win.” Lizzie said and the statement seemed odd; like Lizzie needed a confirmation of something. Like she was testing Hope. Hope thought about it. Yes, she was very competitive; the fact that this very date was a result of a bet showed just how much but she didn’t think she would do anything to win. She liked to think that there was a line she wouldn’t cross; but then again, wasn’t she playing this girl’s feelings? Wasn’t she ready to make her fall in love and then take her to the party ten days from now just to display her like an object for her boss to give her what she wanted?
“Yes.” Hope answered. She wasn’t sure if she was lying or not but as Lizzie gulped and looked away, their talk turned more intense than Hope intended in the beginning, Hope knew she was both disappointed and relieved. Which was weird enough that Hope tilted her head trying to understand how but Lizzie just got up fast.
“I have to go now.” Lizzie said going to the door. She turned to Hope. “Thank you for the night.” She whispered when Hope opened the door. They both stood there waiting for something until Lizzie shook her head softly and kissed Hope. It was a perfect kiss, purposely slow to make Hope crazy and promising enough to make her want to see Lizzie again as soon as possible. When they broke the kiss, Lizzie smiled. “See you soon.” And she left. Hope closed the door and touched her lip.
"Oh damn."