DAY 1
Only Lizzie Saltzman would be so lucky to be quarantined with Hope Mikaelson. When she accepted the interview to rent this beautiful apartment, Lizzie couldn’t imagine that between almost 20 university girls competing for that same apartment, Hope would be among them and worst of all, get it. If the landlady had told her before she signed the contract that her new roommate would be Hope, Lizzie would have gladly given up this low price, huge space, inside the campus apartment. She could swear on her sister’s life that she would give up without even picking a fight with Hope. But no. The landlady only introduced them when they had already signed the contract. And now they were trapped together. That would be a disaster. She could already see the news.
Young law student, Elizabeth Saltzman, kills her roommate, Hope Mikaelson, with a book. One of the people involved on the investigation that prefers not to have their name released told us their opinion on the case. “It’s a passional crime! The body needs a huge adrenalin hush to be able to hit someone 144 times. The defense attorney is considering claiming insanity because no normal person would have that motivation.”
And Lizzie would be inclined to accept that claim because, although she wasn’t crazy yet, she sure would be after spending time in a confined environment with Hope Mikaelson. The odds were against Lizzie. Normally, as she had been taught as a law student, she would ignore the odds and focus in how to solve the problem searching for any small breach or reasonable doubt that could prevent her or her client, her sanity on this case, from having to subject themselves to torture in the hands of Hope Mikaelson. But these weren’t normal times and at the same time Lizzie was being ‘introduced’ to her new roommate by their landlady, the TV in front of them started to broadcast an announcement. As of today, all classes had been suspended and all students had been strongly recommended to stay inside their dorms and residences under the penalty of disciplinary sanction. In other words: stay inside or get screwed.
Lizzie wasn’t stupid. She knew quarantine was coming. She had been paying attention to the news and the studies about the progression curves. That was why she had actually rented another place. The place she was staying was too crowded and honestly, full of people that Lizzie couldn’t stand. When she learned that this apartment would be shared by only two people, Lizzie practically organized a court level case endorsing herself as a perfect tenant. All for nothing because the only change in her situation was moving from a small place with a lot of people she loaded to a big place with the one person able to make her see red.
She had no other alternative, though, so she had to move in with her. Her things were already in the car parked in the front of the apartment and to be honest, it wasn’t like she could go back to her old place because she had cursed the other landlady, her dogs and her unborn children before leaving. That was why she was now, after having brought everything from her car to the apartment, with her hand trembling more than a fricking chihuahua as she tried to will the stuck key to open the door to her closet on sheer anger.
“Do you need some help with the door? Or maybe getting your Parkinson pills?” Hope said from behind her and Lizzie knew she was smirking.
“The key is stuck.” Lizzie hissed.
“Can I try?” Hope asked and Lizzie made a dramatic gesture for her to do it.
“By all means…” She said as her mind started to pray, something that she wasn’t used to, for Hope not to be able to open the door. Her rational part argued that if Hope couldn’t open the door, they would have force it and that could damage it but she couldn’t care less as long as Hope’s smirk dropped so fast that it would break the floor. Her prayers, though, were practically thrown back at her as a mocking move from some asshole deity when Hope managed to open the door on her first try. Then she looked at Lizzie, the smirk still on her lips.
“If you need me to open some jar or more stuck doors, you can catch me in my bedroom.” Hope said leaving Lizzie’s room. Lizzie took a deep breath, picked up the folder containing the sheets she had just printed and followed Hope outside.
“Okay, let’s set some rules.” Lizzie said. Hope stopped on her tracks, turned around and raised an eyebrow.
“Rules?”
“Yes, I made a contract to make our living together more pleasant.” Lizzie said giving Hope the folder.
“I can think of a way to make our living together more pleasant.” Hope said looking Lizzie up and down. Lizzie tried hard not to blush but she knew she had failed when Hope’s smirk turned into a satisfied grin. “When did you even have the time to write this? We learned that we would be roommates this morning and we’ve been bringing our things up and organizing the apartment since.” Hope said frowning and reading the contract. “Wait.” She said laughing. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m reading this. ‘Regarding the utilization of the communal areas of this property, Hope Mikaelson agrees with the schedule discussed on section 3.2.’” Hope chuckled. “And this one ‘Regarding the chores and conservation of the property…’ I can’t even finish.” Hope said laughing. “This is a modified version of a Divorce Settlement Agreement. I didn’t even get the benefits of the marriage and you already want to settle the divorce papers?”
“That’s the reason we need an agreement. What you just said falls on section 8.1.” Lizzie said taking the papers from Hope and opening on the page of the aforementioned section. “’Hope Mikaelson agrees that any statement sexually suggestive can be categorized as harassment and therefore a crime, reserved the rights of the assaulted part to demand revocation of the lease from the assaulting part.’”
“What? So if I hit on you I get kicked out?” Hope asked. “And where are my rights? That only states that I’m under the penalty of getting kicked any time. What if you hit on me?” Hope asked dead serious. That was Lizzie’s time to laugh.
“That’s not gonna happen.” Lizzie said sure. Hope looked at her, narrowed eyes and reflective face.
“Okay. I’ll submit to your dictatorial demands.” Hope said and Lizzie couldn’t quite believe that she had won that easily. But Hope wasn’t finished. “Only if I can add a clause of my own.” She said innocent enough that Lizzie nodded eagerly. Hope took the binder back from her, picked a pen from the kitchen’s counter and started to write. Lizzie waited patiently until Hope was finished. When she finally stopped writing, she videocalled someone. “If we’re signing a legal paper, we need witness.” Hope said and Lizzie did the same calling her sister. After they explained to their witnesses what it meant, Hope signed her name and gave it to Lizzie to sign. When Lizzie read what Hope had written, though, she had to gather all her will not to scream. She looked at Hope that was smirking at her triumphantly. Lizzie had two options: back down in front of Hope, Hope’s friend and Josie or buckle up and sign her name making the papers legal. She actually didn’t have any choice; she would never back down, specially not in front of Hope. Hope knew that and she had trapped Lizzie perfectly. Lizzie’s freshmen year’s professor of Contract Law Basics would end Lizzie’s career in seconds if she had seen Lizzie making the most imprudent thing that any lawyer could ever make: agree to something without knowing everything there is to know. Lizzie took the pen from Hope and signed her name as Hope’s mocking energy practically hit her in waves. Written on the last page of their contract was:
Hope Mikaelson agrees with all clauses of this contract as long as Lizzie Saltzman agrees to tell Hope Mikaelson why the hell she hates her ( ‘her’ referring to Hope Mikaelson).
Lizzie Saltzman was hot, bitchy and clever. Her friends, if she had any, knew it. Her professors knew it and loved it, after all she was a law student and looks, smarts and confidence combined made a hell of a lawyer. The guys and girls crushing on her knew it but they probably had some torture kink because Lizzie clearly didn’t give a fuck to any of them. Hope, and probably all the student body that was at the mock trial three years ago, remembered when Sebastian, a senior when Lizzie was just a freshmen, slept with her just to steal her case for the trial. A few hours before it, he was bragging like an asshole that his client would win because he was the man and no little freshmen girl, he made a deal out of it, would beat him. The whole university also remembered when Lizzie Saltzman, a little freshman girl that had boldly put her name on the sorting and had been chosen to be the prosecutor on the mock trial, not only won it but also managed to have Sebastian mock shamed for disclosing his client’s information to the prosecution. Lizzie proved that by showing the whole court a video tape of Sebastian and her on bed where he tries to get her to talk about her case by telling her everything, including confidential information, while she advises him not to do it. His client lost the trial and even started a legal action against him for breaking Client-Attorney confidentiality. Lizzie walked out of the court hotter than hell itself.
Hope, there to write an article for the University’s Journal, almost jumped out of her seat and followed Lizzie like an adoring puppy. Instead, though, she went to her dorm and wrote not only her objective article for the journal but also two very biased pieces to put on the university’s website, one of each Hope had to use a pseudonym not to be attacked for using the words bitch, cold, brutal and men-slayer. Hope wasn’t one with the sensationalist streak but Lizzie Saltzman had that effect on her. Hope had only had a few heated encounters with Lizzie by then but for some reason Hope knew that Lizzie would love the article. The fact that Lizzie had framed Hope’s article as a badge of honor had spread through the campus like a disease. Hope sometimes wondered what would happen if Lizzie knew that she was the author of that article and a lot more about her. The whole campus knew Andrea Labonair’s, Hope chosen pseudo, favorite topic was Elizabeth Saltzman. Lizzie would probably try to break Hope on the spot because for some reason that Hope couldn’t understand, Lizzie hated her more than she hated the rest of the world population. That was why Hope had added that last clause to her contract. She knew it would make Lizzie see red and that was a plus.
“So, will you finally tell me why you hate me so much?” Hope asked making sure to smirk in that way that made Lizzie’s hands tremble angrily.
“Because journalists like you make the jobs of lawyers like me a thousands times harder. It’s practically a personality trait for lawyers to hate journalists.” Lizzie said rolling her eyes. Hope’s smirk turned into a grin. Lizzie was lying through her teeth.
“That’s okay. You don’t need to tell me now, after all the contract lasts as long as our lease, but I know you’re a true-to-her-word girl and I’ll be waiting patiently.” Hope said winking at Lizzie and going to her bedroom to finish organizing her things. Quarantine wouldn’t be boring, that Hope could tell.
DAY 2
Hope was finally finishing organizing her clothes in the closet when she heard a noise from Lizzie’s bedroom followed by a muffled scream. Hope, being a naturally curious person, went to investigate the noise. When she, ever so casually, walked past the open door of Lizzie’s bedroom she saw the girl on the ground with one of the empty bookcases fallen over her. Hope then entered her bedroom to go help when Lizzie spotted her.
“You can’t come inside my room.” Lizzie screamed at her.
“You're literally dying smashed, your dumbass.” Hope said shaking her head.
“I’m not dying.” Lizzie said crawling from under the bookcase.
“You’re probably right. You’re so damn stubborn and annoying that not even Death wants to claim you.” Hope said turning around and going back to her bedroom. Unbelievable.
DAY 3
“No.” Lizzie shouted when she opened the door of her bedroom and saw Hope. Hope almost broke her neck with the surprise. She turned to Lizzie and frowned.
“What?” She asked.
“You’re naked, Mikaelson.” Lizzie exclaimed blushed. Hope looked at herself. She was wearing a sports bra and some very short shorts. She noticed that Lizzie was trying very hard not to stare.
“I would hardly call this” She said tracing her fingers across her body and making Lizzie blush even more “naked. It’s not like you never saw this body naked before.” Hope said tilting her head and smirking.
“Section 8.1., Mikaelson. Section 8.1. talks about…”
“I know, I know. It talks about sexually suggestive comments. Disregard what I said. I’m sorry.” Hope said picking up her water bottle and walking to her bedroom. When she walked past Lizzie she stopped very close to her. “You didn’t include a clause about me working out so I’ll keep doing this every morning. You’re invited to join me.” She said laughing when Lizzie inhaled outraged. When she closed her door holding her mouth not to laugh too loud, she heard the doors of the kitchen’s cabinets being closed with more force than necessary.
DAY 7
“Ugh. What the hell is this?” Lizzie said making a face when she tasted the coffee. Hope, that was sitting on the couch writing something on her laptop, looked at Lizzie.
“I already put sugar in the coffee.” She said simply.
“Why? Are you a monster? Who puts sugar in a collective coffee? And are you trying to get diabetes eating that much candy all the time and taking your coffee with this much sugar?” Lizzie asked throwing the disgustingly sweet coffee in the sink.
“Be careful, Lizzie. I would be compelled to believe that you’re actually worried about me.” Hope said distracted with her laptop and not looking at Lizzie. Lizzie considered throwing the hot coffee on Hope’s face and disfiguring that gorgeous face that made Lizzie angry so effortlessly. Lizzie made herself another coffee and went back to her bedroom to read.
The next day when she woke up and went to the kitchen, she was about to make coffee for herself since Hope’s was disgusting when she noticed the little note next to the coffee.
“I left it dark and bitter like your soul today. You’re welcome.
H.”
And Lizzie smiled.
DAY 15
Lizzie was watching a horror movie and Hope was in the kitchen cooking. Since the apartment had an open concept, someone in the kitchen could watch what was on TV in the living room. Lizzie was focused on her movie, when she heard a pan hitting the floor in the kitchen. She turned around to find Hope jumping holding her foot.
“What happened?” Lizzie asked going to the kitchen. Hope’s toe was bleeding.
“You were watching that damned movie and it made me drop the pan on my toe.” She said.
“Wait here.” Lizzie said going to the bathroom to pick the first aid box. She helped Hope to sit on the counter and opened the box. When she cleaned Hope’s toe and wrapped it, she noticed Hope looking strangely at her. “What?”
“You actually know how to be a nice person. I really thought you physically couldn’t.” Hope said frowning and Lizzie rolled her eyes.
“And I thought the mighty Hope Mikaelson I-got-a-martial-arts-scholarship wouldn’t be afraid of a horror movie.”
“I wasn’t afraid.” Hope said jumping from the counter and then grimacing when her toe hit the floor.
“Whatever you say.” Lizzie said going back to the couch and making sure to turn the volume up.
DAY 23
“What the hell are you doing in my bedroom?” Lizzie asked from the door. Of course Hope would be the villain, Hope thought rolling her eyes.
“I heard a noise here and I thought someone was trying to break in.” Hope said standing up from her kneeling position.
“Breaking in on the 7th floor?” Lizzie asked narrowing her eyes.
“Who knows? You’re the one that reads spiderman comics.” Hope said pointing to the comic on Lizzie’s bed. Actually, now that she had stopped to finally look at Lizzie’s bedroom, she noticed things that made her think that maybe she had been sent to another universe: a box labelled comics in the corner of the room, two bookshelves filled with fantasy books and DVDs and a Star Trek t-shirt hanging on the door handle of her closet. Hope’s eyes widened when she made the connection. “You’re a nerd.” Hope exclaimed laughing. “Oh my god. I would never have guessed but the proof is all here.”
“Get out of my room.” Lizzie said red like a tomato and throwing a book at Hope. When Hope was leaving the room, one last thing caught her attention: a pair of glasses on the nightstand. Unbelievable. When Hope went back to her bedroom, noticing with a little bit of embarrassment that the two bookshelves on her bedroom were filled with trophies covered with Hope’s thrown clothes, she decided to tidy up a bit. After a few minutes at it, however, she heard Lizzie’s scream. She went running to her bedroom just now remembering that, in the light of discovering Lizzie’s nerd side, she had forgotten to tell her that the someone that was trying to break in was actually the neighbor’s cat that had gotten into Lizzie’s bedroom and Hope was trying to reach under the bed. Lizzie’s face when she picked up the feline and went to deliver to their neighbor showed that she wasn’t happy that Hope had forgotten to mention it.
DAY 30
Hope was talking to her little cousin when Lizzie burst into her bedroom. “Hope, I need your help.” She said anguished.
“What?”
“I need to pee.” Lizzie started.
“And you need my help for that?” Hope said not waiting for Lizzie to finish on purpose.
“The bathroom door is stuck too.” Lizzie said angry.
“Oh, and you need me to open.” Hope said. “Nik, wait just a second that I have to save my roommate's right to pee in a bathroom and I’ll be back.” Hope said going to the stuck door. The landlady had told them that some of the doors were getting stuck and that she would send someone over to solve it but with the quarantine starting, she had thought wiser to wait till it’s over. Hope had to admit that the door was hard to open. She had to force it and even bump her shoulder on it to help it. When it finally opened, she looked at Lizzie. “There it is. Tell me, how much time did you spend trying to open it on your own before coming for my help?” Hope asked laughing as Lizzie closed the door on her face. When Hope went back to her laptop to talk to her cousin, her Aunt Freya was next to him.
“What is it with the silly smile, Hope?” She asked.
“It’s just Lizzie. I keep imagining her and Aunt Rebekah in the same room. One of them would definitely get out barely alive. I wonder who.” Hope laughed. Her aunt’s eyes widened.
“You have a crush on this girl.” Freya said laughing and Hope’s eyes snapped to the closed door. She had her headphones on but it looked like the whole world was listening.
“No, I don’t.” She said fast. Too fast.
“Hope has a crush. Hope has a crush.” Nik started to chant like the annoying little teaser that he was. Then he disappeared from the screen and Hope could hear him calling ‘Mommy, Hope has a crush on her school university roommate. Can I call Uncle Klaus to tell him?’. Hope grunted.
“Sorry, sweetie. Nik can’t handle a secret.” Freya said laughing. “I hope you’re enjoying quarantine.”
“Enjoying quarantine? I’m trapped with the wicked witch of the west. I can’t even enjoy a coffee without her looking judgingly at me for drinking it too sweet.” Hope sighed.
“That bad, huh?”
“Worse.”
“But is she really the wicked witch of the west or the wizard of Oz that seems to be one thing and it’s really something else?” Her aunt asked and Hope thought about it. She thought about the side of Lizzie she didn’t know before; the Lizzie that liked to read adventure books and watched a horror movie without even flinching, the Lizzie that had taken care of Hope’s toe when the pan fell on it, the Lizzie that laughed so freely on the phone with her sister.
“Maybe.” She said thoughtful. Maybe it was time for Hope to finally meet Lizzie, the real one.
One month into quarantine had almost gotten Lizzie crazy. It was finally time to go grocery shopping and Lizzie was just happy for the small distraction. In normal circumstances, she would shop only her own supplies and let Hope to shop hers, but since the world was ending she decided to do a good action and ask Hope if she wanted Lizzie to buy her groceries too. The look on Hope’s face showed that she expected anything but that from Lizzie.
“Do you want me or not?” Lizzie asked rolling her eyes.
“Yes, I want you.” Hope answered, surprised face shifting for a smirking one. “I mean, yes, thank you.” Hope said making a quick list of what she needed. When Lizzie was on the store and had already picked everything needed for the whole month, plus the things on Hope’s list, she decided to buy some ice cream and candies. She wasn’t one to eat chocolate bars, candies or lollipops but, for some reason that she didn’t want to tap on, she thought that it was good to have it at home in case she or Hope wanted. When she was on her car coming back home, though, she recognized the real reason she spent almost 50 bucks on low nutritional quality food: Hope Mikaelson loved it. That wasn’t a good sign.
“You bought candy?” Hope almost couldn’t believe her eyes. When she was helping Lizzie to unpack the grocery, she noticed a bag full of chocolate bars, sweets and sour worms. Hope had never seen Lizzie eating them but maybe that was one of those things she didn’t know about Lizzie. Except that Lizzie was looking away blushing.
“If I hadn’t bought them you would want to go outside to buy it and I don’t feel like getting the virus just because you were irresponsible.” Lizzie dismissed.
“You bought it for me.” Hope said annoyingly bringing her hand to her heart in a dramatic act. “You’re my hero.” Hope said. In truth she was really surprised that Lizzie had payed attention to her favorite kind of candies and tastes in only one month of living together. It was almost scary. Hope watched as Lizzie organized the cabinets after cleaning all the products she had bought. Hope was maybe too distracted that she didn’t hear Lizzie talking until she snapped her fingers.
“Hey, Hope, can you find yourself and answer to me please?” Lizzie asked.
“Yeah, sorry. What did you ask?”
“Can you cook dinner while I take a shower?”
“Yes, of course.” Hope said. She didn’t point out that their contract stated that they should prepare their own food and the only thing shared would be coffee that should be made by whoever woke up earlier. After dinner was ready and Lizzie had finished her shower, they started to eat. Hope had cooked Lizzie’s favorite, spaghetti pasta carbonara. If Lizzie asked Hope how she knew, she would pretend to be a coincidence instead of telling her that she had actually stalked her on Instagram and Twitter. It wasn’t Hope’s fault, really. She was working on an article about how top of their class students organized their schedules when she found a picture of Lizzie and her twin sister eating this spaghetti. They ate in comfortable silence until Lizzie decided to talk.
“It’s because of what you said on the night we met.” She said and Hope tilted her head confused. “The night we met, remember?”
“How could I forget?” Hope asked wondering if anyone could forget such a night. It was Lizzie’s first party in university, Hope remembered. Hope’s best friend, Maya, convinced her to go saying that it was her opportunity to start the academic year well. It would’ve started the academic year incredibly well if Lizzie hadn’t started to hate her that same night. Lizzie blushed and looked away. “What did I say?” Hope asked and Lizzie looked at her hurt.
“You said you were running from me. That I had done everything wrong and-”
“Wait. I told you that?” Hope asked unbelieving. She didn’t remember that at all.
“Not to me. To your ex roommate, Maya. You told her that to get rid of me.” Lizzie said.
“No, I didn’t.” Maya and Hope had started university two years before Lizzie. They both had graduated last year but Hope had decided to stay in the university to get her master’s degree. Hope still talked to Maya all the time. She had no recollection of asking Maya to get rid of Lizzie. Until she remembered something. But it couldn’t be, could it? “When and where did you hear that?” Hope asked.
“We left the party early and you took me to your dorm. After we…” Lizzie looked away with pink cheeks “you know, Maya knocked on the door and you went out to talk to her. You were taking too long to come back so I went to see if something had happened and then I heard you talking.”
“What did I say?”
“Come on, Maya. I’ll be running as fast as I can from her tomorrow. She did everything wrong. It’s like she had never done it before. I can’t take chances with someone like her. We have to get rid of her.” Lizzie said quoting Hope as if she had repeated those words to herself way too many times. “After that, you walked away from the door. I gathered all my things and left.” Oh damn it.
“That’s why you weren’t there when I came back.” Hope said finally getting it. She had never understood why Lizzie had left her dorm when she came back and why she dismissed Hope with rudeness when she went to talk to her the next day. Lizzie had gotten all impossibly wrong.
“That’s why I don’t like you. If you hadn’t liked me, you could’ve just said it. What I don’t get is why you kept flirting with me anyway every time we saw each other.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Hope asked curious. It wasn’t like the Lizzie that held a grudge on Hope for three years to just finally decide to tell her even if she had agreed in a contract. She would make Hope wait first.
“Because I’ve been living with you for one month and you have been nothing but polite and respectful, even with your dirty jokes. Also, why would you put that last clause if you didn’t really care about it? Everything that I’ve been seeing from you makes another painting completely different from the one I had from you before. So I’m wondering if I was the one to mess something up.” Lizzie asked really anguished.
“I wasn’t talking about you.” Hope said sighing. Lizzie’s eyes widened. “When you heard that… I was talking about this girl Maya and I had joined for an assignment on our second year. She was a nightmare. Maya and I had to do everything. Every time she did something, we would have to re-do it. We almost didn’t pass in one of our classes because of her. I was telling Maya that we wouldn’t deal with her that year.”
“Oh.” Lizzie said.
“Yeah.” Hope said finishing to eat. Then she started to laugh. She laughed so hard that her belly started to ache. When she looked at Lizzie, she was frowning.
“What are you laughing at?”
“We’re literally two of the smartest women in this university. I’m a journalist and you’re a fricking lawyer. It was expected that this kind of shit wouldn’t happen on our watch. But here we are, three years later finding it out over the coincidence of our landlady of putting us together in this apartment.” Hope said and Lizzie smiled.
“There’s still time to choose another carrer.” She said softly but Hope could notice that she was still shocked that she had hated Hope for the past years over a hell of a misunderstanding. After she finished eating, she cleaned up the dishes, thanked Hope for the meal and went to her bedroom. Hope then went to her own bedroom and spent the next hours laying on bed and thinking about what could’ve been.
“Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.” Lizzie waited for her sister to pick up as if her life depended on it. When Josie finally picked up, her voice was groggy.
“Lizzie?”
“She didn’t say that.” Lizzie whispered covering her mouth to make sure Hope wouldn’t hear from the other room.
“What? Lizzie?” Josie asked confused and Lizzie heard Josie’s girlfriend telling her to hang up and call Lizzie later.
“Don’t you dare to hang up on me, Josie!” Lizzie shouted and then cursed herself for talking too loud. “I need you right now.”
“Okay. What is it?”
“Hope didn’t say that.”
“Didn’t say what, Lizzie? Be specific.”
“Remember the party I went?”
“The only one you ever went since you entered university?” Josie asked mockingly.
“It was a misunderstanding. Hope wasn’t talking about me.” Lizzie whispered letting all her embarrassment over it show on her voice.
“NO!” Josie exclaimed when she finally understood what Lizzie was talking about.
“Yes.” Lizzie grunted.
“So you’ve been shitting on her all these years for nothing?” Penelope asked getting in the middle of their talk.
“Josie, you put it on speaker?” Lizzie hissed.
“Sorry, Lizzie. How did you find out?” Josie asked and Lizzie sighted.
“She tricked me into signing a contract to tell her.”
“She tricked you?” Penelope screamed from the other side of the line. “You? The almighty madam coldass bitchest lawyer of all?”
“I swear to god I’m gonna kill your girlfriend, Josie.” Lizzie said losing her cool.
“She’ll be quiet now, Lizzie.” Josie said after saying something to Penelope that made the girl say ouch.
“What do I do?”
“Talk to her. Is she angry at you?”
“No. She laughed.” Lizzie said.
“Really?” Josie asked.
“She said that between a journalist and a lawyer, none of us figuring out until we’re trapped out of a coincidence shouldn’t happen.”
“She’s not wrong, though.” Penelope said.
“What do I do?” Lizzie asked lost.
“Do you like her yet?”
“I didn’t even have time to like her in the first time, Jo. We literally met and then that happened.”
“That’s what happens when you go to bed with someone on the same day you met them.” Penelope said followed by a hissed Pen from Josie. “What, Josette? You already told me I’m not getting it tonight.” She said to Josie and Lizzie rolled her eyes. They were useless.
“Bye.” Lizzie said hanging up and ignoring the other times Josie tried calling. Lizzie spent the rest of the night thinking about what it could’ve been.
DAY 35
“Sorry.” Lizzie said when she bumped on Hope on her way back to her bedroom. Weird. They had been acting awkwardly since their talk about the fatidic night. Lizzie couldn’t help but wonder if Hope was also imaging what would’ve been if Lizzie hadn’t fled her dorm like a thief instead of talking like a normal person would.
“Do you want to watch a movie?” Hope asked as if in an impulsive decision when Lizzie was closing her door. Lizzie stopped. To be honest, she was a little embarrassed to be around Hope and watching a movie with her wouldn’t probably help but she did spend the last years making Hope’s life difficult for nothing so the least she could do was watch the damn movie with Hope and swallow her regret. She nodded and Hope smiled. Not the annoying smirk that Lizzie usually dreamed about punching out of her face, but a sweet smile that made Lizzie think about another action altogether to take it out of Hope’s face.
“What’s the movie?” Lizzie asked sitting on the couch.
“50 First Dates because ever since we talked about what happened, you’ve been looking at me like you don’t know me and nothing happened between us.” Hope said and Lizzie literally choked on air. Hope smirked at her. “But here, at least you remember popcorn, right?” Hope said giving Lizzie a bucket full of popcorn. Then she winked at Lizzie and pressed play. Lizzie was probably sporting the reddest shade of red existent but she didn’t care. For the first time since the party, Lizzie let her mind think about how Hope’s smirk was gorgeous, enticing and so so hot.
DAY 41
Hope woke up with something weighting down her shoulder. When she looked at the cause of it, she was surprised to see Lizzie. They had fallen asleep watching movies, Hope thought smiling. After Hope had asked Lizzie to watch 50 First Dates, Lizzie had confessed that she had never watched it making Hope ask her why and get the answer that Lizzie wasn’t a romance girl, so since then they had started to watch a romance movie every day. Hope’s excuse was that Lizzie had decades of classic romance movies to catch up and Hope, doing humanity a favor by showing Lizzie how to believe in love, would choose the best ones. Lizzie was really surprised to learn that romance was Hope’s favorite kind of things to watch besides cooking shows, she had told Hope. So every night after they had finished university’s assignments and zoom classes, they would sit on the couch, stuff themselves with popcorn and watch one, two and even three movies.
It was only an excuse to be together, Hope realized after she caught herself searching the internet for classic movies suggestions when her list had already been watched. Hope felt Lizzie moving and knew that she had woken up. “The first time I finally get to wake up with you and I get a stiff neck.” Hope said knowing that it would cause Lizzie to blush, her favorite Lizzie thingy.
“You’re so annoying.” Lizzie rolled her eyes yawning.
“The least you could do is offer me a massage.” Hope said massaging her aching neck.
“Do you want me to?” Lizzie said reaching for Hope’s neck but Hope tapped on her hands.
“I don’t trust your hands on my neck.” Hope said narrowing her eyes and making Lizzie laugh.
“You trusted my hands with some other way more vulnerable parts before.” Lizzie said smirking and Hope’s eyes widened in shock. Lizzie had never done this. Usually it was Hope making the sexual comments and Lizzie blushing that perfect red that Hope had started to categorize in a list called ‘Lizzie’s shades of red and what they mean’. It was such a surprise that Hope felt her own face hot and she looked away blushing. Then she laughed.
“I did, didn’t I?” Hope said still laughing and shaking her head. “I wonder how many comebacks to my remarks you had all over the years and didn’t say.”
“Oh, they were way better than yours. They would make you so flushed that you would seek medical attention.” Lizzie whispered.
“I bet they would.” Hope said getting closer to Lizzie. When she was so close that their noses were touching, Lizzie got up.
“Maybe someday I’ll let you read my Hope Mikaelson Sexual Comments and How to Answer Them diary.” Lizzie said smirking and entering the bathroom.
“Wait. You have a freaking diary?” Hope shouted to the closed door. When Lizzie didn’t answer she banged on the door. “How explicit is it?” Nothing. “Come on, you can lure me like that and just drop it.” But Lizzie didn’t say anything and for the rest of the day, and the week, Hope tried to imagine what the hell was in that diary.
DAY 55
“What are you doing?” Lizzie screamed from behind Hope. Hope snapped her laptop close.
“Hey, where’s my privacy?” Hope asked looking at Lizzie.
“I knocked on the door but you didn’t listen so I decided to come in to see if you were dead.” Lizzie said frowning. “But you just had your headphones on. And you were writing something. Why did you close your laptop like you were hiding something?” Lizzie asked suspicious.
“I didn’t.” Hope said. “I was startled with you popping next to me like a ghost.” Hope said standing up. “Is it movie time already?” Hope asked.
“No. It’s just that I baked brownie and I thought you would like to taste them.” Lizzie said softly.
“Ooooh, I love brownie.” Hope said running to the kitchen and sniffing the heavenly smell of chocolate. “It smells delicious.” Lizzie then cut it and gave it to Hope. Hope took a huge bite of it… and then coughed. Oh god, it was terrible!
“Oh no, you hated it.” Lizzie said embarrassed and Hope, still trying to swallow what it felt like a dead raw mouse in her mouth, shook her head.
“No. It’s not that bad.” Hope tried watching Lizzie grimacing.
“Yes, it is. I could swear that you just turned green when you bit it. That’s okay. Spit it out.” Lizzie said pointing at the trash bin. Hope looked at her apologetically and then spit the damn thing on the trash.
“I’m sorry.” Hope said and Lizzie nodded.
“I should be the one saying sorry, after all I’m the one that almost got you killed.” Lizzie sighed. "Those Tik Tok cooking videos are total deceptions.” She said pouting.
“I can teach you how to cook a brownie if you want.” Hope proposed.
“Do you still trust me with food after that?” Lizzie frowned
“No but I’ll be watching you closely.” Hope said earning a light punch from Lizzie.
“There’s an explanation, you know.” Lizzie said while picking up the ingredients to cook another brownie, an edible one this time.
“For what?”
“For me being that bad at cooking.” Lizzie said and when Hope looked at her incredulously, she continued. “Whoever god made me, thought that it would be super unfair to create a woman this gorgeous, smart and confident and that could cook.” Lizzie said arrogantly and Hope laughed.
“I don’t know, Lizzie. That same god clearly created me too so…” And she earned another punch, a tougher one this time. But she didn’t care because Lizzie was laughing and it was a truly happy smile. And she didn’t disagree with Hope's statment.
DAY 67
“I KNEW IT.” Lizzie shouted. They were in the living room; Hope sitting on the floor writing a paper for her professor and Lizzie on the table looking at old contracts that she had to correct for an assignment.
“What?” Hope said not even looking away from her laptop.
“You are Andrea Labonair.” Lizzie accused her and Hope’s hands stilled on the keyboard.
“What?” She tried to look innocent. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been living with you and, I don’t know, I felt like a recognition or something. I think the way you talk or how sarcastic you are. You’re her.” Lizzie said shaking her head. “I just finished reading all of her published articles and I’m wondering how I never suspected before.”
“You said you were correcting some contracts.” Hope said accusing.
“I lied.”
“Clearly.” Hope said sarcastically.
“You’re her, right?” Lizzie asked and Hope nodded worried about Lizzie’s reaction. “That was why she was so obsessed with me.” Lizzie exclaimed. “I always thought that she had a crush on me or something since she talked about me pretty much every week in her Gossip Girl emulation blog. Now that I know it was you it makes perfectly sense.” Lizzie said looking pointedly at Hope.
“Why?” Hope asked frowning.
“Because you have a crush on me, of course.” Lizzie said as if Hope were a simpleton. Hope rolled her eyes.
“A crush on you? How old are you? Twelve?” Hope huffed.
“Do you want me to describe it another way?” Lizzie asked smirking. “Enamored? Besotted? Smitten?” Lizzie said laughing when Hope threw a pen at her. “Oooooo. Infatuated. I love this word.” Lizzie’s laugh intensified when Hope got up and started to run after her. “Or do you prefer the old fashioned In Love? You probably do since you love romance movies so much.” Lizzie screamed when Hope finally got her and tried to pin her on the floor.
“Who’s laughing now?” Hope said holding Lizzie’s hands and not letting her go.
“I’m laughing.” Lizzie said smiling. Hope got closer to her, their bodies so pressed against each other that Hope could feel Lizzie’s heart beating through her chest. Lizzie’s smile faded and a second later she kissed Hope; and even though Hope knew a kiss would definitely happen when Lizzie looked at her lips, she got so surprised that she lost balance and Lizzie seized the opportunity to shift them. Now Lizzie was on top of Hope with that smile that made Hope see stars and planets being born and dying. Hope opened her mouth to speak but nothing came.
“For a journalist, you sure get speechless easy. I wonder if you’ll regain your ability to speak as things progress.” Lizzie whispered so damn close that Hope felt her breath on her ear. Then some merciful god gave back Hope’s ability to speak.
“It depends on how worthy of words those things are.” Hope said watching and relishing on how perfect Lizzie was flushed and on top of her. Maybe they got right one thing about quarantine: it sure made a lot of people start to exercise. Hope couldn’t wait to start exercising a lot with Lizzie.