the secret of distance

Chapter 1

"Hope?"

"Hope? Are you okay?" Alaric calls out again.

He finds the tribrid a couple of feet away by the treeline, bent over a bush with her hand held over her upset stomach. It was only a few moments ago that he noticed she was missing.

"Hey," Hope says, struggling to hide a wince as she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. She clears her throat and stands up, pretending that nothing happened.

Alaric sees right through her.

"Are you sick?" he asks, his voice taking on that worried-dad tone it usually carries next to her. Hope almost rolls her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lies, the truth crawling right under her skin. She absently wonders if she could ever tell anyone about what's truly bothering her. "I'm just not feeling well. But I'm not sick, I swear."

"Are you sure? You didn't even hear me come up behind you," Alaric says, and he's right. Hope hasn't been able to focus lately, hasn't even been able to function right ever since they started going on these stupid monster missions.

This last one nearly killed her.

Since when are dragons fucking real?

"I guess—" Hope almost says it. Almost says that that they're too far away from Josie and that she can't catch her breath completely. That the distance between this forest and the school is too wide for her aching lungs to settle. That she won't feel right in her own skin until they get back to Josie. "Can we just go home?"

The school isn't home. Not really. It never has been for Hope. But it's something.

"Yeah. Yeah." Alaric nods, patting Hope on her shoulder in a way that soothes and burns her all at once. He smiles, and all Hope can think about is how familiar the way his lips upturn is, how similarly the crinkle of his eyes matches to Josie's.

The man starts to leave in the direction of the car and Hope sighs in relief as she watches him. Everything is okay. She'll see her soulmate soon. Nothing else matters.

When they finally get back to the school a few hours later, Hope thinks it's weird how much she instantly feels better, as if some weight has been lifted off her chest. The football game against Mystic Falls is already well over, the field cleared of people. Hope heard there was a fight with some of the students from the other school, and yeah, that's cool, but the tribrid is more upset that she missed the chance to watch Josie run around in space-buns and short-shorts for an hour.

She can't help but regret that she left with Alaric, though she knows she shouldn't. The school comes first—the school will always come first in his damn mind—but Hope stills longs for something more all the same. For...

For Josie.

Even though they barely talk. They're not friends. Strangers, really. The only time Josie even looks at Hope is when she argues with her sister. It's part of the reason why Hope argues with Lizzie so much, but if anyone ever asks her, she'll swear Lizzie always starts it.

They make it back to the school in time for dinner, but Hope finds herself wishing she had never gone in the first place. She sits alone the entire time, her plate of macaroni and cheese left untouched.