Time After Time (Book 1)

Chapter 12

It was early morning when Hope woke up and found Josie was gone. She did leave breakfast and a note for her though.

"I brought you breakfast, you looked so cute I didn't want to wake you. I'll be in the library if you need me."

Love, Josie

She knows not to look into it too much, but that word clenched at her heart. Love. Did she love Josie? She wondered. Would it be too soon? They have been together a while already, and it's kind of inevitable that they'll be together, literally forever with kids. But was she ready to say it? Did she want to? Did Josie feel the same way? She contemplated these thoughts as she tried to paint something, anything to keep her mind off of it. Eventually, nothing worked as she kept staring at the blank canvas. She gives up and leaves for class. She sees Roman sitting outside in the hallway talking to some students. She smiles politely before turning the corner. Alaric walks up to her out of nowhere. "Hope, I need your help." She nods and follows him into his office. "Landon is gone, but he left me this message." The message plays back, afterwards Hope is left confused. "Jed? Why would he say hi to Jed? Something is clearly wrong, Dr. Saltzman, you have to go after him." Hope tells him. "Hope...." "The triad already came for him once, it's not safe for him out there."

"We kept a massive secret from him, and I think he just needs time to process that. And we should respect that." Alaric tells her. "I can't just leave my best friend out there alone." Hope shouts. "Hope, I'm telling you. Leave him be." Hope scoffs and walks out. She decides to head to the kitchen, maybe some brain food would be good. "Was there a monster attack in here?" She asks Lizzie as she looks around to see dirty pots and pans, and ingredients thrown everywhere. "There you are, I got tired of waiting so I attempted a banana cream pie by myself." Lizzie sighs. "Where is it?" Hope asks. "In the garbage, I said attempted." Lizzie takes off her apron. "So, we're going to go with plan B, you are going to make it for me." She hands Hope her apron and turns around. "Status update, Josie didn't come to our room last night." Hope sighs. "Yeah, cause she slept over in mine." Lizzie turns around and stares at her. "Oh don't give me that look, we didn't do anything." Lizzie nods. "Mhm, sure. You know, the twins never did tell us what year they were born." She smirks. "Well it's certainly not this year." Hope glared at her. "Have you slept at all?" She changes the subject. "You seem a little...." "Focussed? Motivated? On point?" Lizzie interrupts her. "Sure, yeah." Hope shrugs. "Not sleeping in the same bed means no forgiveness twin cuddles. But she's been holed up in the library so a snack offering should do the trick."

Hope watches as Lizzie fills a bowl with chips. "At some point, you might actually have to apologize." Lizzie gasps. "Never apologize. Ok? This is what we do, I'm selfish, then she sulks, and then I offer baked goods." Lizzie smiles. "Someone else's baked goods." Hope tells her. "It's giving you something to do with yourself, isn't it? Your turn for an update. Any word from our mop headed elf?" She asks Hope. Hope sighs. "He says he needs time to think." "Hmm." Lizzie intently. "I don't know, I feel like if I could figure out the right thing to say, then he'd come back." Lizzie nods. "So, practice. Emma has this prism that simulates a conversation. She makes me use it to talk to my mom and my dad when I'm in a state. I'll trade you one prism for a banana cream pie." She offers. Hope chuckled slightly before agreeing. "Alright, fine." "Yes!" Lizzie jumps. "I'm gonna get it right now." She walks out of the kitchen and leaves to retrieve the prism. "Hi kids." She greets her niece and nephew as she passes them. "Hey." They both wave as she speeds past them. "What was that about?" Marshall asks his mom. "Your aunt wants me to bake your Ma a banana cream pie, so she can give it to her as a peace offering." Hope sighs. "What did I get myself into?" She asks herself. "So then why did you say yes?" Andrea asks as she looks around at the mess. "Because she said she'd let me use her prism to practice talking to Landon if I did." The twins nod. "Did you need any help?" They ask her. Hope smiles and nods. "Thanks kids."