Without Me

Chapter 3

Alaric knocked on the door, three loud raps. Hope opened it a few moments later. 

"Dr. Saltzman?"

He stepped aside to reveal Lizzie. "Hope, this is your new roommate, Lizzie. Lizzie, Hope."

Lizzie smiled and stuck her hand out.

Hope just stared at her, ignoring her hand. "Have we met?" 

Lizzie shook her head. "I'm new."

Hope nodded once, like she didn't really believe it but wasn't going to push it. She finally reached out and shook Lizzie's hand - just once, awkward and formally, not at all like how they used to touch hands so comfortably. Maybe they could get there again. Someday.

"They put your bed over there." Hope gestured to the bare frame. "I used to have a single. I guess move whatever you need."

"I don't really have a lot of stuff," Lizzie said honestly. She didn't know what happened to all of her things after she jumped in Malivore. Josie must've walked back into their room after the long fight to find half her room occupied by a stranger's belongings. She wondered what magical explanation Malivore's spell had managed to come up with or if it still bothered Josie that she didn't know what happened that day. Lizzie wondered if Malivore's influence had even occurred to her as an explanation.

"Me neither." Hope shrugged. "Most of this was a gift from my ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend at the time." 

Lizzie nodded. She remembered Josie telling her how Landon convinced her to help him redecorate Hope's room after her own dive into Malivore. How fitting. 

"Your ex-boyfriend?" Lizzie asked gently as she set the few things she'd gotten at the end of the tour on her desk. She knew all about Malivore hijacking Landon's body and breaking up with Hope, but she'd thought for sure they would've gotten back together after Malivore was defeated and the truth came out. Landon being back in control of his own body was the perfect chance for them to make amends and patch up their epic love.

"Yeah. It's … complicated."

"And personal?" Lizzie collapsed backwards on her bed.

Hope furrowed her eyebrows at the blonde, a ghost of a smile on her lips. I like her, Hope thought. "I'm, um, headed to class right now, but if the Josie Saltzman tour left something to be desired, I … I could show you around campus, maybe?"

"Sure." It wasn't campus that Lizzie was interested in exploring, but it was the perfect backdrop to her plan to get more info out of Hope and a chance to get that restart she'd wanted for so long. This time, there would be no ten years of wrongfully hating Hope, no jealousy over how her father divided his time, no mistaken petty resentments. This was a fresh start, a reset button. Lizzie would never get a chance like this again.