I Hate the Way...

Part 14: "She'll Thank Me Later."

After everything is unpacked and Hope helps Josie and Lizzie get settled in downstairs, Hope leaves the two to go for her usual run.

While Hope relies on piloting to give her a sense of control, running helps her clear her mind.
Both therapeutic in their own respects.

Josie doesn't know how Hope has so much energy. Yes, she's supernatural, but still, she has to tire out at some point.

Josie decides to make a trip to get her prescription refilled in the meantime, since she still has plenty of time before she has to get ready for her shift at the bar.

——

Lizzie sprawls out on the couch, watching a movie and eating popcorn while the two are out.

But not too much longer, Hope enters the house, glistening with sweat, taking her earbuds out of her ears when she sees Lizzie, "Hey, where'd Josie go? She doesn't have work for another couple of hours."

Lizzie doesn't look away from the screen as she responds with her mouth stuffed with popcorn, "To get her meds. Wanna watch the rest of this movie with me?"

Hope tries to look over at the TV, "What are you watching?"

"Um...I don't know. The one where the wife gets in the wreck and has amnesia and forgets about her husband."

"The Vow?"

"Yeah that one."

Does Hope really want to sit and watch a movie about memory loss? Considering the red door spell that's stolen many of her memories...
No, not at all.

But Lizzie turns to her with hopeful eyes, really wanting the company.

The blonde girl tries to convince her, "I'll even turn on Top Gun for you..."

That, Hope could deal with.

She chuckles softly, "Pretty sure they were Navy pilots, not Marines, but you've got yourself a deal. Let me go shower upstairs and then I'll join you."

Lizzie smiles successfully and nods while Hope retreats up to the loft.

——

Josie arrives back at the beach house shortly after, walking in the front door and seeing her sister there, "Hey, is Hope still out on a run?"

Lizzie pauses briefly as an idea crosses her mind, "Yeah...She actually said she needs you to come upstairs to go over a couple of things...Wedding stuff, I'm sure."

Josie furrows her eyebrows, "More wedding stuff? I thought we had all of that settled?"

Lizzie shrugs, "I'm just the messenger, dear sister."

Josie sighs, "Okay, I'll be back in a minute."

With that, Josie makes her way to the loft.

Lizzie finally cracks a small smirk, "She'll thank me later."

——

Josie doesn't even bother knocking on the door to the loft when she gets up the stairs, since Hope should be expecting her.

"Hope?" She calls out when she doesn't see the Tribrid in the small living area.

But still no response, so she heads towards the two bedrooms in the back.

Hope's bedroom door is on the left, opened but with no one inside, "Hope?"

She turns toward the other door, shut with Hope's office on the other side.

She tries to turn the knob, but it's locked, "Hope? Are you in there?"

No response.

Josie sighs, "Where the hell..."

She decides to just go downstairs and text Hope from her phone.

She turns around to walk back through the small living area to get to the stairs when she finally finds Hope, just as Hope finally notices Josie.

Josie literally screams at the sight of a very damp, very naked Hope in front of her, "Oh my god—"

Hope frantically pulls her earbuds out of her ears, "What the hell, Josie?!"

Josie is also frantically trying not to look, "Fuck, Hope, cover up! Please, dear god..."
Hope is already pulling the blanket from the back of the couch to cover up her body, as Josie is still trying not to look her direction.
"Did you not hear me calling your name?!"

Josie finally notices Hope is covered up by the blanket.

Her body is heating up, most likely from the shock of it all. The image from seconds ago etched into her memory, like a fucking curse.

"No, I had music—" Hope points to the earphones that she had in mere seconds ago.

"Why the fuck are you wet?!"

"I was in the shower—"

"In the kitchen?!"

"No! I was—I got out of the shower and went to grab some water! What the fuck are you doing up here?"

"To go over wedding stuff!"

"We already went over the wedding stuff earlier!"

Josie is beyond confused, for more reasons than one, "Why didn't you get dressed before getting water?!"

Hope scoffs, "Well, I wasn't exactly expecting a prude like yourself to be sneaking in for a peek. I know we're getting married and all but—"

"That is not what I was doing."

"Yeah right." Hope rolls her eyes, "You could've knocked you know—"

"Well, I wasn't expecting for you to have your dick out, Hope." Josie gestures toward Hope's lower region.

Hope deadpans, "I'm getting dressed."

She walks past Josie and into her own room before shutting the door behind her.

Josie deflates, leaning her head back and resting her body against the wall behind her, letting out a deep breath.

Josie can't get the image out of her head.
She furrows her eyebrows at a blurry detail, not knowing if she can trust what she thinks she saw, since most of her attention obviously went toward the more explicit areas Hope had on display.

But she thinks she may have seen...scars...
on the upper portion of Hope's chest, surrounded by more of Hope's tattoos.

No, it couldn't have been...

She's the Tribrid, there's no way...

Josie didn't get a good enough look to know for sure.

She decides to shove the thought aside, and attempt to delete the image of Hope Mikaelson naked and wet from her memory.

She glances to the side at the door she tried to open a minute ago, the office door.

Hope seemed triggered the last time she asked about it, so she decides not bring it up again today.

Moments later, Hope opens up her bedroom door, now fully dressed in sweatpants and a plain t-shirt.

Josie immediately turns to her, looking away from the door to the mystery room, an action Hope catches but doesn't address.

Hope sighs, "Look, I'm sorry. If I would've known you'd be coming up here—"

Josie shakes her head, avoiding eye contact as the image of the Tribrid remains relentless, "No, it's my fault. I just got worried when you didn't answer..."

Her words fade out as she realizes what she said.

Was she really worried about her fiancé? The Tribrid who she loathes?

Hope nods a single time, clearing her throat as she breaks eye contact, "Um, we should probably head back downstairs," she ushers her head toward the door.

Josie nods, now feeling awkward after the events of the past few minutes, "Yeah, sure, let's go."