In Her Eyes The Violets lie

Chapter 21

"Josie!" Nan came over to them as soon as Josie and Hope got to the lakeside. "Oh dear, you two look tired. You really should have arrived earlier, that way you could've gotten some rest." Nan said.
"It’s okay, nan." Josie assured her, "I had work."
"Alright, alright. Come, everyone else is here."Nan said, ushering them to where Josie's cousins and uncle were trying to light the bonfire. Hearing nan say that, aunt Elaine said, "Kevin and his girlfriend aren’t here yet. Ugh, that boy of yours is always late, James." Josie stopped at that,"Wait, Kevin is here? Was that your surprise mom?" Kevin was uncle James' eldest son, he was a year older than her and he is Josie's "favorite cousin". But at that moment, Josie was furious at him, he had gotten a girlfriend and Josie didn't know about it. To be fair they haven’t really spoken to each other in a while, but still, he could've called. Her mother grinned as Kevin walked out of the house with his girlfriend behind him, Josie couldn't see her face until Kevin is 5 feet away from her. When she sees who Kevin's new girlfriend is, Josie's heart stops. Penelope Park. The Penelope Park. She wanted to pinch herself, this can't be real. How on earth did Kevin end up dating Josie's ex-girlfriend? On her part, Penelope looks equally shocked, but as always she hides her expressions better than Josie ever could. She quickly pastes a grin and puts her hand out, “Hi, I'm Penelope. It's nice to meet you, Jo." Josie takes a second too long to respond and knew that Penelope had an upper hand in whatever invisible game they had started playing. That's how it always was with Penelope, always playing games. She makes the rules, so she always wins. Josie shakes her hand and gives her a grin," Nice to see you, again. Good to see you have more time for relationships." Game on.

“You guys know each other?" Kevin asks, looking confused. Penelope scrambles to answer, but Josie gets to it first, “Yes, she came to Mystic Falls for a semester. We became friends.” Penelope shoots her a confused look. "Oh, great!” Kevin said. Josie wasn't going to ruin her brother's relationship, and knowing that Penelope was Josie’s ex would certainly do that. She wasn't that petty. Suddenly Hope speaks up, “Hi, I'm Hope." Penelope's eyes snap back to look at Hope then back at me , “Hope Mikaelson?” Josie grimaces, “Yes." Hope was looking at Penelope weirdly, then she wrapped her hand around Josie’s,"Won't you show me around, darling?"

~~~

Hope wouldn't say that she wasn't a jealous person but generally she was in control of her jealousy, but tonight she had lost it. The way Josie looked at that girl, Penelope. It was painful, Hope felt like she was being stabbed constantly. As they turned around Josie cleared her throat, “So, darling huh?" Hope's cheeks burned, “What? I can't call you that?"
“You can call me whenever you want, darling." Josie smirked. “Who was she?" Hope asked at last. Josie laughed, “Weren't you listening? We were friends.”
“Friends don't look at each other like that.”
"Like what?" Josie was playing dumb, maybe she didn't want to tell her. Fine. “Fine, don't tell me." With that Hope walked away.

~~~
Shit! shit! “Hope! Wait." Josie ran after her, she was walking towards the woods, it wasn't safe out there, she would get lost. “Stop, please. I'll tell you." That worked. Josie was huffing when she reached Hope. Hope gave her an expectant look. “She's my ex. That's it." Josie said catching her breath, “She came to Mystic Falls for a semester, we had a good time and then it was time for her to leave. And so, she left.”
“You could've just said that."
Josie sighed, “I know, I just don't want to think about that time, that's all." For a while they stood there at the edge of the woods, in the distance she could hear aunt Elaine and her mother bickering. Out of nowhere Hope asks, “Did you love her?"
Josie decided to be honest, “I did.” Josie sighed, “Her smile is like the first ray of light,
like the morning breeze.She was like a ray of light. She walked in one day and lit up my world. ”

There was a look in Hope's eye that Josie couldn't quite understand, “You still love her."

~~~

A/N

Thank you for reading x