A Love Split in Three

Chapter 24

Josie and Lizzie were in their room getting ready for bed neither one of them has said a word to each other since the revelation in the car, they just didn't know what to say

"Why would you drive a wedge between me and Hope? Why lie?" Lizzie finally asked the question that had been repeating itself over and over again in her mind

"I was gonna ask the same thing." Hope said standing outside the open door with her arms crossed, as Josie turned around to face her childhood crush

Josie looked back at Lizzie before sighing, "I didn't just lie." She began, turning back to look at Hope

"I started the fire."

Josie watched as Hope's face paled. She thought that lying about her spreading rumors of Lizzie was bad but this? Setting her room on fire? She was speechless.

She sighed before continuing on, "Lizzie had made some remark about me being obsessed with you. I just blurted out, 'How could I be obsessed with someone who would say such mean things about my twin?"

"But I didn't." Hope replied offended

"I know. I just made it up." Josie said

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want Lizzie to know the truth." Lizzie scrunched her eyebrows in confusion as Josie continued on saying the one thing Lizzie never in a million years wanted to hear.

" I had a crush on you." Josie whispered looking in Hope's deep blue eyes as she watched her reaction

Hope was shocked. Well no.. that's understatement. She couldn't believe that the first girl she had ever liked, liked her back at the same exact time.

"And I had slipped a note into your room that morning and.. I don't know I just really immediately regretted it but I couldn't get in by then. So I did a fire spell under your door. I was really only aiming for the note." Josie finished

Josie Saltzman, the girl who made Hope realize she was bisexual, had a crush on her and confessed it in a note, that she burned, along with Hope's room filled with her belongings and memories she cherished of her deceased parents. But Hope didn't care about that, not in the moment. All she could think about was the fact that her Josie could've happened. They could've been together. Josie actually liked her.

"Why would it matter that I knew?" Lizzie asked, trying to hold back tears at realizing her twin sister had feelings for the woman that she was undeniably in love with.

"Because my whole life, any time I've ever liked anyone, you go for them. And you always win." Josie said

Lizzie suddenly realized exactly what Penelope said that night. She was selfish. Everyone knew it except her. And watching the way Josie and Hope were looking at each other in the moment, Lizzie knew there were still some unresolved feelings.

I can't confess. Not now. Josie deserves this. I owe it to her after everything I've done. I have to let Hope go.

Hope chuckled softly to herself, "You had a crush on me?" she asked, with a small but prominent smile that she couldn't help

"Of course I did. Who wouldn't?" Josie replied, smiling at Hope as they stared at each other, reveling in the moment

There has to be no bigger pain than watching two people you love leave you behind for each other.I lost the woman that despite fighting it, I am completely and undeniably in love with, to my twin sister. And I can't breathe.

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It's been hours since Josie confessed her feelings for Hope, and right now it's 3 in the morning and Lizzie can't sleep. She can't stop playing it over and over again in her head. She can't shut her mind off. She can't stop seeing Hope's smile when Josie said she had a crush on her. She couldn't stop the pain in her chest, the pain in her mind, the pain everywhere.