Odd Encounters

By the time Thursday comes around, Hope feels almost like a normal teenager. Mostly. She talks to Josie for most of her day and Lizzie or MG during lunch, and it is almost as if she has her own little group of friends - which is very, very new. They continue making plans for Friday night (usually it's just MG and Hope going back and forth, arguing about which movie they should watch when the time times) and Lizzie somehow finds a way to rope Hope into coming to another party that weekend.

It's weird, because Hope doesn't really mind. Most of the time she would complain about having to go to a party, especially one with Lizzie, but Hope is kind of looking forward to it. She feels great. She almost forgets about the supernatural and the world outside her little bubble for a solid day there, until Alaric calls her out to go hunt a mermaid.

"The little mermaid got it so wrong." Hope groans, a bloody axe in one hand and a cluster of seaweed in the other. "I think it bit me. Am I going to turn into a fish now? I feel like being a tribrid is already too much."

"I doubt you'll turn into a fish." Alaric assures her.

She can see the school's lights out in front of them as they get closer and feels a small sense of relief. The world is still bright, kids still wander around outside with their books clutched to their chests and backpacks pulled over their shoulders. Hope is probably missing a class or two, which is unfortunate. Even if she made it back in time for her last class, she needs to wash the scent of lake water off of her before she meets up with Josie for their study date.

Not date - but, well, that's what people call it when two people study together.

Nothing weird is going to happen. Except, Hope doesn't really know what classified as weird anymore. She knows a couple months ago the thought of Josie touching her ass while Hope masturbated would seem crazy, but now it seems pretty tame. In fact, Hope kind of expects them to do something today. She's not sure what they're doing exactly, but it seems like it will be something more than studying.

Hope blames it on the way Josie had asked her to study in the first place - her friend had been visibly nervous and a bit flushed when she asked, seeming flustered. Hope had agreed anyways, because of course. She had also washed her hands more than usual throughout the day, cut her nails at some point, and cleaned her sheets.

It means nothing. Really.

The sun is starting to go down by the time Josie sighs and lets her forehead press to a crease in her textbook, resting the full weight of her head on a paragraph about the history of Bennett witches. Hope is sitting at her desk, not actually using it. She has her laptop in her lap instead of on the flat surface in front of her, and she is leaning so far back in her chair that she has accidentally fallen twice now. Still, her sitting strategy (no matter how odd it must be) has gotten her this far.

She is rounding her last page when she hears Josie's quiet groan and lets her fingers slow at their place on the keyboard. Hope glances over at Josie. This essay she is writing is important. It counts for a lot of her grade and though Hope doesn't really care - she's already mastered the skills they're learning anyways - she knows Dr. Saltzman will never shut up if she doesn't get an A.

There is a second where Hope is going to keep on typing, but she sees the tense state of Josie's shoulders and her slumped position, and suddenly her laptop is closed. Josie's head lifts at the sound, only raising enough that she can send Hope a confused expression.

"Come on." Hope says, stretching as she stands up. "You look like you're gonna pass out. We need a study break."

"I'm fine." Josie tries and fails to sound as if the homework in front of her isn't giving her a headache. Hope sees right through the lie and walks over to Josie, lifts her up the ground so easily that Josie pouts and huffs while Hope smirks smugly at her.

Once Josie is reluctantly standing (okay, more like slumping against Hope's very sturdy side and taking advantage of all that tribrid strength), Hope squats down a bit, gets her arm around the back of Josie's knees and lifts once again. Josie's only protest is a small, tired noise that is so weak it pretty much goes unnoticed. Hope only carries her for a second or two since they are near the bed, and she sets Josie down as gently as possible.

Which results in Yoda suddenly appearing on one of Hope's pillows, probably only showing himself so he could cuddle with Josie. Hope couldn't really blame him.

Josie stretches, combs her fingers through Yoda's fur when she's done. "I'm not tired. I'm just a little stressed, trust me."

"Well." Hope starts, unknowingly and accidentally stumbling into their odd situation for a second time. "Want to relax?"

It seems like a charged question. A couple days ago it wouldn't have been. A couple days ago they probably would have gotten some frozen yogurt or put on face masks. They would have avoided smoking because Josie has a rule about not being high when she does homework, but they might've had a shot or two. It isn't the past, though. So, Hope's offer comes with a double meaning and soon it also comes with Josie slowly unzipping her jacket - not sure what they're doing today.

"We could both, uh." Josie makes a vague gesture towards her body, mostly towards her crotch, and Hope gets what she means.

"Yeah. That sounds good." Hope agrees, climbing onto the bed, enjoying how a pretty pink paints Josie's face when the mattress creaks.

She's careful not to accidentally lay on Yoda while she sits, so she moves her cat and drops him on the floor near the edge of the bed. He makes a disgruntled noise, but whatever. It feels weird to give him a free show.

When Hope claims back to her original spot on the bed, Josie is setting her jacket on the floor. Josie looks at Hope and then, seemingly getting an idea, glances at her laptop. "Hey, do you watch anything during?"

"Sometimes. What about you?"

"Ditto." Josie answers. "Do you want to try and find something?"

Hope nods. It could make things a lot less awkward. She grabs her laptop and spends about a minute carefully saving her essay and closing tabs filled with research, before opening up a new tab on a private browser. Hope picks a pretty generic website and takes her time in doing it, giving Josie time to protest if she wants to.

Josie stays quiet and Hope assumes that means that she has full control over whatever video they are going to watch. Which kind of freaks Hope out. There's just so much of it. It's not like she's going to put on something weird - but what if what's weird to her isn't weird to Josie or vice versa. She very briefly considers putting on lesbian porn (she's never seen it before but she's also about ninety percent sure Josie has) but then decides that's a little… well, gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. If she was a homophobe she wouldn't even be friends with Josie, and it's safe to say that Hope and Josie are pretty close. It's just, Hope is pretty sure she's going to need to see a dick or something to balance out whatever they're doing.

She notices that Josie is looking at her now, very blatantly. Hope also notices that she's been lost in her own thoughts and scrolling for awhile now, getting far down enough that they're looking at some pretty taboo stuff.

"I thought this was about relaxing." Josie gently nudges Hope with her shoulder. "Pick one. Anything is fine."

Feeling a little more at ease, Hope moves her fingers so the miniature arrow on the screen to the title of some porn video. She doesn't click on it, but 'Blonde Anal Slut Takes Whole Cucumber' is suddenly highlighted.

Hope quirks an eyebrow at her. "Anything?"

"Okay, well. Maybe not anything."

They both laugh and the tension is sucked out of the room. Hope scrolls back up to the top and clicks on whatever the most popular video is.

"This cool?" She asks.

Josie nods.

It's nothing special. There's an already naked girl spread out on a couch, lounging about for seemingly no reason. About half a minute passes of her just massaging herself, not saying or doing anything more.

Hope steals another glance at Josie, which feels like a mistake because she sees Josie playing with her nipples through her shirt. Her eyes zone in on the movement for a second, on how Josie's fingers move and how her breasts clearly make the shirt stretch. That isn't what she's supposed to be looking at. Her eyes shoot back to the screen.

A man has joined the woman now, so it should be pretty easy for Hope to get turned on. Sure, he has a horrible spray tan but he's fairly muscular and relatively attractive - though they don't get to see much of his face.

She figures she should just get started. Hope sits up enough that she can tug her shirt over her head. Her arousal is steadily growing, which is only natural considering the people on screen are starting to get to moaning. Hope follows Josie's lead in touching herself, but only her chest for now.

It's easy to get herself worked up. Not only because she's a hormonal teenager, but because she knows herself. Knows exactly where to touch and where to press firmly or lightly.

Hope didn't think to check how long the video is, but she guesses they have about eight more minutes before it ends and she doesn't want to have to get her laptop dirty while choosing another video. She needs to get to it. This is supposed to be a quick a study break after all. Hope raises her hips and wiggles off her sweatpants (is glad that this isn't a hookup, because it's a totally unsexy motion). They must share similar thoughts because Josie is doing the same, stripping off pieces of her clothes.

The couple on screen is getting right to it. Hope thinks the girl is supposed to be some type of sexy maid while the guy is the apartment's owner, but she's not really sure. Josie is unhooking her bra, letting her breasts fall with a little bounce, and Hope's mind kind of blanks.

It's a good video, though. Hope drags her hand along her thighs, watches the girl on screen help line up the guy's dick with her entrance. She finally touches herself when she hears the unnamed maid make some loud noise (her voice comes out a little squeaky, but whatever, it's okay).

Hope goes fast instead of slow like she usually would. She needs an orgasm and a protein bar within the next fifteen minutes or she'll probably get distracted and not finish her essay. She borderline attacks her clit because that is the easiest way to get everything done.

Besides, she's already surprisingly wet. She wonders if it's the same for Josie. Hope doesn't look again, but she focuses and hears the slick sounds Josie's fingers are making, accompanied by these tiny gasps leaving her lips. Josie could totally be a pornstar if she wanted to, she sounds so good.

At least Hope thinks she does. A guy would probably love to hear Josie moan, but Hope. Well. She doesn't mind it, really. The noise is blending in with the porn anyways, so it's more like Hope is getting off to the video and not Josie.

Hope uses two fingers to circle her clit, occasionally dipping down to collect more wetness, and it's slick - a little messy, but she's close. She really needs to get touched by someone else sometime soon. Masturbation is fine, great even, but there really isn't anything like actually touching hot skin and feeling a warm mouth make its journey up her thighs and-

She tenses and cums on a choked moan like the teenager she is.

Beside her, Josie is doing the same. She sounds a lot better when she cums than Hope does. For a second Hope wonders if Josie had worked to perfect that kind of shameless moan, but doesn't ask. The video is conveniently ending around the same time and as the screen goes black all they are left with is the task of cleaning up.

They do it silently. Neither of them want to stain their clothes with the liquid on their hands, so it's a naked walk to the bathroom and a good thirty seconds of pointedly not looking at each other while they scrub soap onto their palms. When they get back they put their clothes on again. Josie doesn't bother to put her bra or panties back on (Hope doesn't look, but she sees it all happen in the corner of her eye).

Eventually Josie goes back to her spot on the floor next to her opened book and starts reading again, while Hope looks through her backpack for some food.

"Do you want a protein bar?" Hope asks, feeling some small sense of relief when she finds two buried at the bottom of the bag under her books.

Josie looks up from what she's reading. "Yeah, sure."

Hope tosses her one (giving Josie the peanut butter one even though that's her favorite, because the scent of it still gives Hope bad protein shake flashbacks) and Josie catches it.

She smiles a bit, because things aren't weird. Of course Josie wouldn't make things weird.

-

Things are weird.

A normal person would expect that things are weird because it's an early Friday night and Hope is in the laundry room (it's basically a dusty basement with some washing and drying machines, one of the less glamorous parts of the school) cleaning Josie's panties, but that isn't the reason. For one, Hope Mikaelson is actually having more than one friend over to her room. Second, the group of friends that is coming includes Lizzie Saltzman and both of the girls are actually okay with it.

No one had to force them into being friendly or anything. It was like once Lizzie put two and two together and realized that more time with Hope also meant more time with Hope's adorable (but still evil) cat, Lizzie suddenly became very nice.

Back to the whole panties thing. They were watching the movie in about an hour or so, and Hope needed to clean up her room as fast as possible. Cleaning involved throwing out a bunch of old protein bar wrappers, stealing a new bottle of vodka, washing her sheets, and also Josie's underwear. She assumes Josie had forgotten her panties the day before and since Hope was a good friend, she decided to return them clean.

She's taking her sheets out of the dryer and piling in a lot of her clothes (and Josie's underwear) into the washer while listening to some music playing from her phone. It's relaxing, taking a break to do some busywork. Still, she gets the feeling movie night will be bizarre with all of them packed into Hope's small space.

It isn't really that small though, considering she doesn't have to share a room and her space is a bit more fleshed out when compared to the other student's. She has a couch as well as a mini fridge and a desk that's big enough to work on. Her room is relatively nice. It makes sense that they're using it for movie night, even if she doesn't have a television.

Well, usually she doesn't have a television. Hope and most of the witches figured out a spell a while ago to make one appear, but Dr. Saltzman doesn't allow it so she has to get rid of it once she's done watching anything. Which isn't hard, but it's still kind of a pain.

Hope is thinking over the details of the night (the snacks, the amount of blankets and pillows, how Lizzie insisted on picking the movie but keeping it a surprise, how it would be cool if she got Josie to help her build a pyramid out of soda and beer cans) when she hears a creak. It comes from outside when someone steps on the stairs and is followed by footsteps, then a very familiar voice.

"Yeah, okay." Penelope's voice can be heard through the door and Hope panics. "I have to go mom, I'm picking up some clothes. Bye, love you."

So, Hope is standing there for a good two seconds that feel like hours with Josie's panties in her hand. She knows Penelope would most likely recognize them and if she were to see them in Hope's possession, Penelope's mind would run rampant. She really doesn't know how to lie her way out of holding Josie's underwear and have it not look weird (either it looks like they're hooking up or it looks like Hope is some kind of underwear pervert).

Those two seconds pass and Hope chucks the panties into the wash at last minute, then puts herself in what she hopes is a casual position.

"Oh. Hey." Penelope says awkwardly, clearing caught by surprise at Hope's presence.

Most of the students run on a schedule that doesn't include doing laundry during the night, so Penelope had probably assumed she wouldn't run into anyone in there - the same way Hope had. They aren't on good terms, but neither of them offers up an insult. Hope still feels awkward about the underwear previously in her hand and Penelope stands makeup-less and in her pajamas, holding an empty laundry basket.

Under these terms, they both silently decide to play nice.

"Hey." Hope greets her back, being just as awkward.

Penelope nods at her once and walks over to one of the drying machines. She kneels and starts unloading her clothes, while Hope shuts the washing machine's door, starts the cycle, and drums her fingers along the trembling machine. The noise fills up the space in the room, but everything still feels tense.

Since she had a bit of time left over, Hope had wanted to stay and watch her laundry move around in messy circles. It would've given her a chance to relax and collect herself for a moment until movie night officially started. Now, she was thinking about setting a timer on her phone and going back upstairs to spray Febreze everywhere.

It just felt so awkward, standing there while Penelope rustled through the drying machine a few feet away from her. Hope sighs and takes out her phone to set the timer that will remind her to come back down and get the clothes.

"You have to look out for Josie, you know?" Penelope says suddenly. She stands, apparently having gotten the last of her clothes from the dryer, and Hope raises her eyebrows at the unexpected sentence. "She won't tell you when things are getting bad for her - doesn't want to be a burden. So you have to just… watch. Pay attention."

Hope blinks slowly, feeling a little confused. "I'm well aware Josie is more quiet than she should be. Why are you telling me this?"

Penelope shrugs and picks up her now filled basket in one swift motion.

"I figure you're next in line."

She's gone as quickly as she came, only giving Hope one last glance before she leaves. If Penelope had been wearing a cape she probably would have waved it dramatically while making her exit. Hope has no idea what Penelope means anyways, but it is Penelope, and she knows that girl speaks in riddles.

Hope does not have the time to deal with riddles right now, especially from Penelope, so she puts her curiosity on pause for now. She sighs and lifts herself up onto the washer, feeling it rumble against her thighs.

Life is so bizarre sometimes.

The movie turns out to be Twilight: New Moon. Hope rolls her eyes and glares down Josie when she hears the selection, while Josie cackles like a mad man the second she steps through the doorway. MG complains a bit about how badly the movie portrays vampires and how it's stupid in general, but Lizzie seems genuinely excited to watch the film (unlike Josie, who mellows down about it once she's run out of laughter), so he shuts up fairly quick.

Yoda - who suddenly appears once he sees that Lizzie is there - has some dramatic reunion with MG that is cut short by Lizzie squealing and picking him up. She obviously adores the cat, enough to casually scratch his fur and plant a kiss to the animal's soft belly.

(Hope has no idea how Lizzie bonded with her pet so quickly, considering they only spent about fifteen to thirty minutes together, but she doesn't question it.)

They gather on Hope's couch and Lizzie mutters the spell to make the television appear. Hope thinks that it might be awkward, but there's enough of them that for the first five minutes or so someone is always talking. They split into two for the blanket sharing, Hope and Josie taking a pink one while MG and Lizzie cover themselves with the blue.

MG has an ample amount of snacks shoved into his pockets. He passes out sour candies, cheap chocolates, salted chips, and plastic bags filled with popcorn drenched in butter. No one has any idea how he has that much food crammed into a single hoodie, but no one asks.

The opening starts to play and Hope wants to boo, but she's pretty sure Lizzie would attack her, so she settles for a pout and a glare. Josie notices, because of course she does, and she stretches her arm out around Hope's shoulders to pull Hope into her side. Hope takes the offer to cuddle a little slower than usual (she isn't sure if she wants to appear so blatantly mushy around Lizzie and MG) but she does accept it in the end, leaning into Josie's body.

Josie hogs the sour candies and Lizzie pretty much devours all of the chocolates, so MG and Hope go back and forth sharing the chips and popcorn. They both barely even protest at half of the snacks being stolen. It seems they share a soft spot for the Saltzman twins.

The movie goes on. Unfortunately.

It's dumb but kind of entertaining and Hope finds herself actually enjoying it a bit by the time they are halfway through. That might be because she isn't fully paying attention, though. Her head is comfortably resting against the crook of Josie's neck and shoulder. Josie never really stays still, keeps shifting her legs or moving her spare hand or just fidgeting in general.

At some point Hope lays her legs across Josie's lap and one of Josie's hands gets placed on her thigh. Josie uses her fingers to draw random symbols into Hope's skin, inching up and along Hope's thigh without thinking of Hope's sanity. Each time Josie's hand gets a bit higher than it should while they have visitors, Hope feels her breath catch in her throat.

She loses focus on the plot of the movie when Josie digs her nails into the skin just under Hope's purple shorts. The spot between her thighs throbs once, then twice, and Hope squirms. Josie turns to see if she is okay, but accidentally (maybe not accidentally) pushes Hope's shorts so they bunch up about an inch higher than they should. Hope has to bite her tongue to keep from making any noise.

Josie leans down towards Hope, gets her mouth close to Hope's ear so her warm breath brushes against Hope's skin. "You okay?"

Hope nods a little shakily.

She is okay. She is fine, just nearing the line between calm and very horny. Besides, this time her arousal is explainable. There is half-naked men on the screen right in front of her, all with chiseled abs. They aren't bad to look at. They must be the reason she is turned on, after all.

"I'm so Team Edward." Lizzie sighs, staring at the character as he appears on the screen. Edward is a bit creepy for Hope's taste, but she says nothing. Josie, on the other hand, does not hold her tongue.

"No way." Josie steals a piece of Hope's popcorn out of the bowl and tosses it at her sister. "Team Jacob all the way."

There is a debate. Hope doesn't care much about it, but she has to admit that it is more entertaining than the movie. She watches Josie refer to Edward as a total stalker creep, while Lizzie rants about Jacob's long hair in the first movie. Hope even shares a laugh with MG when their gazes meet over the bickering girls.

Honestly, Hope is surprised that she enjoys it as much as she does.