A Twist Through Time (A TVDU fic)

Chapter 26

A day after Hope Mikaelson left Mystic Falls, she finally arrived in New Orleans and got off of the bus. Her stomach grumbled a little from hunger, which meant she needed to get some food instead of just going straight home. The tribrid would rather just sticking to research, but she still needed to eat and was not a vampire that could use their enhanced speed to get what they wanted quickly. She had to do this the normal way. She headed inside of Rousseau's, despite not being the legal drinking age. It wasn't like she was getting anything to drink anyways, she thought to herself before going over to the bar.

"Aren't you a little young to be in here?" the blonde bartender questioned as Hope took a seat.

The tribrid wasn't paying much attention but replied "Technically. But I'm not planning on drinking alcohol and this place reminds me of home"

She looked down a bit, her heart aching painfully as she thought of everything that had happened lately. It all kept replaying in her mind no matter what she tried to do to distract herself. Not that she has had much of a chance to turn into her wolf form or hit anything, which were her main ways of burning off energy and helping with her thoughts.

The woman watched her and finally nodded. "What can I get you?"

Hope placed her order and finally looked more at the woman, her lips parting open in surprise at the sight of her and the further confirmation of the name Camille on the woman's name tag. She was stunned into silence for a moment before regaining her ability to speak. "A burger and fries and a coke to go please" A burger wasn't her usual preference, but it was a good meal to have either way

"Coming right up" Camille said before passing the order back to the kitchen before returning. "You look like you have a lot on your mind?"

"It's nothing. Just some family problems that you probably don't want to hear about"

"Well, I have a PHD in psychology" she said, looking at Hope. "Maybe I could offer some advice?"

"I don't know. It's not exactly something I want to talk about in a bar. Besides, I don't think anyone could really understand how this feels unless they lived through it"

"Well, if you change your mind, I get off in half an hour if you want to talk alone"

"Thank you" Hope said softly. "But I should really just get home."

"Alright. Then perhaps I will see you around..." Camille trailed off, not knowing her name.

"Lizzie" Hope lied, her mind going to her best friend that Camille never got the chance to meet.

Lizzie Saltzman was someone that had been a conflicting person in her life from the moment they met. Hope hadn't been comfortable with making friends when she first started attending the school because she couldn't be honest with any friends she made. She had to pretend not to be a Mikaelson. And the only people that knew her identity were Dr Saltzman, Headmistress Forbes, and the school counselor, Emma. Dr. Saltzman was there for her, which led to Lizzie being jealous. And their relationship just got worse but Lizzie never told Hope why. And then finally they cleared up a past misunderstanding and lies from Josie Saltzman, which being resolved had led Hope and Lizzie to become best friends.

"Alright. It was nice to meet you, Lizzie." the blonde bartender said, looking at the underage girl that had walked into the bar.

She clearly wanted to help Hope but was respecting her wishes not to talk about her problems. Something Hope appreciated. Even dialing down her situation to be something humans could understand, it was still a painful topic to even think about, much less speak about. All Hope wanted to do was retreat to her solitude and figure out some answers.