Dont Leave Yet

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by laygwin

by laygwin

Original: heauxsies on Twitter or smthin idk

Josie raised her hand hesitantly to Hope’s door. She hadn’t told the tribrid she was coming, knowing that if she did she was more likely to chicken out. Debating whether or not to leave, Josie sighed, knowing that Hope had probably heard her standing outside the door for almost five minutes, already knew she was here, and was most likely wondering why she wasn’t moving. Knocking, she stepped back and took a deep breath, waiting for the door handle to be pushed down and the tribrid to appear on the other side. But it didn’t happen. Her confidence decreasing, Josie quietly knocked on the door again, and once more didn’t receive an answer. Hope was either not in or ignoring her- Josie hoped it wasn’t the latter, she wasn’t sure if she could deal with not talking to Hope again, especially after she had just gained the confidence to talk to her about her growing feelings for the redhead.

Summoning all the courage she could, Josie grabbed the door handle. Slowly, she pushed it down and opened the squeaky door slightly. Peering round the door, she was met with a room that seemed slightly emptier than normal, and Josie scanned it while frowning- Hope clearly wasn’t here, but Josie felt something else missing. The room was unusually tidy, most days paintings and paint bushes were strewn over the floor with a mixture of clothes and school work, but the room was immaculate. Hope’s gym bag was the only thing left in the floor, ruling out where Josie had been planning to check next, but it lay abnormally empty and limp on the floor. Josie stepped forward onto the floorboards which groaned under her weight.

She went straight to the cardboard box she spotted in Hope’s art corner that had definitely not been there yesterday when she had spent the night in Hope’s room. Squatting down, she read the label that had been plastered on the top. It was addressed to somewhere in New Orleans. Josie felt herself start to panic, and her heart rose into her mouth.
“No,” she gasped, finding it more difficult to breathe every passing second. Hope must’ve left. She always told Josie when she was just visiting, and the fact that she was sending stuff in boxes away suggested to the brunette she wasn’t coming back. Shaking, Josie used the box to push herself up onto her unstable feet and stormed out of the room as fast as she could, straight to her dad’s office.

Josie ran into Lizzie before she could make it to Alaric and the blonde held on to her heaving shoulders to stable her.
“Josie, what’s happening?”
The brunette siphoner could barely focus on the words Lizzie was saying.
“Hope,” She spouted out, still gasping for air.
Lizzie frowned. “Josie! Did she not tell you?”
Josie shook her head.
“Jo, you’re gonna be fine, okay?”
Alaric appeared behind Lizzie, taking Josie’s hand.
“What happened?” He asked the blonde siphoner as Josie was clearly not in the state to be explaining anything.
“She didn’t know Hope was leaving.” Lizzie murmured.
Alaric fished into his pocket and brought out a piece of folded paper with Josie’s name in the front.
“She left Josie a letter.”
“But couldn’t bring herself to tell her in person. Typical Hope.”
“Lizzie,” Alaric apprehended.
Josie’s wild eyes looked up and met her dad’s.
“Can I have the letter?” she begged.
Somewhat reluctantly, Alaric handed it over. Josie ran her thumb over her name scrawled in the paper before squeezing through the gap between her sister and her father. Alaric made to follow her but Lizzie stopped him.
“It’s best to leave her alone.”
“I didn’t know she liked Hope that much.” Alaric admitted.
“Honestly, I think ‘like’ is a bit of an understatement.”

Once out of their sight, Josie started running again. She flew up the small flight of stairs leading to the front door, and fumbled with the bolts for a few seconds before throwing it open. The time she had spent with Lizzie in the corridor had hindered her chances of catching the tribrid before she got on the bus, but it wasn’t like Josie had been too hopeful anyway, Hope was just the next person in her life to leave her.

Ignoring the burning in her lungs, Josie pushed her feet off the ground over and over, desperately hoping that by some miracle Hope’s bus hadn’t left yet, and she could catch the tribrid just in time. The rain hammered down on her head, plastering her hair to the sides of her face, but she didn’t pay attention to it, squinting her eyes to see the blurry lights of what she internally begged was the bus to New Orleans. She tried forcing her legs to move faster, a feat Josie was sure was impossible but not getting to the bus on time wasn’t an option.

Panting, Josie finally made it close enough to see the flash of red hair reaching into the pocket of her hoodie to grab what Josie assumed would be her ticket.
“Hope!” she attempted to yell, but her voice strained and fell in to a whisper. Clearing her throat, she tried again and by what Josie thought must be some kind of magic, Hope heard and turned. Exhausted, the brunette slowed into a walk for the last few metres before coming to a stop a short distance away from the tribrid. Hope stood still, giving Josie an apologetic look, and with that Josie surged forwards and closed the short distance between them.

Their lips met, and Josie’s hands weaved up to Hope’s face, and Hope dropped her suitcase, leaving it to clatter onto the ground, and tangled hers in Josie’s hair.

The redhead was the first to pull away for air.
“You’re soaked.”
“I don’t care.” The brunette returned, not bothered about the chill of her wet clothes and instead staring into Hope’s endless gaze. Gently, she leaned in again and pressed her lips to Hope’s once more, before pulling back and resting her forehead against the tribrid’s. The bus pulled away beside them, the driver obviously not interested in waiting.
“Your bus left.”
“I don’t care,” Hope whispered, wiping the raindrops off Josie’s cheek.