I woke up to the sunlight seeping through the curtains, with an arm wrapped around my body. I could hear Hope's soft breathing from right next to me. My eyes fluttered open and I could see her face right in front of mine. Our foreheads were touching ever so slightly.
I didn't want to move. Maybe it was because of the feeling of her forehead on mine. Or maybe it was because I didn't want to wake her up, but for whatever reason it was I just knew that I wanted to stay right where I was. I could feel sleep slowly lull me back off into dreamland.
I don't know how much time passed, but Rebekah's booming voice awoke both of us from our peaceful slumber, "Now what is going on here? I thought you and Lizzie were in bed together,"
The two of us sprung apart as we saw her staring at us with her arms crossed. I rubbed the tired out of my eyes, yawning. Hope let out a sigh, "Lizzie and I broke up before we got here. She didn't want to bother you guys for an extra room and Josie is nice enough to sleep with her instead. So B and I are bunking together,"
Rebekah eyed both of us carefully, but ultimately let it go, "Well, we're going to leave here within the next hour. Make sure you guys are ready,"
"I think your family hates me," I joked, kind of, as I rolled out of bed.
She shook her head, combing her hair through her fingers, "No, I don't think so. But I think they have an idea that something might be going on between us. Freya stopped me yesterday and I told her about me and Lizzie. Nothing about me and you because there's not much to tell," there was silence for a couple beats before she spoke up again.
"You can use the bathroom first," she whispered, changing the topic.
And so I did. I brushed my teeth and changed my clothes. Then switched with Hope, there was a soft knock on the door before it was cracked open. Jo's head popped in with a small smile on her face.
"Am I interrupting anything?" she asked and I shook my head.
"Nope, just finished getting ready," I answered, matching her smile.
She came over as I sat down onto the foot of the bed, "Wow this bed is small, how did you guys fit?" she asked, sitting onto my lap, wrapping her arms around me.
"It was a tight squeeze, but we made it work. How's Lizzie doing?" I asked her, hooking my chin onto her shoulder.
"She's okay, all things considered. I held her until she went to bed last night, but that's been something that we've been doing the past couple nights," she let out a sigh, "I wish we knew why Hope did it,"
I took a breath in and looked at her, "Yeah...if only we knew,"
"Nevermind them, I miss you," she whispered, placing light kisses on my cheeks and I giggled at the ticklish feeling.
"I'm just down the hall," I tell her and she rolls her eyes.
"Yeah, but I thought this trip was going to allow time alone for both of us. After all of the Malivore pit, I just thought it would be nice," she whispered and my eyes softened.
I kissed her forehead, "There's a lot you don't know, but the only thing we can do is help Lizzie and Hope. Hope is struggling too and it doesn't help that two of her best friends aren't speaking to her,"
"Wait, do you know something?" she asked and I just hummed in response with my eyebrows furrowed, "You said there's a lot you don't know, not we don't know, so did she tell you something?"
"Oh! No I'm sorry, I meant there's a lot we don't know," I told her.
"Never mind them right now, I'd rather enjoy the little alone time we have right now," she whispered.
She leaned in close, our lips meeting in a soft kiss. Our lips moved insync just like how they always did. Something so comfortable and so familiar. The taste of her coconut lip balm lingered on my lips, it felt like coming home.
Our slow kisses were filling the empty air. Until someone cleared their throat from right behind Jo. We both pulled away to see Hope standing there with an awkward smile on her face, but I could see the sadness behind her eyes.
"Am I interrupting something?" she asked and I could hear the waver in her voice, "I would appreciate it if you didn't do it on my childhood bed," she tried joking, but you could tell it was hard for her to even crack a smile.
Jo's face was flushed as she hid her face into my neck and I smiled to myself softly, "We're sorry Hope. It won't happen again,"
She cleared her throat, "We should get going. My family is probably waiting
downstairs,"
"Right," I told her.
The three of us made our way downstairs to see Lizzie sitting down with Rebekah. The two of them looked like they were having a heart to heart.
"I just don't get it, everything was fine until she jumped into the pit with B," Lizzie's voice got picked up by my super hearing.
"I think Hope is going through things right now. She's a very hard person to get to open up. Give her time to sort through her thoughts. She may lean on Bentley since they went through it together and it'll hurt to see, but that's just how it's going to be," Rebekah told her as we all entered the kitchen, "Speak of the devil! Let's get going girls,"
Rebekah gave me a look and I nodded subtly. She knows I heard everything. And I know I'm going to get a talking to, not just by her, but probably her and Freya. Now let's be honest here, both of them are a lot scarier than Kol.
The drive to the bayou was quiet. No one was really saying anything. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. After a harsh 20 minutes we finally arrived. It was a lot more humid over here. The warm air mixed with the humidity made me feel very icky.
I noticed Hope's whole mood changed from this morning. Her demeanor changed, she looked a little more somber than usual. I weaved my way through the twins to side up next to her.
"Everything okay?" I whispered.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she started to walk away a lot quicker than usual.
Rebekah stopped in front of a random tree and the rest of us girls gathered around her, "So, I guess today's plan is to see if there is a Malivore pit in the ground. You've all seen one, but since the bayou is so big we should split up into groups. Hope and Bentley, off you guys go. Wonder twins, you'll head this way,"
Hope and I walked in silence for the longest time just searching for something, anything. In my opinion, I think this Malivore pit is gone and it's something brand new because we didn't get erased from existence for nothing.
She didn't seem like her normal self. She seemed distant, but for some reason I don't seem like it was about me. As soon as we got to the bayou she seemed to shut down. It's like she became a more broody girl than usual.
We were in the middle of the search when the silence was just too much for me, so I did what I knew wasn't a good idea, but did anyway because I didn't know what else to do, "Hope, is everything okay?" I whispered.
She looked at me with hurt in her eyes, "I'm fine Bentley, just leave me alone!" she screamed and her powers and her emotions overflowing sent me flying through the air and into a tree. I let out a groan before rubbing my head, "Oh my gosh B, are you okay?" she asked to come to my side.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna be a little sore, but I'm all good," I groan.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," she whispered, sitting on the tree next to me where I was sat up against.
I turned my head to look at her, "Do you wanna tell me what's going on? Ever since we got here you've seemed out of it,"
"My mom," she whispered, her voice cracking slightly, "This is where her werewolf pack would hide out. This is where she found her family and her real name,"
"Andrea?" I asked softly and she nodded.
"It's just a lot. I haven't been home since they both died and I miss her a lot. And I miss my dad and being with all my family it just makes it so much more real," her voice started choking up.
I hesitantly leaned over and wrapped my arms around her securely. Hope buried her head into my shoulder and I held her close, "Let it out, it's okay,"
We sat there for a while before she finally calmed down. But neither of us moved. We sat there in silence. A cool breeze overcame the humid heat as we just breathed in the fresh air.
"I'm proud of you, did you know that?" I told her.
"For what?" she asked.
"You're known to never open up about anything about your family. Yet here you are opening up to someone who you don't really want to be friends with right now. So I'm proud of you," I said with a kind smile.
"There's something about you. I try and try and try to avoid you, not talk to you, try to keep my distance, but fate has a funny way of working doesn't it," she responded.
"I thought you didn't believe in fate," I teased, wiggling my eyebrows.
She finally broke out into a smile, "Shut up," she joked.
"C'mon you can say it. 3 words, 12 letters, you were..." I continued to tease her and she smiled even wider.
"Wrong," she said and I started to count the letters on my fingers and they all added up to 12.
"God damn it," I whispered and she had a satisfied smile on her face. Hope looked more relax than ever, "There it is, there's that smile,"
I got up from the tree that I was once thrown in and extended my hand out towards her. She grasped it and I pulled her up before we started on the rest of our trek.
There was nothing to be seen. No pits or any bodies. Just the swampy bayou. I'm kinda sad I didn't see Shrek though. We finally met up with the twins and Rebekah as they waited in anticipation.
"No we didn't see anything," I told them, "Have you?"
"Nope!" Lizzie states, "That's a good thing, right?"
"I don't think so," Hope spoke up, "That means that there's another threat to a lot of people and possibly us. And we don't know what it is or who it is. That could be an even bigger problem,"
"Well fuck," I mumbled.