Five episodes later, the girls were lying on the sitting room floor in their cami pajamas, legs up in the air as they flipped through a magazine. Printouts of their class readings lay scattered around them, highlighters and paperclips everywhere. Their hair smelled of chlorine from the pool and sugar from the bag of gummy worms they had called dinner.
"I still find it weird your kitchen has so much normal food." Leah flipped a page; the next article promised, "10 Signs Older is Too Old."
"Yeah, well, the fridge in the kitchen's mine basically. The other fridge is in the basement." Leah made a face at the thought of a giant cooler full of blood bags, causing Hope to break out in laughter. Leaping up, a whirlwind of honey curls, she gathered up all the candy wrappers and jumped up to toss them in the bin.
Leah yawned, which hurt since her face ached in general from earlier. They had already agreed that it was too late to drive her back to campus, and the least Hope could do after that episode of parental control earlier was to allow Leah to sleep over. Tomorrow was Saturday, and if they left at dawn they could avoid any traffic back into town. So Leah had borrowed some pajamas and swallowed down the idea that she was going to spend the night under the same roof as Klaus Mikaelson. Even at Holy Cross House they told stories of the hybrid, though they were simply stories to most of the children - if they could see her now, right?
Now in the kitchen, grabbing her iPod Hope switched to a song with pulsing beats. Leah sprang up in recognition; she yelled across the hallway.
"Holy shit, I know this song! I danced to it once at a talent show in high school. I can't believe you have this."
"Wait, rewind. You danced in high school?" To Hope, high school was a big mystery; she wasn't sure what people did exactly in high school, but she wouldn't have minded four years of dancing. She chuckled, returning to the couch with a fresh bag of gummy worms and a dare ready for Leah.
"Ok, then prove it."
"Fine," Leah accepted, pulling her hair up with an elastic and taking her spot center living room. "Restart the song, and it's on."
/
Elijah could tell the patio doors were open from the slants of light that fell across the water of the pool. His hands were full anyway with dry-cleaning, so he was glad to avoid the front door altogether. Setting the bags over the kitchen chair, he assumed it was Hope who had her iPod blaring in the kitchen. Noticing the half-open bag of tortilla chips and salsa stains on the counter, he smiled to himself, hoping she was at least enjoying herself. He often worried that Hope had a lonely life; while she loved her family, it was not good for someone so young and impressionable as her to spend so much time with those so jaded with life. He had argued with Klaus, surprisingly on the side of Hayley, when the issue of Hope and college had arisen. High school had been out of the question; at that time she had come into her witch powers and she was equally a danger to herself as to others at that time. And honestly, there were no better teachers than Klaus and Elijah, and even Rebekah had taught her French and Italian by age ten.
But let her go to college, Elijah had argued. And while Klaus could argue with Elijah, he could not win against Hayley.
That was nearly four years ago, back when he still lived in the plantation house. But now he mostly spent his time in the Quarter in order to manage the Faction from the Compound - at least that is what Hayley and him had agreed to tell Hope.
This song is actually not as horrible as I first thought, he noted solemnly to himself, opening the fridge to check if there was milk for coffee and tea tomorrow morning. Pausing a moment to listen, the Original closed the door in slow realization that there were two heartbeats coming from the den.
Coming through the hallway, he leaned against the doorway into the living room. There was Hope on the couch, her back to him with her videophone in her hands; before her was another girl. Neither noticed him lurking from the far side of the room.
That girl looks distantly familiar.
No, not a girl - a young woman. She was wearing one of Hope's flimsy night ensembles, the one Rebekah bought her despite his protestations. And she was dancing, spinning around the room, her hair almost golden red in the low light of the den. This must be the new friend that has kept Hope on campus so much in the last weeks. Klaus has been complaining about nothing else lately.
Not a girl, he reiterated to himself, but certainly acting like a child.
Let them be, Elijah chastised himself, turning back to the kitchen to retrieve his dry cleaning. It had been a long day.
An hour later, up in the room he still maintained at the house, he stepped out from the shower, pinching the bridge of his noise in mild irritation: that damn song was still in his head.
/
Leah wrapped the towel around her, stepping out from the en suite bathroom onto the cool wooden floor. Her hair still dripped wet down her back, but Hope's room was just down the hall from the guest room. Leah was always creeped out by showering at other people's homes, like she was invading their lives or something. It was weird to use their shampoo and towels and soap, but from the feel of these towels, they were brand new. She didn't actually know they sold grey towels, but it was the fucking softest towel she had ever wrapped around herself. Running a hand down the hem of it, she found the tag, and squinting at the writing on the label she headed down the hall back to Hope's room.
Egyptian cotton, no shit, she thought gleefully, it's one of those $30 towels, isn't it. Fucking boss.
Smack.
She collided with someone. It was a some-one, she knew, because it was wearing a suit as grey as her towel. The juxtaposition of overdressed and underdressed was poetic as hell. If she wasn't already holding the towel by the label, it would have fallen down her body - which would have only made this encounter slightly less awkward, because it was already pretty fucking awkward.
It's the uncle, isn't it? She finally dares to look up. She still clings to the towel's label.
"Uh…yeuhh…"
She's so fucking eloquent it hurts.
It's what always happens when she's taken off guard. Leah's fight or flight response has kicked in; she's become hyper conscience of everything all the sudden. For example, the way she's holding her towel is pushing her chest up. She can tell because her boobs kinda hurt the way she's squishing them.
But relaxing the death grip on her towel is not an option.
Hope's uncle is a creep, Leah thinks. He's smirking, she's sure of it. The worse part is he's looking at her as if she isn't just in a towel and dripping water on the hardwood floor and this was the most normal conversation in the world.
"Afternoon, you must be Hope's friend."
"Tch…tchI'm….hi, I'm…just….shower."
Fucking hell, this is bad.
"Clearly," Elijah grins, taking a huge, generous step to the side so she can pass. Who makes hallways so narrow? Fuckers.
Let's try this again.
"Sorry," she clears her throat and tries to look as put-together as you can in a towel. "I'm…I'm Leah. Hope invited me over last night and we stayed up late so I just stayed over. She's in her shower though."
"No need to explain, Leah," he waves her off. "Though, I will have to speak with Hope; she should have put you in the guest room. Next time."
Leah opens her mouth, and then closes it. Next time she would just wait and take a shower when she got back to campus. She'd choose communal showers over…whatever is happening right now…any day.
"Next time," was all she could muster. "I better…"
"Of course," Elijah smiled again, though he doesn't move from his spot.
Motherfucker, Leah curses internally, sidling around this random man in a suit. She doesn't look back as she passes. It's too early for this shit.
Definitely not a girl, the man in the suit muses.
/
Hope threw the bags in the back seat before joining Leah in the car. Her keychain sparkled as she reeved the ignition. Those are definitely diamonds, Leah deadpanned to herself.
"So."
"I don't want to talk about it. Just drive."
"Sorry," Hope whined, pulling out of the driveway. "I had no idea Elijah was in. He's so rarely around. It wasn't that bad, right?"
"Hope, you are fucking kidding right?"
"Right." Hope focused on the road, avoiding Leah's stern gaze. She tried really hard not to laugh.
She failed.
It's a whole month before Leah visits again.
