Josie Saltzman over the years discovered that she was an idiot and a coward.
For all these years Josie Saltzman has been hiding a secret, one she couldn't tell anyone: She was in love with Hope Mikaelson.
So sitting in the living room in the living room of her New York apartment, drinking Bourbon straight from the bottle and letting the tears she has been holding for years finally falling, she thinks about how she got there, when she allowed herself to move on once and for all.
After all, she should have done this a long time ago, Josie thinks, but she had allowed herself to feel a little hope that she and the tribe could be something, but it never happened or will happen.
The brunette symphonist also never said anything, as she could if Hope's heart already belonged to someone else, and not just anybody, her twin sister Lizzie.
Josie thought of the moments when she wanted to cry, when she wanted to scream (Hey I'm here, I love you!), But she couldn't, because she had spoiled her chances when she was thirteen, when she burned Mikaelson's room over when she cheated on her sister and told the school about her episodes.
She was sure this was karma, a way in the universe to punish her for being so selfish and cowardly, for not being a good sister and friend.
She is sitting there on her couch and drunk that she thinks about how they got to that moment.
The first time she saw them together was a few weeks after the car trip and the incident with the mummy, things were still very strange between the three girls, but gradually everything was going back to normal or something like normal.
After a very sincere conversation with Hope two days after the truth came out, the redhead said that she was forgiven, said that she thought about it and concluded that they were children and screwed up, that it made no sense to hold a grudge for something that it had happened three years ago.
Her sister on the other hand was a different story, Lizzie avoided it at all costs, she barely saw her sister in the first two weeks. The blonde twin made a point of not being close to the brunette, without conversation, without complaints, without sitting with her at lunch or in class, and spoke to her only as needed and giving vague answers and that was killing Josie inside.
Gradually the relationship of the Saltzman twins was returning to normal, when Lizzie decided to have a conversation with her, she said that she had taken some time out of Josie so she could think, and talk to her again without wanting to strangle her whenever she saw her, Josie thought it was fair. Lizzie said that she had forgiven her, that she didn't want to be angry with her forever, after all they were sisters, but she also said that things could not be as they were before, that they needed time together, to break that endless cycle of codependency that they had, that they should have separate lives.
Josie agreed, it hurt, but she agreed and with that she and Lizzie began to have a normal sister relationship, as normal as possible for them.
What Josie didn't expect is that her crush on Hope would return, but after thinking about it she came to the conclusion that she had never left, she just locked her emotions in after the fire. After hearing the redhead say they were reciprocal at the time, she allowed herself to have a little hope that maybe her friend could give her a chance.
So Josie started to seek Hope's attention, helping her with the monsters that appeared, studying spells, trying to find out more about the tribe, she thought it was working, after all the redhead seemed to be responding, Josie had decided not to flirt with her. redhead still, because I didn't want to scare her.
One day Josie went looking for the tribe to ask for help with a potion for her magic chemistry class, she had searched for Hope everywhere she normally stayed during the day, her room, the kitchen, the library and her office. father. When she went looking for the dock she heard loud laughter coming from there, she recognized Hope's voice and hid behind a bush to see what happened to make the tribe laugh so hard.
When she looked she saw Hope and Lizzie sitting on the pier facing each other with the redhead holding the blonde's hands, and saying something that Josie didn't understand anymore made her sister laugh.
As Josie walked away she wondered with a frown and arms crossed since Lizzie and Hope were friends.
The second time was during Miss Mystic Falls, after she saw them on the pier Josie started watching her sister and Hope, saw how they were getting close, how they always seemed to be close to each other, always smiled more when they saw each other, they always seemed to touch themselves in some way, whether consciously or not (holding hands, hitting their shoulders, laying their heads on each other's shoulders, hugging). Their friendship was making Josie angry and jealous because Hope never looked as happy with her as she did with Lizzie.
When she questioned her sister about her proximity to Hope, the blonde gave only a vague answer, as if she didn't want to talk about it with Josie, (Hope and I decided to forget the past and be friends, that's all. That's what she said.
And during the contest when Lizzie chose Hope to replace her, part of the brunette was angry that her sister didn't think she was good enough to win and the other part that she planned to ask Hope to be her partner during the dance, plus Lizzie went and ruined everything as usual.
So Josie was not happy.
If Josie was angry before, when the announcer announced Hope's name and that she would be accompanied by Lizzie Saltzman, Josie turned into a volcano about to explode, however, she couldn't help but screw it up, so she concentrated on keeping the fake smile for dancing.
While Josie danced around the room with her ex-girlfriend, she watched her sister and red-haired friend dance beautifully trapped in her own world, as if nothing and no one but the two existed.
Josie watched as Lizzie comforted Hope in the middle of the room when her emotions got the better of her.
She saw Hope holding her brother as if she were her lifeline, as she hid her face on the blonde's shoulder and hugged her tightly.
At that time, the anger Josie was feeling was gone, and it was replaced by sadness, because the girl she liked looked so… broken. And she couldn't help it, or console her after all, she had Lizzie for it.
But late when Josie questioned her sister as to why she accompanied Hope in the dance and not Landon, the blonde replied only that the tribe and Hobbit thrift store fought while the announcer announced the participants and that he abandoned her and ran away, who knows where.
One thing was certain was for Josie she would kill Landon Kirby if she found him.
The next time it happened was when classes started, Josie had been feeling strangely empty during the end of classes, as if something was missing and she couldn't remember what.
She realized that she was not the only one, everyone in the super squad seemed to be having the same problem.
But Josie realized that no one looked as bad as her sister, who was very quiet, without sarcastic comments, without nicknames, she just stayed alone in the library, on the pier or in the room reading and rereading her diary and writing over and over, Josie came to think that she was having an episode.
When she asked her sister why she was so weird, she didn't know how to answer, just said that she felt like an incomplete puzzle.
When Lizzie asked her if she would like to spend the summer with her mother in Europe she refused, Josie thought that she would stay to help her father with his midlife crisis, that feeling would go away. So the brunette tried to enjoy the summer as much as she could, she even started dating Landon, but as much as she liked the boy, something was missing in her and she couldn't point the finger at what.
When her sister came back from Europe she was different, more mature and quieter, Lizzie had cut her hair around her shoulders and changed her tone from blond to a lighter one, she had changed her style of dress using dark tones or pastels, she started to dress like an adult woman and behave like one.
When Josie asked about the drastic change in style and personality, her sister said that she had done a lot of therapy, talked a lot with her mother, and made a friend who in turn saw the world in a different way.
So Josie met Hope Marshall, she doesn't know why the girl took her seriously anymore, Josie thought it was because it looked like Hope was interested in Landon, but on the day of the football game she saw Marshall glance at her sister who was sitting in the stands - reading a book looking for answers to the problem Sebastian, the supposed Malivore show.
Josie never saw anyone look at her sister like that, a mixture of longing and sadness, the look lasted just a second before Hope looked at the brunette coldly again, and Josie doesn't know why it bothered her so much.
The next time it happened was when Lizzie was possessed by Oni, Josie might have been distracted by her sister begging to kill her, but the brunette saw Hope's face in panic when the blonde asked for it.
The next night when Josie read Penelope's diary, more and more pages about a girl named Hope Mikaelson, and the more she read the more it made sense.
She discovered that she had been in love with the red-haired girl, but she would not have a chance, since the pages of Hope and Lizzie's diaries basically confessed their feelings for each other, they were dating before the tribe jumped into the mud pit.
Reading Hope and Lizzie's descriptions of their relationship made her angry, because of course Hope had to choose Lizzie.
After all, it's always her.
Josie almost wanted to leave things as they were, no one would remember Hope, her sister wouldn't and she might have a chance.
But she was not like that, she could not be so selfish, so the siphon witch went to New Orleans after Freya Mikaelson, and managed to bring everyone's memory back.
So everyone recovered their memories of Hope, and she and Lizzie seemed to be glued to their hips, they weren't the type of couple that went around clinging, they were very reserved, in fact, and Josie thanked her for it, she couldn't stand to see them kissing all the time.
So Landon breaks up with her, because he is not in love with her, and will dedicate himself to helping Rafael adapt to human life.
And if she is being sincere she is relieved.
Then for the next months she dedicated herself to finding a cure for fusion.
Then there was the problem with Dark Josie, what no one seemed to understand is that it was not just Josie full of black magic in her veins, but it was a part of Josie that doesn't show the selfish and bad part of her.
She wanted to hurt Lizzie, she wanted to kill her.
When Hope and Dark Josie were exchanging spells in the gym, the brunette thought for a moment that the redhead would kill her, and she could if she wanted to, she would always choose Lizzie, after all if it was to choose between the life of the love of her life and the sister corrupted by black magic to Hope's answer would be easy.
When everything with Malivore and the Necromancer was resolved they spent the next and last year of school normally.
Josie had moved to Mystic Falls to have a last year completely without magic, and it had been good for her to move, she had even started dating a girl named Finch, but it didn't work out in part because the girl in question was very complicated and kept a lot of secrets and Josie already had enough drama in her life. And there was Hope who was firm and strong with her sister.
And a large part of Josie wanted to give up and the other where little innocent Josette Saltzman who still believed in happy endings still had a little hope that they might still have something.
After a lot of hard work, graduation day had finally arrived, Josie had decided to study medicine at Columbia University as well as her biological mother.
His mother and father had been so happy that they framed his letter of acceptance. Alaric couldn't stop smiling and Caroline couldn't stop crying and hugging her.
When Josie questioned her sister and Hope about universities, she was surprised by the response she received.
Lizzie and Hope had been accepted to London Central University of Arts Saint Martins, to study fashion and fine arts respectively.
Josie was shocked she thought they would study at a university close to home, and not out of the country.
Although she secretly disagreed with their choice of universities, Josie just smiled, gave hugs and congratulations, but inside she was in tears.
Then over the next few years Josie watched Hope and Lizzie's relationally evolve more and more.
And Josie didn't wait for Hope, she knew that nothing would ever happen between them so sometime during the summer before her senior year in college, Josie took a trip to Italy where she met her ex-girlfriend Penélope Park, after a lot of conversation they decided to give themselves one more chance.
And Josie was happy, very happy, but she couldn't give one hundred percent of her heart to Park, more like eighty-five percent, the other fifteen is that little part of her that belonged to Hope Mikaelson.
Two years after college ended, Josie was finishing up her residency and was happily dating penelope who worked at a very famous New York law firm when she got the call from her super happy sister saying she was getting married, Josie could feel her heart sinking with the news.
She couldn't help thinking about how lucky her sister was.
Lizzie after she graduated was determined to build her own fashion empire, which she called Gemini in honor of her clan twins who were either exterminated by their uncle Kai or had to merge. Hope opened an art gallery, and had many of her paintings sold to important people around the world.
The triple and blonde twin were living in New Orleans with the rest of the Mikaelson family.
Three weeks after receiving the news, she received the wedding invitation:
You are cordially invited to the wedding of
Hope Andrea Mikaelson
Elizabeth Jenna Saltzman
The brides had decided to get married from the former Forbes country house, which had been renovated and modernized over the years, when asked why the wedding was being held there, Lizzie and Hope just said that they had a special moment in that house. .
Josie was surprised when her sister said it would be a small wedding just for family and friends.
"You always said you wanted a big wedding." The brunette said to her sister two days before the big day.
"I am no longer a child Jo, I learned to value the little things, I want my marriage to Hope to be something special, memorable. We are just having a ceremony, because we want to celebrate that day with our families and closest friends, in addition, Mom and Rebekah would freak out if we run away to get married and they are not there. " Responded to Blondie
Josie had to admit it was a beautiful, magical wedding, her whole family was there, the Mikaelsons, The Salvatore, The Bennets, her aunt Vallerie, every super squad, her parents, some friends she made in college years that coincidentally were supernatural.
Lizzie and Hope were beautiful in their dresses - made by Lizzie obviously - there was no one person who was not crying.
Josie, although a little jealous, was happy that her sister and her fellow friend were happy.
The Sinfonadora observed the wives dancing happily, before returning to concentrate on dancing with Penelope.
"Have you thought about having this?" Asked Park.
"Yes, I would like to get married one day to have my own family." Replied the brunette twin.
That answer made Penelope give him a strange look.
The godfather speeches made everyone laugh, remembering how Lizzie and Hope could not spend more than two minutes in a room without exchanging pins and now they could barely get away from each other.
During her mother's speech she made a joke about wanting a grandchild in a year or two which made everyone laugh.
Little did they know that two years later, Hayley Caroline Mikaelson and Niklaus Joseph Mikaelson II would be born, with their red hair and big, lovely blue eyes.
And that was what brought her up to that moment sitting on her couch with a bottle of whiskey while she waited for her girlfriend - bride, in fact - to come back from a work trip.
Josie had come back from the hospital two hours ago, and started to think about her life and how she got here.
She was happy she was a successful doctor she had a bride who loved her more than anything in the world. And Josie could now say that feeling was one hundred percent reciprocal of her heart, she had an owner and she was called Penélope Park.
Josie was crying not only for what might have been, but also for happiness, because now that she could move on.
Her sister and Hope were happy together, and Josie was happy for them, the red-haired girl would always have a place in her heart, after all she had been her first crush, but now she would live her best life without thinking about the past.
Josie didn't even notice that she had started to smile.
Tomorrow will be a new day and she will enjoy every minute of it and the next, and the next one that comes and she will be happy.