Josie has issues at the moment. She has reasons. They will become clear.

Lizzie woke first the next morning, Hope's arm flung over her waist. The pain caused by Josie's admission still lingered, and she slipped out of Hope's embrace so as not to wake her.

Thankfully, their birthday had fallen on a Friday this year, so there was no reason to drag Hope out of bed. As she brushed her teeth, she contemplated going downstairs to grab some breakfast and coffee, but ultimately thought better of it - the last thing she wanted to do was run into Josie right now.

She didn't immediately go back to bed though, catching sight of the easel set up near the window, a canvas set up.

Lizzie wandered over, curious to see Hope's latest work, but she was startled at what she saw - her own face smiled out at her.

It was clearly unfinished, but her hair and make-up suggested that Hope had started painting after the party yesterday - that, or she had stayed awake after she had coaxed Lizzie into sleep last night.

"You're very paintable."

Lizzie jumped, glancing back to see that Hope was blinking sleepily at her. "It's beautiful."

Hope shrugged. "Like I said."

"So I know you've only just woken up," Lizzie said. "But it's tomorrow, I'm calmer, and I still want to kiss you. How about that talk?"

Hope yawned. "Come back to bed?" She meant it innocently enough, but Lizzie's cheeks did turn a little darker as she did as requested.

Hope shifted to lie on her side, facing her. "I had a crush on you too. I felt really guilty about it."

"Why?" Lizzie asked.

"I thought you and Josie were supposed to be like my little sisters," Hope said. "And Josie was. But you … You just got really pretty all of a sudden. And then … After everything, I really thought I'd got over it. I never walked away, not really, but I thought I'd got over that aspect of my feelings for you. And then you walked into that party yesterday and … I mean maybe I was just in denial. I paint you often enough." She laughed. "Landon figured it out before I did."

"Right," Lizzie said quietly. "You and Landon … Sorry, I forgot …"

Hope touched her hand, breaching the no-man's land between them. "There is no 'me and Landon'. We're just friends."

Lizzie's eyes lit up. "So … if you're single … and I'm single … and we've both got these crushes that never went away …"

"I will not lose you again, Lizzie," Hope said. "That has to come before anything."

"Of course," Lizzie agreed immediately. "The last four years … I mean, I imagine they were worse for you …"

"Let's not play that game," Hope murmured. "We both could have said something. Let's leave it at that."

Lizzie sighed, but nodded. "I know I can get jealous. And I'll get insecure. And I'll second guess why you want anything to do with me, and I promise I'll try to remember that it's because my brain lies to me."

"I promise I'll try to remember that too," Hope said. "But I need you to tell me what's going on in your head, because I'm not a mind-reader."

"I promise," Lizzie whispered.

Hope smiled, lifting a hand to cup her face. "Good," she breathed, the word ghosting across Lizzie's cheek, and then Hope was kissing her.

Maybe things were going to be okay, after all.

Hope's 17th birthday dawned bright and cold and she was woken by a series kisses trailing down her throat and across her collarbone.

A smile touched her face but she didn't open her eyes.

"Happy Birthday," Lizzie murmured against her skin.

Hope hummed in agreement.

The mattress shifted and Lizzie's weight suddenly settled on top of her; Hope's eyes flew open.

"Good morning," Lizzie said with a mischievous smile. "I thought you were about to go back to sleep."

"Well, I'm wide awake now," Hope said, tugging her down to kiss her.

Dimly, she heard Penelope's voice in the corridor, but she was still startled when her bedroom door flew open.

"Happy - What the hell?!"

Lizzie squeaked, jerking away from Hope, and would have fallen off the bed, but Hope grabbed her waist to steady her.

"Good morning Josie."

"Like I said," Penelope said tiredly, "you should probably knock."

"How long as this been going on?!" Josie demanded.

"Nine days," Hope said, a little coldly.

Josie laughed humourlessly. "Are you serious? I tell you I had a crush on her and you immediately go after her?"

"No, you told me that you'd lied about her stabbing me in the back," Lizzie shot back. "What does it matter to you anyway? I don't remember you being upset when whats-his-name was around."

"Roman," Hope said, even though she knew full well that Lizzie remembered his name.

"That was different," Josie said. "You're my sister, Lizzie - there's a code!"

Lizzie bristled and Hope felt her magic react to it, flowing into her girlfriend like a power pack. "Hey, look at me. Lizzie, look at me."

Lizzie's eyes darted to hers. "She …"

"I know, babe," Hope said soothingly. "Don't rise to it. Penny, can you …?"

"On it," Penelope said, grabbing Josie's arm. "Come on."

"But she …" Josie began.

"As your girlfriend, should I be worried that you're so upset that your sister is dating someone you swear blind you don't have feelings for?" Penelope asked.

"Pen, that is so not the point," Josie protested, as she was steered out of the room.

"I'm not letting you ruin Hope's birthday," Penelope said, pulling the door shut behind them.

Lizzie sighed. "The rest of the school is going to find out."

"Is that so bad?" Hope asked gently. "I know we said that we wanted to keep this between us for a while, but … I'm okay if you are."

So they came down to breakfast hand-in-hand, bracing themselves for the reaction.

No one batted an eyelid.

Landon did, however, give Hope a very smug, "Told you so."

"Shut up," Hope said.

Landon laughed. "Happy Birthday."

The rest of the table echoed him and Hope smiled. "Thanks guys."

"Head's up," Lizzie said, tearing one of her pastries in half and dropping half of it on Hope's plate. "Josie also knows and she is not happy."

"How come?" Rafael asked.

"It's a long story," Lizzie grumbled.

"Post!"

"Hogwarts gets owl deliveries," Landon said. "We get a designated student rota."

"Yeah, well, the students don't poop all over my breakfast," Lizzie said. "Although owls would be super cute."

A very large package came wobbling towards them, apparently all by itself.

"Happy Birthday, Hope!"

"Pedro, that's almost bigger than you are," Hope protested, rescuing the package. "But thank you very much for bringing it to me."

"You're welcome." Pedro hugged her around the waist. "Are you having a party too?"

"No, but Mom and Dad are coming to take me out to dinner tonight," Hope said. "I'll have a party next year for my eighteenth, okay?"

"Okay! Gotta go, I have more parcels!"

"Alright, who gave him sugar?" Lizzie asked.

Hope watched him for a second longer. "No, that's just Pedro."

Pedro was one of the youngest students, seven years old and cute as a button, and Hope and Lizzie both had a particular soft spot for him.

"What's in the package?" Lizzie asked.

Hope lifted the lid. The first thing she saw was a beautiful flower bouquet - roses and lilies all tied together with dark green leaves.

She lifted that out, passing it to Lizzie to hold, causing Rafael to let out a low whistle.

Underneath the flowers was a layer of tissue paper. Underneath that was a deep purple satin dress, clearly designer, judging by what little she could see of the label.

"Oh, that's gorgeous!" Lizzie breathed. "Your parents have very good taste."

Hope pulled the card out from within the flowers, and her heart almost stopped.

"What is it?" Lizzie asked.

"Um, it's not from my parents," Hope said slowly. "It's from Roman."

"Oh," Lizzie said quietly.

Hope glanced at Lizzie. "I should probably take this up before class. Lizzie, you coming?"

"Yeah, of course," Lizzie said absently, following Hope out of the dining room.

"Are you okay?" Hope asked.

"I'm fine," Lizzie said, almost automatically.

"Really?" Hope asked. "You don't look fine."

Lizzie didn't respond, and Hope let it go for the time being, until they reached her room.

She pushed the door closed behind her, setting the box on her bed.

"Lizzie?"

"I'm fine," Lizzie repeated.

"You're not fine," Hope said. "You're upset. Talk to me, remember?"

"It's your birthday," Lizzie said.

Hope sighed, pulling out the dress to hang it up. "Look, I'd rather you talk to me now, than bottle it up and second guess yourself until you explode later."

Lizzie touched the dress softly. "Do you still love him?" She asked in a small voice.

"Not the way I did," Hope said. "I do still love him, I probably always will, but I'm not in love with him. And he's not in love with me."

"That is not a platonic gift," Lizzie said.

Hope pulled out her phone and held it out. "Here."

Lizzie frowned. "What's this for?"

"The last messages between me and him," Hope said. "I want you to read them."

"I trust you," Lizzie insisted.

"I know," Hope said. "But I want you to read them."

Slowly, Lizzie took the phone and opened the messages.

H: Need 2 tell u something

R: U & Lizzie?

H: How did u know?

R: U haven't stopped talking about her.

R: Happy for u.

R: Just remember not to let her walk over you.

"I mean, he doesn't sound thrilled," Lizzie said.

"Text is not exactly the best conveyor of emotion," Hope pointed out. "I know him. He's happy."

"What exactly does he mean?" Lizzie asked.

"Well, you know how when you were having a bad day, hot cocoa used to appear in your room, and someone always made sure to copy class notes for you, and there were little chocolates in your bag?" Hope asked.

"Yeah," Lizzie said slowly.

"It was me," Hope admitted. "It used to piss him off that I kept doing it, even on days when you'd been awful to me."

Hope's phone rang in Lizzie's hand before she could respond, and she thrust it at Hope. "It's him."

Hope smiled and answered on speakerphone. "Hi Roman."

"Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you," Hope said. "Got your present this morning. Lizzie's worried you're trying to steal me away."

Roman laughed. "Trust me, if I'm trying to steal you, she'll know it. But only the flowers are from me. I meant to call earlier to catch you before the mail. The dress is from your Aunt Rebekah - she commissioned it from a designer in Paris and asked me to ship it for her."

"That makes much more sense," Hope said. "I thought it was a little too sophisticated for you."

"Ouch."

"Well, the flowers are beautiful," Hope said. "So thank you."

"You're welcome," Roman said. "I have a meeting to get to, but enjoy your day, and we'll talk soon, yeah?"

"Absolutely," Hope said. "See you later." She hung up. "Mystery solved."

Lizzie's entire body had relaxed. "Thank you for bearing with me."

"Always," Hope said, kissing her. "I'm going to grab a vase and get these flowers into water before class.

Lizzie caught her arm. "I love you."

Hope smiled. "I love you too."