Soon enough, it was the Saturday Hope had invited Landon over, and she was getting a bit anxious as she stared at her blank canvas early in the morning. It wouldn't be long before Landon would be there, and she was nervous about if she would mess things up and also nervous about if she got too close to him. She did not have the will to push him away anymore, but she knew she still was eventually going to try again. But right now she just wanted to see him.

The tribrid hated knowing that it was going to get harder and harder to keep the truth from him about who she was and what she could do. This house was full of magical items, and Hope herself was extremely powerful. And what if something happened, and she hurt herself but it healed quickly because of the vampire blood coursing through her veins and the fact that she was also a werewolf.

She sighed and slipped her paint brushed back to where she kept her other ones stored before heading downstairs to make sure that everything magical around the house was stored away in the room they kept their herbs so that Landon would not find any of it. It was not Hope's views of a fun day to lie to the first friend she had had in two years and the first real friend she had that was not some manipulation or betrayal as of yet. She genuinely enjoyed time with him (something that scared her) and she could tell he cared about her as well. At least she hoped that she was right about that. The last thing she needed was a repeat of what had happened two years ago.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and though Hope was expecting it, her eyes quickly darted to it, a knife magically flying into her hand. She couldn't help her caution. It wouldn't be the first time one of her father's enemies had found her. And it would be possible that they could knock because it could be deception. Not that Hope couldn't easily handle herself. But she didn't want to risk anyone getting hurt. However, once she caught the scent, she could feel her body begin to relax.

Landon Kirby.

Hope quickly put away the knife before walking over to the door and opening it. A smile was broad on her tour guide's face as Hope opened the door. "Hey" Landon greeted. "I was a little worried I had the wrong house. But, uh, that's your aunt's car outside"

"Yeah. My, uh, my family likes large homes" Hope chuckled softly and stepped to the side to let Landon in.

Landon walked inside and looked around a little as Hope closed the door behind him. "Sorry if I'm a little too early. I just left sooner than I expected."

"You're fine. It's still past seven" Hope replied with a small smile. "Are you hungry? Have you eaten anything?"

"A little, but I wasn't expecting you to feed me, especially for breakfast at least"

"It's fine. I haven't eaten either so just come make yourself comfortable at the island counter"

"If you have some eggs, sugar, baking powder, and flour, I could cook. I make some pretty good pancakes. Unless you want me to just cook from a pancake mix. That works too."

Hope smiled as she reached the kitchen and pulled out some supplies. *I do. I don't cook a lot, but I've had enough practice to make some decent food. I'll cook some sausage for the side if you like sausage"

Landon nodded. "Sausage is fine" he said as he took the supplies and started getting to work preparing breakfast.

Hope's gaze lingered on him as she thought about how most people wouldn't offer to cook too, especially at someone else's house. A small smile formed on her face as she turned away, pulling out what she needed to cook the sausage before she started getting to work.

"So we're going to watch the Star Wars movies right?" Hope questioned, wanting to make sure she knew what he wanted to do

"Yeah. I can't believe you're agreeing to watch them just for me" Landon admitted, heat rising a little in his cheeks as he looked over at her before continuing to measure ingredients.

"I know. I'm surprised too" Hope replied, looking over at him. "But you're my guest, and I am curious about your interests, even if it's something I never would have considered watching before."

"Well, I do appreciate that, and I hope you enjoy these movies. There are 11 of them, though the earlier ones are the best ones. So we may not want to watch them all this weekend. But if you like them enough, maybe we can continue them some other time."

"I'd like that. I'll let you know how I feel about it after I try the movies" Hope assured him with a small smile as she continued working on cooking the sausage.

Landon was smiling as well, unable to help himself from enjoying the possibility of spending more time with her

Soon enough, breakfast was ready, and the tribrid and her tour guide were sitting side by side at the island counter, eating their breakfast. Hope nearly moaned in delight at the taste of the pancakes. "You are a pancake god" she said, clearly very much enjoying it.

"Thank you" Landon chuckled softly as he continued to eat. "Your sausage is very good as well."

Hope smiled at him and took a sip of her drink before continuing to eat the pancakes. "Im glad you agreed to come over"

"I'm glad you asked. I didn't expect you would considering..."

Hope's gaze lowered a little. "I didn't either. Even I surprise myself sometimes. I suppose I enjoy spending time with you so far"

Landon felt a smile form on his face as he finished eating before he stood up, cleaning his plates. He was kind of nervous of speaking up and saying too much. Because the truth was, even though he barely knew her, he liked her alot. He couldnt even explain the strong pull he felt towards her as though there were magnets attracting them to one another. But if she did not feel the same way, he did not wish to ruin things. Especially since he was fine being her friend if it meant he got to spend time with her.

Hope finished up eating as well and stood behind Landon at the sink, taking care of the dishes. "Alright my family isn't big movie watchers so we don't have a TV in the regular living room. But we do have one of our spare rooms set to be for TV watching"

"You have your own theater room?" Landon's eyes were wide as he turned to look at Hope.

"Yeah" Hope shrugged. "This house was- It belonged to my dad. It's huge and we don't know what all to do with it. So we just made themed rooms. I have my own art studio. We have a library. The theater..."

Landon's jaw dropped a bit.

"Might want to close your mouth before you catch flies" Hope teased playfully before heading to the theater room.

Landon quickly followed her. "Sorry, I just... this all seems a lot. I mean at my house, there's three bedrooms. One for the parents. One for my foster sibling. And then one for me." Landon's was the smallest of course. "So having rooms just for different interests is... different. But it's also cool."

Hope smiled softly and opened the door to the theater before walking inside. Inside, there was a large TV along with two recliners and a sofa. "We might get a popcorn machine or we might just use a microwave later. But right now we are just popping it in the microwave."

"Are your aunt's home?"

"Keelin started her first shift at the hospital today, but Freya is home with Nick. They are just upstairs. I'm sure we will end up seeing them at some point before you leave. Especially if we eat lunch in the dining room" Hope smiled a little.

"Great. Um, where is your restroom?" Landon questioned.

"If you turn right when you leave, its the second door on the left" Hope instructed.

"Thank you" Landon said and followed the directions to the restroom. He turned on the water and let out a sigh, trying to relax. There wasn't anything wrong with her. He just couldn't help but think about how unappealing he was. She seemed to like spending time with him. Somehow. But he didn't understand why. He was awkward, a geek, poor, had no friends. Why did she want to spend time with him? But even if she did continue to, why would she want to ever become more? These were thoughts he had from the start but he also loved being around her. He was just in awe that she felt the same. He just hoped he didnt do anything to screw it up.

Landon turned off the water and headed back to the theater room before walking inside, smiling at the sight of Hope on the couch. He walked over towards her and took a seat on the couch.

"Hey, I found the movies while you were gone, but I'm gonna need your help in figuring out which one I should start off with" Hope told him as she passed him the remote.

"So the first of the prequel series is called the Phantom Menace. Some people like to start with this to go in chronological order, but I tend to prefer starting with the original trilogy, which starts with A New Hope"

"We can do your preference" Hope told him, not really caring either way.

Landon nodded and started off the movie so that they could get the marathon started. "Star Wars is a classic. This movie came out over 50 years ago so its not quite the same story structure or special effects that they have now but its great how it's done"

Hope smiled a little, unable to help herself from enjoy the fondness that was obvious in his voice. Landon let himself get comfortable as Hope began reading the words going across the screen at a slant further and further into the space background.

After the second Star Wars movie, Hope was watching with some level of interest at the shocking revelation of who Luke's father was. She was about to turn on the next movie when suddenly there was a knock on the door before said door suddenly opened, revealing her Aunt Freya. Hope's head turned to look at her, surprised by the sudden appearance

"Lunch is ready if you both are hungry." the witch said, looking at her niece and the waiter from the other night.

"Thank you, Aunt Freya" Hope said gratefully and stood up

Landon stood up as well. "Yes. Thank you"

"It's not a problem. You dont need to thank me" Freya looked at them both, a small smile on her face before she headed to the kitchen, Hope and Landon following after her

Landon looked around the mansion a bit as they walked, curiosity spiking inside of him. This was all very strange but enjoyable. And he felt out of place but also at home. It was a strange feeling. But by Hope's side made being here feel more natural even though he didn't understand why she wanted to spend time with him

When they reached the dining table, Nick was sitting there in a highchair. He smiled at the sight of them and waved.

"Hey, Nick" Hope greeted her cousin with a bright smile as she walked closer to him, waving a little.

Nick waved even more excitedly at being acknowledged "Hey" he said, happily, having learned the casual greeting.

"Hey, Nick. I'm Landon" Landon said with a smile, pointing to himself.

Hope smiled fondly at the scene before taking a seat and getting herself some food. Landon followed in suit as Freya gave Nick some food for him to eat before making her own plate.

"How is the movie watching going?" Freya asked them.

"It's going fine. We sort of ended it right after a shocking revelation so we should probably finish and get back to watching" Hope said.

A bright smile formed on his face. If she was looking forward to continuing and knew about the shocking revelation, she had clearly been paying attention and was interested, which was a great sign to him. It made him happy knowing she wasn't just sitting there to amuse him or anything like that. She actually wanted to be there and was genuinely paying attention.

"Well, you both will get back to your next movie soon enough." Freya said with a smile. "I've never gotten to meet Hope's friends before. I mean I know I met you briefly at the Mystic Grill, but its nice to meet you in an out of work setting." Freya smiled

"Yeah thats because I never had friends before" Hope pointed out as she took a bite of her food.

"Well, its nice to meet you outside of the Grill as well. I hope I can come over some time. I know I havent been here all day yet, but I like it here. Even if some of it seems like something out of a Disney movie" Landon teased.

Hope blinked her eyes in confusion. "What do you mean 'like something out of a Disney movie?" she asked

"Just that its a mansion and you have your own ballroom." Landon said. "Its just an observation. I like your house and especially the people inside of it" he admitted with a small smile.

Hope blushed slightly and fell silent for a few moments. "We sometimes have smaller homes but this was- we already had this place, so we just moved in here instead of moving in elsewhere."

"That makes sense" Landon nodded a little as he looked at her, a small smile forming on his face as he thought about how lucky he was that she came to his school. That she moved to Mystic Falls. That he was assigned to be her tour guide. "Maybe you could show me around a bit sometime"

"Maybe. If you show me around the town some more." Hope returned with a light teasing smile.

"Fair" Landon said with a grin as he finished eating.

"Well, you two enjoy that. I'm going to bring Nick to take a nap" Freya said, looking at a tired looking Nick. "I will be back to take care of the food" She headed out of the room as Hope watched Nik smiling sleepily at her from over Freya's shoulder.

Hope took her dishes and headed to the kitchen, hearing Landon's footsteps following her. "If you come over again, we can just do pizza or something" she told him. "Or whatever else you want."

"I'm fine with pretty much anything. Except anything with Avocados" Landon added. "Unless you want me to end up covered in hives and my throat closing up"

"Yeah we don't want that. No avocados" Hope promised him with a smile.

"Great. I'm not really allergic to anything besides that. Not that I know of"

Hope nodded. "Well if you do end up having a reaction, we'll help. I promise"

Landon smiled softly at her, getting lost in her blue eyes as she returned his gaze. There was something special about her. Finally he looked away and finished helping her wash the dishes before heading back to the theater room, where they continued watching the last movie of that trilogy.

As the credits of the third movie rolled, Hope's face faltered. "Excuse me" she said quietly before heading out of the theater room. She went into the bathroom and took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she struggled to maintain control.

She couldnt help notice the parallels between Darth Vader and her father. Except she knew her dad had more of a light showing after she was born, even if not everyone saw it. But after a thousand years of being marked as a monster, the villain, he became better for Hope and then died shortly after to save her. Just like Darth Vader's brief redemption plot. She hadn't expected that to line up with her own life when she agreed to watch it.

Hope inhaled sharply, trying to control herself as the lights began to flicker. She couldnt lose control while Landon was here. It was a bad idea. All it would do is create questions she couldn't answer. She just needed to relax and push away the pain that was threatening to rise and consume her.

After a couple of minutes of being lost in trying to maintain control, Hope heard a knock on the bathroom door

"Are you okay in there?" It was Landon's voice that was full of concern.

Hope wiped away her tears and opened the door. "Yeah, I'm fine. Fine enough. Sorry for worrying you"

"It's okay" Landon gave her a small smile as he looked at her, caring more about if she was okay than how he felt. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Do you want to go to the theater room?"

Hope hesitated but nodded a little. "I'll go prepare some popcorn first"

"I could go with you and carry a few drinks?"

A small smile formed on the tribrid's face at his kindness, and she nodded. "Alright" she agreed, heading to the kitchen with Landon following after her. He was glad he was able to help.

The two of them just continued watching the movies together, laughing a little and talking about what happened. They were both enjoying themselves far more than they should but also not enough as they both wanted more than just this friendship. However, Hope knew this boy would be far better off without getting involved with her like that. Just mere friendship was dangerous. But she couldn't explain the pull she felt towards him that went against everything she had taught herself.

Eventually Landon had to leave and return to his foster family once it was dark, and the whole way home, his mind was on whatever was going on between him and Hope. Little did he know, Hope was in her art studio thinking the same.