Sitting comfortably in one of the armchairs located in the main hall of the school, John had one leg crossed over the other while he patiently waited for Hope to come back from her conversation with Freya.
Of course, while he waited, John didn't waste his time on nothing. Instead, he had arranged a piece of paper and for the past few minutes, he had been writing on it with a large smile on his face. He seemed so happy that people passing by would have the idea he was writing a letter to a long-distance relative or an old love of his life. Also, they would find strange someone writing a letter nowadays, but considering the type of people that attend the school, no one raised their thoughts outloud.
In regards to who the letter was being written, everyone who passed by John had taken a wrong guess. And if they had looked into John's smile a little bit longer, they would change their minds very quickly for they would spot the mischief hidden behind his lips and the malice deep in his eyes.
And… period. As the last bit of ink coming off the top of the pen marked the paper, John held it and raised it with both hands right in front of him. Oh, Penelope Park. How I long for you to read that diary of yours. The boy's smile widened a little bit more before his lips went back to normalcy.
Putting the paper down, John folded it before carefully putting the letter into one of his pockets. Then, after doing this, he gave his pen a long look before shaking his head. "Nah, it will be a good trinket to keep with me." Throwing the pen in the air, John caught it between his fingers. "It's better to keep it than simply throwing it away." He said while spinning the item in his hand.
Whilst he continued to play with the pen, John caught onto something through the corner of his eyes, or better yet someone.
Turning his eyes to where the person was, John noticed he was coming from where the professors and staff who lived in the school lived at. With him, the man carried two bags, one on his shoulder and another on his back. Something surprising about it is that despite the additional weight, the man's steps were as silent as ever, with even John having some difficulty to listen to the steps.
He is really fit for the title of 'Hunter'. John pushed himself off the chair. He walked towards Jeremy's direction, trying to get his attention. "Hey." He called out. "Where are you going?" He asked, approaching the hunter that was apparently walking towards the school's entrance.
Hearing someone call him, Jeremy stopped in his tracks. It didn't take long for him to recognize the voice and turn around a little to face the young man who was approaching him. "Hey, kid." He greeted the young man, offering a small smile. "I am going back to work. I don't have much else to do around here for now, so I gotta go back to the road." Jeremy said, pulling on the hang of the bag on his shoulder, making it shake.
John stopped a couple steps away from the hunter. "I see…" He muttered in understanding. "How are the injuries?"
With not so much strength, Jeremy tapped his torso. "I am fine, mostly. I can still feel my ribs are slightly cracked, but nothing that bothers me very much. I should be good as new by the end of the week."
John chuckled in response to how Jeremy responded. That is some healing factor and pain endurance. "Do you already know where you are going or will you be roaming aimlessly for some time?"
Pulling some air into his lungs, Jeremy replied. "I will be going to wherever the news of animal attacks comes from. And I will probably continue like that until Rick or Dorian gives me a message or something, then I will have a destination."
"It seems like an adventurous job." John snorted.
"A little. It certainly has its perks." Jeremy replied.
Nodding his head, John continued his words. "Well, I had thought of asking you to spar with me once you had recovered from your injuries. But it seems now I will have to wait almost a month until we have that opportunity again."
"You still could have just asked me the past few days. I wouldn't mind practicing a little bit."
"And kick your ass while you are injured? Like I would ever give you that kind of excuse to use." John huffed.
Jeremy had his lips curl up in response to John's words. "The hell you would." He lightly hit the young man's shoulder. "When I come back, I will teach you a few things I learned along the way." Having said that, he reached his hand out.
Looking down at the hand, John took it and shared a firm handshake with the hunter. "I will be looking forward to that." He said with a bit of a smile. "Try not to die out there."
"Hmph, I will try." Retreating his hand back, Jeremy shifted the position of his feet and turned around. "Take care of yourself, boy. Remember the world is not all flowers and sunshine just because things here are nice."
"I will keep that in mind." John took the advice, watching the hunter walking away from him. "See you soon."
Despite having his back facing the young man, Jeremy still waved at him while walking towards the entrance.
Reaching the doors of the entrance, Jeremy opened them and stepped out of the building. As he closed them, his figure disappeared from sight and not even his footsteps could be heard as well as the doors also ceased every sound from beyond of reaching inside.
Coincidentally, just when John was about to turn around and go back to his chair, the doors to the building were opened again. This time to reveal the figure of Hope walking into the building.
As she walked in, Hope had her eyes cast down, looking at the floor with a bit of a thoughtful expression over her face. And it seemed that whatever she was thinking about, she was too engrossed in it by the fact she hadn't still noticed John's presence a few meters ahead despite her getting close to him.
Noticing her look and how she walked, John got curious why she was behaving like that. Did the talk get too serious? He wondered, stepping closer to her. "Hey, how did it go?" John tried to get her attention.
As the words muttered by the boy reached her, Hope lifted her chin and looked at John, the haziness in her eyes dispersing while the corner of her lips curled up. "Hey." She said, not adding more others before letting herself fall into John's embrace.
Catching her into his arms, John looked a little surprised at Hope's actions. "It must have been quite an interesting conversation."
"Uhum…" Hope agreed, her voice muffled. "You can call it that way." She said after letting her head rest sideways on John's chest. "It was a much needed conversation as well."
"Anything that you can share with me?"
"Hm… We talked a little about you."
Caught by surprise again, John blinked twice. "I hope only good things were said about me so I don't have to worry about it."
"Who knows?" Hope teasingly said. She raised her hands and grabbed John's arms that were surrounding her, bringing them down before sliding her hands into his, interlocking their fingers.
"You will make me anxious. I won't be able to sleep that way."
"You already don't sleep, do not try to use that move on me." Hope lifted her eyes at him. "I will share with you a few things later.
"Why later?"
"Because right now I will be walking up to my room to tidy myself up." Hope replied. "I will go out with Aunt Freya to have dinner."
"I thought we couldn't leave the school grounds during the week."
"We can move freely into the town during the week as long as we are not in the period of classes. Which we obviously are not right now." Hope said, playing with John's hands. "But anything beyond Mystic Falls becomes troublesome. You would have to ask for permission from your guardian to leave Mystic Falls and inform the school of it since they are responsible for our safety while we are here."
"That part I know. And I know because I discussed it with Dr. Saltzman during my enrollment." John was reminded of the day. "Since I don't have any guardians around, I just have to inform Dr. Saltzman of where I go and make sure I don't lose any classes during my leave."
"You are going to make use of that, aren't you?" Hope furrowed her brow, knowing full well the answer to your question.
And looking at the smile stamped on John's expression, she knew she was right. "You have no idea. I will start by using it this weekend."
"I guess I really won't be able to make you change ideas on this plan of yours regarding Las Vegas."
"Nope." John said, poking her nose. "Anyway, going back to you going out with your aunt. Do you already know where you two are going?"
Hope nodded her head. "I mean, it's Mystic Falls. There isn't anywhere else other than the Grill."
"The cons of a small town." John humorously snorted. "Well, since I won't have you for most of the night, I will make use of the time to set up the phone."
Silently, Hope acknowledged the boy's words. "I guess we are only missing a chip for you and then you will also be able to use it to communicate."
"I will take care of that. You already had done enough by giving me this phone. I will try to repay you somehow."
Listening to him, Hope went on the tip of her toes and brought her lips closer to John's. "I will count you on that." She said after breaking the kiss. "I will be climbing up to my room. I will also see to bring you something to snack on later."
"I would be happy with that." John said, resting his lips on her forehead. "But don't think much about it. Go enjoy your dinner with your aunt, think about everything else later."
"Okay. Then, I'll see you later." She said, turning around to leave.
Before she could put any distance between them, John's lips parted. "Take care out there." He muttered her way.
The words of worry muttered by the boy, despite both knowing to be unnecessary considering the level of danger anyone in the world could bring to Hope, still brought a smile of contentment and satisfaction to the girl's lips.
Throwing a look over her shoulder, Hope nodded a little bit shyly despite her efforts to hide it. "I will." She said, walking away from the young man.
As he now witnessed Hope slowly disappear from his sight, John snorted weakly before walking back to the chair he was previously sitting on.
However, instead of sitting down on it, he just grabbed the small pack which had the phone and everything else and started to walk towards the library.
Ah… since I have nothing better to do until dinner and setting up the phone shouldn't take too long, I better go to the library. John decided, his steps echoing with a set destination.
[Scene Break]
"It's only us today?" Approaching the wooden table she was starting to frequent the last few days, Josie asked the only person occupying it at the moment. On her lips was the usual sweet, gentle smile of hers.
Raising his head, John nodded when facing Josie's eyes. "Yep. I hope that's not a problem."
"Far from that." Josie shook her head, sitting across from her new friend. "But where is Hope? I even thought it was strange seeing you without her."
"She went out to have dinner with her aunt."
"Hm…" Josie hummed in understanding. "Too soon to go out with her family?"
Lifting his eyes again, John cast a long look at Josie. "I think we are not at that level yet." He cast down his glance. "Well, I wouldn't mind going along if she asked. But since she didn't, I won't be the one to say anything at least until our relationship is… more solid."
"Are you scared to rush things?" Josie brought a spoonful of jelly to her mouth, a look of delight taking her eyes when eating the food.
"Not really. I'm fine with the pace we have." John calmly replied. "Also, I don't see the need to rush what we both seem to be comfortable with."
"Sounds very mature." Josie said after gulping down part of her meal.
John snorted. "Thanks." He said, using his hands to break apart a piece of bread. "And you, Josie? How is your love life going despite the obvious?"
"Like a bear in winter, hibernating." Josie's words were followed by a sharp exhale from her nose. "And probably that's for the best right now. With how things went with the Devil, and considering I am having a few problems regarding studies, getting into a romantic relationship isn't the most optimal choice for me right now."
John narrowed his eyes. "Now you got me curious. What exactly happened for you to break up with Penelope?"
"Do you really want to dig that hole?" It was Josie's turn to lift her eyes at him.
In response, John shrugged his shoulders. "Just expressing my curiosity. If you feel uncomfortable sharing it with me, I won't be the one to force you."
"It doesn't make me uncomfortable. It's just that… there isn't much to say." Josie said, a melancholically sigh escaping between her lips. "I decided to end everything after she bore to me she had problems in regards to my relationship with my sister. When returning from winter break, we talked about it. However, the talk escalated to a verbal fight and then the decision was taken."
From her tone alone, it seemed things were way worse. "Did she take it well?" John asked.
"What do you think?" Josie replied with another question.
Snorting again, John glanced back at his meal. "Well, as I said before, she was the one who lost a lovely girl like you. It's her loss."
"Thank you. Words like that certainly help."
"I'm here for this." As he drank the juice from his mug of glass, John cast a quick glance around the dining hall. When he didn't notice the presence of Penelope, he inwardly got curious. She still didn't show up. Did she already read what I wrote and is reluctant to appear? He thought, putting his mug down. "Hey, how is Lizzie? How has she been since-"
"Her episode?" Josie interrupted him, trying to complete his phrase.
"I wouldn't use those exact words…" John said, offering a wry smile. "But since you used them, I will make use of them as well. So, how is she?"
"Her situation is a little bit… troublesome." Josie said after giving some thought. "At the end of the day, Dad had to call Mom since he wasn't very confident in calming her down. He admitted he was reluctant in trying anything considering why Lizzie was acting ike that."
"Yeah, about that… I'm sorry?" John's tone held a bit of uncertainty. "From what I overheard, I'm partially at fault, so I think I shouldn't say this."
"Please don't blame yourself." Josie shook her head before giving him a look. "You not reciprocating Lizzie's crush shouldn't be a reason for her to act like that, nor for you to apologize. You did nothing wrong."
"Okay." John smiled towards Josie. "If you say so. As long as there are no hard feelings about it, I'm more than okay about forgetting it." He said, taking a quick deep breath as he brought a slice of bacon into his mouth.
"That's good."
After chewing on his food, John decided it was better to change the conversation. "Now, changing topics, I was thinking if you would like to set up a date so we can learn more about how you, a siphoner, works around magic besides the obvious. I'm still very much curious about how that works and such."
"I have no problem with that." Josie agreed. "As long as you promise to not poke me with anything sharp, we can decide on something this weekend." She added with a whimsical smile.
"Relax, it will probably just be me looking at you for a few hours while studying your body." John said, his words followed by a chuckle while he looked back at his food.
However, as he stared at his meal, John blinked a few times. His brain went over the words he just muttered.
Shit. Lifting his eyes, John–with lips forming an awkward smile–looked up at Josie, who had a weak hue of red over her cheeks. Her lips were pressed and shaking, trying to hold back her laughter from escaping despite the situation also bringing some embarrassment to her.
"I-I didn't mean that." John quickly said, trying to correct himself. "I mean, not that you are not, but I didn't want to say that."
As John's words went on, Josie's lips trembled even more. "You trying to correct yourself is just making it worse."
"Shit, I guess it is." John muttered, rubbing his forehead. "But you understand what I meant, right?" He said despite her words.
"Yeah, you don't need to get worked over it." At the end of her words, a bit of laughter finally escaped Josie's lips. "You just had a poor choice of words."
"Don't tell me…" John lowered his head, trying not to look Josie in the eyes. Right now, he felt a bit bashful for his words.
Obviously, Josie noticed it as well. Thus, she remained quiet, continuing to enjoy her meal during this short moment of quietness, a small smile of enjoyment stamped on her expression.
For a few moments to come, a time counting barely a bit less than one minute, the two youngsters would quietly savor their dinner.
At one moment and another, in an attempt to restart the conversation, John would raise his head and look at Josie. However, when the gemini witch noticed it and looked back at the young man as well, her lips would immediately quiver and thus in embarrassment John would force himself to look down again.
"This weekend would be good for it." John finally forced some words out, but without looking directly at Josie. "We just have to see a specific time since I will probably be going somewhere else at the start of the weekend."
"Where exactly?" Josie curiously asked, putting some effort into not showing any sign of potential laugh when looking at the boy.
Lifting his eyes, John finally looked at Josie. "Remember the idea of Las Vegas?"
As she listened to John's words, Josie immediately remembered what he meant. "Are you really proceeding with it?"
"As far as I know, I'm not breaking any big law, so it should be fine." John replied.
"Why not proceed with the idea of excavating gold out of the ocean?"
"Because when I put some real thought into how deep I would have to dive in the deep sea just to get a bit of gold, I felt shit scared and immediately gave up."
Josie gave him an unserious judging look. "A big boy of your size and age is scared of the deep ocean?"
"… A little." John nodded. "And I say that as someone who spent most of their life living by the ocean."
"Hmph." Josie huffed. "Does my father know you are going to Vegas to play poker and blackjack so you can pay your debts?" She quickly went back to the previous topic.
"No, and he doesn't really need to know." John gave Josie a long look.
"Are you bribing me?"
"… Maybe." John didn't deny. "Isn't your birthday in two months? I guess you would look good with a-"
"You don't need to give me anything fancy." Josie interrupted him. "Just choose something of your liking and I will be happy with that." She said, her eyes still looking at her meal.
Listening to her words, John was momentarily in silence before nodding. "Okay, then. I will find something beautiful for you, something for you to look at and remember it was a gift from a friend."
"How poetic." Josie looked up at him, laughing slowly and sweetly.
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A/N
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