Josie and Penelope had walked all the way from the flower shop to Lizzie's apartment. Josie wasn't too keen on the idea of walking that far. In fact, she even pleaded to Penelope for an uber but of course, the shorter girl didn't waver. Apparently according to her saying exercise was important was an understatement.

After Penelope had revealed that Josie's sister was currently dating her previous best friend, they talked about it.

"Don't worry they're going to break up soon." Penelope nodded.

"Why do you say that?"

"Have you met your sister?"

Josie glared at her.

"Kidding," She put her hands up defensively. "Well look at what I'm doing right now, don't you think MG should be the one giving this?"

"Yeah he really should." Josie said, knowing that Lizzie didn't really like Penelope. And she kinda understood why.

Lizzie wasn't expecting any visitors that day. After her boyfriend cancelled on their anniversary, it was a surprise when the doorbell rang.

For a hot second, she actually thought that her boyfriend surprised her. But much to her dismay it wasn't.

"Oh look it's Satan in crop top holding a bouquet of roses. What are you doing here?"

"Cute," Penelope scrunched her nose and handed the roses to the taller blonde. "Even Josie has the same nickname for me."

Lizzie had a confused look on her face as to how Penelope even knew Josie. She was sure that her sister would never associate herself with Penelope and the whole mess she comes with.

Curiously she asked, "Josie?"

Penelope nudged her elbow to someone beside her. Lizzie opened the door wider see who the person beside Penelope was.

"What are you doing here?"

Before Josie could respond to Lizzie's question the raven-haired girl decided to let herself inside the apartment. Josie followed suit. She went to the kitchen, sat down on a barstool, and spoke. "I ran into Penny-"

Penelope, who was now sitting on a grey couch, coughed loudly to interrupt Josie's use of the (in Penelope's own words) "God-forsaken nickname".

"-Penelope." Josie smiled at the girl's reaction "When were you going to tell me that you were dating MG?" Josie wasn't mad she was more of surprise. Back then, as soon as Lizzie found a guy remotely interested in her she would be talking about it to Josie 24/7.

"I-"

"Don't worry about it Lizzie." Josie shrugged.

"I was going to tell you I swear. I know he's your best friend but-"

"Lizzie it's fine," Josie smiled "He was my best friend. It's not like your dating Hope."

Lizzie smiled back "Right."

Their attention from one another was caught by the loud intro from a show on Netflix.

"What are you still doing here?" Lizzie asked, annoyed.

"What? Can't a girl watch a few episodes?" Penelope said innocently while her attention was still on the screen.

"You can, but you don't live here anymore do you?"

"You used to live here?" Josie asked, "Oh so you were the pesky bitch of a roommate." She added, remembering the exact words that Lizzie once said.

So that's why she knew where Lizzie's house was.

"Ouch," She said feigning hurt. "And here I thought the two of us had something real." She said to Lizzie.

"Oh shut up," Lizzie rolled her eyes "You kept on leaving your stuff lying around everywhere and you never washed the dishes, AND" She shouted "You kept on bringing random girls here every. single. week."

Penelope smiled "I guess that is pretty bitchy...but I was going through a hard time." Josie wasn't sure if she was actually being sincere or if it was another facade of the green-eyed girl.

"Anyways, that's over now. You have my best friend for a roommate." Penelope continued "Where is she by the way?"

"Yes it is much better, but like you, she brings skanks-"

"Lizzie!" Josie chided

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"-Respectable girls, here every single week."

Penelope held back a smile at Josie's interruption.

"-She's probably out with one right now."

"Well if she's not here," She stood up and turned off the tv. "I best be on my way."

Before she headed to the door, she went to the kitchen bar and spoke to Josie.

"Give me your phone." Penelope said and held out her hand.

"For what?"

"I still owe you a tour and I want to get this over with. I'm starting to have a long list of debts to a number of people."

"See that's why you don't deal with the devil." Lizzie chimed in.

Penelope smirked but didn't respond to Lizzie's comment. She continued to speak to Josie, "Relax I'm just going to put my number so that you can text me anytime you want. Besides you should consider yourself special if you have my number."

"And by special she means booty call."

Josie ignored Penelope's last comment and Lizzie's reply. Instead, she went ahead and gave the phone to Penelope.

As soon as Penelope left the apartment Lizzie's face was in awe.

"Did you just exchange numbers with the she-devil?"

"Um yeah, like she said, it's for the tour." Josie said and plopped down on the couch. "I have to ask, I know that she was a pretty crappy roommate but why all the hate?"

Lizzie walked towards her sister and sat down on the couch. "It's not just that. But I really don't want to talk about it."

There was a brief moment of silence as Josie decided to not push the question any further. Lizzie broke this when she looked at the tv and an idea came in mind.

"We should hang out." She said, excitedly.

Josie furrowed her eyebrows "We are hanging out."

"No, I meant like the three of us. You, Hope, and me. It'd be just like old times."

How is it like old times? Josie wondered. Sure the three of them were friends, but her best friend and sister weren't that close. They hung out a few times but from Josie's experience, there was always that awkwardness between them.

"Tonight?" She asked not really wanting to put herself again in that situation.

"Why? Do you have any plans?" Lizzie asked suspiciously.

"Nope, not me my schedule is clear." She laughed weirdly.

But Lizzie didn't notice the weird laugh instead she was excited for the whole thing. "Great see you guys here tonight at 6. Don't be late.

------

Josie and Hope arrived at Lizzie's apartment not even a minute late since they knew what Lizzie would be like if they were.

Even though Hope was hesitant to the whole ordeal, she didn't let Josie know just how much she didn't like the idea. She had her reasons as to why she didn't want to come to the dinner, but for all Josie knew Hope just wanted to focus on her paintings.

They were now at the dinner table chatting about a whole lot of different topics that mostly revolved around Lizzie and MG's relationship.

"Thank you guys for being here." Lizzie exhaled, "I totally didn't imagine my anniversary being like this, but still you have to count your blessings."

They cheers to that and all was going well until Hope decided to blurt something out.

"It's such a shocker to me that you were dating MG." Hope said, "I mean I knew that he had the hots for you." She paused, clearly contemplating. "Just never knew you had the hots for him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lizzie inquired.

"Nothing, I was just wondering why you didn't tell Josie that you were dating him...for two years now."

Josie was silent. She didn't know why Hope had suddenly instigated a response that could turn a pleasant evening into the opposite. But she had to agree to what Hope was saying, so she nodded.

"Like I said earlier, he is Josie's best friend." Lizzie responded with a tinge of irritation in her voice.

"Was, and oh is that what it is? Because he was Josie's best friend? I thought you just didn't want the word to get out."

Lizzie suddenly stood up like she was about to shout at Hope or even start throwing punches at her. But before she opened her mouth, Josie pounded on the table.

"Ok stop!" The plates and utensils jumped at Josie's fist hitting the table.

"I don't know what happened between the two of you but could we not do this?"

While Josie was putting up a front that she was tough enough to handle this confrontation, in her mind she was panicking.

What am I doing? Why did that trigger her? Even hanging out with Satan wouldn't be this bad. Now what do I say?! Oh no they're looking at me what do I do what-

Luckily, Lizzie decided to calm down. She sat back down in her seat and apologized. "You're right. I'm the one that invited you guys here and-"

"It's not your fault." Hope sighed "I don't know what came over me. It's probably because of all the drama I've been binging on Netflix." She smiled.

The three of them laughed pretending all was right in the world, pretending like the dispute earlier never happened. They continued to talk and hang out with each other even if there was still that uneasiness between the two that Josie could never figure out.

-------

Josie stayed at Lizzie's apartment for the night while Hope went back to theirs.

The two of them were lying on the bed like they used to and Lizzie opened up about her and MG's relationship. It wasn't like the conversation earlier which delved into the good parts, this conversation was about the reasons why their relationship was about to fall apart.

Guess Penelope is right.

And Lizzie listed three major things that held them back.

1. Penelope Park was trying to break them up.

Lizzie elaborated.

"The reason why I don't like her that much is because she's trying to break us up. I get her reason why because I'm finally seeing it now, but she doesn't have the right to meddle in my business. It's honestly-"

"Annoying?" Josie continued Lizzie's sentence.

The blonde smiled in the dark. "Yes."

2. He doesn't put that much effort into the relationship.

"It's my- I mean our anniversary and he didn't even bother to at least call. All I got was a text and flowers that I don't even like. But I guess that's just the witch's doing or at least I hope so."

3. I don't recognize the relationship that much.

"It's not all his fault." She admitted "Hope was right, it wasn't just because that he was your best friend. I did have my own reasons why I didn't want the others back home to know, but here at Whitmore, I failed to brag or show off or even at least be proud of what we have."

That's when Josie realized that both Lizzie and her had changed so much. Lizzie became more understanding and selfless while Josie became more upfront and straightforward. They were far off from the Saltzman siblings in Salvatore.

Josie hugged Lizzie, "What's that for?" Lizzie asked and hugged her sister back smiling.

"I'm so proud of you."

"I'm proud of you too Jo."

As Josie was falling asleep, there was still one item in the list that Lizzie hadn't mentioned earlier.

4. I'm still holding onto something I should have let go a long time ago.