can you hear me now?

staring in more ways than one

"The title of the song!" Josie abruptly stopped and turned to Raf.

"What about it?" Josie now has her arms crossed in front of him.

"The title of the song was Crush on You." Rafael saw Josie start to leave.

Damnit.

Josie rolled her eyes and continued walking. "Is it Jed?" Rafael was following Josie who was walking down the stage. Josie didn't say anything. "Landon? MG?" Actually it was none of them.

Josie kept walking and saw Kaleb ahead, she quickly picked up her pace and went to Kaleb. "Hey Kaleb, Raf here needs to tell you something." She said with a smile as she shoved Raf into his direction.

Raf has no choice but to stay there. Josie quickly walked away dropping her smile and letting out a deep sigh. She just avoided a conversation she didn't want to have. As she was walking down the hall she almost collided with Hope and Landon who had just walked out the auditorium doors.

"Oh, sorry." Josie couldn't make eye contact with either of them. She tried walking when Landon walked in front of her.

"Wait Josie." It took all her strength to look him in the eye. "Are we still going to the Mystic Grill tonight?" She was relieved it wasn't anything regarding herself. She just nodded not saying a word.

"Also you seem a bit quiet, do I need to get Lizzie?" he said in a panic.

"No, no I'm fine." Yes, she is fine, it's not like the way Hope and Landon act towards each other hurts her or anything. She looked at Hope who seemed to be reading her expression, Josie quickly looked away, smiled and walked past them.

//////

The twins were the first to arrive at the Mystic Grill, shortly behind them was MG. They quickly got a booth and sat down, it was one of those booths that could hold multiple people. MG and Lizzie sat in their own little area and Josie had made her way to her own spot. Josie had been to the Mystic Grill ever since she was little; she basically knew everyone that came here, but never once saw the short brunette wiping down a table.

Maybe she's new?

A bell rang from the door, it was Hope. MG signaled her to come sit by them. Josie got out of the booth to let Hope in. She didn't like sitting in the middle because she sometimes got claustrophobic sitting so closely to so multiple people at once.

Finally, the last three guys arrived. Josie once again got out of the booth, and so did Hope. "Why'd you get out?" Josie raises her eyebrow at her.

"I want to sit by you." She shrugged her shoulders and climbed back in as Kaleb, Rafael then Landon entered the booth. That left Josie speechless, how could a little sentence affect her so much? She hummed in response before sitting back down again.

The booth could barely hold seven people, so they kinda had to squish together to fit, Hope and Josie's thighs touched sending butterflies through Josie's stomach. The waiter came and took their drink orders and left the table.