I Hate the Way...

Part 10: 'The Proposal Story'

It almost seems forbidden, seeing so much of the Tribrid.

"Better?"

Josie is broken out of her trance, looking to ocean blue eyes and getting lost again.
She's suddenly hyperaware of how close they'd gotten.
Hope towers mere inches away.

Josie can only nod, suddenly flustered.
Hope notices, but she assumes it's purposeful, for appearances.

Josie's thankful for that, and she intentionally plays on Hope's assumption by holding onto her arm, letting her fingertips graze over the ink and musculature, trying to ignore the tonicity and firmness while letting her chin rest on top of her shoulder from behind.

Hope glances down at the soft hand tracing her skin, tentatively moving her arm slightly so she can rest her hand against her fiancé's thigh, just above her knee as not to make the girl uncomfortable.

Josie's motions pause for a moment at the unforeseen contact. Her mind goes through a whirlwind of thoughts in a split second. From the warm feeling in her stomach Hope's hand ignites, to scolding the girl for being perverted and entitled, to finding comfort in the girl's strong composure, to wishing her hand would slide up just a bit further—

Hope tilts her head in the girl's direction, silently ushering Josie to stop her or move her hand away if needed.

But Josie doesn't. She doesn't even look back at the Tribrid.

After a moment, she continues her light, feather like traces, breaking herself out of her absurd train of thought.

This is all for show.

She hates Hope. And Hope hates her.

Their engagement isn't real.

That's what she has to remind herself as she studies both the depictions of ink and the feeling of the strong yet soft skin of Hope's arms, wondering what other tattoos the girl may have elsewhere on her body.

She completely tunes out the conversation among the group as her mind becomes far too enraptured with the Tribrid.

She assumes the thoughts Hope might have when she feels blue eyes glance toward mapping hands on her own skin.

Hope probably thinks she dislikes the tattoos, probably assumes Josie is against them altogether, due to her father's lectures on 'purity'.
In actuality, Josie has a few tattoos of her own, but they're small, in places typically hidden under the material of her clothes.
But Josie thinks these tattoos are beautiful, and she can sense their significance to Hope.

What Josie doesn't sense at all, is the sudden anxiety Hope feels.

What Josie doesn't know, is she's currently studying what's practically a diary of Hope's life, drawn out by Hope herself.

It's similar to a Hunter's Mark, as in the curse of The Five, in the fact that the whole thing tells a story, mapping out Hope's experiences, raveling up her arms, across her sternum...

They're some of the few windows she has into her life before she was cursed to forget.

Hope doesn't even know exactly what all of them mean, other than the dragon on her rib cage being from the Mikaelson family crest.

She's always drawn to the 'always and forever' across her clavicle, but it holds no resonating meaning to her.

Here Josie is, studying her coded story as Hope has done for years, trying to piece it all together, tie them to forbidden memories of her parents and their family.

Hope typically doesn't allow herself to remain so vulnerable to perception, being read like a book.

That's something Hope's friends know well, so they're surprised when Hope allows her fiancé to peek into the story of her life.

But no one is more shocked than Maya.

She's never seen Hope so open, on display for someone. Not even herself.

Sure, she's slept with Hope countless times, seen her bare before, but Hope never let Maya study her like this. Any time Hope would catch Maya trying to, she would close herself off, cover up her exposed ink-covered skin.

She was especially closed off if Maya ever tried to touch the brand on Hope's chest, the imprint left by the hex her family placed upon her.

She wonders if Hope has allowed Josie to see and feel that much of her. That part of her body has been off limits to anyone else Hope has been with.

It's makes her sick to think of it, as she stares at the two being so close, the brunette absentmindedly grazing her fingers against something so sacred to Hope.

After watching for another minute, completely tuning out the conversation shared amongst the group, Maya loses the ability to control herself,
"Hope—"

Hope is cut off in the middle of her sentence, turning toward the girl who interrupted so suddenly with a questioning look.

"C—Can I talk to you for a minute?" When Hope opens her mouth to respond, Maya clarifies,
"In private?..."

Hope hesitates, glancing to Josie, who no longer rests her chin against Hope's shoulder, sitting up straighter than before as she's brought out of her own thoughts by Hope's old flame.

The two make eye contact, and Josie almost thinks Hope is silently asking her for permission, so Josie nods to her.

She doesn't miss the slight squeeze Hope gives her thigh before releasing her and turning back to Maya, "Okay..." She nods tentatively, "Let's go to the dock."

Hope rises to her feet, handing Josie her nearly empty beer bottle.

And Josie immediately misses her warmth and touch, though she'd never admit it.

She nervously watches as the two walk away together, possibly from sensing the nervousness from Hope.

It's a harsh contrast from her typical confident demeanor.

Josie brings Hope's drink up to her lips, turning the bottle back and drinking the remainder of the liquid.

A few of them exchange knowing looks with each other, knowing Hope and Maya's extended and intense history.

But they try to get back to their conversation, though Josie finds it difficult to focus on anything other than the Tribrid's silhouette in the distance.