Josie slowly opens her eyes only to close them again. She's still so sleepy, and the warmth that's all around her makes it very hard to just wake up. It takes her a moment to remember why she feels so warm, but when she feels a delicate hand slip under her shirt, Josie remembers exactly where she is. Her eyes open and she quickly realises that she's in Hope's arms, with her own head resting on the older girl's chest. Hope's hand doesn't really move after it went under Josie's shirt, her palm only rests on Josie's skin. It does have the effect of making Josie shiver though. It doesn't take Josie long to realise Hope is still deeply sleeping. Her eyes are closed, her breathing slow and even. For a moment, Josie feels guilty. She feels guilty because her feelings for Hope go way deeper than friendship. Because Hope's touch makes her shiver. Because Hope's eyes have the effect of breaking every barrier Josie has been building after what happened with Nia. Josie wonders if she should just listen to her sister, if she should just stop all of this before she gets her heart crushed again. However, when Hope tightens her hold on Josie and buries her nose into her brown locks, Josie feels her heart flutter and she knows she can't do anything about it. She's already a goner. So Josie does the only thing she can think of : she lets Hope hold her and nuzzles her face into her neck. She had already fallen, it would hurt anyway. She could still enjoy it while it lasts. Josie closes her eyes again and decides to let herself fall back to sleep.
Josie's almost asleep when she hears the voices of Hope's aunts. She discretely opens an eye and immediately sees Rebekeh, Freya and Keelin standing by Hope's door. Josie quickly shuts her eyes again, afraid one of them would spot her.
"She looks pretty happy, if you ask me." Keelin says.
"Keelin's right, Hope hasn't been this free since... you know." Freya adds.
"Something just doesn't add up. Two months ago she was in love with Landon, he breaks her heart, and she immediately bounces back and dates a girl? I mean, did they even know each other before?" Rebekah argues. She sighs before speaking again. "It's just kinda suspicious. I don't want some random person taking advantage of Hope. She's been hurt enough for an entire lifetime."
From her spot in Hope's arms, Josie is breathing with difficulty. Shit, they were in trouble. If Hope's family wasn't really buying their story, than maybe they weren't credible. Josie tries to think of the best thing to do. Making a quick exit that morning would be easy, but it would also be pretty suspicious. Staying for breakfast was risky, but maybe they could pull it off. Josie quickly makes her decision. She decides to take advantage of the fact that Hope's aunts don't know she's awake. It was time to put on a show. Josie leans her head a little more until her lips graze Hope's neck, then she starts leaving little kisses on the skin she finds there. Hope quickly reacts to the affection, her hold on Josie tightens and goosebumps appear on her arms. Hope is still way too sleepy to realise what's really going on, so Josie gets a little higher with her kisses, until she reaches Hope's ear.
"Hope, please wake up. Your aunts are watching us." Josie whispers as quiet as she can.
It's pretty clear that Hope is still sleeping when Josie gets no reaction at all.
The younger girl sighs. "Babe, wake up." Josie says way louder than before. "Let me see those pretty eyes of yours."
This time it works. Hope's eyes flutter open and when they fall on Josie, they widen a little. Josie sees the quiet panic that's filling Hope. With her eyes wide, Hope makes a move to untangle herself from Josie, but the brunette is quick to react.
Josie giggles. "Babe, calm down. It's just me."
Hope gives Josie a confused stare before opening her mouth to ask for an explanation, but Josie quickly pinches her to make her shut up. Josie gives Hope a discreet glare, and that's when a look of understanding crosses Hope's face. Hope moves closer to Josie and puts her hand on Josie's back again, only this time it's over her shirt. Hope gives Josie a sheepish smile.
"Sorry love, I guess I was surprised to wake up next to such a beautiful girl." Hope says with a sweet voice.
Josie huffs. "Yeah, right!"
The younger girl sits up in bed and gives Hope a teasing smile. She glances at the door and sighs in relief when she realises Hope's aunts are gone.
"They're gone." Josie says as she lets her eyes fall back on Hope.
Hope's hands immediately cover her face as she lets a groan out.
"I almost screwed everything up, didn't I?" Hope says. "Shit, I should of realised what was happening. I mean you kissed my neck and everything."
Josie tries hard to not pay attention to the fact that Hope's voice is a lot huskier when she just woke up, but she fails miserably. It was just so hot. Then she realises that Hope definitely felt and remembered the kisses. Josie knows she must be blushing hard at this point.
"Your aunt Rebekah is suspicious of me." Josie drops.
"What? Why? What did you hear?"
"She thinks I'm just someone who's gonna take advantage of you." Josie sighs. "Why is everything so complicated?"
Josie gets lost in thoughts after that, and she doesn't realise that Hope is carefully watching her. The older girl is leaning on her elbows as her eyes roam on Josie. She notices how Josie looks tired and sad. Hope sits up in bed and lets her eyes rest on Josie. She tightens her jaws and shakes her head.
"Josie, what's going on in that pretty head of yours?" Hope says quietly.
Josie looks over her shoulder and her eyes meet Hope's. "Nothing."
Hope gets a little closer to Josie. "You can tell me. Whatever it is."
Hope delicately puts one of Josie's brown locks back in place as her eyes never leave her friend's. Josie swallows hard and opens her mouth to speak.
"I'm just... It's just that I really have to use the bathroom."
When Josie looks back at Hope, she sees the older girl's face is blank. Suddenly, Hope starts laughing and actually clutches her stomach because she's laughing too hard.
"You got me worried idiot! Bathroom is down the hall, the door is red, you can't miss it."
Hope's chuckles as Josie quickly gets up and leaves the room. When the brunnette is out of sight, Hope lets herself fall back on her bed. She could still feel how nice it felt when Josie kissed her neck earlier. She could definitely get used to that kind of attention. Then, her mind wanders to her aunt Rebekah. Hope tightens her jaw as she thinks about how her aunt could make everything blow up in her face. The fake-relationship was one thing, losing Josie was another. She just couldn't imagine her life without Josie's warm brown eyes looking at her so softly.
"Are you going back to sleep?" Josie's soft voice comes from the doorway.
Hope is quick to sit back up. "No! I was just... thinking."
"About..."
"Us." Hope sighs and looks down at her hands, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. "Josie, can you promise to still be my friend even if things go wrong? I- I don't wanna lose you."
With her head still down, Hope misses how Josie's face softens when she hears her words. The brunette walks to the bed and sits right in front of Hope, very close to the auburn haired girl, close enough for their knees to touch.
"Hope, you're not losing me. Whatever happens, I'll stay by your side. You're stuck with me now."
Hope quickly looks up, her face is serious. "I wouldn't want it any other way."
"Good." Josie says with a small smile.
Their moment gets cut short by Josie's stomach grumbling. Hope giggles and shakes her head before getting up. As soon as she's on her feet, she offers her hand to Josie.
"Let's get breakfast."
Josie takes Hope's hand in hers and gets up with a sigh. She silently follows as Hope walks out of the room, but as soon as they're on top of the stairs, ready to go down, Josie grabs Hope's hand to stop her.
"Tell me, how bad is it gonna be?"
Hope almost winces. "Not that bad? I mean... I don't really know. Landon only met them once and it was so brief that I can't say how this is gonna go. Just remember that I'm on your side, always."
Josie smiles at Hope's choice of words, knowing full well why she decided to say them. Hope smiles back before gently intertwining her fingers with Josie's. With a nod from the younger girl, Hope knows she can go downstairs, that Josie's good with it. Hope walks them straight to the dinning room,where she can already hear her family talking. When they're both standing in the doorway, every head turn to look at them.
Hope gives a little smile. "Good morning."
There's a chorus of good mornings and warm smiles, and suddenly Josie feels a little more at ease. She smiles at the Mikaelson famile, and looks down when Freya looks at her.
"I'm glad to see you're better Josie."
Josie looks up and gives a shy smile to Freya. "Thank you Ms. Mikaelson. I'm really sorry I crashed your family dinner."
"Oh, please call me Freya, there's too many Ms. Mikaelson in this room!" Freya says with a warm smile.
"And don't be sorry about last night." Keelin adds. "Seeking your girlfriend out when you're upset is only normal."
Josie smiles and says a quiet thank you. Just like that she decides she really likes Hope's aunts. Then, she meets Kol's eyes and the glint she sees in them makes her smile.
"You girls should settle down! I'll go and start the pancakes."
From the corner of her eyes, Josie sees Hope's eyes widen and a big smile stretching her face.
"You're really gonna make pancakes?" Hope asks with excitement.
"Of course! I gotta show off to your beautiful girlfriend."
As soon as Kol is out of the room, Hope leans close to Josie's ear. "He makes the best pancakes ever."
Josie giggles, slowly turns her head and suddenly realises how close they are. Their noses are almost touching and Josie feels her heart beat faster. It takes her a lot of courage to even speak.
"Why are we whispering?"
"Cause if his head gets any bigger, it won't go through the door."
Josie giggles, and it instantly makes Hope smile. Their little moment is interrupted again when someone clears their throat, almost making them jump apart.
"You can sit down, you know?" Rebekah says with a smirk.
Hope rolls her eyes but still guides Josie to sit down. They sit side by side, with Josie facing Marcel and Hope facing her aunt Rebekah. The silence quickly gets kinda awkward, with Rebekah's eyes not leaving Josie.
"So, tell us girls, where did you meet?" Keelin asks, finally breaking the silence.
Hope is quick to answer. "At one of my volleyball games."
"Oh, does Josie play too?" Freya pipes up.
"No, but her sister does."
"So, Josie's sister is your team mate."
Josie giggles. "Not really, they're in different teams. Lizzie and I go to the Salvatore school."
Rebekah frowns. "Isn't that a boarding school?"
"Yes, but we're only going there because our dad is headmaster."
Rebekah hums and nods her head. Josie feels nervous everytime she interacts with Rebekah, feeling that the woman was looking for something wrong. Something to prove she was trying to hurt Hope, or that their relationship wasn't real. As Josie wipes her sweaty palms on her legs, she feels Hope's hand on hers. Hope gently squeezes her hand before turning it over and intertwining their fingers. The comfort is welcome, and Josie gives Hope a grateful smile to thank her.
"Do you play any sport Josie?" Freya asks again.
"No, I'm not really into sports. That's Lizzie's thing."
Hope smiles and decides to speak up. "Josie's a musician. She plays the piano, the guitar and the ukulele. She's a big music fan too."
"I love music too." Marcel says with a smirk. "Niklaus, Hope's father, introduced me to jazz a long time ago. That's when I started to get into music."
Hope feels her heart tighten at the mention of her father's name, but with the memory attached to it, she can't help but smile. She could still remember her father's lazy morning. He used to paint and put some of his favorite jazz song so loud that it would wake everyone in the house. She used to get angry at him for that, but now the memory made her smile.
"Hope told me about your family's love of jazz." Josie says with a smile.
"We're from New Orleans, that's only natural." Rebekah says with a mocking voice.
Josie gives her a tight-lipped smile, and the silence engulfs them again. Josie's kind of suprised to hear Hope break it.
"Aunt Rebekah, could I talk to you for a moment? Alone." Hope's tone of voice is hard.
Hope squeezes Josie's hand one more time, before getting up and leaving the room. Rebekah doesn't say a word, she just follows Hope out of the room. There's a chuckle to Josie's right, and the brunette quickly looks to see it's coming from Davina.
"Wow, she must care about you a lot to confront Rebekah."
Marcel gives a chuckle of his own. "I was thinking the same thing." Josie gives them a confused glance. "Hope and Rebekah are really close. It's pretty rare that they disagree on something, this must be a first."
"Rebekah is a little worried that you'll hurt Hope." Freya says with a sorry face.
"I would never hurt her." Josie says as she shakes her head. "I-I've been hurt recently too. Hope and I... we just found each other I guess. We're both still mending some wounds, but we're doing better together. That's all that matter to us."
Freya smiles softly. "I'm glad to hear that."
Josie smiles back, and before anyone can say anything else, Hope and Rebekah walk back into the room. Josie immediately looks at Hope, searching her friend's face to see if anything is wrong. Hope looks tense and a little angry, and by the time she sits by Josie, her eyes didn't leave her aunt once.
"Welcome back." Josie says before leaning in and leaving a soft kiss on Hope's cheek.
Some of Hope's tension leave her body as soon as Josie's lips make contact with her cheek. The auburn haired girl just knows that her cheeks must be a deep shade of red. But still, she turns her head and gives Josie a soft smile.
"What were you guys talking about?" Hope asks.
They all talk through breakfast. Josie enjoys the company of the Mikaelsons. Sometimes she receives a look or a glare from Rebekah, but she decides to ignore them. She focuses herself on Hope, on being her girlfriend. With every touch and every word, they get more comfortable. At the end of the meal, when they're all talking and not really eating anymore, Josie hears her phone ring. She quickly gets it out of her pocket and scowls when she sees who's calling her.
"Are you okay?" Hope asks before glancing down at Josie's phone. When she sees Lizzie's name, Hope frowns and quickly covers Josie's hands with her own, keeping her from answering. "You don't have to answer her, you know?"
The concern in Hope's voice is enough to make Josie's face soften. She looks down at their hands, enjoying Hope's soft touch. It's almost painful to the brunette to go against Hope.
"I'll have to eventually, better do it now." Josie says in a sigh.
"Well, if you wanna do it now, let's go to your house. This kind of conversation shouldn't be done over the phone."
Josie quickly looks up at Hope with confused and surprised eyes. "You'd come with me?"
Hope snickers. "You think I'd let you face that twin of yours alone? No way. You were there for me when I had to face... well you know. Don't forget that I'm on your side now."
Josie smiles. "Okay, I'll only text her then. Thank you Hope."
"No need to thank me."
After a quick goodbye to Hope's family, both girls go up to Hope's room and get changed. When they go downstairs, Hope quickly explains where she's going to Freya before they are on their way. During their ride to Josie's house, Hope steals a couple glances at Josie. Everytime, Josie looks a little more tense and anxious than the other.
"Want me to take your mind off of Lizzie?" Hope softly asks, afraid to frighten Josie since the younger girl looks deep in thoughts. Josie smiles softly and nods. "Look through my phone for a song called "One", it's by Lewis Capaldi. I think you'll love it, it's a piano ballad."
Josie is quick to take Hope's phone, but it takes her a little time to find the song. Hope's music library was slowly growing, a direct impact from Josie. The thought makes Josie smile to herself. The first piano note is quickly followed by Capaldi's voice, and soon Josie is swept by the words. When he sings "I'm saying thank you to the one who let her get away" for the first time, Josie's mind quickly goes to Landon. She turns her head to look at Hope's face. The older girl is concentred on the road, and Josie realises for the first time ever that Hope looks tense when she's driving. She wonders if it has something to do with her parents' accident.
Thank you to the one who caused her heart to break
I'm thanking you for giving me a soul to save
Thank you to the one who let her get away
"It's really beautiful." Josie almost whispers when the final notes are played.
"Yeah..." Hope answers, her eyes not leaving the road.
Josie decides to keep her mouth shut after that, not trusting herself in that moment. She just wished this relationship could be real. Just as this thought is starting to make her heart sink, Josie notices that they are at her house.
"Well, thank you for driving me home." Josie says as she's unbuckling her seat belt.
Hope frowns. "I thought I was gonna come with you inside."
Josie swallows with difficulty, this couldn't happen. Her argument with Lizzie was about her feelings for Hope, and Hope definitely couldn't know about it.
"Well... this is kinda personal and-"
Hope cuts her off. "Oh, I didn't mean to intrude or anything."
"No! Hope, it's not like that. It's just that... Nobody else than MG was supposed to knows."
"Okay, I get it. Just... let me know if you're okay, and if you need me to pick you up, just send me a text."
"That's really nice of you, thank you."
Josie glances at her house only to see her parents and sister waiting for her outside. She sighs and shake her head.
"I guess it's time to face them."
"I can still take you back to my house." Hope says.
Josie giggles and shakes her head. "No, thank you, but I really have to go."
"Just promise to call if it gets bad."
"They won't hurt me Hope, they're my family."
"Family can hurt you, just like anybody. Proof is that Lizzie hurt you yesterday."
Josie can't really argue anymore, so she just nods. "Okay, I promise."
"Good."
Josie smiles. "I'm gonna kiss you goodbye now, okay?"
Hope's hands leave the steering wheel. "Sure."
Josie leans over the little space that's seperating their seats and places a little kiss on Hope's lips. She intended it to be a light peck, but it seems that Hope has another idea. The older girl brings one hand to rest on the back of Josie's neck and pulls her as close as she can. They don't move their lips much, but there's a real intensity to the kiss. It feels like it means a lot more than the others they shared. Instead of questionning it, Josie shuts her eyes a little more tightly and enjoys it while it lasts. Soon, Hope breaks the kiss and pull away a little, but not too much. They look into each other's eyes for a moment, and the only that breaks them out of it is the sound of Josie's phone ringing.
"I really have to go now."
"Yeah."
Josie pulls away from Hope, opens the door of the car and gets out. She gives Hope a little wave and walks to her parents and sister, not without glancing back at Hope on the way. The older girl watches as Josie disapears in her house before starting to drive back to her house. On her way to her home, Hope calls Penelope.
"Hopey! What's up?" Penelope says as she answers the phone.
"Pen, I think I'm falling for Josie."