you need to calm down
“Do you have work today?” Josie is wiping her kitchen counter while Stefanie does the dishes.
“Night shoot. I think.” Stefanie squirts dish soap into the pan that’s sitting in the sink. “Why?”
Josie is done with her task and gets rid of the wipe she used. She unplugs her phone charger and checks her screen.
“I have a chemistry read and don’t feel like driving there in peak LA traffic on my own.”
Stefanie seems to be done with the pan, she turns the faucet off and looks at Josie with a teasing grin.
“Let me guess. They only have parallel parking and you don’t want to embarrass yourself. So you need a driver to drop you off and pick you up.”
Josie gorans at being so predictable and getting caught. “Maybe…”
“I’m a very busy woman, Miss Saltzman.” Stefanie starts drying off the pan with a dish towel. “But I guess I can make an exception for you.”
“Thank you!” Josie can feel some anxiety leave her body instantly.
She’s always on edge when auditioning for a role. Something about multiple people watching her every move and judging her acting abilities makes her jittery. She is just constantly afraid that she won’t get the part and lose a great opportunity. It has happened before.
She hugs her friend from behind and murmurs “You’re the best.”
“I know.”
After they finish cleaning up the kitchen they find themselves in Josie’s bedroom, trying to pick an outfit.
“So what role are we talking about?” Stefanie is scrolling through her twitter, but still keeps the conversation going. “Did you already get it or is the chemistry read the final hurdle?”
Josie pulls a white blouse with a cute collar out of her closet and places it on her bed.
“It’s the coming of age road trip adventure I told you about.” She tries to find her favorite dress pants. “As far as I know they’re still deciding and there are less than 10 people left. The read today is my last chance to get it.”
“Chill you’ll be fine.” Stefanie flops down on her best friend’s bed. “In other news, your crush is still radio silent.”
Josie immediately rolls her eyes. “Will you ever leave me alone with that?”
“Never.” Stefanie smirks at her phone. “You have liked so many tweets in her favor, the fans are starting to notice.”
“What?” Josie spins around and stares at her friend with a shocked expression. “For real?”
“Yup. The normal ones call it ‘women supporting women’’ but the hardcore stans are currently coming up with a shipping name for y’all.”
Josie can feel the blush spread across her cheeks and her heartbeat speed up. The last thing she needs right before an audition is a reason to be even more flustered.
“Shit.”
Stefanie laughs and gets up from her position on the bed. “We should get going soon. I’ll be back in 15.”
Josie is now alone in her apartment eyeing her outfit. She really picked a very sophisticated approach that doesn’t fit the role at all. Without much further ado she ditches the clothes and settles for skinny jeans and a cute sweatshirt.
She has a couple of minutes left after applying some light makeup and decides to scan her socials and tmz alerts.
It looks like Hope Mikaelson has disappeared from the face of the earth. It’s been seven weeks since she posted for the last time. A screenshot from her notes app that made her new relationship status very clear. Since then she had only been sighted and photographed when getting to and leaving her current production set.
Josie doesn’t even know why she cares this much. She catches herself constantly stalking the movie star’s instagram account and rewatching the story highlights a lot more than she wants to admit.
Hope is usually very active and her social media break is so uncharacteristic that the entirety of Hollywood’s media is chasing wild stories about her secretly leaving the country or joining a cult. There really is no in between.
She finally decides to let the topic go for now and reads through her lines one last time before joining Stefanie for the car ride.
The elevator doors open and reveal a large foyer like area with multiple seating options. There are two hallways leading away from the common room towards what Josie assumes are the production offices. She is supposed to wait here for her turn.
A girl about her age emerges from the right hallway with a huge grin on her face. Her audition must have gone well. Josie swallows thickly and takes a seat.
Minutes and people pass as Josie patiently waits for her time to shine. 10 minutes after the scheduled start of the chemistry read she’s still sitting and lingering, her anxiety spiking.
Some relief flows through her when she is approached by a woman who introduces herself as the production assistant.
“Your scene partner will be here shortly. She is coming directly from set and has to get through traffic.” The woman explains.
“No problem.” Josie swallows thickly.
Great. She’ll probably die right then and there. She texts Stefanie immediately and goes through her lines over and over again.
She’s about to grab some water from a complementary table to her right when the elevator doors finally drift open and reveal a young woman hiding behind huge sunglasses and a baseball hat. The most cliche disguise a celebrity can come up with.
Josie takes advantage of the few seconds she has, as the other woman closes the distance between the two of them, to examine her scene partner. At least she hopes the woman in front of her is her scene partner. Josie can’t take any more delays.
The woman is shorter than her, but tries to make up for it with heeled boots. Her hair is hidden under the hat and Josie barely catches a few stray hairs glowing reddish in the harsh office lighting. She is wearing an outfit similar to Josie's.
Her eyes stay on the stranger’s face as she absorbs the few facial features she is able to make out. A cute nose, plumb (very inviting) lips and amazing cheekbones.
Josie has probably been staring for a second too long, because the stranger clears her throat.
“My apologies for being late! You must be my scene partner, right?”
Josie’s heart stops beating right then and there. She knows that voice. It seems oddly familiar. She feels like she should be able to associate it with the face of a friend or acquaintance.
The wheels in her head spin and spin, trying to figure out who this person in front of her is. It dawns on her when the woman takes off her hat and auburn colored hair falls to frame her face.
Josie nearly faints. There is no way Hope Mikaelson would be standing in front of her in the middle of a production office hallway on a wednesday afternoon.
No way.
Yes, way. Because she takes her shades off too and blue orbs bore into Josie’s brown ones expectantly
Holy shit.
The first thing she notices is how much prettier the movie star is in person. None of her movies or interviews do her justice. Her skin is glowing, her eyes shine and twinkle, her hair shimmers and … “What’s your name, love?”
Josie’s eyes go wide. Like deer in the headlights- wide. She has heard the actress speak so often on screen, but hearing her real accent in its raw form coming from directly in front of her makes her gulp involuntarily.
She feels incredibly flustered and can feel a deep blush setting on her entire face. Suddenly she regrets wearing a sweatshirt, because she can practically feel her entire body getting warmer and hotter. Hope is very hot too. That’s all she thinks about when she decides to open her mouth. A bad idea.
“I’m … hot” Josie’s eyes go wide.
No she didn't just say that. RIght? She didn’t. Her face freezes in shock.
Hope looks at her with a confused, but amused smile on her lips. Her eyes trail down Josie’s body, as if she’s checking her out. Josie feels embarrassed and her cheeks are blushing profusely. She’s suddenly very self conscious and crosses her arms over her chest.
Hope follows the movement before snapping her eyes back up to meet Josie’s. Her confused look is now replaced by a cute smile.
“I agree.”
Josie’s brain is about to short circuit. Did Hope Mikaelson just call her hot?
She tries to open her mouth, but fails desperately. Did the actress just check her out?
So many questions run through Josie’s mind as she just wishes the ground would swallow her whole.
Hope offers her hand for a handshake and patiently waits for Josie to react. It takes the brunette a hot second to detangle her ams and then she hesitantly reaches out. What if her own hand is sweaty and gross? What if Hope can feel her nerves and how fast her heart is beating when they touch?
Their hands meet and Josie immediately feels grounded. Hope’s hand is not overly soft, but also not too rough, it’s incredibly warm and gentle, but still grasps firmly around Josie’s and gives a tight squeeze.
It’s like the world around them stops and all Josie can focus on in this instant is their joined hands. Hope keeps their hands interlocked longer than necessary and leans in closer to Josie.
“Nice to meet you, hot. I’m Hope.” She lets go of the brunette’s hand and starts moving past her towards one of the hallways. “Oh, I reckon you should take off that jumper of yours. Might help with the heat.”
She winks after the last statement and walks up to the female executive producer who is apparently here to take them to their scene.
Josie met the producer before when she was auditioning for the role the first and second time. Now she wonders how long the woman had been in the hallway witnessing her awkward encounter with Hope.
Judging by the thoughtful looks the producer is sending the both of them she has seen enough. She keeps glancing back and forth like she’s watching a tennis match. A thoughtful expression and a subtle smirk on her lips.
“Hope and Josie? Follow me!” She says after a couple seconds of awkward silence pass.
Hope and Josie fall into step behind her and find themselves walking down a long hallway lined with doors on the right and left.
Josie is hyper aware of the person right next to her and gets lost in her head again. She’s about to perform a scene with none other than Hope Mikaelson, a-list hollywood actress.
She doesn’t know what she’s more anxious about. The chemistry read and audition process or being in the same room as Hope Mikaelson for longer than just a few seconds.
What are her lines again?
To say she’s overwhelmed is an understatement. Her head starts pounding, so does her heart. She barely registers that they enter a room and are met with a line of chairs facing an empty area with lots of space to work with.
Her breathing pattern is all over the place and she can feel sweat settle against her skin everywhere, including her palms. She forms a fist with her right hand, desperately trying to ground herself and get out of the weird state she’s in.
The people in the room seem to have a conversation and it looks like they're not completely ready to face Josie and Hope just yet. The shorter girl takes advantage of that.
Josie is pulled out of her panicky state by a hand that reaches out for her own and squeezes so tightly that it actually hurts Josie a little.
“Hey, love. You’re okay. It’s just a chemistry read, we’ll get through this. I promise.”
Hope’s voice is calm and sincere. When Josie meets her gaze all she sees are blue eyes wide in what looks like understanding. Hope furrows her brows and looks genuinely concerned when Josie doesn’t react right away.
She lets go of her hand and finds Josie’s shoulder instead. Just for a few seconds she rubs soothing circles on the soft material of the brunette’s sweater.
“Are you alright?” Hope asks softly. “Can I get you anything?”
The motions on her shoulder start to calm Josie down and give her a thing to focus on other than her many anxious thoughts. She takes a few deep breaths and finally musters up enough strength to speak.
“I am now.” She searches for Hope’s eyes and tries to convey how grateful she is for the assistance. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.”
Thankfully their interaction went unnoticed by the group of people in the room. Except for the producer from before. She is jotting down notes or something on her phone aggressively. Josie decides that that woman is weird.
When she leaves the building through the back entrance she is still shocked and pretty sure that she’ll wake up from this nightmare any second now.
Turns out the nightmare isn’t over just yet.
“Hey.” Hope is catching up to her, no sunglasses or hat in sight. “Damn woman! You’re fast.”
Josie stops dead in her tracks and waits for her scene partner to reach her. She can see Stefanie’s car parked and still running, probably waiting for her return.
The street looks rather empty and not as busy as Josie expected it to be. A brief glance up and down the sidewalk confirms that there are also no pedestrians around. It’s just Hope and her.
“I just wanted to say that you were amazing and I truly hope you get the part:” Hope says.
Josie is startled by the sincerity and the fact that a movie star just complimented her.
“Uhm.. thanks?!” It’s more a question than a statement.
“You’re a great scene partner.” Hope’s eyes never leave the taller girl’s face as she says that.
Josie thinks there is something wrong with her ears. She absently touches her right one for confirmation. She realizes how weird that gesture probably looks and shakes her head to clear it from its strange thoughts. She finally comes up with a response.
“You too. I hope you get your part.” It doesn’t seem like enough so she adds on. “I would love to work with you.”
Hope’s face twists into a beautiful smile, one that reaches her eyes and makes her cheeks all puffy. Josie can make out the subtlest of blushes.
“Something tells me we’re gonna see a lot more of each other, Josie:”
Hope has a satisfied expression on her face, like she knows something Josie doesn't. It drives the brunette insane. The movie star spins around and joggs to a car further down the street not giving Josie any chance to speak.
What was that about? And wait, when did she introduce herself with her actual name?
Josie is slightly disappointed, because she really wanted to express her gratitude once again, after the other woman had so obviously saved her audition.
After a few seconds of staring, Josie approaches Stefanie’s Jeep. She opens the passenger door and is met with a wide eyed Stefanie looking blankly at her. The girl has her hands raised midair as if she’s about to make wild gestures.
“DUDE???” Stefanie doesn’t move. Her hands frozen with the rest of her body and her car. “Was that Hope Mikaelson?”
“Yes it was.”
Stefanie gasps and tries to form a coherent sentence.
“Explain.” She says clearly giving up on that.
They are waiting in the in-n-out drive through when Josie’s phone starts blowing up with notifications out of nowhere. Once she opens twitter the exact reason for it is the first thing she sees.
Hope Mikaelson decided to break her twitter silence. For the first time in 7 weeks there is new activity on her account. It’s just one sentence and it instantly turns Josie’s face the color of a ripe tomato as she finishes reading it.
@actualhopemikaelson
lol. josie saltzman just called me hot.