it’s nice to have a friend.
...You’re just very intimidating. I mean, you’re Hope freaking Mikaelson. I’ve seen you in so many movies and now you’re sitting right here...
Josie’s words are ghosting through Hope’s head, burning little holes into her heart. She’s used to hearing variations of this statement. It’s what people tell her when they bump into her on grocery runs, reporters or other actors make similar comments when they run into her at award shows or events.
It’s part of the business, something you have to get used to when choosing to work on the big screen. It has significantly increased since she’d become the face of a fantasy movie franchise.
She’d just never expected Josie to say it. Sure they’d joked about Hope’s ex using her for clout and they'd bantered about Hope’s status in their text messages, but Josie hadn’t voiced it like that before.
...Hope freaking Mikaelson…
She hates the idea of Josie being intimidated or potentially scared by her. It makes her question every single conversation they’ve had. What if Josie is just being nice to her, because she’s afraid of her?
Hope sighs and looks at the bare metal ceiling of the trailer. She had been dead set on leaving two minutes ago, but she can still hear Josie’s words echoing inside of her head.
“Wait for me, please?” The brunette had said while hesitantly stepping out of the trailer. “I really feel like we should talk...”
So Hope’s still here. Waiting. Thinking. Contemplating.
This whole situation is stressing her out, her fight or flight instincts are kicking in and telling her to get out of it as fast as possible.
It’s what she always does, running and not looking back. She can’t risk getting hurt or abandoned again. She’s experienced the pain and grief that comes with people leaving her far too often.
Hope is sitting on the couch, her head now burrowed in her hands. She’s running her fingers through her wavy hair and her left foot is tapping a nervous rhythm on the floor.
It feels great having someone to talk to outside of her family and immediate work environment. Josie is a sweetheart who laughs at her dumb jokes and sends tons of emojis all the time. For that reason alone this whole friendship thing seems like a good concept.
Hope could stare at her phone all day and just send texts back and forth.
She can’t help but smile when thinking about their conversations. Maybe she’s being dramatic and worrying too much, because it seems like Josie actually enjoys her texts.
Josie has this cute way of showing that she cares about more than just Hope’s film projects. She keeps asking for recipes and workout routines.
Josie actively takes the time to check in on her. The only other people in her life who do that on a daily basis are Freya and Rebekah.
Josie is so nice and has this amazing way of grounding Hope just by being close to her.
Josie seems so kind in the interviews Hope had binged the night before and in real life too.
Josie is super pretty and the way she blushes around Hope is really cute.
Hope snaps out of her accidental interior rambling about Josie. Her eyes wide. There are quite a few positive elements to all this. Maybe staying and talking about the things that bother her will be worth it.
She gets up from her crouched position on the couch to inspect the photo wall again.
Her phone starts blowing up with twitter mentions seconds later and she freezes in shock as multiple photos of her on set show up. Apparently some of the staff members had been so excited about her visit that they’d ended up posting about it for everyone to see. She regrets posing for those selfies. For a second she wonders if Marcus posted his photo, too.
Crap.
There are multiple theories on why she’s there already coming in. Either connected to her possibly being a part of the show, her known acquaintance with the producer or Josie directly. Some people are mentioning their instagram likes and other interactions on social media like Hope’s tweet. She should have known better, that tweet is really coming back to haunt her.
Even though she’d just come up with so many reasons to stay, her flight response finally kicks in and overpowers the previous fragile decision to stick around. She takes one last glance around the trailer and gets ready to leave. She has to get out of here and fix this, before wild rumors spread and end the friendship before it even gets off the ground.
Hope is reaching for the door handle when it violently falls open. She’s faced with the same intern who had picked her up in a golf cart earlier. The girl is carrying empty cardboard boxes, a little smaller than your average moving box.
“Oh…” The girl is surprised and a little shocked. “I didn’t know anyone was in here.”
She looks at Hope curiously before realizing that she has a job to do and then sets down the boxes right on the threshold in front of Hope’s feet.
“Just dropping these by.” She hesitates, studying Hope and her hand that’s still raised from when she’d been reaching for the door. Hope must look like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, just standing in the doorway. She shakes her head out of it’s initial shock.
“What are these for?” Hope eyes the boxes and uses her left foot to push them further into the trailer.
“Usually these trailers are not needed for other projects, but because of the reshoots we messed up so many other schedules and plans that they’re now compensating that by giving the trailers over to another production. So we have to clear them out and make sure all personal belongings are with the cast and crew.” She seems a little annoyed, as if she’d already explained this multiple times.
“Josie is almost done for good. One scene and she’s wrapped. So she should take all her stuff out today.”
Hope nods in understanding and makes sure the boxes are the first thing Josie will see when she gets back. She’s about to leave the trailer for real this time, but the girl is still there, shifting on her feet awkwardly right in front of the doorway.
“Can I help you, love?” Hope is a little annoyed and the girl is now blushing uncontrollably at the pet name.
“It’s nothing really.” She takes a look over her shoulder. “I just get it now. I mean it makes a ton of sense that you’re here.”
Hope’s face must give away that she has no idea what she’s talking about, because the girl decides to elaborate further.
“I mean Josie talks about you all the time. She even forced us to watch one of your movies with her the other day during a technical delay.”
Hope’s heart starts beating a little faster and she can feel a pleasant warmth spread through her body. “Josie talks about me?”
The girl’s face takes on a dumbfounded expression. She furrows her brow and stumbles over her next words a little.
“Oh yes. It’s really cute. And I just think it’s great that she finally had the guts to reach out to you and it obviously worked.” The girl looks a little more sure of herself now. “You know, kinda gives me hope that I can do that too with my celebrity crush.”
Hope chokes on her own saliva and starts coughing uncontrollably. Celebrity crush?
“Are you good?” The girl asks, totally unaware of the damage her words had caused.
Hope clutches her chest and fights the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes, because she’s having some trouble breathing.
“Hmm... sure...I’m fine.” She coughs a few more times, before she’s finally able to breathe somewhat normal again.
“Well, I gotta go, but maybe you should get that cough checked out.” She steps away and waves. “It was nice meeting you.”
The girl joggs off into the distance and leaves a confused Hope behind. She rubs her chest and clears her throat multiple times to get the strength in her voice and breathing back.
What was that about?
Maybe she’s reading too far into things or maybe she’s just hearing what she wants to hear, but it had sounded a little like the girl had been suggesting that Josie has a crush on her.
It fits the phone call Hope had overheard earlier and how Josie had talked about having a crush on someone.
Oh boy.
She’s not sure what to do with this information. Where do you go from here?
She likes the idea that someone as kind and as pretty as Josie could have a crush on her. It feels very flattering and she can’t deny the fact that her stomach is acting all weird and mushy. Maybe she has a stomach bug or something.
At the same time she feels like she has an unfair advantage over Josie, because she might know something that she’s not really supposed to know. Josie having a crush on her complicates things a little.
She might be going overboard with all these wild thoughts. She doesn’t really have concrete evidence for her theory and the crush might be totally unrelated to her. Maybe it’s not even about a crush at all and the girl had meant something else.
Hope hesitates at the door. There is so much left unsaid between them. There is so much Hope wants to say, but doesn’t know how to put into words.
She wants this. She wants Josie close to her. Perhaps it’s time to show it.
Her eyes land on the empty boxes again and she finally gives in. She starts by collecting all the empty water bottles then moves on to the photo wall. She’s extra careful and makes sure that the pictures stay intact.
Josie barges in, clutching an empty water bottle.
“You’re still here?” Josie looks her up and down, genuine surprise written all over her angelic features.
Hope just nods and twists one of the many rings on her right hand. Josie follows the movement with her eyes, still not fully processing that Hope actually stayed. Hope awkwardly waves towards the now filled cardboard boxes, but Josie doesn’t take the hint.
“That one intern came by earlier, you’re supposed to clear out the trailer...” Hope explains.
Josie sighs and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I heard about that.”
She sets the bottle on the counter and that’s when she realizes that her stuff isn’t there anymore. She spins around, fully taking in her surroundings and noticing that all of her stuff is gone too. Her face takes on an alarmed expression and she turns towards Hope questioningly.
“Where…”
“I already took care of it.” Hope points towards the boxes again, making it more obvious this time.
“Oh.” Josie looks confused. “You didn’t have to do that, Hope!”
They’re standing in front of each other awkwardly. It’s so uncomfortable that Hope takes a step to the side. Josie bends down and inspects the boxes and her belongings carefully
“Thank you! I really appreciate it.” Josie seems content with Hope’s work and gets back up. “You know, for someone who claims to be a terrible friend you do some pretty nice things.”
“What do you mean?” Hope is still twisting her rings.
Josie turns towards her and then takes a look around her trailer, likely checking if Hope had missed anything.
“You send amazing recipes and workout tips, your memes are top tier and you show up unannounced to make my day better!” Josie passes her and gets on her knees to check under the couch.
Hope pretends not to stare at her backside, but she totally does.
“And now you successfully took a workload off of me.”
Josie gets up and Hope just barely manages to tear her gaze away in time to leave the other actress oblivious. She clears her throat subtly.
“That’s what a good friend does, Hope.” Josie pauses her search right in front of her. “You should cut yourself some slack. So far being your friend has been amazing.”
Their eyes meet and Hope can only see sincerity inside Josie’s warm brown orbs. She feels this weird feeling in her stomach again and doesn’t understand it. What she does understand is how calm and at peace she feels with Josie close. It’s this weird feeling of being grounded to the spot or more like a person.
Hope is getting a little too comfortable for her liking and steps away again. This whole thing is just … weird.
Josie looks a little upset and hurt. She reaches out to her friend and places a hand on Hope’s arm. It immediately spreads a pleasant warmth through Hope’s body and makes the movie actress feel even more safe and stable than before.
“You just did this thing again.” She squeezes to get Hope’s undivided attention. “You did it before I was called to set, too. Hope are you okay?”
Hope is surprised that Josie is calling her out on her behavior, people usually don’t notice when she retreats and hides her true intentions. She doesn’t meet Josie’s burning look.
“What did I do?” Hope tries to play it off.
Without any hesitation Josie answers.
“I can’t really explain it, it’s like you step into a character or something. Your body language changes and you look … so … different.”
Hope takes in a sharp breath and bites her lip. Josie is not done.
“Am I making you uncomfortable? Because if so, I’m so sorry! I don’t mean to, did I say something that offended you....”
She takes her hand from the position it had been in and Hope follows the movement with a small frown on her face. She misses the warmth instantly.
She doesn’t know what to say or more like how to say what’s swirling around in her mind. Josie keeps rambling and Hope finally takes in a sharp breath.
“I like you, Josie.”
Josie stops talking and stares at her blankly.
“I’m not very good with words, but I’ll try to be better for you.”
Josie studies her carefully, Hope can see her eyes jump around, taking in all of her face.
“Okayyyyyy.”Josie draws out her answer. “Thank you, I guess.”
Hope is glad to see that Josie seems a little overwhelmed as well and it’s not just her awkward ass ruining things for them.
“In fact, do you have any plans tonight?” Hope eyes everything but Josie while asking.
“I was going to call my sister so that she can come pick me up for a quiet night in.”
Hope nods and takes a deep breath. “How about we go for a little drive and talk…I can bring you home after.”
She knows that it’s not the best idea to drive Josie around and risk being spotted by fans, it would fuel all kinds of rumors, but she doesn’t really care. They’re friends and there’s nothing wrong or secret about that.
Josie lets the question sink in and then smiles excitedly.
“I would love that.”
Hope’s old honda civic hybrid blends in effortlessly with the busy evening traffic. She’d gotten it back when she was a struggling actress and hadn’t felt the need to upgrade, because most of the time David drives her around in his company vehicle anyways.
Josie had smirked and commented on the almost boring car.
“That’s not what I expected.”
Hope had opened the door for her and answered.
“Bob here has amazing gas mileage and is excellent japanese craftsmanship, choose your next words wisely.”
Now they’re sitting in a comfortable silence while Josie fiddles around with her phone trying to pick a good playlist
“What kinda music do you like?”
Hope focuses on the road and thinks about it for a second. She doesn’t listen to a whole lot of music, her workouts are usually accompanied by podcasts or the songs currently in the charts. She doesn’t have a specific taste in music and listens to whatever genre she’s in the mood for.
“I don’t really have any preferences.” She can feel Josie’s eyes on her and decides to work on the whole not good with words thing. “I usually listen to the charts and podcasts.”
Josie hums and scrolls through her phone.
“So mostly pop.” She hesitates. “What did you listen to during your childhood?”
Hope swallows thickly. It’s a touchy subject and she’s pretty sure Josie knows that. She grips the steering wheel a little tighter.
“Jazz.” She smiles fondly as memories come flushing in. “We always had jazz playing in the house.”
“Is jazz very popular in London?” Josie asks.
Hope briefly thinks about calling Josie out for knowing where she grew up, but decides not to. She feels the urge to not just answer Josie’s question, but also tell the whole story behind it. It feels good and like the first step into the right direction.
“How about I tell you about my childhood and you forget everything you’ve read about me in my wikipedia entry?”
Josie stops going through her phone and straightens in her seat.
“I would love that.”
She forgets all about her phone and turns towards her driver. Hope doesn’t have a destination in mind, she just drives around aimlessly.
“I am the result of a one night stand between a successful business man and a hard working business woman.” Hope’s heart feels incredibly heavy in her chest. “My mom made the decision to have me in Sydney and they agreed that I would stay there for a while. She really loved the beach and nature around there and.growing up with the ocean so close was amazing.”
She smiles softly as she pictures her mom’s beautiful face, her dark hair carelessly tousled by a soft ocean breeze. She’s glad that she’s driving, because it serves as a good distraction. She wouldn’t be able to talk this freely without shedding a tear or two. Josie is quiet and attentive, waiting for her to continue.
“My dad and his family visited a lot and I spent time in London sometimes. When I was 6 we moved to London permanently. We have a huge residence there and all my aunts and uncles as well as both my parents lived under the same roof. It was amazing, because I was always surrounded by family and as the only child around, I lived like a fairy tale princess.”
They’re driving through a quiet neighborhood and Hope relaxes a little. It’s getting darker and quieter around here. Not a lot of people are around and Hope notices that it’s almost 9 pm. She glances to the passenger seat and is met by Josie’s sad smile and a look of sympathy on her face. Josie remains quiet and that encourages Hope to share even more.
“My father’s family has this huge company that’s been running for multiple generations. My dad was the CEO and he ran deals all over the world. One of his favorite locations is in New Orleans, so we often went there for trips and the holidays.”
She breathes in deeply through her nose, imagining the smell of Christmas cookies, cinnamon and her family’s home brewed cider. It almost seems real for a second.
“I think it’s where the whole family found its love for jazz. My dad met my step mom there, my aunt met her wife and my mom and my uncle fell in love.”
Josie perks up at that, Hope can see her biting her lip out of the corner of her eye. Before Josie can ask, Hope elaborates further.
“Yes, my mom and my uncle fell in love.” She laughs at Josie’s obvious reaction. Josie seems a little surprised and fails at hiding it.
“My mom and dad always got along well and shared this incredibly deep bond. They weren’t romantically involved again after that one night, but they did share a special connection. It just made a ton of sense when mom found her perfect match in my dad’s brother, Elijah.”
Josie finally decides to speak and is seemingly very invested in Hope’s complicated family structure. Hope smiles at her.
“But there weren’t any hard feelings? They just got along and played it off?”
“Yes. My dad met my stepmom Camille at around the same time. They got along super well and often went on double dates.”
Hope stops talking immediately, the smile falls and turns into a frown. Talking about her parents and stepparents is one thing, but addressing their deaths is something completely different. Just speaking the expression double date out loud almost makes her throw up. She grips the steering wheel with newfound strength, stimulated by anger and grief.
Josie notices all of it, it’s obvious. She sends her concerned looks from the passenger seat, her eyes remain on Hope’s hands on the steering wheel. She can probably see how white the knuckles are turning. Hope swallows the huge lump in her throat and goes back to their original topic.
“So jazz it is. We always had jazz playing in our London home, because it reminded us of our second home in New Orleans.”
They sit in silence for a while, Josie is letting all the information sink in and Hope focuses on the road, slowly getting them back into busier surroundings and in the general direction of Josie’s apartment building.
Suddenly soft jazz music starts playing and Hope breaks out into a smile again.
“Thank you for telling me all this.” Josie reaches for Hope’s right hand and forces Hope’s fingers out of their tight grip around the wheel.
Hope lets her after putting up a little bit of a fight and Josie intertwines their hands, bringing them to a rest on her left thigh. She starts caressing Hope’s hand with her free one.
Hope relaxes a little and is yet again surprised by how effortlessly easy it is for Josie to ground and comfort her.
“It sounds like you had an amazing childhood.” Josie is drawing shapes on the back of Hope’s hand.
“Thanks for listening.” Hope says softly.
Josie smiles sincerely and it makes Hope’s stomach all weird again.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Josie asks, referring to their conversation in the trailer.
Hope takes a second to think. She’d just unpacked some emotional baggage and is not sure if she can do any more of that right now. She remembers something else though.
“Well there is this one thing that bothers me a little.”
Josie stops with the hand movements and lets go off Hope’s hand, an alarmed expression on her face.
“I find it very flattering that you’re a fan and it’s very sweet, but please don’t talk about me like I’m better than you. I’m just Hope, okay?”
Josie furrows her brow. “What do you mean?”
Hope sighs and stops at a red traffic light.
“You said that I’m the Hope Mikaelson or Hope freaking Mikaelson, and that you’re intimidated by me. I don’t like that you think of me this way. I don’t want you to be intimidated or afraid of me.”
It almost feels like Josie is putting her on some kind of pedestal, like Hope is on a whole different level than her. It makes her genuinely upset that Josie is thinking this way and probably selling herself short in the process.
What she has learned about Josie so far — from their texts and brief conversations — is that she seems so kind and attentive, always asking Hope about her day and general wellbeing. Hope had done some google research as well and from what she’s seen Josie is quite successful and regularly praised for her performances. She has received critical acclaim for her work and a huge fanbase has her back on social media.
So there really is no reason for her to refer to Hope as a bigger star. As far as the movie actress is concerned, they’re equally successful and talented in their own ways.
But Hope is just Hope, a girl from Sydney, raised in London who enjoys painting as well as acting. She’s perfectly normal, there is nothing extraordinary about her when you take her career and position in the spotlight away.
She’s not perfect by any means and just as flawed and damaged as everybody else, she shouldn’t constantly be praised for just being herself or looking the way she looks.
Josie is caught off guard by Hope’s honest statement. She needs a few seconds before she answers.
“I’m not afraid of you, Hope and I’m sorry for giving you the impression that I was.” Josie takes Hope’s hand back into hers. “I’ve just never been friends with someone I admire so much.”
Hope smirks at that. A cocky remark already on its way to tease Josie, but Josie is not having it.
“No! Don’t you dare!” Josie raises a finger to Hope’s face as they finally cross the intersection. “We’re having a moment, don’t ruin it!”
Hope winks at her, but nods in reassurance. She won’t tease.
“I’m glad we cleared that up.” Hope admits and lets out a shaky breath. “I’d like to just be me around you.”
“Me too.” Josie whispers back.
They’re getting closer to the address Josie had given her. Hope doesn’t want this car ride to end. She’d been able to open up a lot, something that rarely happens. She’s afraid she won’t be able to do it again anytime soon.
“You asked me about my crush.” Josie says out of nowhere.
Hope’s heart starts beating faster. She shifts in her seat and mentally prepares for what’s to come. What is an appropriate answer to a crush confession?
“It’s … Jade, this girl I met at an after party once.” Josie mumbles in one quick breath.
Hope almost doesn’t catch it, she’s also sure there was a weird pause before Josie said Jade. Hope doesn’t know anyone named Jade, but she’s pretty sure she hates this particular one a lot and maybe everyone she’ll meet with the name from now on.