look what you made me do
“Ugh, I still can’t believe you had the audacity to leave 3 minutes before I got there.”
Her sister`s voice startles Josie and interrupts what happens to be the thousandth run down of her pending screen test. An annoyed and frustrated Josie stops pacing around her living room and gives her sister a death glare.
“It’s not my fault you had your phone turned off.” Josie says with some held back anger.
“Yes, but I called you and said I was going to be there soon.” Lizzie is sitting on the couch, pointing her finger accusingly at Josie. “You could have waited for me.”
Josie sighs and rubs her hand against her forehead. She’s tired, frustrated and completely on edge. Her screen test is coming up in just a few hours and the last thing she needs is an argument with her sister. She closes the space between them and flops down next to her twin.
“I know and I’m sorry.” She pats Lizzie’s shoulder softly. “I just didn’t want to overwhelm Hope. I roped her into this crazy day and kept her from her work, then I introduced her to mom and made her feel bad for not eating the chocolate chip cookies.”
Lizzie visibly relaxes at her sister’s explanation and leans into her side. “We haven’t been friends for that long and she’s not used to having so many people around. I want to ease her into our crazy friend group.” Josie continues.
Lizzie catches her sister’s hand and squeezes it, something Josie has gotten used to, now that Hope does it all the time. She smiles softly at the display of physical affection.
“I understand. But I want to meet her at some point!” Lizzie says. “And before we introduce her to the rest of the gang! I want to rub it into the others’ faces that I’ve known her longer.”
Josie chuckles at her sister’s plans and sighs audibly.
“When is the gang getting back together anyways? I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve all hung out.”
“Alyssa is still shooting in New York and the others are super busy here. I’m sure we can figure something out though. Maybe this weekend? Celebrate you for getting the part?” Lizzie opts.
Josie tenses at that and can feel even more anxiety creep up on her. “I don’t have the part yet, so please don’t make any of those plans.”
Now it’s Lizzie’s turn to sigh and she turns to look at her sister fully. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you more nervous, but I think, no I know, that you will do well today. It’s a gut feeling.”
Josie doesn’t want to argue again, so she lets it go and gets up to grab some water. While she’s at it, Lizzie reaches for the ipad that’s sitting on the coffee table. Her fingerprint unlocks it immediately and she absently starts scrolling through something while keeping their conversation alive.
“Also what’s up with the screen test? You usually love it when people read and practice with you, yet you haven’t asked me to help?” Lizzie keeps scrolling. “Is it because Hope’s helping you prepare?”
Josie gets back to the couch with two cups of water and tries not to spill.
“Hope is not helping me, I asked her to stay out of it. I want to get the part without taking advantage of our relationship.” Josie says.
She takes a sip of her cup and plans to end the conversation at that, but her sister has a different idea, because her eyes shoot up from where she’s reading on the ipad. She squints her eyes at Josie.
“You said relationship.” Lizzie states.
Josie gives her a confused eye roll in return. “What?”
“You said relationship. Not friendship. Relationship. That’s two different things” Lizzie says.
Josie lets her head fall back in frustration. Of course her sister will never leave her alone with this. “A friendship is also a relationship.” She says.
Lizzie rolls her eyes. “Sure, but maybe there is something more you want to unpack here?”
Lizzie’s tone is not demanding, but soft and curious. She’s giving Josie a way out, not pressing for details like she so often does. Josie decides that it’s time to at least get a few things off of her chest.
“I don’t know, I might have told Hope that I have a crush on her.” Josie says in one quick breath.
Lizzie’s eyes go wide and she almost drops the ipad. “You did what?”
Josie looks everywhere but at her sister and starts picking at a throw pillow.
“She was joking about it, she overheard that one phone call and was teasing me about it, but didn’t actually think it was true.” Josie says. “So I more or less told her.”
Lizzie clutches the ipad and starts moving up and down uncontrollably. She’s excitedly hopping in her sitting position which is a funny sight and would usually make Josie laugh, but not right now.
“What did she say?” Lizzie asks.
Hope’s exact words are still ghosting through Josie’s brain, tattooed on the inside of her skull for eternity. She hasn’t stopped thinking about them.
“Every person you had or have a crush on should consider themself lucky.” Josie quotes her friend’s words.
Lizzie next to her freezes and releases a loud shriek. She starts hitting Josie frantically. She’s too shocked to speak and keeps making weird noises. Josie lets her sister’s soft punches hit her and waits for her to calm down.
“Jo! This is good!” Lizzie has finally found her actual voice again.”That means she likes you!”
Josie furrows her brow and clutches the pillow to her chest. “I don’t know.”
“Akdfkjaljkga.” Lizzie tries to say something but it sounds more like a real life keyboard smash. She takes a few deep breaths before trying again, this time significantly calmer and more collected. “Well did she say something else? Or does she do things that hint at her feelings for you?”
Josie instantly blushes just thinking about all the physical contact they share on the regular and how much Hope likes to tease her with her stupid, but hot smirk. She can’t help but grin like a lovestruck idiot when she recalls how Hope’s hand feels in hers.
“We hold hands.” Josie confesses quietly. “Like a lot.”
Lizzie next to her looks like she’s about to faint. Her face is flushed and her hands are waving around.
“Oh my god, Josie. Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
“Ehm. Most of this just happened like two days ago and you were staying with mom.” Josie explains. “I don’t know what any of this means, she’s just trying to be nice and she hasn’t had many friends, so she probably doesn’t even know what she’s doing half the time.”
Now Lizzie starts laughing hysterically. She throws herself back against the backrest of the couch and gasps for air.
“Are you being serious right now?” Lizzie manages to squeeze out before falling back into a fit of laughter. “I thought you’re the living embodiment of Hope’s wikipedia page.”
Josie struggles to follow her sister and sighs bitterly. “What are you on to?”
“I just think it’s funny that you think Hope doesn’t know when she’s flirting or overstepping friendship boundaries. You do know about her dating history, right?”
Josie does in fact know a lot about Hope, including her dating life from all of the tabloids she used to stalk. Maybe she’d been a little bit too invested in her celebrity crush’s life. She doesn’t know what her sister is talking about though.
“Yes, she dated that Roman dude who cheated on her, for like 2 years.” Josie says. “And before that… oh…”
She might be catching on.
“Oh, exactly.” Lizzie states. “The 4 or so years she spent working here before officially dating Roman? Ring any bells in your Hope encyclopedia?”
Josie’s eyes go wide as her mind rushes through some of her more vivid memories of articles and paparazzi photos from that time. She distinctly recalls seeing lots of stories on Hope’s flings and short term relationships. Most of them had unfolded behind closed doors and not a lot of information had been out in the open, but the media had always found a way to expose Hope’s love life.
“She’s had some one night stands, but nothing serious.” Josie tries.
Her sister sees it differently and stops her right there. “Oh please, Jo, she was a player. A womanizer.”
Josie gulps at Lizzie’s use of words. It makes her uncomfortable and she’s about to call her sister out on it, but she beats her to it.
“And I don’t mean that in a bad way! No slutshaming on my watch! She was a young, openly bisexual woman in a new city with tons of opportunities, of course she indulged.”
Josie buries her head in her hands and thinks about plugging her ears so she doesn’t have to listen to Lizzie’s recounts of Hope’s personal life.
“My point is that even if she hasn’t had deeper connections with her previous, let’s call it ‘situations ’, and she hasn’t had lots of friends, she still knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s a flirt and was actually quite notorious for it back then.”
Josie sighs again, it’s becoming a staple in conversations about Hope now. Lizzie remains unbothered and keeps talking.
“You know what, it actually makes a ton of sense. From what you’ve told me she’s not big on opening up, so one night stands are the perfect solution. No strings attached…”
“Okay can we stop?” With a deep breath Josie pushes herself off of the couch and starts pacing again.
She doesn’t want to talk about Hope and her private life like that and she doesn’t want to think about it. Hope leaving an award show with someone, Hope taking that someone home, Hope tangled up with that someone... Ugh
She groans audibly and ignores any more of Lizzie’s attempts to reel her back into the conversation.
She hasn’t been able to think about anything other than Hope, her words and her actions. Even if Lizzie is convinced Hope knows exactly what she’s doing, it doesn’t feel that way. It doesn’t feel like Hope is flirting with her intentionally. It feels normal, organic and nice? Is it even considered flirting?
No matter what it is, it’s something Josie is starting to relish in. Maybe far too much, considering Hope’s her friend.
But then she thinks about the way the redhead had looked at her and said she would consider herself lucky if Josie really had a crush on her. What’s that even supposed to mean? Why is she speaking in riddles? Josie should have just flat out said hey, I’ve had the biggest crush on you for years maybe she would’ve gotten a straight answer back instead of whatever Hope was trying to say.
The more time she spends with Hope the bigger her crush gets. Yes, Josie is admitting it to herself now. It’s only been around 2 weeks and she’s swooning over Hope like her 18 year old self after seeing tribrid tales I in the movie theatre.
The chances of Hope developing feelings beyond friendship for her in the short span of 14 days are close to zero. There is no way.
She stares a few holes into her ceiling, her head tilted upwards as she releases another groan.
As much as she wants to unpack all these things currently brooding in her head, she has to convince producers and a whole lot of other people to give her the biggest role of her life.
She’s been practicing her lines over and over again. She knows them by heart, but still feels the need to be extra safe. It’s not like she can allow any slip ups. The fact that her character and Hope’s character are love interests makes the whole thing even harder.
She’s now hugging herself and walking back and forth between her front door and living room area.
“For the love of God! Are we really still doing this?” Lizzie’s voice disrupts Josie’s current script run down. “You look like a kid running on ten shots of espresso. Can’t you just let me help?”
Josie stares at her twin with frustration, she’d just gotten through the first few lines. Her sister has a point though, because it’s not the first time today. Josie has been striding up and down her whole apartment in anticipation for the last 36 hours.
“I know it’s annoying and a little over the top, but could you just please leave me alone with this?” Josie bites back. She’s hitting a breaking point.
Lizzie has her eyebrows raised, it reminds Josie a lot of Hope and doesn’t make the situation any better. She doesn't make a move to leave and instead sits up straighter.
“I feel like there’s more to this whole thing. Look, I get it if you don’t want to talk about Hope and I’ll stop bringing her up, but is there anything else bothering you?” Lizzie tries softly. “Are the lines hard? You know I can help you practice, right?”
Josie smiles fondly at her sister’s offer, but there is a good reason as to why she hasn’t asked her for help. If Lizzie hears about the love interest situation, she’ll lose it even more. Josie usually relies a lot on rehearsing her lines with someone else, it helps her memorize her lines better, but she doesn’t want anymore crush talk from her twin.
After debating whether or not she should take her sister up on that offer, Josie doesn’t answer and just turns away to start from the top. Lizzie falls awfully quiet and reclaims possession of the ipad.
5 minutes later a loud gasp startles Josie once again. Lizzie is staring at the device in giddy disbelief. Looks like Josie doesn’t have to tell her after all. She can clearly see her screen test script open on the ipad.
“Morgan Monroe, early 20ies, dark hair, tall, lean, siphoner witch, reckless, naive and curious.” Lizzie pauses for dramatic effect before continuing. “Romantic partner for Faith Hill.”
The script includes a short rundown of her potential role and of course Lizzie has found it. She is waving the ipad around and stares at Josie gasping for air.
“That’s why you didn’t ask me for help! You didn’t want to tell me that you’re Hope’s love interest!” Lizzie gets to her feet and approaches Josie. “This is getting better and better. Co-stars falling in love on set...I can see it all.”
Josie looks at her with a pleading gaze, hoping she’ll get the hint and drop the topic. Their eyes meet and Josie can see some of the excitement slip off of Lizzie’s face who’s realizing that she’d overstepped and is clearing her throat awkwardly.
They get rudely interrupted by someone barging in through the front door. Stefanie walks in like she owns the place and stops in her tracks as she spots the twins standing in the middle of the apartment. “What’s poppin’?” The door bangs shut behind her.
She looks them up and down and takes in their weird staring and standing contest.
“Don’t mind me.” She says and walks up to them. “Are we doing a group hug? Or what else is this about?”
Without waiting for an explanation she swoops in and throws her arms around the twins, engulfing them in an awkward hug.
“This is weird.” Stefanie says and leaves them in their spot. She walks over and flops down on the couch. “Okay, ladies what has your ovaries in a twist?”
Lizzie is the first to speak and eyes Stefanie with a sour expression. “I can’t believe you just let her break in here all the time.” She says directed towards Josie.
Stefanie is used to Lizzie’s bickering and does what she usually does, her tongue pokes out and serves as her comeback.
“You’re just mad, because I’m living in your old apartment and you’re currently homeless.” Stefanie says.
The twins used to live door to door in the apartment building, but Stefanie took over Lizzie’s lease when the blonde Saltzman had moved to France permanently.
Lizzie starts walking towards her best friend and once she is within reach, she smacks her with a throw pillow. “I’m not homeless. I just moved back in at home.”
Josie still stands and watches the verbal exchange, there is not much for her to say here. These two always get on each other’s nerves and push the other’s buttons.
“Oh I didn't know that.” Stefanie says. “Is it because of the false alarm?”
She has the pillow tugged to her chest and watches Lizzie take a seat next to her. “That too. And I just missed my mom, I want to spend some time with her. It can get quite lonely up there.” Lizzie explains.
The blonde twin had decided to leave Josie’s place for now and live with Caroline instead. The false alarm had rattled them all and Lizzie always sees safety in numbers. It’s not a permanent move, but it gives Lizzie time to figure out what exactly she wants to do next in her career. On top of that it means Josie is getting some of her privacy and downtime back.
“Anyways, what was that weird staredown about? You two looked like sims with no tasks lined up.” Stefanie says.
Josie can see Lizzie’s mood instantly perk up, her sister is so obviously itching to spill the tea to Stefanie. She looks at the two of them sitting on the couch, one is clutching a pillow, the other still holds the ipad like it's her most prized possession. Josie sighs (again), mostly because Lizzie is biting her lip to keep herself from talking. With a subtle nod she lets Lizzie know that it’s okay to catch Stefanie up.
Lizzie releases an exaggerated gasp and starts typing away on the ipad.
“Okay, Stef, get ready. You came in here, right when my excellent detective work figured something out. Something huge.” She pauses, likely for dramatic effect.
Josie groans and joins them on the couch. Lizzie gives her a pointed look for interrupting the silent tension she’d so carefully crafted.
“Remember when we talked about how weird and secretive Josette over here was about this screen test?”
“Wait, you two talk?” Josie says in mock surprise.
Lizzie ignores her. “I just found out why.” She pushes the ipad into Stefanie’s hands. It takes two painfully quiet minutes for Stefanie’s eyes to fly over the few lines.
“Holy…” Stefanie’s mouth falls open. “You’re her love interest?”
Josie nods and is about to clarify that she doesn’t have the role for sure, but Lizzie is already rambling about the representation and how amazing the script for the whole movie must be.
Stefanie joins her and the two excitedly shriek about potential theories.
It takes them 5 minutes to calm down and stop talking about Josie like she isn’t sitting right next to them.
“Josie, this is amazing and such a huge opportunity!” Stefanie says finally while reaching for one of the long forgotten waters on the coffee table.
“Right?” Lizzie says equally enthusiastically.
“Yes. It’s an opportunity.” Josie finally chimes in. “It’s not set in stone yet and chances are that someone else gets the part.”
Stefanie gives her a knowing look and pushes the ipad back into Lizzie’s waiting hands. “You’re right, you’re not the only one trying to get the role, but I think your chances are huge. They are super late, production is already getting ready, but they don’t have the main love interest? Sounds to me like they haven’t met the perfect actress yet.” Stefanie points at Josie dramatically.
“And that’s not even considering your clear advantages.” Lizzie adds on. “You know Hope, not that well to be fair, but you’ve spent time with her and you’ve acted together in that other chemistry read.” Lizzie and Stefanie both have their eyes firmly set on Josie.
Josie feels like she’s being interrogated or the topic of an intervention. The latter makes a whole lot of sense, because Stefanie and Lizzie simultaneously start to move. Lizzie scoots closer to her sister while Stefanie gets up from her spot next to Lizzie just to immediately settle down on Josie’s other side. They’re trapping her on the couch, sandwiching Josie between their tall frames.
“You are going to get this role.” Lizzie says.
“But…” Josie goes into her defensive and pessimistic mood. “No-no.” Stefanie interrupts any doubts by clasping her hand over Josie’s mouth. “Hear her out.”
All Stefanie and Lizzie do is bicker and pretend to hate each other when all they really do is love and care deeply for one another. To strangers it really looks like these two despise each other, but Josie is reminded of their unique and special bond when she sees the two exchange a look and have a whole silent conversation. It’s usually a twin thing, but Stefanie has spent enough time with them to master and perfect their nonverbal communication.
Lizzie clears her throat and gets ready to unpack whatever she has gathered about the situation.
“Okay, Jo-say, I think you’re blind, so I’m going to enlighten you. The producers are legit dumb if they don’t give you the part. Obviously because you’re so freaking talented and great eye candy, but also because you’re part of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Josie furrows her brow in question, Lizzie groans and gets worked up immediately. “Are you legit not seeing this?” She bumps her shoulder into her sister’s. “Josette! They already paved the road for so many more franchises when they made Hope’s character bi in the second movie.
You’re openly pan, Hope is openly bi, you’re both part of the LGBTQ+ community, having you on screen together and playing love interests is huge!”
Stefanie takes this as her opportunity to chime in as well. “Queer actors playing queer characters is amazing and something the public has been pushing for for a while now. And I know you don’t like to hear this, but the fact that you’re both single right now is also a huge bonus. The rumor mill will spin and cause so much buzz. It’s free publicity.”
Josie grumbles into the hand that’s still covering her mouth and gives in. Maybe they’re right and she is already one step ahead of other actresses. It doesn’t change the fact that she wants to impress. She swats the hand away.
“Okay, Stef reads Hope’s lines and Lizzie narrates and sets the scene.”
~
Josie isn’t as nervous as she’d been earlier. It’s like her body is done being worried for the day, having used up all of its nervous energy. It’s odd, really, she might actually be looking forward to acting with Hope again. Maybe it’s because Hope is sending her the softest looks from the opposite side of the studio or maybe it’s because Hope had hugged her first thing upon arriving.
Hope’s hushed “you got this. No, we got this.” and a tight shoulder squeeze had certainly also relaxed Josie significantly.
Now she’s taking a few calming breathes and gets ready to step into character. She knows that as soon as she adapts and gets into her role, all nerves will disappear. It’s why she had started acting in the first place. Pretending to be someone else means not caring and worrying about herself for once.
“And action.” The director signals the start of what Josie will only remember as a fever dream.
Faith Hill, Hope’s character is iconic and right now Josie can clearly see how Hope is channeling her inner Faith by putting on a smoldering look. It takes everything inside of her to not look away. Instead she locks eyes and waits for Hope, no Faith, to approach her.
“You’re welcome by the way.” Hope says.
It throws off Josie for a second. She’d gotten so used to Hope’s British accent that hearing her American one just doesn’t sound right. It’s a good thing that her character is supposed to be caught off guard. She can play it off easily.
“For what exactly?” Josie says exasperatedly.
She furrows her brow and sighs audibly.
Hope’s still approaching her. “Uhm I don’t know…maybe for saving your ass.”
Josie turns toward her fully and lets some anger slip onto her face.
“Yeah no.” She says and rolls her eyes. “My ass is completely fine. No saving is and was ever required.”
Josie can see the exact moment when Hope’s eyes sparkle playfully. She’s probably trying hard to let Josie’s words go without commenting on them. Hope bites her lip and stops in her tracks, about 3 feet away from Josie. Her eyes travel up Josie’s body and take it all in.
Josie lets her. She can feel her heart rate increase, because she’s being blatantly checked out. A few self conscious thoughts surface, but she pushes them away. After all she’s playing badass Morgan Monroe who is supposed to relish in the hot stranger’s attention.
“Really?” Hope breaks the charged silence. “Looked to me like you were about to be harassed or assaulted.”
She points towards the ground, presumably hinting at Josie’s companion she’d taken out before the conversation. Josie plays along and follows her gesture.
“I had it under control.” Josie hisses back.
Her character had been in a very sticky situation, pinned against an alleyway wall by a man twice her size. Faith had taken pity on her and overpowered the attacker with her tribrid powers.
“Clearly.” Hope says.
She’s crossing her arms across her chest and staring at Josie questioningly. Josie stares right back at her and groans frustratedly.
“What? Do you want a cookie or something?” She puts as much sass in it as possible.
She loves Morgan and her snarky remarks so much already. Hope seems unimpressed, but wears a thoughtful expression. Josie takes advantage of her silence and gives Morgan the opportunity to really look at her savior for the first time. Much like Hope had done just a few moments ago, she lets her eyes wander and observe every inch of her counterpart’s body.
It’s exhilarating. Staring at Hope without hiding her attraction, but rather exaggerating it, she can allow it, because she’s in character and can chalk her behavior up to her acting choices. Just like when they’d met for their first audition together, all Josie can think right now is how attractive her colleague actually is.
“I’m not one to turn down cookies, but right now I would rather like to know why you thought it was a great idea to walk into a sketchy alley with a thirsty vampire?” Hope breaks the silence.
Josie had been waiting for it, but still blinks in surprise at the words. She clears her throat and gathers her thoughts. The next lines are already falling from her lips.
“Oh wow. Who do you think you are?” Her voice gains strength and aggression. “I don’t owe you an explanation.”
Hope shifts her weight from one leg to the other and chuckles sarcastically.
“You’re right, maybe you don’t owe me an explanation, but at least have the decency to say thank you.”
Josie has to push the urge to comply with Hope's words back down her throat, Morgan is not the type of character to just give in easily. She’s standoffish to strangers. So she laughs humorlessly and morphs her face into an offended expression.
“Yeah, not happening. I’m not going to thank you for ruining my research.”
Hope raises an intrigued eyebrow, something she does a lot, but Faith Hill apparently also likes to do. “Research?”
“Research.” Josie says without further explanation.
She doesn’t miss that Hope is taking a step closer. So far they’re following the script, word for word, action for action. Hope had assured her that she wouldn’t go off script, even though she usually loves to improvise. Josie is glad that they’ve established that, she’s not sure if she could keep up with unscripted lines right now.
“Did you kill him?” Josie asks emotionlessly. She’s looking at the bare studio floor, but pretends to be looking at a body.
Hope tilts her head a little. It’s her signature move for when Faith uses her enhanced abilities. She sighs and shakes her head. “Nope.”
“How do you know?” Morgan really isn’t the most observant character. “He might be dead, considering you bashed his head against a wall.”
Hope smiles softly. “The same way I can smell your witch coven on you.” She steps closer and is now only mere inches away from Josie’s face. Her eyes trace Josie’s facial features quickly, before trailing off. Hope’s height is perfect for her to aim for Josie’s neck and ear area.
She inhales carefully and it might look weird, after all they’re normal people just pretending to be supernatural creatures, but Josie thinks it’s incredibly intense and hot.
Hope is now only a few inches away from her ear and Josie’s eyes close involuntarily once Hope’s breath tickles her there. She curses herself for that, Morgan Monroe should be more collected than that.
“I have special … skills.” Hope whispers.
She pulls away with a cocky smile and wink, waiting for Josie to utter her next lines. It bothers Josie. A lot. Not the fact that Hope had done exactly what the script says, but rather that Morgan Monroe is supposed to let it go and engage the stranger in a conversation about her coven. She’s supposed to introduce herself as Morgan, but Josie doesn’t want to. It doesn’t feel right.
The rational part of her brain is telling her to just get on with it, say the lines, add some spice and hope for the best, but there is this passionate competitive side that tells her to improvise. This is her biggest audition yet, if it goes wrong it’s something she’ll never forgive herself for, but if that’s what sets her apart from the crowd, maybe it’s worth the risk?
She hesitates and clenches her teeth. She can see the exact moment when Hope catches on and realizes what Josie’s about to do. There is an excited glow to Hope’s blue orbs, as if she had been hoping for Josie to change things up. It’s the final push Josie needs. She goes off script.
Her heart is beating at an unhealthy speed as she steps closer to Hope. She towers over her and has to angle her head down a little bit to keep her gaze locked with Hope’s.
“Skills?” She asks. It sounds just like she’d intended. Nonchalantly, but the suggestive meaning drips off the word and builds tension. “What kind of skills?”
Hope bites her lip and Josie follows the movement with her eyes. It’s so hot, why does she have to do this all the time? She watches as Hope’s lips form their signature smirk and she easily adapts to the unscripted words.
“Stick around and you might find out.” Hope says and Josie catches the redhead’s eyes on her lips.
They're so close to each other that they essentially breathe in the same air. Josie catches the faint scent of woodsy, earthy notes as well as citrus. It must be Hope’s perfume or shampoo, maybe a combination of both. It drives her insane. She has to swallow thickly and remind herself that she’s acting. There is no room for her crush right now. She’s Morgan, a cool witch that’s unimpressed by Faith’s confident demeanour.
She lingers for a second longer, but she knows what she has to do next to stay true to her interpretation of her character. She starts walking past Hope and bumps her shoulder delicately while doing so. It’s like Hope is pulled from some sort of trance, she spins around and looks at Josie in surprise and wonder. Josie shoots her a look over her shoulder.
“I have to get back to my research, but maybe I’ll see you around?” Josie is getting closer to the studio wall and there is no way for her to drag this conversation along any longer without looking super dumb. She prays for Hope to come up with something that’ll save her and finish the scene.
“Wait.” Hope speaks, but doesn’t move. Josie stops in her tracks and sends her a knowing grin. “I don’t even know your name.”
Josie releases a breath of relief. Hope is basically steering the conversation back to what the script had originally asked for. It means they haven’t gone too far and the initial relevance of the scene is still there. Josie tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and smirks at Hope. How the tables have turned.
“Morgan.” She says and turns away again.
She can hear Hope whisper the name, trying it out on her lips. Josie takes it as her cue to leave and walks towards the wall. Hope seems to realize that the scene is pretty much done and just stares straight forward. “I’m Faith.”
They end on that note. It takes a few seconds of awkward standing and staring for the director to intervene. “Cut.”
The silence that follows is heavy on Josie’s heart and within a couple of seconds she’s fully out of character, back to being Josie. It dawns on her that she just potentially blew the screen test. Cameras are running, only two of them, but it’s enough to unsettle her. People will be able to watch this back and see her ignore clear instructions.
The people she had to impress sit to her left, lined up in different chairs, with notebooks or phones in hand. They are quiet and staring holes into her. Josie swallows and is on the brink of apologizing when two strong arms pull her into a hug.
Her breathing slows down, for the first time since she’d entered the studio. The same woodsy scent from earlier enters her vicinity and engulfs her in comfort and warmth.
“You’re amazing.” Hope says, her voice muffled by the bunched up fabric of Josie’s shirt.
It’s not lost on Josie that Hope used present tense. It’s also not lost on her that about 10 pairs of eyes are currently watching their every move. She tenses even in Hope’s hug, the other woman understands and lets go. She discreetly reaches for Josie’s hand instead and gives a tight squeeze before storming off to the executive producer.
“Amazing, right?” Hope says loud enough for everyone else to hear. “The improv part? I loved it, can we actually put that in the script? You said that the screen test script was just a raw version and we can work on it, right? I mean it was essentially just a decoy in case someone leaks it, so how about we change it into what Josie just said and make that the final draft?”
“Hope.” The director intervenes and places a hand on her lead actress's shoulder. Her voice is soft, but still authorative, enough to stop Hope’s rambling. “Before we change anything, we still have other people waiting outside. Let us get on with the tests and then we’ll discuss things.”
Hope looks displeased, but doesn’t utter any protest. Instead she walks back towards Josie.
“I’ll walk you out.”
Josie spares one more glance towards the other people in the room. The director smiles at her. “Thanks, Josie, that was great. We’ll be in touch.”
~
“I actually have a meeting with Emma in…” Josie quickly swipes on her phone, exciting facetime in the process. “5 minutes.”
She goes back into the app and sees Hope smiling back at her. “Oh, we might run into each other then! I have one too.”
Josie furrows her brow in confusion. She has a super long meeting planned, Emma has been very clear about it. They’re essentially planning Josie’s entire year today, to figure out if any more auditions or projects fit into her schedule.
“Well, I’m looking forward to it then.” Josie steps out of the elevator to Emma’s office floor. “Before I let you go, have you heard anything?”
Hope’s face falls, but she still manages to look encouraging enough to make Josie believe her next words. “No, but as soon as I will, I’ll call you. Promise.”
They quickly utter their goodbyes and Josie greets the receptionist. It’s just a formality. She has walked the office floor for years and knows exactly where to go. To her surprise she is directed to the big conference room and not Emma’s cozy corner office.
She hurriedly makes her way over and gets even more confused when all of the blinds on the room’s glass walls are closed. She has never once seen the conference room this guarded and secretive. She knocks twice and after hearing a faint “come in” she steps inside.
Josie is pretty sure she dies right there. She is greeted by loud cheers, applause and whistling. Her hand flies up to cover her sternum in an attempt to keep her heart from flying out of her chest. She just so manages to hold in an embarrassing shriek and takes in the scene in front of her.
There are a few people she doesn’t recognize from anywhere, the four dudes don’t seem too excited if their forced smiles are anything to go by. Josie notices another person right next to them, it’s one of the producers for tribrid tales . Emma stands to the side, grinning from ear to ear. She’s getting an idea of where this is going, but once her eyes meet Hope Mikaelson’s blue ones and a bright smile, she has absolute clarity. She has the job?
“Congrats, Morgan Monroe!” Emma says and pulls Josie into a hug. “You’re gonna kill it.”
Her heart jumps in her chest, her eyes water unintentionally and she releases a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding ever since leaving the screen test. Part of her wants to question Emma’s words, double check to make sure, but another part just wants to relish in the excitement coursing through her body.
Josie reciprocates the hug and tries hard to hold everything together. This is such a huge opportunity, the role she needs to prove she can act in big productions, give mature characters a face and her way of transitioning over from television to movies.
She takes a few deep breaths and relishes in Emma’s hug, it’s comforting and grounding, in a way the only thing holding her together right now. She really doesn't want to cry in front of all these strangers. Emma pulls away slowly and gives her back a few reassuring strokes.
Josie wipes her eyes carefully to prevent the tears from spilling out. She laughs uncontrollably when Hope appears in her peripheral vision, the redhead is hysterically jumping up and down, waving her arms around in triumph.
Josie doesn’t lose another second and tackles the smaller woman into a hug. Hope giggles adorably and squeezes back.
“I knew it.” Hope says, loud enough for everybody else to hear. “You deserve this so much! This is going to be such a wild ride!”
Josie grins back at her co-star and holds on to her for a few more seconds. That’s when she remembers their phone conversation and gasps in mock offense. She shoves Hope with little to no force and bumps her shoulder.
“You knew!” She says accusingly. “And you didn’t tell me?”
Hope has the decency to look guilty, but a grin works its way onto her face after a few moments. “It was worth it! I wanted to see your reaction in person!”
Josie rolls her eyes and gives Hope another light shove. They’re pulled from their little bubble when one of the men in the room clears his throat. “We should get to it.”
It’s an hour later and Josie’s head is definitely smoking or steaming, one of the two. So much information has been dumped on her. The mansplaining doesn’t make it more bearable.
“So it’s an nda?” Josie aks.
“Yes.” Michael, part of the legal team answers.
“A fucking stupid one.” Hope says with an exasperated tone to her voice.
“Hope.” Emma glares at her client.
It looks like Hope is about to speak up again, but Josie sees her opportunity to intervene and deescalate the situation.
“So what does that mean?” Josie asks. “We can’t hang out anymore?”
Out of all the paragraphs in the nda this is the one that confuses her the most. Why aren’t they allowed to see each other outside of work? It doesn’t make sense.
“Technically speaking, you guys can hang out with each other, the production even encourages it, because it usually builds trust and chemistry, but you aren’t allowed to be seen together in public.”
“But why?” Hope chimes in again. “It’s literally free promo for the movie.”
There is a sigh and Michael goes back into his mansplaining. It’s infuriating and Josie hates every second of it.
“The production wants to keep your involvement quiet.” He points at Josie. “At least up until you guys have started filming and we can announce your role properly, with a few snippets of footage, behind the scenes stuff and interviews. We want to offer the audience something along with the casting announcement and make the excitement and hype even bigger.”
“It just means you guys have to be careful with paparazzis and fans, it’s only for another 6 weeks. The second week into filming is when we reveal everything.”
Hope fires back multiple arguments and claims that the whole thing is the dumbest thing she’d ever heard while Josie just sits and stares. This is bigger than she’d anticipated. Emma sends her a comforting smile, Josie knows that she can trust her agent and that Emma wouldn’t be agreeing to any of this if it weren’t reasonable.
“Hope, it’s okay.” Josie reaches for Hope’s hand that’s resting right next to her on the conference desk. The two of them are sitting side by side, facing the opposite side of the table and 5 men. Emma is seated right next to Josie.
“It’s not like we’ve hung out that much before. We just have to stop with the car rides and meet at a more remote and private location instead.”
It still amazes Josie that so far no photos of her in Hope’s car have surfaced. It seems rather weird considering Hope has paps following her everywhere.
“It just feels like a huge intrusion.” Hope says, but she squeezes Josie’s hand back. “You shouldn’t have to deal with this…”
“I shouldn’t have to deal with this?” Josie interrupts. “Hope, this concerns you too. I know you don’t feel like it does, because you basically don’t have a social life, but it’s invading your privacy as well.”
She doesn’t let Hope speak. “We’re in this together and we can deal with a stupid nda. It’s not the end of the world.”