Chapter 2
Josie sat on her bed as she waited for Hope to change into her pajamas, trying to steady her breathing and slow her heart rate, yet to no avail.
Hope would never love her the way she did. Hope was straight. And as far as she knew, she still had some type of thing with Landon.
Sure, Hope had been spooning her just minutes before, but it was probably just... a friendly spoon. That’s a thing, right? She guessed it had to be, that was the only plausible explanation for what had just occurred.
Hope was spooning her as a friend... and hopefully, Josie thought, almost involuntary, Hope would friend-spoon her again when she got back. That could be good enough for her, she supposed.
And then Hope emerged from the bathroom, wearing Josie’s shirt, hair messy and falling in gentle waves.
Screw that. She could never be completely content with just being friends with Hope. But what choice did she really have other than to grin and bear it, to pretend that she wanted nothing more with Hope so as not to risk their friendship?
Hope flicked the lights off and crawled back into bed with Josie. Josie was already lying on her side, so Hope simply resumed her position behind the brunette. Josie felt her loop an arm around her waist and pull her flush against her, stiffening again and reminding herself for the hundredth time that Hope was only being friendly.
Apparently, Hope could sense her tension, because she brought her chin up to rest on her shoulder and whispered, “Relax, Jo.” Into her ear, causing her breath to hitch.
Josie felt Hope’s hand rest on her bare stomach with her fingers splayed out, causing goosebumps to erupt all over the girl’s torso.
Josie let her eyes fall closed and tried to steady her embarrassingly shaky breathing. She felt Hope drop a kiss on her shoulder and whisper a soft “Good night.”
Josie didn’t trust her voice enough to respond.
‘She’s just being friendly. She’s just being friendly. She’s just being friendly.’ Josie repeated to herself. Eventually, she was able to relax into Hope’s arms, placing her hand over the other girl’s.
She fell asleep with Hope’s thumb stroking back and forth on her stomach, and her gentle breathing ghosting her neck.
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Hope was the first to wake the next morning, and as reluctant as she was to untangle herself from the brunette, she knew that they had very little time before class started. She slowly slid out from behind the younger witch, and saw her stir slightly, eyebrows knitting together in sleepy frustration and her lower lip jutting out in a pout.
“Hopeyyyyy” She whined, still mostly asleep. Hope smiled down at her, brushing her hair out of her face.
“Jo, it’s time to get up. We have class. Let’s go get some breakfast.” Hope whispered sweetly.
“Nooooooo” The sleepy Josie protested. Hope grabbed her hands and pulled her into a sitting position. “Yessssssss” she replied, teasingly.
The girls got up and started to get ready, Hope using a quick spell to summon her toothbrush from her room. The rest, Josie let her borrow.
Hope made her way to Josie’s closet while Josie finished up her makeup. She grabbed a school uniform as well as one of the girl’s hoodies, which she pulled over her head, noticing how it still smelled distinctly like the younger girl.
Josie exited the bathroom, and Hope couldn’t help but notice the blush that spread across her cheeks when she saw Hope in her sweatshirt.
“Sorry, is it okay if I borrow this?” Hope asked, quickly. Josie just nodded vigorously. Hope gave her a strange look and a slight chuckle.
Why was the girl acting so weird? Maybe Hope came on too strong last night. Maybe she was weirded out by Hope’s subtle advances and now she was uncomfortable. Hope had to remind herself once again that Josie didn’t like her like that. She needed to tone it down.
‘Toning it down’ lasted all of two minutes, when Hope found herself dragging Josie by the hand to get to breakfast on time. Josie caught up with Hope, but now, rather than dragging her, Hope and Josie were just holding hands as they walked down the hall. Neither of them made a move to drop the others’ hand, so they just....kept walking.
When they arrived at the dining hall, Lizzie intercepted them at the entrance. She gave a pointed look at their joined hands, and asked bluntly, “So, did you two hook up last night?”
Hope’s mouth fell open wordlessly, and she glanced at Josie, who had turned beet red and was admonishing her sister with her eyes. “What?” Lizzie asked innocently. “It’s not like we didn’t all see it coming.”
After a few moments of awkward silence, Josie whispered angrily, “No, Lizzie, we did NOT hook up last night. Why would you think that?” willing her sister to take back what she said and forget about it.
Instead, Lizzie rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and looked at the girls like they were crazy. “I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. You’ve been looking at each other like that since middle school. It’s about time one of you does something about it.” She raises her eyebrows suggestively and walks off.
Somewhere in the midst of that awkward exchange, the two of them had dropped hands. Once again, they started making their way into the dining hall, grabbing bagels as they passed the serving stations, then finding a spot across from each other at a table.
“Look, I’m sorry about Lizzie.” Josie began. “Sometimes she just says things like that and everyone knows it’s not true, but she-” Hope cuts her off.
“Wait, so you don’t-”
“Nononono, it’s not that,” Josie assures her. “I just know that you’re straight and you have this whole thing with Landon, and-”
“My ‘thing’ with Landon wasn’t even a real ‘thing’, and I don’t know how you got the idea that l’m straight, but- wait, so you do? Like me?” Hope blurted out, all at once.
Josie just gave her a small, slightly awkward smile and shrugged.
Hope’s heart leaped in her chest, and she couldn’t stop the huge smile she felt spreading across her face, as she looked down at the table bashfully. She finally reached across the table and interlaced her fingers with Josie’s.
“Well,” Hope said, “That’s good to know.”