I Hate the Way...

Part 2: "Pace Yourself"

A few hours later, the bar doors swing open, and in come several rowdy patrons.

Josie rolls her eyes, turning to MG, who raises an amused eyebrow at her, "Looks like your favorite customers decided to drop in."

Josie groans, "Marines. Great. We should expect mild harassment by nine o'clock, and chaotic evil by ten."

"Hey, stranger!"

Josie and MG both recognize the voice, turning around to face the direction it came from.

Josie's eyes widen, "Raf?!"
She pulls him into a tight embrace, "What the hell, it's been ages! How are you? I've missed you!"

"I missed you too Saltzman."

"You two know each other?" MG looks between the two of them.

"He lived in my hometown years ago...Wait, you know Raf?" Josie looks between the guys.

Raf connects the pieces for them, "Well, after I," he whispers to them, "triggered my werewolf curse, I moved out here to go to the Mikaelson Academy. MG was in the room across the hall."

MG shakes his hand, "Good to see you, brother."

"Likewise," Raf's friends approach them at the bar, a few of them continuing to be rowdy, "Guys, this is Josie, and I'm sure you all remember MG from school."

A few of them shake MG's hand, since they're familiars.

Josie notes that these people are not only Marines, but they're also supernaturals.

One of the soldiers, an auburn haired girl with daring blue eyes and a winning smile shakes MG's hand, "Good to see you again," and then turns to Josie, politely reaching her hand out, "Pleasure to meet you, love."

Josie is entranced by her eyes, annoyingly enough.

She accepts her handshake, feeling the strength and softness all at the same time.

She clears her throat before releasing the girl's hand.

Raf and MG glance between the two of them, sensing some tension.

Raf tries to relieve it, "We actually have two weeks until we ship out."

"You're being deployed?"

Raf nods, "War's not gonna fight itself."

"Well, in that case, what do you all want to drink? First round's on the house."

"Thanks Jo," Raf gives her a smile.

One of the soldiers puts in his order, "Tequila, please ma'am."

Josie whispers to MG, "Does he look old enough for tequila to you?"

"He's a vampire, Jo."

Josie nods, looking to the rest of the soldiers for their orders. "Same as him." "Rum and Coke." "Whatever you've got on draft."

Josie glances to the auburn haired girl again.

"Bourbon, neat. And thanks again."

Josie nods to her, holding eye contact a second longer than she should, "Pace yourself, yeah?"

With that she walks behind the bar, leaving the auburn haired girl more than interested, smirking as she watches Josie's retreating figure.

Some of the soldiers hit her shoulder playfully, "She's definitely into you."

Raf eyes her, reading Hope's expression, "No."

Hope turns to him, eyebrow raised, "What?"

He shakes his head, "Not gonna happen, okay? She's like a little sister to me."

MG interjects, "Uh, Josie has a 'no soldiers/no supernaturals' dating policy, sorry."

Josie comes back with the drinks, offering them to the Marines, and Hope's eyes stay planted on her the entire time, curiosity apparent.

One of the soldiers voices a perverted remark, "Who said anything about dating?" while eyeing Josie up and down, like a piece of meat.

"Excuse me?"

"So, we're good enough to fight for your ass, but not enough to touch it?"

Josie barely registers Hope pinching her nose, clearly also annoyed at his disrespectful comments.

Josie scoffs, "Okay, I'm not dealing with this. MG, they're all yours."

Josie turns on her heal, heading back behind the bar, serving drinks to the regulars there.

Hope rolls her eyes at the soldier, "Real smooth, Tien."

"What? What'd I do?"

Hope shakes her head, downing the rest of her drink before standing up, "Let me see what I can do."

One of the guys, Kaleb Hawkins, chuckles, "Don't do what he did."

Raf warns her playfully, "Behave yourself."

Hope ignores Maya's scowl as she makes her way over to the bar, hearing one of them comment, "Girl's got a perfect track record."

Hope rests her glass on the bar, noting how Josie doesn't even make eye contact with her.

She clears her throat, "Listen, I'm sorry about our friend. He's a bit..." Hope pauses in lieu of finding a word to accurately describe the guy.

Josie only scoffs quietly, clicking her tongue, "Yeah, okay."

She continues making a drink for one of the customers, sliding it to him across the bar, no longer acknowledging the auburn haired girl's presence.

"I'm Hope by the way."

Josie finally meets her gaze, "Have a fun night, Hope."

With that, Josie walks away, to the complete other end of the bar.

Hope's too busy staring at the girl to notice Maya approaching her, until she feels a hand grazing up her forearm to her bicep, "Don't waste your time, Hope. Come on, why don't we share a dance, like old times?"

Hope peels her eyes away from the bartender to look at her fellow Marine Aviator.

Maya and Hope had an on and off fling throughout their school days, and somehow they ended up both enlisting in the military, becoming pilots for the Marine Corps.

Hope smiles, nodding her head as she offers up her hand, with Maya happily taking it and dragging them over to the dance floor.

Josie glances over to them, noticing how touchy-feely the curly haired brunette is.

Hope seems a little more respectful, placing her hands on the girl's hips, not straying too high or too low.

Josie tears her gaze away from the two, rolling her eyes as she gets back to work, unknowingly ruining Hope's perfect track record.