Just Go With It (Hosie)

XVII

"You look each other in the eyes, and you say what you love most about the other." Alyssa explains as she points between Josie and Hope.

"Okay, do we do the nose thing too, or..." Hope mumbles as she turns to Josie, who purses her lips as she tries not to laugh.

"Okay, yes, we are so ready," Josie says as she turns toward Hope, her eyes suddenly more serious, "You ready?"

Hope nods a single time leaning only slightly closer, almost challengingly, "Go ahead. You're on."

The auburnette smirks lightly as she winks, glancing to Alyssa who encourages it.

"Come on," She claps her hands together.

"Um..." Josie pauses as she gets a little nervous, but she pushes through, "I love your sense of humor."

"You do?"

Josie nods, "Mhmm."

"All of it?"

She hums again, "Every dirty bit of it," Hope chuckles at that, "I love your... stories."

Hope nods, "Yes, they can go on a bit long, though," Given that the story she created about a fake wife has gotten them in Hawaii for a week.

"It's okay," Josie nods in agreement.

"I try to finish strong," She defends.

"Always entertaining," Josie adds, "I love that you," Her eyes narrow a bit as thinks of how to put it, "...love that you read the index cards."

She loves that Hope listens, even when Josie thinks she isn't.

Hope nods, knowingly, "Of course."

Josie pauses, studying Hope for a moment before going on more seriously, "And I love that you secretly have a huge heart, and it's just filled with...kindness...and humility—"

"And blood," Hope says, not being able to be serious for more than two seconds at a time.

Josie chuckles softly, "I'm sure there's blood," Hope grins, but then she finally looks serious again, "And..I don't know, I just—I just think you're a really nice person and I really like...I really love spending time with you."

Hope sees nothing but honesty and endearment in Josie's eyes.

How the hell is she supposed to top all of that?

"Wow..Game over," She says, as Josie wears a light blush at being so vulnerable and sharing some of the things she loves about her partner.

"Hope..." Alyssa grins as she gestures for her to go.

"Oh, game back on then? Alright...Well..." Josie clears her throat, having no idea what Hope's about to say, "Let me just start off by saying that I love the most that you fixed your teeth," Josie chuckles and shakes her head. She should've seen that coming.

Alyssa nods, agreeing, even though it was definitely a joke, "They were horrible, I agree."

"No, no," Hope shakes her head, "They were cute. The retainers do work great though," She adds more seriously. She's a doctor who specializes in appearances, she has to comment on it. But she continues, "You know what I love?"

"Hmm?" Josie hums, genuinely curious with what the woman is going to come up with.

"How you just do everything for everybody else, and you never expect anything in return. In fact, when I say thank you, do you even hear that or no?"

Josie tilts her head subtly at the question, chuckling as she shakes her head at the realization.
No, I guess I don't.

Hope smiles at that, "And I just love..." she furrows her eyebrows as she realizes something, herself, "You're the only person I've never lied to in my life," Josie eyes her skeptically, "I swear to god. I just trust you. More than anyone in the world," She says genuinely, "You know every secret about me."

Josie can't stop herself from smiling at that. Because now that she thinks about it, she really does believe that much.

She and Hope tell each other everything. Literally everything. Maybe too much at times.

Hope mirrors her smile, glancing down at Josie's briefly before she adds, "I love your smile. That smile is just like magic." Josie shakes her head dismissively, but her smile only grows, along with the pink tint of her cheeks at Hope's gaze and words of affirmation, "When I'm in the operating room, all I think is, 'Alright 20 more minutes, and I get to see the smile.' It's just like...It starts my day, that smile."

Josie's eyebrows furrow subtly as her eyes become glossy. Just the words Hope says about her, looking at her like she's the most perfect thing in the world...

"I won best smile in our sorority three years straight. Right, Josie?" Alyssa says, causing the two to jump a little bit at the interruption.

They'd been so caught up in the moment, they nearly forgot where they were and who they were with...

Josie clears her throat as she looks down at her lap, hoping that her blush hasn't completely overtaken her face.

——————

"Okay, here we go! Hi!" MG grabs the sheep's front leg and waves it, though it's completely limp, "Yes! Wee!" She grabs them both and waves them, as if the sheep were riding a roller coaster, "It's like the sheep dance, right? We want to live and dance more, yes?" He talks to the unconscious sheep, who obviously doesn't respond, "Okay, eat the food, eat the food," He picks up some seaweed laying on the sand and puts it up the the sheep's mouth, "Watch out for the sand though, it doesn't taste great."

Maya holds her hand over her chest, sad about the sheep, but also completely confused by this man.

"Alright," MG pushes into the sheep's chest with his hands, mimicking CPR, "One, two, three, here we go," He gives the sheep mouth to mouth for barely two seconds before doing chest compressions again, "Come on..."

When that doesn't work, he picks the sheep's body up, wrapping his arms around it's torso from behind, "We have a couple of things that I know how to do!" He assures Maya, "This is a good test," He begins to squeeze the sheep harshly and repetitively, hearing a faint sound from the animal each time.

"You're killing him!" The guy from earlier with the chickens for MG's car yells.

MG squeezes a couple more times, and a small pool toy for a child pops out of the sheep's throat and onto the sand, and MG drops the sheep, as it stands to its feet.

"You did it!" Maya says excitedly as everyone cheers for him, and the woman who owns the sheep hugs him.

"Yes! I did it! Here we go, one more time," He picks the girl up, squeezing her the same way he did the sheep and everybody's cheering dies out, "Yes! This is what I did, you saw it! Yes!"