Hopeless

Making It Official

Hope's POV

I wake up without Josie, even though I could have sworn she was here when I fell asleep. The thought of her leaving makes me frown. My sadness is short-lived, though, because the full events from last night make their way back to me, even my drunken memories. My face goes red at the thought of how I acted, but I have a valid excuse: blame it on the alcohol. But before that, Josie and I started... something.

"I'm dating a two-year-old," Josie's voice runs through my mind.

Are we dating? We hadn't really talked about it, but we had both made it clear that we wanted to. At least, I think we did... I decide to go to breakfast even though I normally skip it on the weekends. I want to talk to Josie about last night and there's no time like the present.

When I get to the cafeteria, now clad in a blue tank-top, black shorts, and sneakers, I pause by the door, my eyes scanning the room for the brunette Saltzman twin. She sees me before I see her - who knew Sunday mornings were so busy? No one here is even religious - and I can tell she's fighting back a smile as I make my way closer.

I smirk at Josie as I take my usual seat across from her. "Morning," I say to both her and Lizzie. Rafael isn't here for obvious reasons.

"Morning," they echo.

I wait until Lizzie is dragged off by MG to do who knows what until I start talking. "About last night..." I trail off, not sure of how to start this conversation.

"It's fine," Josie rushes.

A confused look crosses my face. "What's fine?" I ask her.

"You regret it," she says with a frown.

"What? No, I don't!" I exclaim.

"About last night..." she mimics, and I reach across the table to throw one of her tater tots at her.

My actions provoke a laugh from the other girl, and I smile at her adoringly before taking a chance and threading my fingers through hers. Josie stares at our clasped hands; we're holding hands out in public for everyone to see. Just like we kissed out in public for everyone to see, I remind myself, thinking of how she had pulled away at first last night when I kissed her at the party. I hope she doesn't pull away now. Last night we could blame it on being tipsy, but today we're both completely sober.

"I don't regret it," I assure her, drawing her chocolate brown eyes back up to mine. "I'm actually here to talk about what you said."

"What I said?" she questions. "I said a lot of things."

I chuckle. "True, but one thing in particular kind of stood out to me." Josie is silent, waiting for me to continue, so I do. "When I was drunk, you said we were dating. You claimed that you were 'dating a two-year-old,'" I use my free hand to do air quotes around her words.

"Oh," Josie remarks, her face going red. "Yeah... I guess I did."

"So... are we?"

"Are we what?"

I laugh as I shake my head; she knows what. "Are we dating?"

"Do you want to?" she shoots back. I immediately recognize this method as one for deflection; it's actually one that Josie uses a lot when she's nervous.

I smile over at her, hopefully calming her nerves a bit. "Yeah," I say softly. I start to rub the back of her hand with my thumb as I continue, "I want to."

The smile that appears on Josie's face after my words is brighter than I've ever seen. My heart swells when I think about how I'm the one who put it there, and that only makes my own smile widen. "Will you be my girlfriend?" I ask her before she can say anything else, and the already-huge beam grows impossibly wider.

"Yeah?" I verify.

Josie nods enthusiastically, then starts to calm down a bit as she answers, "Yes."

"Cool," I respond, unable to think of anything else to say - hey, I'm not drunk anymore! I'm not as cute and clingy sober; we all know this.

I squeeze Josie's hand once before releasing it. Her face falls. "I'm just going to get food," I laugh, and she smiles again as I stand up and head over to the line.

"So you and Josie, huh?" I hear a voice sneer from behind me.

"Yeah," I answer, not even bothering to turn around. I already know it's Penelope.

"You better not hurt her," she warns.

I ignore her. A week ago, I would have engaged in a verbal war with the other girl, but now I hear Josie's voice whisper in my mind, "It's not worth it," and I know my subconscious is right.

Anyway, I'd never hurt Josie. She is the voice inside my mind - something so real is hard to find. She's got my heart; I don't want it back.

So as I make my way back over to my girlfriend and sit down in front of her, her warm chocolate brown eyes making my stomach do somersaults and my palms sweat as she smiles up at me, I know that this is something I have to hold on to. This is a relationship that I don't ever want to lose, and I'll try my very best not to.

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Aaaannddd that's it. That's the end. Short story bc the intention was a one-shot but still good I hope? 🤞

Side note: Sabrina Carpenter anyone??? Love her, hence the reference. Singular Act II drops the day I leave for vacation so you already know what I'll be listening to on the plane haha 😂 I saw her in concert a while ago and it was amazing. Ariana Grande is next,, I already have tickets for November, so excited,, and Haiz is on the agenda for when she releases her new album and tour dates bc she's so gorgeous and talented and amazing and I just love her so much ahhhh 😍🤙🏻🌈 pop is the type of music I make so it's what I listen to the most lmao but I like other stuff too I promise

Any ideas for my next Hosie fanfic plot? Shoot me some requests 💞