jolivia•rini•hsmtmts

*six

5 times Josh realised he liked her, and one time she realised she liked him too.

The first time Josh saw her, properly saw her - as in not a quick glance at an event or a mutual friend's party- he scanned every inch of her face. His eyes lingered over her lips curved into a cautious but joyful smile. Returing her smile with a shy smirk, he turned towards Tim Federle with raised eyebrows to indicate he should introduce them. 

"Hi I'm Olivia Rodrigo" She smiled as she glanced about the room, adressing them all. 

"Hey Olivia, I'm Tim Federle and this is Joshua Bassett, he'll be playing Ricky so we're chemistry testing him with any possible Nini's" Her eyes flashed towards him, and he looked up at her slightly with an awkard wave accompanied by a just as awkard grin. He got up from his chair and walked to stand beside her. 

"Whenever your ready" Tim announced, but Josh was too busy being distracted by every little detail on her face. She turned back to face him before jumping into the scene with confidance. She was perfect, in more ways than one. Perfect for the role of Nini and perfect as a person. He felt instantly calm with her, it felt meant to be. He noticed he was smiling, actually smiling. In all the other auditions, he'd been bored and uninterested, willing them to end but this girl was different. She brought a fresh energy to the character and was everything they wanted in a Nini. And he wasn't the only one to notice this. Tim was also remarking on Olivia's acting capabilities but also the amount of pure chemistry between them. 

Josh snapped out of his thoughtfull daze when Tim said, "Do you think you guys could sing a duet? I want to see how your voices sound together"

"Sure" Olivia grinned, she was sure this part was meant for her. 

"Umm I saw someone in the waiting room with a guitar I'll see if I can borrow it." Josh muttered, running his hands through his hair. They must be serious about her, they hadn't even tried to get any of the other girls to sing let alone sing with him. 

Soon they were alone in a small conference room, and Olivia let out a sigh she'd been holding in for a while. Josh looked up with an eyebrow raised questioningly. 

"By the way, none of the other girls have been asked to sing. I think they like you. I like you" He said while strumming the guitar nonchalantly. Suddenly, he realised what he had just said, "I mean I like you as Nini." He panicked and blurted out, squeezing his eyes shut to avoid her eyes. She giggled and put her hand on his shoulder. 

"It's okay Josh, can I call you Josh?" He nodded in response, meeting her eyes, "I think you're pretty great too and I hope we can work together" She smiled a beautiful beaming smile and for a second Josh was in a trance. But he snapped out of it quickly.

"So, do you know count on me by Bruno Mars?" She nodded eagerly, which he replied with a warm smile. I think this is going to work out.

In a blink of an eye, they were performing for the producers. While strumming the guitar, his eyes absent mindedly lingered on her once again. They're voices meshed together perfectly and he couldn't help but hope she would be his Nini and he would be her Ricky. The prolonged staring didn't go unnoticed by the producers who winked at each other. Especially after Olivia's small darting glances back to Josh followed by blushing and looking back down at her hands. 

They were perfect.

A couple months later, at a miserable 4am,  Josh stumbled into the airport yawning as he made a beeline towards the coffee stand. His mum, dad and two of his sisters (Ashley and Winter) trailed behind also tired. It was time for him to fly to Salt Lake City for filming. As he wasn't a minor anymore, he didn't have to have a chaperone accompany him but some of his family wanted to see him off. Soon after, Olivia staggered in with her mother and father. Her mum was going to be coming with her to stay in SLC as she was only 16, soon to be 17. He turned around to see her walking up to him. He gaped and stared for a while before Winter elbowed him while snickering. He shrugged her off and walked up to Olivia with  a small smile.