𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 | Hosie ✔️

Chapter 19

Josie took a deep breath as she stood in the place on the stairs that had been assigned to her. In front of her were already some other girls in beautiful dresses, the sight of which slightly diminished Josie's self-confidence. She had decided to enter the Miss Mystic Falls competition not for Lizzie and her victory but herself. Her mother had encouraged her to do this and made her gather all her courage. But she hadn't had a chance to explain this to Lizzie. The blonde had been on the road all day and had organized all sorts of things, which is why she had hardly seen her sister. The thought that her sister would only find out about her decision during the competition made everything contract inside her. But she could not change it now and back out was out of the question for him.

Quickly she tried to change her mind again and looked down at herself once more. She wore a black dress and dark lipstick and her dark brown hair had been tied into a high bun.
"You look beautiful", a female voice suddenly sounded to her left, causing Josie to turn her head in the direction from which it was coming to her ears. This made her see Hope, who stood next to her with a broad smile and let her eyes wander over her. The Tribrid herself wore a burgundy dress, while her light brown hair fell openly over her shoulders in soft curls.
"You too", Josie replied, while an unusual nervousness spread through her, and a touch of redness rose to her cheeks. She had always thought Hope to be incredibly beautiful, but just now she put everything in the shade, the corners of Hope's mouth lifted further and she reached out a hand to her: "Would the by far most beautiful girl at this event allowed to dance with her?"

For a moment, Josie simply stared at Hope's hand. Immediately, her heart began to beat faster and she thought she could feel it suddenly getting warmer in the room.
"I had asked MG to dance with me and he agreed", she explained a little hesitantly. She would love to dance with Hope and the thought of it brought back the fluttering in the pit of her stomach. But before that, she had agreed to dance with MG and rehearsed with him. So what were the chances that Hope could do all this as well? Up to now, it had sounded as if she didn't think much of this competition.

"Yes, I know", Hope nodded to her surprise: "However, there seems to be some problem with his family, which is why he had to go home at short notice. So I'm his substitute."
 "But why you of all people? I thought you didn't think much of this", she asked with interest.
"I don't normally do either, but for someone important to me, I'm happy to change my mind about it", it had been to her advantage that MG could not take over this job: "Besides, my Aunt Rebekah is interested in things like this and taught me a lot about it as a child. So you don't have to worry about me making you look bad."

Josie hesitated for a moment before nodding in response and reaching for the hand that Hope was still holding out to her. Carefully intertwining her fingers with those of the Mikaelson, she looked back ahead again. She hesitated for a moment but then turned to Hope again. It was the Mikaelson who had encouraged her to participate for herself and given her a chance to talk to her biological mother for the first and maybe last time in her life. So she wanted to tell her about the decision she had made.

"I want to enter this competition for myself and try to win. If Lizzie wants to win, she'll have to do it herself", as she spoke, she felt the pride and confidence built up inside her. Even though she loved Lizzie more than anything, she sometimes wished that they were both more independent of each other and that she could take care of not only Lizzie's needs but also her own. An expression of relief appeared on Hope's face. This was exactly what she had hoped for from Josie's conversation with Jo. Lizzie and her didn't get along very well but Josie had become important to her through the time they had spent together. Maybe even more than that. "That's what I like to hear", Hope replied before the event's host began introducing all the participants.

"Miss Hope Mikaelson and Miss Josie Saltzman", the names of the two girls sounded after a few minutes and Josie's grip closed a little tighter around Hope's hand as they descended the stairs together. At that moment Josie felt happiness again for the first time and almost completely forgot her bad dreams. Instead, her thoughts were completely in her mind and with Hope.