Chapter Text
Conference rooms were always particularly boring, from the vomit stained rainbow carpets to the boring white, cement walls, Lauren couldn't help but feel like she was in prison when she attended various meetings. A table elongated the room, black chairs pushed in only halfway, and a run down fan whirred in the corner of the room. Lauren sighed, glancing over at her manager, Ally, who looked extremely pale under the fluorescent light, or maybe she was just going white from the awful stench of moldy books and moth balls. Ally tapped her french manicured fingernails on the sticky surface of the white table, and she exhaled heavily, obviously annoyed.
"Camila and her manager were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago," Ally said impatiently, averting her eyes to the clock above a water cooler, eying the clock as it ticked slowly.
"I told you she was unprofessional," Lauren retorted, crossing her arms over her exposed abdomen, "Every day on set, Camila shows up late. Her manager always has some sort of excuse, like she's just a young star trying to enjoy the tropes of Hollywood, but the movie is almost halfway through. You think the director would get onto her by now," Lauren huffed, glad that she was able to vent about her less than perfect coworker.
Lauren had been in the celebrity business for as long as she can remember. On her first birthday, Lauren's mother put her in a baby beauty pageant, claiming that her daughter had eyes bluer than a Ralph Lauren model, and deserved to be in the spotlight. Lauren won the competition fair and square, and at that moment, her acting career took off.
At age thirteen, Lauren was cast as a leading role in her own Disney show about a teenager who was a spy, but also doubled as a normal high school student. The show had a long run, and by the time Lauren was seventeen, the creators ended it on a lighthearted note, leaving the her character, Angelina, to fall in love with her male best friend. 'Double Time' had broke the barrier for Lauren, and four years later, she had twelve number one blockbuster films following her name like a crazed super fan.
Her latest sure fire hit was titled 'Girl Meets Girl', which was one of the first openly gay friendly teen romance films to be expected to smash the box office. When Lauren had gotten offered the deal, she immediately accepted (she barely even read the terms and conditions, that's how pumped she was), and at that time, she was unsure of who her other leading lady would be.
Camila Cabello was an up and rising star who annihilated the Billboard charts with her number one single, Taken Home. Before Lauren could even blink, the eighteen year old had turned into America's sweetheart, and all of the cameras that weren't tailing Lauren's ass were now chasing after Camila. Lauren had to admit that she was a fan of Camila's music at first, but after she had given her debut album, Bows and Breaks, a listen, she decided the young girl was too immature and sappy for her taste.
Shortly following the album release, Lauren found out that Camila would be playing the role of Ophelia Undine, a headstrong character who enjoyed wearing black and dating people who were unfaithful. Lauren was acting as Victoria Sophronia, a sultry Southern Belle who was a sheltered farmer's daughter and uber virginal. The characters were completely archetypical, and the storyline was as well, but since it was the first real lesbian film to have larger than life celebrities starring in it, the typicality was overseen.
Camila basically had her entire success handed to her by having one catchy pop song that the radio still overplayed, and Lauren had to admit, she was a bit jealous. Lauren doubted that the cutesy starlet had to suffer through hours of drama classes at the age of ten, or that she had to stay up until three in the morning to get a shot perfect for a show on the Disney channel. Lauren despised how easily the stars had seemed to fall on top of Camila's shoulders, while the stars struggled to reach back to Lauren until she had gotten her big break.
Just as Ally was getting ready to dial Camila's manager and give her an earful on how late they were, the door swung open, and the waves of a high pitched giggle was echoing off the prison-like walls of the conference room. Ally scowled at Camila, and Lauren did the same, narrowing her eyes at the girls high waisted jeans that made her butt look better than humanly possible, and a cute crop top that Lauren herself had been admiring the other day.
"Sorry we're late," Normani, Camila's manager, said through the straw of her Sonic straw, "We had to stop somewhere and get food, Camila was just doing a shoot for Vogue."
"It was exciting," Camila exclaimed, raising her eyebrows with her smile as she sat down in the seat directly across from Lauren.
Ally didn't break her pissed off expression, breaking her eye contact with Normani to pick up her cellphone and dial the number of the executive who had called them all to order here today. After the other party hadn't shown up for ten minutes, the bald man claimed that he had better things to waste his time doing, and told Ally to call him when the Cabello crew arrived.
Minutes later, the big time executive of personal relationships in the eyes of the public entered the conference room for the second time. He didn't look too happy himself, plopping down in the seat at the head of the table without a word.
"I have a deal I would like to propose," The man said, clearing his throat. Lauren had met with Harvey before, when she had starred in a sappy romance movie alongside teen heart throb Justin Bieber, Harvey arranged a relationship between them, which later had been 'broken up' when Justin had met a certain Selena Gomez. Lauren had to act like she was heartbroken, tweeting sad song quotes from her Twitter and breaking down in interviews when people asked about the split. All in all, it gave both of the careers a boost, and Lauren thought that all those awful reaction pictures of her crying had been worth it in the end.
"Most costars of major upcoming films, like Twilight, the Hunger Games, and others, it's pretty obvious that dating rumors are started by the public, and are later confirmed true," Harvey started, and Lauren already didn't like where he was going with this, "It shouldn't be different this time around, especially since this movie is a huge deal to the gay community."
"You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you?" Ally asked, her face turning from stern to shocked in a matter of seconds.
Harvey shrugged, "If you think I'm suggesting that Camila and Lauren should sign a contract to be a PR relationship for the benefit of the movie, then yes, you would be correct," Harvey replied, and then the whole room went silent.
"No," Lauren responded, "I refuse, I'm not doing this."
"But Mrs. Jauregui," Harvey piqued his eyebrow, leaving his bald forehead to fill with wrinkles, "You must comply, it's in the contract you signed."
"Bullshit!" Lauren exclaimed, "Show me where I signed that you could place me in a relationship without my consent."
Harvey opened his accordion file, sifting through pages upon pages of white paper that contained top secret information about fellow celebrities. Harvey stopped, swiftly pulled out a familiar packet, and slid it across the sticky table to Lauren. Lauren brought the contract closer, clasping the thick pages with her trembling, sweaty hands.
Lauren scanned the documents, and her eyes landed upon an article that mentioned PR could be conducted with whomever the executives pleased, and by signing the contract, Lauren would be signing away the freedom of her single life to the public.
"It won't be that bad, Lauren," Ally put her hand on Lauren's back in an attempt to calm the situation, "Think about what you'll become, the gay community will worship you like a queen, and by pretending to date Camila, you could change our society for the better. That's what you've always wanted, right? To put a smile on someone else's face, and touch their hearts?" Ally asked in a hushed tone, and Lauren thought that she always knew the right thing to say.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Lauren made eye contact with her future fake girlfriend, and then she glared into Harvey's blue eyes, and said, "I guess I have no choice then, it's a done deal," Lauren obliged.
The corners of Harvey's lips upturned into a wicked smirk that reminded Lauren of the joker, and he shuffled the papers he was holding in front of him, and began to go over schedules and appearances and how the public relationship was going to play out. Lauren had gone through the main scheme of public relationships too many times to count, whether it had been for 'besties' or 'boyfriends', it was all the same. She would get randomly photographed with her counterpart, they'd arrive to award shows together, and would publicly exchange flirty tweets back and forth. The process was an endless loop, and the public was dumb enough to buy it every time.
"A calender has been worked up to alert you of events and appearances you will need to attend," Harvey said, handing Normani a piece of white card stock paper, and a duplicate to Ally.
Lauren leaned over Ally's shoulder to get a better look at the boring Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The calender was labeled hashtag Camren, because media outlets loved to give celebrity couples cute mash ups of their names. Several events were typed in plain font, like the movie premieres, several different award shows, and even first outings together. Like always, the relationship was strategically planned out from start to finish, and for once, the duration was quite long.
"So dating rumors are effective immediately? So like, right now?" Camila queried, lifting her perfectly waxed eyebrow, and even though Lauren thought Camila was uber annoying, she had to admit that she was absolutely stunning.
"Yes," Harvey nodded, "Seeding should begin by the seven o'clock celebrity news stations. Paparazzi have already been called to the building, and you will leave within the next ten minutes looking like giddy teenage girls with elementary school crushes. Act, put on a show, do what you do best, Lauren," Harvey said in a sad attempt to boost Lauren's spirit about the current situation.
Camila clapped her hands together, turning her attention over to Lauren, "Let's go have ourselves a field day, then."
After an awkward and standoffish trip down the elevator, Lauren mentally prepared herself to walk through the large steel doors and be faced with her new reality. Cheers from loyal fans and muffled chatter could be heard from the lobby of the conference building.
"You ready?" Camila asked, holding her dainty hand out to Lauren.
Lauren sighed, rolling her eyes slightly as she enveloped her hand into Camila's, "No."
Normani pushed open the door, letting Lauren and Camila fly under her arm and out into the open. Now it was open season: the fans screamed even louder than before, and thousands of lights were flashing into the poor starlet's eyes. Lauren shielded her face with her free hand, silently regretting telling Dinah, her body guard, to take a day off. But then again, she never expected to be holding hands with Camila Cabello.
Voices from fans blurred together, and Lauren stopped for a few selfies, and Camila signed someone's exposed chest. After a few minute interaction with their separate fan bases, Ally began to usher the girls away from the crowd when the paparazzi began asking invasive questions, to which Normani answered that they had no comment for.
Thankfully a limo had pulled up, and the driver practically pushed the two celebrities inside, letting their managers follow. The driver slammed the door behind them, and ran back to his seat, and pulled away from the scene as fast as legally possible.
Normani motioned for the driver to roll the partition up, and waited for it to completely shut before she spoke.
"Seems like the media has already gotten their grubby little hands on the story," Normani shook her head with disbelief, "I guess Harvey wasn't kidding."
"Harvey doesn't fuck around," Lauren replied, and Ally shot the same glare she always did when Lauren used 'inappropriate language'. Lauren finished her statement, "Harvey gets shit done."
Camila tapped her acrylic fingernails on the screen of the newest iPhone model, "Look, we're already a trending topic on twitter!" Camila exclaimed, shoving her cellular device into Lauren's face.
Lauren snatched the phone out of Camila's hand and tapped on the first trending topic. Suddenly, assorted tweets from both of their fan bases popped up, news article headlines were being published, and photos of them outside of the executive building were being shown. They were claimed to be leaving for business reasons regarding the movie, and while Lauren knew that was bullshit, the public didn't, because the public takes in everything the media fits them with an open mouth.
"How cute, people seem to be loving us," Lauren claimed, glazing her eyes over thousands of support tweets, some of which had already changed their twitter handles to something regarding Camren.
"This relationship is going to do wonders for you, Camila," Normani said, gripping Camila's shoulder excitedly, "You guys are going to be an ultimate power couple, you just wait."
"I'm so excited," Camila admitted, her voice raising an octave to support her claim, "Aren't you, Lauren?"
Lauren flicked her eyes up at Camila, and huffed out a monotone, "Just ecstatic."