Forced

C A L E B

Patricia was sitting on her desk in front of us, face buried in her hands in a clear sign of distress. Since we've arrived in her office, she hasn't spoken a word. The three of us were beginning to worry.

Finally, she lifted her head then stared directly at me.

"I'm assuming you know why I asked you boys to meet me here immediately." That had me fidgeting nervously. I couldn't help but stare down at my lap as I nodded, hearing my bandmates mumble their answers.

"Caleb, would you mind telling me what you think you did wrong?" Patricia asked. Her voice was calm, even though I'm pretty sure she's about to burst in fury any minute now.

"W-Was it the tweet?"

"Yes, Caleb. It. Was. The. Damn. Tweet!" She almost growled, standing up and slamming her palms down on her desk.

"I'm really sorry about that." My voice was losing confidence.

"Do you know what a huge problem this is?" Patricia began pacing around the length of her office. She was a mixture of desperation and annoyance, using her hands to gesture as she spoke. "Journalists are having a field day writing hate articles, your fans have begun feuds against one another—all this and you've just released your album last week! For a band that has your popularity, I'm sorry to say but it seems that even your sales have been affected."

"Patricia, Cal didn't mean to tweet it." Max spoke up from beside me.

"Yeah, he was drunk. It was a mistake." My other bandmate, Archer, piled on. I was situated between the two, feeling worse by the minute.

"And how many times have I told you boys not to tweet while you were hammered? I would take your stupid dirty tweets over this."

"I'm really sorry, Patricia." I mumbled, not knowing what else to say. It was really my fault for posting that stupid tweet, of course people would take it the wrong way. I was drunk beyond belief. I didn't even fully realize what it was I tweeted until the following day.

"I know you're sorry, Caleb. I also know you didn't mean to say what others think you meant. But no matter how sorry you are, it still caused a big problem, your band has already been getting a bad image."

The olive-skinned woman leaned back on her chair, twiddling her thumbs with a worried expression morphing her face. I'm glad Patricia knew I wasn't actually what the articles were calling me, but I knew how an issue like this could ruin musicians like me. To say that I was concerned about what might happen to my band was the understatement of the year.

"Is there any way to fix it?" Archer asked as he tried not to show how worried he actually was, but I knew better. Max was even chewing on his bottom lip. They both forgave me for what I did, though it was obvious they were bummed about what the media's been saying about it.

"Deleting your tweet didn't work, obviously it didn't. What we need is a plan to turn all this bad publicity into a good one." Patricia tapped her polished nails on the armrest of her leather chair. Silence settled around the room, but the look of concentration on her face made it seem like you could hear the gears turn in her head.

It didn't take too long until her eyes widened and a smile overtook her lips. "I think I just thought of something that could work."

"Really?" It was ridiculous how in-sync the three of us were sometimes. It didn't even seem to phase Patricia anymore.

"Okay, tell me exactly what you tweeted again." She stood up, circling her desk and sitting at the edge with her fingers clasped together on top of her lap.

"Kissing the same gender looks weird."

"This made you come out as homophobic, right?" Patricia clarified. It wasn't true, not even one bit, but it was what everyone's been thinking of since the tweet.

Max answered instead, "We saw lots of people say that, actually. A lot of other artists even mentioned it."

"What if we change their belief?" Our manager smirked.

"What do you mean?" I asked slowly.

"What if you started dating somebody and that somebody happens to be the same gender?"

My eyes were widening to the size of marbles. Archer was choking on his saliva. Max's jaw seemed to drop to the floor.

"Wait. Wait. Hold on. You're saying that not only do I have to pretend to date someone, I also have to date a guy?"

"It's the perfect plan! Once the world sees you going out with another man and they start asking questions about your tweet, you could say it was a hint about your new relationship—and they would actually believe you!" Patricia's own face brightened, clearly finding her own idea excellent. "It's not like you need to do a lot, just enough to let people believe you. The agreement won't last forever either, only until everyone stops thinking you're homophobic and the good image of your band is restored."

I was too appalled to even fully comprehend what was coming out of Patricia's mouth.

"Who exactly will Caleb have to... fake-date?" Archer grimaced at his words and so did I.

"Well, I haven't gotten to that yet."

I was still absorbing what was happening.

I had to date a man. Pretend to date, but still.

"Alright, he has to be living here, in Australia, since we want you both to be seen out together as much as possible." Patricia started scribbling in a notebook she got from the top of her desk.

"Is she serious right now?" Archer whispered to Max and I. It was comforting to know my bandmates saw how utterly insane this was.

"This is messed up, man!" Max was looking at Patricia as if she grew another head.

"He obviously needs to be your age," Patricia continued to list off, not even paying attention to us. "I think he should be a celebrity. It'll be too obvious if we just hired someone out of nowhere."

"Patricia, this is ridiculous. You're messing with Caleb's love life. Are you even allowed to do this?" Max argued.

I didn't actually expect Patricia to pull a folder from her drawer then toss it above her desk. "You can look through this copy of your band's contract, the one all of you mutually agreed to sign."

We were all stunned to silence. Max was the one brave enough to grab the folder, flipping through the pages inside using more force than necessary. He stopped somewhere in the middle, eyes moving through each word with lightning speed.

"Holy shit—It says right here: the management is therefore allowed to interfere in a member's personal affairs if there is a chance it may cause harm not only to the individual, but also to the entire band. What the hell?!"

I wanted to disappear.

Archer recovered the fastest, understanding that we couldn't do anything now but roll with the punches. Even though the punches seemed to keep going. "Not that I'm agreeing to this one bit, but let's say Caleb over here really can't say no. This man you need Caleb to pretend to be with must be Australian, his age, and a celebrity, right?" The oldest of our band ticked off. Patricia nodded.

There was another moment of silence, broken by Max when he mumbled, "Caleb. You don't think she means... "

It took a painful moment for me to realize that there is a certain boy Patricia and I know of. And he just so happened to match exactly what she was looking for.

"No. Nope. You have got to be kidding me." I sighed, already feeling a strong headache coming along.

Patricia didn't seem to care about my internal struggles at the moment. "It makes sense, you and I both know that. You already know him."

"You can not be serious."

"Caleb, I'm quite serious."

"So, does that mean he'll have to date—"

"Don't even say his name." I cut Archer off. I was dreading to think of the possibility that Patricia was referring to him.

But, obviously, this hasn't been my day.

"Yes. You will, in fact, have to date Liam Walker."