Chapter THREE

L I A M

This was serious.

They were treating this as a serious thing.

"You guys can not be serious." I choked out.

I stared at the piece of paper in my hands. It was a freaking contract.

"Patricia, this must be some sort of joke." Caleb said, glaring at his copy of the contract.

Basically, the contract stated that everything about this situation is strictly confidential. Only Dave, Patricia, management, and Caleb's bandmates are the ones who are supposed to know. Our families could later be involved, but for now it's just us who will know that this whole thing is fake.

The contract also stated that whenever management told us to do something that involves the other person, we'll have to do it. Going on dates, attending each other's events, P.D.A. Just everything.

"This is what you guys were doing when you left for fifteen minutes?" I asked both our managers.

"Yes, actually. You'll need to sign them in mutual agreement. If you violate the contract, then there will be consequences for both of you." Dave said, leaving no room for argument.

"No way in hell am I going out holding hands and acting all lovesick with him." I deadpanned, gesturing to Caleb but keeping my gaze on Dave.

"Liam, I'm really sorry you had to be dragged into this, and I'm pretty sure you're mad at me for planning this whole thing--" Patricia started but I cut her off. "No, I'm not mad at you. I understand why you have to do this, trust me," I replied truthfully before continuing, "I'm mad at Caleb for being a reckless drunk."

"I made a mistake, alright?!" Caleb interjected "Besides, you really think you're the only one suffering here, huh? I have a girlfriend for crying out loud!"

My jaw dropped slightly.

"You have a girlfriend? For how long?" I asked, not really concerned or anything—because let's face it, he placed himself in this situation—I'm just surprised that nobody in the media has been talking about it.

"We've been secretly going out for three months, but Patricia knows. Her name's Leila, she lives in London. We met six months ago and started this whole long distance relationship thing about two months ago." Caleb explained.

"You're still together?! Caleb, why didn't you remind me sooner?!" Patricia groaned. "You haven't been talking about her lately I just assumed—"

"How am I supposed to bring up Leila when all I can think about is the tweet and how I'm messing everything up?!" Caleb buried his face in his hands.

"Please tell me this deal is over." I said, closing my eyes and praying that they could just call this whole thing off. For my sake and, well, okay sure, for Caleb's sake as well.

"Caleb, I—" Patricia, to her credit, did look sorry. She seemed lost about what to do next.

"I know, Patricia, I know," Caleb sighed defeatedly after a minute of silence. "This is my doing."

Patricia just gave him a sympathetic look before speaking. "I'm sorry, Caleb. You know I wouldn't force you if this wasn't the last resort, but it is. And if you keep dating Leila on the side while you're having a relationship with Liam you'll appear like the bad guy again."

"I guess there's no reason to delay it." Caleb mumbled, looking devastated about the turn of events. He stood up and stormed out of the office.

I didn't know what to say, so I just leaned back on the chair, playing with my lip ring. "Liam," Patricia exhaled. "This is really unfair to you, I know. But we're willing to pay you for the trouble, and we truly believe that this sort of publicity stunt will help your new upcoming movie. And, we'll even offer you a deal."

Her last statement caught my attention. "What kind of deal?"

"The two of us," Patricia gestured to her and Dave. "Have agreed to follow one of your requests before, during, or after this whole thing. Just as long as it's not a request to stop the plan or reveal to anyone that it's fake."

"Both of you?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Yes, Liam," Dave nodded "Any request."

"I don't have to think of the request now, right?" I asked. They both nodded. "Yes, you don't have to. Just as long as you follow the contract, we'll give you anything you want." Dave clarified.

I thought about it for a moment. Dave may be a good manager, but he can be way too strict at times. I can't even hang out with some of my male friends because he says it can start rumors. He and the rest of management know the password to every. single. one. of my social media accounts so he has the power to post or delete anything.

"So, do we have a deal?" Dave asked, extending his arm towards me. Patricia doing the same. I eyed both of them. Really, what else did I have to lose?

"Alright," I mumbled. "Deal." I shook both of their hands.

Before any of us could say anything else, the door burst open and slammed shut. I turned around, seeing an enraged Caleb with his jaw locked and his hands balled into fists.

"What happened?" Patricia asked. He ignored her question and sat back down. We all stared at him for a moment, watching as he closed his eyes and took in deep breaths. Slowly, his features turned less tense, and his hands slowly unravelled before they ran through his hair.

"Well, I called to end things with Leila," Caleb said. "But she didn't answer. Her boyfriend did."

I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. "Wait, but I thought—" My eyes widened. "Oh. Oh. Uh," I coughed awkwardly. "Never mind. I got it."

"The jackass told me to stay away from Leila and to stop contacting her." Caleb muttered.

"Wow," Dave coughed. "I'm sorry, Caleb, that's really a shame."

Dave was cut off by the door opening and Vivian peeked inside, almost cautiously. I wonder if she had seen Caleb on the phone outside. "Um, Mr. Zellner, I'm very sorry to interrupt again, but there are paparazzi swarming the building outside. Security's on its way."

"Thank you, Vivian." Dave nodded as his assistant closed the door.

I watched as Dave's face slowly morphed into a grin. "Hang on."

"I don't like that smile," I confessed, feeling uneasy.

"This could be... Yes! This could be good. You two can exit the building together, holding hands. Then, you'll enter the same car. I'll have Vivian arrange that. This'll make the tabloids go wild!" It was a no-brainer that Dave found his own idea amazing.

"Woah, woah, what? We're starting now?!" I hadn't expected that. Caleb wasn't saying anything, but he was definitely as taken aback as I was.

"That is brilliant!" Patricia grinned in acknowledgment. "The media will just eat this up! I can already imagine it!"

It was as if the two of them were in a trance, "First, you have to sign here," David slid the previously mentioned contracts across the table, closer towards us. "Then we can commence with the plan."

I looked at the contract. Then I glanced at Caleb who was already staring at me. He had some type of look across his face. He didn't look angry or annoyed, maybe just a little terrified. He seemed to be observing me, trying to see what I'll do next.

I believe that this is Caleb's first major screw-up since the beginning of his career. Which means he's probably scared and willing to do anything to fix it.

I remember my first major screw-up. I slept with this guy who took pictures of me naked and leaked them on the internet.

But, that's a story for another time.

I remember how I felt back then. I was utterly humiliated and terrified about what people were saying and how it would affect my entire career.

That's what Caleb's feeling right now.

And no matter how hard I try to deny it, I'm not exactly a cold-hearted person. I feel for Caleb. If I don't actually do this, this will probably become an even bigger issue for him and his band.

Man, just because of a tweet people think he's homophobic now?

Returning my gaze back towards the contract in front of me, I took a deep breath, grabbed the pen that was placed on Dave's desk before I could talk myself out of it and signed the paper where my name was located.

I felt Caleb still staring, but I couldn't look at him. I kept my gaze on the floor.

He signed the contract as well.

"Alright then! Let's get started." Dave spoke up.

#

Liam and I stood inside the elevator, a huge space between us. Through the thick layer of tension in the air, I could feel Liam's nervousness.

Hell, I'm fucking shaking.

"Hey, uh," I coughed. "Thanks, I-I guess."

Liam let out a long, exasperated sigh. "If you think that just because I agreed to this we're suddenly back to the way we were before, then you are utterly wrong. I can't let go of everything that easily." He said.

I was left speechless by that. Deciding to just let it be for now, I eyed the numbers of the floors we passed.

5...

4...

"Sorry about Leila."

My eyebrows rose at the sudden statement. I turned and saw Liam staring at the floor.

"Yeah, well.. Guess it's karma."

3...

2...

1...

The elevator dinged open to reveal the lobby. Fingers suddenly reach to take my hand and I freak out for a moment, almost hitting Liam in the face.

I stared at him weirdly.

"We're supposed to hold hands when we get out of the building, you moron!" Liam whispered angrily.

"Oh right," I cleared my throat. "Sorry about that."

"This is your fault, by the way, so I hope you don't make it obvious for other people what we're trying to hide here." Liam grumbled under his breath, once again taking my hands in his and intertwining our fingers.

It was... familiar, yet so foreign to me now.

We began to walk towards the front door, Liam leading the way. We passed by the girl behind the desk and she looked like she was about to greet Liam, but she was stopped and was shocked to see us holding hands.

I ignored her and kept walking until Liam and I reached the front doors.

"Well, this is it," I sighed.

"This is fucked up," Liam whispered.

"Look at that. We agree on something," I grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

The entire scene was crazy.

There were about thirty or so people with different kinds of cameras and microphones. Security made a path for me and Liam to go through, and for a moment I felt too overwhelmed.

The blinding lights, the pushing bodies, the questions being shouted at us.

"Liam, why are you two holding hands?"

"Caleb, are you and Liam dating?"

"What about the tweet?"

"Caleb, are you gay?"

I began to feel a bit lightheaded as even more questions came from the persistent paparazzi. Liam and I kept ignoring them. At one point, I almost tripped because I could barely see my feet, but Liam prevented that from happening by wrapping an arm around my waist, making the people more mental.

We finally reached the black van security led us to and Liam ushered me in before he followed. I watched as paparazzi were pushing one another to get a better view of us leaving, which was pointless because the van was heavily tinted.

"That was insane." I breathed out, grateful when the driver started to drive away further from the building. I glanced at Liam who was staring outside, a hard look on his face.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked, surprising myself.

"Yeah, m'fine," Liam answered. "I just realized how insane the next couple of weeks will be."