Unscripted (Lauren/You)

III

What the hell is going on here?

She is the one I'm supposed to be dating? A girl? What the hell!

I look over at Reagan with squinted eyes, trying to see if she knew I'd be pretending to date another girl. Reagan smiled awkwardly and averted her eyes from me, refusing to look at me.

Yep, she definitely knew.

Facing back towards the girl, so-called Camila, I saw a shy smile on her face. Realizing that I haven't said anything and am being extremely rude, I forced a small smile onto my face and waved to the girl, "Hey, nice to meet you."

"You too," she responded kindly, swaying on her feet as a result of the awkward tension.

"Alrighty then," Mr. Chester breathed out, able to depict the stress surrounding us. "Since the both of you are in the dark about this arrangement," he started, completely bypassing any awkward feelings now, "I want to inform you about why I have set you two up." He smiled courteously at us, waiting for our full attention. I nodded at him in sign to go on ahead explaining, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Camila's head moving. "Well, I don't know if you've heard of them or not, but Camila is apart of a girl group called Fifth Harmony."

"I've heard of them," I nodded my head. Directing my attention to Camila, I said, "I love your music, by the way."

"Thank you," she smiled wider than before, making my uneasiness lessen a bit.

"Oh good!" Mr. Chester exclaimed. "So you're aware of the success their hit Worth It had," he said, earning a nod from me. I'm doing a lot of nodding right now, oh gosh only goobers do that. "Well, that seemed to be their peak. Now, the group is slowly falling down the hill and slowly disappearing from the lime light the company wants for them," he explained. "We've tried pairing some of the girls up with other popular artists to try and boost their fame, but nothing really worked. In fact, they all sort of had the opposite effect and got hate from their fans."

"Austin was definitely a doozy," Camila chuckled under her breath, but I heard her and giggled with her.

"So, we finally decided to give the Harmonizers what they want," he smiled. "And apparently, that is a lesbian couple." Mr. Chester spread his hands out, as if presenting me and Camila, and had a wide smile on his face.

"Wait," I called for his attention. He focused on me, so I continued, "Why wouldn't you put Camren together? The fans are still bat-shit crazy about them, and probably always will be, so don't you think that would make them more notorious than some random chick?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Actually-" Camila started but was cut off by Mr. Chester.

"Yes, they are the most shipped couple in the Harmonizer fandom, but that is something that could ruin Fifth Harmony in the end," he calmly explained. "We have asked Camila and Lauren if they were in a relationship, multiple times," he chuckled and glanced at Camila, who found humor in that as well. "But, they have made it perfectly clear to us that they are just friends. So, if we made them come out as a couple to the world when they only have platonic feelings for one another, then that could create a strain on their relationship, and ultimately the group."

Ah, I do understand that. My mouth formed into an 'O' shape as a sign that I am comprehending it all.

Camila spoke up, "And the both of us wouldn't be able to sell the whole 'relationship' to the media. Yes, we've had encounters that seem more than friendly to others, but to us it's only a friendship. A relationship would require more than just the interactions our fans have mistaken in the past. Our inability to act as girlfriends could lead to people accusing us of pretending to be dating for publicity, which would give us a bad reputation. Even worse than our choice of clothing," she muttered that last sentence with a heavy eye roll. Can't blame her though, they do get a lot of crap about dressing 'scandalously.'