Fictional Love

Breakeven

Laura's pov
"What do you mean break it off?" I ask in disbelief.
"I mean break it off, break up with Taylor" Jenji answers.
"But we weren't even dating.." I say.
"The press is gonna ask how you feel now that you know that she cheated on you, so you say you broke up beforehand so you're not mad." Jenji suggests.
"But Taylor will come off as a slut who just sleeps around!" I add.
"We haven't thought about that.." she admits.
"Okay, I know what to do, we'll say we broke up, and deny that this girl is her new love interest, and we'll lay low for a while pretending to be going through a tough breakup, then eventually date again" I offer.
"Great idea, but what about that girl? She won't shut up, she'll go to the press" One of the producers adds.
"I'll handle it" I say, rushing out of the meeting.
"Laura, nothing illegal eh?" Jenji jokes.
I nod in amusement, and keep going.

I burst into Lenny's office,
"Lenny, we need break up outfits." I order.
"What? You've already broken up? I was rooting for you." He asks disappointed.
"Don't worry we're gonna date again, but for a while we need to look depressed and stuff." I reassure him.
"I have just the thing." He exclaims.
I quickly get dressed, and Lenny makes me look sad, almost sick, with pale skin and messy hair. And I head out, hoping to get noticed by the press, looking this bad.

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Taylor's pov
My phone rings, and so I try to get ahold of it, when I read "Netflix production" on my caller iD.
"Great, just the call I've been expecting" I grunt, picking up.
"Hey Taylor, it's Lenny, I'm having clothes sent to you, and you need to do just as I say with you hair and make up okay?" He blurts out.
"What? Where am I going? Is there gonna be some damage control?" I ask, confused.
"This is damage control, wake up girl, you messed up and Laura has to face the consequences." he says, in a much serious tone.
"What? How is this my fault?" I retort.
"Just get ready already, you guys are gonna pretend to be going through a breakup, so you have to have a pale looking face and a messy bun and look really tired." He states.
"Breakup?" I couldn't believe it.
"Oh don't worry hun, you'll go back to dating in a while." He says, obviously sarcastic about the hun part.
"Uh-okay thanks." I hang up.
So now I'm the bad guy, great okay.
As soon as I received my clothes, I got dressed and headed out looking like crap, in sweats and a lose shirt and no make up on. That's like the only time I'm thankful for my allergies, because my eyes are red and make me look like I have been crying for days.

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Laura's pov
We went out like days about three times this week to make it look credible.
And pretty soon, we made the news,
"OITNB LOVERS CALL IT OFF"
"Trouble in paradise: Taylor Schilling and Laura Prepon possible break up?"
"Laylor breakup"
"Break up is the new black"
How lame were all these headlines though?
I scroll through these pages looking for pictures of Taylor, and they looked really realistic. I quickly call Lenny to ask him about this,
"Lenny, how did you make her eyes swell like that? I mean I wore sunglasses to hide the fact that I had nothing to hide" I ask bluntly.
"Sweetie,I had no part in this, I don't even think it's possible for someone to look like this on purpose, these tears are real Prepon." He admits, and so I hung up, to text Jenji.
Me: I think it's enough break up time, I'm heading over to her place
Jenji: Okay, but don't seem to eager and don't dress up.
Me: Alright, see you tomorrow.

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Taylor's pov
I might be taking this breakup thing too literally, I haven't left the bed since my last public appearance, I could've sworn I'm more invested in this than Laura is.
As I'm making my way to the kitchen to devour another pint of ice cream, the door bell rings,
"UGHHHH" I grunt in annoyance.
"I know you're in there" Laura says.
"Laura?" I ask, not realizing it's actually her.
"Just open up already" She orders.
"Fine hold on" I cave, then unlock the door.
She rushes in, not bothering with greeting.
"Hi?" I tease.
"What's wrong?" She asks.
"Why-"
"I saw the pictures, you were crying, I mean you're a great actress, but you're not THAT good" she says emphasising on 'THAT'.
"Geez, thanks" I retort.
"Quit fooling around, what's wrong seriously?" She asks, in a serious tone.
"Nothing." I murmur.
"Oh c'mon you've been dodging me since that night at my place, you've been missing work, like you expect me to believe that?" She says.
"Oh no, I'm not avoiding you it's just that uh ..." I hesitate.
"Get to the point." She orders impatiently.
"I'm just having problems with my family." I lied, I wasn't gonna tell her about my feelings for her, I don't even know if I have feeling for her anyway.
"Oh, I'm sorry, is it serious?" She asks.
"Not really" I answer.
"Girl, you scared the hell out of me, don't ever do that again." She says, heading out.
"Alright, bye then." I accompany her outside.
"Yeah, bye princess" she mocks.
I head back to bed, feeling even worse now, and blast "Breakeven" by The Script, and just drown in my tears.

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Writer's pov
I mentioned in the story that Laura was gonna do something about Leslie, but it will come up later on. Also, in case it's unclear, which I think it is (sorry about that), Taylor still isn't ready to go back to dating Laura, even though Laura made it clear to Jenji that they are no longer broken up.