As Lovely As You (George Shelley Fanfic)

Chapter 36 - I Attend A Business Meeting

It was 7:52 in the morning and I felt awful. Ok, not that awful, I was more kind of anxious and nervous. I didn’t know what to expect from a business meeting. Come on, I’m 17, I never even had a job. Well I actually did have one, at my mom’s store. But she fired me after 2 days, she said I complained too much,“Mom can I eat this?” “Mom I’m hungry!” “Mom can I have my 30 minute tumblr break now?” 

I tried to look as professional as possible, black skinny pants, white blouse, brown boots and my aunt’s blazer. The meeting was at 8am and we were waiting at the Xtra Factor Studios. After a couple of minutes a woman lead us to a big room and told us to wait for the producer there.

 ”Good morning!” a tall man entered with a briefcase in his hand “How are you ladies? I’m Richard Holloway, one of the producers of the Xtra Factor” he shook our hands and sat on a chair “You must be Laura and you her aunt Amelia, very nice to meet you both” he grinned “Hello mr.Holloway, we do fine thanks it’s very nice to meet you too” my aunt responded “Erm, hi” I smiled and waved my hand shyly, “Isn’t she a cutie? Oh my god it’s perfect!” he clapped his hands seeming excited.

“And what is exactly perfect mr.Holloway?” Amelia asked, she was acting very serious, but still polite. “Oh, my bad! The reason of this meeting of course!” he explained “And you can call me Richard mrs.Carter” “I think I’ll just stick with mr.Holloway if you don’t mind” she replied “I’m sorry for acting this way, but it’s not very usual for a 17 year old girl to be called by producers” “Ah, yes, I’m sure you’re very curious about it. As I said before, it is a business meeting” he responded.

“Well, care to explain that for us? My niece did nothing wrong” Amelia defended me, “Oh if someone acted wrong it was us! We’re sorry for that little camera filming! On behalf of the Xtra factor crew we apologize for that mistake” he responded. So that was it, they just wanted to apologize. Why was I so nervous and anxious? Why did I feel hopeful? It was nothing. Nothing. 

“That mistake that actually turned out to be a score!” the man laughed. Ok, I was wrong. It was something. “Score?” I asked surprised “Yes dear, a perfect score! See, after that filming we observed what the audience had to say about you on social medias. And they loved you!” he said, “W-what?” I mumbled chocked.

“People love you!” “What?” I mumbled again “They do” he smiled, “They must be insane!” I said. “Since you became friends with some of our contestants you’ve acquired a little fame as well. We saw the article on sugarscape, the pictures, all the gossip. And don’t forget the twitter fight, loved it!” “It wasn’t a good thing!” I replied “No, no, it  actually was, the public, at least most of them, adores you. The repercussion from your actions are really good” he said.

“And what does that matter to you?” Amelia intervened “That’s the reason why we called you. People like you so much that we thought -why don’t we make Laura appear more on the show?- so we’re offering you a deal!”

“A deal for me to appear on TV?” I asked “Yes, on the Xtra factor precisely. In some of the clips we’re making” he responded “The rumors about you and mr.Shelley gives us a lot of audience” “G-george?I have nothing with him” I lied.

“We don’t care if you have or not, we want the gossip, it’s really good for the show!” mr.Holloway explained “First we thought that we could pair him up with Ella, but after you arrived with that sugarscape bomb and all the pictures, we had to bring you in!”

“But the fans hate me! Sugarscape hates me!” I pointed out “Have you checked your twitter recently?” he asked “Hum, no” “Well, we checked and people do like you! They also do that thing, what is it called? Oh yeah, shipping! With you and George” the producer replied.

“Are you sure about that mr.Holloway? I haven’t checked twitter but I did read the article and they weren’t very happy with my niece” Amelia said, “And that’s when it gets even better!” he laughed “Sugarscape wants to interview you!”

“You’re kidding me” my jaw dropped “No! They want to be your friend, to make peace. They want the gossip so they need you” he said, “Ok, that’s weird” I said “They’re very smart, they think of you as a source, so they want you on their side” he explained.

“Mr.Holloway get to the point please” Amelia said “Oh yeah, the deal” he said taking a piece of paper out of his briefcase.

They were offering me backstage passes, VIP stuff, free tickets to every show until the seasons ended. In exchange I would have to do some clips for the Xtra factor and interviews too. Also, make peace with sugarscape and spread a good word about the show.

“What about money?” my aunt asked “Aren’t this 15 minutes of fame enough?” he replied “She’ll even have hair and make-up done by professionals every week, Jamie Stevens and Julia Carta” the producer said, I did not have a clue on who those people were.

“I’m kind of already sold by all the free stuff” I admitted “See? Can you sign the contract then?” he said to Amelia and turned to me “You’re with us aren’t you Laura?” “Hum, can I just have a few minutes alone with my aunt?” I asked, “Sure” he responded leaving his chair “I’ll come back after 5 minutes, by then I hope you’re ready to sign this baby up!” and closed the door.

“Are you sure about this Laura? Do you know where this can lead you?” Amelia asked “I don’t know where this can take me, none of us does. But it seems like a great deal” I replied “I’m not getting a good vibe from mr.Holloway…he’s a corporate man you know, not very trustable” she pointed out “It gives me more time to stay in England and I do enjoy the show” I said, “So this is what you really want?”.