endlessly

30

The next weekend, Tatum invites Lilah over to meet the girls. Mikey and the others decided it would be okay if Lilah knew, but only if she signed an NDA, to which she agreed to right away. Tatum told them that she wasn't ready to tell Lilah about her new relationship though.

"She's here," Tatum says, waiting at the window. She goes to the front door and walks out onto the porch. The other girls wait around on the couch, not wanting to overstep, "Hey!"

"Hi! It's so good to see you again!" Lilah smiles as she gives Tatum a hug.

"I know right. I'm so happy I can finally tell you about my job," she says.

"Yeah, must be important that I had to sign an NDA," Lilah jokes.

"Yeah, let's go inside and I can introduce you to my bosses," Tatum leads her back into the house. Upon entry, the girls stand up from the couch, "Lilah, these are my bosses; Sadie Sink, Mikey Madison, Jenna Ortega, and Emma Myers."

Lilah covers her mouth for a second in awe, "Wow... Wow, okay. Wow, it's so nice to meet you!"

"This is my friend and former roommate, Lilah," Tatum walks the girl over so she's standing in front of the couch. Lilah sticks her arm out to shake the girls' hands, but all four of them ignore her gesture and go in for a hug, "Oh yeah, they're huggers."

"That's okay," Lilah smiles. They let go of her and sit back down.

"Let me show you the house," Tatum says. She leads Lilah over to the stairs, while the girls stay put, "So this is my room. That's Emma's and that one on the end is Sadie's."

"Wait, they live here?" Lilah asks. Tatum nods, "You're telling me, you live with four famous celebrities?"

"I know right," The brunette smiles, "They're so sweet and they take care of everything, it honestly doesn't feel like a job sometimes."

"I bet," Lilah. The two girls walk back downstairs.

"This is the kitchen obviously and then Jenna and Mikey's rooms are in the basement," Tatum explains, "Wanna go sit outside?"

"Sure!" Lilah cheers. The two girls go outside and sit in the wicker chairs on the deck, "Tell me all about work though. Like what do you do for them?"

"I accompany them like literally everywhere," Tatum explains, "Not all at once, like I'm usually just with one of the girls. But I've been to photoshoots, filming, stunt training, interviews, outfit fittings, it's really fun to be honest."

"I would die to see them acting on set," Lilah dramatically says.

"It's pretty cool. They are also so nice to hang out with. We watch Survivor and Criminal Minds all the time," The brunette adds.

"So do you know other famous people now too?"

"Yeah, we went to a Hollywood pool party the other day. I got to meet a lot of actors and actresses," Tatum replies.

"Wow, you're gonna be like famous when people find out you work for them," Lilah comments, "Do you think you'd go to premieres with them?"

"I don't know. I don't know if they'd want me in the spotlight. I've had to put all my social media to private to help their image and I guess mine now too," Tatum says, "I would love to go to a premiere, but obviously they would be the ones to invite me."

"Yeah. I'm sure they'll take you. Maybe not have you walk the red carpet though."

"Yeah, I don't even know if I'd wanna walk the red carpet," The brunette laughs, "How have you been? Mid-terms go okay?"

"Yeah, I passed with all As and Bs on my assignments so I'm pretty good now until the end of the semester," Lilah says, "You stressing for midterms?"

"A little. This week is gonna be a little stressful with their events too, but I'll make it through," Tatum sighs, "I should show you my monologue."

"Ooo, yes! Maybe you can act it out for me..." Lilah jokes.

"Uh, maybe when they're not around," She replies, "I would shit my pants if they heard me." The two girls head inside and up to Tatum's room.

***

Later that night, when Tatum is about to go to bed, she gets a call from Jules.

"Hey girl, did you wanna meet up to go over our monologues sometime before Friday?" She asks.

"Oh, yeah, let me look at my calendar..."

"Yeah, me too," Jules says. Tatum puts the phone on speaker mode.

"What's your Tuesday afternoon look like?" Tatum asks.

"Open after 3PM, how about you?"

"I'm done at 2PM, we could meet up at 3:30 then?" The brunette asks.

"Yeah, at your place?" Jules asks.

"I don't know. What if they hear me?" Tatum asks, taking her phone off speaker.

"The girls?"

"Yeah."

"You're going to have to perform in front of the rest of our class and professor, I don't think the girls will care about your monologue," Jules states.

"Okay, but what if they don't think it's good?"

"Well, maybe they can give us pointers! You should ask if they will listen to our monologues," Jules exclaims.

"I don't know..."

"Come on, Tatum. If you can perform in front of them you can perform in front of everyone," She adds.

"... Ugh, fine," Tatum sighs.

"Yes!"

"Also, I have some news to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I joined the girls' poly relationship," Tatum smiles just thinking about them.

"Oh, wow! I'm so happy for you. I'm assuming you're happy with them?" Jules asks.

"Oh yeah, I am, we've only been together for a whole day, but they've already been making me happy," Tatum says. Just as Jules is about to say something, Jenna and Emma burst into the room with pillows.

"Put the phone down," Jenna orders.

"Wait, I'm on a call, one——" Emma and Jenna smack Tatum with the pillows, "Ah!"

"Tatum?" Jules asks as the phone drops to the floor.

"This is a raid for cuddles!" Emma shouts as Tatum is subdued to the floor by pillow. Jenna then grabs the girl's ankles as she giggles. Emma grabs her wrists and the two carry her out of the room.

"Wait! My phone! Jules! Hahaha!" Tatum shouts as she is carried down the stairs.

"Tatum?"

Jenna and Emma lift Tatum up onto the couch. Mikey and Sadie immediately lay on top of her.

"Hi!" Sadie smiles as she looks down at Tatum. Jenna and Emma join the pile, making Tatum the bottom of the pile.

"Hi," Tatum answers, "Did you have to raid my room like that to get cuddles? And is this a cuddle? I don't remember it being so... painful."

The girls get off of Tatum and sit down next to her instead.

"We wanted to make sure you would come down to cuddle. The only way imaginable is by force," Emma smiles.

"Compared to asking me?" Tatum asks, lifting her eyebrow.

"Well, our plan was more full-proof," Emma comments. The girls all laugh as Mikey puts on Criminal Minds. The girls watch two episodes of Criminal Minds before falling asleep together on the couch.