The Brightest Star - Luke Hemmings

Chapter 13

"We need to talk" Alaska said, barging into Zoe's office the next morning.

"What now, Alaska?" Zoe whined, not even raising her head from the stack of papers on her desk.

"I can't do this anymore" she said harshly.

"Sorry?" Zoe shot her a puzzled look.

"This thing, with Luke, I don't want to do it anymore."

"That's not quite a option, sweetie" Zoe said calmly, returning to what she was doing.

"First, don't call me sweetie; and second, I'm not doing it." Alaska stated, walking towards Zoe's desk, trying to get her full attention.

"And why's that?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl in front of her, who looked as determined as ever.

"I have my reasons" Alaska shrugged.

"Oh God Alaska! What did you do?" Zoe sighed; Alaska hated the fact that everything suddenly became her fault in Zoe's eyes.

"I didn't do anything! Jesus!" Alaska groaned. "I just don't think this is going to work out"

"Look Alaska," Zoe started, standing up from her chair and resting her hands on the desk in front of her, "this is possibly the best thing that could have happened to your career right now, your relationship with Luke it's barely public and everyone is already going crazy about it, you guys are the next big couple, you look perfect together."

"I don't fucking care, alright!" Alaska threw her hands up in the air, "I'm not doing it anymore."

"And this is not only helping your image, Luke also has been getting a lot more attention and his band is getting huge. You were the one worried about how this would affect him, and it is going great. So if you have a valid reason to want to end this, please tell me; but if this is just you being stubborn, well, suck it up because I have better things to worry about." Zoe said, returning to sit on her chair.

Alaska stood there in silence for a few seconds, taking in Zoe's speech before realizing it would be better if she just told her what was going on. "He like's me..." Alaska almost whispered; head hung low.

"Of course he does, Alaska, you two slept together!" Zoe rolled her eyes.

"No, not like that. I think he actually likes me, not in just a one night stand kind of way," Alaska said, replaying the events of the day before in the back of her mind.

"So? It's not like you don't know your way around boys" Zoe smirked up at her. Alaska rolled her eyes; trying to move past the fact that Zoe had practically implied that she was a whore.

"Yeah, but this time is different" she said, getting more frustrated by the second, "we actually have to be in a relationship. We have to pretend we're in love with each other."

"Look, Alaska, the way I see it is that Luke already likes you, so it won't be that hard for him to pretend, and, in your case, I believe that you are a good enough actress to keep him around" Zoe shot her a mischievous grin.

"Are you insane? You're fucking sick!" Alaska raised her voice, disgusted by Zoe's words, "I'm not going to encourage his feelings so that it will be easier for us to pretend!"

"Listen to me, Alaska, you need to see this as a simple business transaction, a contract. From where I'm standing, there's nothing wrong with pretending that you like him back for the sake of you guy's relationship; and you never seemed too concerned about breaking a heart..." Zoe trailed off, "or maybe it's just this one you feel you have to be careful about?"

"Fuck you!" Alaska said, "I'm going to do this for the sake of our careers, but don't you think for one second that I'll lie to Luke or pretend to like him back at any moment except for when we are both on camera, got it? You cannot control me!"

"Heard it loud and clear" Zoe smirked up at her.

*Filler!!!!