Number 23 - [Charlie Puth]

two

[A few days later]

Harper POV

Beep. Beep. Beep.

My phone rang down my ears and I rushed from the bathroom to pick it up. "Hello?" I asked, leaning against my kitchen counter. "Hello, am I right to say that this is Harper Marie Johnson?" The lady on the other end of the call questioned.
"That's me." I laughed.
"My name is Marissa and I'm one of Charlie Puth's representatives. I'm aware that you have the role of being Charlie's fake girlfriend, am I correct?" She spoke sweetly.
"Yes, that's correct." I responded.
"Well congratulations and am I correct in saying that you have managed to complete all of the legal work?" She questioned.
"That's correct, all my details have been filed and handed in." I responded, pacing slowly around my kitchen.
"Excellent, now if you don't mind, I would like you to meet me and Charlie at 17 mont vue cafe in 40 minutes." She stated.
"That's fine, I'll see you soon." I smiled.

I changed and headed out of the door, trying to leave a good enough time space for me to get there. The highway was obviously busy but I managed to avoid a large chunk of the traffic using side streets.

I checked my appearance in the car mirror before locking my car and walking into the rustic-inspired cafe. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Charlie look up at me and a side smile grew on his face. I looked down, breaking eye contact, before walking over to the booth. A skinny, blonde woman looked up at me and said "Harper?"
"That's me." I smiled, putting my phone into my back pocket. "Please, sit darling." She smiled, pointing to the space next to Charlie.

The next 30 minutes consisted of her informing me of legal contracts and other rules. "Right my lovelies, I'm going to leave you two to talk and if possible, try and act flirty for any press around." She whispered before standing up, coffee in hand, and strolling out of the cafe. I looked beside me to see Charlie looking down at the table. "This is probably strange for the both of us." I sighed. His eyes optimistically shot up and met mine. "Very, but let's just try to get to know each other." He smiled.
"Okay, I'm harper and I once ran over my date's foot." I spoke, holding in a laugh.
"How?" Charlie laughed.
"Well, it's not as sadistic as it sounds-" I laughed. "He was directing me to move forward because there was a small gap where I was parked, I was inching forwards and I moved too fast and ran over his right foot." I spoke. Charlie shook his head and said "I'm Charlie, I've never ran someone's foot over but I like to bring my dogs on dates." He smiled, tapping his fingers.
"Seriously?" I asked, genuinely interested.
"Yeah, It's always a good conversation starter." He smiled. I nodded and his phone rang from his pocket. "I'm sorry, it's my manager." He spoke, sounding apologetic.
"It's fine, go ahead." I smiled.

While he was busy conversing with his management, I snapped a picture of half of my face and him talking on the phone in the background. I quickly messed around with some Instagram editing and posted it with the caption "This rock star is too cool for me now.."
Within seconds of posting that photo, followers began to pour onto my account and people were speculating everything in the comments. Charlie finished the phone call and we continued to talk.

After a few minutes, I noticed that cameras and people swarmed outside of the cafe. I sighed and said "let's give management what they want to see." Charlie looked at me and wrapped his arm around my waist. I leaned my head against his shoulder and we tried to continue to talk, avoiding eye contact with any cameras.

"Should we get out of here?" Charlie asked. I nodded and we stood up, Charlie instantly gripping my hand. Before we reached the doors, his grip loosened on my hand and his arm snaked around my waist, pulling my body closer to his. "My car is in the parking lot around the corner." I whispered. He nodded and whispered "if this is too much, just hide your face okay?"

We stepped out onto the busy street and we were met by constant flashing lights and voices erupting into our ears. We rushed away from them and headed into my car. "That was insane," I sighed.