Again (Lauren/You)

XIII

Lauren

We've finally landed and we're not too happy about it. We are so close to seeing our family, that's the only thing we want to do right now, but no, Simon has called an emergency meeting for God knows what.

We all got in a taxi, Aaron explained the crew will pick up our luggage, then drive straight to where we were meeting. We walked into the tall building and Aaron led us to the room.

We were all fairly quiet only a slight chat between Ally and Camila was going on, the rest of us were too tired.

We walked into the conference room and saw Simon sat down, he stood up and greeted us, asking how our flight was, before we all sat down.

"You're probably all wondering why i've called you?" She paused for us the nod or anything. "Well, I know you girls have just came back from tour, but we have planned another tour for Asia and Australia."

We suddenly all looked very happy and interested, the girls and I have been dreaming of touring Asia for years now.

"I thought you'd all be happy with that." Simon smiled. "Right, that was the biggest announcement, now for some other things."

Why did that not sound so good.

After Simon spoke about starting the third album and then a few festivals and gigs, before he began to talk about management and publicity - oh this is only going to end badly.

"The management have told me there needs to be a peak in your social media activity, they said try post more on Instagram, I think they said that's the best platform, then twitter but they didn't say anything about that." Simon simplified what he was reading off his sheet of paper which we had in front of us too.

"Right, I that's all, ladies, thank you for meeting in such short notice, enjoy your time with your family." He said as we all said our goodbyes before getting up to leave.

"Sick! Girls, we're touring Asia!" Dinah and Normani were so excited. Then as we were walking down the Simon came out of the door.

"Lauren, can I speak with you, please?" He said.

I frowned a little at Ally before turning back into the room. I know the girls will wait for me, we haven't all said good bye yet.

"Yes, Simon?" I said sitting back down. I began to subconsciously fiddle with my phone in my hand.

"Lauren, i'd like you to meet the head of Maverick Management, Guy Oseary." Simon said as a guy walked, tall, short curly dark hair, wearing a shirt and jeans. More casual than I imagined.

"It's great to finally meet you, Lauren." He said shaking my hand.

"You too." I nod.

"I will let, Guy take over now." Simon said before leaving.

"So Lauren, i'm not sure if you've seen but there has been a lot of spikes in your publicity..." He speaks and I just internally roll my eyes, but i'm professional. "Basically, you were seen leaving Blackbear's party with some this girl, and a few days before that there were those photos being taken of you and someone else, which looks a lot like your were being intimate."

"What's the problem here?" I said getting slight annoyed.

"Lauren, you can't be seen hanging out with a nobody, let alone date one, or whatever you're doing with her." He said coldly.

"Do you even know who she is?" I questioned him. He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal to know about who it is.

"Well, she's my old best friend, we knew each other for years, she has been apart of my life all throughout my childhood and most of my teenage years. she isn't a 'nobody' to me." I didn't snap but I made sure he knew I wasn't happy.

"You've already seen the effect this has had on social media, questions being asked at soundcheck. Lauren be smart and just distance yourself." Guy said trying to reason.

"You wouldn't do this if it was Lucy." I said frankly.

"She's like a c-list model, at least she is somebody." I clenched my jaw, i'm really not happy with this. "Look, Lauren make it easier for yourself, you know you hate the attention and the assumptions, just end whatever you girls have right now."

That was it!

"We've only just seen each other after over 5 years of not speaking! I'm sorry but i'm not ending anything!" I said forcefully.

"You are, and you will. You're going to phone her and you're going to tell her 'it was a mistake, you didn't know what you were thinking' then tell her 'friends don't sleep with friends'" He said. "You're not leaving until you do so."

I scoff. "You can't keep me here. I have rights." I said standing up about to leave.

"I'll pay you." He said and I paused. "However much you want?" He pulled out a cheque.

"You can shove that money up your ass, I don't want any of it." I narrowing my eyes.

He just chuckled. "You hate the attention, We can publish 'things' to make the attention more intense, would you want that, Lauren?"

"Blackmail? This is very unprofessional. You can't control the whole of my life."

"Your contract with us says otherwise." She smirks.

"Besides, why is this an issue? I'm seeing a girl just after i've came out as Bisexual. It's the fucking end of the world!" I mocked.

"Do the phone call and end it, and it will-"

"And it will what? All go away? I'm a celebrity, I get articles and accusations thrown at me everyday! Why is this any different?"

"Because we want it to go away. Just do the phone call, Lauren, this is my last time asking. If you don't, you're breaking the contract for Fifth Harmony and we can sue all of you." Guy said crossing his arms.

Fuck.

I can't do that to the girls. As much as I hate him and I totally disagree with what he wants me to do, I don't want to ruin things for the girls.

I bite my bottom lip. "Fine." I opened my phone and went to my text messages. "She's probably asleep right now, so she's going to call me tomorrow and then I'll tell her. Are you fucking happy now?" And I pressed send.

Me: Hey, we need to talk, call me when you wake up.

*****

Hope you enjoyed it :(