For The Camera

Four

Nathan

The most boring part about my everyday life by far is attending meetings. No matter what they're about, whether it's PR stuff or talking about upcoming events, they always make me feel like I'm back at school and sitting through two periods of Physics.

This one, however, I know is important, so I'm trying my best to pay attention as Murphy goes through the details of the contract I'm supposed to sign.

"Now, the main point is obviously that neither you nor Mr. Scott are allowed to tell anyone that this relationship you'll be having is staged," he says. "By signing this contract you will agree to take all the necessary steps to make it believable. We will now go through a bunch of things that you and Mr. Scott could do together in order to gain the media's attention, and I want you to tell me honestly which ones you agree and which ones you disagree with. Alright?"

"Sure," I say, leaning back in my chair.

Sitting around the table in one of Saturn Record's conference rooms, there's Murphy, my brother, and my publicist Chelsea, who now flips open her laptop. 

"Okay. One idea we had is to have you guys attend the Golden Mics together in a few months. You know, the big award show? There are always a ton of celebrities with their partners, and obviously a bunch of press. Couples on the red carpet always make it into magazines." She looks at me, waiting for my opinion with her usual polite smile. 

"That's fine by me," I say, albeit a bit hesitantly. It feels weird, picturing myself going there with a guy I don't even know. Well, don't know yet; I'm going to go home right after this meeting, and if his flight didn't get delayed, he'll probably be there already. The thought of it has me nervously shifting in my seat.

Adrian's voice right next to me snaps me out of my thoughts. "Are you sure?" he asks with a frown, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's a few months away. You do know that by committing to this, you're also committing to being with him for that long, right?"

Yeah, I didn't think about that. "I know," I say. "It'll be fine."

Chelsea takes this as her cue to chime in. "Besides, all of this won't be worth it if we only do this for two months. Nathan should really stay with Mr. Scott until then."

I try not to let my discomfort show. A few months can be a long time, Adrian is right about that. He's always right about things like this.

"Nathan, you know you don't have to do this," Adrian says slowly, eyeing me warily.

I offer him a smile that I hope looks more composed than I feel. "I know. I want to."

"It's too late to cancel now, anyways," Murphy intervenes. "Mr. Scott is already on his way here."

"Exactly. Please," I say, gesturing at Chelsea, "Go on. What other ideas did you have?"

Flicking her platinum blonde hair over one shoulder, she looks at her laptop screen again. "Well, we were also thinking about having you guys do a photo shoot for a magazine or two... If we can arrange that, that is."

I nod without missing a beat. Photo shoots are something I'm used to, so that won't be a big deal.

"Next we thought that Mr. Scott could star in one of your music videos. What do you think about that?"

"That's fine," I say after a second of consideration.

Chelsea types my answer into her laptop and is about to say something, but Adrian interrupts her.

"Whoa, not so fast," he says. There's a frown on his face, one that I'm all too familiar with. It's his Nathan, you're my little brother and I love you, but what you're doing is fucking stupid-face. "Aren't you going to ask what kind of music video that's supposed to be first? Jesus, Nathan, this is an official contract. You can't just agree to all these things without knowing the details first."