The art of being a beard (Camila/You)

Chapter 20

Narrator's POV

"Thank God you're here, Y/N."

The Y/E/C-eyed girl just gave Roger a small smile before walking into his office. She settled on one of the chairs by his desk and glanced around. It was obvious that Camila wasn't here, but she just felt like confirming it again. 

Roger threw himself behind his desk. It was pretty visible how stressed out he looked but did the novelist care about that? Not really.

He's been handling the cheating rumors about Camila and Normani all morning and if this girl wasn't his last resort, he wouldn't have contacted her. He knocked on the table to catch Y/N's attention again. "You've probably seen the news already. I need your help."

Now that's reminding her of something else. "Shouldn't you have at least told me the PR was over? I had to read about my own breakup on some stupid website," she said angrily. But if anything, she just sounded tired. There was no energy in her voice at all. 

"I contacted Jackie. She said you were busy so she just handled it all for you," Roger exclaimed, throwing his arms out to emphasize his innocent.

"Well, she hasn't told me shit."

Camila's manager just shrugged at her. "That's your problem. I already solved everything with her because I thought you were throwing another tantrum, and that that's why you weren't there."

Y/N rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Now just spit out what you need my help for."

"Well..." Roger started as he rubbed his hands together. "Everyone is accusing Camila of cheating. The team and I thought it'll be the best if you're gonna stand up for her right now and tell everyone you already broke up before she started going out with Normani."

The Y/E/C-eyed girl glanced down on the desk between them and furrowed her eyebrows. "I..."

"Please, Y/N. You wouldn't want to see Camila's name get trampled like that either, right?" Roger begged, the desperation dripping from his voice. 

"Where's she now?" Y/N mumbled out in a small voice.

"She doesn't wanna see you." Figuring that that's not the way to convince somebody, he quickly thought of something to add. "But if you care about her even for the slightest bit, you'll help her out this time. Think of all the things she's done for you. If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't have gotten the chance to film your novel right now, and--"

"Okay."

"What?" Roger choked out. That wasn't the answer he was expecting. 

Y/N gave him a small shrug in return. "I'll do it."

The manager stared at her for another second before choking out a laugh. "Alright, that's great. When you see the paps, just tell them that. They'll catch on for sure."

"Anything else?"

Roger didn't speak up immediately, so the novelist just stood up from her seat and was ready to leave. But at last, his voice put her on pause. "Don't come near Camila again, please. I want her to focus on her current relationship and preferably you're out of the picture for that."

Y/N didn't even bother to respond and walked out of the door just like that.

The truth was, this whole new relationship was just another PR stunt that Camila got shoved down her throat. Sure, she's agreed to make a song with Normani, but that's somehow consequently led to another PR contract. She barely had a say in it. The success that's followed up upon their collaboration was just too great to be ignored, and as a smart marketing team, they had to do the thing that'll make the song do even better. So a relationship it is.