The Magic of Hollywood // Charlie Gillespie

Chapter 37

The closer we get to Ben's office the more nervous I get. I know Charlie said he's a good guy and I'm sure he only wants what's best for Charlie, but so far I didn't get the impression he's too happy I'm in the picture. After all I think I heard a little regret in his voice when he mentioned that he was the one who found me earlier. I guess he has his reasons though... I just hope I can convince him otherwise. In the end we want the same thing... what's best for Charlie. "We're here." Charlie rips me out of my thoughts and I can sense that he's a little off too. I squeeze his hand a little. Right now I have to be the strong one. We make our way up to his office. His building has an underground car park with an elevator up, which is nice since we don't need to be in disguise for a little.

A tall blonde guy in a suit meets us at the door. "Ms. Porter, great to finally meet you in person. I wish the circumstances would be different." He gestures for us to follow him into his office. We sit down on one side of his desk, he sits down on the other. I feel like I'm being on trial for some crime I committed. Even though Ben, I sadly lack the knowledge of his last name, seems much more friendly in person I still have a lot of respect towards him. "So Ben, why did you summon us here?" - "Well..." He looks at me for a second, then back to Charlie. "I'm assuming she won't sign the nondisclosure agreement?" - "Obviously she won't." Charlie says harshly. I gather up my courage and say. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I wouldn't tell anyone anything anyways. This is my life... and Charlie's... not theirs, ergo non of their business. Plus I'd never do anything that would hurt him." Ben nods slightly. "I see. Well Ms. Porter, I guess for now I'm gonna have to trust your intentions are pure." My intentions are pure? Very interesting choice of words. "Oh cut it Ben. She's with me now and nothing will change that. Can we get to the point now?"

It turns out Ben actually had another agenda, apart from trying to figure out whether or not my intentions are pure. We tell him what we talked about with Jeremy and Carolynn and to my surprise he agreed with what they suggested. I mean, it made complete sense to me, but I thought he would give us a much harder time. I guess he starts to understand that there is no other solution than finding a way of us being together in the public eye but also away from it. "We have to make a public statement though. Instagram or anything like that will do. Just to get rid of that muddy article with the leaked photo." My insides turn thinking back to this morning when I found out that our photo was featured at the front of the newspaper. We both just nod, silently. I must say I'm not a fan of this at all. I feel like I'm forced to play a role I didn't sign up for. I never been much of a posting stuff on social media girl, even before I started hiding my life from my parents and Max, but now they want me to publicly talk about a relationship that has only just started. I always stood with the opinion that making things public means people interfering, thinking they know better.

After we leave Ben's office we make our way back to Charlie's car in silence, both processing everything that happened since this morning. Last night at the beach it was just the two of us but now... now it's the two of us and literally every person following the news about him. Ben instructed us to drive some place a little isolated, take a cute picture together and post it on Charlie's instagram with a little text telling the people we are officially dating and that we were hesitant about telling anyone because it's all still so new to us but that we are glad it's out now and we can't wait to share our story with the world. To me this is the biggest lie I've ever told. I hate lying but I guess from now on I'm gonna have to get used to it occasionally. When I was with Max I constantly lied to everyone, pretending I'm as happy as can be, when in reality I cried more than I laughed. But this is different. I'm not lying to hide the toxicity of my relationship, I'm lying to protect something worth protecting. I know that the next weeks will be hard for me... for both of us. We both have to learn to live under the given conditions.

We sit at the beach, watching the waves. Only seems fitting right now. Charlie wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. I rest my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes, just listening to the sound of the waves for a little while. "We don't have to do this." His voice is barely a whisper. "You know we do." He sighs slightly. "Yeah... it was worth a try." I giggle a little. Even though this situation is not funny at all it kinda is. How many girls dream about this happening to them? They have no idea what it means. I mean, I wouldn't wanna change a thing if I could but this is pretty different to what I think most people would imagine it. "What are you thinking about Vic?" I smile again. "Ah you know... just the fact that I'm pretty much living in a fan fiction right now. Meeting a dashingly handsome guy who turns out to be a celebrity. Just the current drama would probably not be featured in it. It would rather be us watching the waves... kissing." - "Than that's exactly what we should do." He says, placing his lips on mine.