Bound to You

Chapter 1: Darcy

Darcy Davis sighed as she felt raindrops begin to fall onto the sidewalk around her. “Fantastic.” She grumbled, pulling up the hood on her coat to cover her hair. “It’s rained every day for the past two weeks, are we ever going to catch a break?” her roommate Ashley chimed in, pulling up her hood as well. “I guess that’s just New York for you.” Darcy replied, swinging open the glass front doors and stepping into the high-ceilinged lobby of Julliard. She took her slightly dampened ginger hair back out of the hood of her jacket and began braiding it in a long side braid. “Another day I wasted straightening my hair.” She complained, as they walked across the marble floor. “Oh cheer up!” Ashley said, nudging her playfully. “We only have a few more weeks left until Christmas break. Then you’ll be back home in that Georgia heat you love so much.” Darcy smiled, securing her hair with the hair-tie she always kept on her left wrist. “I can’t wait.” She said dreamily. She missed home. She missed the seclusion of the forest surrounding her house that she had grown up in. She missed sitting on her front porch at night, listening to the crickets chirp while sipping on a tall glass of sweet tea. She missed spending lazy days on the river with her family. She had been living in New York City for two years now, but it still didn’t feel like home. She hated the fast-paced chaos of city life; she longed for the laid-back atmosphere of her hometown. Ashley stopped in front of the doors to one of the many ballet classrooms at Julliard. “Wish me luck! I have an exam today.” She half smiled nervously. “You’ll do fine! Are we meeting at the usual place for lunch?” Darcy asked, switching her leather messenger bag to her other shoulder. “Of course!” Ashley replied. “See you after class.” She called over her shoulder as she stepped into the studio. Darcy continued walking down the hallway toward her first class of the day: theater. It also happened to be her favorite class. She had gotten into Julliard on a dance scholarship originally. Her first semester she had decided to take a drama class as an elective, and she fell in love with it. After several of her drama professors commented on what a talented actress she had become, she had decided to double major in both theater and dance. She was now a junior at Julliard, and she was only 19. When Julliard offered her a full scholarship at 16, she had decided to take twice as many classes her junior year in high school so she could graduate a year early. She was only 17 when she enrolled at Julliard her freshman year. She opened the door to her Advanced Theatre class and stepped inside. There were only a few students in the classroom; she had arrived several minutes early, as usual. “Ah, Miss Davis. I was hoping you would arrive soon.” Her drama professor Dr. Jonas stood up from his desk. “May I have a word with you out in the hall?” he asked. “Of course, sir.” Darcy turned around and walked back the way she had come. Once Dr. Jonas stepped outside and shut the door, he turned to face her. He was grinning from ear to ear. “Darcy I have the most wonderful news. You may have landed your first acting job!” he announced. Darcy beamed. “Are you serious?? That’s amazing!” The professor nodded. “I don’t have all the details, but Dr. Whitmore told me to send you to her office as soon as you arrived this morning.” Dr. Whitmore was the president of Julliard. “Right now?” she asked. Dr. Jonas nodded. “Yes, right now! Dr. Whitmore sounded quite excited over the phone. You’ll have to come by today and let me know what it is!” he insisted. “Of course!” Darcy replied, and took off back down the hall. She knew exactly where Dr. Whitmore’s office was; she had been there frequently during her time at Julliard. The president had taken a keen interest in her superb acting abilities. She approached the ornately decorated wooden door that led into Dr. Whitmore’s office. She knocked twice and waited. “Darcy! Please come in.” the president stepped aside to let her in. Darcy stepped inside and noticed that they were not alone; there was a middle-aged blonde lady and a young, clean shaven African American man that appeared to be in his early thirties sitting in front of Dr. Whitmore’s desk.  “Hello Dr. Whitmore. Dr. Jonas told me you wanted to see me?” she asked. Dr. Whitmore nodded. She was grinning just as widely as Dr. Jonas had been. “Please, have a seat.” She said, gesturing to a third chair in front of her desk. Darcy took a seat in between the blonde lady and younger man. “Darcy, this is Stormie Lynch and Sean Williams. Are you familiar with the band R5?” Dr. Whitmore asked, looking at Darcy. She shook her head. “No, I’m afraid I’m not.” She admitted. “How about Ross Lynch? He’s on Disney channel.” Stormie asked. She nodded. “Oh yeah, I know who he is. My younger sister watches his show, Austin & Ally. Wait…Lynch? Are you his mother?” she asked, noting the family resemblance. Stormie nodded, smiling. “I am. Ross is also in a band with two of his brothers, his sister, and best friend. R5.” Darcy nodded, waiting for Stormie to continue. “I think I’ll let Sean explain the rest.” She said, turning to the younger man. “Darcy, are you familiar with Laura Marano?” he asked. She nodded. “Yeah…she plays Ally, right?” Sean nodded. “Yes, that’s right. How about Maia Mitchell?” Darcy thought for a moment. “Teen Beach Movie?” Sean prompted. “OH! She must play Mack.” She looked at Sean for confirmation. Sean nodded again. “Yes. Now, have you ever heard the term Raura? Or Raia?” Darcy rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, yes. My sister used to talk about it ALL the time. It was ‘Ross and Laura’ this or ‘Ross and Maia’ that. I never paid much attention when she talked about it. From what I gathered, she liked Raia.” Stormie chuckled. Sean smiled and continued. “You see, that’s our problem. This ‘Raura’ vs. ‘Raia’ situation is tearing the fanbase apart. On every R5 music video we upload, there are hundreds of comments about ‘Laura and Ross this’ or ‘Maia and Ross that’. No matter how many times Ross denies Laura and Maia rumors during interviews, the fans don’t seem to believe him. We think it’s mainly because-” “He’s single.” She finished, realization dawning. “You want me to act as his girlfriend, don’t you?” Sean grinned and sat back in his chair. “She’s a smart one. Yes Darcy, we want you to act as his girlfriend. And we aren’t talking a few public appearances and then you disappear. We’re talking a full-fledged ‘relationship’. Maybe a year or more. You’ll be moving out to Los Angeles if you accept.” Darcy turned to look at Dr. Whitmore. “What about school?” The president smiled. “We’ll hold your spot here until you’re finished.” She turned back to Sean. “So, what are the specifics of this…arrangement?” she asked. Sean pulled out a thick stack of papers. “You’ll have to sign a contract, stating that you won’t reveal that the relationship is fake. Your family can know, obviously. And so will Ross’s. But no one else. The contract is a year long, but it states that we can choose to extend it up to six months extra if need be.” “We’re basically hoping to keep Ross in a ‘relationship’ long enough for the fans to lose interest in fighting over Laura and Maia.” Stormie clarified. Sean nodded. “Basically. Now here is what we will be paying you.” He said, pointing to a number on the paper. Darcy’s jaw dropped. “Is that for the entire year?” she asked, staring at the six-figured number. Sean chuckled. “No sweetheart, that’s per month.” She looked over to Stormie. “Dang, I’ll marry him too if you’d like.” Both Stormie and Sean laughed. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” Stormie assured her. “So how will Ross and I portray our ‘relationship’?” Darcy asked. “It’ll be a full time commitment. You’re both actors, so you’re going to have to ACT. Holding hands in public, stealing kisses every now and then. You’ll accompany Ross to any red carpet event he attends. You’re going to have to convince people that you’re in love. The tricky part will be convincing his friends and coworkers. Not even Maia and Laura are going to know. You two are going to have to work on a back story; how you met, your first date, your first kiss…we mean EVERYTHING. Every detail of this relationship has to be perfect so we can really sell it. You’ll even have to take it as far as social media. Tweeting each other, Instagraming pictures, changing your Facebook relationship status. Everything you would do in a real relationship, only it won’t be.” Sean leaned forward, looking directly at Darcy. “It isn’t going to be easy sweetheart. That’s why we came to Dr. Whitmore first. We wanted an actress that she knew could handle the job. And she chose you.” Darcy looked over at Dr. Whitmore and smiled. “So, what do you think?” Stormie asked. “Like Sean said, it’s going to be tough. And if you agree, you’re locked into your contract for a year. Maybe longer.” Darcy turned to Stormie. “What does Ross think about this? I don’t want to take the job if he’s going to hate me the entire time.” Stormie shook her head. “No dear, don’t worry. Ross is 100% on board with the idea. He just insisted that we find someone who’s really sweet and genuine. Not snobby.” “Another reason why I suggested you.” Dr. Whitmore said, smiling. All three adults turned to look at Darcy. “Do we have a deal?” Sean asked. Darcy took a deep breath before responding. “We have a deal.”