A persistent buzzing woke Lauren and she grumbled, shoving her face further into pillow. Except that pillow squeaked as she burrowed into it.
"Mmm" she purred, remembering just who was in bed with her. She wound arms around Camila's waist, drawing her closer. It was the first time the girl had spent the night, and even though all they did was trade sleepy, affectionate kisses before bed, it had been perfect.
"I think your phone is ringing," Camila mumbled into her own, non-human pillow.
"Ugh." But Lauren dutifully reached to answer the offending device. "Hello?"
"Lauren." Lauren had never known the sound of her own name could be so terrifying until she heard it spoken down the phone by Simon Cowell.
"Mr. Cowell!" She gulped, sitting up quickly. Next to her, Camila bolted up, too, eyes wide.
"I'd like you to come back into the offices today so we can have a little chat."
"Um, okay. I mean, yes. Yes, of course."
"Great. I'll see you in an hour. Oh, and Lauren?"
"Yes?" Lauren squeaked.
"Camila doesn't seem to be answering her phone. Can I trust you'll pass the message along to her?"
"Um," Lauren shifted guiltily, looking at Camila's half-naked form beside her. "Yeah. Yeah, we'll both be there."
"Hmm," was all Simon responded before the call clicked off.
"What? What did he want?" Camila asked anxiously.
"He wants us to come in. Your phone's dead, by the way."
Camila winced. "I didn't bring my charger. Wasn't really planning on sleeping over when I left the house yesterday morning." She glanced over the side of the bed, nose wrinkling. "Speaking of, I don't suppose I have time to go home before our meeting."
Lauren let out a wry laugh. "'Fraid not, sweetheart. Looks like you'll have to wear another one of mine."
Camila sighed. "As if Simon wasn't annoyed enough."
_____________________
But when they walked into Simon's office exactly fifty-five minutes later, he didn't actually look annoyed at all. He looked...speculative, eyeing the way the two of them stayed close, arms brushing.
"Have a seat, girls."
Lauren dropped into a chair, wishing for a moment that they had the other girls with them, crowding close in a jumble of elbows and knees that somehow made her feel infinitely safe. But she and Camila had decided to follow Simon's instructions to a tee this time, so they merely called the girls to tell them they had a meeting, and left it at that.
"Your development team, PR team, a few sponsors and I had a meeting last night," Simon began. He pointed a heavy finger in their direction. "Those are busy important people. It wasn't easy to round them all up for your sexuality crisis."
"It's not a crisis," Camila said, her voice soft but sure. "It's just my sexuality."
"Yes, well," Simon sank back in his chair. "That's very...genuine. Very you. Very Camila Cabello. And we think that's what's going to sell."
"Didn't you always?" Lauren couldn't help but ask, shooting Camila a confused glance.
"Not the Camila Cabello we manufactured for the press. The real one. This kid, right here."
"Huh?"
Simon sighed, steepling his fingers speculatively. "We live in a new age, girls." He gestured expansively to his computer. "Twitter and instagram and tumblr and webcams and livechats and webshows. The list goes on and on. Celebrities aren't just stage presence, anymore. They have to be on, twenty-four/seven, interacting with fans, blogging about their lives, everything."
Lauren blinked, overwhelmed. Was she going to be expected to do all of that?
"It used to be easy. Someone was gay, someone had a drug problem, someone was a blathering idiot? It didn't matter. You carefully controlled what was printed about them, limited their time talking about themselves, and sold millions of albums. Now? Now people want more. And it's a lot harder to hide."
He gave the two of them a sharp look. "So, I think this whole 'be yourself' angle is going to sell."
Lauren fought the urge to roll her eyes at the contradictory sentiment and waited, something like hope welling up inside of her.
Simon pointed a finger at Camila. "You're a cute kid. Smart, funny, nice. People will like that. So, we'll stop planting stories about boys. You can just be single, as far as the press is concerned. 'Busy' with your career. And," his eyes slid over to Lauren, "if the fans love you, if the album sells, and if you're still together, when you're ready, we can talk about you coming out."
Lauren glanced over at Camila, taking in her stunned expression. It clearly wasn't what she was expecting Simon to say.
"So, Lauren doesn't have to get a boyfriend? And I don't have to read about myself hooking up with boys in club bathrooms?"
"Not unless you actually do it," Simon shrugged.
"And we're not fired?" Camila checked. "None of us?"
Simon rolled his eyes. "No. What you all did yesterday was stupid, but it was also kind of adorable. And it's that kind of adorable that makes fans buy albums. I wouldn't break that up for the world."
Camila shot Lauren an excited look, and Lauren could practically see the words 'Fifth Harmony' forming in her brain. They were going to get everything they wanted, after all.
"Now," Simon said, shooing them towards the door. "Go tweet something cute and get ready to start promoting this album."
Hello guys as I promised I posted new chapter and also this is LAST CHAPTER so there is only left EPILOGUE.... I'm sad that this story is coming to end but I rlly don't have inspiration to continue this book so yeah
I hope that you like it
Sorry because mistakes! 🗝
-Michaela