Chapter Five

I spent most of the car ride there wondering why we were asked to come into the studio. I had asked Kayla if she had any idea but she did not. She was silent for most of the drive and I figured that she had her own concerns. I was left to ponder on my own.

The first worry that came to mind was that either Kayla or I had done something wrong. I was unsure if it was something recent or something that had happened at the gig. A part of me was sure that I was in trouble for going out onto the stage to get her once it had started to rain. I hoped that that was not it. The tour manager had not seemed upset with us after the fact.

The second thing that entered my mind was that the label might do something wild like tell us that they wanted to lose the band and have Kayla and I become some kind of duo act. I felt instantly guilty for having the thought, not to mention somewhat narcissistic. I admit to being talented but I was not that talented – I did not even know how to play a musical instrument.

The third was the opposite. I was about to be let go. Either Kayla was, too, or she was going to be my replacement. Needless to say, by the time that the car that they had sent for us rolled up to the studio, I was panicking slightly. I had to remind myself to breathe as we stepped out of the car.

“Myles, are you okay?” Kayla asked me. She looked concerned. She reached out, resting a hand on my shoulder and squeezing it comfortingly. “Breathe. I’m sure that everything will be fine. If it was bad, they would have told us or sent someone or something.”

I stared at her. Her blue eyes were wide and innocent. Kayla never wore makeup. What you saw was exactly what you got when it came to her. She had an honesty about her that made me believe her, even though she could not possibly know if what she was saying was true or not, and I found myself nodding.

“Okay,” I said.

Kayla gave me a reassuring smile and we walked up to the door together. The woman at the reception desk, a short blonde woman by the name of Lizzie inclined her head in the direction of what we knew to be the boardroom. She did not say anything to either of us but as soon as we were out of sight, she began chatting away animatedly and I figured she must have been on the phone.

The boardroom had a few people in it. I was surprised to see that Kayla’s mom was one of them. A quick glance at Kayla told me that she was just as surprised as I was. Apart from Kayla’s mom, the band’s manager, both our respective agents, the tour manager, and the publicity agent were sitting around the long table that dominated the room. Alarm bells were going off inside my mind but I forced myself to remain calm and keep breathing in and out.

“Mom? What is going on?” Kayla asked.

“Nothing is wrong, sweetie,” Kayla’s mom said. “Why don’t you two have a seat?”

Kayla and I exchanged glances before pulling out a seat. The table had a pitcher of water on its center and a few plates of random snacks like donuts. My belly grumbled, reminding me that I had not eaten that morning.

“Have either of you been keeping up with your social media accounts over the weekend?” The publicity agent asked us. I could not remember his name. It started with a ‘B.’

“Uhm, no,” I admitted. “I have never really been a social media person. We kind of spent the whole weekend celebrating. I’m sorry I missed the calls and stuff.”

“Me either,” Kayla said. “My sister kind of always handled all my social media stuff because I suck at it. I’m still getting used to having to keep things updated. I’m sorry.”

The tour manager chuckled. “I don’t know if either of you even knows what it is that you are apologizing for. Neither of you is in trouble. There are just some things that we needed to clear up as soon as possible.”

“Exactly,” B said. He reached down beside his chair and pulled a briefcase onto the table. He opened it and pulled a stack of papers and a magazine out. “Have you seen this?”

My mouth fell open at the image on the cover of the magazine. Kayla gasped beside me. I had definitely not seen it and I highly doubted that Kayla would have kept it to herself if she had. It was an independent magazine but, until very recently, we were independent artists so it should not have come as a surprise to see ourselves on the cover. The shot was one of me leading Kayla off of the stage when it had started to rain, one hand holding an umbrella and the other on her waist.

The headline was in capital letters at the top of the cover; “IS KAYLES A THING?”

“Based on that reaction,” B started. “I’ll go ahead and assume that neither of you has seen this before.”

“I definitely have not seen that before,” I said. I looked over at Kayla and she shook her head, seconding my statement.

“All right. Well, this is a little awkward. None of us expected that.”

I caught Kayla sharing a cryptic glance with her mother. Neither of them said anything. I don’t think that anyone else noticed the interaction. I made a mental note to ask Kayla about it once the meeting was over. I then scratched out my mental note because I thought that it probably was not any of my business, despite the situation at hand.

Simon, the tour manager, spoke up next. “Well, I’m not going to beat around the bush. We need to know. Are you two dating?”

“Oh, my God,” Kayla said. She covered her face with her hands.

“No,” I said. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes even though I was kind of annoyed. It was one of the points in our contracts to tell the label if and who we dated. “We aren’t dating.”

“Is that true, Kayla?” Simon asked. I grit my teeth.

“We aren’t dating,” Kayla repeated. She had uncovered her face and I could see that her olive-toned skin was tinged pink. I could not blame her.

“Okay…” B said. He sighed. “This is where things really get awkward. Would you two date?”

I stared at the people sitting across the table from us, aghast. Were they seriously asking us that? Did they all need to be present to do so? Was any of this actually necessary at all?

“I don’t understand the question,” Kayla said. “Are you asking if we see each other that way?”

“Well,” Kayla’s mom said. “That is an important question, too.”

Kayla stared at her mom. “In that case, my answer is no. No offense, Myles, but I don’t see you that way. It has nothing to do with you though, honestly.”

“None taken,” I said with a shrug. “I feel the same way.”

Kayla did not react to that but I thought that it looked like she was trying to hold back a smile. It made me feel better. B and Simon nodded. Our agents were silent, watching the whole interaction in the background. We had been told that agents mostly remained silent when they were dealing with the publicity agent, though. It had something to do with things that they said being misconstrued or taken out of context. I guessed that that was definitely going to be one of those times where they needed to be careful.

“You should just get it over with. You already know how I feel about the whole situation and we all know that that makes no difference. They are waiting.” Kayla’s mom said. She was incredibly irritable. Her lips were pursed.

“Well, these images have gone viral. Your relationship is under a lot of speculation but the majority of the fanbase thinks that you two are together. The focus has been pretty positive.” B said. “The label has decided that it would be a good idea for the two of you to date.”

I did not say anything to that. I did not know what to say. I had to wrap my mind around that. Someone else thought that it was a good idea for me to date someone else. I was not even sure what that meant.

“What does that mean?” Kayla asked. It was as though she had read my thoughts. I wanted to hold her hand to show her that we were united in this front but we did not feel close enough for that so I kept my hands to myself, locking them in my lap underneath the table.

“I’m sure that you guys know the saying, ‘all publicity is good publicity.’” B said. He waited for an answer that never came. He raised his fist to his mouth, clearing his throat before he continued. “Right. Well, this is one of those times. We think that it would be beneficial to both of your careers if you two were to pose as though you were in a relationship.”

Kayla did not miss a beat. “You… want us to pretend that we are dating?”

B cleared his throat again. He looked at Simon but the tour manager did not seem to have anything to offer. I noticed that he was avoiding Kayla’s mother. “Well, look, it would be ideal if you were not pretending.”

I interrupted him. “We already told you that we aren’t dating.”

“And we don’t see each other that way,” Kayla added. I knew that she was as annoyed as I was after that. A glance down showed that she was clenching and unclenching one of her fists in her lap.

“Okay,” B said. “Then yes, the label would like you to pretend that you are dating. It means that your fanbases are likely to merge into one which means more fans for both of you. We can, uh, use it to promote you and increase revenue.”

“Revenue,” I said slowly. It was rhetoric. I knew that that was all we were, ultimately.

Kayla had gathered where the conversation was going as well as I had. I heard her soft intake of breath but I don’t think that anyone else did. Her voice was incredibly calm the next time that she spoke. “What do you want us to do?”

I looked over all the expressions of everyone in front of us. They all seemed to have mingled reactions of relief and approval. I held back a sigh. She had asked the right question as far as everyone else was concerned – with the exception of her mother, who remained generally agitated. There was nothing for it, really.

“It wouldn’t be anything big,” B assured us. “All you really have to do is ensure that you two are seen together more often. Both of you will be scheduled to attend certain events together. It’s really nothing more than a publicity stunt.”

I could tell that he thought that what he was saying would make us feel better. Really, I knew that he was only doing his job, but that did not make me like him any more or less. Honestly, I felt kind of sorry for him. “That is it?” I asked.

“Do we need to tell people that we are together?” Kayla asked.

Simon shook his head. “No, you won’t need to lie to your fans. In fact, we would prefer that you didn’t. We plan on letting the relationship play out naturally. Basically, you two go to events together and pose for pictures and all that jazz. Eventually, depending on how things go, we allow nature to do its thing and it will be like the two of you grew apart.”

There were so many things that I wanted to say but I did not want to get into trouble. My band had been trying to get signed for years. I could not screw that up for us in one sitting. “So, we never tell the fans that we are together and let them assume that we are and they will eventually assume that we broke up or something?”

“Exactly,” Simon said. He nodded, smiling at us. “Who knows, though? You two might find that you enjoy one another’s company more than you think. If not, though, it’s not like you two are going to be on tour together forever.”

“I see,” Kayla said. “All right. I guess that that doesn’t sound too bad. What do you think, Myles?”

I turned to face her. I had a feeling that we were on the same page. What choice did we really have? “Yeah,” I said. “It sounds doable.”

Kayla smiled at me. I had no idea how she was managing to act so natural. I continued breathing, in and out. I reached out and took one of the empty glasses, picking the jug up and pouring myself some water. My appetite had disappeared.

“Excellent,” B said. He seemed oblivious to our discomfort. “That settles that, then. You two are welcome to head back to the other side. Please keep an eye on your phones, though.”

“We want to be able to reach you,” Simon added. “It was a bit worrisome when we struggled to contact you this morning, Myles.”

“I’m sorry, Simon. I’ll definitely take it off of silent. I’ll let the guys know to do the same.”

“Thank you, Myles.”

I felt as though I had been dismissed.

Kayla stood up first; pushing her chair back in before I had moved. “We will see you around.”

“Thank you for coming in,” B said.

Kayla’s mom stood up and I opened the door for her and her daughter to go through ahead of me. I followed them out of the boardroom. None of us said anything. I felt like an intruder preventing Kayla from speaking openly with her mother. I hurried past the receptionist and out onto the sidewalk.

“Are you guys going to take the same car?” I asked. It was still waiting for us outside.

“No. Thank you, Myles,” Kayla’s mother said. “I’ll be driving Kayla back to the hotel.”

“No problem.”

Kayla gave me a small smile as I opened one of the back doors and climbed into the car.