Page 6 of Not My Fault

“The last thing is a little more complicated…” The assistant passes the folder to Viv, and she looks it over before sighing.

“The media has a lot of speculations about you and your romantic life. Especially since you are often seen with differentwomen and have never been in a long-term relationship, according to them.”

“Okay? So you want me to talk about my dating life or something?”

“We want you to find someone to be in a relationship with. Either a real one or one for PR. There are several women we could recommend and set you up with in a mutually beneficial contract, or if there’s someone in your life that you’d be willing to date publicly…” Viv’s eyes fall to Georgie, whose eyes widen, and I step in.

“Absolutely not! I’ve said this time and time again. Georgie is my straight best friend. There’s nothing going on between us, real or otherwise. I will not have her thrown into the spotlight just so it looks good for me.” I shake my head.

“Okay, then are you willing to be set up?”

“I’m too busy to have a real relationship, how would I have time to promote a fake one?”

“Well, we’d be doing that for you. You’d have to make sure to be photographed a few times here and there with the person but otherwise we’d be the ones spinning the narrative.”

“So I’d have a fake girlfriend I don’t even know and I wouldn’t be able to go out and get laid without looking like I’m cheating on said girlfriend?” I realize.

“Well, yes. You’d have to agree to a term of a no cheating clause. Behind closed doors is fine but if you were caught with someone else it would completely destroy the purpose,” they continue.

So I’m not allowed to have a social life anymore? I’m already severely limited on where I can go and when, but now I’m not even allowed to sleep with who I want? Unless they signed some NDA? This is insane. I can feel the rage bubbling up inside me, but before I can say anything, Georgie grabs my hand and squeezes it.

“Do you think we could have some time to look everything over? Surely you don’t want Emily rushing into anything without thinking it through?” Georgie speaks softly, and Viv’s face changes from annoyed to neutral.

“Yes, I suppose that’s fine.” She’s clearly biting back saying more but Georgie has some good points.

“You can leave the paperwork with me, and I’ll make sure we look it over.” Georgie adds.

Viv and her assistants leave without another word, and I sigh in relief. Thank God I have Georgie here to help me fight my battles. I truly don’t know what I’d do without her.

“I know this seems like a lot, and you looked like you were going to scream, so I figured it was best we talked it over ourselves,” Georgie explains.

“Thank you. I just can’t imagine being with someone for events and all that bullshit and not being able to go out and be myself.”

“It’s not preventing you from being yourself, they just want you to show the media you aren’t a wild child corrupting their children. Celebrities all over the place do stuff like this all the time. You can afford a few months without your wild child tendencies,” she says.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Then don’t. You know I always have your back. But I have to say, they might have the right to drop you as a client if you’re not adhering to certain clauses such as morality or fitting the image they expected.”

“I hate it when you get all lawyery on me.” I roll my eyes.

“Hey, I have to put my one semester of law school to good use sometimes.” She laughs. She started law school, stayed one semester, and decided it wasn’t right for her. But her small bouts of legal knowledge do come in handy every once in a while.

“Where would I even find someone to fake date?”

“They did put together a list but after looking it over, I doubt you’d want to see any of them.”

“Who are they?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

“Mostly influencers, a lot of them promoting healthy lifestyles and easy-going lives.”

“I do not want to be connected to an influencer. No fucking way.”

“I know. I’m just saying these are the ones that believe some of the same things you do. It might not hurt to at least meet some of them and see how it goes.” Georgie shrugs.

I stand up from the table and place my now-empty coffee mug into the sink. I reach for some gluten-free waffles and the low-sugar syrup. It doesn’t taste as good as the high sugary, high gluten stuff, but it helps with my PCOS symptoms. When my doctor recommended going gluten free to combat my tiredness, I thought she was nuts. But here I am a year later, having more energy than I’ve ever had in my life and it’s because of the lack of gluten in my diet. I pop the waffles in the toaster and wait for them to brown; I liked them nice and crunchy.

“What if you just met up with them? No one is saying you have to pick them or be with them. But it shows Viv and your label that you’re willing to try and work with them,” Georgie offers.

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