Chapter Text
"What a tiring day!" Lori said as she plopped down in the styling chair, with her phone tightly grasped in her hand.
"You did great!" Charlotte, her personal stylist and best friend said, reassuringly.
"I think I messed up the photoshoot, though," Lori said, biting the tip of her nail nervously.
"No matter how much you messed up, no photoshoot can ever be as bad as the Elle one."
"That's reassuring?" Lori said, unsure if it was a compliment or insult.
"Lori!" A shrill, annoyed voice called out, storming into the room.
Lori let out a shaky breath, already knowing what this was about.
"What is this I hear about you not going to the award show today?!"
"I wouldn't know, you heard it not me," Lori retorted.
"Don't give me attitude, missy!"
"It's not-"
"You're going. End of discussion."
"Yes, Mrs. O' Donnell."
Satisfied with the answer, Mrs. O' Donnell turned on her heels, dialling a number on her phone and walking out the door.
"I will never understand why you call her that," Charlotte said, shaking her head while applying some mousse on Lori's hair.
"Because she's my manager and she's older than me." Lori answered, scrolling through her notifications.
"She's also your mother."
"She hasn't been that for a long time, Char."
~~~
"Well?" Calum asked, sitting up when he saw Luke descending the staircase.
"Well what?" Luke asked, baffled.
"Well did you convince him?"m
"I'm not going in there!" Luke immediately protested.
"Why the hell not?"
"Are you crazy?!" Luke scoffed, "I don't want to know what happens in there."
"Just go!" Michael said, coming out of the kitchen with a bottle of water in his hands.
"Why me?!" Luke whined.
"You're the youngest." Michael said simply.
"But...but..." Luke said, stomping his feet like a child.
"Just go do it," Michael said, rolling his eyes.
Just as Luke turned around, he heard the click clack of high heels on the wooden stairs.
Calum didn't even look up from his phone as he said, "The door is straight through the hallway. Close it all the way."
The girl looked sheepish, keeping her head down as she tried her level best to leave quietly.
"That's like 3 girls this week!" Luke said, his mouth still on the floor.
"Are you counting the two girls he brought on Monday individually or as one?" Calum asked, focus still on his phone.
"Oh right the two blondes," Michael said, snapping his fingers when he recalled.
"Guys!" Luke announced, making the two boys look at him, "Am I the only one who thinks this is a problem?"
"Pretty much, yeah," He heard from behind him. Luke turned around to see Ashton shirtless with jeans on, a shirt in his hand.
"Why aren't you ready?" Calum asked from the couch.
"Ready for what?" Ashton asked, putting on a shirt.
"The award show!" Luke answered, frustrated, "We have to leave in 10 minutes!"
"Don't get your panties in a knot," Ashton said, rolling his eyes, "I'll get ready now."
"What the he-" Luke started to say but Michael stepped on his foot and shook his head - telling him that he shouldn't.
"I'll be down in 5 minutes." Ashton said, oblivious to the tense atmosphere.
"We need to do something about this!" Luke told the other two boys after Ashton went to change.
"What do you expect us to do?" Calum asked, still not looking up from his phone, "We can't tell him not to slut it up now can we."
"He can't go around doing this! It's going to give us a bad reputation." Luke said, trying not to run his fingers through his freshly styled hair.
"We don't have a reputation," Michael corrected him, "Ashton does."
"And Ashton is a part of the band!" Luke told him, "Our band."
"He's never going to change, Luke," Calum said, finally looking up from his phone, "Especially not after what happened."
"He said she didn't matter."
"He lied."
~~~
"Do I have to do this?" Lori sighed, a heavy feeling in her stomach. She looked out the window and saw the growing crowd screaming their heads off while celebrities walked the long carpet. She could see the flashes of the camera's reflecting from the car window.
"It's part of the job." Her manager said, not even looking up at her.
"Mrs. O' Donnell, I think I can skip one award show, don't you?" She tried to get out of it.
Her manager sighed, visibly frustrated, "Look, just go out there, smile prettily and walk. It's not that hard."
"You've never been on one of these! You don't kn-" Lori started to say, but got cut off.
"Just go!" She shouted at the younger girl.
Lori flinched. She sighed after realising what had happened. She gave the chauffeur the cue and strapped on her gold high heels that she knew would give her three new blisters at the end of the carpet and braced herself for the lights and the screams. As much as she knew she was blessed with this amazing opportunity she called a job, this part is what she hated the most - Being treated like a zoo animal, being poked and prodded at and having her life plastered everywhere.
The second the car door opened, she heard her name screamed and people shoving pens, books and phones at her, begging for a picture or autograph. She smiled politely and stopped to take a few selfies and sign a couple of books. She already knew that these people didn't care for her - They just wanted a little taste of what it was to be near someone famous. Sure, some of them genuinely liked her, but she never knew if it was for her personality, or for the fact that she was famous.
She walked the carpet and smiled like she always did. While she was posing for the paparazzi and the photographers, she saw a long line of interviewers; some were with other celebrities and some were anxiously awaiting to see if she would stop for them. She took a deep breath, flashed one last pretty smile and walked cautiously but confidently, just like she was taught.
"Lori! Lori! Over here!" She heard screamed at her from people all around her.
She walked up to an interviewer while rehearsing what she was supposed to say in her head.
"I'm here with the ever gorgeous Lori O' Donnell who was nominated for Best Actress!"
"Hello!" Lori said with a toothy smile, gripping her black and gold clutch in between her hands, a source of comfort.
"First of all," The interviewer said, looking at her with admiration in her eyes, "You look absolutely gorgeous."
"Thank you so much."
"Who are you wearing?" She asked.
"It's a custom made Elie Saab," Lori answered looking down at her body hugging embroidered blue gown.
"I am so jealous of you!" The interviewer said.
"Don't be," She told her honestly, "You're beautiful."
"You just became my favourite person!" The interviewer said, "Speaking of favourite people... Who is your date for tonight?"
"You." Lori said with a wink and put an arm around the interviewer.
The interviewer laughed and then asked, "How does it feel to be nominated tonight?"
"Absolutely surreal." Lori said, "I'm so honoured to even be here, being nominated is just...I still can't believe it. I feel like I'm going to wake up and all of this would have just been an amazing dream."
"How do you feel about your chances of winning?"
"I'm in a category where there are so many talented people like Emma Watson and Lilly Collins," Lori said and then laughed, "The nomination is more than enough for me."
"Well, if I could place a bet, it would be on you." The interviewer said.
Lori laughed and gave her a hug, "Thank you so much."
She continued down the line giving three or four more interviews, all of which asked the same questions - Who are you wearing? Who is your date? How does it feel to be nominated?
Lori whipped out her phone as soon as she was away from all of the bright lights and loud noises at the end of the carpet that was only open to a couple of photographers and the celebrities that were invited to the award show. She started texting Charlotte, not looking while she was walking. She tripped over a wire and instinctively grabbed onto the person's arm in front of her while looking at her feet. She felt a hand reach out and grab her hip pulling her back onto her feet.
She looked up and pushed her hair back, hand still on the arm of the person.
"I am so so sorr-" She started to apologise but got cut off.
"Would you watch where you're walking?!" The rude man said, still grabbing onto her.
"Excuse me?" Lori said, cocking her eyebrow in disbelief.
"Are you deaf as well as blind?"
"Listen, asshole-" Lori started.
"Ashton." He corrected.
"What?"
"My name is Ashton, not asshole." He said with an arrogant smirk that Lori wanted to slap off his face.
"Listen, asshole," Lori scoffed, "You-"
"You might want to say that with a smile, love," Ashton told her.
"Can you let me finish my damn sentence!" Lori said, agitated.
"You do realise that there are photographers and people constantly watching us, don't you, love?"
Lori plastered a fake smile on her face, "Are you going to keep holding onto me, asshole?"
"What?" Ashton asked, looking down at his hand that was wrapped around her hip.
"You can let go now," She informed him, laughing emptily for show.
"And what if I don't want to?" He flirted.
"That very same hand would be broken off and shoved so deep into your-" Lori said with a sickly sweet smile but Ashton quickly retracted his hand and coughed to stop her from talking.
~~~
By the time the door opened signalling that the award show was finished, Lori was walking out of those grand mahogany doors with her mouth agape and a surprisingly heavy award in her hand. She still couldn't believe that she had won, all through the post interviews and the walk to her limo, she was shell-shocked.
"Congratulations Lori!" Charlotte said, handing her a glass of champagne.
"This isn't a dream..." Lori said to no one in particular, "If it is, please don't wake me up."
"It's not a dream!" Charlotte said, laughing at how cute her friend was acting.
"Holy shit I won!" Lori screamed, jumping around in the car, "I can't believe I won!"
"I knew you would." Charlotte said, matching her excitement.
"Holy shit, Charlotte!"
"Are you ready to change?" Charlotte asked.
"For what?"
"The afterparty!"
"That's not compulsory is it?" Lori asked, whining.
"I'm sure Mrs. O' Donnell won't mind now that you have an award in your hand."
"Let's go have our own party." Lori said, clutching the award in her hand so tightly that it dug into her skin, but she didn't mind.
~~~
Lori knocked the door cautiously, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves before entering.
"You!" Lori accused with a scowl while pointing a finger at him.
"What is she doing here?" Ashton asked his manager, pointing a finger at her.
"I'm right here, asshole!" Lori scoffed.
"Lori!" Her mother cum manager said, chastising her.
"Take a seat, Miss O' Donnell." Ashton's manager said, pointing to the chair in front of him and next to Ashton.
"What is this about?" Lori asked, walking to the seat and setting her handbag down beside her. She moved her chair as far away from Ashton as possible.
"A few pictures have surfaced recently-"
"We didn't do anything together," Ashton said immediately, "She's not my type anyway."
"Like I would lower my standards that much," Lori retorted with a scoff.
"As I was saying." Ashton's manager said loudly, to shut the two celebrities up, "A few pictures of both of you at the award show have surfaced recently and it has garnered a lot of attention."
"What pictures?" Lori asked, slightly scared to hear the answer herself.
Mrs. O' Donnell pulled out a few pictures from her briefcase and laid them out on the table. There were pictures where if the context of the scenario wasn't known, it could be incredibly misleading.
"We...We look-" Lori stammered.
"Like a couple." Ashton finished, as if all the breath had been knocked out of him.
Ashton's hands were on her hips and she was smiling up at him like he was the moon lighting up the whole night sky. There was another picture where Ashton was leaning down as if he was about to kiss her, when in reality all he was doing was teasing her.
"This is exactly what we want to capitalise on," Ashton's manager said, pushing up his glasses with his index finger.
"Excuse me?" Lori said, taken aback.
"It will be beneficial to you both," Lori's manager said, "You just won an award and you need as much publicity as possible for your next movie."
"And Ashton," His manager told him, "You're gaining quite the reputation as being a womanizer who doesn't respect women for anything but sex."
"How is that helpful to me?!" Lori said, trying to get out of doing this.
"You would be the sweetheart who tamed the..." Mrs. O' Donnell said trying to find the right word.
"Douchebag is the word you're looking for," Lori scoffed.
A tension filled silence descended on the room. No one knew what to say.
"I'm not doing this." Ashton declared.
"For once I agree with something he says," Lori backed him up.
"This is happening whether or not you like it." Mrs O' Donnell said with a finality.
"But-"
"No Lori!" She said, cutting her words off, "This will be good for you. For both of you."
"It's not like I have a choice in anything anyway," Lori muttered to herself, crossing her hands over her chest.
"Guess this is happening," Ashton said to no one in particular.
"Great to see you guys on board!" Ashton's manager said cheerily.
"What do we have to do?" Ashton sighed.
"These are the contracts," Ashton's manager said, taking out two separate thick documents and setting them in front of Ashton and Lori respectively.
"Shouldn't we have lawyers here?" Lori asked.
"No." Both the managers immediately said.
"This only people who know about this fake relationship are in this room right now. No one else under any circumstance should know." Mrs. O' Donnell said.
"So what does this contract say?" Ashton asked, "I'm not going to read it and you guys know it."
"It just details some rules, that's all."
"What kind of rules?" Lori asked.
"That you will make your first public appearance at the next award show and the privacy clause that I just told you about."
"That's in 2 weeks!" Ashton exclaimed.
"You will also tease your relationship in the coming interviews," Ashton's manger told them.
"How am I supposed to get away with that? The boys know of all my..." He said, trying to find an appropriate term for it
"Sexual escapades." Lori finished.
"Finishing each other's sentences already," Mrs O' Donnell said with a smirk, "This might just work."
"This thick contract can't just have two rules in them," Lori said suspiciously, ignoring her comment.
"It also states that in a month or so, you two will move in together."
"What?!" The two celebrities exclaimed,
"Just how far do you plan to take this sham?!" Lori screamed.
"When will we break up?" Ashton asked.
"It depends." Ashton's manager told him honestly.
"On what?!"
"How well you sell it." Mrs O Donnell said simply.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lori asked.
"The more people buy into the story, the faster we can get it over with," Ashton told her, "Isn't that right?"
"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Lori asked.
"No you dumbass!" Ashton scoffed, "The more people love us as a couple, the more we can play it out."
"What kind of shit sense is that?"
"We can play the break up out!" Ashton spelled it out for her.
"It worked for Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt and Taylor Swift and literally all of her relationships," Ashton's manager said, "The more you sell it, the faster you're out."
"This is not how I imagined my love life turning out," Lori commented.
"Did you imagine yourself as a crazy cat lady or a crazy dog lady?" Ashton said, looking at her with a cocked eyebrow.
"Did you imagine yourself with a disability to form a healthy relationship?" Lori retorted, "Cause it's really working for you."
"Just sign the damn contract," Ashton said, rolling his eyes.
"Aww babe! How romantic!" Lori scoffed, taking the pen from in front of her and signing the contract.
"I'll email you guys the full rules by tonight." Ashton's manager said. "You officially start dating tomorrow."
"One last day of freedom, better enjoy it while it lasts." Ashton mumbled.
"More meaningless sex?" Lori said, rolling her eyes.
"I get more in a day than you've gotten in years, love," Ashton said, "Maybe if you got some you wouldn't be so uptight."
"Maybe if you kept it in your pants, you wouldn't be here." Lori retorted, getting up and walking out of the room.
Ashton scoffed and followed suit.
"This should be eventful." Ashton's manager told Mrs. O' Donnell.
"You're telling me."