Chapter Text
“Ariel!! I’ve got a good one for you!!” Ariel’s manager came barging into the actress’ condo.
“This better be good, Maya, I was just about to start binging some good TV,” Ariel put down her TV remote and got up from her couch to properly face her manager. She tried to put up a serious front, but she knew the girl in front of her wouldn’t bat an eye.
“Please, I’ve known you long enough that you probably haven’t even chosen what to watch yet,” Maya rolled her eyes and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She opened up to her emails, picked a specific one and turned her phone over to Ariel. “Go ahead, read the email and tell me how great of a best friend slash manager I am,” Maya puffed her chest out and put a proud hand on her hip. There was nothing that could wipe the cheeky smile off her face.
Ariel walked over to get a closer look, she leaned over and as she kept reading, her eyes widened. “You got me a photoshoot with the Cameron Vergara!?” Ariel’s jaw dropped. “Maya, how did you–”
“No no, keep reading,” Maya’s smile managed to get bigger, anticipating what was about to come next.
“Her music video!? I’m going to act in her music video!?” Ariel was almost jumping up and down at this point. “Maya, she’s the biggest music act right now,” She tried to calm herself down. “How did we manage to pull this off?”
“Because I am the greatest manager ever,” She smiled as she pocketed her phone away. “Plus, you do happen to be one of the biggest models in the Philippines right now. Not to mention that you recently announced your intentions to try your hand at acting.”
“Thank you, Maya,” Ariel gave her friend a tight hug.
“You’ll just have to play Cameron Vergara’s love interest in the music video, it’ll be easy!!” Maya said as quickly as she could.
“I have to what!?”
—
Ariel doesn’t really know how she got where she was. After Maya had told her that she was going to get the chance to do a photoshoot with the Cameron Vergara and star in her music video, she was ecstatic. It was a great opportunity and Ariel wasn’t shy to admit that a few of Cameron Vergara’s songs had made it into her playlists. (She had her most recent album on repeat just about a month ago). She couldn’t think of a better chance lining up for her. She wanted to do more than just model and she was enough of a fan of Cameron Vergara’s to look forward to this opportunity.
Being Cameron Vergara’s love interest, however, was something she was not prepared for and it was definitely something that she didn’t feel ready for. It was her first acting gig and the pressure was making a home on her shoulders. Ariel was sure that having to act as a love interest would make things even harder. She hadn’t heard much more details from Maya but she really hoped that this would be as easy as it could be all things considered.
“Ariel, okay ka ba?” Maya’s soft voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she turned to her manager who was sitting next to her in the meeting room. Ariel had to remind herself that she and Maya were invited to Cameron Vergara’s music label to meet with the artist and her team. They were going to discuss the details of their collaboration and the script of the music video.
Before Ariel could give Maya a proper response, the door to the meeting room opened. Cameron Vergara and another girl who Ariel assumed was her manager walked in. Maya and Ariel immediately stood up. “Hi!!” Ariel tried to give the warmest smile she could and put her hand out, ready to introduce herself. Maya followed suit, “Hi, I’m Maya, Ariel’s manager.” She shook hands with Cameron Vergara and then with the other girl.
“I’m Sal, Cameron’s manager,” Sal returned both of their smiles with the same amount of energy. Ariel was starting to feel reassured until she went to speak to Cameron. The musician was in a baggy muscle tank and a pair of just as baggy shorts. Her face was half-covered with a baseball cap (but Ariel could still tell that the girl was very pretty).
“Cameron Vergara in the flesh, I’m a huge fan!!” Ariel smiled brightly at Cameron only to be met with an awkward half-smile from the other girl.
“Just Cameron is fine,” The awkwardness was oozing out of the musician’s voice as she sat down.
Ariel felt herself getting a bit fazed as she took the note and took her seat as well. She hoped to herself that Cameron was just extremely awkward and not the I-don’t-want-to-be-here type. (She was trying to imagine how the beautiful voice she heard singing on her albums managed to come out of the very awkward and uninterested girl across from her).
“Well,” Sal broke the silence and Ariel was very grateful that Sal seemed to be more on her and Maya’s wavelength. “Before we get started, we just wanted to express our gratitude that Maya reached out on your behalf for this collaboration,” She started pulling out a file of her huge purse. “You are one of the biggest celebrities right now, Ariel, and we were excited when we heard you wanted to start your acting career in Cam’s music video.”
“It’s my pleasure. If anything, I should be expressing my thanks to you and your team,” Ariel tried to quickly glance at Cameron’s reaction only to see that the girl remained cold and unreadable. It was beginning to put a sour feeling in Ariel’s stomach and she began to wonder if Cameron cared about the music video at all. She can only imagine how the photoshoot might go. Ariel tried to comfort herself, repeating in her mind that the worst thing could happen was an awkward few days and the gig would end.
“The photo shoot will be happening the day after tomorrow, correct?” Maya snapped Ariel out of thoughts again. She tried to keep her surprise hidden when she learned that the photoshoot was going to happen so soon.
“Yes, I have concept photos here from the photographer,” Sal passed around some papers from the file she brought out earlier. “She’s got this certain image in mind. It’s inspired by Cam’s most recent album and upcoming single.”
Ariel took a look at the photos and felt her cheeks getting warm. In each photo, the subjects were incredibly close to each other. The expressions in their eyes were intense and filled with what Ariel could only label as longing. It looked heartwrenching and it wasn’t like Ariel hadn’t done something like this before. Ariel was sure she could do it, but as she stole another glance at Cameron who was just as stoic as earlier, she felt unsure.
Her and Maya took some more time to sift through the inspiration photos. She analyzed the way the models held each other close. She wondered how Cameron would feel being so close to her. The pictures were filled with almost-kisses, distant expressions and embraces that felt like questions.
Ariel cleared her throat and tried to speak just so she wouldn’t seem so silent. “The album is about longing, right?” She tried to sound nonchalant as if she didn’t have the entirety of the album memorized. “About wanting to love?” She glanced back up at Sal and Cameron to confirm her question before looking back at the photos. “These inspiration photos seem to show people dancing in between answers.” She said off-handedly.
“Yes!!” Sal sounded ecstatic that Ariel already knew some background information. “According to the photographer, the photoshoot will carry a more intense vibe. It’ll be like two people dancing on the lines between lovers and friends, those were the photographer’s exact words. ”
“Who’s the photographer?” Maya asked out of curiosity.
“It’s Miles Lim, but she told us that her friend Gemma Apuli will be there to take charge with her.”
Both Ariel and Maya lit up, “Those two are good friends of ours, this is great.” Maya smiled. “We were all friends back when we were in university.” Ariel could feel the pressure on her shoulders lighten ever so slightly.
“What a small world. What are the chances?” Sal seemed shocked and happy to hear the newfound information. “Regardless, this will be good for all of us. Cam became acquainted with them last year and since then, we try do all of our media shoots with them. Cam isn’t great in front of a camera but those two are some of the few people who can get her function.” Sal laughed as she teased her musician.
Ariel watched Cameron shoot Sal a glare under her baseball cap before mumbling “I’m not that bad.”
“Sorry in advance, ha? Especially you Ariel,” Sal started laughing and Ariel’s eyes widened in shock at the mention of her name. “Cam is super awkward and isn’t really great at carrying herself when the camera is on. We’ll be relying on your expertise.”
Cameron looked like she wanted to hide underneath the table and Ariel could only smile warmly at her. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’re great, Cameron.” She tried to not let it get to her when Cameron refused to look at her and instead at her own lap.
“If anything, I’m always happy to help throughout the photoshoot as well.” Ariel waved it off. “I’m excited to hear more about the music video as well.”
“Oh yes!!” Sal went back into her file at the mention of the music video. “These are the scripts, there will be a few scenes to act out and you know that you will be Cam’s love interest in the video, right?”
Ariel hoped that the warmth in her cheeks didn’t mean she was blushing. (It totally did). “Yes, Maya let me know a few days ago,” She tried to sound as normal as possible.
“It’ll be for her recently teased single Say, we can play the clip for you if you’d like–”
“The one about the almost-relationship situationship?” Ariel blurted out before thinking, only realizing that was totally exposing herself when Maya gave her a subtle, yet teasing smile.
“Wow, Ariel, I knew you listened to Cameron’s music but I didn’t know you were this big of a fan,” Maya nudged her and Ariel felt her face burning.
“Oh haha, well the teaser snippet did go viral, it was hard not to listen to it,” She deseparately tried to wave it off. She hoped that Maya got the signal not to tease her too much after this meeting. “Anyway, it sounds like a great song and I’m excited to see the route we’ll be going down for the music video.”
Ariel tried to ignore the way she felt Cameron steal a glance at her.
“I’m glad you know the vibe of the song already because it’ll be a similar vibe for the music video.” Sal opened up her copy of the script, signaling for the rest of them to follow suit. “You and Cam, just like the photoshoot, will have to get pretty up-close and personal. The two of you will be acting a situationship, diba? You know, the whole “I want you, I don’t want you, what are we? Can we have this?” type of vibe.”
Ariel couldn’t help but glance at Cameron again. This time, however, they managed to lock eyes and before Ariel could even register the familiar warmth on her cheeks, Sal spoke up.
“At the climax of the song, the two of you will have a kiss scene.”
“What!?” Both Ariel and Cameron shot a look at Sal and neither could hold in their shock. Ariel ignored the way Maya was trying her best to hold in her laughter.
“I can’t kiss her.” Cameron said very firmly as she gestured to Ariel. If Ariel wasn’t so insulted, she would’ve been impressed at how assertive someone so awkward could be. “It won’t go well.”
“Me?” Ariel couldn’t hide her scoff. She really hoped that she was just mishearing things. There was no way what Cameron was saying could come off nicely. “I can assure you that kissing me won’t be that bad.” She put a defensive hand on her chest, feeling offended. She once again ignored how Maya tried to hold in her laughter.
“Cam!!” Sal flicked Cameron’s forehead. “If you’re nervous about kissing someone in front of a camera, don’t phrase it like that.” She scolded Cameron as she shot the awkward girl a glare. Ariel watched as Cam slouched back into her seat like a kicked puppy.
“Sorry again, Ariel,” Sal turned to her, an apologetic look on her face. “Cam isn’t great with phrasing her words sometimes. I promise she’s actually quite nice.” She turned her head to glare at Cameron once more. “Cam just doesn’t know how to act in front of pretty girls. Right, Cam?” The attempt at payback was both obvious and effective.
(Maybe Ariel would have found it funny if she wasn’t still reeling from offense).
“Ugh,” Cameron buried her hands into her face. Ariel watched the girl sigh into her hands and her shoulder slump before trying to sit back up. “When is the music video shoot?” The dread in Cameron’s voice was obvious.
“The day after the photoshoot. Those photos will serve as teasers for the music video and the single as a whole.” Sal said, unbothered by Cameron’s negativity.
Ariel cleared her throat and ignored the voice in her head that told her not to be snarky. “You must be happy to hear that it’ll be over so soon, Cameron.” She shot the girl a bright smile, trying her best to underlie it with slight annoyance.
When they locked eyes, Cameron could barely muster anything more than an awkward nod and lame excuse for a polite smile.
Ariel felt Maya kick her under the table. She knew her manager was telling her to play nice.
Sal and Maya glanced at their two artists then shared an agreeing look with each other. They had read the room and knew it was time to wrap up.
“If you two have any questions about the script, please feel free to reach out to us. I’ll give you my business card and Cam will share her number with the both of you just in case anything happens.” Sal put a hand on Cameron’s shoulder. Ariel observed the way Cameron stiffened and figured Sal was putting her foot down as her manager.
Cameron stayed silent. (Ariel did her best not to roll her eyes).
“This is all very exciting, we’re very excited.” Ariel heard Maya speak, her manager putting an arm around her shoulder. It was definitely a warning. Ariel straightened her posture and cleared her throat.
“Yes, very exciting. I’m looking forward to the photoshoot.” Ariel smiled, genuinely this time, because she couldn’t deny that she did love a good photoshoot. She tried to remain positive. It was a great opportunity!! She could start acting and the photographers for the photoshoot were good friends of hers. Everything was going to smoothly and Cameron wasn’t going to make this difficult and she could prove that kissing her wouldn’t be so bad and–
“I’ll see you soon, Ariel,” Cameron finally waved at her as Maya gestured for her to stand up and start heading out.
Ariel saw the small smile on Cameron’s lips and felt a little dumbfounded. She absent-mindedly waved back and mustered a “Yeah, I’ll see you soon, Cam,” not realizing she used her nickname. (She didn’t see the sudden blush creep up on Cameron’s cheeks either).
When Ariel and Maya walked out of the building and towards Maya’s car, the two of them remained silent. The former hoped that it would stay like that for the next little while, but she should have known better.
The moment the both of them sat in Maya’s car, Ariel didn’t even have to look at her manager to see the teasing smile she was giving her.
“So? You told Cameron Vergara that kissing you wouldn’t be that bad?”
“Ugh!”
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