The picture would be perfect if it wasn’t so obvious. It looks completely planned, even when I have tried to scoop a few cars in the frame. When she said she wanted a picture to sell to the media so she could cover the traces of the accident, I didn’t think she’d mean one like that. Where she is kissing him. So obviously. If she had told me this was her initial plan, I would’ve used the bushes, too.

Then again, she keeps doing whatever the hell she wants. 

Why would she kiss him like that? And why does she keep rearranging plans without asking me first? My job is at stake. We were supposed to see her walking back to him, him taking her inside, not this. Not a kiss.

This is too on the nose, isn’t it?

“Trust Billie’s instinct,” Lilah says. “You said it yourself. She wouldn’t kiss him just because.”

“Yeah.”

“Let me tell you something,” my aunt mumbles. “I know something is off, and neither of you are telling me. I’m trusting you here, Amber. Do not let me down.”

Charlie is checking the pictures along with Billie and Matt. We’re all sitting in the car again, hiding from the public eye and from his family for a second.

“I won’t.”

“Now, listen to me. If there is one girl at my office that knows how to deliver this story, this is you. And you’ve got one of the best storytellers on your hands. Send me those pictures and I’ll do my part. But get me something to work with, Amber. I want that social media story that people can eat off our hands.”

I bite my lower lip because I don’t want to tell her that she’s putting too much trust in me. And, when I finally hang up, Billie and Matt are looking at me. 

I know they want answers, but I don’t have them.

“I mean, it was a good kiss,” Billie points out. “The magazines will love it.”

“A heads up on the fact that you two were kissing would’ve been nice,” I talk back, irritated. “I would have done better than this.”

“I don’t want to repeat it, though,” Billie barks. “Once is enough.”

“I’m with Billie,” Charlie adds.

I flinch at her voice, but I try not to show.

“I think we all agree on that note,” Matt blushes again. I bet he’s thinking about the whole ordeal, and how unnecessary that was. I bet he was very uncomfortable, probably still is. “It is a great picture, Amber. Don’t worry.” 

However, even if the picture feels useless, and as weird as it may look, Matt is no longer scared to be around Billie. They smile at each other with a new found secret among them. I roll my eyes and pinch my nose, annoyed by it all.

I’m just very tired.

“I’ll have lunch at Matt’s,” she says. They seem to have talked about it already. “But you two should work on how to fix this up with the rest of our social media plan, right? I’m guessing things might change after that.”

I look up, staring at her. If I could slap her right now, I would. She’s always calling the shots, choosing what to do and when to do it. I’m starting to feel way too tired to stand this. Lilah’s voice is breaking my brains, and I can’t tell if she meant what she said or if she has no other option.

“This wasn’t the plan,” I bark back. “None of this was, Billie.”

“Things don’t always go according to plan,” she shrugs. “Find a way, Cinderella.”

“We’ll be playing music, but we probably shouldn’t mess with your work, girls. I think… We’ve done enough already.” Matt is looking at Charlie, who seems to have quietened down these last few minutes.

I sigh. She’s sitting there, next to them, typing again. Charlie is texting her boss and all I can think about is not wanting to be any closer than this. I don’t want to discuss the biggest love story of the year with her, precisely.

“There’s a bed and breakfast nearby,” she says. “You could send the pictures from there and we could find a way to make this work. See what’s annoying us from the original plan, and come up with a new report in less than a few hours. We might not even have to change much, just the timing and the wording of it all.”

When she looks at me, I know I’m going to say yes. I know this is the way to go, but I’m scared of how bad we could fuck this up. I never wanted this job, but it’s too late to quit, right?

“Okay then,” I cave in.

Billie raises a brow and Matt watches over us. None of them know about our secret meeting, our day in London.

No one can ever know about that.

Two paper cups full of coffee. The room is seaside blue, with little to no furniture. There’s a bed for each of us and a small coffee table that we’re using for our devices. Charlie is sitting there, with her laptop open. I leave one of the cups in front of her, before going back to my spot.

I’ve discovered the only way I can deal with this is if I’m standing up, leaning on the wall. This way, I can’t fall asleep mid sentence.

This way, I don’t have to be so close to her.

Matt’s new songs are playing. We’ve been listening to Billie’s as we uploaded the pictures for Lilah to get them moving. Regarding the pictures we had been taking in London, I guess we are all on the same page about it: they’re worth nothing now.

We need new ones.

“What were we saying?” I ask, after a long sip of coffee.

“We stopped at...” She checks her notes and takes a moment. I find it hilarious that she can’t read her own handwriting for a while. I can’t help but smile as she leans closer onto the notebook. “Shit. Oh, okay. Yeah, we were talking about Matt’s new song, which was our initial idea. Should we keep that? It's good promo.”

“Another love song, yeah.” I shrug. “One about making mistakes and yada, yada, yada.”

So far, none of us has mentioned the fact that Billie Grace keeps ruining our plans by doing something terribly dramatic. I’m frowning as I take another sip, and when I realize I’m running out of coffee, my mood swings.

“God, I’m tired of stupid love songs.”

Charlie raises a brow and looks away, and I can tell she’s hurt by that but I don’t know why. No one is addressing the other elephant in the room either, and I won’t be the one to do it.

“My problem is… Why would Matt confirm the relationship at this point?” I ask, all of a sudden. “Why tell the whole world, anyway? Why would any of them simply admit to it, after everything they’ve done to hide it?”

I can tell that she’s holding back from a comeback or two. But I guess she understands what I’m going for.

Slight roleplay may help us find a way through our new found problem.

“Well, if I was Matt,” she says, starting the picture, “I guess I’ll want everyone to know I’m with her. She’s Billie Grace.”

“Because you want everyone to stay away from her?” My pressed lips don’t help with the delivered question. “I mean, is possession what we’re going for? Are we claiming Billie?”

“That’s not Matt.”

“Thought so.”

“So we’re back at the beginning.” 

Matt’s voice echoes around the room, singing about lost chances and taking it all back. And I’m thinking of Billie’s stubbornness to make me deal with her messes before I have a minute to deal with mine.

“If I was Matt,” I say “I’d want something to hold onto before it all fades.”

Charlie is listening. She has for a while. She is professional and well kept and we have no other choice but to stand each other in this circumstance. We need to find the way out of this labyrinth. 

“A memory,” she sighs.

“Yeah.” I shrug. “I would post those pictures as one gets a tattoo. A bookmark to the story. It’s what we started with the fight at the bar. This impossible love story.” The song keeps playing, as Matt pleads guilty for wanting too much. “I’d want something to go back to once things get tough again, and we know they will. Because people know our secret now, they saw us in London.”

But also because this is all a lie, and they’ll grow tired. Eventually, Matt and Billie will finish their contracts and write songs that people will cry to as they project them on their own stories.

“It makes it look like they’re doomed.”

I nod. “But even if they are, they’re trying, right? That is what our story was about: trying.”

Our eyes meet for the first time in a while. I have nothing else to say, and the silence starts creeping around the room like some kind of malicious goblin.

“What are you thinking about?” she adds, her voice two tones deeper than a few days ago. “For the pictures, then. What do you see? Because this is… different.”

She clears her throat and has some coffee to hide away from me.

“I’m thinking black and white, the sea, figures running. I’m thinking it’s our secret to keep, and we’re sharing just the right amount of it. I’m thinking I’m scared.” I can tell these ideas aren’t completely mine. I know this is something else. This is beyond Billie and Matt, beyond Lilah’s trust in me. “I’m thinking I’m too tired of trying to hold back anymore, and I want this. I want everyone to know, so they can leave me alone. And I want you to remember, too. Even when you’re gone, we had this, too.”

I hope she’s still listening. I really don’t know if I’m making much sense to her whatsoever. When I look at Charlie again, she’s looking out of the window, arms crossed. She looks… deceived?

Regardless, she nods just once.

“It’s not just about the kiss that everyone has seen.” My heart skips a beat. I’m trying not to write nor read between the lines but I can’t help it. “It’s about the promise it implies.”

I shrink against the wall, far too tired to face the implications in her words. I grant her a small smile. I let it widen slowly.

“I knew you were good at this.” I’m trying to joke. “I read some of your fanfics. They’re really good, by the way.”

Charlie blushes and I can’t help but laugh a little bit.

“I can’t stand you.”

“Oh, I know.”