She meets my eye. “Are you ready?”
Vanessa Stone got in touch with Paola to request a meeting in her office. Vanessa’s production company is one of the highest earning in the industry. She could end my career with the blink of an eye. Not only do I have to deal with the stress of impressing her, but I’m nervous not knowing why she wants to meet in the first place.
“As ready as I can be,” I tell her.
Vanessa is waiting for us in a conference room when her assistant guides us in through the glass doors. I’m surprised to see Reynolds there in his business suit and Dave standing awkwardly by the tall glass windows. He spins around when we walk in. Vanessa stands up. She has a short, sleek black bob, a dark gray dress, six-inch heels. Her handshake is firm, and she gestures to the seats opposite her at the table.
I try to swallow down the nerves, sitting opposite Vanessa and Reynolds. My old childhood stage fright isn’t as bad as it usually is. A lot has changed, since I’ve started to learn to stand up for myself and let go of my shame. But it’s still scary, sitting opposite such powerful people in the industry. Dave rejoins us at the table, giving a quick, friendly nod. It’s strange to see him again after over a month, when we’d been working with each other almost every day.
Vanessa begins. “It’s great to see you. I haven’t had a chance to watch the film yet, but I’ve heard it’s expected to be well-received. Are you looking forward to the promo tour?”
I flip through the roles I’m used to playing and snag the confident, up-and-coming movie star. I put on a charming grin. “Yeah, of course. That’s the fun part of the job, right?”
Vanessa chuckles in the back of her throat, lips still tightly pressed together. “We wanted to have a chat with you about our plan. A quick prep to your prep sessions, I suppose you could say.”
I’m reminded of the initial meeting I had with Dave and Reynolds, except this time, Logan and his manager aren’t with us. “Okay,” I say, overly aware of how uncertain my tone sounds.
“Focus on Write Anything is beginning to wane. Good Dog is getting a lot of attention due to Phillip Desmond’s growing popularity.”
“Have to admit, he is pretty attractive,” Dave mutters. “In that basic white boy way.”
“Yes, well,” Vanessa says with a barely disguised annoyance, “audiences have been trained to love basic white boys, so inevitably, the film is starting to gain more attention.”
My heart sinks. It isn’t surprising that there would be more publicity and buzz around a film starring two white men, versus a film starring two Black men, even with me and Logan benefiting from colorism. It’s discouraging, but it’s the sort of racism I knew I would have to deal with in the industry. I decided to make acting my dream anyway. All of that, plus the issues we’ve been having with publicity…I can see how Write Anything won’t stand a chance against its rival.
“We need to make a play to turn attention back to you and our film,” Vanessa continues. “We need you to break up with Logan Gray.”
I sit straighter, fully startled, mouth opening. I don’t catch myself fast enough. “What?”
“We went through different options and ideas with various teams,” Reynolds says. He sounds bored, as usual. “This seemed like the most efficient route. You would’ve had to break up eventually anyway, after the promo tour began.”
“No,” I say.
Everyone’s eyes land on me. Vanessa raises a finely threaded eyebrow.
“No,” I say again. “I can’t.” I look at Paola, whose mild look of panic translates into please, stop talking, but I shake my head. “It might be a shock, but—well, Logan and I are in a real relationship now.”
The silence is stunned, but it’s quickly interrupted by Reynolds’s barking laugh. He thinks I’m joking.
“I thought that was a part of the act,” Dave says. “That message you posted. I thought you were just doubling down on the lie. You’re really dating Logan?”
“More than dating,” I say. “We’re boyfriends.”
Vanessa frowns. “That was an unwise choice,” she says. “We agreed that the relationship was for the purpose of publicity.”
“Technically, that was a verbal agreement,” Paola says for me, always ready to fight. I always love her, but especially now.
“Besides, we can’t help that we began to—well, start to have real feelings,” I tell them.
Vanessa doesn’t like me pushing back. “You need to publicly end this relationship with a social media post to your followers. The post has already been written. The draft will be shared with you tonight.”
“I’m not doing it.”
“Mattie,” Paola whispers.
“You’ll essentially say that you’ve discovered Logan Gray is more harmful than you’ve expected. You’ve grown tired of the negativity that follows him.”
“I refuse.”
“Matt,” Paola says, more firmly this time. “You could break up with him publicly and continue the relationship privately.”
“That isn’t an option,” Vanessa tells her. “We can’t have paparazzi snapping photos of them together and blasting the news that they were lying about the breakup on top of everything else.”
“This is ridiculous,” I tell them. “You can’t control my love life.” I might have a dream of being successful in this industry, but I’m not willing to give up myself and what I want for anyone.
“We kind of already did, kid,” Dave says, leaning forward, but I’m sick of this role he’s been playing, too—pretending to be this fatherly mentor figure who gives a shit. He doesn’t. He’s been hired by Vanessa. He only cares about the film. “You already agreed to play along for the sake of the movie. Don’t back out on us now.”
I shake my head. “Logan deserves more than that. I care about him. I’m not going to toss him and our relationship away for a publicity stunt.”
“Communication has already been sent to Logan,” Vanessa says.
My heart drops. Is this why he’s been ignoring my texts? Has he already agreed to this without even talking to me about it?
“He knows what to expect,” Vanessa says. “You need to be the one to publicly end this relationship by the end of tonight.”
“No. I’m serious,” I say, cutting Paola off when she tries to say my name again. “I won’t do it.”
I stand up. I’m trembling, but I do a good job of hiding it as I turn away from the table without another word. Paola catches up with me in the hall.
“Are you sure about this?” she says, her voice lowering. I can hear raised voices echoing behind us. “Vanessa is not going to be happy.”