“Maybe not,” Charles admits, “but I do believe this will change the course of both your careers in a very positive way.”
“We didn’t need this, though,” Harmony argues. “I’ve been selling records, haven’t I? Riff’s popularity was growing before we started writing songs about each other.”
I cringe a little at her calling me “Riff,” but it’s not like we’re friendly enough for her not to.
“And our public feud has been getting tons of attention,” she adds. “Even our old albums have been selling better. Isn’t that enough?”
“It’s paper on the bonfire,” Charles says. “Harmony, you’ve started to wear out your audience with all that romantic scorn. I’ve had your team looking into it and the metrics aren’t good. It was a nice gimmick for awhile—”
Harmony cuts in, “It’s not a gimmick.”
“—but interest is waning. I’ll admit, this feud has somewhat refreshed the trope, which is why I’ve allowed it, but it’s only a matter of time before that burns out too. We need something more sustainable.”
“How is one duet more sustainable?” I ask. “We had the tension of an ongoing battle. Now you’ve resolved that by having us show up like we’re getting along—no more of that drama that the fans love so much. What fun is that for them? What incentive do they have to keep paying attention to us?”
Charles laughs more heartily now as he swallows another mouthful of whiskey. “You think the idea was to have you two ‘get along’?” He shakes his head, smiling. “This is just a start, Griffin, Harmony. The idea isn’t to show that you’ve stopped fighting; it’s to make the public think you’reromantically involved.”
Harmony and I exchange a horrified glance and say “What?” in unison.
Braden grips one of my shoulders. “Look, man. Deny it all you want, but you two have chemistry. I thought the idea was pretty mid when I first heard it, but Stefanie made a good point: People are really into these kinds of stories.”
“Whatkinds of stories?” Harmony demands of her manager.
“Hate to love,” Stefanie replies. From her purse, she withdraws a brightly colored book with two illustrated characters on the cover, male and female, glaring at each otherin front of a bakery. “It’s huge right now. Even made-for-TV movies are making a killing on it. You two can bring that kind of story to life. Everyone already knows you both and loves you. They know there was something good between you once and they’ve watched you fight over the fallout. Now let them see you falling in love.”
I shrug off Braden. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding.”
“For once we agree,” says Harmony.
“People are going to figure it out,” I say.
Stefanie shakes her head. “Even if they suspect it’s a lie, they’ll tell themselves it’s not. Just look at how obsessed people are with ‘reality’ TV. There have been tons of exposés on how scripted and staged and manipulated those shows are—but nobody cares. They want to believe it, so they do. And they’ll believe this too.”
I scoff. “We’re musicians, not actors.”
“Well, you seem to be pretty familiar with playing a part,” Harmony mutters.
Yeah, I think,a part I’ve been forced to play by anyone who’s ever agreed to produce my music.Maybe now she’ll get a taste of what that’s like and she’ll see it’s not as easy as just ‘being yourself.’
“It’s just for a few months,” Stefanie says in her best soothing tone. “Long enough for both your upcoming albums to release, along with a special EP.”
Harmony scowls. “An EP? With what tracks?”
“To begin with,” Charles replies, “all the songs you’ve been writing to each other since the FANTASIE release party. Plus a few more.”
In a choked voice, Harmony guesses, “The duet …”
Why that idea has her looking sick to her stomach is beyond me. I mean, sure, it was more intimate than I would have liked, but we’d only have to record it once, and we might even beable to persuade the producers to let us lay down our vocals separately from each other.
Stefanie nods. “That, and we’ve also planned for some … segue tracks. Songs that detail the transition from hate to love. Basically we want to show the public the whole process—a sort of progressive playlist so that listeners can follow along on the journey. Ahate-to-loveplaylist, if you will. That way it’ll be immersive, like a book.” She holds up her rom-com book again.
“Absolutely not.” Harmony snatches the book and flings it across the rug. “I’m not doing it.”
“Me neither,” I say.
“Actually, you are,” Charles tells us. “You both signed a contract with Glambam Records, and we own your careers. Everything you do, everything you say, we have a right to question and redirect, because it affects our public image and our bottom line.”
I shake my head. “Legally, you can’t force us to fake a relationship. That has to go beyond the scope of our contracts.”
