a/n: This is my first attempt at a romantic comedy. I'm writing this on a whim, so if its not perfect, bear with me. Familiar characters will be popping up here and there but mostly its about Richonne.
Public relations manager of country music's latest rising star Rick Grimes sits down before the singer. The red headed male tosses the front cover of a tabloid on his desk. "Read that, read that headline for me." Abraham says to his confused talent.
Rick picks up the magazine and reads it out loud. "Country boy Rick Grimes finds himself a leading lady."
"Are you two dating?" Abraham awaits the singer's answer with dollar signs in his eyes, but then decides he doesn't need the answer. "No, it doesn't matter, you two are gonna start dating."
"I don't even know her." The singer admits.
Abraham points down at the tabloid. "According to this you know her. Your album sales have gone through the roof since this hit the shelves. I don't know if its a bunch of her fans wanting to get to know who you are, but a relationship between the two of you will be a goldmine."
"I meet her at an after party in Los Angeles, and she thought I was the waiter."
"But you're not a waiter, you're country music's latest heartthrob."
"This doesn't feel right, using a woman to climb the latter of success."
"I've already spoken with her publicist Sasha Williams, who's having a similar conversation with your little starlet as we speak. Nobody's getting used. Not when the both of you are in on this business arrangement."
"I thought he was the waiter." The actress says to her publicist upon entertaining this strange conversation. Arranged relationships, weren't uncommon in the industry, but she never thought she'd be a part of one.
"Michonne-"
"I'm not dating a man just to gain popularity, I have enough of it already." As an actress, Michonne lived an imaginary life whenever she'd step on set. She wasn't about to have the falseness of her job, weave in with the realities of her life.
"Michonne, for him it's to gain a broader fan base, but for you, its to give you a different image to the public. You're very intimidating. Rick Grimes is a sensitive and passionate man, being with him will soften you up, take away some of that hard edge."
"Sasha I don't date...besides he got my drink wrong."
"I know you still miss Mike, and you went through a lot while grieving for him, but at some point you'll have to move on, its been three years."
Michonne didn't care about moving on, and even if she did it wouldn't be to a fake relationship. Sasha sees Michonne becoming visibly uncomfortable with the topic of her ex's untimely passing, so she quickly switches back to her business state of mind, reasoning with her client.
"No one says you have to fall in love with the man, but you are an actor. Think of this as another job. Your dating life is a hot topic right now, especially with award season coming up. People want to know if you'll show up with anyone. So, let's exploit the media as much as it likes to exploit you."
Sasha sighs as Michonne looks mildly disgusted by the entire prospect.
Rick is shaking his head. "I don't feel right about dating her, whether it's real or not."
Abraham is slightly alarmed by hearing this, and can only come to one solid conclusion. He leans into Rick and looks both ways, as if the two weren't talking within the privacy of his office. "Is it because she's black?"
"What... of course not!"
"Come on Rick you've got to tell me these things. I have to get word to Sasha on whether you're in this or not."
"I only divorced Lori two years ago, I don't think I'm ready to date another woman...but also... won't this relationship intimidate some of my more closed minded fans?"
"We've already got their money. We need other people's money now. We can loose a few racists, fuck em. Their ways of thinking are primitive and we need to head into the future, interracial dating is beautiful. You can trust me Rick, trust my decisions."
"You're working real hard for your ten percent right now."
"No, I don't have a problem dating a white boy from the deep south." Michonne says.
Sasha leans back in her seat, as Michonne gauges Sasha's reaction then clarifies her intent.
"I'm not being sarcastic, I really don't have a problem with it. Well, unless he makes it a problem."
"You see that? I couldn't tell if you were joking or not. That's the intimidating edge I was talking about."
"I don't need this Grimes guy to soften my appeal. I could just wear a lot of pink and smile more."
"But will you Michonne?" Sasha asks as if she already knew the answer. "I have to get back to AB1 with an answer pretty soon. I'd like to tell him you've given this the green light?"
Michonne sighs. "I'm not into this."
"So she dated a rapper named Mike the Maker? I don't know, what if I'm too far away from being her type?"
"Mike the Maker was more of a poet and a social justice advocate than just a rapper." Abraham defends as his many years as being the head of his own Public relations company, allowed him the chance to meet various people. "Mike was a good man, I was proud to have met him. She's attracted to good men, there's no specific type to being a good man."
Sasha places the tabloid in front of Michonne. "Look how sweet the two of you look together, this is candid chemistry."
Michonne looks at the tabloid, her face still shielded in discomfort. It was only about the idea of being set up, and never about Rick. The man who was nothing but kind to her that entire night, even though she thought he was in charge of getting her drinks most of the time. Sasha can see her warming up to the idea if only just a little bit.
"Rick was sweet...not full of himself like every other actor in Hollywood."
Hearing this Sasha tries to contain her smile. "So what do you say?"
While Sasha plays upon heart strings, Abraham doesn't, and baits Rick into the idea by bringing up some realities of the singer's career. It's blunt and its tough love.
"Look at this cover, when was the last time you've been on a cover of anything besides your own album?"
"Never, but-"
"You've never been on the cover of anything." An unfair statement since Rick was a private man who had always kept himself out of the public eye. "I know writing music is a love for you, it's a passion, I'm only trying to get you to fulfill your passion and make a lot of money." The red headed male insists.
People hardly bought entire albums anymore, CDs were for memorabilia and collections and not for listening to. The market's consumers bought singles because its easy to pick and choose songs from iTunes and not have to spend over ten bucks for a full album. That and the fact that most artists in this era didn't have much staying power, or provoked enough interest. Talent or not. Being on the cover of gossip rags and magazines got people talking, got celebrities famous. And fame brought in more money.
"I don't do it for the money." Rick voices.
"I know you don't but I do. That fancy cabin in the woods, I know it's made out of trees, but you needed money to build that."
"Fine as long as she's okay with it." Rick picks up the tabloid again and looks at the picture with a smile. "She is beautiful." That entire night kept replaying in his head, how beautiful she was, the sound of her voice, but could he do this? Could he pretend to date her?
Sasha is alone in her office now as a phone call from AB1 comes through. She picks up the phone, "yea Abraham she's in...what about Rick?"
"He's in too."
"Excellent."
"Alright, were coming out to L.A. Lets get these two into the swing of things, and start making some money."
