this whole fake relationship thing had been his publicist’s idea. with his popularity rising with each project he did, donovan james was well on his way to being an a-lister. he just needed that last little push to get there, or so he’d been told. at this point in his career he was steadily getting roles, but he was so close to being hollywood’s new go to leading man, a pitt or clooney in the making. supposedly the fact that he hadn’t dated much in the public eye was acting as a roadblock to his success, but, by allowing his manager to play matchmaker, he could easily become one of the most talked about actors in the business.
that was where lauren campbell came in. apparently dating a boy could only hurt donovan’s image with his fan base that was comprised of mostly young women, so instead of going public with his real relationship he was to pretend to dating america’s rising starlet. ordinarily he wouldn’t have minded fake dating a woman who was admittedly sex on legs, but the strain it was putting on his relationship with preston made him question if it was worth it. he was seeing results though, as his name trended more on twitter and he was frequently in the news cycle since this fake ordeal had begun.
donny had spent his day with his faux girlfriend, making sure to be seen holding hands and frequently stopping to kiss in the middle of the sidewalk and show how in love they were. lauren wasn’t terrible company so it wasn’t all that hard to pretend he was having a good time, and he prayed that the pictures reflected that so he didn’t get an ear full from his publicist. they’d posed for pictures with fans, waved at paparazzi, and just tried to exude loving and happy vibes. after these photos hit the web, if they hadn’t already, he was sure he’d get a call from lauren to discuss their success and plan their next outing together.
arriving at home he pushed through the apartment door, looking forward to an evening with his boyfriend. “babe, i’m home,” he called out. donovan tossed his keys into the bowl by the door, then padding into the kitchen and grabbing a few beers from the fridge before heading to the living room. “so i was thinking we could order in tonight, maybe rent a movie. or we could finally binge watch stranger things, i feel awkward seeing those kids at events and not knowing anything about their show.” he offered preston a beer, smiling up at him as he plopped down on the couch.