JOEL

The next morning, Angela pulled Amanda into Erin's office so they could pitch the prank.

"You're really down for that?" Erin asked. 

"Yeah, I mean what could be a better prank." Angela replied.

She looked at the two of them eyes wide in excitement, smiling wide.

Erin looked at the upcoming content.

"You guys could reveal it in the world ending video. That's like two months."

They planned out who to tell and who to not. 

"Tell Shayne and Court and don't tell Spencer I wanna see that reaction." 

Erin said, " Oh and make sure Chanse knows." Amanda added his name to the list of who to add to the group chat for this prank.

"So, we drive back together every few days, hold hands, more than usual." 

Angela listed out ways to make them dating as believable as possible, the only thing being, half the things they do kind of already do. 

"We need to make the cast hear rumours, and you guys have to refer to each other as much as possible." 

"We need to be more obvious than Shayne and Court were." Angela exclaimed 

"Not too much though we can't play with the fans feelings" Amanda interjected, she knew if they committed too hard, and then revealed it wasn't true, they'd get cancelled.

They walked past Arasha, hands clasped laughing at something Angela had said. 

She looked at them with her eyebrows scrunched and a smile on her face, going back to typing on her laptop. 

They walk over to the kitchen, seeing Chanse there. 

"Hey guys," he glanced over to their hands, smiling. "What's happening here?" He pointed. 

Angela dropped Amanda's hand, walking over to the fridge. Chanse looked at the two of them frantically. Amanda stifled her laughter.

They hadn't announced the prank to the rest of the team yet, only them, Erin and Nate knew.

"Guys what the hell is going on" Chanse said seriously. 

Amanda bursts out in laughter, followed by Angela. 

"What's so funny." Court walked in, holding a cup of coffee.

"They're up to something." Chanse swung his hand between them, bringing a bottle of water to his mouth.

"I'm sorry, we had to." Angela said, catching her breath. 

"We're going to prank Arasha, hopefully she can't think of anything more complex than this." 

"So… We're gonna pretend we're dating." 

Court's eyes widened, Chanse spit out his water, coughing. Angela walked over to pat his back.

"Now, on the cast, only you two and Shayne can know. Your job is to spread rumours." Amanda explained.

Chanse smirked, "Let's ride."

They spent the next two weeks "dating" only at the office, sitting a bit too close, hugging every time they saw each other, flirting (though not very well). 

It wasn't very hard, they realised how justified the fans shipping them really was. 

One weekend they all went out together, Amanda dragged Angela to the dance floor, They were both pretty tipsy, Arasha had been looking at them suspiciously throughout the week, the plan was working.

They danced slowly, the music drowning out as they locked eyes, Angela watched as Amanda's hair swayed, a drunken smile on her face.

"You are really pretty, you know that?" she said, the sound not reaching Amanda's ears, getting stifled by the noise in the club.

"WHAT?" Amanda leaned down, bringing her head closer to Angela's, the question bringing her out of her thoughts.

"OH, NOTHING, I SAID YOU DANCE WELL" She shouted back.

She blinked and gave a half hearted smile, questioning where that statement came from. 

'It's just the prank getting to my head,' she told herself. 'Right?'

They walked to Amanda's car, which she had strategically started parking as close to Arasha's as possible.

They get into the car, Arasha watching from afar, side-eyeing Trevor.

"Do they seem closer nowadays? Like more friendly?" she said.

"I don't remember from who, but I heard they're dating."

Arasha scoffed, "Right. And I'm white."

"I'm not joking, I swear, I didn't believe it either but like, doesn't it explain so much?"

She looked at him in amusement, "Ok then, I'm gonna go investigate."

She watched as Amanda's car drove off, getting into her car and following them.

"Is she following us?" Angela turned her head to look behind the car, she saw Arasha's car behind a row of traffic.

"OH MY GOD she is" she exclaimed. "Her turn was a mile ago."

As they reached a stoplight, Amanda looked in the rearview mirror to confirm what Angela was saying and lo and behold, there she was. 

"That's insane, I can't believe she's actually tailing us."

Amanda was originally going to drop Angela at her house then go back to her own place, but not anymore.

They knew they couldn't be too obvious, so, no kissing, nothing that solidified it, but a sleepover, well that's normal.

Arasha called Court on bluetooth.

'Heyy Arasha, what's up?'

"Have you heard rumours that Angela and Amanda are dating?"

'OH my god, Yeah. At first I thought someone misinterpreted a fandom thing but no yeah.'

"Yeah so, I'm following them."

There was a small pause.

'What?'

"Yeah I know it sounds creepy but I think they're like, actually dating."

'Okayy, if you say so, I'm not one to go digging around people's relationships."

"But-" 

Before Arasha could finish, Court hung up.

'Uh, Rude.' she thought, she pulled into the street Amanda's apartment was on, watching as they got out of the car and walked in together.

"Should I stay over? I know you don't have a guest room, so we'll have to share or I'll take the couch." Angela rambled.

Amanda put her hand on the woman's shoulder, "Dude relax. I highly doubt she's going to stay the whole night."

They sat on the couch, turning on the TV to find a crime documentary to watch, with a bottle of wine to share.

Angela slowly moved closer to Amanda, laying on her. They ordered food for themselves.

"Do you have any clothes I could wear?" Angela said walking out of the shower in a towel. 

"Yeah hold on"

Amanda walked to her closet to get a T shirt and some shorts, handing them to her.

"Thanks." 

After they'd both showered they got into Amanda's abnormally large bed, talking about the documentary they'd just watched.

The next morning they got called into a meeting with Erin, Ian and Anthony.

"Hey guys, so we heard rumours y'all went home together." Erin said, coffee cup in hand.

"Courtney said Arasha followed you guys." Ian smiled, surprised how well the plan was working. 

"I still can't believe that actually happened." Angela said, sitting down.

"So, I was thinking, and, you guys dating isn't enough of a prank." Erin pulled up a note on her Laptop.

"I thought of a few ways to make the prank more intense.

First off, I think you guys need to fake some kind of fight, on a non shoot week, then "break up"." she ended with air quotes.

Angela's eyes widened, "break up? We just started dating." 

"I doubt they're going to believe that we broke up, what, three weeks into a relationship." Amanda chimed in. 

"Yeah but we gotta have some drama around the prank." Ian speaks up.

Amanda and Angela look at each other, disappointed at the fact that they have to pretend to dislike each other. 

"So we have to act normally in the videos and then not talk to each other off camera."

Erin nods, taking a sip of her coffee.

"But not yet, wait two more weeks, then spend a few days kind of talking sometimes, then  "break up" and don't talk off camera, do that on a shoot week."

Amanda took a deep breath, lips pursed, nodding.

"OK so, is that it?" Angela asked. 

"No, hold on we're gonna mic you up so if Arasha talks to you we can record it."

They walked out of the office, sitting down in the cafeteria on opposite sides of a table, Angela pulled out her phone to show Amanda some of the edits she'd been tagged in.

"Hey guys, what'd you do last night?" Arasha sat down next to them, hands under her chin.

Amanda smiled to herself, then turned towards her.

"I watched a documentary on my couch, why?" she asked

"Oh my god really, so did I" Angela interrupted.

Arasha shook her head, "In your house?" 

Angela looked at Amanda, eyes narrowed, a slight smile on her face, turning back to Arasha.

"No, I sneaked into yours." She laughed as she said it, Arasha smiled, accepting that she wasn't getting any answers from the two.

It was time, the day they were going to "fight" and move the prank along, they'd decided that the fight would be about how in one of their recent videos they'd been a little too obvious. 

It was the end of the workday, they were standing in the corner of the cafeteria, a mic near them, and a camera set up in the corner. 

Angela gulped, a little nervous, this prank had brought them a lot closer, so she wasn't entirely excited about breaking apart the bond.

Amanda squeezed her hand, they watched as a few people flowed into the area, including the victim, Arasha.

"Ready?" she whispered. Angela nodded.

"WELL YOU COULD'VE TRIED NOT TO." Amanda started.

"ME? YOU were the one making EYES at me THE ENTIRE TIME."

"I WAS NOT, you kept GRABBING MY HAND, HUGGING ME, ESPECIALLY after I've Said I don't like hand holding ON CAMERA"

"Well are you THAT SCARED?"

"I- no I'm, I just don't want to BROADCAST my PERSONAL BUSINESS." Amanda stormed off, Angela following her.

They walked out of the office, a small knot forming in Anglea's throat. 

"Okay, I think that went well." Amanda said smiling, turning her head to make sure no one not in on the prank could hear them. 

She turned to look at Angela, seeing the sour look on her face.

"Hey, you ok?" She put her hands on her shoulders, bending down to be face to face with the shorter woman.

Angela broke out of her thoughts, "Yeah, yeah that just, that was a lot." 

Amanda nodded, hugging Angela and leaning down to whisper in her ear. "It's just an act, I love you so much, and if we were really dating, I'd be stupidly obvious about it."

Angela hummed. Amanda pulled way, "I'm gonna go get my bag, then you can, and meet me at my apartment okay, sleepover."

They were laying together on the couch, cuddled up in a knit blanket. 

"So, how're you gonna keep your hands off me this week." Angela joked, pointing to her shoulder where Amanda's hand rested, chuckling.

"I guess I need to meet the quota right now." her hands tightened around the small body in her arms.

Angela's mind ran over every second they'd spent these past few weeks, she knew this was going to be stupid, it might ruin everything, but she has had it with her stomach tightening every time they touched, it was now or never, and hey if it didn't work they were close enough to get over it.

"Hmm, hey Amanda."

"Yeah?" 

"...what if we made this prank 10 times better."

Amanda chuckled, "How?"

"Be my girlfriend."

Amanda froze, wondering if she had heard it right, it's the prank, yeah, Angela's just messing with her, she's recording this, surely.

"What?" she pulled away to make eye contact with her, seeing an ernest expression, she meant it, she wanted to.

Angela nodded quickly, gulping as the silence grew. 

"Please?" she asked, making Amanda smile.

"That Would mess up the plan." Angela turned her head forward at the words, Amanda leaned in, close to her ear, "I'm down"

Angela turned back, their noses colliding. "Woah." Amanda laughed, leaning into kiss her.

They met softly, Angela slowly climbing onto her lap.

As they separated she spoke "Does it make you feel weird that I was just turned on."

They woke up wrapped up in each other's arms, still on the couch. An alarm going off on the coffee table.

"Oh what the hell, how early do you wake up?" Angela groaned, looking at her watch, 5:30, Jesus.

They got up and walked to the bed room, Amanda going about her routine as Angela got another hour of sleep.

Amanda got dressed and drove to the office, Angela had other work.

Court came up to Amanda's desk, sitting down on a chair. 

"So you guys are gonna just keep distance now?" they asked, looking at amanda's cheeky smile.

"What's going on?" they asked again, smiling themselves.

"The prank got real Court." Amanda whispered.

"Huh?"

"She asked me to date her. And I said yes." 

Court's eyes widened, mouth falling open.

"You're kidding, are you kidding? Amanda oh my god." 

"I know, I know, and I'm only telling you right now cause you guys kept that secret for so long, I mean I don't even know how this is going to work now, we still have to "break up", and is it really a prank if it's the truth, and" She stopped in her rambling as Court grabbed her hand.

"Bro, relax. It's gonna be fine, you'll figure it out, it can be a double layered prank."

Amanda took a deep breath, "Right, you're right, it's fine, we're good."

It was time, time to execute the fake break up for the real prank, they hadn't told anyone but Court and Shayne till now, not even Chanse, the fake dating was for the viewers, but the real thing, well let's just say everyone was going to freak out.

It was the start of the shoot week, they'd "patched up" by the weekend, and now they stood by Angela's car, about to get into a shouting match.

They saw Arasha's car pull into the parking lot, both took a deep breath and let go.

"ADMIT IT AMANDA, YOU DON'T WANT THIS, IT WAS JUST AN EXPERIMENT, JUST A WAY TO TRY OUT A NEW THING WITHOUT THE COMMITMENT.

"ANGE I- I SWEAR that's not it, I PROMISE I CARE."

"No, you don't. Because if you did, YOU'D HAVE SOME IDEA of how it makes ME feel, FEELING you pull away."

Amanda couldn't, she couldn't do it, 'fuck the prank' she told herself, rushing forward to meet Angela's mouth with hers, A shocked Arasha staring from behind. 

Angela melted into the kiss, they heard a gasp in the distance, Erin walking out from the door, eyes wide, mouth agape.

"What was that?" Angela asked, staring up at Amanda starry eyed.

"I told you, if we really were dating, I'd be painfully obvious about it." Amanda whispered, "I don't wanna prank anyone, I just want to be with you, and I don't care who finds out."

Angela smiled up at her, 'there goes my plan' she thought.

Arasha walked up to them slowly.

"So, the rumours WERE true. Ha, Trevor owes me 5 bucks." 

Well, maybe someone else would let this opportunity go, but not ange. 

"What rumours? We didn't hear any rumours." 

"Well, yeah, cuz it was about how you guys are dating. I'm so happy for you guys."

"Uh, we just started dating a few days ago, hold on how long have these rumours been going on?"

Arasha blinked, a few days? She'd been hearing this for over a month, how the hell.

"Anyway, its almost calltime, let's go." Amanda pulled Angela with her into the building. Both giggling. 

Erin looked at them as they walked into the building, confused at what they were doing, this wasn't the plan. 

She followed them to the main lobby, a small crowd gathering near them. 

"GUYS, what the hell." she called out.

"Erin, we lied." Angela said.

"We Are dating." 

Chanse shouted out, "WHAT?", there were a few gasps in the room.

Erin stood there quietly, hands up in front of her. She scoffed, "What? You're, huh?"

There were no cameras here, the only place being filmed was the parking lot. 

"We're dating, like actually. The prank's done."

Arasha, Trevor and Tommy walked in a bit closer. 

"Wait, what prank." Trevor asked, looking around to see who else was as shocked as he was.

A mess of questions flowed in towards them. 

Followed by them explaining what was happening. Arasha stood there hands crossed laughing in scoffs. Tommy smiled, hand on his forehead.