Rachel is highly unimpressed by the egomaniac pop star who clearly bought into his own publicity far too much. She bickers with him, wearing his layers of self-imposed façade down until there is nothing left of The Heart Man… Only Luke. Rachel likes this version slightly better, but he's still far too annoying for her liking… But at least he's easier to be stuck in a hotel room with than the other guy.
After a slightly derailed trip to Paris with him, Rachel feels relief she is finally rid of him when she gets home – except that's precisely the time when she finds out she has been given an eviction notice in her absence, and she has now a very limited time to get out of the apartment. Of all pole, it's Luke who comes to her aid, offering to actually expend the lifespan of the "fake girlfriend" ruse and have her move into his giant house on the border of Hampstead Heath. Rachel hasn't exactly many options, so – again – she relents to another hairbrained scheme of his.
Their bickering relationship continues to work its way into a strange sudo-friendship. It intensifies, softens, and progresses further when Luke finally discovers Rachel's biggest secret, kept close to her chest since Day One – that she is a musician and performer herself. A gifted and skilled one, at that. Rachel is naturally mortified that one of the biggest, most famous, musicians in the world discovered that she also was a musician, songwriter and singer in her own write. She had hoped he would never find out, because who was she – dabbling in theatre and writing the odd song – in the shadow of one of the most iconic people in the business? Even more insanely, The Luke Heartlett actually likes the fact she's a musician – and even her musicianship.
Life seems to get from bad to worse when she is also fired from her job in the five-star hotel she was working at… Until Christian Lee – her all-time music idol and Luke's very close friend – commandeers her in a coffee shop to confess he asked Luke to get him copies of the few original songs she ever managed to record and that he likes them. He then shocks her even more by also confessing he'd like to work with her, as an artist. Naturally, Rachel is incensed that he and Luke went behind her back, through her things, and stole her music, and outright refuses his offer. Stevie, as always, tells her she's an idiot and not to look a gift horse in the mouth when they're offering her one of her dreams on a silver platter and wrapped up in a bow.
Shockingly, it's Luke who persuades her to try it. It turns out that they end up writing albums at the same time,
Luke leaves her at home to go on various shoots, interviews, and other new-album-related business work. For a video shoot, he ends up leaving her for several days. Rachel has to admit to herself, by that point, she really missed him, and there was only one real reason why – which meant she was completely screwed.
The thing was…. She had no idea she wasn't the only one who absolutely felt the same.
Superstar Music Icon Luke Heartlett is getting over the breakup with his last girlfriend, Catwalk Supermodel Tara. It's the latest frenzy in the entertainment media and they make sure the world is plastered with it,
One day, it's clear that he's found his rebound, with a unknown girl caught in a "lover's tiff" argument with him one night, outside a romantic restaurant. The Celebrity Superstar then jets off with said unknown girl to Paris for a romantic week away. He's seen with her in the airport leaving for Paris and coming back, hand in hand both times, leaving the media's personnel excitedly tittering about it.
The Media Journalists then also love talking all about Luke Heatlett's New Girlfriend, Tara's behaviour, and talking about "his newfound happiness" with the Surpermodel at every opportunity, too.
Superstar Music Icon Luke Heartlett is getting over the breakup with his last girlfriend, Tara— Actually, scratch that — he's trying to get over the media scrutiny and obsessive interest in the breakup.
Rachel Adams is twenty-five and working hard at trying to ignore her past and works almost as hard at a posh French Restaurant in a waitressing job that she hates. She's stuck renting a Studio Apartment that's smaller than some bathrooms, her dreams beyond her, and nothing much going on for her whatsoever. Stuck-in-a-Rut had become more like Tied-To-A-Rut-With-Zip-Lock-Ties.
One night, outside the Restaurant, they both literally run into each other and get into an argument about it, in the middle of the street. It's an argument that changes both their lives, with irrevocable consequences.
A Photojournalist captures Rachel yelling at Luke for running into her, and Luke vehemently denying it, both irate by the other's denial of culpability, and insistence of laying the blame on the opposite party. The Journalist immediately takes the photo-stills of this and runs with the story that she's his girlfriend and berating him for something, in a "lover's quarrel" situation. The "breaking news" of Heartthrob Music Icon Luke Heartlett already being "caught" with another woman was an immediate sensation in the Entertainment "news", causing both to be entirely shocked the next morning to find out what article writers had been busy reporting through the night and morning.
The story had been written, re-written, blogged, Tweeted, pasted all over Social Media thousands of times already, immediately making this story "Entertainment Gospel" — thus giving Luke an "out" with the Media regarding Tara. All he needs to do is convince them Rachel is his girlfriend for now, until they need to "break up". Foolproof!
Except, well, Rachel isn't easily impressed, or starstruck — and thinks he's a "Class-A Idiot who's so up himself, he can probably see through his own mouth". But he NEEDS this story to work, so he does everything he can to make it work. Even ignore the fact that she absolutely hates him and can't stand him… and the fact he's more than a little smitten with the first person to refuse to kiss his feet and tell him to stop being a celebrity musician.
Rachel was about to reach the end of her very frayed tether. Hellish days on barely reasonable pay and minimal tips were already entirely unbearable, merging into each other painfully. She would have to check but she was pretty sure her contract stated her general hours were a minimum of sixteen hours per week. Not per day.
"Christian Lee?" Stevie squeaked in amazement, when Rachel told her about the "date" later that evening. "You were there with Christian Lee – and he recognised you?"
The next night, Rachel dressed in her best – which, for the record, was not that good – and waited for her pre-ordered taxi[DK1] to turn up to take her to the rather curiously-named Bête Noire bar that was newly opened and very exclusive, and the venue where she was meeting Luke.
It only took a week of extremely long shifts to burst Rachel's fairly hopeful little bubble about her new job. Yes, it was better than her old job – and paid somewhat better, too – but she worked long hours in a terrible penguin suit, and got nothing but patronising swipes and biting sarcasm from the pretentious, over-stuffed, elitist...
Rachel Adams didn't get good things.
