Publicity • mgc

7. The Slut Shamer

Nina made her first appearance and Karina had to refrain from slamming her head against the wall.

Ashton and Karina had started texting less, both of them becoming less confident about their relationship and leaving the texts to be awkward. They were short, simple, slow and never contained i love yous anymore. It was as if they've already given up.

Nina and Ashton were spotted at the beach one Sunday afternoon. They were strolling around, laughing, pretending to have a good time. Ashton was miserable, guilty, and a pretty damn good actor. In between talking to Nina and eating large amounts of cotton candy, which Nina loved, he would text Karina and Michael.

Michael was sat with Karina in his hotel room, with Luke and Calum, making sure she was okay while all of this was going down. Ashton was aware of this, which is why he texted both of them, to make sure Karina wasn't seriously upset.

And Karina wasn't as upset as she thought she'd be. Maybe she could get along with Nina. Or so she thought.

Because as soon as Ashton brought Nina back to the hotel, and his eyes glanced over at Karina, everything went sorta, kinda, insane. Karina, although she promised to be nice, narrowed her eyes at Nina and scoffed, sassily turning away and curled up on the couch again. Ashton just stared. Because his - well, not his anymore - Karina looked stunning. She was wearing one of Michael's shirts, a pair of black leggings, her hair straightened, and her brown eyes - almost gold - from the sun shining through the curtains, were as bright as ever. Her makeup was minimal, and Ashton forgot how much he adored seeing her dressed so lazy and comfortable.

Nina scoffed, glancing at Ashton. "Take a picture of her why don't you? It lasts longer." Nina was supposed to be his publicity girlfriend, not a real one and turn jealous. So Michael chuckled. "His phone's filled with pictures of her and probably her only. Does he have any of you?" He raised an eyebrow at Nina, stretching his arms up.

"What's she doing here?" Ashton finally asked, ripping his adoring gaze away from her.

Michael shrugged. "I told you we were going to hang with her today."

Ashton rolled his eyes. "Not here! What the hell, Kari? You know you're not supposed to be near us right now!"

"Would you calm down?!" Karina snapped, hugging a pillow to her chest. "Im not fûcking dumb, i know how to get in without being caught, dipshit."

"What is she doing here?" Luke spoke up, pointing at Nina.

Nina turned to look at Luke. "I have a name, its Nina." She sassed.

"We don't care." Michael mumbled, sticking up for everyone in the room who was feeling personally victimized by Nina Paisley.

Luke glanced at her, then back at Ashton, and in a really lazy monotone, he repeated, "What is she doing here?" And at that, Nina scoffed again. "Your friends are stupid." She said, turning to Ashton with crossed arms. Ashton didn't say anything, but everyone waited for him to defend.

Instead, Ashton answered Luke's question. "Rosa said to bring her back so it looks more friendly and real."

"Well we don't want her here." Michael continued to comment on the unfolding argument before him. He wasn't looking at anyone or anything in particular, he just kinda sat there with his arms crossed over his chest and his feet on the coffee table.

"Michael that's unsanitary." Karina mumbled, kicking one of his legs.

"You're unsanitary." Michael mumbled back, still not looking at anything in particular. Karina giggled.

"Michael that seriously is unsanitary." Ashton pointed out, but Michael didn't care for his opinion since he was breaking his best friends heart. In all honesty, Ashton was the one taking it worse in the beginning. But now, three weeks later, he seems okay. Better than Karina. Because every time Karina saw him on her twitter, instagram, tumblr, everything social media, her heart skipped a beat and her mood faltered.