BUBBLEGUM BITCH

CHAPTER 4

I squeeze my steering wheel as I slowly come to a stop in the parking lot. I sigh and blankly look out the window, not looking at anything specific, just looking, before taking the key out of the ignition. I'm a damn good singer, but preparing for the worst is what I'm the best at. But with Marina, i cant pepare for anything, i never know what to expect from her. When I step out of the car, being kissed by the comforting sun and the warm spring air, I am immediately surrounded by thousands of flashes coming from paparazzi and fans waiting on the street. Two men lead me to my manager, where I get handed papers and bodyguards begin surrounding me. A weak smile can barely hold its place on my face.

"Marina is already in the building, she's been waiting for the past half hour. i tried making conversation with her but she gave me the cold shoulder so i assume you didn't sort your shit out last week like i told you to." my manager says with a slice of anger built inside. "She's been calling you 'a late bitch' and told me about the whole dinner date. Why didn't you tell me how bad it went last week?"

I turn to him, forcing a smile on my face. "Well obviously she told you her side of the story, so you're already biased. What do you want me to say? She was bitch and I wasn't going to put up with her talking shit about everything I do. I'm higher than that. I try to stay... Positive, yeah, and Marina is nothing but bad news. I don't want to talk about it, or talk to her, or be here. I just want to go home."

"Well you're staying here and you're talking to her. I'm not canceling this whole fan meet and greet with you and Marina.You'll just have to suck it up for once. There's other people here who busted their ass to make this happen and it's not going to be thrown away just because the perfect little princess didn't get what she wanted. You'll just have to personally tell the fans about how you don't get along."

I close my eyes and sigh, suppressing my anger towards his sarcastic remark about me. "Whatever. The fans already know Marina hates me, so it's not going to be hard breaking it to them that I'm not too fond of her either."

I walk inside the building and I see Marina sitting in the corner reading some Gossip magazine, with one built up bodyguard behind her. "Finally," she breathes, "Let's go meet some fans." Marina finishes her paragraph and folds the corner over on the page; as if she was going to come back and read it, making the magazine's presence more important than mine. She stands up and smooths at her skirt. We barely make eye contact but she shoots me a glance... it's just a glance, but I could feel the hate in her stare, all the anger, all the jealousy all built up into one cold hard glance. She walks over to the door and says "let's go meet some fans" in a monotoned manner. I open my mouth and go to grab Marina's arm to stop her but i'm afraid if i touch her again she'll punch me, seeing as our last embrace, me kicking her in the shin, didn't go over so well. Before I could ask her how we were going to tell the fans about just how badly we don't get along, Marina flings the door open and I'm blinded by a combination of the bright sun and the flashing lights. Marina pastes a huge smile on her face and steps out into the crowd.

Not only am I blinded by the lights but I'm pretty sure that I'm going deaf too. Hundreds of fans scream at the top of their lungs, begging for Marina to go over and sign something or get a picture with them. It's amazing how so many people can fall in love with such a fake representation of who Marina really is. I put on a equally huge grin as Marina's and somehow, the crowd got even louder than it already was. I genuinely love meeting fans. These beautiful people helped develop and shape my career and without them I wouldn't be here. I wave to many people and go to the opposite side of the crowd than Marina is at. The further I get from her, the more I could make out of a girl with puffy red eyes, crying because of me. "Aw," I laugh out as I get close to her and wrap her up in a tight hug and snap a quick picture with her. I take pictures with as many fans as i could and comfort the crying ones. I'm on my phone, typing in a few fans twitter usernames so I could follow them when I look up and notice that Marina has slowly but surely migrated her way over towards me.

Marina scribbles her signature and hugs a few fans. I watch her take pictures with them. She's so distant with her fans, she's flirty but she rushes them, she doesn't make them feel like she personally cares about them. The more I watch, the more I realize how different Marina and I are. I love my fans, every single one of them. She doesn't seem like she gives two shits about them... Then one of the fans at the back scream for a picture of both of us, catching us off guard. And this is EXACTLY why i wanted to talk this whole meet and greet with Marina before... The fan steps her way to the front of the crowd and Marina walks up next to me. I step aside and make room for the fan, Addison i think her name was, but Marina just closes the space and hugs me, with the fan under her other arm. What the fuck is she doing? Like I said earlier: I have no idea what to expect from Marina. Not sure what to do, I put on a photo-ready smile and hug her back. The fans scream even louder, their two favorite celebrities are now hugging eachother.

"What the hell are you doing?" I growl between my teeth, annoyed.

Marina's hot breath brushes against my ear, "Just go with it."