Publicity • mgc

24. The Moment Of Reality

vote + comment bc u lowkey love me

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The group ended up at the beach that night. They were running around, their toes in the sand, testing the water, kicking a soccer ball.

The sunset was right in view, everyone taking pictures to capture the moment. And even though pictures can prove how beautiful things are, they sadly can't convey emotion well enough, because Karina felt completely full.

It was a complete 360 from how she had been feeling lately. She pretended to be completely okay and like nothing ever bothered her. She stressed herself out often and had to take a day off from everything to just lay in bed and be able to breathe.

But as she stood there with her three best friends, laughing til their stomachs hurt, on a beach while watching the sunset, everything was suddenly okay. And she was laughing and smiling and her cheeks were hurting, and her heart was so big and full of love and joy, that she totally forgot who Nina even was.

"We should do something stupid." Calum suggested, putting his arm around Casey.

"Let's go get tattoos." Nia said, earning a couple nods of agreement.

"Better yet," Karina interjected. "let's give each other tattoos."

All the boys cheered, agreeing with Karina and putting their beers up. "Who's tattooing who?" Ashton asked, taking a sip from his bottle.

"I have a good feeling Nia is a great tattooer." Dakota said.

"So can I tattoo you?" Nia jokingly asked, knowing the answer was no. Dakota, Luciana, and Jennifer didn't dare to go under a needle with ink. Their families would disapprove and they didn't like pain anyway. Karina on the other hand also had a family who disapproved tattoos, but like the free spirit she is, she still goes out and gets little details inked on her. Her parents yell at her when she goes home, but they realize it's just a tattoo and not a sign of rebellion.

"You can tattoo Kari." Dakota smiles, patting her friend on her back.

"I wanna tattoo Kari!" Calum chimed in, smiling widely.

"Absolutely not. I don't need a badly drawn, permanent dîck on my body." Karina scoffed, making everyone chuckle.

Calum huffed. "It won't be badly drawn!" He laughed.

After running around for another while and getting dirty in the sand, they all went back to their private mansion to take showers and have a small dinner. The moon came up to replace the sun and the stars were glimmering brightly, constellations on full show.

"There goes the Big Dipper." Ashton said, pointing up at the sky. He was sitting next to Karina, both of them outside just talking.

"That's the Little Dipper, hun." Karina corrected, pointing to the bigger constellation. "That one over there is the Big Dipper, see?"

Ashton furrowed his eyebrows. "No, all I see is Big Dipper."

"Maybe we're both wrong." Karina laughed. "All we know is Big Dipper and Little Dipper, it's probably something else."

Ashton chuckled quietly. The lounge area and dining room was empty, everyone still upstairs getting ready for bed. It was a little too early to go to bed, so Karina and Ashton just wandered outside.

"How's your hand?" Ashton asked, turning to look at Karina. She raised her healing hand up, wiggling her fingers. "I wanna try and get the cast on my fingers off while we're here."

Ashton grabbed her hand, softly squeezing it. "Why? Is it healed already?"

Karina shrugged. "It feels fine, but then again I'm just annoyed with it and I probably need two more months until it's okay." Ashton began to slowly unwrap the gauze around her hand, trying not to cringe when he saw the bruises on her knuckles. They were still purple, a few scabs forming on the cuts she got. "Yeah, I feel you." Karina chuckled, watching him try to be discreet with his pained facial expressions.

"Michael said you did that because you were mad at me." Ashton muttered, softly touching her knuckles, making her wince a little. "Sorry." He whispered.

"Michael says a lot of things," Karina laughed. Ashton hoped she was about to say Michael lied. "unfortunately that's true."

Ashton sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. "Kari, I-"

"Yeah, yeah, you didn't mean for this to happen, you're sorry, and you still care for me. Ash, I know." Karina interrupted, tilting his chin up with her hand. "Can we move on from that?" She asked, giving him a small smile. "I kind of want to forget about it, so I can, you know, move on."

Ashton nodded, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry. I love you alright?"

Karina pressed her lips into a thin line. "Yeah." She softly replied.

"And uh, Michael loves you too." Ashton stood up, ruffling his hair.

"I know?" Karina confusedly laughed. She knew Michael loves her, that's her best friend.

"Kari, Mike loves you. The way you wanted me to love you. And I know you'll love him too. So I agree, let's forget and move on. I want you happy." He said, walking inside and leaving Karina alone. She was starting to really believe Michael really loved her. It was real, this was reality.

Karina slowly made her way back inside, closing and locking all the doors downstairs and slowly making her way up to her room with the girls. She turned off the lights except for the chandelier in the lounge area, only dimming it a little. She walked past everyone's rooms and stopped at Michael and Calum's room. She slowly walked in, watching the two already snoring. Their bed was still made and they were just laying on top of their duvet. Karina sighed, going into their closet and finding a large fleece blanket. She threw it over the both of them and shook her head.

Karina almost stepped out of the room when she remembered what Ashton told her. She then slowly walked back to the bed, leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Michael's forehead.

She ruffled his hair, making him stir a little bit. He slowly reached up, grabbing a hold of her hand and kissing the back of it. Karina smiled. She pressed her forehead against his and felt him sigh in content. "Goodnight, baby." He whispered softly, so softly it almost went unheard. "Goodnight, baby." Karina repeated, kissing his button nose once and finally leaving the room. Did she love him, or did she love him not?

-

don't hate me for making this super short I'm trying to rush it lowkey

I lied about this being the good chapter

the good chapter is chapter 26

again I'm sorry

also I have a rant book now called Royal Crybaby and it's just me, your friendly neighborhood princess being a crybaby so if you get bored and want to read me yelling in caps lock, go over and say hello. maybe you can relate to my anger and we can help each other out and be friends

~mari