CHAPTER TWELVE
Shane's POV
Externally, since the recent events, Shane's life seemed perfect. His former secret closeted boyfriend Duke (though his real name was Shannon) was now a proud gay man who had claimed to be in love with Shane Harvey in front of fifteen cameras. Too bad no one had yet found out who had sent Duke's Stubbl account to , news that had practically forced to Duke to come out of the closet. Shane had accepted with open arms Duke's return, especially after a statement like that, but he knew that his new relationship in the light of the sun was hanging by a thread, and he feared the day Duke would have found out everything.
So, when Amy appeared in front of his door with her brow furrowed and the need to fill all Shane's time, it was almost a breath of fresh air for the boy; after all, dealing with other people's problems was way easier than dealing with their own problems.
"God, I knew it!", Shane squealed as soon as Amy had finished telling what had just happened between her and Karma. In response, Amy snorted, not satisfied at all with his friend's reaction.
"I knew I had seen right", he continued, while a devilish smile of satisfaction began to form on his face. Obviously, he wasn't happy of the events' development, especially seeing how everything was hurting Amy, but he couldn't help but being a little bit proud of himself for have seen something that no one else, not even the direct interested people (Amy and Karma), had noticed before. Shane had been the first one to realize that Amy and Karma felt something for each other and, at the end, the time had gave him reason. Too bad the timing in this story was pretty much awful.
"Yeah", Amy complained. "I'd have preferred you were wrong".
Shane raised his eyebrows, suddenly feeling doubtful. "Really? After all you wished that Karma reciprocate your feelings for a very long time".
Amy ran a hand through her hair, clearly stressed. "I do, but not in this way. And especially not now that things were starting to work and there were no more secrets between us".
"So you're telling me that you'd have preferred that Karma doesn't say anything?".
"Of course not, if I've learned anything from this story is that secrets destroy friendship", Amy said without hesitation, realizing for the first time that a part of her was actually happy that Karma hadn't lied to her.
"Amy, we all saw that coming, you know", Shane began. "Since you and Reagan became a thing, even you know that Karma would have been jealous".
"Yeah, but I imagined she would have been jealous in a friendship way, not in a "I make wet dream about you way", she blurted out.
A spark went through Shane's eyes. "Speaking of that, you didn't tell me much about...".
"Shane, please", Amy stopped him, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing. He giggled in a girlish way but then he became serious again.
"So, what are you going to do?", he asked.
She shrugged. "I was hoping you to tell me".
Shane smiled and walked over to her, putting his arm around her waist. "You know how much I love meddling into other people's businesses", he stated. "But this time I can't. You have to choose and no one can do it for you, not me or Karma or Reagan".
"Since when have you suddenly become wise?", Amy laughed.
This time was Shane to shrugged. "Sometimes I surprised myself too".
Shane asked Amy if she was in the mood for a movie or something and she agreed, knowing that she needed time to relax and that over-thinking about it wouldn't have helped at all. But she couldn't help but knowing that Shane was right: it was her choice this time.
Karma's POV
Karma lay down on her bed and began to stare at the ceiling, before taking a deep breath and close her eyes. Since she had told Amy about the dream everything was even more confused. The only positive thing was that maybe now she had the only thing she really needed: sure, Amy's reaction had hurt and upset her in a way that she didn't believe possible, but at least now she had time; time to think, time to find a solution, time to understand what she really wanted.
What do you really want Karma?, she asked herself, hearing an accusatory tone in her own mental voice.
The only thing she could think about was that she didn't want to lose Amy, the only really important presence in her life, besides her parents. She didn't want to lose her best friend, she didn't want to renounce Dance Mom marathons with Amy talking only at commercials, those little scavenger hunts for her birthdays, the laughs, the phone calls until late at night and a thousand other things that characterized their relationship. Karma wasn't sure whether or not she was ready to give up the possibility of something more between her and Amy.
But she knew that this time it didn't matter just what she wanted. It was time to stop being selfish and try to see the big picture of the situation, picture that included Amy and her feelings. What if Karma's chance to not lose all those things she cared about and that she didn't want to lose, would have meant hurting Amy? There weren't absolutely no excuses for hurting the person you care about, Karma knew that and this time she couldn't ignore that, not after all the pain that her impulsive decisions had already caused.
But even looking at the big picture and realizing that to get what she seemed to want right now might have meant hurting Amy and creating even more confusion in their relationship, Karma couldn't help but think that she didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't trust even herself, what if she wouldn't have been able to repress those feeling?
The exact moment when a decision formed in her mind, Karma heard her phone ring. She answered the phone but said nothing, waiting for the person on the other line to speak first.
"Hey", Amy said at the end, as she had no idea of what else to say.
Hearing the hesitation in Amy's breathe, Karma felt even more guilty. Good job, she scolded herself, thanks to your irrationality and your egocentricity now even a simple phone call has become hart to face. "I'm so glad you called, I was afraid that you didn't want to speak to me anymore".
"Karma, it was...", Amy began.
"No, Amy it was my fault. I shouldn't have said those things like that, I should have gave you the way and the time to process them, I had no right to...".
This time it was Amy to interrupt Karma. "Karma, you're doing it again".
"What?", she asked.
"Speaking at an inhuman speed without giving me time to answer".
Karma sighed. "Sorry. I suppose bad habits die hard".
"Just, listen to me. Okay?", Amy practically begged her. "I need you to pay attention on what I'm about to say because it's important and you're the first person that need to know that".
"I'm all ears", Karma said.
It took several seconds before Amy spoke. "I thought about what you said to me and I made a decision".
A/N: Yeah... I'm so so so sorry for the long wait. Many thing happened and even though I knew what I wanted to write, I didn't have the time. I appreciated your feedback, you guys rock! Good new is that the next chapter (with Amy's choice) is already half written so I should be able to update soon. Thanks to everyone.