As soon as Karma left Amy's that afternoon, she headed straight for Shane's. His mom let her in and she banged on his bedroom door.

He knew it was Karma. She'd texted that she was coming over. He reached for the door, ready to spit out a snarky remark, but when he whipped it open he was caught off guard. Karma standing there, tears streaming down her face.

"Aww, Karma," he said sympathetically. She stepped towards him and he wrapped her in a hug. She let her head fall onto his shoulder.

"Alright," he said. "Come sit." She plopped herself on his bed. "Tell me what's going on."

"I don't know what's going on," Karma sobbed. "That's the problem. I don't know."

Shane had a feeling Karma knew more than she was letting on. "Well," Shane continued. "What prompted all of this?" He asked gesturing to Karma in her current state.

"I got in a fight with Amy," Karma said. It wasn't even really true. What was that though, if not a fight? An impasse?

"About..." Shane asked.

"I don't even know. It just got intense really quickly."

"Okay, Karm, if you can't give me some more details I can't help."

"I was angry that she didn't want to spend time with me. I told her it felt like she didn't care about me..." Shane started shaking his head. "I asked why she came back if it was going to be like this and then she said maybe we should just pretend she hadn't come home."

"Oh boy..."

"What do I do?" Karma asked, tears starting again.

"Karma, I told you to be careful around her. I told you to be understanding!" Shane should've been kinder, or at the very least more forgiving, but that wasn't his forte. "She's totally right. You have no fucking clue what you do to her."

"I'm so sick of people saying that!" The words burst out of Karma furiously. "I know what I do to her." She paused and took a breath. "I just can't stop."

Shane raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you want to tell me?" He asked. Karma just kept her eyes fixed on the floor. "Because either you're a really shitty person or..." Shane trailed off.

"Or I have feelings for her," Karma said quietly and surprisingly calmly.

Shane shifted towards her and put his arm on her shoulder. "That's okay."

"Why is it so hard for me to even entertain that thought?" She asked with frustration.

"It'll get easier," Shane comforted.

"Yeah?" Karma asked.

Shane nodded. "I promise."

************************************************************************************

The next day, Amy was still thinking about what Lauren had said. Something had to change. After about an hour of obsessing, she decided to give Shane a call.

"Hey," he answered. "What's up?"

"You want to get some coffee?" She asked.

"What now? I've had enough Karmy drama!" He exclaimed.

"What?"

"Ugh nothing. I'll meet you at Starbucks in an hour."

When Shane walked in, Amy was sitting in the back sipping on a Frappuccino.

"How did you get whipped cream on your nose?" He asked. "There's a plastic lid!"

Amy rolled her eyes, not in the mood for this, and wiped off her nose.

"Ok shoot."

"No, first I want to know what you meant by 'Karmy drama'. Has Karma been talking to you about me?"

Shane sighed. "A little."

"Spill," she demanded.

"I can't." He said.

It was after all, gay scouts honor.

Amy shot him the death glare but for once his lips stayed zipped. Shane was getting antsy. "Okay, so do you want to talk or not? My shift starts in 20 minutes."

"I have to break up with Karma."

"What?" Shane wasn't even quite sure what that meant.

"Coming back was a mistake. I... I can't do this."

"Amy, yes you can. You are a being good friend," He said. "Karma's mom has cancer. You're here because Karma needs you to help her get through this."

"I'm not so sure that's why she needs me," Amy muttered.

Shane looked at her, a confused expression across his face. He was good at playing dumb when he needed to.

"It's hard to know how much of her needing me is related to her mom and how much is not." Amy stared down at the table. "And I know that it's horrible but it's like, I need to do the bare minimum of helping? In order to protect myself... And yet as always, Karma doesn't get that."

"You need boundaries?" He suggested.

"I need distance," she clarified.

"You two need to talk," he concluded. "Well," Shane continued, "luckily Karma had the earlier shift this morning. I'll text her to meet you here."

"No don't," Amy pleaded.

Shane continued furiously tapping away at his phone. He dramatically hit send and set the device on the table. "Sorry," he said unapologetically. "It had to be done."