A/N: I know, I suck. Anyone still reading this?

Shane dropped a hand on Lauren's shoulder as he passed the table she was sharing with Karma. And God, was that weird.

The Shane hand thing, not the sharing a table with Karma thing. Although, honestly, a month and half hadn't done much to make that particular bit of reality any less weird. But it was a weird Lauren could embrace and enjoy (much like she embraced Karma) (and enjoyed her) (enjoyed her quite thoroughly and regularly and thank God Molly and Lucas kept on finding reasons to not be home.) But that Shane thing… it was weird. It wasn't much, just a small gesture, the tiniest of tinies. It was the sort of thing friends did, a gentle way to remind you

that someone's there, someone's thinking of you, someone cares.

So, yeah, weird.

Weird and wrong. If Lauren and Karma has been number one on Hester's 'frenemies who will always be 'less fren and more emies' list, then she and Shane were, at worst, number two, and an argument could certainly be made for a tie. So, yeah, weird. Weird and wrong and, worst of all?

Noticeable.

Everyone saw him do it. Brandi, sitting over by the computers, like she even knew how to turn the damn things on. Vashti, chatting up the librarian like that was some sort of believable cover cause everyone knew that she was really just lurking, laying in wait for the next Tumblr worthy scene. Even Liam saw it, from over there in the corner, trying desperately to figure out how to work the pencil sharpener.

And let's not forget Karma. (Though Lauren had, with increasing frequency, and that frequency meant like right fucking now, but that's getting ahead of the story.)

Karma, sitting across the table, definitely noticed it. She kinda couldn't miss it, even if she kinda (or more than kinda) (like a lot more) wished that she could. It wasn't as if she just didn't like Shane… OK… it was totally that she didn't like Shane. She didn't like him and she was pretty sure she never would, but, even more, she didn't like this connection he suddenly seemed to have with Lauren.

And she liked that that connection seemed (more than fucking seemed) to center on Amy even less.

So, Karma noticed and Karma frowned. It was the deep kind, the kind that, normally, Lauren would notice and, normally, would remind her that that sort of frown was the kind to give you early wrinkles and early lines ("frowning like that will age you like ten years in a day, baby") (and yeah, Lauren calling her 'baby' was still fucking weird too) but that was all, as noted, normally.

And, as also noted, this wasn't normally. No universe in which Shane Harvey and Lauren Cooper were the kind of friends who touched, like even a little bit, like at all, could ever be considered normal. Not in the fucking least. So, yeah, the sight of Shane's hand brushing against her girlfriend's shoulder, hell, the sight of Shane anywhere near Lauren, especially

if that near seemed even more emotional and not just physical, well, that made Karma feel some kind of way.

And not some kind of good way. Just in case that wasn't clear, you know, from the frown and all.

Then, when she noticed that Lauren hadn't noticed, that she wasn't not commenting on her wrinkly frown out of politeness or love or a deep aching need to get some later that afternoon, Karma frowned again. Deeper and harder (and yes, that's totally 'what she said' and can you seriously stop thinking about sex for like two minutes?)

(Thought the girl with a foot resting comfortably against her girlfriend's bare leg under the table.)

Karma realized, in that moment (and probably before, even if she didn't admit it) that Lauren's silence wasn't polite. It was preoccupied. It was busy elsewhere with elsewho (and no, Karma did not give even one single tiny fuck if that wasn't an actual word.) And Karma had had just about all of that she could take.

She didn't need to follow Lauren's gaze to know where (who) she was looking (at). Karma knew that her girlfriend's eyes and mind and probably just about every other part of her (except that leg) (maybe) were focused on that other table, the one in the back, the one far enough removed that neither of them could actually hear anything. But, Karma knew, that didn't matter.

What Lauren couldn't hear, she could see. She could imagine. And what Lauren could see was Shane, settling down at that table, taking the spot just to Amy's left, the chair she had slung her backpack over, clearly marking her territory, clearly saving the spot.

That should have been Lauren's spot. Or Karma's. But Lauren wasn't thinking about that, she was thinking about the sister she'd lost and not so much (like at all) the friend (best friend) that Karma had. In fact, as was becoming less and less of a momentary glitch and more and more of a habit, Lauren wasn't thinking about Karma at all.

Despite Karma's best efforts.

And there were efforts. There was the low cut top and there was the leaning forward on the table to accentuate said top. And there was the short skirt paired with the cute pumps and there was, of course, the one pump now resting empty on the floor under the table and the one bare foot running up that one bare leg.

But, unlike Shane's hand on Lauren's shoulder, all that seemed to go… unnoticed.

Except by Liam. He couldn't stop staring. And as annoying as that was, there was a part of Karma that didn't mind.

At least someone was paying attention.

She tapped her pen in a steady beat against her open notebook, the one she'd filled more with doodles and half formed song lyrics than notes on American history. But Karma was too busy for history (and God, how she wished for that to stop being a part of everything and everyone she did.) She was studying a far more complex and layered subject. She was fully enrolled in Lauren Cooper 101. And despite a pretty good understanding of the tiny blonde's history (and there it was again), Karma was fairly certain she was flunking the class.

Miserably.

There was a time, Karma knew, when all Lauren wanted was to be noticed. A time when she would have craved Shane's attention and all the other attentions that would have followed. If Lauren and Shane had become friends then, well, then Lauren would have been popular, she'd have been the queen of all she surveyed. She and Shane would have been the most perfect (platonic) couple, the most perfect team.

Karma knew all that. And she understood all that. Because, once upon a time, that was her.

But this was once upon a much different time, once upon a now, a now without popularity and without power (and without Amy, the one person Karma had always expected to share that once upon with) but, in a bit of an ironic twist, Karma and Lauren both now had the one thing they thought they'd always wanted.

Attention. And a fuckload of it.

"I've heard the whispers," Karma said to Lauren one night. They were on a blanket in her backyard, staring up at a cloudless Austin sky, silently holding hands in the dark, at least until the silence had started weighing on Karma, like that sky pressing down on her and making it hard to breathe. "Everyone's talking about us, and they think we don't know it."

Lauren had squeezed her hand and scooted closer, tugging Karma's arm around her and laying her head against the other girl's chest. "They know," she said. "They always know. They'll try to deny it, they'll say they thought we couldn't hear or we were too wrapped up in each other to even care. But trust me," she said. "They know."

Karma nodded. Lauren had forgotten more about how the high school gossip food chain worked than she would ever know, so she took her word for it. And now, ever since Lauren and Shane have been… whatever the hell it is that they are… since they've spent weeks glued together at the hip, trying to figure out what's up with Amy?

Those whispers have gotten louder. Loud enough to almost be shouts, loud enough so that Karma knows: no one is pretending anymore.

See, it's escaped no one's attention, except maybe Amy's (and Karma isn't sure about that, like at all, cause sure it isn't Amy's style to be manipulative, but damn does this have 'plan' written all over it in big neon letters) that Shane is now basically splitting almost all his time between the sisters. And now people were doing less whispering and even less shouting. Now?

Now, they were talking.

Which, Karma had noted over and over and over again, was something she and Lauren were doing less and less of. And as much as she enjoyed the other… stuff… they did, maybe, she thought, it was time to change that. Maybe it was time for more talk and less inaction. But that meant she would have to get her girlfriend's attention.

"Are you cheating on me with Shane?"

Lauren's head whipped around so fast, Karma was shocked it didn't snap right off but, hey, that was kinda the point, right?

"Shane?" Lauren stared at her across the table and Karma tried not to think of how rare that had become lately, how often Lauren didn't seem to see her at all. "Did you just ask if I was cheating with Shane?"

It sounded ridiculous. It sounded stupid. It sounded impossible.

But then, so had 'Larma'. And so had Karma choosing Lauren over Amy and Lauren choosing Karma over Amy and yeah, maybe that second one seemed a little less… certain… of late, but it had still happened.

Lauren seemed… bothered. Not so much by the question, but more by the interruption, as if talking to her girlfriend was cutting into her stalking time and well, it kinda was. She replied to Karma as she would to anyone else, in that… tone. Her special tone. Her Lauren tone, the 'are you fucking kidding me, right now, with this' tone, the one that most (read: all) people knew translated whatever she actually said into 'ooooh, I'm about to whip somebody's ass.' All of Hester, hell, the world, feared that tone.

Except, apparently, Karma.

She was unimpressed and so, she didn't flinch or stammer, not she probably would have just a few months ago. That Karma, the one who hadn't seen Lauren at her most vulnerable, at her most scared (and most semi-naked) would have caved in and cowered and slunk away.

This was not that Karma.

This Karma met Lauren's glare with one of her own and didn't even think about backing down and there was a part of Lauren that was impressed (and more than a little turned on) but this, she knew was a problem. Not just a problem, but the problem.

The problem with love.

Love, Lauren knew, made you weak. It made smart people dumb, brave people cowards, strong people weak. It made your powers fade and it made your threats (even the ones that were only implied by your tone) hollow and it rendered you totally incapable of using your wit and your words to remain in control.

And if there was one thing Lauren liked more than attention, it was control. Yet, that seemed to be slipping further and further from her grasp and more and more into the hands (or feet) of her sister and her girlfriend. And that, Lauren had decided somewhere between watching Shane take her seat and Karma's so utterly ridiculous question, would just not do.

So, she did what she always did and stood her ground, doubling the fuck down on that very tone. "You do remember that Shane's gay, right? And that he's sure of it?" And maybe if she'd left it there... "Not everyone is as sexually confused as you were, Karma."

Once upon a time (a long time ago) when Karma still thought of herself as nothing more than half of AmyandKarma (and in a galaxy far, far away, where no one had toes) or when Lauren herself hadn't seemed a touch… confused, she might have struck a nerve with that one.

But in this time and galaxy, Karma had learned a thing or two (or, you know, a dozen), things about Lauren and things about herself and things about how to use those things she'd learned to her advantage.

Things like exactly how Lauren reacted when Karma's foot slowly traced its way up her leg. A slow trip from ankle to calf, a delicate and deliberate and so very very painstakingly slow drift from calf to thigh, the fabric of the hem of Lauren's skirt brushing against her toes.

Lauren's face flushed and Karma was almost certain that she could see her girlfriend slowly slipping further down into her chair, moving closer, urging on the contact even as she held her glare.

Until it faltered. Just the tiniest bit. Just enough.

Point, Ashcroft.

"First of all," Karma said, leaning forward, her elbows resting atop the notebook, hands clasped together just under her breasts and why, no, she wasn't intentionally pushing them upward, threatening to tumble free, nope, she wasn't doing that at all. "There are more ways to cheat than just sexually, and we both know it."

That foot slipped a little higher and Lauren managed a nod - there was no way she could, you know, speak - as Karma tugged her chair closer to the table, giving herself a bit more… leg room. A fact that was not lost on Lauren (or her thigh) (or her… a bit higher up thigh) and she bit down on her lip. Hard.

"Second of all," Karma said and Lauren waited for her to finish, but it turned out that 'second of all' was much less about words and much more about a slight twitch of Karma's ankle which had Lauren grabbing onto the edge of the table and simultaneously proved two things.

One: Lauren had… forgotten… underwear today. (The discovery of which meant Karma's were pretty much ruined and pointless in a matter of moments.)

Two: When it came to control? Karma had it all.

"You know," Karma said and yes, that was the very faint ring of gloating in her voice. "When I suggested you wear a skirt today, it was really just so I could stare at your legs." She smirked, flexing her toes and smiling as she felt Lauren's thighs clamp around her foot. "But I have to admit, there are other… benefits."

Benefits like her girlfriend paying attention to her. Total undivided attention and so what if it was only because Karma was giving her the one thing Shane (or Amy) (or her reconciliation with Amy fantasy) couldn't?

A victory, not matter how small or sexual, is still a victory.

It was taking everything Lauren had (and a bit she didn't know she had) to not just give in, settle back in her chair and enjoy the ride. Sure, everyone in the library would know (one thing Lauren had learned in the last month was that Karma brought out the… loud in her) but Lauren was about three seconds - and five toes - from officially being out of fucks to give about that.

And then Amy giggled. She was staring at her phone, like that was new - the fucking thing was a third hand at this point - and giggling.

Giggling. Like… giggling. Cheerful. Happy. Not sad or miserable or missing, you know, anyone, in the slightest giggles. The sound echoed through the quiet library, earning the blonde a 'hush!' from the librarian and pulling Lauren's eyes back there like a black fucking hole sucking up everything within sight.

It wasn't noticeable, it wasn't like Lauren lept from the table and darted back there to see what the fun was about. She didn't even turn her head, it was just her eyes and just for a moment.

But that moment was enough.

Karma sighed and let her foot drop from between Lauren's legs, finding her shoe on the floor and slipping into it. She shoved her books in her bag and pushed back from the table, noting, ironically, that now she had Lauren's attention again.

"Karma -"

"You're right," Karma said, cutting her off in mid-apology (assuming Lauren's next few words were actually going to be an apology) (which, as far as Karma was concerned, wasn't a safe bet at all.) "That was just silly of me, the you and Shane thing."

She glanced back once at Amy, who just happened to pick that moment to look up, their eyes meeting for the first time in forever. And for the first time in even more forever, Karma didn't want to stay there, she didn't want to let her gaze linger.

"I mean, clearly," she said, breaking eye contact with a slow shake of her head as she turned and walked away. "It's not Shane I have to worry about."