This chapter was supposed to be a lot longer. But I've been so busy lately, I thought I'd split it into two so that I could at least get a little something up. Thank you so much to those who follow and the support! I really do love Karma and Amy's dynamic, the possibilities to explore are endless. As always, if you like, review, follow, favourite! If you have any theories in mind or anything you'd like to see, let me know ;) I love reading them.

Everybody has a few personality defects. Some people have more than others. Or maybe, Amy thinks, some defects are just so much more noticeable than others- but maybe everyone is equally fucked up.

And then she thinks about murderers.

Okay, so maybe everyone isn't equally fucked up.

But the point still stands; everyone has a few rusty parts, a few dented visions, a few chipped pieces.
Everybody in the world comes at some point to suffering, she knows this, well and true. And some people get better from it, while others never quite recover.

"It's a mean world, Amy," Her father had told her, so long ago that she couldn't quite distinguish how old she may have been. But his breath was rancid with the scent of alcohol and her mother was there, scolding him, "What the hell are you doing? What are you doing?"

When she was a bit older, maybe twelve, she found a cold humour in a repeated message being spewed to her from the woman. "Sometimes it's a cruel world. But there's
nothing you can do about it, Amy. So try not to let it get to you,"

So maybe she was never sheltered.

She understood that everybody wore bruises under their skin, the ones the hurt if you poked at them, the soft spots in the flesh of the mind that broadcasted the pain, and how you reacted. Amy tried not to think about the hurt, everyone's hurt- and it was easy to look past it, really. Because they were burdens. To carry someone else's pain on top of your own wasn't necessary. Survival was necessary.

And you can only take so many bruises.

But there were a few Amy didn't mind letting in. They didn't hurt much. They just made her understand better. But sometimes it made her sad if she really thought about it; it was like a bad habit of hers, the thinking- more specifically, the thinking herself into a mild to moderate depression.

The croqembouche disaster did, as Karma promised, blow over much faster than she expected.
Well, maybe not entirely; but it was swept under the rug enough for it to never be mentioned again, and instead she was treated with short answers and exasperated sighs and rushed dismissals.
She wasn't sure what was worse. But she was at least glad that she wasn't getting yelled at.

And so Amy let Farrah and Lauren bond. She watched them discuss flowers. She didn't offer any suggestions or opinions; she ate her dinner in silence at the table and instead took her breakfast into her bedroom and ate by herself. She texted Karma. Karma texted back. Everything was okay.
Swallowing her feelings meant she had to acknowledge them- and Amy could do that, but it still didn't feel quite real. Shane didn't prod too much- he left her alone, which was alright. She wasn't sure if she needed help.

Of course, she still hated the sight if Liam- and although she was trying to condition herself not to, (Just accept this, it's okay, Karma can make her own choices,) but it wasn't seeming to do her much good.

Her life was quickly becoming a wash of many greys and fluttering heartbeats and while Karma was wonderful (and horrible) everything else was so God damn mundane.

"Geeze, Aims," Karma had remarked one day between classes, reaching out to gently rest the back of her hand against Amy's forehead, "Are you sick?"

"No," Amy replied, allowing Karma to do what she will, "I don't think so,"

There was still a crease of worry between her brows as she dropped her hand, mouth twisting, "Have you been sleeping okay?"

Amy shrugged, "Fine, I think."

"You look exhausted,"

"You really know how to flatter a girl," She joked, smiling. Karma's worry was like an antidote in itself. Which made her wonder just how sick that meant she was.

At this, the girl rolled her eyes, linking their arms together- she leaned into Amy. "Zen's coming home soon, he's been in Brazil,"

Zen.

If Lauren was Amy's mortal enemy by relation- Zen was Karma's. And he may have been her older adopted brother, but the two got along about as well as the Axis and Allies. But- who could blame Karma? He was awful, and while her parents were just too sweet and eccentric to see that their adopted son was really a douchelord of epic proportions (he even beat Liam- by a long shot), it was clear to Amy, and Karma, and she'd hope just about everyone else. One of her earliest memories of him was when they were very young- perhaps just blooming in their friendship- and he had repeatedly knocked Karma into the sandbox just because. And then he took their Barbies and broke their arms off, chastising them about how stupid they were. He was a destructive bully as a child, and had only grown to be some kind of self-righteous, arrogant, self-involved dick.

Amy could share just a little bit of her best friend's despair upon his return.

"I see," Amy sympathized, holding onto her a bit tighter.

"Mmm-hmm. So, expect me to be hiding out at your house a bit more often?" She said this last part as a question, as though to hint to the undoubtedly infamous croqembouche incident. Karma was, by some means, guilty by association- but her mom didn't really roll that way to hold a grudge. If Karma wasn't going to be allowed over- it would have more to do with Amy than with Karma herself.

"I'll prepare Netflix and stock on snacks," She promised in return- even though she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep it.

"I don't know when," Karma clarified, "All he said on the phone was that he'd be home 'soon'. Classic Zen- that could mean a month, two months- a week," She threw a lock of hair over her shoulder, "The longer the better,"

"I'm sure he's not terribly missed," Amy mused- just as the gong sounded from the PA. Karma sighed, breaking away from her, "Not at all. I'll see you next block,"

"Have fun in geometry," Amy bid- knowing full well that she would, because she shared the class with Liam. She felt a bitterness in letting her friend go, but she swallowed that, pressing a smile as she waved her off.
Zen may have been terrible, but if he presented an opportunity to have Karma spending more time with Amy, she found herself plucking at a very shameful piece of selfish gratitude.
She would do what she could do, for now. And she would be happy about it.

"Threesome," Karma proposed confidently, one sunny Saturday afternoon. They had just finished picking up iced coffees from that new place a few blocks from Karma's house, and were in the middle if walking back, when the bomb had dropped from her mouth and (once again) Amy choked when she had been in the middle of swallowing.

"Pardon?" She croaked, "What about a threesome?"

"That's what I'm saying," Karma spoke more slowly now, as if to emphasise every word- as if she very well knew this may be the proposal that broke everything up, because it was insane, and she knew that, and Amy knew that she knew that because how could she not, "Just hear me out,"

"You seriously want me to hear you out about a threesome?"

This was far from typical Karma behaviour. But it was over the top- much like Karma, so maybe she should have seen something like this coming, which frustrates her all the more. "Karma-"

"No- give me like, two minutes," Karma cuts her off, pleading. Amy feels her fingers grasp her cup a bit tighter. But she would let her proceed- if not just so that she could entirely, clearly, shoot down the idea afterwards. She knew how Karma worked; she needed to feel like she'd gotten her point across before accepting any criticism.

Breathing in deeply through her nose, Amy gives a brisk nod, "Fine. Proceed,"

"Okay," Karma jumps on her chance to explain, "So, we're a couple, yeah? But then there's me and Liam. We can't keep all of this a secret forever,"

No, Amy agreed, they sure couldn't. She was at least glad that Karma had clued into that much.

"But- think of it this way; we have the totally scandalous threesome. You and I breakup,"

"Ouch," Amy stated aloud, without really meaning to. Karma gave her am indiscernible look from the corner of her eye- Amy jumped back into her footsteps, "Harsh way to breakup with your girlfriend, Karms,"

"Listen;" She continued to urge, holding up both of her hands as if she meant no harm, "this threesome would be the perfect excuse for something that went too far- got too weird- giving us couple gasoline to throw onto the fire of our burning relationship,"

Double ouch. She kept that one more to herself. Talk about brutal.

"But that way, people wouldn't be so surprised when Liam and I get together."

Even the hypothetical treatment of their totally fake relationship seemed to dig at Amy's heart. Was she being too sensitive? That was... cruel, wasn't it?

"No," She muttered, feeling a little bit personally attacked, "Absolutely not."

Karma's face fell, but not by much; she clearly wasn't holding out much hope that this plan would work. Good. Because hell would have to freeze over before Amy would ever in her right mind agree to that. Not to mention- the other girl obviously didn't think it through- she would be villainized by Hester's entire population. She could see it now; Karmy threesome plus Liam, Karmy break up, Kliam. Poor, Amy. What a sham of the Homecoming Queen.

Although, with the acidic way Karma had talked about the operation of their breakup- and Amy in general, actually- she kind of welcomed that thought. Bitter. Petty. Calm down, Amy.

"Okay," Karma murmured, sticking the straw of her iced coffee into her mouth, and continuing down the street in silence.

There were a few (many) things that bothered her about this. But Amy was able to chop down all of the confusion and befuddlement and the- honestly- mild anger she felt about the situation to a few key, baffling questions.

First, had Karma considered the fact that a threesome would require Liam seeing her, as in Amy, naked? Entirely naked. (Was Amy really that little of a threat?) And, Lord help her for even thinking this- but it would also likely entail kissing and sexual touching between the two of them?

Had she not even considered what losing her virginity might mean to Amy? Because no, she wasn't about to throw it away on some trashy threesome so that Karma could use it as leverage to somehow clean up the mess she had made in the first place. Again- not that it would clean anything, but Amy supposed that this evidently meant that Karma hadn't thought it all the way through.

Had Karma recently suffered a head injury that Amy was unaware of?

And, lastly, much like the first point in trouble; had the other girl considered that a threesome meant that she and Amy would have to kiss? There could be, perhaps, intimacies that the two of them had never even thought of exploring together.

(Ring ring, it's your conscience calling Amy; what about that dream?)

Okay, so, maybe it had very vaguely crossed Amy's mind. But not much.

There was no way that Karma had thought out this threesome plan and not jumped to that conclusion- right? It was like basic knowledge, wasn't it?

"You're kidding me," Shane gawked- his complexion already looked like it was glowing from the delicious dish of drama he had just soaked up.

Amy's thoughts had been a nonstop loop ever since their walk home from the coffee shop- two days ago. It was killing her.

There was no way Karma could have premeditated such an idea without it crossing her mind. Did it really not bother her?

"Sadly, no," Amy mumbled; the boy already seemed like he wouldn't be much help. Instead she'd just given him a feast on what he loved most, "I'm just really... astounded."

"Nice choice of word,"

"Thanks."

"But you said..?"

"No!" Amy said loudly, throwing her hands into the air, "Obviously."

Shane raised his own hands in defense, taken aback by the sharpness of Amy's tone, "Geeze, I was just checking."

She shook her head, helplessly slumping into her hands once again, "I just don't understand, Shane. To even suggest that, I mean, she had to have thought about it, wouldn't she?"

Something glimmered behind his eyes, as though this was something he hadn't yet contemplated. And the thought of that must have been absolutely juicy by the way his eyes were gleaming.
Amy wasn't even sure why she came to him for advice. She was starting to think that she had only begun running to Shane because he was- literally- the only other person she could go to. Going to her mom or Lauren about her threesome troubles?

Yeah, right.

And obviously Karma was out of the picture on that one, as well.

"No," The boy finally replied slowly, resting his elbows on the courtyard table between them and taking a thoughtful pause, "You're right. There's no way she looked that over,"

It was a relief to know she wasn't overthinking it entirely, "Thank you," She sighed- but the satisfaction felt terribly short-lived. It may have been a confirmation, but it was no answer. "I just don't see where she could've come from with that whole idea, you know?"

Shane nodded.

"It is just something so left field for her to pitch- even for Karma," She wished Shane knew Karma a bit better so that he could really understand the gravity of how bizarre the entire situation was. "A threesome would mean me, her, and Liam. All of us. Naked. All at once,"

Shane grimaced, waving a hand in front of her face, "No visuals needed, thanks. I get the picture."

"Right. Sorry," Amy shook her head, as if she could clear the fog from it, "But how could she miss that?"

"There's no way." He repeated again, that mischievous little smirk making it's way back onto his face, "You want to know what I think?"

"Please," Any and all advice was needed.

Shane leaned forward, coyly looking from side to side as though to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation (all for effect), "I don't think," He whispered, "She would have brought it up if she didn't feel something for you, Amy,"

There was suddenly a heat in her cheeks; she quickly averted her gaze with him, to avoid getting redder. It was what she dreaded wanting to hear. But she was so glad he said it. Oh, so painfully glad.

"Something," He continued, taking a tactful hesitation, before shrugging, and leaning away again, resuming a normal tone, "well, at least questioning something sexual. Sounds to me like a great excuse,"

"You think so?" Her breath hitched in her chest- she felt flustered, in the best way.

He gives a firm nod, "Oh, yeah. It's textbook,"

Textbook? She thought of Karma- and her obsession over Liam, and she couldn't quite buy in on it. Not entirely. It would be too convenient, too good to be true.

"So what should I do?" She asked anyway- she had a gut feeling that she wouldn't like the answer.

To this, Shane's lips curled deviously, "Surprise her," He nonchalantly brushes some lint off of his shoulder, "Tell her you've reconsidered. Use it as an oppurtunity to see how she feels,"

"But," Her mouth seemed to dry up a little bit, "Liam," Even the thought of him naked- let alone potentially having his grubby hands touch her body- or, even worse- watching him rub his grubby hands all over Karma's body was daunting. The furthest possible thing from a good time.

He waved his hands, "Don't think about that too much. You can always back out,"

Amy raised her brows questioningly, "During? After I can't unsee some of the things I may see?"

He rolled his eyes, "Yes, during. If you don't want to see anything request a blindfold,"

She frowned at the thought, trying to throw that mental image out of the window. Shane sighed, and rose from his seat, "Think about it. I'm just giving advice. But I have to run- I've got yoga in five,"

"Okay," She murmurs, "See you."

When God closes a door, she finds herself thinking as she watches Shane saunter away, he opens a window.

And this window he was opening was surrounded in neon and had a waiting threesome on the other side.

But maybe Shane was right; it was so nice to hear it from someone else and not her own mind. Karma wouldn't have suggested it if she wasn't in some way attracted, or at least wondering if she was or not. And Amy would take what she could get. It was just too bad the situation was so damn unappealing.
However... It could be the only chance she gets.
Sighing, she gathers up some of the candy garbage wrappers that had accumulated around her in the storytelling. She probably had a class she ought to get to, as well.

"Hey, you!" A chipper voice exclaims, wrapping one arm around Amy's waist and pulling her into a sort of half-embrace.

Amy jumps, nearly dropping her wrappers all over the concrete, "Hi!" She responds quickly, her voice rising an octave in her surprise.

Here it is. Her window, ready, waiting for her.

"Are you ditching trig?" Karma inquires, slowly releasing Amy from the grasp. She immediately misses the contact, but takes a deep, grounding breath through her nose.

"When am I not ditching trig?" Try to play it cool. Try to play it cool.

So much for thinking time.

She steals a moment before turning to face her friend, wincing for a moment as the single word exits her mouth, "Hey,"

Karma's face is full of interest, eyebrows upwards and eyes wide. Amy has to take another breath- avoiding any possible glimpse at her mouth as she could. This may have ended in an intense staredown, "So I was thinking,"

Karma cocks her head slightly, "Uh-huh?"

Amy forces herself to blink, look around a little bit, try to act like what she was about to say wasn't a big deal. How could she go about this without... coming across like she was caving? "Let's have a threesome!"

Good one, genius.

You see, it wasn't so often that Amy admitted (even to herself) that she was doing something so profoundly stupid. She didn't find herself in a lot of situations that would call for the term "profoundly stupid", actually. She liked to stay away from those. Observe them more than partake.

But this one really took the cake.

She watched as several emotions crossed Karma's face- the most prevalent of those being bafflement, trying to keep whatever cool she managed to fake.
The worst part was when Karma accepted.

That was the moment Amy realized she'd been hoping that Karma would throw her hands up, yell "Psyche!" or, "Gotcha!" or, even a less enthusiastic, "Amy, I was kidding," but none of that came. It kind of made her feel nauseous all over again.

You're doing this for Karma, she'd repeated to herself for the duration of the day- casting nervous looks over at her best friend, who was often preoccupied staring at Liam, or into space; probably thinking about Liam.

When Karma dragged her along to meet with him- she'd repeated it to herself even louder, as she stared at the boy's features and could only think of the disgusting sex face he must have.

"Bring condoms," She'd told him, because the last thing she needed was either one of them ending up with a Baby Booker in the oven.

The less- but somehow equally- worrying part was the immediate lingerie shopping that her friend has insisted.

"I don't understand," Amy complained, following her best friend through the various aisles of sexed up mannequins, "Just because we're having a threesome- why does that mean we have to wear lingerie?"

"I don't know," She responded, a little bit sharply, "Haven't you ever seen porn?"

Amy felt the heat rise to her cheeks thinking about it, "No,"

Karma stopped in front of a mannequin, glancing over her shoulder, face dropping a little bit. As if she had (she totally did) indirectly admitted that she had watched porn.
(Maybe even threesome lesbian porn?)

"Oh." Blinking, the girl kept moving, attempting to cover-up that slip, "Well, I don't know, Aims. It's sexy,"

"We're already going to be having sex," Amy muttered, staring at the freaky-kinky chain lingerie that embroidered a nearby mannequin. It looked like it would chaff nipples. There was no way it could be comfortable, "What the hell needs to be sexier? Buddy should just be glad he's getting laid,"

"Fine," Karma held up a hand, "It's for ambience,"

"Can't we just light candles?"

Sighing, Karma raised her hands in defeat, "Fine. You don't have to buy lingerie, Amy,"

"Thank you," Because spending eighty dollars on 'ambience' so that grubby Booker can put his sausage hands all over her- and probably manage to sloppily break the clasps or something- wasn't worth it, she didn't think. However, if Karma was so gung ho about wasting her money, then who was Amy to stop her?

(The voice of reason, maybe?)

So Amy loitered around the store a bit longer, forcing herself not to care about Karma oohing and aahing about the various different garter belts and corset tops. Uncomfortably picking at her cuticles, the longer she stood around, the more she felt like the faceless mannequins were judging her, pressuring her into thinking "It's only sex, Amy. Why so uptight?"

Especially the one with the blue fluffy bra, and skimpy little see through undies. Ironically, Victoria's Secret just had to pick angels to advertise their dirty deeds- taking something with so much chastity and then exploiting it, it felt.

And were one of those girls on the walls virgins?

No, probably not.

They were all too good looking, let's be honest. Amy thought about the Liam Booker's that must have acquainted themselves with those girls, only to forget about them- remember them solely as maybe, something along the lines of; that hot chick from calculus class. Or hot chick from that one party. And then, years later, see them in some ad or some commercial flaunting their wings and their damn lingerie, and the name comes back to them; forever allowing them to gloat, "Hey, I slept with that one Victoria's Secret Angel in high school,"

Must have been quite the ego boost, for an already (likely) overrated douche in cargo shorts.

"Amy," The voice cut through the air and slapped her out of her reverie. She tore her eyes away from the girl on the wall (just then realizing she'd been off in space while staring at the rack of Candice Swanepoel), "Come look at this with me,"

"Huh?" She blinked, still trying to catch up to the present, as Karma was grabbing her hand and dragging her along to the dressing rooms.

"Okay, I'm changing," The girl told her, firmly planting her friend on the other side of the door, "I'll let you in when it's on. I'm going to need your opinion,"

She felt one significantly stronger pang in her heart, as Karma hastily shut the door, and Amy came to the realization that she was about to be smack-dab in front of her friend, in lingerie, asking for an opinion. Amy would have to make sure she had use of her tongue- and she wasn't so thrown off the tracks to give herself away.
And, she told herself firmly, no boob staring.

The sound of the lock on the dressing room door being undone made her breath hitch again, and she almost rushed in at the sound. But she had to stop herself, wait for the authorization for her to enter; because barging in at that tiny, almost inaudible sound, might have given things away a little bit.

Karma peeked her head out of the door, grinning shyly, "Okay, come tell me what you think,"

Amy wasn't sure how she would respond if she hadn't recently come to the awkward sexual confusion, so she said nothing, keeping her head low as she gently pushed open the door, and her friend stepped aside to make more room.

The two of them in one stall was definitely a tight fit.

And the corset that Karma had chosen was definitely a tight fit. But in all the right places. Accentuating the curves around her waist and lifting her breasts, it fit snugly, as, Amy was sure, it was intended to.
She had to avert her eyes quickly before they caught onto the cleavage for just a little bit too long, instead finding Karma's face, which was full of uncertainty but a certain kind of hopefulness- but, under it all, Amy couldn't miss the smallest hints of insecurity as her eyes darted around and her smile lifted and fell, and lifted- knowing that she was exposing herself in a new kind of light that no one, and that included Amy (but she wished it had- a little bit sooner) had ever seen.

"It looks really good," She said reassuringly, yearning to see the hesitancy gone from her eyes, "I like that it's, you know, it's not too showy- but it's still got that sexy thing going on," She blurbed, pointing at the corset, "Look at that bow. That's cute, I really like that. It's not, you know, like too much- but it's still very, uhm," She mentally grasped for another word, apart from using sexy again- Karma's eyes were searching her, the smile spreading slowly over her face, "Bold, I guess. But in a good way. It looks like it'll be easy to shimmy out of, if that's uh- needed. I guess it will be," She felt the heat in her cheeks rise, "Uh, yeah, I like it. It's nice. Is it expensive?"

Amy felt her eyes wanting to wander, take it all in again, but she tried her hardest to keep them meeting Karma's. The girl shrugged, "It's all kind of expensive. But this one's on sale,"

"Oh. Well, that's a bonus,"

The other girl still appeared indecisive, she sighed heavily, "You think Liam will like it?"

The name being used in such an (almost. Not really) intimate pairing of the two of them sent an unexpected rush of anger through her mind, whereas her first response was to grumble, "Fuck Liam," - and she almost said it, almost- before realizing that was exactly Karma's plan.

And then she found herself very sad.

"If he doesn't," She started slowly, allowing herself another small peek at the corset- or should she say, Karma in the corset- "He's even stupider than I thought."

Amy watched as the look of hesitancy slowly melted away in the form of a creeping, shy smile. She found herself smiling along with her, watching it appear, feeling her own cheeks rise in response. "If you like it," She urged again, "Get it. And if Liam doesn't like it, find yourself a guy who will,"

Or girl.

Or me.

I like it.

Her friend shook her head, still smiling, "See," She murmured, "This is why I need you. You're the best friend ever,"

Maybe she was, Amy thought, looking at her friend in dressed so finely, so dirtily, so cheekily, trying not to let her eyes stick. Trying not to think about that corset on the floor. Trying not to think about Liam. And definitely, totally, trying not to think of herself present- not with any third party human that wasn't confined in this dressing room. Trying to be happy that her friend would be getting what she wanted, but failing, miserably.

Or maybe she was the worst.