CHAPTER TWO

Lauren woke up alone in bed, memories of the previous night flooding back. Had she really slept with Liam? She could definitely remember doing so, but was that a dream? What was more unlikely, her actually doing it or her dreaming about it? Either way, he wasn't there, a fact that she was surprised to realise disappointed her.

A moment later, Liam came into the room, wearing only his boxers and carrying a tray. "Breakfast in bed?"

Lauren felt as though the gesture should irritate her. Somehow though, she found it endearing. She examined the contents of the tray. "You made croissants?"

Liam hesitated. "I opened a packet of croissants,"he admitted.

Lauren was surprised to realise that he was actually trying to impress her. Even more incredibly, he was actually succeeding. She patted the bed and Liam sat down next to her, placing the tray on her lap. He gestured to one of the croissants. "Do you mind?" Lauren shook her head and he took it, taking a bite, before looking at her awkwardly. "So…last night."

Lauren took a bite of croissant herself before answering. "It was…good?"she offered at last.

Liam nodded eagerly. "Definitely good, yeah."

"Well, I thought so,"Lauren agreed nonchalantly.

"So…is it likely to happen again?"

Lauren simply gave him a coy smile.


Karma got dressed in her room, feeling more than a little put out. This was not how she was expecting the morning to go. To be fair though, twenty-four hours ago, it wasn't how she'd expected the night to go either. She'd been so sure that her feelings for Amy were entirely platonic. And she'd been sure that setting her and Sabrina up together was the right thing to do. As Amy had said, Sabrina could give her what Karma couldn't, a close friend who loved her like a girlfriend.

It had only been when she'd heard Sabrina's speech, talking about how a relationship that had started out fake had become something she really wanted, that Karma had realised something she'd never thought about before.

She enjoyed kissing Amy.

They'd done it enough times, after all. And right from that first kiss in the gym, when they were running for homecoming queens, she'd felt a spark, felt like it was a real kiss. The fact that she, Karma Ashcroft, self-declared 100% straight, was perfectly happy kissing another girl had never quite dawned on her before.

Hence last night and her first sexual experience with another girl and it turned out she'd enjoyed that as well. And she'd enjoyed even more that it was Amy. Her future seemed set out for her.

And yet, somehow, it had ended in rejection.

Karma headed out into the living area and quickly found Amy there. "Is Farrah around?"she asked.

"She's gone out,"Amy replied. "Said to say bye."

Karma nodded. "So are we going to talk about last night?"

"Nothing to talk about,"Amy replied as though being deliberately difficult. "It's forgotten."

"It is not forgotten!"Karma insisted. "I didn't sleep with you just so we could forget about it!"

Amy looked at her sceptically. "Really, Karma? Why did you do it then?"

Karma hesitated but honesty was called for. "I guess…because I wanted to see if I could actually do it. If I could make love to you and enjoy it. And I did! I realised it's what I want, that I want you!"

Amy shook her head. "How many times now have you told me that's not what you want? That you don't love me that way. I poured my heart out to you at Mum and Bruce's wedding and you turned me down. You kissed me in the pool out there and told me it didn't mean anything. I get it, Karma. You'll pretend to be my girlfriend if it suits you. But you're not going to go out there now, out and proud with me."

"What are you accusing me of?"Karma demanded. "Only being your girlfriend in public or only wanting to be with you in private? That was not nothing! That was me making love to my soul mate, to the person I want to be with! We'll go right out there now, I'll tell everyone how I love you! I'll do whatever it takes to prove this to you!"

"I can't do this, Karma,"Amy insisted. "I can't let myself hope there'll be something more than friendship between us again only for you to turn round and say it meant nothing. We're friends, that's all."

Karma felt the anger build up inside her. "Fine,"she snapped and stormed out of the house.


Karma waited in the café until Felix showed up, waving at him to join her at her table. They hadn't made plans to meet, and she hadn't even intended to see him that day, but after her run-in with Amy, she'd felt the need to contact him. And if that meant she was living down to Amy's expectations, so what? It seemed she couldn't win whatever she did.

Felix gave her a smile that she would have characterised as hopeful and which made her feel a bit bad about turning to him as some sort of rebound. She still wasn't quite sure if she saw him in a romantic light but he had been a good friend to her over the last few months.

"Hey, I wasn't sure if you'd call,"he greeted her.

"Well, I did,"Karma replied, aware that she could have been more positive than that.

"Yeah." Felix looked around awkwardly. "Should we get a coffee or something?"

"We should,"Karma agreed. "But first we should talk about The Kiss."

Felix seemed to be waiting for her to say something else, then when she didn't he pressed ahead. "I meant what I said. I'd been wanting to kiss you all along. But if you didn't…"

"I…" Karma struggled to frame her answer. "I hadn't thought about it but I agree we've been getting closer later so…maybe we should go out on a date?"

Felix nodded. "I'd like that."


Amy was still quietly seething over her argument with Karma, over the fact she'd been stupid enough to give in to those still lingering feelings for her, when Lauren came barrelling into the house. "Are we alone?"she demanded.

Amy sighed. "Lauren, I am really not in the mood…"

"I don't care about your feelings,"Lauren snapped. "I need someone to talk to." She paused dramatically. "I slept with Liam."

Amy looked at her carefully. "For real? This isn't some new image thing, is it?"

Lauren waved a hand airily. "Yes, yes, I know, no-one was fooled by the fake relationship thing. You know it was fake, Karma knows it was fake, Lizabeth knows it was fake and she wasn't even here. No, this is about what happened last night, which was very very real." She sank onto the couch.

Still trying to get a handle on things, Amy sat down next to her. "You had new year sex?"

Lauren looked at her in bewilderment. "That's a thing?"

"I didn't think so until…" – Amy suddenly wanted out of the conversation but she'd started now – "until I had it," she concluded.

Lauren sighed in exasperation. "I don't want to hear about you having sex with Sabrina."

Amy knew she couldn't leave it like that. "I didn't have sex with Sabrina. I…had sex with Karma."

Lauren looked at her open-mouthed, somehow managing to be even more exasperated. "Seriously? I have sex with Liam and you manage to steal my thunder?"

Amy waved a hand dismissively, doing her best not to undermine Lauren. "Me and Karma, that's not news. Half the school still think we've been doing it for ages. You and Liam? That one no-one saw coming."

"Including me,"Lauren admitted.

Amy let out a small laugh. "I can't believe all three of us lost our virginity to him."

Lauren looked at her, her eyes narrowed. "Three?"

Amy was aware she was on shaky ground again. "You, me and…"

"…and Karma,"Lauren concluded. "Again it comes back to her."

Amy tried to say something uncontroversial. "So…how did it happen?"

Lauren seemed to relax a bit. "I guess it started with that kiss at midnight. That was fake but…I enjoyed it more than I was expecting and I think he did too. So when we got home, I suggested we do something else we might enjoy." She smiled, looking as happy as Amy had ever seen her. "And he was really sweet about it all, he even offered to go and get some condoms…"

Amy felt an alarm bell ringing, even though she wasn't quite sure why. "But he didn't?"

"Well, no. Like I said to him, I can't get pregnant."

That probably should have caused Amy to back off but for some reason she just kept digging deeper. "Well, they're not just for that."

Lauren was full-on glaring at her now. "What do you mean?"

"Well, like I said, he's been with Karma and me and goodness knows who else, I think that Rachel girl from where he worked was the last one, or maybe there's been one since then…"

"An STI?"Lauren spat, getting to her feet and looking down at Amy. "I tell you I lost my virginity and your response is to tell me I might have an STI?! What about you and Karma, were you careful?"

"I'm…not quite sure what that entails…"

"You two are the ones who sleep around, maybe you've given each other crabs! In fact, I hope you have!" And with that, she stormed out.

Amy was left to reflect that she could have handled that better.