A Story Book Love

We need a break.

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"Hey Amy, wait up." I turned around to see who was calling my name, and I smiled once I saw Karma walking over to me.
"Hey. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out after school today?" she asked.
"Yeah I'd love to."
"Cool. Meet me after school and we can just take the bus to my house."
"Alright. Sounds like a plan."
She smiles and gives me a quick hug before heading off to her next class.
Karma and I have been spending a lot of time together since that day she asked me to sit with her at lunch. I had already figured out that she was a cool person, but I had no idea just how well we would get along. It's like we've been friends for years, but it's really only been a couple of weeks.
I texted my mom as I walked to my next class, to let her know I was going to a friend's house after school. I didn't tell her which friend because she already thinks I'm spending too much time with Karma when I should be making other friends, but I don't really care what she has to say. We never see eye to eye, but I'm not going to let her stop me from hanging out with the first real friend I've had in ages.
The rest of my day is pretty uneventful, I eat lunch with Shane and Karma, I asked Karma where Liam was but she just said he was busy. She was quiet for the rest of lunch, but I just assumed she missed Liam or something.
I walk into my last period of the day and take my seat in the back next to Shane. He's a great guy, and we've become good friends thanks to Karma introducing us.
"Hey Amy. How's life?" Shane asks with a smile as I sit down.
"Pretty good, how about you?" I ask.
"I'm okay, except my plans for this afternoon just fell through. I don't suppose you'd like to go to the mall or something with me?" he asks hopefully.
"I'm sorry Shane, I already told Karma I would hang out with her." I say apologetically.
"Oh, that explains it then." Shane says, but I don't think he's really talking to me, just thinking out loud.
"Explains what?" I ask, and he snaps his head back over to me.
"I was supposed to hang out with Liam this afternoon, but he canceled on me. He said that he and Karma had a fight and she broke up with him."
"What? They looked so happy together, what did they fight about?" I ask shocked.
"Liam didn't say, but he has been complaining lately that Karma keeps blowing him off to hang out with you."
I suddenly feel really bad, did they really break up because of me. I know Karma and I have spent a lot of time together lately, but she never once mentioned Liam being upset.
Shane must notice that I'm upset because he reaches over a pats my shoulder.
"Don't worry Amy. It's not your fault, Karma has seemed a little distant lately. She probably just used hanging out with you as an excuse so she wouldn't hurt Liam's feelings."
I know Shane's trying to reassure me, but that doesn't make me feel any better.
After school I walk over to the bus ramp and search for Karma. I spot her in the parking lot arguing with Liam. After a few seconds she turns and walks away from him. She looks upset but when she spots me she smiles and waves.
"Hey Amy. Ready to hang out?" she asks once she reaches me.
"Yeah. Sure." I reply and we step onto the bus.
When we get to her house we go straight up to her bedroom. We are lying on her bed just chatting about school and stuff.
"Hey Karm, Shane told me you broke up with Liam. Are you okay?" I ask her.
"Oh yeah. I'm fine." She replied, but she didn't sound so sure.
"What happened? I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But I'm here for you."
She smiles at me, "I know. We had been slowly drifting apart for a while, and then earlier today he got angry that I made plans with you instead of him, and I just sort of lost it. I told him I would rather hang with you any day because we have fun together, he yelled some more, and then I just said I was done. I actually feel a little relieved."
Karma actually did look happy, I still felt bad for coming in between her and Liam, but I decided to just let it go. It seems like this is what Karma wanted, and I'm not going to complain.
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Rita smiled as she clicked submit on the latest chapter for her story. After hanging out with Katie the night before, she had been inspired this morning, and she was really liking how her story was coming along.
She wasn't sure why, but every time after she hung out with Katie she would get great ideas for her story. It probably had to do with the fact that she and Katie hanging out was a lot like Amy and Karma hanging out.
She didn't dwell on it too much though, whatever it was, it was working for her. She had gotten good feedback for the first chapter she had posted, and this new chapter had only been up for a few minutes and it already had a bunch of likes.
She sighed and shut her laptop, standing up from the couch, she made her way into her kitchen. She didn't have any plans for the rest of the day, so she decided to make herself some food and just relax in front of the TV.
This is her last week off, next Monday they start the first table read for season two. She is really excited to get started, and she can't wait to see what the writers are going to do for the new season. She has a new found respect for the writers now, she never realized how frustrating yet ultimately rewarding it could be to write stories like this. When she was at Duke the only writing she did was for lab reports, and Organic chemistry is nowhere near as entertaining as writing her Fan fiction is.
-
Katie was sitting on the couch next to her brother Ryan, she hadn't spent a lot of time with her brother recently, and with the show starting back up next week she knew she was going to be very busy. So they had planned to spend the day together.
They were currently watching an old James Bond film. Ryan scoffed loudly at the screen,
"Yeah, it's sooo easy to hack into a computer. You can totally do it in twenty seconds like that." He said staring at the screen.
"Would you shut up Ryan, you picked this movie." Katie said, playfully hitting her brother's shoulder.
"Hold on, do you know how to open a file if its password protected?" Katie asks looking up at her brother.
"Depends how well its protected, and why you need to know." Ryan says, pausing the movie he turns to face his sister.
"It's just a file on Rita's laptop with a simple password. She's hiding something from me and I have to know what it is." Katie tells him.
"I'm not going to help you snoop on Rita. I actually like her, she's the only friend you have that isn't ridiculously annoying."
"It's not like that Ryan, you know Rita always tells me everything, but she's being really secretive about this and I'm worried about her. Please help" Katie hits him with the patented puppy dog eyes.
"Okay, I'll think about it" Ryan relents.
"Thanks, you're the best" She hugs him, "And the people I hang out with aren't annoying..."
They both turn around as they hear the front door open, and Paul walks into the house.
"You were saying?" Ryan smirks over at Katie, "I'm gonna go to my room, while you guys talk." He walks out of the room.
"What are you doing here Paul? I thought you didn't get back until tomorrow" Katie asks.
"I caught an early flight, I wanted to spend some time with you." Paul says as he walks over and gives Katie a hug.
Katie pulls back, "That's really sweet, but I already made plans."
Paul's smile fades as he stares down at Katie, "Let me guess, with Rita. You know you guys are only girlfriends on TV right. I'm your actual boyfriend." He says rather loudly.
"No actually, I have plans with my brother. But who cares if I hang out with Rita, she's my friend, and she doesn't ditch me every other week" Katie spits back angrily.
"I don't ditch you Katie, you used to love watching my band play and now you never want to come."
"I have things to do here Paul. I can't just follow you around the country, but even when you are here there's always something happening and we never see each other."
"I'm trying Katie, but lately you only seem to have time for Rita." He says Rita name with a disgusted tone.
"I'm not talking about this again, Rita is my best friend and I will hang out with her whenever I want to. Now I think you should leave, I have plans with Ryan."
"Fine" Paul turns and walks out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
Ryan comes out of his room and gives his sister a hug. "Are you okay?" he asks her.
"Yeah I'm fine. Lets just finish the movie." She says and she walks over to the couch.
"I'm sorry Paul is being such a douche right now, but if it'll cheer you up I'll show you how to open that file on Rita's computer." Ryan shoots her a smile as he sits down next to her.
"It's not your fault, we've been drifting apart lately. I'll talk to him later once he has calmed down, but I don't think our relationship is going to last much longer." She offers him a sad smile.
"I never liked him anyway" Ryan says shooting her a wink and a cheesy grin.
Katie laughs at her brother and then gets up and grabs her laptop from her bedroom.
"Alright boy genius, show me how to get into that file."
A few hours later, Katie was in her room getting ready to go to sleep. Ryan had showed her a few different ways to open the file on Rita's laptop, and she was really impressed with her bothers tech skills.
She had called Paul a little earlier and told him that they needed to take some time apart and think about what they both wanted. He had agreed sadly, It seems like they were both aware that their relationship had run it's course.
She grabbed her phone as she got into her bed, and she texted Rita.
Katie: Hey, do you have any plans for tomorrow?
Rita: That depends, do you consider grocery shopping plans? If so, then yes I totally have plans.
Katie: You are such a dork. Wanna hang out tomorrow?
Rita: I thought you were picking Paul up from the airport.
Katie: No, he got an early flight and came back today. So I'm free all day
Rita: Oh, well I don't know, grocery shopping is kind of an all-day thing. I take it very seriously ;-)
Katie: well I know how important groceries are, how about I help you out.
Rita: okay deal, I'll pick you up tomorrow morning. We can hang out at my house afterwards if you want.
Katie: Sounds like a plan, see you tomorrow
Rita: Alright. Goodnight Katie
Katie: Goodnight Rita, love you
Rita: Love you too.
Katie smiles as she puts her phone on her dresser, Rita never fails to make her smile. Even when she doesn't know that Katie is upset.
She's happy to be hanging out with Rita tomorrow, but she's really excited to test out her new file hacking skills.