“Fuck it,” she says standing. She walks across the hall.

The Next Morning

Carmen slowly opens the front door, trying not to make a sound. She walks in to find Shane asleep on the couch, clothes from last night still clinging to her. She sneaks over and sits beside her on the couch. She draws in a deep breath before running her hand up and down her arm to wake her up. “Hey,” she whispers. “Shane, wake up.”

Shane turns her head and lets out a sigh. “Hmmm… Carmen?” she says in a daze, her eyes still closed.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Carmen replies.

Shane’s eyes snap open and she stares up at her. “Hey…” she says sitting up a bit.

“You okay?”

“Yeah – I just thought I was dreaming. You scared me,” she laughs. Carmen nods, a smile never gracing her lips and Shane realizes she’s preparing herself for something. “Look, about yesterday – ”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here…” Carmen interrupts. “Shane, we really need to talk.”

“Oh… uhm – okay,” Shane complies recognizing imminent significance that travels hand in hand with that statement.

“I don’t want to be in a relationship where the other person doesn’t trust me.”

“Carmen, I trust you.”

“No – you don’t. And it’s okay. I know that you don’t trust people all that easily. But I think it would be better if we just broke it off now while we still have a friendship to salvage.” Carmen searches her eyes briefly before Shane turns them away.

“If that’s what you want,” Shane replies under her breath, still avoiding her eyes.

Carmen slowly nods as tears fill her eyes. She leans forward and places a long kiss on Shane’s forehead. “I’m sorry…”

“No – don’t be. Don’t worry about it,” Shane says standing. She takes a deep breath and forces a smile. “I actually, I have to head out. But I’ll see you later?” She grabs her keys and barely hears Carmen say ‘yeah’ before the front door closes behind her. She bows her head from the sun. “Fuckin’ hell.” She looks around and takes a shaky breath, unsure of where to go. She walks next door and knocks. She can see Bette walk from the hall and through the living room to the door, which swings open.

“Hey – ” she starts and notices Shane’s expression. “Is everything alright?”

“Not really, no,” she responds with a forced laugh. “Can I come in?

“Yeah, sure,” Bette replies, opening the door more fully.

Back at J, S, C House

Carmen stays motionless on the couch, unable to move from her position. “What the fuck was I thinking?” She grabs her cell phone and calls Alice.

“Hey Carmen,” she hears Alice greet her over the line. “Did everything work out with Shane? You guys alright?”

“Not exactly…” she sighs. “I kind of – broke up with her instead.”

“What?!” Alice screams over the phone as Carmen gets up and walks towards her bedroom. “Why? What happened?”

“I just… I think we both need our space to figure things out,” Carmen answers. “I don’t want her to feel like she’s trapped while she’s trying to figure out whether she wants to be with me or not.”

“Well, if you broke her heart it might be a little bit of a deterrent too,” Alice retorts.

“I didn’t break her heart.”

“Well you sure as hell hurt her.”

“How do you know that?”

“Have you met Shane? You’re the first girl she’s tried to have a relationship with since Kelli. And like I said – you can’t even call that a relationship.”

“That doesn’t mean that she – ” Carmen stops mid-sentence as she opens the door to her room to find her bed set up completely with a single stemmed rose placed across the middle.

“Doesn’t mean that she what?” Alice asks over the phone. “Hello?” Carmen still doesn’t respond. “Carmen?” She hangs up the phone, hearing Alice continuing. Gradually Carmen moves to the side of the bed. She picks up the rose and slowly raises it to her nose. She smells it deeply as tears once again gracefully fall from her eyes. She lets go of a shaky breath and closes her eyes.