“What? Are you implying that I’m dumb or something?”, she pinched Shane’s side and Shane moved away instinctively, only to move closer to Carmen a second later. 

“No, I’m just saying that those beautiful eyes of yours aren’t that successful in… uh, producing a desired or intended result”, she smirked. 

Carmen narrowed her eyes in a sort of genuine amazement. 

“You really think you’re slick, don’t you?”.

Shane’s smirk didn’t falter the least, “Define slick. ‘Cause I don’t think I’m slippery”. 

Carmen laughed heartily.

“Well, I think we could have a conversation about that but, anyway, uhm, I think you are sure to be… ah, capable of operating in an impressively smooth, efficient and apparently effortless way”, Carmen ran her index finger along Shane’s jaw line. Are we flirting?, she wondered then. 

“That is not a supposition. It’s a fact”, Shane’s hands ghosted around Carmen’s waist, the distance between the two of them reducing considerably – again. 

“Smartass”.

“Geek”.

They stared at each other, intensely. I am gonna kiss her, Shane thought, and leaned in just slightly. Carmen seemed to realize that and spoke, even though her eyes were focusing on Shane’s lips. 

“You did it. You ran away from me. Every friday night, at Hit, you watch me and then, right before I finish my set, you leave. I think you do it on purpose”. 

Shane watched Carmen’s lips move.

“Do you think I don’t wanna talk to you?”. 

“You’re talking to me now”. 

“Alright…”, Shane brushed the small of Carmen’s back with her right hand, “…Let me re-formulate my question. Do you think I was trying to avoid you because I didn’t want to talk to you?”. 

“Maybe”, Carmen conceded. 

“And what my motivation would be, Miss know-it-all?”. 

“Because… you were angry”, Carmen rested her hands on Shane’s shoulders and her face softened, “And I don’t want you to be mad at me, even though it didn’t work out for us”. 

Shane’s hands let go of her, delicately but immediately. She let go a long, long sigh.

“I don’t like to argue with you, Carm”.

“We never really argued. We just stopped talking”, Carmen considered, sensing Shane’s sudden detachment and moving a step back. She crossed her arms over her chest. 

“That was even worse to bear”, Shane replied, looking down at the floor. 

“I know exactly what you mean. That’s why I’m here to ask you… do you think we can go back at being as comfortable with one another as we were before? As… intimate and friendly as we were before?”. 

Shane looked up at her, slowly. She wasn’t really scowling, but she definitely wasn’t smiling anymore. And the pull, the powerful pressure building between the two of them was dissipating. Carmen already missed it. 

“I know that I want to”, Shane answered, quietly.

“You’re the reason why my life has been changing so much. I don’t want you to miss anything. I just want…”, Carmen blinked, looking for the right words to say, “…To be part of it, and I want to give you something back. Because maybe you don’t know that, but you gave me so much”. 

“Did I?”, Shane snickered, bitterly. 

“More than you’ll ever realize”, Carmen moved closer, smoothly, and took Shane’s head into her hands. Shane felt the rush – desire, coming and going in pangs, and love – sweep her away, again. 

“We’re gonna make it, aren’t we?”, Shane asked, low and insecure. 

Carmen smiled that reassuring smile of hers. 

“True friends always make it”. 

Shane closed her eyes as Carmen pressed a kiss on her forehead. 

***