Relationship Status: It's Complicated

Chapter 4

The next day came by quickly and Karen still didn't give up searching for the next date for Stefano. When she found the right girl...again, Karen went to find Stefano.

"Stefano!" Karen exclaimed.

Just then, Karen walked pass James. She almost bumped him but luckily, he stopped her before she did. "Why are you looking for Stefano?" James asked.

"Uh...nothing." Karen answered quickly.

James tried to take a peek at Karen's laptop but she closed it before he could see what she and Stefano are up to.

"He's at the game room with Lauren and Paul." James said.

"Thanks." Karen said. As she was walking, James turned around and smiled. "Uh, Karen." he called.

Karen turned around. "Yes?"

"May I ask...where's Casey?" James teased.

Karen rolled her eyes. "Durbin, stop." she said annoyingly. She heard James laughed but she ignored it and just kept on walking.

Karen was walking down the stairs when she saw Casey at the living room alone. She walked towards him and sat beside Casey.

"Hey." Casey said.

"Hey." Karen replied. Casey peeked in at Karen's laptop and got confused why she's looking up into some random girl's profile.

"Who's that?" Casey asked.

"Oh...she's Kristel." Karen replied.

"Do you know her?" Casey asked.

"Not actually." Karen replied sighing.

"Then what are you doing at her profile?" Casey asked.

Before Karen could answer his question, the chat box popped in with a new message from Kristel.

[So, when exactly are we going to meet?]

Casey stared at the message confusingly. "You're going to meet her?" Casey asked.

"No but Stefano will." Karen replied.

"Huh? Why Stefano?" Casey asked.

"Uhm...as you can see, Stefano's been failing when it comes to love and he asked me for some advice and this is my idea...setting him up on a blind date." Karen explained.

Casey smiled. "Not bad. You know what? I'm starting to like you better. I'm gonna need you with Haley, by the way." he said.

Karen's smile was slowly turning into a frown and growing into a fake smile. "I thought he's starting to like me more as a friend." Karen thought.

"Well, ask now because I would be busy with Stefano and I might not have that time to help you but I'll try my best." Karen said with a smile. "So, how can I help you?" she added still wearing her fakest smile.

"Uh...I feel like Haley's slowly drifting away from me. She doesn't want to go to dates anymore. Whenever we watch movies alone, she'll tag someone along with her and she's not the same whenever we have some time alone together like she used to before," Casey said.

"But when she's around James or Stefano or Scotty especially Paul; she's bubbly, happy, energetic, hyper...but with me? I don't see those things. I don't see my Haley." Casey added.

Karen rubbed Casey's back as she can see tears forming in his eyes. "Maybe she needs time or space." Karen said.

"What do you mean?" Casey asked.

"No offense but maybe you're overprotecting her and she's getting kinda sick and irritated and she needs space." Karen replied.

"How can you say that I'm overprotecting her?" Casey asked.