Chapter Text
After a while of driving, they come across a smallish town and decide to take a stop and find a place to stay for the night. It’s only about 5pm but it would be dark soon enough and they were already pretty exhausted from making stops about every 20 minutes so Laura could ask random people if they knew anything about the star.
“We need to find a place to sleep tonight. There’s no way I’m sleeping in the puppy’s car.” Danny says, as Kirsch parks outside a small cafe and they all get out, stretching.
“Hey. My car is comfortable. But if you rather sleep on the street be my guest, Summer Psycho.” He says, glaring at her.
“Let’s just go get something warm to drink and find out what’s around here. No need to argue. I’m sure there’s a motel or something around here.” Laura says, as they walk inside. The smell of coffee is strong and it smells like heaven. They all get something to drink and sit at a table in the corner of the small place. There’s art work on the walls, probably all local artists, and quiet jazz is playing. It’s quiet and there are only a few other people in there, either on their computers or reading a book.
“I’m going to go see if I can’t find out anything.” Laura says, standing up with her cup of coffee.
“See if you can’t find out if there’s a hotel or something here.” Danny calls out to her. Laura gives a thumbs up then walks outside to explore. Across the street there seems to be a bookstore or library of some sorts. Laura doesn’t know why, but she’s drawn to go in there. She crosses the street and while walking on the sidewalk, toward the bookstore, she runs into someone. Literally.
“Woahhh!” Laura almost falls, but the stranger she ran into catches her. Surprisingly, she keeps her coffee in her hand and doesn’t manage to spill it everywhere.
“Hey. Might wanna watch where you’re going, cupcake.” the stranger says, putting Laura back on her feet.
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I swear I didn’t see you I was just looking at my phone for a second and I wasn’t paying attention. Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you did I-?” she starts rambling, looking up to see the most gorgeous person she’s ever seen, smirking at her.
“Calm down, cupcake. I’m fine. You’re the one who almost went to make-out the concrete. I should be asking if you’re okay.” the beautiful girl says, continuing to smirk at Laura. She has the most perfect, long, curly black hair that frames her face perfectly. She’s wearing sunglasses so Laura can’t see her eyes. She’s thin but looks like she’s built to fight. She’s wearing black skinny jeans and a white tank-top that hugs her in all the right places, along with a red and black flannel and black converse. Laura blushes at the girl’s appearance and looks at her feet.
“Uh.. Y-yeah. Sorry. Thanks for catching me. I’m Laura!” she puts her hand out in front of her and the girl shakes it.
“Carmilla.” Carmilla says, staring and taking in Laura’s appearance. Laura automatically feels like a dork. She’s wearing her favorite Doctor Who t-shirt and worn-out jeans with a black hoodie and gray sneakers. After a minute, Laura realizes she’s still holding Carmilla’s hand and pulls away, awkwardly.
“Well uhhh.. I umm…” Laura can’t seem to form a sentence of any kind. Thankfully, she sees Kirsch and Danny running up to her.
“Hey. Laura, any luck..?” Danny starts to ask, looking at Carmilla suspiciously, “Who’s this? She givin’ you any trouble?” Carmilla raises an eyebrow.
“Nope. No trouble. Was just helping the creampuff here not spill her coffee.” Carmilla says, nonchalantly then turns her attention back to Laura, who is blushing furiously. “Well. It was a pleasure to meet you.. Laura. I hope to run into you again.” She winks at her and walks away. Well, that was awkward.
“What was that about?” Danny asks, noticing how red Laura’s face is.
“I kind of maybe ran into her… Literally. Umm anyway, you guys find a place to stay?” Laura says, shaking her head, trying to get focused again. Danny raises an eyebrow.
“Wasn’t that what you were supposed to be doing? I mean, I did find out there’s a small inn down the street from here when I was talking to the barista.” Kirsch says, grinning.
“Yeah. Awesome. Tomorrow will be a better day. Let’s go get some rest.” she says, glad that they had a place to stay for the night.
None of them realized how exhausted they were until they got a room. They shared a room, against what Danny wanted. But Laura convinced her it would be cheaper and that Kirsch is a perfect gentleman. Danny fell asleep on the bed. Kirsch on the couch. And Laura was sitting at the desk in the room on her laptop, still up, thinking about that girl.
Carmilla… what an odd name… I hope we do run into each other again.. She thinks. Eventually, while trying to get the girl out of her head and reading a few more news articles, she passes out.