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Laura stretches, groaning, then sighing when something in her back pops and settles in the right place. She checks her phone and grins. Being able to sleep in is such a rarity these days, even on the weekends, that getting two extra hours feels amazing. Now that she’s awake, though, she’ll only have a couple minutes before her bladder will force her to get up. She’s going to take full advantage of them. Rolling into Carmilla’s spot, she buries her face in the pillow. Her girlfriend smells so good; she’s stopped wondering why Carmilla kept stealing that yellow pillow, a while ago.
When the bladder issue becomes too pressing, she groans and kicks the covers off. After a quick visit to the bathroom, she looks around their room. She’s up now, and what to do? She could clean. The room isn’t much bigger than the one they’d shared that first, apocalyptic year at Silas, and it wouldn’t take very long. Or she could start on that paper for Medieval English Lit, or those three chapters she has to read for Photo Journalism before Tuesday. But on her Friday off, free from classes and work, and an entire weekend still before her, her assignments don’t feel very urgent.
What else is there? She sits down on the bed and grabs her phone. She doesn’t unlock it, just stares at the picture of a reading Carmilla she has as her lock screen, and the date and time written across Carm’s forehead: October 15th. The date sounds familiar, important, but nothing comes to mind. She throws the phone on the bed, and drops next to it. As her head hits the pillow, a memory hits her: Carmilla’s grimy and tear-streaked face leaning over her.
They hadn’t wanted their anniversary to be on the date of Laura’s death and the narrow avoidance of the world being overrun by hell spawn, so they’d decided on the day after, October 15th. Which is today.
‘Oh no,’ Laura whispers. ‘Shit! Shit! Oh god!’ She jumps up and throws on the first set of clothes she finds. Grabbing her bag and keys, she races out the door. ‘I’m the worst girlfriend ever!’
~
Laura almost cries with relief when she comes back to the room and Carmilla isn’t there yet. Her last class of the day, Philosophy, sometimes ends early, and Laura had been dreading having to explain forgetting their anniversary. Now, she won’t have to. Hopefully. She’ll probably tell it as joke on next year’s anniversary.
She has a very optimistic thirty minutes to get everything ready. It should be enough. She might even have enough time for a shower.
Packing the food and drinks in the basket, putting the flowers in a vase, straightening the bed, and shoving some of the mess under the bed, is done with an efficiency that surprises her. She doesn’t even hit her elbows against the shower wall, which happens on her best days. Maybe it’s all those early classes; they’ve trained her to be super focused and efficient when there’s a time limit. She hits her knee against the side of the desk as she steps into her dress and hisses in pain. Or maybe not.
She’s balling up the tissue she used for lips, when Carmilla steps into the room, tired but smug looking, probably from giving her Philosophy professor another headache. Laura shoves the tissue under a pillow, and takes what she hopes is a seductive pose on the bed, leaning back and chest forward. Carmilla drops her bag by the door, some of her books spilling out. She doesn’t seem to have noticed Laura or the flowers yet. When she finally does, a smile lights up her face.
‘You look very pretty, cupcake,’ she purrs, pecking Laura on the lips on her way to the flowers.
Laura follows her and wraps her arms around Carmilla’s waist as Carmilla admires the bouquet, stroking the soft petals with her fingertips. She hooks her chin over Carmilla’s shoulder. ‘Happy anniversary, Carm.’
‘The first of many.’ Carmilla turns her head and kisses Laura again, more firmly this time. ‘Are we on a schedule?’
‘Sort of,’ Laura admits. The heated look in Carmilla’s eyes make her wish they weren’t.
‘And the first item is…?’
‘You putting on something pretty that will also keep you warm.’
‘Are we going outside?’ Carmilla asks, glancing out the window with concern. It’s been raining a lot the past week, and while it’s not cold out, it’s not exactly pleasant either.
‘I’m not telling. It’s a surprise.’
As Carmilla changes, Laura puts the finishing touches on the picnic basket.
‘And this,’ Laura says, holding up a scarf.
Carmilla raises her eyebrows, but takes the scarf and slowly ties it around her head like a blindfold. ‘Do not let me trip.’
‘I would never,’ Laura assures her with a giggle. She hands Carmilla the basket, then starts guiding her girlfriend out their dorm and across campus.
It’s not a long walk, and while the clouds are grey and swollen with rain, it’s not currently raining. Laura ignores the stares from her fellow students, focusing on making sure Carmilla doesn’t trip or misstep. It almost goes wrong when they’re walking up the final set of steps to their location, the ringing of the metal under Carmilla’s boot surprising her and making her falter, but Carmilla’s human reflexes are quick enough to save herself and their food. Laura takes the basket and puts it down, then she turns Carmilla so she’s facing the right way.
‘You can look now,’ she says, wringing her hands. She hopes Carmilla likes it.
Carmilla blinks in the low, bluish light. Her jaw drops when she takes in her surroundings.
As Laura had been getting the food, she’d run into a friend who studies marine biology. Remembering the giant fish tank in their department, she’d asked them to help her out. Convincing her friend hadn’t been hard, convincing the people who were in charge and could actually give her access to the room was a little harder, but a lot of favours and some grovelling finally did the trick. They’re having a picnic by the huge fish tank. During the day, when in use, the room looks like a basic lab, but with the lights low and the reflection of the water rippling over the walls, it feels almost magical in here.
‘This is amazing,’ Carmilla grins. She touches the glass where one of the fish has swum up to them.
Laura breathes a sigh of relief. She sets out the blanket and the food, then pulls Carmilla down next to her.
‘How did you manage this?’ Carmilla asks.
‘By owing a lot of favours to a lot of people,’ Laura admits.
‘You did that for me?’
Laura leans forward and rests their foreheads together. ‘I think we both know there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you.’