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It was evening, and Laura was busy in the small kitchen of her and Carmilla’s one bedroom apartment in Toronto. The sun had already gone down, the sky dark outside the windows. Laura had an apron tied around her, the words "Miss Good Lookin’ Is Cookin’” written on the front, her hair up in a messy bun. She’d been cooking diligently all afternoon. It had been six months since Carmilla was mortal again, and Laura wanted to celebrate with a feast. Carmilla shrugged the idea off, claiming it to be unnecessary, but secretly enjoyed the idea. Laura, who could sense this, plowed forward with her plans.
Since she had eaten nothing but blood and occasionally chocolate (Laura’s chocolate, to be exact), for the past three hundred years, Carmilla was slowly adjusting to eating real food again. She didn’t eat much, and tried new things here and there. Tonight, however, Laura wanted to put her taste buds into overdrive, so she cooked a wide variety of food, which had taken her all day. She made Carmilla leave the kitchen and forbid her to come back in until everything was ready, so Carmilla currently lay in bed in their bedroom, reading a book and anxiously awaiting to see what her tiny chef had come up with.
When everything was ready, Laura pulled off her apron, fixed her hair quickly, then called down the hallway happily,
“Carm! You can come out now!”
Carmilla smirked, setting down her book on the bed and walking out of their bedroom, down the hall, and into the kitchen, where she found a beaming Laura.
Carmilla’s eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly in shock when she looked at the kitchen table. It was literally weighed down with food. There was spaghetti and meatballs, salad, a roast, a baked ham, numerous side dishes, and so much more. Her eyes scanned across the buffet of food to see a bottle of red wine and two glasses, plates and cutlery laid neatly across the table.
“Jesus, Laura…” Carmilla started.
“What?” Laura asked, a little defensively. “You haven’t eaten anything but blood for over three hundred years! I thought it would be fun, you know, to try some of the stuff you’ve been missing out on.”
She rubbed her arm nervously and Carmilla immediately scolded herself inside her head.
“Idiot! She worked so hard on this. For you!”
Carmilla walked over to Laura, smiling, and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend.
“You didn’t have to do all of this for me, creampuff.” She said. “But I appreciate it. Thank you. It all looks delicious.”
Laura perked up immediately, wrapping her arms around Carmilla’s waist.
“I’m glad you like it. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks.”
“Well, let’s find out.” Carmilla said.
Laura kissed her on the cheek, then they unwrapped themselves from each other and sat down across from each other at the table, Carmilla pouring a glass of red wine for each of them.
Not wanting to hurt Laura’s feelings, Carmilla put a little of everything on her plate and started eating. She was going to pretend the food was good, even if it wasn’t. However, she found out very soon that she need not lie at all. Everything was delicious. It wasn’t until now that Carmilla really remembered how good food was.
Forgetting everything else, Carmilla was devouring everything on her plate, savoring every bite. Across the table, Laura was biting her lower lip to keep herself from bursting out laughing. She had put her fork down and abandoned her food, finding much more joy in watching her girlfriend eat. Carmilla was like a small child on Christmas day, stuffing her face. It was adorable.
Carmilla ate steadily for minutes upon minutes, not saying a word, completely unaware of the silence or her girlfriend, who was watching her with a loving, amused expression from across the table, occasionally taking a sip of wine. The evening was going well, until all of a sudden…
It hit Carmilla suddenly, without warning. There was a tight, bloated feeling around her mid-section, a sharp, uncomfortable pain in her stomach. She felt nauseous. Stopping abruptly and putting her fork down, Carmilla sat back in her chair, trying to act normal.
“Carm?” Laura asked, her eyebrows raised in concern. “Are you okay?”
“Mhm.” Was all Carmilla could muster, nodding her head.
She took a few deep breaths, hoping the pain would pass, but it didn’t. Unable to take it anymore, she said,
“Be right back, cupcake.”
She stood up and hurried out of the kitchen as fast as she could without making Laura worry.
Laura, however, was not oblivious. She knew immediately that something wasn’t right. She put her wine glass down, watching Carmilla walk out of the kitchen and frowning. Had she under cooked something? Did the food taste that bad? It had tasted alright to her, although she didn’t eat much. Carmilla hadn’t touched any of her wine, so she couldn’t be drunk. Was she possibly allergic to something?
A million thoughts flashed through Laura’s head as she sat at the table, worried about her girlfriend and silently wondering if she had turned something good into something bad.
Carmilla went into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. She turned on the sink and leaned heavily on it, running cool water over her face and looking at her scared reflection in the mirror.
“What the hell is wrong with me?” She thought to herself.
Her heart was pounding in her chest, which was still a new sensation she wasn’t totally used to, and her mind was racing with thoughts. Was she dying? Maybe after three hundred years of being a vampire, her body forgot how to absorb food? What if the pain wasn’t connected to the food, and something was really wrong with her?
Carmilla splashed cool water on her face a few more times, but it was doing nothing to help with the unpleasant sensation in her stomach. She left the bathroom and entered her and Laura’s bedroom, flopping onto the bed, curling up in the fetal position and holding her stomach. The pain was sharp and intense, making her sweat. Her nausea was getting worse. She dug her head into the comforter and groaned loudly, the sound muffled.
After five minutes, Laura was now getting worried. Seriously worried. Carmilla hadn’t come back and Laura had no idea what was wrong. Unable to sit still anymore, Laura got up from the table and walked as fast as she could without running, leaving the kitchen and heading down the short hallway. She peaked her head in the bathroom but it was empty, the door open and the lights off. She walked through the open doorway to their bedroom and stopped momentarily, her heart hammering painfully fast. She saw Carmilla curled up on their bed, sweating and obviously in pain.
Panicked now, Laura hurried over and sat down next to her girlfriend on the bed, gently rubbing Carm’s back with her right hand.
“Oh my god, Carm, what’s wrong?” Laura asked, fearful concern in every word she spoke.
“I’m dying.” Carmilla groaned, turning her head so that she could speak clearly, her eyes shut tight. “I think I’m dying, Laura.”
“What! Carm…” Laura spluttered, breathing in sharply. “What happened? What’s the matter?”
She was rubbing small, gentle circles on Carmilla’s back with her right hand, using her left hand to run her fingers through Carmilla’s dark hair.
“I don’t know.” Carmilla said, her eyes still shut in pain, although she seemed less tense now that Laura was rubbing her back. “Everything you made was so good; I was just sitting there, eating, and all of a sudden I got this terrible pain in my stomach. A sharp pain, kind of like a cramp, but I know it’s not that because I already got my period this month. I feel like I’m gonna throw up. I thought it would go away, but-”
Carmilla stopped talking abruptly. As Laura listened to her girlfriend talk, she soon realized what was wrong: the sharp stomach pain, the nausea, Carmilla holding her stomach… She wasn’t dying, she had a stomach ache. And of course Carmilla wouldn’t know that or recognize that it’s nothing serious, seeing as she hadn’t eaten anything but blood for over three hundred years. As soon as Laura realized what was wrong, she involuntarily let out a laugh, quickly covering her mouth with her hand, although that did little to quiet the sound.
Carmilla’s eyes opened and flashed in Laura’s direction, looking at her in disbelief and anger.
“Are you laughing?” She spat.
Laura removed the hand from her mouth and resumed rubbing Carmilla’s back, looking down at her empathetically and lovingly.
“Oh, Carm...” She started, “You’re not dying, you have a stomach ache. You just ate too much.”
There was a split second before Carmilla understood. Once the meaning of Laura’s words hit her, her mouth opened slightly and she just stared, Laura giving another giggle.
“Don’t you dare laugh.” Carmilla said in a low voice, squirming on the bed from embarrassment and pain, looking away from Laura.
“Hey, hey…” Laura said, leaning down and cupping Carmilla’s face in her hands, kissing her sweaty forehead gently.
Carmilla met Laura’s eyes, still clearly embarrassed.
“Carm, it’s okay.” Laura cooed, rubbing her girlfriend’s cheeks with her thumbs. “It happens. What, you think I’ve never ate one too many cookies and regretted it later?”
Carmilla let out a small, pitiful laugh.
“I’m sorry.” Laura said. “I should’ve known better than to make all that food. I should’ve known you’d get carried away. I just wanted to do something nice for you.”
“It’s fine, cupcake.” Carmilla grunted, squirming again on the bed. On top of having a terrible stomach ache, she now felt bad that she made Laura feel bad, but she just didn’t have the strength to do anything more.
“Stay right here.” Laura said suddenly, running her fingers through Carmilla’s dark curls one last time before getting up. She disappeared from the bedroom and Carmilla could hear her in the bathroom, rummaging through a drawer. Laura re-entered the bedroom seconds later, holding a plastic bottle full of pink liquid. Carmilla eyed her suspiciously as Laura shook the bottle, took the plastic measuring cap and began pouring the pink, thick liquid inside.
“Here.” Laura said, holding out the little cup to Carmilla and resuming her seat next to her on the bed.
“What is it?” Carmilla asked, not moving.
“It’s medicine.” Laura said, making Carmilla sit up and pressing the cup into her right hand. “It’ll make your stomach ache go away.”
With one last suspicious look, Carmilla downed the medicine like a shot of liquor.
She almost spit it out immediately. Her face scrunched up and she threw her head back upon tasting the pink liquid, which tasted like expired chalk and peppermint.
“No, don’t spit it out!” Laura said, frantically pinching Carmilla’s nose shut so that she had no choice but to swallow.
Carmilla gagged after swallowing it, giving Laura an angry look.
“That was foul.” She said, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand.
Laura laughed again, her lips stretching into a toothy smile, taking the plastic measuring cup from Carmilla and sitting it on the floor next to the bottle.
“Sorry, babe. I didn’t think to tell you it tastes bad. I just wanted to make sure you felt better.”
Unfortunately, the medicine didn’t work instantaneously. Laura gave her girlfriend a pitying, empathetic look as Carmilla groaned and held her stomach again.
“Come here, come here…” Laura cooed, wrapping her arms around Carmilla.
Carmilla buried her face in Laura’s neck, leaning into her. Laura laid them so that they were half sitting up, their backs against the headboard of the bed. Her right arm was snaked around Carmilla’s neck, her fingers running through Carmilla’s hair, and her left hand found its way to Carmilla’s very bloated stomach. She began rubbing small, gentle circles over Carmilla’s stomach, adding a slight bit of pressure to spots that seemed the tensest. Carmilla groaned and moved her own hand away, letting Laura rub her sore stomach.
As they sat in silence, Laura rubbing Carmilla’s stomach, she continued to run her fingers through Carmilla’s hair, peppering her scalp and forehead with kisses and whispering sweet things in her ear.
Laura had no idea how long they sat together like that. She was whispering to Carmilla, still rubbing her stomach, which felt a lot less bloated and tense now, only to be interrupted by the sound of her girlfriend snoring. Laura looked down and had to bite her tongue to stop herself from laughing. Carmilla had fallen asleep curled up next to her. Laura guessed that, between the medicine and belly rubs, Carmilla’s pain had eased enough for Laura to lull her into sleep.
Laura smiled down at Carmilla, kissing the top of her head and whispering,
“I love you, Carm. I’ll always take care of you.”