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Laura smiled widely as she loaded up the cart she’d been loaned by the university with her most important worldly belongings and pushed it up onto the sidewalk and out of the way of the cars coming and going as parents dropped off other students. Narrowly avoiding an overzealous crowd pushing their own carts past her, she turned just as her dad closed the lift-gate on his truck and stepped forward.
“You sure you don’t want me to walk you up to your dorm room, sweetie?” Sherman asked, his face hopeful and Laura hated to tell him no. But this was her time. This was her adventure. And she wanted to take this step alone.
“I’ll be ok, dad,” she smiled again. “Besides, you have a long drive back.”
“Well, uh, make sure you call me later,” he said, pointing a finger in her direction to show he meant business. “And again before orientation tomorrow. And don’t go out after dark, you never know what kind of weirdos will be out and about. And always carry the mace I gave you, you hear me? Always. And make sure you-”
“Dad, I got it,” she giggled, stepping forward and wrapping him in a final hug. “I’ll be ok, I promise.” She smiled when she felt him squeeze her back, holding on a moment longer than necessary, but she understood why. She was all he had and now that she was going to be four hours away at school, he was going to have to adapt to changes as well.
“I love you, pumpkin,” he said quietly, fondly pinching at her cheek as he finally let go and stepped away.
“Love you too, dad. Drive safe.”
He nodded once, forcing a smile as he got back into his truck, his gaze meeting hers one final time in the rearview mirror as he started the engine and put it in gear. She watched his beat-up blue Ford drive away, waving until he was out of sight, the smile never leaving her face. She was going to miss him, absolutely. But she was just so incredibly excited about what was just around the corner for her at Silas University.
Sighing happily, she looked around, taking in the luscious green of the campus, the trees tall and welcoming, the flowers fully bloomed and beautiful, the ivy slowly crawling up the library just across the way. She already knew she’d be spending many an hour there as Silas had one of the most infamous college libraries in existence and the journalist in her couldn’t wait to find what she’d discover in the depths of the archives.
She felt the breeze whirl around her, kicking up the ends of her hair just so, the scent of honeysuckle surrounding her, and she giggled at the feeling of freedom that accompanied it. Grabbing onto her cart, she followed another gaggle of freshman making their way towards the dormitories, only tripping once as she got into the building.
She stopped in the main lobby to get her key, room assignment, and directions before pushing her belongings into the elevator and making her way up to the third floor. The doors slowly slid open to reveal her floor, the gears from the mechanism grinding noisily, making the doors jump and clang together.
I really hope I never get stuck in here, she thought, making a break through the doors as they finally stopped shimmying and making her way down the hall, finding her door, number 307 near the end. Smiling giddily, she unlocked the door and awkwardly pushed the cart into the room, her bright smile dropping from her face as she observed her surroundings, her expectations completely dashed at that moment.
She knew the room would be small. After all, it was a freshman dormitory. She knew she’d have to share minimal space with a complete stranger over the next nine months, learning to co-exist as they trudged through their first year away from home, and there was nothing she could do about that. However, she hadn’t been expecting this!
Wait… what… no… no, this isn’t right… there’s just one bed! Yes, it’s a bigger bed than what I was expecting but… one king-sized bed! What in the holy Hogwarts is going on here? There has to be a mistake!
Her thoughts were cut short when the door was pushed open again, loudly thumping against the wall behind her and making her jump in surprise. Curious, she turned, taking in the newly arrived girl standing there, combat boots, skin-tight, ripped jeans, leather jacket, and sunglasses despite the dimness of the overhead lighting. Laura watched the girl remove the Ray Bans from her face in possibly the coolest way known to man and couldn’t help but be taken aback by just how incredibly beautiful this dark-haired girl was.
Oh, no, you don’t have time to worry about pretty girls. You need to figure you why there’s only one bed in your room!
“Who are you?” she blurted out, noticing it was just then that the other girl seemed to recognize she wasn’t the only one in the space.
“Carmilla. You’re roommate, sweetheart,” she said with a wink.
“But… but there’s only one bed!”
“Huh. Guess we’re going to be super close then,” Carmilla said, smirking and wiggling her eyebrows just so. She moved further into the room, dropping her green canvas army bag in the middle of the space and collapsing on the bed with a relieved sigh. “Oh yeah, this is even better than my bed at home. We’re going to enjoy this, cutie.”
“No! No, we are not! Because… because… I’m not sleeping in the same bed as you! I don’t even know you!”
“I just told you, I’m Carmilla. We’re roommates. We both live here. What more do you want?”
“That’s… I… no, we can’t… ugh, I’m not sharing a bed with someone I’ve only met five minutes ago,” Laura sputtered, her cheeks tinting red in frustration, hands balled at her sides, foot on the verge of stomping like a five-year-old.
“Well, there’s a futon right there, cupcake. Knock yourself out,” she said, not even bothering to look up as she settled in further, resting her hands behind her head, still looking beyond smug.
Laura looked at the old beige futon in question, flabbergasted and confused. No. No, this was not happening! She was going to fix this and she was going to fix it now!
She did end up stomping her foot, huffing in irritation as her key got stuck in the lock in door 307 once again. Grumbling and finally wrenching it free she pushed the door open and slammed it behind her, the small growl echoing in her throat, not at all menacing but it was the best she could do at the moment.
“Hard day at the office, honey?” Carmilla asked, her voice laced with a teasing lilt from the bed where she lay, her nose in an old, musty book. From the bed she’d commandeered from that very first day.
Laura had immediately gone to the RA to complain about the situation, looking for a remedy that wouldn’t leave her sleeping on a crappy piece of fiber covered plywood for the foreseeable future. But apparently there had been some sort of mix up with the roommate assignments that fall and there wasn’t anywhere else open for Laura to move into right away. The RA was hopeful that there’d be more options in the spring, what with students dropping, but until then, Laura would just have to make do. That had been a month ago and she was anxiously counting down to January with as much hope as she could muster.
“Ugh, don’t start, Carmilla. Class was horrible today, I failed a quiz, my backpack tore, and I almost got ran over by a bicycle,” she groaned as she dropped the ruined JanSport in the corner of the room and flopped onto the futon, the middle bar digging uncomfortably into her back.
“Sounds like quite a fiasco.” Carmilla’s voice was still teasing and honestly, Laura was sick of it.
“Just… just… shut up, Carmilla!” She watched the other girl smirk, her annoyance only growing further. “I’m not in the mood.”
Carmilla was by far the most annoying person Laura had ever met in her eighteen years on Earth. She was messy, never cleaning up after herself, which in a small dorm room didn’t work in the slightest. She was inconsiderate, playing her music late into the night while Laura tried to sleep and then yelling at Laura when she so much as sneezed in the morning or afternoon while the dark-haired girl was trying to rest. She constantly took Laura’s things without asking. Most recently it had been Laura’s towel, which she’d left in the middle of the floor and Laura hadn’t realized it until she was freshly showered and towelless herself. And not only did she take Laura’s things, but she blatantly stole her food. Just last weekend Laura had been searching for her favorite cookies, knowing she had an extra bag somewhere in the stash she’d been hiding under her desk when she’d caught sight of the now empty bag in their trash can.
Seething with rage she had immediately yelled at Carmilla as soon as the other girl had walked into their room later that day, railing on and on about Carmilla’s distinct lack of respect and how it was completely unacceptable to behave the way the dark-haired girl was. But Carmilla hadn’t even batted an eye at the lecture. In fact, she had made her way around the room, collecting the things she needed for a night out before leaving Laura alone, mid-lecture.
“Oh, come on, cupcake, don’t be like that,” Carmilla teased her again, finally lowering her book and sitting up in the bed, smirking in Laura’s direction.
“Ugh, why do you have to be such a jerk? Seriously, it’s like you just want to annoy me. Like you enjoy it!”
“Now why would I enjoy tormenting you, cutie?” she asked as she stood up and moved to gather her things, apparently getting ready to leave for the night.
“I don’t know, maybe because you’re irritating and selfish and thoughtless!” Laura scowled, looking away and folding her arms across her chest. “You’re horrible!”
“I am definitely all of those things,” Carmilla said with a chuckle as she picked up a paper bag from the top of her desk before turning and walking towards Laura, slowly. “But maybe I’m not as bad as you think.”
Laura looked up, still pouting, brow furrowed, wondering how in the hell Carmilla could actually think she wasn’t the most horrendous person alive.
“Don’t wait up, cupcake” she said, handing her the bag as she turned and left the room, still smirking, her hips swaying just so.
Laura sat up, completely confused and peered into the bag, her brow immediately evening out, her scowl disappearing. Inside were two fresh bags of chocolate chip cookies. Her favorite brand too, she noted in surprise.
Why would she… huh. That’s… nice of her, she thought, turning to stare at the door that the dark-haired girl had just disappeared through, her confusion still warring with her anger but somehow winning by just a smidge.
“Look, she’s not here,” Laura said, holding the door open so that the blonde could see for herself. “And before you ask, no, I don’t know where she is and I don’t know when she’ll be back.” She watched the girl’s eyes roam over the empty space with disappointment before nodding and walking away with a quiet thanks, her head hanging low in dismay.
Sighing heavily, she closed the door, turning and walking back to her desk where she’d been working on her English paper when she’d been interrupted by the soft knock on the door not five minutes earlier. And this wasn’t the first time. Though she’d never brought anyone back to their dorm, it seemed Carmilla had a rotating door of girls on call, regardless of the day of the week. And it really wouldn’t have bothered Laura if they had stopped coming to the dorm and looking for the dark-haired girl, always forcing the tiny brunette to turn them away when her casanova suitemate wasn’t there.
Also wouldn’t be bothering you if she hadn’t decided to start acting like a decent human being over the last month.
That was actually the harder part, to be honest, though she loathe to admit it and never would out loud. She wasn’t sure why the sudden change. Maybe it was her constant nagging. Maybe the moon had just been aligning itself with one planet after the other, bringing goodwill to all. Maybe it was the fact that Carmilla really wasn’t that terrible. Regardless, the dark-haired girl had been much more considerate over the last few weeks, still leaving her clothes around the room but cleaning up the bathroom when she was done. Still playing her music when Laura was trying to sleep but using her earbuds and Laura only heard a minor buzz due to the incredibly loud volume. No longer taking Laura things without asking, or at least, returning the items back to where she found them if she did. And surprisingly, always replacing any of the food she’d stolen from the smaller girl, usually leaving it in a bag on Laura’s ‘bed’ and usually with far more than what she’d actually taken.
Seriously, all this normal polite behavior… can’t she go back to being incredibly annoying and horrible so that it’s easier for me to not like her again?
She heard a clamor in the hallway, pulling her attention away from her studies once more, curious as to who was making such a racket. Three seconds later she got her answer as the door swung open and Carmilla practically hurled herself inside.
“Did the blonde show up?” she asked, quickly slamming the flimsy particleboard behind her and locking it, finally home from her afternoon philosophy class.
“Yes,” Laura grumbled, shaking herself out of her thoughts on the changes in her roommate.
“She just texted and said she’d stopped by, even though I told her not to. I’m… ugh, whatever,” she said with a sigh, dropping her things somewhat near her own desk and flopping down tiredly on the bed.
“That’s like the tenth girl that’s come by here all sad puppy eyes and moping, looking for you,” Laura said, spinning in her chair and carefully watching the taller girl, unable to stop her gaze from landing on the small patch of skin that was exposed from where Carmilla’s shirt had ridden up just so.
“What can I say, cutie? I’m hot,” she said, with a smirk, pushing herself up onto her elbows, her dark eyes teasing.
Valid point. Ugh, no! No! Not hot! Get it together, Laura.
“And super annoying,” she squeaked after a long moment, shaking her head to rid herself of the thought. “What do you do? Flirt with these girls until their on the hook and then bail?”
“No, I usually sleep with them and then bail,” she said matter of factly with a shrug.
Laura stared back, her mouth falling open, slightly agape as she struggled with this new fact.
“But… but… when? I mean, you’re here every night!”
“Well, newsflash, creampuff, it doesn’t have to be dark out to sleep with someone. And, more than that, having sex with someone doesn't always mean you stay the night,” she said with a grin, before standing again and walking towards the bathroom.
Laura felt her mouth go dry as she watched the dark-haired girl shamelessly peel her shirt off, every inch of skin she revealed more perfect than the last.
No. Don’t do this! You do not find your incredibly gorgeous roommate attractive. You don’t want the girl that’s apparently sleeping with the half the freshman class! You don’t! That’s an order.
Turning just in time to catch Laura staring, mouth still hanging open, practically drooling on herself, Carmilla winked once, apparently knowing the exact effect she was having on the tiny brunette, her smile mischievous as it crept upon her lips.
“And I definitely don’t do sleepovers, cutie,” she said with one final teasing grin before walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
Laura flushed and swallowed hard, attempting to gather herself as she listened to the shower turn on and desperately tried not to think about the fact that Carmilla was most likely wearing even less now and so darn close.
“No! No, get back to your paper!” she scolded herself.
She turned in her chair, rolling her shoulders and attempting to focus on the words on her screen and hating the fact that not only was her roommate now becoming a decent human being, but that she was literally the sexiest girl Laura had ever seen.
No, don’t go there. She’s annoying and irritating and… and she took your bed! You don’t like her! You don’t find her attractive! And you are definitely not developing a crush on Carmilla!
She sighed for the umpteenth time, rolling her neck around this way and that as she did, hoping to relieve some of the tension. But it wasn’t working. She was still just as tightly wound as she’d been all night and the faint scent of crisp leather and damp earth that lingered at the edges of the space, courtesy of her roommate wasn’t helping.
Why does she have to smell so good? she thought with another heavy sigh, her head landing heavily against her forearm atop the desk. It’s so distracting. And she’s already distracting on her own! I can’t do this!
“What’s wrong, cutie?” Carmilla asked from her typical spot on the bed, nose buried in a book that was easily older than Laura’s great great ancestors and in a language that the tiny brunette was pretty sure went obsolete centuries ago.
“Nothing,” she pouted, lifting her head and watching out of the corner of her eye as Carmilla set her book aside and rolled onto her stomach, her head propped up on her hand, her dark gaze glued to Laura.
Those eyes should seriously be illegal.
“Come on, you’re even more pouty then normal after your algebra class. What’s up?”
“Well, algebra sucks! I don’t… ugh, I don’t understand it. What do I need it for? I’m a journalism major!”
“There are variables when researching a story though,” she said with a smirk.
“So not the same thing, Carmilla. Besides, I’m just sick of it. And of classes in general! And of being away from home! I… I miss my dad,” she admitted quietly, looking down at her lap, her ears tinting pink in embarrassment.
Why’d you have to say that? Miss Ultra-suave and cool… she’s going to think you’re just a big baby.
“So go home and see him.”
“It’s the middle of the week and it’s a four-hour drive. Plus I have an eight o’clock tomorrow that I cannot miss. And I don’t even have a car!” she ranted before taking a deep breath. “Besides… I need to grow up. Not go running home to my dad every time I’m sad.”
“There’s nothing wrong with missing the familiar, cupcake,” Carmilla said and Laura found herself cautiously turning towards the other girl, the kindness in her voice completely throwing the smaller girl for a loop.
“I… I guess. But, still, I have to stay here.”
“Well, what would you be doing if you were at home right now?”
Laura simply shrugged, not wanting to admit how boring and mundane the life back home was that she so sorely missed. Even with her slightly new, semi-respectful attitude, there was no way Carmilla wouldn’t make fun of her.
“Nothing, it’s not important,” she said, picking up her pencil where she’d dropped in on her desk and attempting to psyche herself up before she dove back into her algebra homework.
“Want to know what I’d be doing if I was at home right now?”
What? Really?
Surprised, Laura looked up, seeing Carmilla looking back at her, the dark-haired girl’s eyes a touch softer than before, and felt herself nodding slowly, her curiosity taking over.
“Probably the same thing,” Carmilla admitted with a chuckle. “Laying in bed, or maybe out on top of my mother’s roof, beneath the stars, reading some old book that no one in our generation understands or has likely ever heard of.”
“Not out painting the town red and getting into all sorts of trouble with more girls than you can handle?” Laura felt her eyes widen ever so slightly as the taunt slipped out of her mouth and she waited, worried she may have crossed a line. But to her relief, Carmilla merely smiled.
“Come on, Hollis. I told you mine. You tell me yours.”
“Well… if I were at home right now, I’d probably just be watching Netflix. Eating cookies and drinking cocoa. Most likely snuggled up into a blanket somewhere cozy and comfortable.”
She waited a moment, noticing the silence lingering between them as Carmilla’s lips twitched ever so slightly at the corners.
See, she’s going to make fun of you because you’re so lame. Ugh, why didn’t you come up with a better answer? Something more impressive? I mean, I’m not trying to impress her. No. I don’t care what she thinks. Just because she’s so incredibly beautiful and super smart and she’s actually been kind of sweet lately… nope, I don’t have a crush.
“You like marshmallows with your cocoa, cutie?”
“What?” she asked, coming out of her internal pep talk.
“Come on. Have a seat,” Carmilla said, sitting up and patting the bed next to her. “It’s insanely comfortable. I’ll make the cocoa and get the cookies. You pick the show.”
“Wha… I… really?”
“You have something better to do?”
“I… um… no, I just…” Ugh, can you form one complete sentence?
Laura shook her head and slowly stood, grabbing her laptop and moving to the bed while Carmilla grabbed what she needed and left the room, heading down the hallway toward the small kitchenette. She sat down on the bed, the duvet cushioning her even further and sighed happily. The futon she’d been banished to had done nothing for the aches and pains that had been creeping up on her all semester, but this…
“Oh this is nice,” she said quietly, running her hand along the bedding and leaning back further against the pillows, her relief diminishing ever so slightly as she was once again assaulted by Carmilla’s scent, so warm and wonderful.
It’s not a crush, it’s not a crush, it’s not a crush…
Attempting to distract herself before she buried her face in her roommate’s pillow, she opened up her laptop, and started her browser, looking for anything suitable for the two of them to watch.
Which is what? Ugh, she’s all cool and disaffected and I’m a giant nerd. In what universe does a compromisable TV show exist for us to watch together.
“Alright. I didn’t completely load it up with marshmallows, but there’s plenty more here,” Carmilla said as she breezed back into the room a few minutes later, hands full, and handed Laura her tardis mug, steaming with chocolatey goodness.
“Oh, um, thanks,” she said bashfully, shifting to the edge of the bed as Carmilla moved to the other side, plopping down near the middle.
“Alright, what did you pick?”
“Oh, I didn’t actually. I wasn’t really sure what you’d be in the mood for.”
Carmilla reached for her laptop, sliding it towards the middle of the bed and quickly looking through her recently viewed shows.
“Oh, perfect,” she said, clicking on something and settling back against the pillows. Laura watched as she looked over, smirking softly with a small chuckle. “You going to sit all the way over there all night or are you going to actually come over here and watch Orphan Black with me?”
Laura smiled brightly, unable to help herself and carefully moved closer, only stopping when just a few inches separated them.
“I didn’t peg you for an Orphan Black fan,” she finally said, taking a sip from her mug and moaning quietly at the taste. It was even better than when her dad made it.
“Well, there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, cupcake. Maybe you should remember that next time and not judge someone right of the bat,” she said with a knowing smile, offering up the bag of marshmallows she’d sat on one of the nightstands. Laura simply nodded with a blush, taking one of the gooey puffs and popping it into her mouth as she turned toward the small screen.
Three hours later, she found herself lying on her side, her eyes drooping as she tried to fight off sleep towards the end of the episode they were currently watching. Carmilla had gotten up a few minutes earlier to change and brush her teeth, the dark-haired girl appearing just as tired as Laura was.
She knew she should end the night, but they’d actually been having fun. They’d both seen these episodes more than once so they talked through half of them, chatting about everything and nothing in the span of the same conversation, simply getting to know each other, something Laura realized they should’ve done months ago when they first met.
And Laura had been both pleased and a little dismayed to discover that Carmilla really wasn’t that bad. At all. In fact, Laura was pretty sure she was going to have a harder and harder time fighting this ‘crush’ in the upcoming days if they kept this up.
“Alright, I think this is the last episode for me, cutie,” Carmilla said as she exited the bathroom and made her way back to the bed, sliding under the covers with a sigh as she did.
Laura tried not to be disappointed as she nodded and closed her laptop, standing and walking it over to her desk before moving towards the futon.
“Where you going, cupcake?” Carmilla asked from the bed, her voice already a little gravely.
“Um… to sleep,” she said confusedly, pointing at the makeshift sofa.
Carmilla simply chuckled and pulled back the blanks from the empty side of the bed, patting the space once again, her smirk growing as Laura continued to stand there, dumbfounded.
“Come on, I don’t bite.”
“Well, I just… are you sure?” she asked, nervously fidgeting from foot to foot. Carmilla just smiled once again, the barest nod rustling the pillowcase beneath her head.
Oh god. Oh no. Oh, I am so screwed.
Laura nervously made her way over, slowly climbing into soft, warm sheets with a sigh as Carmilla turned off the lamp from the bedside table. Turning onto her side, her back towards the dark-haired girl, she sighed once again, attempting to lie perfectly still near the edge.
“You ok over there?” Carmilla teased, her chuckle tired.
“Yeah, sorry. Just been a while since I slept in a real bed.”
“Hey, I offered to share when we first moved in together. You declined.”
“If I remember correctly, you were a little overly flirtatious with your offer,” Laura teased back, smiling when she heard another warm chuckle echo in Carmilla’s chest.
“As tempting as that would be, I’m afraid tonight’s not the night. I’m exhausted, kid.”
“Me too.”
“Mmm, good. Then just relax and get some sleep. Night, cutie.”
Laura just smiled and pulled the blanket closer to her chest, sinking further into the mattress as she did so.
Laura finished her paper for her English 101 class and saved it, a proud smile on her face as she was actually impressed with the work she’d done, shimmying on the futon as the file finished, and closing down her work for the evening. With her afternoon biology class getting canceled, she found herself freed up to finish this particular project and knock one thing hanging over her head off the list. Now, she could relax. Take in some alone time. Enjoy the quiet.
Time for a little light reading, she thought with a giddy smile as she opened her favorite fanfic site, intent on getting lost in a land far away from her current reality and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.
And ten minutes in, her plans were thwarted.
“Fucking shit hole,” Carmilla grumbled as she entered their shared space, her key getting stuck in the lock once again, leaning back against the door behind her, her bag hanging precariously off of her shoulder.
Gosh darn it.
Laura attempted to ignore the other girl, switching out her browser just in case, but keeping her eyes on her laptop. She simply moaned her acknowledgment that the dark-haired girl had entered the room but kept her eyes focused on the screen in front of her.
If you look up she’ll keep talking to you and then you’ll end up staring at her and get lost in her melodic voice and those amazing eyes and her incredible lips and… no! Knock it off, Hollis. Get it together.
She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, quietly, as Carmilla pushed herself off the door and crossed the room towards their shared dresser. It was already late. The darkness hanging outside their sole window was hint enough of that, nevermind the fact that the clock on her laptop screamed she’d already missed dinner in the cafeteria downstairs. She sighed at herself, her frustration hers alone to bear and stood up, slowly walking over towards her stash of peanut butter and crackers.
“Didn’t you eat dinner?” Carmilla asked as she swapped out her leather pants for a pair of black shorts that were probably illegal in most countries.
Don’t look at her legs. Don’t look at her legs. Don’t look at her amazing legs.
“I was busy,” she mumbled, sitting back down on the futon and opening up her meager meal.
“So if I were to order a pizza, you wouldn’t be interested? Ok, fine. More for me then,” Carmilla said, her smile teasing as she pulled on a ratty sleep shirt and reached for her phone, Laura pouting as she watched from the corner of her eye.
Thirty minutes later, the smell of cheese and peppers wafting around her room, led her stomach to a noisy protest that has Carmilla laughing and teasingly opening the cardboard pizza box that had just been delivered.
“You sure you don’t want some? We could sit here and eat it. And watch more Orphan Black…” she suggested, trailing off with a smile that made Laura’s heart skip a beat.
“Well… I mean, if you’re sure you don’t mind sharing…” she asked meekly.
Carmilla didn’t say a word as she stood and walked down the hall to the kitchenette, returning a minute later with a handful of napkins. Laura just smiled her thanks and in an extra show of appreciation, handed Carmilla one of the grape sodas she’d been hiding underneath the box of granola her dad had sent her early in the semester, knowing Carmilla wouldn’t touch anything that healthy.
And neither will you. Perfect disguise.
She set her laptop up at the end of the bed and resumed the show from where they’d left off the night before, her stomach grateful for the pizza she eagerly consumed as they watched the next episode.
Once again, it was a surprisingly pleasant evening. They talked through certain parts of the show, going over any of the basics they’d missed and seemingly enjoying each other’s company. It wasn’t until the middle of the third episode after they’d slunk back against the pillows, the conversation at a lull that Carmilla’s phone pinged from her desk. And then again. And then a third time.
“Do you need to get that?” Laura asked, curious when the dark-haired girl made no move to get up.
“I doubt it’s important,” she answered, her drooping eyes never leaving the screen.
Another ping.
“Are you sure? What if it’s like an emergency?”
“I highly doubt it is.”
A fifth ping.
“Carmilla…”
“Ugh, fine,” she said, rolling off the bed and grabbing the noisy device off of her desk. Laura watched as Carmilla silenced it with barely a glance before tossing it towards the bed and walking into the bathroom. Laura stared on curiously, only looking down when she saw the phone’s screen light up out of the corner of her eye. She wasn’t trying to be nosy, honestly. But…
Elsie (blonde from the bar with the short skirt) - 11:32PM: Well, let me know if you change your mind. I know I really want to see you again since we had such a good time last weekend…
Ugh, seriously? Laura shook her head, internally chastising herself for forgetting her place. Carmilla was her roommate. Her no longer incredibly annoying and sometimes even thoughtful roommate. She wasn’t Laura’s girlfriend. Hell, Laura was pretty sure she didn’t even show up on Carmilla’s radar. That didn’t ease the sting of thinking about the fact that her very blatant crush was still sleeping with half of the females on campus and didn’t even know Laura existed beyond their little bubble in number 307. You’re such an idiot. You got your hopes up and…
“I’m so tired,” Carmilla whined as she emerged from the bathroom, walking around the bed and reaching for her phone, setting it on the nightstand without a second glance.
“Yeah, I’m sure skipping your philosophy lectures to sleep with this week’s harlot really takes it out of you.”
Laura!
She didn’t mean to sound so venomous. She also didn’t mean to actually give voice to grievance but she couldn’t help it. Typical foot in mouth disease dictated that she said things before she thought them through.
She waited for a harsh comeback, but none came as Carmilla merely shrugged and collapsed into the bed, pulling the blankets up around her.
With a heavy sigh, Laura closed her laptop and moved it to her backpack, where she’d need it for the next day’s classes. She hit the light switch on the wall near the door, leaving the room just light enough that she could barely make out Carmilla’s figure on her side in the bed. Kicking herself for making this awkward she moved towards the futon, adjusting her pillow and blankets before sitting down heavily.
“What’re you doing, cutie?”
She looked up in confusion, her brow furrowing as she looked around her in the dark as if that would hold the answer as to why Carmilla was asking such an odd question.
“Well, we’re both tired. That usually leads to sleep,” she said, her voice unsure.
“All the way over there?” She really hated how much she’d come to enjoy Carmilla’s sleepy voice, her tone so much lower than her natural one, rough just around the edges.
“Well…”
Where else would I sleep? Unless… no. No, she can’t be suggesting…
“Come on, Hollis,” Carmilla chuckled, pulling back the blankets from the empty side of the bed in the same manner she had the night before. “I was a perfect gentlewoman last night. Totally kept my hands to myself.”
Oh. Ok. This is a new development.
“No, I know. You did. I just… I thought that was just for last night.” She heard the nervousness in her voice, so easily distinguishable and somehow amplified in the dark.
“I mean, if you really do prefer that crappy futon over the lusciousness over here… and I’m not talking about the mattress,” she teased. Laura was suddenly so thankful that the lights were off because she felt the blush hit her cheeks full force.
“Are… are you sure you don’t mind?” she asked one final time.
“I wouldn’t have offered if I did, cupcake. Now come on. I’m tired.” She patted the empty side of the mattress once more and Laura slowly stood and made her way towards the bed, carefully taking up the empty space and pulling the blankets up to her chest.
“Thanks, Carm. That futon kind of sucks. It’s nice to have a break from it, even for just a few nights.”
That’s right. Don’t get your hopes up that this will be the new norm.
“Mmm, we’ll discuss the permanency of the arrangement tomorrow. But for now…” Laura smiled as she watched Carmilla snuggle into her pillow, the other girl moving just an inch closer to the middle of the bed.
And that’s how they spent the next two weeks. And they definitely weren’t moving closer and closer to each other every night on purpose.
“Well, well. What do we have here?”
Laura’s head instantly shot up, the sultry voice behind her so familiar and involuntarily sending a shiver up her spine.
“Look at you, all super exciting on a Saturday night. Studying here in the library,” Carmilla whispered against her ear as the other girl leaned in over the back of her chair, her eyes roaming over the books in front of the tiny brunette.
She swallowed hard and turned towards the dark-haired girl, their faces only a few inches apart, Carmilla’s gorgeous smirk firmly painted on her lips, her dark eyes slowly tracing across Laura’s features.
“Well… yeah… I mean… I just… hey, you’re here too!” she scrambled.
“I prefer literature to the disgusting party scene of frat boys doing keg stands until they puke and sorority girls getting drunk and flashing everyone,” she said, plopping down in the empty chair next to Laura, her posture sagging and comfortable.
“Really? I feel like you don’t mind that second part,” Laura grumbled.
“I prefer some mystery with my women, creampuff,” she said, her voice sending another round of shivers up Laura’s spine.
Damn it, why does she have to be so incredibly sexy?
“Oh.”
“So really,” she started with a chuckle, sitting up in her chair and leaning forward onto the table in front of them, her tone no longer teasing. “What’re you studying?”
“Algebra. Again,” she whined. “I hate quadratic equations.”
“Well, maybe I can help.”
“You know algebra?” she asked in disbelief, unable to stop the smile pulling at her lips when Carmilla merely shrugged and pulled Laura’s book towards her, the dark-haired girl quickly reading through the page.
Needless to say, they didn’t get much studying done, sidelining it in favor of more teasing and subtle flirtations on Carmilla’s part in between Laura telling her about the latest phone call from her dad back home and how she was pretty sure their RA was sneaking in to clean their dorm room when neither of them were home. An hour and a half later they emerged from the library, Laura’s smile so big it was starting to hurt her cheeks.
“Thanks for… well, for keeping me company tonight.”
Carmilla simply shrugged, her dark eyes piercing and making Laura so incredibly nervous that her stomach started to flutter.
“So, um, are you going to go out now? It’s not that late. I’m sure you could find a party that’s just getting started. Or… I’m sure you could find some company.” She was proud that she’d kept the jealousy and hurt out of her voice at the thought… mostly.
“I was actually thinking I’d walk you home and then work on the company part,” Carmilla said, her eyes intense.
“Oh. Right.” Laura felt herself instantly deflate. “Well, look, don’t worry about me. I can find my own way.”
Yeah, find your own way to a night of pouting on the couch, watching some stupid rom-com and eating all the cookies you just bought yesterday.
“But if you leave now that’s going to throw a really big wrench in my ‘company’ plan,” Carmilla said with a smirk.
What?
“What?”
“Come on, cupcake,” she chuckled. “How many more hints do you need?”
“Hints?”
“Ok, clearly you need at least one more so I’ll make it a good one,” she said and Laura unconsciously stepped back when the dark-haired girl moved towards her, effectively pinning her back against the brick wall of the library. Carmilla, reached for her hips, her hands slowly sliding up just so before settling back down. “I’d like to walk you back to our room and then spend the night there. With you. The two of us, together.”
“Oh.” Laura swallowed hard at the thought, suddenly realizing that maybe all those flirtatious innuendos thrown her way wasn’t just Carmilla being Carmilla but maybe, just maybe, meant that the dark-haired girl was attracted to her too.
“If you really don’t want to, just say so,” Carmilla said, looking up at her, waiting.
“No!” She watched the flash of surprise touch the dark-haired girl’s eyes and instantly backpedaled. “I mean, yes, I um… ugh, just pretend I didn’t interrupt this and… continue. Please?”
Carmilla chuckled softly, pressing her body against Laura’s, causing her to nervously squeak.
“Are you absolutely, positively sure of that?” Carmilla asked, leaning in, her lips ghosting along Laura’s jaw but never actually making contact.
“Definitely,” Laura sighed, swallowing hard when Carmilla’s eyes met hers once again for a split second before the dark-haired girl slowly pressed their lips together. Her breath hitched as their lips came together with a little more force and she sighed in relief as she felt Carmilla press her further against the ivy-covered brick wall, tongue teasing against her lips.
Oh sweet holy Hogwarts, she thought as her own hands came up to wrap around the other girl’s neck, their lips continuing to meet over and over in perfect synchronization.
“Carm?” she sighed when they finally pulled apart for a moment, Carmilla’s lips instantly moving to her neck and laying claim there.
“Yes?” she asked, her voice muffled.
“What… what’re we doing?” she hiccuped. She heard Carmilla chuckle lightly against her throat before moving her lips away, her eyes locking onto Laura’s, her gaze hungry.
“I think we’re making out against the library and I’m pretty sure if we don’t get back to our room soon, I’m going to end up taking you against the wall here.”
Laura merely swallowed hard with a nod before pushing the other girl back, grabbing her hand, and pulling her towards their dorm, practically sprinting, both girls laughing as they found it wasn’t that easy to keep their hands or lips to themselves on the trek.
Laura’s eyes cracked open, the blinding light from the sun slowly rising to make it a rather rude awakening and one that she was not ready to face. She closed her eyes tightly once again, rolling further towards her right and hoping to fall back asleep only to find herself completely tangled around another body. Or more specifically, completely tangled around Carmilla.
Oh god.
Her eyes widened as the night before came crashing back to her. The entire gloriously, wonderful, and amazingly satisfying night.
Oh god, we did it. We slept together. A lot. Oh no, she’s going to start ignoring me now! I’m going to be Laura (brunette roommate who can’t keep quiet) in her phone!
She sighed and slowly attempted to disentangle herself from the other girl, the moment so amazing and her crush so far gone that she couldn’t face the fact that she might have ruined everything from one perfect evening. She felt her emotions kicking into overdrive, a mix of frustration at herself for letting this happen and sadness for the fact that it would never be anything more than one night consuming her. She should’ve known better. Carmilla didn’t do girlfriends, that was obvious. And even if Laura knew and was now freely admitting to herself that she was in deep, that wouldn’t matter to the dark-haired girl. She simply wouldn’t care because she didn’t feel the same, of that Laura was sure.
“Mmm…” The groan behind her made her stop, already halfway out from under Carmilla’s arm.
She waited a moment, holding completely still as she felt the other girl settle back into the mattress, apparently nodding back off, thank god. Taking a deep breath, she carefully gripped Carmilla’s wrist once more, lifting slowly as she attempted to slide across the sheets and out of the bed.
“Where are you going, cupcake?” Carmilla asked, her voice heavily laced with sleep as her arm wrapped tightly around Laura again, pulling her close and thwarting her plan.
“Oh um… well… I was just going to go back to the futon,” she said, her body taut with fear.
“Why?” another grumble, Carmilla’s lips now ticking against the skin of her back, making her simultaneously want to giggle and moan.
“I just… I thought it would be best,” she chanced.
“How come?”
She relished one last moment of the feeling of being in Carmilla’s arms, her skin soft and warm against her own, her scent so hypnotizing and intoxicating.
“You… you said you don’t do sleepovers,” Laura finally said, her voice small.
The chuckle from behind her tickled at the space between her shoulders again where Carmilla’s lips had migrated to and were currently in the process of leaving slow, lingering kisses there.
“I don’t do sleepovers,” she affirmed, pausing just long enough for Laura’s heart to sink even further. “With girls I don’t care about. You… you I care about, cutie.” And just like that, her heart soared and she couldn’t contain the smile that broke out across her face as she rolled over and snuggled into Carmilla’s front.
“So… does this mean you like… want to be my girlfriend now?” she giggled.
“Hmm… let’s talk about what we’re doing for our first official date after breakfast, cupcake,” she said, leaving a soft kiss on Laura’s forehead as she rolled onto her back, keeping the smaller girl close.
“Yeah?”
“Mmm… sleep now. Then breakfast and coffee. Then more sex. Then date,” she said, her eyes still closed.
“I like that plan,” Laura said, pulling her closer, leaving a soft kiss against her lips before she snuggled back in with a sigh and attempted to drift back off. It didn’t take long.