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Laura is at her computer working away when she hears soft music start to play. She turns around from her screen to see where the source of the music is coming from. Upon turning around she sees Carmilla standing in the middle of the room smiling softly at Laura, she starts to slowly walk over and grab Laura’s hand.
“May I have this dance?” She asks while bowing low.
“Uh, yes!” Laura says, trying to ignore the heat rising on her face.
Carmilla pulls her up and moves them to the middle of the room where there is more room to move around. She's having flashbacks to the last time she danced with Carmilla. Times had been much simpler and easier for the two of them. Thinking back on that gives Laura a bittersweet taste in her mouth.
“Can we just pretend for a moment that nothing bad has happened? That everything between us is still okay? That all this weird crap isn't happening to the campus right now and we’re just a couple in love sharing a dance?” Carmilla asks her softly.
“Yes” Laura whispers back. She doesn't dare speak any louder for she fears that would betray the amount of emotion she’s trying to hide.
She’s expecting Carmilla to pull her in the same way they danced before, but both of her arms wrap around her waist and she’s being pulled in until they are flush against each other. Laura wraps her arms around Carmilla’s neck and they start moving slowly to the music. She lays her head on Carmilla’s chest and she feels a pressure against her head as Carmilla presses her cheek into her hair. The way they are embraced looks more like a hug then two people dancing.
Laura is losing the battle in trying to contain her emotions. Tears start to fall down her face. She doesn't want to be strong anymore, she doesn't want to deal with all the crap going on right now. She doesn't even know how the situation got so bad. All she wanted was to help people. Instead she ended up with a broken campus and a broken heart.
Carmilla can feel her shirt getting wet and gently pulls back to look down at Laura. She can see that Laura’s eyes are closed and her face is scrunched up because of how hard she’s trying to hold back all of her emotions.
“How did I even get us into this mess Carm? I didn't want this to happen. I should have take up your offer to run away with you. Then I wouldn't have to worry about the state of the campus and we could be somewhere together and happy and in love” She’s sobbing into Carmilla’s chest now, no longer able to hold all the tears she’s been holding in.
“Shhh, it's okay Laura. You’ll figure everything out. You always do. And i'll be here waiting for you when this situation is over, i'm not going anywhere.” She's stroking her hair to try and calm the smaller girl down.
“I miss you so much Carmilla” She gently lifts her head off of her chest to look up at Carmilla. She’s met with teary eyes and a small smile and shaky voice.
“I miss you too Laura”
Her watery eyes flick down to Laura’s lips for a second before moving back up to meet her eyes again. Laura starts to slowly move in and is met by Carmilla half way. They share a gentle kiss, their lips barely touching each others. The exchange doesn't last long and Laura is the first to pull back.
“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. We arent even really together anymore and that isnt fair to do something like that and-” She's stopped by Carmilla gently wiping away fresh tears that had been falling from her eyes. She had been looking over her shoulder but the gentle touch makes her look back into Carmilla’s eyes.
“It’s okay. We’re pretending, remember?” She smirks at her.
They exchange a couple more sweet kisses, both enjoying the feeling of being back in eachothers arms and finally kissing one another again. Laura pulls back first again. She doesn't want to get too caught up in the feeling of Carmilla again if she can't have her right now. She places her head back onto her chest and they start swaying to a new song that has come on. They don't break apart until the song comes to an end and the room goes quiet.
Laura knows their time in a little suspended reality is over. It's time to head back to the real world. A world where weird is the normal and Carmilla isn't her girlfriend anymore. She pulls Carmilla impossibly closer for a second before releasing her and stepping back. She looks up at the other girl and is met with sad eyes. She can see in her eyes that she knows the moment is over. Laura slides her hands down Carmilla’s arms and grabs her hands.
“Thank you Carmilla. I really needed this. I needed to be held, to be close to you again”
“Don’t mention it cutie.” Laura gives Carmilla a tight smile, the moment really is over if she’s back to using nicknames. She gently squeezes Carmilla’s hands before she lets go.
It feels like the wound in her chest has been ripped open again. That small moment with Carmilla had started to mend it. Being close to her again, being able to hold her and kiss her had helped her. But now having to remove herself from that again ripped her open again.
She turns around to walk back to her computer, she senses Carmilla standing there staring at her. She holds it together just long enough because the second Carmilla leaves the room she’s breaking down again. She folds her arms in front of her and lays her head down upon them. Sobs shake her body for what feels like hours before she’s drifting off to sleep.
She wakes up a couple hours later with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a cup of still steaming hot chocolate on the desk beside her which confuses her. Her computer screen is flashing, saying that her video cache is full. She opens up the file and sips on the hot chocolate while watching the footage. The events of earlier come crashing back as she watches her and Carmilla gently swaying and kissing in the middle of the room. She hadn’t realized she left her camera on the whole time. She fast forwards past the parts of her crying and the parts of her starting to fall asleep. She slows down the video a little after she fell asleep and watches as Carmilla walks back into the room. She walks over to the brown leather couch and grabs one of the blankets off of it and comes to wrap it around Laura’s shoulders. She stands behind Laura with her hands resting on her shoulders for a moment. Then she places a kiss to the top of her head and she leaves the room again. Fast forwarding the footage to a couple hours later she watches as she starts to stir in her sleep, and in comes Carmilla again hot chocolate in hand. She must have heard her starting to wake up and made it for her. She places yet another kiss to her head before she leaves the room and then Laura on the screen is waking up.
She’s starting to tear up for what feels like the billionth time in the last week. Carmilla did these incredibly sweet things for her while she was sleeping. Did she even know her camera was on? Probably not. Laura saves the footage, she never want to forget these moments.
“Hey” In walks Carmilla, she grabs a book off of the bookshelf and plops herself down on the couch. Yup, same old Carmilla is back. Laura quickly wipes the tears off of her face and smooth down her hair the best she can before she turns around to look at Carmilla
“Hey” She says with a grin, still thinking about how incredibly sweet the woman in front of her can be. Carmilla quickly glances up from her book.
“Why are you looking at me like that? DId you not sleep enough and now you’re imagining me as a giant cookie?”
“No, i'm just thinking of… other things.” Carmilla looks up from her book at that. She’s met with an actual smile, not a smirk.
“Me too, cupcake” They share a knowing look before Laura looks away because of the blush rising on her cheeks.
She turns back around to face her computer. She marks the folder where she saved the footage as ‘Memories w Carmilla’. The last thing she thinks about before letting the moment go is that things are getting better. Her and Carmilla will be back together for real one day, hopefully very soon.