Chapter Text
Stunning. That was the only word her mind could form the first time she saw her. She looked absolutely stunning. The way her hair framed her face, the way the sunlight shone bright onto her dark locks and her even darker pants. Her skin was so light, a great contrast to her wardrobe. Though her looks were wonderful, it were her actions that intrigued her the most. The girl Laura was so openly staring at was moving her hands over the pages of a book in her lap. It was like she was feeling it.
Laura’s head quirked to the side as she watched it more closely. Actually, the girl was feeling the words. It was a book in Braille. Okay sure, the girl was wearing black sunglasses but she just figured they were to protect her eyes from the sun, or look cool. You never know these days, people wear them for all kinds of reasons. But it never occurred to her that it might be because she was blind. It wasn’t something you immediately think of when seeing a person. Though she seemed to look around at her surroundings while her fingers read the words. She was mouthing them along as she read them. If it wasn’t for the book in braille, you’d never know she was blind. Maybe that was the look she was going for?
Laura suddenly became very aware of her staring. She quickly averted her eyes up to the sky. A magnificent cloudy blue sky. A sky the dark haired girl probably didn’t see. She wanted her mind to focus on something – anything but the girl. Wasn’t it strange how a stranger could sometimes capture your attention just by existing?
She remembered what she was doing right before the girl caught her attention and she faced back to the building she was heading for. She took two more steps up the stairs before glancing back towards the girl. Her hands stilled as Laura watched her. Her head moved a bit to the side and turned. Laura averted her eyes once again and wasted no time getting into the library. She didn’t want to be caught staring… Could she get caught by a blind woman? Was that a rude question to ask herself? Anyways, she didn’t want to take the chance and made her way up the steps and into the library.
That was the first time she ever noticed the stranger sitting on the library steps. Ever since then, she’d been seeing the girl more and more. She was there on her usual library visits on Saturday morning. People went partying on a Friday night so the library was pretty empty on a Saturday morning. She liked it. More space. More books. All to herself. Well, she and the dozen other people with free schedules on Friday nights.
Sometimes she would go to the library on other days and the stranger would not be sitting there. Laura always frowned at that. It wasn’t like it made her sad, it just didn’t make her as happy as on the days she would come across her. She’d always run up the steps, slow down a bit whenever she saw her reading books in braille, and then move along into the library. For three months, this had been her routine. She had thought about stopping and introducing herself a couple of times, but she had reconsidered every time she laid eyes on her. She had no chance with her anyways.
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Carmilla sat in her usual spot on the library steps, like every Saturday for the past few weeks. It was starting to get colder but she loved this spot. She refused to let the slowly approaching winter cold get the best of her. Her fingers were freezing with the icy wind but she always had cold hands either way so she was used to it. Her fingers were reading the words on the paper in her lap as she listened to her surroundings. People were slowly making their way up and down the steps around her. Some wore fancy suits, she imagined from the sound of their shoes. They made the most noise, alongside the high heels of course. Others were barely audible. Some people had heavy steps while others were light and quick on their feet. She sometimes challenged herself to recognize people by their steps as they walked past her. There was this one girl who always passed by her that smelled of cookies and vanilla. It was strange to her because no one else had captured her attention ever as much as that girl had. Not here in this spot, and not anywhere else really. Her steps were always light and often quick, but slowed down whenever she passed her. Carmilla had turned to let her senses capture her presence for a longer amount of time but nothing could ever compare to laying eyes on her, she was sure of that. The girl with the sweet smell of cookies and vanilla came and went every Saturday. Carmilla had thought about maybe trying to say hi to her, but no one ever noticed her. The ones that did just laughed at her or made comments, but luckily that didn’t happen often. She didn’t want to take her chances that this girl was going to be like that. So she just sat, waited, let her pass by and enjoyed the smell and sound of her presence.
Today, she was successful in recognizing the girl’s steps. And just like every other Saturday when she found herself on the steps, she let her pass by. She actually came very close to saying something today, but then reconsidered after remembering what had happened the last time she’d tried to meet a normal girl. It wasn’t like she had a chance with her anyways.
She sat on the steps a while longer, and waited. She went on with her game of trying to recognize people and sure enough, someone passed her a little later that she easily recognized, which was no surprise to her. A smirk appeared on her face as her hands stilled on the page.
“Not today, science geek.” She spoke and lifted her head. A groan gave her conformation that she’d been right. A voice came from her left and the person walked back down to sit beside her.
“Oh come on!” They huffed, “Are you sure you’re blind because I was really trying my hardest to be quiet. There’s just no way you picked up on that.”
Carmilla just smirked and closed the book in her lap. “I have my methods.” Of course she’d never mention it to them, but they had this scent about them that just screamed ‘I am LaFontaine’. It was a mixture of chemicals and the typical floral scents you had in cleaning products. Curtesy of their roommate Perry, who liked to keep things perfectly clean.
“So,” from the tone in their voice, Carmilla already knew what was going to come out of their mouth next, “Did she pass by today?” She could sense the smirk on LaFontaine’s face as they spoke and regarded her.
“Ugh you are so utterly predictable.” She spoke slightly annoyed, but all with good intentions. “But yes… She did.” She muttered.
LaFontaine didn’t say anything in response, just stood up and held their arm out for her to hold onto once she got up as well. She swung the bag over her shoulder and grabbed LaFontaine’s elbow to let them guide her into the library. She never liked her cane much anyways.