"I think it might be flu or something, I'll probably be off the rest of the week...okay, thanks, bye." Laura hangs up on her editor and finds Kirsch watching her with a grin. He's sitting outside of a coffee shop, a few blocks down from Laura's apartment. It's their regular haunt, and Laura is a creature of habit, so Kirsch was already sitting waiting with her usual order when she joins him at the table.
He pushes his Ray-Bans up on to the top of his head and laughs at his flustered friend. "Little Hottie, are you playing hookey?" The nickname is as old as their friendship. Laura laughs it off as she leans over to give him a crushing hug, knowing he doesn't mean anything by it. Kirsch is like a big brother to her; he has been since freshman year of college.
"I think I have alcohol poisoning. It's all LaF's fault...plus, I'm actually thinking about quitting my job; or at least taking some time off."
Laura has been thinking about this for weeks now, but Kirsch is the first person she's mentioned it to. "I thought you loved working at the paper?"
"I did! I mean, I do...I guess. I just think I need to take some time off to focus on my writing. My agent and my publisher are riding me about my next book, and I've got squat."
"Go for it." Kirsch shrugs. He's one of the least judgmental people that she knows. If she were talking to Perry, or her dad, they'd be telling her to take more time to think things over; Perry would probably suggest making some kind of diagram or pie chart to weigh up the pros and cons of giving up her job to write full time.
"So what's been happening with you?" Laura tries to steer the conversation away from herself. It's been a couple of weeks since they last met up, and that's mostly down to Danny. Kirsch can't look at Laura without thinking about Danny; without remembering his best friend's betrayal. He ducks his head and rubs awkwardly at the back of his neck.
"I uh...I met up with SJ yesterday. We talked about maybe getting back together." He admits in a quiet voice, his words almost being drowned out by the noise of the passing mid-morning traffic.
At twenty-five, Brody Kirsch is over six foot tall, and built like a line-backer. He has one of those clean shaven baby faces that makes him look like an overgrown child. Sitting across from Laura, wringing his large hands together, he currently looks like a naughty schoolboy who's been pulled up in front of the principal.
Laura swallows the lump in her throat before replying with a strained smile. "That's great."
"You're not mad?" He winces as he looks up from his hands. He'd expected her to yell, or at least to give him some kind of lecture. She just shrugs though.
"She's your wife, Kirsch. I get why you'd want to give it another chance." He visibly relaxes at that, the tension easing from his shoulders.
"She swears it only happened one time, and I don't want to be one of those people who gets divorced before they've even been married a year." He and SJ were married the previous summer – Laura and Danny had both been bridesmaids.
"Danny text me the other day." She hadn't been going to bring it up, until Kirsch had mentioned seeing SJ.
"Uh, yeah, I know. I was with her. We were having some beers the other night." He has the good grace to look sheepish about his admission. "She was going to call when you didn't text her back, but I took her phone away."
"What were you even doing with her?" Laura doesn't try to hide her contempt. She can't believe what she's hearing. Out of everyone, she expected Kirsch to have her back.
He shrugs his broad shoulders, unable to look Laura in the eye. "She's my Bro...I missed her."
"She fucked your wife!" Laura momentarily forgets where she is, attracting more than a few curious glances from the other patrons of the coffee shop.
"Danny screwed up, she knows that, but she really is sorry about it. The guilt is eating her up, Laur."
"Good!" Laura snaps at him. Having Kirsch side with Danny feels like another monumental betrayal. "I can't believe you're just letting her get away with what she did!"
"Laura, she was drunk! Things happen-"
"Once a Zeta, always a zeta." Laura mutters bitterly with a shake of her head. She loves Kirsch dearly, she really does; but sometimes he can be nothing more than an overgrown frat-boy. Their coffee date doesn't last as long as usual. Laura finds herself at a loss for anything to talk about as Kirsch sulks in to his coffee cup. They part ways with a hug; that at least seems normal. Kirsch holds her tight, promising they'll meet up again soon.
"Are you planning on doing any work today, or just watching me do it all?" Carmilla barely glances up from the book in her hands as her brother drops a crate of beer on the bar beside her. She's sitting with her legs crossed underneath her, her nose practically pressed to the pages of the novel she's been reading all afternoon.
"You're the manager, so manage." She shoots Will a sickly sweet smile, letting him struggle on with the inventory count by himself.
"Seriously, Carmilla, could you put Twilight down for ten seconds and help me with this?" William Karnstein is younger than his sister by a whole four minutes. The twins share the same proud, dark features and strong jawlines, but their personalities are poles apart. Where Carmilla is carefree, Will is driven and organised. That's why his sister hired him to manage her nightclub for her. "Since when do you read trashy vampire novels anyway?"
Despite the questionable cover, displaying an alluring dark haired vampire feeding on a wide eyed blonde girl, Laura Hollis's debut novel is far from trash. Carmilla picked up a copy on her way in to the club, and she hasn't put it down since cracking open the front cover. Centred on a disgraced former NYC Detective, it's about her attempt to track down an elusive serial killer, who turns out to be some kind of hunter of the supernatural. Will is right, it isn't Carmilla's usual kind of read, but she's engrossed in it nonetheless. "Since the author drunk dialled me. Twice."
"Wow, talk about marketing." Her brother quips, making her finally look up from the book long enough to roll her eyes at him.
"She was trying to call her ex. We got talking, she sounded cute."
"And is she?" His interest is piqued. Carmilla answers by flipping to the inside of the dust jacket, flashing him the author's picture at the back of the book. Will lets out an appreciative whistle. "If she's looking to get over her ex, you could always pass her my number."
"Sorry, baby brother, she plays for my team." She laughs, taking a special kind of delight in the face that Will pulls when he finds out he doesn't stand a chance. He goes back to muttering about her being no help, and carries on lugging around boxes of premium, overpriced alcohol.
The perks of owning her own business meant Carmilla could spend the rest of her afternoon propped up on the bar, finishing off Laura's novel. By the time the club opened, she only had a handful of pages left to go. "Hey, Will, you can manage tonight without me right?"
"I don't know; I'm not sure how we'll cope without you and your surly expressions."
"Bite me." Carmilla flips him off as she snatches her leather jacket from the back of her office chair. "I'm giving myself the night off."
She's curled up on her couch with a glass of wine when she finally reaches the last page of the book. She knows it's the end, but that doesn't stop her from turning over and looking for more. Carmilla's eyes land on the author's picture. Laura Hollis is smiling up at her. A pretty brunette – in her early twenties – Laura has a natural kind of beauty. She's wearing minimal make-up in the photo, with her long hair hanging loose at her shoulders. It's her eyes that pull Carmilla in; wide and bright, they're the colour of warm honey. Biting at her lip, she glances at the clock on the wall. It's not exactly late. She could call Laura back and let her know what she thought of the book – like she promised she would.
Picking up her phone, she hits redial. Carmilla has an anxious wait to endure as the phone rings. Just when she thinks it might go to Laura's machine, the girl in question finally picks up. Her voice is thick with sleep as she yawns out, "Hello?"
"Hey, Creampuff. It's Carmilla. I didn't wake you did I?" It's barely midnight on a Friday night, yet the other woman sounds like she just dragged herself out of bed to answer.
"Oh... No... I wasn't asleep. Who goes to sleep this early?" Laura scoffs, sounding marginally more awake as she sits up in her bed. Carmilla smiles to herself as she listens to the writer flustering on the other end of the line. "...Hi."
"Hey. So, I finished reading your book. It was pretty good. There was just this one thing about page 347 that bugged me."
"Really? What was it?" Laura doesn't even this woman, not really, yet the thought of her not liking her work is mortifying.
"It was the last page, Cutie. That cliffhanger was something, you sure know how to work a girl up and then leave her hanging..." If Laura had thought Carmilla's voice was husky on the message she'd left on her machine, then her current tone was down right sultry.
"Uh..." Laura's mouth suddenly feels bone dry as she swallows the lump that's formed in the back of her throat. "You could always read the second book?"
"I intend to. I just don't like the fact that I'll have to wait until morning to get it. I can be quite impatient, especially when I really want something."
"You could always download it? Haven't you ever heard of an e-book?" Laura laughs, feeling a little more at ease. She props herself up on one elbow, hoping she'll be on the phone long enough to need to be comfortable. Carmilla made a choking noise on the other end, miming throwing up.
"Please don't tell me you buy in to all this electronic reader crap? What self respecting book lover would ever own one? There so...soulless." This draws out another laugh from the writer; Carmilla thinks it might be her new favourite sound.
"Seriously? You're one of those? There's nothing wrong with a little bit of technology."
"Hmm, maybe in certain situations." Carmilla's suggestive tone leaves Laura's over-active imagination to its own devices. "But never with books. A good book is like a woman."
"W-why is that?" Laura's breath catches in her throat. She really isn't imagining the husky lilt to the other woman's voice.
"They're both nice to hold." Carmilla smirks. "I mean, who wants a hard piece of plastic in their hands when they can have something they can leave their mark on? When you're reading a book, it's not just about words on a page. It's the whole experience. There's no better feeling than leafing through a well worn book, remembering where you were when you first read it by the turned up corners, the coffee stains and smudges... and don't get me started on that musky old book smell."
"Wow...I think you just talked me in to throwing out my Kindle." Laura's cheeks are flushed. There's a familiar ache between her legs, and she has the sudden urge to and go raid her bookshelf for the precious memories entombed within her many volumes. She hears Carmilla's chuckling softly in her ear and her eyes close over involuntarily. She imagines what it would be like to have that sultry laugh in her ear for real. It's hard to fantasize about a stranger though. She doesn't know the first thing about Carmilla; and Laura's too chicken to ask her what she looks like.
As if reading her mind, Carmilla comes out with, "You know, your author's picture really doesn't do you justice...I might have googled you." She admits, with another laugh that has Laura's toes curling. She isn't a stalker. She's just curious – At least that's what she told herself when she was trawling the internet for any scrap of information on the budding young author.
"That hardly seems fair. You know all about me, and I don't even know your last name."
"Maybe I'd like to keep my air of mystery."
"Hmm, that's too bad. I guess if you don't want to talk anymore I should let you go. I was halfway through re-reading my second book, so I'll just get back to that." It's a flat out lie, but Carmilla takes the bait.
"Don't hang up!" Her cool, calm and collected act vanishes in the blink of an eye. Laura gets some satisfaction from her pleading, but she doesn't want to hang up the phone anymore than Carmilla wants her to. "You're reading your book, and I have to wait until the morning? That hardly seems fair."
"I could read the first few pages for you – just to get you past that cliffhanger – if you wanted me to?" Laura has no idea why she suggests it, but Carmilla takes her up on her offer; leaving Laura to scramble out of bed in search for her copy of her second book.
She smiles when she finally lays her hands on it. The corners of her favourite parts are folded over, and there are literally dozens of sticky notes inside, marking bits that are important to tie in later in the series. "Okay, are you sitting comfortably?" Laura asks once she's back in her bed and settled under the covers.
"Just a second, Cupcake. I'm going to change for bed."
"Okay..." Laura squeaks out, her imagination running wild again as she hears the sounds of clothes rustling and drawers opening. After a minute, Carmilla comes back on the line. She sounds ever so slightly out of breath.
"Okay. I'm all yours."