Laura finished her classes early, and was excited to go home and grab Carmilla so they could go out for a late lunch. There was a new cook at the diner across from the campus, and Laura was craving french toast.
She opened the door to their room to find Carmilla in the same position she had left her in, sprawled out beneath the duvet on her stomach, a pillow pressed over her head.
"Sleeping again, I see." Laura said as she shut the door behind her.
"What can I say, you wore me out last night." Carmilla's voice, muffled by the layers of pillows and blankets.
Laura rolled her eyes, she was long since over the need to blush, and instead easily annoyed by her girlfriend's antics, not unlike before.
Carmilla rolled over to face Laura with bleary eyes and lids half-shut. She leaned back on her forearms and sighed, running a hand through her tangled bedhead. "Vampire constitution sweetheart, the world will still be here when I wake."
"Yeah, but I might not be." Laura countered.
Carmilla was suddenly more awake, her heart and lungs both in her throat.
At the extra pallor in Carmilla's face, Laura spoke up once more, "I meant that I'll be dead by the time you decide to get up."
Carmilla sighed in relief, before getting an idea. She held out her hand for Laura to take.
Laura gave her a disapproving look as she took her hand.
Carmilla smirked, "Don't worry, the only clothing that'll be coming off is your shirt and bra."
Laura shook her head, fighting a smile as she raised a brow in amusement. "You act like we've never gotten off with all of our clothes still on."
Carmilla chuckled lowly as she pressed a chaste kiss to Laura's lips, "Well, we'll talk about a little shameless dry humping after we're done what I'm planning on doing."
"Which is what exactly?" Laura asked suspiciously.
Carmilla climbed off of the bed, "Just take your shirt and bra off, and lay on your stomach."
Laura did as she was told, not too concerned about what Carmilla had in mind.
There was a dip in the bed as Carmilla climbed back on, straddling the back of Laura's thighs. "I've been wanting to do this since our first night together." Carmilla whispered as she ran her fingertips down the length of Laura's back.
"Wanting to do what?" Laura asked.
"Paint on you. You don't mind, do you?" Carmilla sounded a bit worried now, her voice riddled with insecurities.
Laura had only seen one or two of Carmilla's paintings, she always went to her studio to work. "No, not at all. What are you thinking of painting?"
Carmilla thought for a moment, an idea already in mind as she thought of how she would be executing it. "Actually, do you mind removing your pants and underwear too?"
Laura bit her lip, nodding.
Carmilla climbed off of her girlfriend and fixed her eyes on which paints to use. "Back in 1889, I knew a man who worked with a painter named Vincent. He told me story upon story of Vincent's work, how he was obsessed with the night sky, and once had ripped his own ear off."
Laura sucked in a breath as she settled back into the bed now bare. "Van Gogh." She said, simply in amazement.
Carmilla hummed her approval as she mixed a few blues with the pad of her ring finger. Wiping the excess onto her ratty paint shirt, she remounted the back of Laura's legs. "It wasn't until years later where I was over in New York at the MoMA, did I see Vincent's work in person. The way my friend had described it, I didn't even have to look at the artist's name to know it was his."
Laura listened intently to the story as she felt the first lick of the brush sweep across her shoulder blades. She could imagine Carmilla sitting with a man as she listened to his every word about a Mr. Vincent Van Gogh. She could also imagine her Carmilla sitting in a coffee shop years later after seeing the "Starry Night" for the first time in person, blown away and speechless from its beauty as she sat and drank her black coffee with a book unopened on the tabletop in front of her, to moved to read a single word.
"I have seen every one of his works that have been mounted in a museum, but this one had always stuck with me." Carmilla continued as she moved the paintbrush down Laura's left bicep. "I too have always been fascinated with astrology, as you know, but even I didn't see it the way he had. To see it in person is truly remarkable."
Laura knew by this point that Carmilla was painting the "Starry Night" by memory alone all over the back of her. She was her lover's canvas.
"The Earth is forever changing Laura, the world is quite fond of evolution, but among the stars, it's more peaceful, much more familiar due to the slow climb of expansion." Carmilla painted quick strokes down Laura's back to the swell of her butt, painting over that as well.
Carmilla wasn't really thinking anymore as she spoke, speaking straight from her thoughts as she got lost in the swirls of paint that were beginning to blossom and color Laura's skin.
Laura clung on to every last word. She had heard Carmilla's jokes about it, but she sincerely believed that if a person could be one of the seven wonders, Carmilla would be one of them.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're my 'Starry Night' Laura, things around us may change, iwe/i change, but you'll always be the same thing to me; the woman that holds my heart in the palm of her hand, and the reason I wish upon every star before kissing you goodnight."