Author's note: As you may have noticed, Carmilla is kinda having a fight with herself and small conversations with herself in her head now and then. Don't worry, she isn't schizophrenic or anything like that hahah. An explanation to this will come in time!

Oh, and Happy New Year everybody!

The Café Accident: The Day After Date

The clock turned 4:30.

Carmilla was walking rapidly back and forth in her apartment; mostly tidying up the mess she called her home. It didn't only make her feel better about her home, but it also helped her keep her mind occupied and from the fact that she was going to meet up with Laura in thirty minutes.

She had probably changed her outfit twenty times during the last two hours, but she finally settled with her favorite pair of leather pants, a black crochet t-shirt and a necklace to fancy it all up. That was about ten minutes before her cleaning session started.

Her make-up, which usually took her about fifteen minutes to do, took her an hour that day. She wanted it to be absolutely perfect.

Whether she should have her hair up or not had probably been her easiest decision and she ended up having it down, because that's what she preferred the most.

It was weird, because Laura had seen her when she hadn't put so much effort or thought into her looks and clothes, but despite that, Carmilla cared to put everything she got into it now.

Even though Carmilla wasn't really the person who cared much for other people or their opinion about her, a little something inside her did care what Laura thought.

Deep down, she wanted Laura to become as blown away by her, as Carmilla had been the first time she saw Laura inside the café, or really every time she had laid her eyes upon the blonde girl since they first met.

When it was quarter to five, Carmilla couldn't keep herself from walking down to the café anymore.

It usually took about five minutes to walk from her apartment to the café, though she walked in way quicker pace than needed and only three minutes passed before she found herself standing outside the familiar glass door.

You are so nervous; you must really like this girl.

Still, I've only known her for some hours. So calm down about it, will you?

You calm down, your heart is beating faster than a frightened rabbit's.

Carmilla took a deep breath before opening the door. She was greeted by the sound of the small, golden bell like always.

She was getting really tired of her feelings playing with her mind, making her think way too hasty things about Laura.

Before she sat down by her regular table in the corner, Carmilla usually ordered her coffee, but not this time. She wanted to wait for Laura, so they could enjoy every sip of their hot beverages together.

Oh, you have become a softie for this girl already, haven't you?

I have not! It's called not being rude, for fucks sake.

Not only did she not order her coffee, but Carmilla even chose not to sit down at the table in the corner.

Instead, she sat down in the middle of the café, at the same table as yesterday. This time, she made sure to tuck her bag almost all the way under the table. She wouldn't want another person tripping over it, especially not today.

Laura walked through the café door just as the clock turned five.

Very punctual, Carmilla thought for herself and a small smirk grew on her lips. She rose from her chair and waved a bit towards Laura, trying to catch her attention.

The bright smile and the most adorable little wave that Laura gave Carmilla when she finally spotted her by the table, made Carmilla's stomach tingle a bit.

"Hi!" Laura said joyfully when she reached the table.

Her hazel eyes were twinkling in the subdued lighting that was set inside the café. Most of the light actually came from the two candles which were set on each table.

It was very cozy, especially with the dark and cold winter weather going on outside.

"Hey." Carmilla smiled. "I arrived a bit early, but as you know I live nearby and I was ready to go a bit before time, so I did." Carmilla excused herself. "But better early than late, right?"

Laura smiled and nodded in response before taking off her jacket and hung it over her chair.

She really seems to like button ups, Carmilla thought. Yesterday, Laura had worn a blue, long sleeved one and today she was wearing a short sleeved, slightly see-through, dark blue one filled with very small, white polka dots and slightly bigger, white bowtie prints.

They became silent for some seconds, their eyes locked.

They were both a bit unsure if they should do anything more with their greeting, more than just saying hello. Carmilla knew that she really wanted to hug her, but she didn't want to be too fast forward, so she ended up not doing so.

"Oh, I brought your shirt by the way. Thank you again for letting me borrow it!" Laura said as she opened her bag to pick up the shirt, breaking the tension that had started to build up when it had gotten silent between them.

"No problems at all. You can borrow it whenever you want to, creampuff." Carmilla said and smiled smirkily, which was something she did quite often and Laura secretly found herself thinking it was incredibly charming.

Creampuff, huh? That's very sweet.

Shut up, will you?

Laura looked up from her bag with a bit confused look, but she was also blushing, obviously flattered by the sugary nickname.

"That's the oddest, but literally sweetest thing someone has ever called me." She said between small chuckles and dragged the shirt out of her bag.

"Well, you are pretty sweet."

Laura's chuckles tuned into a soft laugh at Carmilla's comment.

"I like it!" She then said and handed the shirt to Carmilla, who immediately reached to take it. Their fingers slightly brushed as she did, which made a blush rapidly spread across both of their faces.

That was the first time they touched each other without being in a panicked situation that involved falling and lots of spilled coffee. Even though it was just a slight brush against Laura's index finger, it had sent what felt like electric waves through Carmilla's hand and down into her stomach.

Carmilla quickly bent down to tuck the shirt down her bag, hoping that Laura didn't see the red color spreading across her cheeks. She took a deep breath before straightening her back.

"Let's go order, shall we?" She said with a smile, which was immediately mirrored by a still blushing Laura.

"Wait, how much bear spray did you say your dad sent you in collage? And don't tell me there were as many baseball bats." Carmilla laughed before taking a sip from her coffee.

"He sent me two freaking bags with five cans of bear spray in each! Only one baseball bat though, but at least a dozen spatulas." Laura threw her arms to her side at the ridiculous amount of protection tools her overprotective dad had provided her with during her years in collage.

Carmilla almost choked on her coffee. "Did you say spatulas? Are you serious?"

"Oh, don't underestimate the power of a spatula, dear. They can hurt quite a lot, so don't piss me off while I'm cooking." Laura grinned.

"I don't think a spatula is enough to scare me away." Carmilla scoffed and pursed her lips in a mocking smirk.

Laura playfully narrowed her eyes towards her and stuck out her tongue quickly, like a small, stubborn child. "A dozen actually!"

Carmilla really believed Laura had already become as adorable as absolutely possible in her eyes, but she just kept on becoming more and more adorable for every second that passed.

And she kept on surprising her with all the things adding to her personality.

One second she could be ranting like the world depended on it, next she was acting like a little child. She could also become quite bold at times, flirting and smirking like Carmilla tended to do a lot.

Whenever Carmilla added a flirty comment, called Laura creampuff or something else that was sweet and edible, smirked charmingly or looked at Laura with eyes that had become quite seductive, Laura became quiet and really shy. Always blushing and smiling shyly with teeth while looking down at her half-finished blueberry cupcake or playing with the white tablecloth.

Carmilla really enjoyed seeing all these sides of Laura, but of course the shy and blushing Laura was a lot to her liking, because it gave her hope.

"Enough about me, I want to know about you now." Laura said with her mouth full of blueberry cupcake.

Carmilla froze and stared up at Laura. She wanted her to talk about herself, but what is there even to say? Carmilla wasn't exactly the person who enjoyed or was very good at socializing with others. She had never really talked about herself to anyone before, but then, no one had ever been very interested in knowing. Even though she got along pretty well with most people at her workplace, mostly because of their common interest for books, she hadn't had friends since collage. But not even then had she talked much. She had mostly just sat in the back and read a book as her friends talked about only God knows what, which had resulted in them pretty much giving up on trying getting her to join their conversations.

She hadn't really minded it though, she enjoyed being alone. Though after meeting Laura, she started to question how much she actually enjoyed it, because she found herself liking Laura's company a lot.

It was all thanks to the accident that Carmilla even started taking her time to hang out with Laura though, or dared to rather to hang out with her. She did however not wish that it never happened and Carmilla realized that for the first time in a long while, she felt that being in someone's company wasn't so bad after all.

"Ehm, well…" She tried to figure out what to say or where to even start. Laura smiled encouragingly at her.

"Well, tell me first where you're from." Laura said, giving her somewhere to start.

"I'm from Eastern Europe, but moved here at young age." Carmilla answered shortly.

"Aaaand…" Laura rolled her hand in the air, a gesture meant to further encourage Carmilla to continue.

"And I have a younger brother and an older sister, though she is adopted. William and Mattie are their names. I grew up in a big, very old-fashioned house, my mom owned, or she still owns, a rather successful business, so there were lots of rooms for us play in all day. One hide and seek game could take up to two hours, because the house was full of secret passages and hidden rooms." Carmilla smiled a bit, remembering how she had searched for her bother for two hours down in the underground passages before finding him all muddy and covered in cobweb.

"That sounds wonderful!" Laura said and took a sip of her coffee.

"It was, I was very happy there and so was my family." Carmilla felt how a wave of nostalgia hit her and she smiled.

Her smile quickly faded though and she looked down at her empty coffee mug. "But things changed a lot when we moved here though. I was only five and moving across the ocean, leaving all of that behind and so sudden, it was a huge and hard change for an unexperienced little me."

"I can imagine." Laura said quietly and noticed a glint of sadness that appeared in Carmilla's eyes.

Then she did something that Carmilla didn't see coming. Laura stretched out her arm across the table and placed her hand over hers. Then she pursed her lips in a small, but very warm smile.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Your childhood I mean. Tell me about your job instead or anything you feel like. Why you love books so much maybe. " Laura said with a soft voice and started to caress the side of Carmilla's hand with her thumb.

Carmilla found Laura's touch incredibly comforting. Just the small caresses from her thumb made Carmilla instantly calm and forget all about what she didn't want to remember about her childhood.

She felt really cared for, something she hadn't felt in a very long time, if truly ever. Laura cared for her. With that thought, Carmilla turned her hand around and grabbed Laura's, squeezing it gently as a thank you.

Laura looked down at their hands for a second, then she smiled a smile so bright, her whole face lit up and Carmilla knew that she had made the right decision by grabbing her hand.

"I work at a library downtown." Carmilla started.

"Of course you do!" Laura grinned at her.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

Laura giggled at Carmilla's reaction and her failed attempt to look offended.

"You are always reading, like always. Every time I've seen you, you always have a book in your hand and you never put it down. Not even when you take a sip of your coffee."

"That's because books are amazing! You get to use your imagination to create a world with the help of the book and it allows you escape reality for a while." Carmilla smiled again. "There's just something about sitting in a crowded place, but not actually being able to notice the crowd or hear the voices around you, because you get so deeply pulled into your own mind. Then the feeling when you stop and get sucked back to reality and you realize that two hours has already passed, but it felt like five minutes…" Carmilla explained, sounding rather distant as she did.

Laura placed her elbow on the table and rested her head in her hand. Her head was tilted and a slight smile played across her lips as she watched Carmilla talk about how much she loves books and the feeling they give her.

They way her dark brown eyes lit up while she talked was probably one of the most beautiful things Laura had ever seen.

"I'm sorry; this must be incredibly boring for you to listen to, me getting all sentimental over books." Carmilla chuckled, but Laura just stayed as she was, head rested in her hand, taking in the sight of Carmilla for just a few more seconds.

"I like the way your eyes light up when you talk about it." Laura finally said, before the silence and her staring at Carmilla became too weird.

Carmilla didn't say anything, because she didn't know how to respond to it other than smiling appreciatively. Laura smiled back at her.

She sure knows how to melt a girl's heart. Even the coldest ones.

She sure does.

Carmilla insisted on walking Laura home when they started to get ready to leave the café, only thirty minutes before closing time.

"It's really nice of you that you want to walk me home, but you live like five minutes from here and I, well not as close. It's really cold outside, Carmilla." Laura said as she took her jacket on.

It was not that Laura didn't want Carmilla to walk with her home; it was just actually really cold outside and walking Laura to her apartment would mean a long walk back home for Carmilla.

"Cupcake, it's really no troubles. I need to make sure my date gets home safely, don't I?" Carmilla said and winked at her and Laura just couldn't argue against her anymore.

They excited the café and Carmilla gestured for Laura to show the way with her hand and smiled that charming smirky smile.

"Alright then, but don't blame me if you freeze your toes off on your way back home." Laura said and shivered a bit from the cold, evening air before she started walking.

Carmilla chuckled. "It would be worth it."

Laura glanced at her and she was very sure she was blushing, because her cheeks suddenly started to burn with warmth.

As she walked Laura home, Carmilla really wanted to take Laura's hand, but she still wasn't brave enough to do so.

She could call Laura cupcake and other sweet things, wink at her, look at her with her seductive eyes and flirt with her slightly. But a touch, a touch was something completely different from all of that. It was way more loaded and intense than words or looks could ever be.

When they arrived outside Laura's apartment port, Carmilla was rather disappointed in herself. She should've taken her hand; it wasn't like they hadn't held hands before, because they had during more than half of their date.

For a brief second, she wondered if Laura was disappointed too.

"So, here we are." Laura said with a little sigh and turned to face Carmilla, who also turned to face her.

"I've had a great time." Carmilla said and smiled towards Laura.

"I did too. We should do it again sometime."

"I agree."

"Now get home before you'll freeze your ass off." Laura said and rubbed her hands against Carmilla's arms. It wasn't holding hands or a kiss, but it was at least something.

"Yeah, it is actually really cold."

"I told you so! You should've listened to me." Laura commented and gave her a mocking smile.

"Nah, I still think it's worth it." Carmilla said and slightly bumped Laura in the side with her elbow.

Laura smiled at her and Carmilla smiled back. "Goodnight, cupcake."

"Goodnight, I'll see you." Laura stood up on her toes and gave Carmilla a quick peck on her cold cheek, before she disappeared into the stairway.

Carmilla turned to look after her though the glass door as she walked up the stairs and disappeared, her hand placed on her cheek. She could still feel Laura's warm lips burn against her cold skin and her heart was like the hoofs of a galloping horse.

If this is how she felt from just a small peck on the cheek from Laura, she couldn't even being to imagine how it'd feel to actually kiss her lips.

It'll without doubt feel amazing, indescribable.