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Polar Opposites
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Carmilla was, officially, Laura's new roommate.
Upon Carmilla's entrance twenty four hours prior, Laura was resigned to the fact that this girl, with her cold demeanour and quite frankly, scary presence, was her only hope at staying put. So, being the good host that she is, Laura introduced Perry and LaFontaine.
"Great. Now that I know the nosey neighbours, can I see the room?"
"We're not neighbours-" Perry began, only to be cut off.
"Don't care." Carmilla's smile was anything but friendly, and the situation was best diffused quickly.
"Sure, the room, right this way!" Laura called, plastering her own fake smile on her lips, and leading Carmilla down the hall from the living room, to the bedrooms at the back. Her own bedroom door was shut, and the spare room's door was open, revealing an empty room. It had been a bit of a nightmare getting all her belongings out of it, but it was finally clear.
"I know it's not much to look at, and there's not a bed, yet, but-"
"I have my own furniture," Carmilla's tone was short, clipped, as she stood in the middle of the floor, looking at all four walls like there was actually something to see there. There wasn't, Laura was certain, because she was looking too, and nada.
"Oh. Great, if you need help moving it in, I can-"
"Not necessary. My brother's going to do it." Despite being cut short, Laura saw this opportunity in the conversation for what it was; an opening, exactly what she needed to get things going in the right direction!
"You have a brother?" she sounded genuinely interested, and even friendly. But apparently that didn't matter.
"Yes." Carmilla didn't offer any further information, cutting short Laura's bonding session, by striding past her and opening the door at the end of the hallway; the bathroom.
Okay then.
Pursing her lips, it seemed like the smarter option would be to return to the living room and just wait on Carmilla to stop inspecting her place like there was mould secretly growing out of every corner. The super had taken care of that already. Damn students upstairs.
Perry and LaFontaine were awaiting her return, and neither looked too thrilled with her possible new roommate.
"You can't be serious, she's….Laura, I don't think this is a sensible option," Perry began, ready to go off in full mother-hen mode.
"She's mean," LaFontaine reasoned, and while that reason was perfectly justifiable on its own, it wasn't making a dent in Laura's decision making.
"She's the only option I have. I don't…I know I'm being ridiculous, but this is my home and I'm not giving that up. So what, she's a little abrasive? I can deal with that."
Perry just looked on concerned, and LaFontaine was shaking their head slightly, as if they knew that was not going to be the case.
"So, when can I move in?" Carmilla asked, coming back in the living room, still looking aggrieved by the entire encounter, but that didn't matter.
"As soon as you like," Laura answered instantly, nipping over to her desk, pulling out a contract. This had the other three all quirking their eyebrows. "This should cover all the basics, and just gives us both rights and explains how the money works. If you need time to read it over, or want to amend any of the clauses then we should sit down and go over that, to ensure that we are both happy…what…are – you -"
While Laura was speaking, Carmilla glanced at each sheet for approximately three seconds, before grabbing a pen off the coffee table and swirling her fancy signature at the bottom of the page.
"We done?" Carmilla asked, as if this was draining and a complete waste of her time.
"We're done," Laura replied, reaching for another envelope. "Here's your key." She handed it over, as well as a copy of the contract, just in case Carmilla actually did want to read it at a later date.
Nodding, with both objects in hand, Carmilla didn't even glance Laura's way as she headed for the door. She let herself out, just like that, leaving Perry, LaFontaine and Laura a little lost as to her sudden departure. Was she gone for good? Was she coming back? Were they meant to follow?
"Okay, so when the cops call and say you've gone missing, we should just point them in her direction, right?" LaFontaine asked, much to Perry's disappointment.
"LaFontaine, don't even joke about that." Yeah, it wasn't funny when it held an ounce of truth to it.
"I'll be fine. She's just a little eccentric. It's nothing I can't handle." Laura was sure if she said it enough times, it would eventually come true.
"Uh huh," LaFontaine replied, to the now silent room of doubt.
That was then, before Laura had slept on her decision, and before she had woken to a fully furnished spare bedroom – which, she probably needed to start calling Carmilla's room – and when had Carmilla moved her stuff in?
"Last night," came the reply, sounding so much like late night drinking, lack of sleep, cigarettes, and so fitting to Carmilla.
"Oh. I didn't…I didn't know you were here. I didn't hear anything-"
"We were extra careful not to wake sleeping beauty." That didn't feel like a compliment off Carmilla's lips, although if Danny had said that to Laura, she definitely would have thought it was.
"We?" Carmilla was the only one moving in, right?
"William," Carmilla called, now leaning in the doorway to her room, arms crossed, and that all too common look of disdain on her features.
The sound of footsteps pulled Laura's attention from Carmilla, where she really needed to stop examining her new roommate like she was a test subject, and towards the hallway, where a guy with an all too familiar look of disdain and creep was coming over. Laura could see the family resemblance.
"Hey, I'm Will. You must be Laura," he was grinning, but it had the hair on the back of Laura's neck on end. That was weird, to say the least.
"Yeah, I'm Laura. It's nice to meet you, Will." Being polite was always the best policy in these situations, Laura was convinced. "Thanks for helping move everything in, and for being so quiet, if I had known I would have helped-"
"Oh, it's no problem. Happy to help. If you ever need any-" Will began, but Carmilla's presence was now closer, slightly in front of Laura's, although she was still in the doorway to her room.
"You can go now, Willy boy. Those boxes aren't going to carry themselves." Will's smile didn't falter, if anything, it got wider.
"Sure thing, sugar puss." He gave a polite nod to Laura and then walked back into the living room.
So the were…peculiar together, but maybe they didn't have the best relationship. Maybe they were more of the competitive siblings type than the friendly siblings type. Maybe it wasn't any of Laura's business. Maybe if she kept reminding herself of that fact, she'd leave it alone. There was no way prying could do her any good with Carmilla, that was for sure.
"I should…" Pointing to the living room, Laura excused herself.
She hadn't anticipated Carmilla following her, however, and feeling her behind her was rather unnerving. Gosh, she was letting LaFontaine's comments get to her. Carmilla was fine. And once closer to the living room, with a clear view, Laura knew exactly why she was following her, and yes, her thoughts were completely irrational.
There were boxes in the living room that had still to be taken to Carmilla's room.
"So how accurate was the ad to…to you?" Laura asked, trying to make conversation. They were going to be living together, after all.
Her question had Carmilla smirking as she looked down at her boxes, which, that wasn't good, was it?
"I don't smoke," she replied, and Laura froze, letting the silence drag on as she thought back over the ad.
Wanted: an older, unsociable, messy roommate… Preferably unemployed…..Pets welcome.
"Oh, well, that's a relief." Second-hand smoke was not something Laura wanted to be subjected to, so yes, that was a huge relief. However, that meant…"You have pets?"
She really hadn't signed up to having a dog or cat moulting on the furniture or some obscure reptile possibly getting loose and killing her. She had read the stories about snakes measuring themselves out next to humans to see if they can fit them in their stomachs, and she did not plan on being Carmilla's pet's next meal.
No thank you.
Laura's question was said with a slight nervous quiver, and Carmilla's lips smirked wider at it, which could not have been a good sign, as far as Laura was concerned. God, she probably had an anaconda tucked away, like Nagini, just ready to strike and pounce. Where was the sword of Gryffindor when one needed it?
"I have a fish," Carmilla finally said.
"A fish?" The words felt ridiculous leaving Laura's mouth, because what?
"Yeah. The tank will be in my room, so no big deal. You won't even know it's here."
"Oh." Carmilla didn't look like the fish type. Hence the snake assumption.
"Not what you were expecting, cupcake?" Carmilla teased wickedly, and the heat in Laura's cheeks were indication enough that she was bothered by it.
"I thought it be more badass," she confessed.
"You haven't met the fish." That had Laura frowning, and Carmilla shaking her head, with one eyebrow raised as she lifted the boxes and headed off towards her room.
What did that mean?
Frowning, Laura thought it best to discard that issue for now, and focus on the task at hand. She needed to get something to eat, head in the shower, and get out of there by eleven. Despite trying so hard to be taken seriously at work, her pieces on the supernatural goings on in the town were being laughed at around the water cooler and at the editor's desk. And each and every time she offered one up, she was given another menial task; cover the local kids soccer team results, talk about the graffiti on the library, write up a piece on who really did have the best Victoria sponge at the church bake sale.
So, today, on her day off, instead of wasting her time writing up good, interesting articles that no one ever got to see, Laura was going to start reporting on it for herself. With her trusty hand held camera, she'd get footage, and later, she'd record the story up to her webcam and edit it for the internet to view.
Someone out there had to be interested in what she had to say. Right?
Regardless, the stories needed to be told, and if no one else was going to, she definitely was.
Supernatural things were happening, and people needed to take notice. It wasn't safe out there.
So Laura's worries about Carmilla, her strange pet, and creepy brother needed to wait. She had a story to get to.
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A.N.
The fish was inspired by fanart posted on tumblr, I'd really like to give credit where credit is due, so if anyone can find the link or name of the artist please let me know.