Laura was standing in front of the closed door of Carmilla's dressing room. Oliver had just escorted her there after the concert ended. He knocked and they heard Carmilla calling from inside for them to come in. The bodyguard opened the door and motioned for Laura to go in first. When she entered Carmilla was standing in the middle of the room using a towel to dry her face, when she finally looked up, Carmilla smirked at Laura before turning to Oliver.
"You can leave us alone Oliver, make sure no one, and I mean no one interrupts us."
"Of course, Miss Karnstein. Excuse me." He said and left, closing the door behind him.
"Well Cupcake, what did you think of the concert? Did you enjoy it?" Carmilla grinned with a mischievous look in her eyes. Laura didn't miss a beat.
"What the frilly hell do you think you're doing? How dare you call attention to me during your concert? I thought you didn't want to feed the fire of this gossip?" She said angrily, her hands balled into fists at her sides, while she walked towards Carmilla trying to look imposing and threatening. Before she could continue Carmilla smirked at her again.
"Relax, Buttercup. It was just a song, have a little fun, will you?" Carmilla said in her raspy and aloof voice.
"Just a song? JUST A SONG? That wasn't just a song. That was basically the same as telling everyone in there that we're sleeping together. And I will…"
What Laura would do, Carmilla wouldn't know because at that moment, Laura slipped on the towel that Carmilla had been using and had dropped to the floor after drying her face. Laura fell forward right into Carmilla, who tried, once again, to keep them upright, but didn't manage it this time. They fell together, landing with a thud as Carmilla's head hit the floor and she grunted as Laura fell on top of her.
"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" Laura said. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Did you break anything?"
"Slow down there, Cutie. I need a minute." Carmilla said with a grimace, her eyes closed; she would get a pretty nasty bump on the head.
Laura was suddenly aware of how close they were. Carmilla's face was just a couple of inches away from hers. Her eyes roamed the girl's features, taking in her white skin that looked so soft, her jawline that could probably cut diamonds, and her soft lips that always looked so inviting. Carmilla opened her eyes and Laura felt heat rush to her face, she hoped, rather than believed, that she didn't look like a tomato right now.
"Enjoying your position there, Cupcake?" Carmilla said, her voice low and seductive.
Laura suddenly became aware that she was on top of Carmilla, with one of her legs pressed between the dark haired girl's legs. Her eyes widened and she awkwardly scrambled up to her feet and extended a hand to help Carmilla up.
"Sorry." She mumbled.
"It's alright, Cutie. I can't say I don't enjoy having a pretty girl on top of me." Carmilla said, winking at Laura and massaging the lump in the back of her head at the same time. Laura squirmed at that and Carmilla chuckled, it was just too easy to discompose this girl. "Besides, it was my fault for letting the towel on the floor."
"Yes, it was your fault." Laura said angrily after regaining her ability to think after being so close to Carmilla.
"That little bunched up face you make when you're angry is hilarious Buttercup." Carmilla laughed at her. "Now, to business" she continued.
She turned around to open a small mini fridge and took out two bottles of beer, opening them and offering one to Laura, who accepted it silently. The singer sat on the sofa.
"So, about this gossip business you wanted to talk about it, right?"
"Yes." Laura said, sitting on the sofa as far away from Carmilla as possible. "Can you please tell me why the frilly hell you haven't put a stop to it yet? I have tried to tell people it was just a misunderstanding but no one will believe me. So here is what I want you to do: you'll get your PR to release a statement explaining that we have never dated, hell, that we don't even really know each other and all of this gossip was just a misconstruction of that first photograph by the media." Laura finished with a commanding tone and took a sip of her beer.
"That won't be possible, sweetheart." Carmilla replied, her tone indifferent.
"WHAT?"
"I don't make statements about my personal Never/." Carmilla said, her tone suddenly serious while she looked Laura in the eyes.
Something about Carmilla's tone and the fact that her body had stiffened alerted Laura that there was probably some history there, something that happened in the past and made Carmilla wary of talking about her personal life. But being who she was, Laura couldn't let it go that easily.
"You will do it because this isn't just about your life, it's about mine too and I'd like to have it back."
"Look Cutie, even if we said that it was a misunderstanding, do you really think people will believe it?" Carmilla sounded angry, and Laura's eyes widened as the girl got up and stood in front of her. "You're naive if you think that the media care about us. All they want is to make money, it doesn't matter who they hurt in the process. Right now, we, as a couple, is what is giving them money. If we tell the truth they'll just twist it to their own benefits and we may end up losing more than we bargained for. Do you think saying the truth will get your life back? Do you think they'll simply print in the newspaper that we were never really a couple and forget about it? They'll come up with some sickening story about how I broke your precious little heart, or how you were only with me for my money. They'll dissect our relationship in the news to make as much money as they can. People love the dramatic love life of the famous. Get it?"
She turned away from a stunned Laura and sat down at the chair by her dressing table, her head low, elbows resting on her thighs and the beer bottle in between her hands. For some reason she couldn't understand, Laura felt bad for Carmilla at that moment. She'd had to live with being in the gossip column for a week and she was already fed up, imagine Carmilla who had to tolerate that for years. She took a deep breath before she spoke again, her voice calmer.
"What do you suggest we do then?"
"We should just wait for them to get bored with us. Trust me, it won't be that long. Soon enough someone is going to get divorced, or the parents of a child star will begin fighting for the money, whatever, they'll forget about us soon." Carmilla said with a sneer.
Laura weighed her options. She really wanted to put the truth out there, but Carmilla was probably right. No one would believe them if they explained what really happened, especially because they were caught in the same situation twice. People did love the drama and they had become the darlings of the media in the last week. The truth was not really important for people like Sarah Jane, all they wanted was the money and the audience. Coming to a decision, Laura spoke again.
"Okay. I agree to wait a little bit to see if this will end on its own." Carmilla looked up at her again, and she continued. "But, you have to promise me not pull another stunt like that song again. And if this somehow threatens my job, I'll speak the truth. There's no way in hell or Hogwarts that I'll let this jeopardize my career."
"Okay, okay" Carmilla said putting her hands up in surrender "We have a deal."
"Good."
They stared at each other until Laura felt herself starting to blush again. Why does she have to be so attractive?
"I should, uh, I should go." She said awkwardly. She stood up gave her bottle of beer to Carmilla, turning and walking towards the door. Before she could open it, Carmilla spoke to her again.
"Hey Cupcake. How are you getting home?"
"I'll take a cab." She said, confused as to why Carmilla would want to know that.
"Hold on there a minute then. I'll give you a ride. I just need to grab my stuff." She said, getting up and putting a few things in a backpack and picking up her guitar case.
"You don't need to do this. I can just take a cab and I'll be home soon." She said, feeling the heat rushing once again to her face. How does she make me blush so easily?
"Come on, Creampuff. I gotta make sure my girl gets home safely." She smirked.
And there was the real Carmilla back, Laura thought rolling her eyes, but grinning at the other girl.
When they opened the door Oliver was standing at the other side, making sure no one interrupted them.
"I'm ready to go Oliver. We'll take Laura home first." She told him.
Oliver nodded and started guiding them out of the venue.
Laura followed in a daze. Hearing her name coming out from Carmilla's mouth for the first time gave her butterflies in the stomach, and she didn't like that. No, she didn't like that at all.