The car ride started in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable, to Laura's surprise. She had given her address to Oliver before he opened the rear door of the car for her and Carmilla to enter. The punk star sat staring out of the window, she seemed to be far away. Laura sat staring at the punk star. She just couldn't help herself, her eyes kept going back to the dark haired girl. That is, until Carmilla turned and caught her looking, she quickly turned her eyes to the window, her face flushing. She heard the singer chuckle and decided it was time for some conversation.

"So…" she started, unsure of what to say.

"So." Carmilla answered with a smirk.

Laura cleared her throat before trying again.

"Um, do you always find yourself almost married in the public eye to girls that accidentally stumble into you?"

Carmilla laughed at that, and Laura felt the butterflies come alive once again in her stomach.

"No, Cupcake. You're the only one."

"Hum, I'm really special then, huh?"

Carmilla chucked and shook her head, this girl was just too adorable for her own good.

"Why don't you tell me about yourself, Creampuff?"

"You do remember that my name is Laura, right?"

"Of course I do, Buttercup!" She smiled broadly at honey blonde girl.

Laura huffed and decided that it was not worth trying to get Carmilla to call her by her name, although she did wish she could hear the singer say her name again, it sounded different, like no one else have ever said it before.

"There's not much to tell. I grew up in a small town not too far from here. I moved here to go to college and decided to stay after graduating, which proved to be the right decision since I got a job in the newspaper right after graduation." She said, with a shrug. She imagined her life story would probably be very boring for someone like Carmilla.

"That's it?" Carmilla said, raising her eyebrows at Laura.

"Well, yeah, I don't know what else to say. What more do you want to know?" Laura said, fidgeting with her fingers.

"You can tell me, for example, what you were doing at that restaurant the day we met. Were you on a date?" Carmilla said wiggling her eyebrows and chucking at Laura's renewed blush.

"No, no date. I was with my friends celebrating my new job. We've been friends since my freshman year. Perry was my floor don and she introduced me to LaFontaine. They weren't together back then, but they are now. Perry is like a mama bear, but I don't mind her too much, she knows when to back off. And LaFontaine is a crazy scientist, never eat anything they give you without double checking it is safe; they like to make experiments on unsuspecting victims. And Danny and I met in my Lit class, when she was my TA and Kirsch was in the same class. But they weren't together back then either. They actually kinda hated each other, I think they kind of hate each other yet? I don't know, I'll never understand the dynamics of their relationship." Laura stopped when the lack of oxygen made it impossible to keep going and then, seeing the amused look on Carmilla's face she blushed once again.

"I'm sorry. I was rambling. My dad always says I don't know when to stop talking, which he can't really say anything about because I learned it from… sorry, I was doing it again." She huffed and turned to the window, feeling embarrassed.

"Don't worry, Creampuff, I think your rambling is adorable. You're adorable."

Laura turned back to her.

"Thanks?" She said scrunching up her nose.

Carmilla laughed again and Laura thought she didn't quite mind making a fool of herself if it meant she could hear Carmilla's laughter. They rode the rest of the way in silence, Laura uncomfortably aware that now it was Carmilla who seemed not to be able to stop looking at her.

When they arrived at her place Oliver opened the door for Laura, she turned back to Carmilla before getting out of the car.

"Thanks for the ride, Carmilla. I hope you're right about this whole gossip business ending on its own soon."

Carmilla nodded at her and Laura left. When she was closing the door of her apartment building, she heard Carmilla calling her.

"Cupcake, wait!" She said, running to meet Laura by the door. She handed her a piece of paper with a phone number written on it in an elegant hand.

"I hope it doesn't come to this. But if you start having trouble with the media and paparazzi, give me a call and I'll take care of it."

Laura looked at the paper in her hands and then back at the girl standing in front of her, seemly a bit anxious.

"This is oddly considerate, coming from you." She said.

"Don't get used to it, Sweetpie." Said Carmilla, regaining her disaffected air. She turned around and left without another word. Laura watched her until the car turned on the corner and was out of sight.

The ringing of the bell woke Laura up the next day. Groaning she got up to open the door, not caring to get out of her pajamas. If someone was daring to knock at her door so early on a Sunday they would have to be content being greeted by her disheveled self. When she opened the door, Danny entered the apartment like a whirlwind, Kirsch came behind looking embarrassed.

"Sorry little nerd, I couldn't stop her." He said apologetically.

"It's alright Kirsch." She answered with a yawn, closing the door and turning around to look at Danny who was pacing on her living room. The tall redhead stopped and put up a page of the newspaper that Laura could see had new pictures of her and Carmilla.

"Can you please explain emthis/em to me?" Danny said angrily, "And emthis/em?" She said shoving her phone at Laura after pressing play on a video.

Laura's eyes eyes widened. It was a recording of Carmilla playing the song she "dedicated" to Laura. The person who shot it must have been right behind the reserved area because they managed to capture not only Carmilla on stage, but also Lara standing petrified looking at the singer.

"Damn you Carmilla." She said, under her breath.

She picked up the newspaper to read while Danny started pacing once more.

"Laura Hollis attends Carmilla Karnstein's Concert

It seems like our favorite couple has decided to stop hiding their relationship. Last night, Laura Hollis was seen at Carmilla Karnstein's concert. After causing a bit of commotion with her sudden arrival amidst the punk star's fans, Hollis was escorted inside by the singer's bodyguards. According to witnesses, she watched the concert from the area reserved for staff and press where she spent some time talking with Karnstein's brother, Will Luce.

The biggest surprise, however, happened at the end of the concert, when Karnstein dedicated the last song called "Lovers" to her lady love (you can see the video on YouTube, just search for Hollstein). The two left the venue together in Karnstein's car, as you can see in the photograph below.

Don't miss any news about Hollstein, follow me on Twitter."

Laura looked at the photographs, there was one taken by the first paparazzo who recognized her when she had arrived at the venue the previous night. She looked like a deer caught in headlights and she wished they had at least chosen a better picture to publish. The other photo was of her and Carmilla beside the car while Oliver opened the door for them. How are they even taken these pictures without either of us noticing? In hindsight, she realized what a bad idea it had been to accept Carmilla's offer of a ride, but she had honestly thought that no one else would be around to see them by the time they left.

"So?" Danny said, reminding her she was not alone. "Didn't you go to that concert last night to put an end to this? How come there's not only a new piece on the newspaper with a photo of you two getting in the same car, but also a video, a video of that woman singing a song like that for you?" She finished angrily.

"Look Danny," Laura started tiredly, she really didn't need to deal with this right now, "Carmilla and I talked and we agreed to wait it out for a little bit. Some bigger scandal is bound to happen any time and people will forget about us. As for the song, it was just a joke and I made Carmilla promise not to do anything like that again."

"Wait a minute" Danny said in a dangerously low voice "You're telling me that Carmilla won't make a statement telling everyone the truth? You are going to let this gossip keep going until it ends on its own?"

"Yes, Danny, that's exactly it. Carmilla doesn't like making statements about her personal life."

"To hell with what she likes or doesn't like. She emwill/em make a statement and clean your name."

"Danny, Carmilla and I have discussed this and I agreed to do it her way." Laura said, starting to get pissed off at her friend's interference.

"I won't let you allow your name to be dragged down with this woman. I'll go talk to her myself and I'll make her explain the truth."

Laura felt anger bubbling inside of her. There was nothing she hated more than when her dad or her friends assumed that they knew what was good for her better than she knew it herself. She was a goddamn adult and she could make her own decisions about her life.

"You'll do nothing of the sort," she started, her voice trembling with rage, "as I said, Carmilla and I have talked and come to an agreement, which I intend to honor. This decision is mine and hers, no one else's. I don't need you to tell me what to do, I can take care of myself just fine."

Danny swallowed, her face contorted with displeasure.

"Fine then, do what you want. But don't come to me when this becomes more than you can handle." She said, storming out of the apartment.

Kirsch looked at Laura wide eyed, he hated it when Danny and Laura fought like this.

"I'm sorry about her Laura," he said, getting up to follow his girlfriend "I'll talk to her."

"No, it's okay Kirsch. Let her be. She'll calm down soon enough."

"Okay, but, just so you know, I'm with you in this." He said, giving her a hug that almost crushed her bones and leaving the apartment.

Laura turned on her notebook and watched the video of Carmilla singing for her again. Now that she wasn't in a state of shock at what was happening she could appreciate the joke, and Carmilla's husky voice, and her leather pants, and her see-through black top. Laura shook herself out of her dazed state and picked up her phone to send a quick text.

07:58 Unknown number: Your little joke has 500.000 views on YouTube. I'm starting to think maybe I should actually sue you.

08:02 Broody singer: Seriously Cupcake? Have you seen what time it is? I should be the one suing you for sending texts at an ungodly hour like this.

08:06 Annoying Cupcake: Rise and shine! There's a beautiful day out there just waiting for you. But please, don't cross my path today. :)

08:08 Broody singer: Don't worry cutie, wasn't planning on getting out of bed at all. I'm turning off my phone.

08:09 Annoying Cupcake: Rude! And I can't believe you'll really waste your entire day in bed.

08:10 Broody singer: Well, if you were in here with me it wouldn't be a wasted day, would it? What do you say? ;)

Laura choked on the hot cocoa she had just made herself and felt her face heat with a blush. Damn, how can this woman manage to make me blush like this when she's not even near me?

Deciding that that last text didn't deserve an answer, Laura started getting ready for her day, a song she'd only listened to for the first time the day before leaving her lips in a quiet humming.