February 19th
The sun is barely rising when she wakes up. She fell asleep on the bench at the back deck in Carmilla's arms. Carefully she gets out of Carmilla's arms and of the bench. She walks to the railing and watches the sunrise while thinking back to yesterday. The two of them hadn't really talked last night. She didn't want to ruin things when she finally had the girl in her arms. It is a temporary hiding really, in less than a week they're going back home and by then she needs to have had this conversation.
She hears ruffling behind her and knows Carmilla is waking up. She lets out a deep sigh, now is not the time for this conversation, and turns around.
"Good Morning Carm." "Morning Cupcake." Carmilla's groggy morning voice is way too sexy. She gets up, walks over to Laura and leans in for a kiss. She stiffens for a moment before she remembers she can kiss her now.
"Wanna grab breakfast?" "How about we get back to our bench and lie down for another couple of hours. It's way too early to be up." Carmilla hugs her from behind and places a kiss on her neck. Those arms feel so comfortable and that kiss… that kiss is all the encouragement she needs to get back on the bench. It takes her only minutes to fall back to sleep.
She wakes when she gets jostled around by a sudden movement of the boat. She nearly falls off the bench but Laura's fast reflexes catch her.
"Whoah there grumpy, careful." "Thanks." "You're welcome. I guess the tow boat has arrived huh." "Hmmhmm." Laura is to awake for Carmilla to handle without caffeine. She gets up from her arms and walk inside.
"Where are you going?" "Coffee." "Right, how could I forget that you can't function without your morning shot of caffeine." Carmilla can hear the eye roll in her voice, but decides not to comment. Nothing good can come from reacting to that ball of sunshine before she had her coffee and is in the land of the living.
When she walks off the deck into the boat the captain announces that they should be at the harbor in about an hour.
She knows they have the conversation, but somehow the moment was never right. Last night they were too busy getting acquainted with each other's mouths, this morning Carmilla wasn't really awake. Later Carmilla had a caffeine shortage, there was the bus ride back to the hotel, dinner. Until now the two of them hadn't really been alone and she didn't want to have this conversation with an audience. Girl the hell up Hollis, you can do this. She takes a deep breath and walks out of the bathroom into the bedroom and gasps. Carmilla has put up candles everywhere and dimmed the lights. It's so beautiful and romantic that she almost forgets that they you need to have a conversation.
"It's beautiful Carm" "Thanks. Listen I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm not trying to be romantic to get into your pants." "So you make a romantic gesture to tell me you don't want to be in my pants?" "No.. damn. I'm fucking this up again. Just please don't run and give me a chance to finish what I want to say. Please?" "Okay." "As much as I don't like to, I think it is important that we talk. You know… make sure we're on the same page. I figured it might be easier if we do that in a cozy ambiance." "I was planning on talking about us with you tonight, so I agree. The whole candles thing threw me off though." "I understand I'm sorry. Let's sit." She sits next to Carmilla on the couch and waits for her to start. But after a few minutes it becomes clear that she isn't going to start this conversation. She decides the dive right in.
"Soooo, we kissed." "We did." "How do you feel about that?" "I'd like to do it again." "I'd like that to." Before she can continue Carmilla leans in and kisses her. After a few minutes Laura pushes her away.
"As much as I enjoy this, I think there is at least one more thing to discuss." In all honesty, there are more than one thing she would like to discuss, but she knows that she needs to take small steps with Carmilla.
"What is this thing we're doing. Do you want it to be casual or more?" "I don't know, what do you want?" She takes her time. A part of her wants to push Carmilla into giving an answer, but a bigger part knows she's not going to get it. She lets out a small sigh.
"I'm not sure. I know that I like you, a lot, but I also realize that in less than a week you're flying back to Austria while I'm of to Canada." "What do you suggest? Enjoy it while it lasts?" For a split second she thinks that she sees hurt in Carmilla's eyes but it's gone before she can fully analyze it.
"Yes." The moment the word leaves her mouth Carmilla surges forward and captures her lips in a flaming kiss.