Being in Carmilla's arms feels familiar, it feels warm and natural, I could stay wrapped up in her for the rest of eternity and I'd never get sick of it. Even after three years, her arms feel like home. That's what scares me, though. Without her I fell apart, I morphed into someone I no longer recognize. I don't think I can go through that again and make it out okay. What if she leaves again, this time on her own terms? What if she sees how fucked up I am and decides this isn't what she wanted to come back to? I wouldn't blame her, honestly, she's probably expecting me to still be the tiny innocent girl that was naive and selfish in high school. What if what she sees scares the hell out of her and she decides I'm too much? I was too much for Noah and my dad, I can't lose Carmilla too. What if I just-
"Laura."
Carmilla pauses the movie playing in the DVD player, placing the remote on the coffee table and positioning herself and Laura so that she can see Laura's face.
"We just watched your favorite part of this movie and you didn't so much as twitch."
Laura hums in response, but continues to keep her attention directed towards the TV. Carmilla furrows her eyebrows and waves a hand in front of Laura's face. Nothing. She tries again. Still nothing. Carmilla smirks and considers making a crude comment that would surely get Laura's attention, but catches sight of Laura's hands and the smirk across her lips is quickly replaced by a frown. Carmilla gently tucks a strand of hair behind Laura's ear and places a hand over Laura's. Laura looks up at Carmilla and smiles, but there's no happiness in it. Carmilla can't read the look in her eyes, but it scares her.
"What's wrong?"
Carmilla squeezes Laura's hand. Laura looks from Carmilla to the TV, shoving her hands underneath her legs, breaking contact with Carmilla's hand.
"Why'd you pause the movie?"
Carmilla lets out a short, humorless laugh.
"Laura, you weren't even watching it…"
Laura squeezes her thigh and her jaw clenches.
"Yeah, I…"
Laura sighs.
"Sorry, I spaced out."
Carmilla arches an eyebrow. Laura looks down at her lap.
"What's going on with you?"
Carmilla's tone is soft and gentle, but full of concern.
"Nothing."
Laura shakes her head and lays her head back onto Carmilla's shoulder.
"Laur, your hands are shaking and your heart is beating like a fucking racehorse."
Laura clears her throat and squeezes her thigh tighter.
"I'm fine."
Carmilla wraps her arms around Laura's shoulders and buries her face in Laura's hair, kissing her head. Laura closes her eyes.
"You're not ready to talk about it, that's fine, I can wait, but I'm here when you are ready. Laura, I'm not going anywhere-"
"Stop. Please, stop."
Laura turns over so she's facing Carmilla and hugs her waist before burying her face in Carmilla's chest.
"Laur-"
Carmilla's face is full of worry.
"Don't promise me that, just-"
"Laura, I-"
"No, let's just lay here. I don't want to think."
Carmilla nods her head, but the signals going off in her brain can't be ignored.
"Laura, look at me."
Carmilla stares at the top of Laura's head on her chest. Laura doesn't move.
"Play with my hair."
Laura mumbles into Carmilla's chest, closing her eyes and guiding Carmilla's hand to her head. Carmilla doesn't object, but her thoughts are running rapid. She gently runs her fingers through Laura's hair and, after a few minutes, relaxes and she can feel Laura's heartbeat steady with her own. Carmilla lays her head back against the arm of the couch and closes her eyes, rubbing circles into Laura's back with one hand and the other wrapped around a piece of Laura's hair.
"I missed this."
Laura whispers. Carmilla nods her head.
"Me too, cupcake."
Carmilla leans forward to kiss the top of Laura's head, but feels Laura shift in her arms and is met with a pair of soft lips, instead, and for a moment is overwhelmed by the thought that she's waited three years to be able to do this again and it's never going to get old. Carmilla moves her hand to Laura's jaw without ever opening her eyes. Laura sighs into Carmilla's mouth, letting her hand rest on Carmilla's hip.
"I missed this, too."
Laura whispers, breaking the kiss for just a second before leaning back in and kissing Carmilla's cheek.
"And this."
Then Carmilla's forehead.
"This."
Then Carmilla's nose.
"This."
Carmilla laughs and grabs Laura's chin before pressing a soft kiss to her lips and bringing her hand up to the back of Laura's head, tangling her fingers in her hair, holding Laura there.
"I missed you."
Carmilla leans back against the arm of the couch, watching Laura's face for any sign of what was there earlier, instead she found something else in her eyes and before she could determine what it was, Laura's lips were back on hers and all previous thoughts vanished. Carmilla's breath hitches in her throat at the eagerness in Laura's tongue on her bottom lip, but as quickly as it happened, it ended at the sound of a key being turned in the lock. Suddenly, Laura is on her feet and Will is standing in the doorway, an amused look on his face. Laura's face is on fire and her reddened lips, slightly parted, her hair no longer neatly tucked behind her ear. Carmilla lies on the couch, her legs left at awkward angles, where Laura had just been lying seconds ago, her neck hot and her breathing uneven. She glares at Will. Will smirks and throws his hands up in defense.
"I just came by to grab a change of clothes, but, please, feel free to continue whatever it was you were doing on my bed."
Carmilla's jaw tenses, Laura crosses her arms across her chest and looks down at the floor.
"Out."
Carmilla demands through gritted teeth. Will continues further into the apartment, a smirk still plastered across his face.
"You don't scare me, Carm-"
"Now, Will!"
Carmilla says, louder this time. She gives Will not even ten seconds before she's off the couch and shoving Will out the door to their apartment and slamming the door behind him. She rests her forehead against the doorframe, her back to Laura who is still frozen in place beside the couch.
"I have a key, you know."
Will announces from the other side of the door.
"Ten minutes, Fucker."
Carmilla tells him before turning back around to Laura, her back against the frame in place of her forehead.
"Sorry, he's not usually here on the weekends."
"You live with him?"
Carmilla nods, slowly.
"When he's not at the Zeta house. He helps with rent."
Carmilla shrugs and starts to make her way back toward Laura, stepping around the couch.
"What are you doing tonight?"
Carmilla grabs Laura's hands in hers and brings them up to her lips before pressing a soft kiss to the back of each hand, waiting for Laura's response. Laura's head buzzes at the touch.
"I have a feeling you're about to tell me."
Laura smiles.
"Want to help me with something? There'll be food."
Carmilla smirks.
"Free food, how could I refuse?"
Carmilla playfully shoves Laura in the shoulder and leads her to the kitchen table by her wrist, where Carmilla grabs a piece of paper and pen and scribbles down an address in her chicken scratch she calls writing.
"Meet me here at 6."
Laura cocks an eyebrow, but takes the paper anyway.
"If you were planning on murdering me, why-"
Carmilla rolls her eyes.
"6 o'clock, don't be late."
Carmilla presses a kiss to Laura's lips before letting her hand fall to her side and calling out to Will.
"You can come in, Cockblock."
Will pushes the door open, his hand covering his eyes.
"Everyone has their clothes on, right?"
"No, we just fucked on the kitchen table."
Laura's eyes grow wide and Carmilla chuckles, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms across her chest. Will cautiously spreads his fingers apart over his eyes before completely removing them.
"Nice visual, but I really did just come for a change of clothes."
Laura returns her attention to Carmilla.
"I should actually get going, anyway."
Carmilla furrows her eyebrows.
"You don't have to, he'll be gone in a second, it's-"
"No, no, it's not him, I actually have to go...into work for a couple hours. See you at six?"
Laura presses a quick kiss to the corner of Carmilla's mouth before grabbing her jacket from the kitchen chair and heading out the door, leaving a confused look plastered to Carmilla's face which is quickly replaced by a glare directed towards Will.
"Nice job, Shit head."
Carmilla mumbles, scowling at Will, he throws his hands up, again, in defense and hoists his bag over his shoulder before making his way out the door, closing it behind him. Carmilla sighs and heads back over the the couch, throwing herself down onto the cushions and closing her eyes. It's not long before she drifts off to sleep, her lips still tingling from Laura's touch.
Carmilla wakes up a couple hours later to her phone buzzing on the coffee table, a picture of Laura lighting up the screen. For a split second, panic fills her chest at the thought that she was late and slept past six, but the clock display on her screen only read 4:26. She sighs a sigh of relief and visibly relaxes before picking up her phone and answering the call.
"Hey, cutie."
Carmilla's voice is laced with sleep and the grogginess in her tone gives her away.
"You put- Were you sleeping?"
Carmilla smirks, knowing what Laura was going to say.
"Yes, I still have an hour and a half, and yes, I put my number in your phone."
Carmilla can hear Laura's mouth fall open and quickly clamp shut on the other end of the line, causing a smile to spread across her lips.
"How did you...nevermind I don't want to know. I had a question."
Carmilla's smile grows wider as she stretches her legs out on the couch.
"Cupcake, your password for everything is 'donuts', it wasn't that hard, but ask away."
Carmilla can practically see the surprise horror on Laura's face through the phone.
"How did you remember? It's fingerprint-"
Carmilla rolls her eyes.
"Your backup password is 'donuts'. Now, your question?"
Carmilla sits up on the couch, running a hand through her hair.
"Whatever. Is this a date?"
Laura asks quickly. Carmilla's hand freezes, tangled in her hair.
"A what? No, I mean, unless you want it to be a date, then I guess it could be?"
Carmilla spits out, surprised at Laura's question.
"I'm wearing sweats."
Carmilla laughs.
"So, is it a date?"
"I haven't decided yet."
Laura mocks, Carmilla shakes her head.
"Alrighty, then. See you at six."
"Don't be late."
Carmilla arrives at the address she gave Laura earlier that afternoon, at exactly six o'clock. Laura is patiently waiting at the front door, not in a pair of sweats, but instead in a black dress that ended just above her knees.
"That's not sweats."
Carmilla points out as she removes her helmet and grabs the take out she picked up on the way, trying not to stare. Carmilla combs through her keys, looking for the right one, while she makes her way towards Laura and the front door. Laura shrugs.
"I decided it was a date."
Carmilla smirks, concentrating on the keys in her hand.
"Shit, you should've let me know, I would've changed into something a little more date-worthy."
"You're lucky, I like you in plaid and leather."
Carmilla smirks, again, and nods towards Laura's choice of apparel for their apparent date.
"You rode your bike here in that? Aren't you cold?"
"Freezing actually, so, can we get this-" Laura gestures towards Carmilla and the lock, "-going?"
Carmilla shakes her head, but gets the key in the lock and pushes the door open with her shoulder, gesturing for Laura to go in ahead of her.
"Ladies first."
Laura smiles and walks ahead of Carmilla into the dark room, standing awkwardly off to the side while Carmilla closes the door behind them and searches the wall for the light switches.
"What does that make you?"
"The other lady."
Carmilla smirks, flicking on the lights, resulting in a gasp escaping from Laura's lips and a small laugh from Carmilla. She gestures to the room.
"You can take a look around, if you want. We're actually going to be upstairs, but I can give you a quick tour."
"Is this yours?"
"Some of it, yeah, I help out here when I can and in exchange the owner puts my shit up. Not a bad gig."
"I didn't know you were into this sort of thing."
Carmilla chuckles.
"This sort of thing? As in art?"
Laura waves her hand at Carmilla, dismissively, and walks through the maze of art in which she is amazed by.
"Yeah, that. Where's your stuff?"
Carmilla shakes her head and smiles, grabbing Laura's hand and heading towards the small space in the back of the building where her many projects are displayed. The realization that Laura is about to witness everything she's been through in the past three years, in the form of her artwork, gets her heart beating at record speed. Her palms start to sweat, but Laura doesn't seem to notice, she's transfixed by the paintings and drawings on the walls.
"All of this is yours?"
Laura whispers, letting go of Carmilla's hand to walk around the tiny space, eyeing every piece.
"Yup."
Carmilla leans against the opening to the room and crosses her arms across her chest, watching Laura. She watches her facial expressions, her body language, the way she runs her fingers across the canvases on the wall, stopping at Carmilla's signature on the bottom of the artwork.
"Carm, these are amazing."
Laura whispers, stopping at a piece that Carmilla was particularly nervous for Laura to see.
"That one's my favorite."
Carmilla pushes herself off the wall with her shoulder and walks up behind Laura, leaving the take out in her place along the wall, shoving her hands in her pockets, nervously waiting for Laura's reaction.
"That's me."
Carmilla quietly nods her head.
"If you look close enough, a lot of them have to do with you, but only you or I would know that."
Laura clears her throat, pulling her eyes away from the portrait of herself and moving to the next one, her eyebrows pulling together.
"This one looks so sad. Who is it?"
Carmilla rubs the back of her head, not really wanting to give away too many details about that one, but she quickly decides the truth would probably be best for both her and Laura, especially after what they just went through.
"That's Ell."
Carmilla watches Laura nod her head.
"She's beautiful."
Laura breathes.
"She was."
Laura quickly turns around at Carmilla's use of past tense.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
Carmilla laughs.
"She's not dead, Laura, I just haven't seen her since my mother-yeah. Anyway, should we head upstairs? Or did you want to keep looking at yourself and my other past lovers?"
Carmilla winks and Laura pushes Carmilla's shoulder, sending her back a couple steps.
"It's not my fault I'm your muse."
Laura laughs.
"So, you don't mind?"
Carmilla asks nervously.
"Not at all, I mean, they're not very happy pieces, but they're all gorgeous! How did you even do all these, I can barely draw a stick figure."
Carmilla laughs.
"Lot's of practice and these-" Carmilla wiggles her fingers at Laura, "- and for the record, I like your stick figures."
"No need to suck up, you already brought food and showing me this was just a bonus, lot's of brownie points for you."
Carmilla shoots her fist in the air in mock victory.
"Score!"
Laura laughs and walks over to Carmilla, grabbing her hands and reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss Carmilla's cheek.
"Really, though, you're an amazing artist. How come I never knew you were this talented?"
Carmilla could feel the heat creeping up the back of her neck from Laura's hands still holding hers and the slight tingling sensation her lips left on her cheek.
"Honestly, I didn't know how to express myself in this way until a couple years ago, when my therapist recommended it and practically threw a paintbrush at me, along with boxing, and a few other methods."
Laura just nods her head and decides to drop the subject, she knows Carmilla isn't too fond of reminiscing in the past and this is a date, after all.
"What kind of food did you bring?"
Laura asks quickly, walking over to the plastic bag on the floor where Carmilla had left it, dragging Carmilla behind her by their intertwined fingers. Carmilla smirks at Laura's eagerness.
"I knew you liked food, but I didn't think you'd be this excited."
Laura playfully smacks Carmilla in the arm with her free hand.
"Shut up, I'm starving."
Carmilla laughs and picks the bag up off the floor, leading Laura through the doorframe and back out into the studio, heading for the stairs.
"It's Chinese, best Chinese takeout you'll ever eat, might I add."
At the bottom of the stairs, Carmilla stops suddenly, causing Laura to run into the back of her.
"What are we doing?"
Laura whispers in Carmilla's ear, Carmilla shivers at Laura's warm breath against her skin.
"Shit...um...can you just wait here for two seconds? I forgot I have to take care of something real quick."
Carmilla switches on the light for the upstairs and runs up the stairs, two at a time, leaving Laura at the bottom with a confused look stuck on her face.
"Two seconds!"
Carmilla yells down to Laura, running around the loft area like a chicken with her head cut off.
"One mississippi…"
Laura calls up to her, smirking. Carmilla laughs.
"Laura, stop!"
"It's been like six seconds!"
"Great, then you can wait six more!"
"Nope, I'm coming up!"
Carmilla runs to the stairs, her hands out in front of her, ready to stop Laura from walking any further.
"Okay, two minutes."
"Nope, now."
"Laura."
Carmilla gives Laura a stern look.
"Carm, I've seen your fluffy side, you're not scary."
Carmilla huffs, Laura pushes past her to step into the space, her mouth dropping open. The space is filled with blank canvases leaning haphazardly against one wall, there are tubes of paint scattered all over the floor, brushes thrown in every direction. There's a large easel with a half finished piece on it and a drafting table littered with papers and drawing materials at one end of the loft next to a sink splattered in paint. In the middle lies a large piece of paper with random splatters of different colored paint on it, surrounded with small cans of green, red, yellow, blue, and purple paint.
"Wow, this place is a mess. How do you even-"
"Yeah, well you should see the storage room-"
Carmilla mumbles, under her breath.
"Although, I'm not really surprised, your apartment is just as bad."
Carmilla rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
"It is not!"
"Will cleans it, doesn't he."
"When he's there, yes…"
Laura shakes her head, walking over to a lopsided mound of hard clay in the corner, half covered by a white sheet, a small laugh escaping her lips.
"This is interesting."
Carmilla's eyes widen, rushing over to where Laura is removing the sheet to get a better look at the sculpture.
"That's actually-"
"Oh…"
Laura looks back at Carmilla, surprise written all over her face.
"You weren't supposed to see that."
Carmilla remarks, sheepishly. Laura starts laughing, hysterically.
"Is that me?"
Carmilla nods her head once.
"I see a lot of anger in this one."
Laura laughs, running her fingers across the large indent in the hardened clay.
"Did you...punch it?"
Laura manages to get out between bits of laughter.
"It wasn't going the way I planned-"
"That's one way to fix it."
Laura says sarcastically, still laughing. Carmilla looks to the ground.
"The owner thought it was creative, she wanted to display it. Wait, you're not mad I punched a bust of you?"
"To be honest, I kind of wish I had a bust of you to punch when I needed it…"
Carmilla nods her head, Laura covers the deformed bust back up with the sheet.
"Fair enough."
Laura turns on her heels and heads over to the piece of paper sprawled out on the floor.
"What's this?"
"That's what I need to finish."
Laura crinkles her nose and turns to Carmilla.
"But, what is it?"
"Me."
"It's just a bunch of paint splatters…"
Carmilla laughs.
"I dropped a couple open cans on it and I figured I could turn it into something."
Laura smirks.
"You said you wanted my help, right?"
Laura bends down and removes her shoes, tossing them off to the edge of the paper and grabbing the blue can of paint, prying it open with a screwdriver that was lying on the ground next to it. Carmilla cocks her head and raises an eyebrow as she watches Laura. Laura pours the blue paint into a paint tray and dips her bare feet in it before walking across the entire length of the paper, leaving small blue footprints on the white background. Carmilla shakes her head and laughs. She bends down and unlaces her boots before pulling them off, along with her socks, before throwing them next to Laura's shoes and begins to work at the buttons of her pants. She gets them halfway down her legs before Laura turns around. Carmilla glances up and smirks. Laura's face is bright red.
"W-what are you doing?"
Laura squeaks.
"I'm not getting these full of paint."
Carmilla finishes removing her pants and throws them on top of her boots, before sliding her jacket off and rolling the sleeves up on her black and red flannel.
"Relax, cutie, I'm not taking anymore clothes off...unless you want me to, of course."
Carmilla winks and Laura rolls her eyes before biting her bottom lip, an evil grin flashing across her face. Carmilla's smirk quickly fades when Laura reaches her hand into the can of blue paint.
"What are you doing?"
Laura's smile grows wider. Carmilla starts to back up, but Laura leaps forward and runs her blue hand down Carmilla's face, leaving a blue streak down the middle of her face, over her nose and eyes and part of her mouth. Laura's body is shaking with laughter.
"That's how this is going to go then."
Carmilla growls, but she's smiling. She bends over and picks up the can of purple paint, prying the lid off with the screwdriver and dipping her hand inside, before cocking her arm back.
"Wait! Wait! My dress!"
Laura laughs, putting her hands up in defense. Carmilla smirks.
"Either take it off or never wear it again, princess. One…"
Laura's face drops when Carmilla starts counting.
"You wouldn't."
Carmilla takes a step closer to Laura.
"Two…"
Laura takes a step back. Carmilla bites her lip in concentration and cocks her arm further.
"Three-"
"Okay! Okay! I'm taking it off."
Carmilla smirks and lowers her hand, patiently waiting for Laura to remove her dress. Laura places the can of paint on the paper and carefully maneuvers her dress over her head with her hand that isn't covered in blue paint and tosses is to the growing pile of clothes and shoes. Before she has a chance to pick up her can of paint again, she feels a cool, thick liquid splatter her in the chest and drip down her stomach. Her mouth falls open in disbelief.
"Now, we're even."
Laura shakes her head, picking up her can of paint.
"Not even close."
After successfully managing to cover practically every exposed inch of each other's skin, as well as part of the floor and ceiling, in multiple colors of paint, Laura and Carmilla finally settle down enough to clean themselves off a bit and relax on the floor with their, now cold, dinner. Carmilla tries to run a hand through her hair, but quickly gives up when her fingers get stuck and decides it'd probably just be best to throw it up in a bun, which she does with ease, pulling a hair tie from her wrist and wrapping it around her hair.
"Okay, I swear it's the best Chinese takeout you'll ever eat warm, so you can't blame me if it's bad."
Carmilla defends herself, placing a piece of meat into her mouth with a pair of chopsticks while Laura aggressively concentrates on trying to hold her pair of chopsticks correctly, but miserably fails and ends up stabbing her piece of chicken with one end of the wooden stick. Carmilla laughs.
"You've never used chopsticks before?"
Laura looks up sheepishly.
"That obvious, huh."
Carmilla puts on the most serious face she can muster.
"Not at all, you're practically a professional over there."
Laura sticks her tongue out at Carmilla.
"Shut up."
Laura nudges Carmilla with her foot and continues to use her method of stabbing each piece of chicken to get it to her mouth without it falling back into the takeout container.
"I did get forks, you know."
"Now you tell me."
Carmilla laughs placing her box in front of her and rummaging through the bag for the forks. She pulls one out and throws it at Laura, hitting her in the stomach.
"No, I don't even want it, now. I'm determined to conquer these chopsticks."
"By stabbing the innocent sweet and sour chicken? How are you going to eat the rice? You can't stab rice."
Carmilla laughs.
"Watch me."
Laura proceeds to stab one of her chopsticks into the rice in the container sat between her and Carmilla. Carmilla watches her, an amused grin on her face.
"How's that workin' out for ya?"
Instead of answering, Laura picks up the container and uses her chopstick to shovel rice into her mouth.
"Great, actually."
She mumbles around the food. Carmilla just shakes her head and laughs, placing another piece of chicken between her teeth. She watches Laura intently, realizing she missed this. She missed messing around with her, making her laugh, watching her get frustrated at the smallest things, her voice, her smile, the light in her eyes when she's excited, the way her face turns a bright red when she's embarrassed.
"Carm, you're staring…"
Laura whispers. Carmilla places her takeout box and chopsticks on the floor next to her, without taking her eyes off of Laura. She glances down to Laura's lips, which are slightly parted, before she leans forward, placing her hands on either side of Laura's waist. Laura's breath hitches in her throat and her heart skips a beat. Carmilla being this close can't be good for her health, but she's automatically drawn toward her and can't help herself when she closes the distance between them and presses her lips to Carmilla's, closing her eyes and placing the rice container off to the side. Carmilla deepens the kiss by tangling her fingers in Laura's paint hardened hair, holding her in place as she gently lowers Laura so that she's lying on her back. Carmilla removes her hand from the back of Laura's neck, breaking the kiss to place a hand on Laura's knee, pushing her legs apart and positioning herself so that she's straddling Laura's waist. She looks down at Laura, her hair sprawled out around her head, her cheeks slightly pink and her body almost completely bare, slightly covered in excess paint that she couldn't quite get off with just a washcloth, she's beautiful. Laura reaches up and tugs on the collar of Carmilla's flannel, bringing her to her lips. Laura blindly fumbles with the buttons of Carmilla's shirt before sliding the flannel down her shoulders, Carmilla sliding it off the rest of the way and tossing it into the pile of clothes a few feet away, never breaking the kiss.
"Wait, Carm, this probably isn't a good idea."
Laura questions, breathless, placing her hand on Carmilla's chest to stop her from going any further.
"Probably not, Princess, but I'm surprised we lasted this long. I'll stop if you want." Carmilla sits up, resting her hand on Laura's hip, trying to hide the disappointment on her voice. "Do you want me to stop?"
Laura shakes her head. Carmilla smirks, looping her finger through the side of Laura's underwear, pulling them down her thighs and dipping her head down to kiss Laura's stomach then leaving a trail of kisses to her neck, stopping to place a soft kiss to her left breast along the way.
"You'd tell me if you wanted me to stop, right?"
Carmilla whispers into Laura's ear, grazing her teeth against her earlobe causing Laura to shiver and goosebumps to rise on her skin. Carmilla's smirk grows wider as she hears Laura's breathing falter and her pulse pick up. Carmilla dips back down to Laura's stomach leaving kisses in a path to her hip then her thigh, pushing Laura's underwear down further, re-exploring this familiar path. Laura squirms under Carmilla, the anticipation killing her. Carmilla reaches up and grabs Laura's hand, intertwining their fingers before she leaves soft, teasing kisses on Laura's inner thigh. Laura grips the back of Carmilla's head with her free hand, pushing her where she's craving Carmilla's touch. Carmilla looks up at Laura, her pupils are dilated and her breathing is ragged. Carmilla smiles.
"You sure?"
Laura tightens her grip on Carmilla's hair and pushes her head back down, resulting in a low moan from Carmilla's throat.
"Carm…"
Laura whines. Carmilla rubs her thumb over Laura's where their hands are tangled together at Laura's side and she smirks, following Laura's silent pleas and dips her head in between Laura's legs where they both get lost.
Carmilla groans awake, the bright afternoon sun creeping in through the windows and hitting the back of her eyelids. She tries to stretch her arms and legs, but quickly finds that she can't move. She opens one eye slowly and smiles. Laura is wrapped around her, one of her arms pinned to her side, her legs wrapped up in Laura's and Laura's head on her chest.
"Laura."
Carmilla whispers, brushing Laura's hair back, out of her face, with her free hand.
"Laura, we fell asleep on the floor."
Carmilla laughs. Laura's forehead crinkles and she groans, but she doesn't open her eyes, instead she tightens her grip around Carmilla's torso and nuzzles her face into Carmilla's chest. Carmilla smiles.
"Come on, we have to get out before the owner comes in, granted she never comes up here, but-"
"Sh."
Laura raises a finger to Carmilla's lips.
"I don't want to move either, but I'm pretty sure my back is bruised and-"
Carmilla mumbles under Laura's finger. Laura whips her head up, searching the room for something, removing her finger from Carmilla's lips and pushing herself off of Carmilla.
"Woah there, where's the fire?"
Carmilla mocks.
"What time is it!"
Laura stands up and walks over to the pile of clothes. Carmilla leans on one elbow, watching Laura frantically rummage through their clothes.
"You got plans?"
"Actually, yes, I have to be somewhere-"
She stops when she finds her phone and turns on the screen.
"Shit."
Carmilla sits up and stretches, watching Laura throw her dress over her head and sliding her shoe on, first on the wrong foot. Carmilla leans over and picks up Laura's underwear that somehow made it to the other side of the paper they had just been lying on.
"Forgetting something?"
Carmilla smirks, dangling the underwear on one finger in front of her. Laura looks up from putting her other shoe on and narrows her eyes. She snatches the fabric from Carmilla's grasp and quickly slides them back on.
"I'm really sorry, I'll call you."
Laura yells while racing down the stairs and out the front door. Carmilla is left on the floor, confused and in shock.
"Okay, then…"
She shakes her head and grabs her flannel, buttoning the buttons up to her neck and sliding her underwear back on that had been tossed into the pile. She slips into her pants and leather jacket and pulls her socks on before slipping her feet into her boots and lacing them up. She fixes her bun in the broken mirror on the wall above the filthy sink and glances at the artwork the two of them had created on the floor, grinning like an idiot and shaking her head. She cleans up the leftover takeout and rolls the paper up, placing it against the wall next to the easel before grabbing her keys and bike helmet from the floor and making sure she has her phone. She shuts the lights off on her way down the stairs and locks the door behind her, her face warming in the sun.