Chapter 8

Afternoon activities havebegun and Laura can't help but notice how Julia's frequently smiling while making bookmarks with Shaira and Sherilyn. She's happy that Carmilla's little angels (she decided to call the two girls by that name, much to her roommate's annoyance) had taken Julia under their wings. The three girls remind her of Perry, LaF and herself back when they were still campers.

Kelsey, her partner for this activity, is doing a great job talking to the kids about their bookmarks and Laura's actually learning from the interactions and finds it nice that the kids are listening to Kelsey really eagerly while she talks about her favorite children's book and explains that as soon as she's done, the kids are to share their favorite books. Apparently, it's easier control the kids when you engage in conversations with them because they're attentive with what you say and rather than looking after them, it feels like the kids and the counselors are bonding. As the minutes went on, the kids are being more vocal about the topic itself and not just their own chattering about anything.

Her mind drifts off to Danny and she wonders what Danny was thinking when following her here. Did she think that they'd get back together? While yes, Laura is willing to forgive, it's not that easy to go back to the way it was; she's not even sure if she wants to go back to what they were before. The friendship, yes — they were really close friends, after all — but beyond that... Laura deadpans. A few days ago, she was really devastated about this, but now? Now, something has definitely changed. Something that makes her act the way she does right now.

During her first few days in camp, she was so sure that if she'd seen Danny, no matter how tall the other girl is, Laura would've slapped her (not that she approves of violence or revenge, she just wanted Danny to feel even at least an inch of her pain and anger), but right now she actually feels nothing. The initial shock is gone and the anger that came along with it has vanished too.

Laura admits that having Danny as her girlfriend brought a feeling that having the tall redhead around was somewhat a part of the normalcy of her everyday life. She thought that being in a relationship with Danny would be like leveling up — getting new skills and privileges — but the 'girlfriend' label came and that's all it was: normal.

It makes Laura shake her head because now she's questioning her feelings for Danny.

It just honestly surprises her how unaffected she seems that Danny's here and it doesn't make her want to either slap her or kiss her — or even both at the same time. Working in an industry where romance novels get sent to them day after day in hopes of getting published, Laura has read a ton of novels that went with the formula: a relationship; a break-up; a reunion; conflicting feelings; the decision on getting back together or not; end. So far, Laura's only experienced the reunion, but no conflicting feelings on her part.

Something's probably wrong with this, but Laura can't help but feel that finally, things are on the right track for her.

The thing about schedules is that she's supposed to read it thoroughly then follow it. Apparently, Carmilla has only been following blindly. She has learned a valuable lesson today.

It appears that she's been paired up with an 'Olivia'. Now, where did she hear that name?

Right.

Breakfast this morning.

And what did Olivia do?

She went home.

And who replaced Olivia?

Carmilla groans.

Danny — tall, ginger and Miss Congeniality, from the looks of it. The kids love her — what a charmer —Carmilla scoffs to herself, sitting down on the corner of the activity room while the little kids stretch. What is this class about anyway? Carmilla has forgotten already. The gigantic redhead seems to be enjoying herself anyway and frankly, Carmilla prefers it like that rather than — oh, no.

The kids are all paired up and are doing Chinese get-ups for some reason (she really needs to check what kind of activity this is, by the way)focus, Carmilla!

Danny is making her way towards her and god, how annoying is she that she's all chin-up-and-proud when she's already tall as the heavens — and why she's walking towards her, Carmilla doesn't really know. Carmilla naturally avoids people because, one, she doesn't like unnecessary interactions; and two, does she look like she the one who likes to socialize with a lot of people? She chooses the people she wants to talk to (and the jolly red giant is not one of those selected few).

So basically, being forced into camp should be a huge nightmare but somehow, Laura makes it bearable. And Carmilla hates it because she's sure she prepared for everything — annoying children, nosy co-workers, hours in the sun, the camp itself — but, she's never expected that she'd feel so much admiration for someone she's onlyknown for a week. In spite of this, she's eased herself a bit in camp, somehow.

With Laura's gigantic ex-girlfriend though, Carmilla's not so sure anymore.

"Hi. Carmilla, right?" Danny says when she has finally reached Carmilla, who only greets in return by nodding her head then looking at the kids who are failing the Chinese get-up. "Uh, so, you and Laura seem close. She's never mentioned you before though."

Whatever the redhead's goal is when talking to her, she's not going achieve it. "That would require for Laura and I to have known each other before camp, which we didn't." Danny raises an eyebrow.

"Ah, so you two just met here." She smiles awkwardly. "That's Laura for you — making friends with everyone immediately."

Carmilla takes the attendance sheet on the table and nods. "Right." She drawls out before walking to the other side of the room hoping that it should be an obvious clue that she has no intention of talking.

It seems that being stubborn is a trait both Laura and Xena over here share, though, because Carmilla feels Danny following her. "Do you have a problem with me?" She asks.

Okay, confrontation, Carmilla can handle that. "Why are you even being all chummy with me?"

"Ever heard of being friends? Can't a co-worker ask about-"

"Oh, don't give me that, Xena. You greet me with a 'Hi, something, something, Laura, something'. Clearly, befriending me isn't your intention." Carmilla crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. "If you're trying to get on my good side because of Laura, forget it, okay? We're roommates. We have to get along. No big deal." She shrugs. "Now, can we please go back to babysitting? I am not in the mood for pointless chitchats."

As soon as the activity ends, Carmilla slips out of the room after making sure that the kids are all there and heading out to their next activity. She heads to their room, still wondering what activity the kids just did.

"Must be awkward for Laura," LaFontaine says as they drain the water from the noodles. "to have bothher ex-girlfriend and a potential girlfriend here." They continue.

Perry nods though she is not entirely absorbed in the conversation. She's reading a notice sent to Hester by a known company that's been annoying them for the past couple of months about selling the camp to them. "This is quite unsettling." Perry says.

At this, LaFontaine nods. "I know! I wonder how Laura's dealing with that." They mumble, starting on another batch of noodles for the dinner later. "Danny looks like a nice person if we try to forget about the fact that she cheated on Laura – which, we're not, by the way. But Carmilla and Laura are hitting it off and I think they actually might like each other. Don't you think so, Perr?"

No response.

"Perr?" They look at Perry and see how the redhead is looking intensely at the letter in her hand. They sigh and then walk towards their best friend, stopping behind her and peeking from her shoulder to read the paper.

From the looks of it, it seems that the company is serious about buying the camp site from Perry's family. "Perry, it's not like they can forcefully evict you from your own land, y'know?" They offer her words of comfort.

Perry turns her head to LaFontaine, their faces merely inches from each other that the two of them jump in surprise and take a step back. LaFontaine scratches the back of their neck while Perry clears her throat. "Ah, yes well, about that. Forcefully might be a wrong term since my mother has been considering it."

"What?" They shout, their eyes widening at Perry's revelation. "Hester's considering it to sell Silas? But Perr, this place has been rooted a part of your family since like, forever!"

"Honey, I know that. And I told her that when we were discussing about this earlier when she informed me about it." She sighs in defeat. "I'm going to convince her not to, for now. This place is so precious to me and I'm sure it holds a lot of significance to her as well. I'm sure she won't give Silas up." Perry says, smiling slightly before turning to the door.

There is a look of dread in Perry's eyes and LaFontaine doesn't miss it when she heaves a sigh before going out.

Meanwhile, hundreds of things are going through Perry's mind as she makes her way to her mom—they have discussed it during lunch but it was cut short because the afternoon activities were about to start — she really needs to convince Hester to decline the offer. Yes, they're talking about huge amount of money,but if the camp gets sold, there would be no more summer camp to go back to and Silas is a precious place to her.

She walks to the main cabin and opens the door. "Mom?" Perry calls out to Hester who is arranging some papers on the reception desk.

"Lola," Hester starts with a sad smile as soon as she sees the letter in her daughter's hand. "I'm not agreeing to it yet."

"The 'yet' part worries me, mom." Perry raises the letter. "Silas is going to be turned into some sort of factory! We can't just agree to this!"

Hester nods at the statement. "I know, which is why I'm saying that I'm not really in favor of it." Perry brightens up at this. "But, Lola, you have to understand, things are different now. Kids would rather stay home, text each other, meet with their summer romance, than to go to summer camps. It's losing its appeal nowadays and less kids are enrolling each year."

Perry hates it because it's true. She's noticed the drop in camper numbers and she admits that it is alarming. "But-"

"Yes. But, like I've said, I'm not agreeing to it just yet, Lola." Hester walks to Perry and pats her shoulder. "Anyway, tomorrow's the first free day, dear. Lighten up."

If only it were that easy. Perry sighs, still concerned.

After her duty with Kelsey, Laura heads to the cabin to get some rest. She thinks she only has one counselor duty today so maybe she'll take a nap or something and, seeing that she's already decided to stay in the cabin, it'll be less likely for her to bump into Danny, so that's a plus.

"Home sweet home." She says, closing her eyes as she yawns and stretches the arm that wasn't preoccupied by opening the door. She opens her eyes and it lands on Carmilla who is at her side of the room, leaning against the backrest of the bed as she reads her book. The brunette is looking at her with a smirk and Laura realizes she's halfway through her yawn and stretching her arm is making her shirt ride up slightly, exposing her stomach; she immediately closes her mouth and puts her arm down.

"Welcome home, sweetheart." Carmilla greets, her teasing tone in full force, which causes Laura to blush asshe pushes the door to close it and moves towards her bed.

"Shut up." She grumbles, eliciting a chuckle from her roommate. She flops down the bed in an exhausted manner — it feels so good to be lying in bed after the day she had. "How was your activity?" She offers, starting up a conversation.

As if the question caused her distress, Carmilla groans loudly. "You mean hell." She huffs out. "I don't know if you wanna hear it but I'll tell you anyway;guess who I was supposed to be paired with earlier? It was that counselor who left, that's who! So technically, my partner was your velociraptor of a girlfriendand guess what, she figured she should be all chummy with me since she saw us interacting."

"Oh my god." Laura doesn't know if she should laugh or feel bad about it. "And it's ex-girlfriend, Carm." She doesn't know why she feels like she should be clarifying this but she does anyway(Laura doesn't miss the way the corner of Carmilla's lips lifts up a bit at that). "And, well, she probably thinks she should interrogate you or something."

"She should dream on." Carmilla grumbles, burying her nose back in the book.

Laura laughs at this. "I'm pretty sure you charmed her off with your social skills."

"You mean, turned her off." Carmilla corrects her and she giggles. "I didn't need to waste my amazing social skills on her, cupcake. She doesn't get the special treatment." The brunette mutters nonchalantly.

For some reason, Laura's mouth goes on autopilot and asks: "Am I getting the special treatment then?"

Both of them are caught off guard by the question and they end up looking at each other and, even though Carmilla's face is hidden behind the book, Laura can see the surprise in her eyes. Wrong move, wrong move! What the heck, Laura? She internally yells at herself then avoids eye contact with the other girl,her mind reeling as she thinks of a way to make it sound like she's joking. For a writer, it's kinda disappointing that her words aren't really coming out when she needs them the most.

"You deserve the special treatment, cupcake."

Laura's heart skips a few beats hearing that and she couldn't help the smile that reaches her lips. Her eyes focus back onCarmilla but the brunette has gone back to reading her book. "You're really going soft, aren't you?" Laura should really stop talking sometimes.

Carmilla puts her book down and looks at the blonde. "Don't test your luck with me, sweetheart." She tilts her head to the side and smirks, raising her eyebrow.

I feel like I want to, sometimes. Laura admits to herself and, to her, it's kind of weird how she just wants to unravel the mystery that is Carmilla, the brooding roommate.

Ever since she can remember, she's been a fan of solving mysteries and, apparently, some things really don't change. Laura laughs and shakes her head.

A knock on the door stops her before she can even think of something to reply to her roommate. "Carmilla?" It sounds like LaFontaine.

The brunette rolls her eyes and groans. "What is it?" She shouts, not bothering to open the door and Laura can't help but rolling her eyes as well as she gets up from her bed and heads to the door to open it.

"Oh, hey Laura." LaFontaine greets, smiling before peaking inside to see Carmilla who is trying for the umpteenth time to read her book. "So, uh, Carmilla, you've got a phone call on the main cabin. Said she's a relative." They turn to look at Laura who is smiling, but it's clear that she's not smiling at them but at a certain roommate of hers. "Uh, sorry, am I interrupting anything?"

Carmilla waves her hand before putting her book down. "Oh, not really. It's just that creampuff and I were having a little moment over here." She grumbles, standing up and straightening her shirt then glancing at Laura who scoffs and tries to hide the smile on her face when Carmilla met her gaze.

"We're having a moment?" Laura replies, her voice sarcastic and playful. "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware. Warn me next time, will you?" Carmilla laughs at that.

"You're killing me, Hollis." Carmilla shakes her head, giving Laura a small smile then turning to LaFontaine. "Thanks Ginger Two." She tells LaF before walking towards the main cabin.

Laura notices how LaFontaine has an eyebrow raised at her. "What?"

"That doesn't look like I didn't interrupt anything." They grin, crossing their arm. "So, Carmilla?"

"W-What?" Laura asks, tilting her head and making a face. "That's just Carmilla and I…" She stops, pouting. "…casually talking."

LaFontaine chuckles, leaning against the cabin's door. "Sure, crushes-on-roommates."

She's been trying so hard to deny it but she really has this slight attraction towards her brunette roommate. Sure, she's had a crush on Danny back in college, but the attraction towards Carmilla is different. With Danny, she really admired her because she's, well, gorgeous and brave and well, Danny — her Lit TA and the Summer Society vice-president— basically, she's amazing; like, seeing the light after being inside a dark tunnel for a very long time.

With Carmilla though, it started as something annoying, what with being roommates without even knowing each other at all. Laura used to dislike her since she thought the broody girl was just anti-social, all snarky-remarks and sarcasm, but under all those pretty accurate characteristics, Carmilla is more than that; she's a puzzle that's really hard to solve and frustrating and infuriating, sometimes, but somehow, Laura refuses to give up on her.

"Laura, are you there?" LaFontaine waves their hand, catching Laura's attention.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry about that, LaF." She apologizes, scratching the back of her neck and chucklingsheepishly. "You were saying?"

"I said, it seems complicated."

Oh, it is. She's sure there hasn't been a closure between her and Danny and the fact that Danny wants her back disappoints her for some reason. "It's weird." She starts, pouting. "I'm not sulking at all at the fact that Danny cheated on me. I was worrying that I'm never going to get over it but, here I am, a week later, totally fine about us going on separate ways in terms of our relationship." She runs a hand through her hair and sighs. "What does that say about me?"

LaFontaine understands where she's going with this. "You don't love her anymore, I suppose?" They enter the cabin to sit beside Laura on the bed. "Rather, you fell out of love with her. It happens, Laura. And it doesn't make you a bad person. I guess you can say that a lot of people try hard to maintain things the way they are because the normalcy of it all is comfortable."

Laura gives a small, sad smile at LaFontaine. Keeping the normalcy of things is something LaFontaine has been dealing with for such a long time now. They've liked Perry since who knows how long and even if they never say it, Laura can tell that they've been having a hard time too.

LaF would love to go to the science institute but they can't leave Perry behind.

She wishes that life was less complicated, she would love to help them get together but she'd feel bad for intervening after coming back to their lives after just a week. She doesn't get to do that to them.

The two of them share a comfortable silence as they both ponder on the changes they have to face.

"Ah, Carmilla. Great to see you, dear."

Hester is a lot jollier than Perry, Carmilla takes note. She just entered the main cabin— this timeusing the front door instead of the back one like last night when she and Kirsch got there.

"Good afternoon." She mumbles, greeting Hester who is behind the counter and then glancing at the phone.

"Well, while you're here, do you mind if I head to the kitchen for a bit? I could use some tea."

Carmilla shakes her head. "Not at all."

With that, the older woman walks off to the kitchen after smiling at Carmilla who gets the phone receiver from the top of the counter. "Hello?"

"Kitten, how's it going there?"

It's Mattie – she easily recognizes the voice. "Good, I guess. I still don't understand why mother sent me over here, though." There's a chuckling from her sister and Carmilla smirks. "Is this some sort of rehab for me?"

"Your drinking has certainly become a problem." Mattie says in a playful tone and Carmilla chuckles to herself at the memory of the only time she got extremely wasted with her brother, Will, and got caught by their mother as they were sneaking in the house.

"It was one time. Let it go, Mattie." She says.

Mattie laughs at her response. "Never, darling. How is the camp by the way? Cozy?"

"The camp needs improvement, if that's what you're asking. I mean, how old is this place? A lot of the cabins need refurbishing, if you ask me. Lot of work needs to be done with this place."

There's a pause and Carmilla would think that the line was cut off if it wasn't for the hum Mattie lets out. "I see." She says at last. "How about the campers? Are there many?"

This is odd. Mattie is interested? Carmilla doesn't raise a question though. "We've got at least 60 kids here, maybe less. They're good, I guess?"

Another pause. "Huh. Quite a small number compared to before."

"Honestly, I'm surprised people still sign up for these." Carmilla mumbles. "Though, I got to admit, it wouldn't be so bad to experience this."

She hears Mattie chuckle and there's something about the way she does it that makes Carmilla realize that she shouldn't have said that. "Last time you made a call, you didn't sound like you were having fun but now you're actually chuckling. Something must've happened." It's not a question but an observation.

Carmilla grimaces at herself because, really? Mattie actually thinks she's having fun? What gave that away? Oh, you know, Carmilla. You're not complaining, you said camp life was good, you actually sound happy. Of course she's not going to figure out. Carmilla shakes her head. "It's nothing, really."

"It's not 'nothing' if it's making the little monster sound all happy."

A groan escapes her lips. "I'm hanging up."

She hears another laugh from Mattie and a 'goodbye' before she sets the phone back to its place. She shakes her head afterwards, a small smile forming on her lips. She waits for Hester to come back, thanking her for letting her use the phone, before going back to the cabin.