"Hey! Carm! Hey." Laura caught up with her neighbour just as she was walking through the front door. It almost slammed shut on her. "Carm!"
"Laura, hey." The older girl seemed distracted as she finally realised Laura was there. It had been a few days since they'd gone out to the Grind, and Laura had barely seen hide nor hair of the other girl.

"Are you okay? You said my name." Laura laughed, more from nerves than anything else. Carmilla was acting weird.
"Well it's your name, isn't it?" Carmilla huffed, still not bothering to look at her.
"Hey!" Laura caught hold of her arm, trying to get Carmilla to stop as they reached the second floor. "What's going on? Have I done something to upset you? Have I said something?"

"It's nothing, Creampuff. Forget it." Carmilla tried to brush her off, but Laura was nothing if not persistent.
"Seriously, if you're mad at me-"
"Laura! Forget it! Alright?" Carmilla finally snapped. Perry's warning had been ringing in her head all weekend. She was right. She always was. Getting mixed up with a kid like Laura was a recipe for disaster. "I'm not mad at you, okay? You didn't do anything. You didn't say anything. I've just had a long, crappy, day and I'm too tired to play nice."

"Oh." Laura shrunk back. "Okay then. I was just thinking that, maybe, we could have dinner tonight? I still owe you for the other night-"
"Jesus, Cupcake. Take a hint. I've got better things to do with my time than hang around with some little kid!" Carmilla went too far. She knew it the second the words had left her mouth. They hit Laura like a physical blow; square in the gut.

"Laura? Is everything okay." Danny appeared at her open door, drawn out by the shouting. The jolly green giant wasn't looking so jolly as she glared at Carmilla.
"Everything is fine." Laura forced a smile, fighting back the tears that wanted to fall. Crying would only make her look like the child Carmilla clearly thought she was. "I'll catch you later. I've got a ton of studying to do... See you later, Carmilla."

Laura took off up the stairs two at a time. Tears were streaming down her cheeks by the time she slammed her front door behind her. She would have dropped to the floor right there by the door, but she heard her Dad in the kitchen. "Laura-Bear, that you sweetie?"

"Uh, yeah." She wiped at her eyes before scrambling for her bedroom. She locked the door behind her, only feeling safe once the lock was in place. She couldn't believe the change she'd seen in Carmilla; she'd been like a different person.

Over in her own apartment, Carmilla was climbing the walls. The look of hurt that had been on Laura's face seemed to be engraved on the back of her eyelids. "Fuck! Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!" The closest thing to her went flying across the room. The lamp smashed against the wall with a satisfying crunch of porcelain and glass. Perry would be pissed. It had been a gift from her last Christmas.

Picking up her phone, Carmilla dialed a number that was seared in to her brain. It rang and rang. Even as the vacant dial tone began to buzz in her ear, Carmilla started to speak, letting it all pour out. "I'm sorry… Elle. I'm so sorry. I screwed up. I know that. I wish I could turn the clock back and make everything okay… but I can't. You're gone, and it's killing me. God, it's killing me. Please, just come back. Please…"

Carmilla crumpled to the ground, feeling like her insides were falling apart, as she spoke the words that Elle would never hear. She was coming undone in a way that she hadn't in months; and it was all because of Laura. She was all for curling up on the ground and crying the night away, when a knock at the door caught her attention. It wasn't so much a knock as a bang. It was followed by two more before she got up to answer.

She barely had time to dry her eyes, smudging her eyeliner and her mascara in the process. She was a hot mess when she opened the door to find Laura standing there. The younger girl had decided to give her neighbor a piece of her mind, but her anger had all but dissipated when Carmilla had opened the door with puffy red eyes and her makeup running. "Are you… Are you crying?" Asked Laura, concern lacing her voice.

"No!" Carmilla huffed, still rubbing furiously at her eyes. "…Are you?"
"No!" It was Laura's turn to rub at her cheeks. They made quite the pair. "Look. I just came over to tell you… to tell you that what you said on the stairs was really shitty! Obviously you're upset over something, so I guess I can let it slide."

"Let it slide?" Carmilla huffed out. "Jesus, Laura. I was a fucking cunt to you! And you're just going to 'let it slide'? Shout at me! Tell me I'm an asshole! Do, fucking, something!" Carmilla was shouting in Laura's face. She expected her to walk away. To give up on her; like most people did. The last thing she expected was for Laura to close the distance between them and throw her arms around her.

The hug was totally out of the blue. It caught Carmilla off guard. She was stiff and rigid at first, but when it became clear that Laura wasn't about to pull away, she finally relented and sunk against the younger girl. She buried her face in the crook of Laura's neck, wishing she could take back every harsh word she had said to her downstairs. "You're not an asshole." Laura reassured her, her hand rubbing soothing circles against Carmilla's back. "A bit of bitch, maybe-"

"Hey!" Carmilla pulled back with an indignant snort, managing to crack a smile as she tugged Laura inside her apartment. "You're actually right. I am. That doesn't mean you're allowed to say it though… I'm sorry for all that stuff I said before. I was out of line."

"You were." Laura agreed, her attention going straight to the remains of the shattered lamp. "I see you found a place for the lamp. Very feng shui."
"Thanks." Carmilla let out a soft laugh as she headed for the fridge. "Soda?"
"Carm, are you going to tell me why you were so upset? Maybe I can help?"

"Not unless you can raise the dead, Cutie." Carmilla answered offhandedly. She hadn't intended on telling Laura the truth, but it all came spilling out anyway. "My uh, my girlfriend, Elle… She died. Some days it just gets too much, you know?"
"Yeah." Laura nodded. She understood just what it felt like to lose someone close. She didn't push for details. Carmilla would tell her more in her own time. If she wanted to.

A heavy silenced stretched out between them, until Carmilla finally broke it. "So, is dinner out of the question?" They ordered from the same Italian place they'd used last time. Carmilla didn't say any more about Elle, not until they were tucking in to their food.

"Elle and I met when we were freshman. It took us a while to get our shit together, but we started dating at the start of our second year. We shared an apartment with LaF and Per. That's why I had to move out, after…" Carmilla faltered, pushing her hair back from her face with a sweep of her fingers.

"I couldn't stay in that place. There were too many ghosts." Carmilla let out a heavy sigh. She hadn't even really talked about this stuff with Perry.
"How did it happen? How did she pass?" Laura didn't want to pry, but Carmilla seemed to want to talk about it. The teenager reached over, taking the other girl's hands in her own.

"Can we talk about something else?" Carmilla suddenly pulled her hands back, fighting back yet more tears as she started to shut down. "Bigfoot looked ready to kick my ass. I think she's still got the hots for you, Cutie."
"She does." Laura admitted in a quiet voice. Danny had made it quite clear how she felt about her, but that wasn't something Laura wanted to share with the other girl. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure. If sex is off the table though, that just leaves religion and politics." Carmilla laughed. She was starting to sound more like her normal self. Laura didn't mind. It was a lot easier to deal with a sarcastic Carmilla, than a tearful one.

"The food's good." Laura shrugged, opting for the safest topic of conversation. "I just wish you would have let me pay for it. That's two dinners I owe you now."
"That's okay, Creampuff. You can get the next one." Carmilla reassured her. "Hey, do you have plans tonight? I've got work in an hour, if you want to tag along." Laura lit up at the offer. "Sure. Where do you work?"

"You're late." Matska Belmonde childed as soon as Carmilla came rushing through the back door of the Alchemy Club. She had Laura in tow, who stood awkwardly behind her neighbour as her boss chewed her out for being over twenty minutes late.

"So fire me." Carmilla replied nonchalantly. She tugged off her leather jacket and hung it up on a hook by the fire exit they'd just came in through.
"Don't tempt me, Kitty." Mattie warned. Her piercing eyes traveled past Carmilla, and landed on Laura. "I see you've been picking up strays again."

"Mattie. Play nice. This is Laura, my neighbour. Laura, this is my pain in the ass boss - and sister - Matska."
"Hey. Nice to meet you!" Laura beamed at the older woman. Carmilla had mentioned she worked for her sister, but Mattie wasn't exactly what Laura was expecting. She tried not to let her surprise show through on her face.

Carmilla elbowed her neighbour playfully in the ribs, leaning in close to stage whisper as Mattie went to close the back door behind them, "In case you're wondering, Mattie's the adopted one. We haven't told her yet, so keep it to yourself. Okay Cupcake?"

"Wait, what?" Laura snapped, unsure of whether Carmilla was being serious, or just playing her for a rise. The answer was clear when Mattie rejoined them. She took one look at Laura's pained expression, crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes.
"Despite what my darling baby sister might have told you, I am fully aware that I was adopted as a child. Something was a dead give away."

"Was it how much shorter Carmilla is than you?" Laura asked with a nervous laugh, unable to help herself. To her relief, a smug smirk spread over Mattie's blood red lips. Despite not being related by blood, it was easy to see how she and Carmilla were sisters.
"I like this one, Kitty. You should keep her around… Now hurry up and get your cute little butt behind the bar."

"Your sister seems nice." Laura announced as she followed Carmilla through a narrow hallway and out behind a bar. It was a Wednesday night, and the Alchemy Club was hardly packed. They played live music over the weekend, which usually attracted quite a crowd, but they were always quiet during the week. Only a handful of tables were occupied, mostly by students drawn in by the two-for-one cocktails during happy hour.

Carmilla didn't acknowledge Laura's comment about her sister. She wouldn't tell her new friend, but having Mattie come out and say she liked her was practically like having the royal seal of approval. Mattie never liked anyone that Carmilla brought around.

"Okay, Creampuff. Pass me your arm." Carmilla reached for something sitting on one of the shelves behind the bar, and gestured for the teenager's arm.
"What for?" Laura frowned, but held it out to her regardless. Something cold and wet tickled against her skin, and when Laura pulled her arm back she discovered a big black 'X' had been drawn on the back of her hand.

"Sorry, Jail-bait. We got to mark the minors. Can't have any frisky frat boys trying to ply you with cheap booze now, can we? Or girls, for that matter." Carmilla added with a wink. Most teenagers Laura's age would have felt a little childish, standing there in a college bar with an X tattooed on their skin in permanent marker. But this was the first bar Laura had ever been in. She was far too excited about it to be worried about being marked out as too young to drink.

Carmilla motioned for her to take a stool at the bar, in the corner, right by the hatch in the bar. It was meant to allow the staff to come and go, but it was jammed shut. Meaning Laura had to hop up on to the bar top and slide over, which wasn't exactly easy for someone as small as she was; Carmilla, of course, would have made it look effortless.

The older girl set about fetching Laura a soda, leaving the teenager to her own devices. Leaning over on her stool, Laura inspected the bar hatch, trying to figure out why it wouldn't open. It didn't take long for her to spot the problem. "Hey Carm, I can fix this if you'd like?"

"Knock yourself out, Cutie." Carmilla shrugged, setting Laura's drink down on a coaster in front of her.
"Do you have, like, a file, or a blade or something?" Laura asked, seeing as she didn't have any of her tools on her.

Carmilla grabbed a multi-tool from behind the bar. She mostly used it for opening bottles, and intimidating any patrons that tried to get handsy with her on a Saturday night. There was a thin blade on it that would suit Laura's needs quite well. Wedging it in the crack between the bar and the heavily lacquered hatch, Laura moved it back and forth in a sawing motion, trying to loosen it up.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my bar?" Laura jumped as Mattie sounded behind her. The multi-tool almost dropped out of her hands as she scrambled to her feet. Carmilla's older sister was downright intimidating, and Carmilla was too busy serving a group of college kids to notice Laura cowering in front of her.

"Oh… I… Uh… I was fixing it?" Laura pulled on the hatch, hoping to be proved right. It was still a little stiff, but with the lacquer chipped away, she was eventually able to wrench it open. Mattie didn't say a word. She just kept on staring at Laura, with piercing brown eyes that were so dark they were almost black. Laura began to babble, as she often did when she was nervous.

"Um, whoever replaced this hatch recently, they applied the varnish while it was shut over, and it sealed it shut. That's why it wouldn't open… Sorry. I was just trying to help."
"How do you know it's been replaced recently?" Mattie asked, her tone still harsh and demanding.
"Oh... Well… there are marks here where the old hinges were, and the wood of the hatch is a shade lighter. You're contractor really didn't do that good of a job… If you don't mind me saying… Ma'am."

"Come with me." Mattie ordered, waltzing through the open bar hatch and not bothering to check that Laura was following her. She didn't need to. The teenager did as she was told, and scurried on after her. She had visions of Carmilla's sister tossing her out of her club for vandalism. "How are you with locks?" Mattie asked, stopping in front of an innocuous looking wooden door. The door was ajar, and clearly not catching properly.

"Uh, tubular or mortise locks?" Laura's question was met with a blank stare. "Okay then." Dropping to her knees, she got to work inspecting the broken lock on the door. It turned out to be the door to the store room, where the top-shelf spirits were kept.

"So, tubular lock…" Laura had a tendancy to mutter to herself while she was working. It often helped her to figure out and solve the problem at hand. She turned the outside knob, watching the action of the lock closely. She repeated the action a couple more times, with the door both open and closed over. "Got it! The latch bolt, this beveled bit right here, it's warped out of shape. That's why it's not catching the strike plate properly and locking."

"I have no idea what any of those words mean. Can you fix it? I'll pay, of course." Mattie reached in to the inside pocket of her suit jacket.
"Oh, that really isn't necessary! It's a five minute job at most. I could maybe replace the latch bolt, if you have another door like this one and don't mind me taking it apart? And I'll need a cross-headed screwdriver. The one that looks like a star…"

The bar was starting to get busy, so Carmilla didn't notice that Laura had wandered off with her sister. She was busy making a pitcher of Long Island iced tea, when she felt a pair of hands snake around her waist. "Hey, Gorgeous."

"Elsie!" Carmilla huffed, shaking the other girl off and stepping to the side. "Knock it off. I'm working here. What are you doing in anyway? Isn't this your night off?"
"I swapped." Elsie shrugged, undeterred by Carmilla giving her the brush off. The blond hopped up on to the bar, playing idly with her long braid as she waited for Carmilla to finish serving.

Carmilla had a horrible feeling that the other girl had swapped her shift over in order to work with her. Elsie was clingy like that. Carmilla glanced warily over at Laura's stool, frowning when she found it empty. A quick scan of the small crowd told her Laura wasn't mingling somewhere in the bar.

"Great. Elsie, take over for me, will you?" Carmilla didn't wait for an answer as she headed out the back. "Cutie, you back here? Laura?"
"Over here!" Laura called out to her, sounding quite chipper. Carmilla didn't need to worry about Mattie having dragged her neighbour off for a re-imagining of the Spanish Inquisition then.

When Carmilla walked in to the store room, she found Laura kneeling by the door, tinkering with the lock while Mattie sat on a crate full of beer bottles, supervising the younger woman. "Kitty, you really must bring friends like this around more often. Laura here is quite useful."

"Mattie, I brought her here for some fun, not to be your new personal handyman." Carmilla rolled her eyes at her older sister.
"As hands on as she is, your little poppet here is much too young for my tastes." Mattie teased, enjoying the crease of Carmilla's brow as she scowled at her.

Laura, for her part, dropped the screwdriver she was busy using. Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. "All done, Miss Belmonde." Getting to her feet, Laura dusted her hands off on her jeans.
"Please, call me Mattie. And take this for your trouble." Matska tried to hand over a fifty, but Laura flat out refused.

"No. Really, I couldn't! It was nothing much." Laura objected, refusing to take the offered money.
"Between the bar hatch and the door lock, my usual contractor would have charged me four as much as this. Please, don't insult me by refusing my money." Mattie insisted, pressing the money in to Laura's hand.

"Hey, Cupcake, why don't you head back through to the bar? I'll follow you through." Carmilla ushered the younger girl out of the store room, leaving just her and her sister in there. She waited until Laura was out of earshot to turn on Mattie. "You didn't tell me Elsie was working tonight! I changed my shifts to get away from her!"

"She swapped with Tom." Mattie shrugged. What did she care who was working what shift? So long as someone turned up to run the bar. "If you could keep it in your pants - and stop screwing your way through the female employees - then we wouldn't keep having this little problem. Would we?"

"Nobody else was this clingy!" Carmilla objected with a heavy sigh. She'd invited Laura to tag along with her to the bar, thinking it would be a quiet night, and that she'd get a chance to make it up to her poor neighbour for upsetting her earlier. Elsie being there definitely counted as a spanner in the works.

"Hey, do I know you?" A familiar blond girl approached as Laura slipped out from behind the bar, taking her stool by the hatch she'd just fixed. It took Laura a second, but she eventually recognized her as the girl who'd been coming out of Carmilla's apartment early Sunday morning. Elsie clearly recognized her.

"Oh, uh, I'm Carm's neighbour. Laura. I think we ran in to each other the other morning." Laura tried her best to plaster a friendly smile on to her face. She didn't know the first thing about the blond girl - other than the fact that she was Carmilla's booty call - so she tried her best not to judge her outright.

"Elsie." The other girl held out her hand for Laura, who shook it amicably, until Elsie started to squeeze a little tighter than was needed. "I'm Carmilla's girlfriend." Laura had heard otherwise, but she didn't think it would be a good idea to mention that to Elsie.
"Super. Nice to meet you!" Laura chirped, already backtracking to go get Carmilla.

"Whoa there, Cutie. Where's the fire?" Carmilla walked out front, crashing in to Laura; who was busy backing up to the door. Her hand went to the teenager's hip to steady her. The action didn't go unnoticed by Elsie. The blonde's eyes narrowed and her lips curled back in a sneer.

Carmilla knew exactly what was going on. She dropped her mouth next to Laura's ear, her hand staying put on the younger girl's hip. "Come on, Cupcake. Mattie gave me the night off. Let's go make the most of it."
"Sure. Okay." Laura nodded along dumbly, her stomach doing somersaults after Carmilla's lips accidentally brushed the side of her cheek. "Bye Elsie. It was nice to meet you."

"Bye Elsie, it was super nice to meet you!" Carmilla broke out in a fit of laughter the second they were outside of the club, her voice going particularly high in an attempt to mimic the younger girl.
"Stop! That's not even funny!" Laura shoved at her shoulder, though despite what she'd said, she was biting back a grin. "I was being nice!"

"That's your problem, Hollis." Carmilla shook her head, still laughing as the fingers of her right hand laced through Laura's of their own accord. "You're too nice."
"If being 'too nice' is my only problem then I'll take it!" Laura huffed, though her smile had finally broken out on her face.

They reached Carmilla's car far too soon for her liking, meaning she had to give up Laura's hand as she climbed behind the wheel. The teenager got in the passenger side, shivering a little as she sat back against the cold leather upholstery.

"Here." Carmilla reached on to the backseat and pulled out a hooded sweatshirt. It was her college sweater, deep maroon in colour, with 'Silas U' emblazoned on the front in bold white lighters. It was a little baggy, just how Carmilla liked her sweaters, but Laura appreciated the instant warmth it offered once she'd tugged it on. "Thanks, Carm."
"No problem, Creampuff."

The drive home was short and sweet. They pulled up outside the Lustig Building just before a light rain began to fall. "Okay Cupcake, looks like we're going to have to make a run for it… Ready?" Carmilla had her door opened and closed behind her before Laura even had her seatbelt undone.

Screams filled the air as the two girls ran for the steps of their building. They sheltered under the porch while Laura fumbled for her keys. "Any day now, Cupcake…" Carmilla grumbled from behind her, taking the brunt of the strong wind that was sending the rain lashing their way.

Laura ignored the jibe, choosing instead to roll her eyes just as the lock clicked open. "Patience is a virtue, Carm…" With that, she turned and gave the other girl a playful shove, sending her stumbling back towards the step, and out in to the rain.

"You little…" Laura didn't stick around long enough to find out what the end of Carmilla's cuss was as she bolted inside and headed for the stairs. She made it all the way up to the fourth floor, her wet tennis shoes squelching against every step, before Carmilla caught up to her.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Laura squealed as Carmilla crashed against her - red cheeked and panting for breath - and pinned her against the wall at the top of the stairs. Laura's apologies didn't sound all that sincere when she was giggling through them. Both girls were out of breath, their chests rising and falling as they tried to catch them again. Laura was small but fast. Carmilla almost hadn't caught her. Now that she had, she wasn't quite sure what to do about it.

Their laughter died away as Carmilla's gaze dipped to Laura's lips. A little droplet of rain ran down from her hair, sliding down her nose before precariously hanging there, ready to fall in to the abyss at any second. Carmilla knew exactly how that felt. Before she knew what she was doing, the older girl was leaning in, her attention fixed on Laura's mouth -

"Monkey, that you?" A gruff voice called from Laura's open front door, and the girls jumped apart. Carmilla was grateful for the blown bulb at the top of the stairs, meaning the light was too dim for Laura to notice the blush on her cheeks; or for the other girl's father to notice what had just been about to happen.
"Yeah, Dad. It's me." Laura was mentally kicking herself at how strained her voice sounded. Not to mention the fact that her dad had called her by her nickname in front of Carm, who-

What exactly had Carmilla been about to do before he'd interrupted them? Had she really been going to kiss her? Had she wanted to whisper some sort of teasing insult in her ear? Laura's head was up in the clouds, she barely noticed when Carmilla started heading for her door. "'Night, Cupcake. Mr H." She nodded at the man standing by his door. He gave her a tired smile back, coupled with a nod of his own.
"Goodnight, Carmilla."

"Hi Dad." Laura's cheeks were still flushed from running up the stairs, among other things, and she was preying her omniscient father wouldn't notice.
"Cold out?" John asked, his tone too casual for him to have caught sight of the two girls out in the hall. When whatever had almost happened, happened.
"Yeah. It's just started raining." It was only as Laura started tugging her sweatshirt over her head that she remembered it was Carmilla's. She let it fall back down, deciding it could wait until morning to be returned.

John sat back down on his recliner and picked up his mug of steaming tea, which was sitting beside an upturned book. John Hollis wasn't the stereotypical blue collar worker, who would finish the day with a cold beer and a football game. No, Laura's father was much happier with a good book and a cup of tea.

Laura had occasionally seen him drinking the odd beer at a BBQ through the summer, or a tipple of scotch at Christmas, but John wasn't much of a drinker. Being a building manager, and the single father of a teenage girl, he was pretty much on call 24 hours of the day. He smiled up at his daughter as she came over to sit beside him on the armrest of his recliner. "Want me to make you some cocoa? There's hot water in the pot… Or I could warm some milk?"

"I'm good, thanks. I think I'll just go straight to bed." It was barely after ten, but Laura wasn't much of a night owl, especially on school nights. Leaning over, she pressed a goodnight kiss to her father's cheek.
"Goodnight Monkey."

Laura was almost down the hall and at the door to her room when a thought struck her. She bounced back up the hall, poking her head around the corner and shooting her dad a winning smile. "Uh, hey… Dad?"
"Laura." John put his book down in his lap and twisted his neck to look over at her. Even without seeing the sickly sweet smile on her face, the tone of Laura's voice was enough for him to know she wanted something from him.

"Would you mind if I invited Carmilla over for dinner tomorrow night? We've had takeout at her place twice now, and I figured I could cook tomorrow night… If that's okay with you?"
"Of course. If you and Carmilla are going to be… friendly, then I'd like to get to know her a little better."
"Great! Thanks, Dad!" Laura completely missed what he was hinting at.

Practically skipping back to her room, Laura flopped down on to her bed and pulled out her phone to text Carmilla and ask her over. She'd gotten the other girl's number the week before, but she'd never had a reason to use it, seeing as Carmilla lived right across the hall.

Cupcake(22.14): Hey Carm! It's Laura. Do you have plans tomorrow night? If not, would you like to come over for dinner with me and my Dad? :)

Carmilla read over the text message that Laura had just sent, twice, unaware that it had taken nearly a whole five minutes for Laura to compose it. She'd added and deleted more kisses on the end than she could count, before settling on a smiley face.

Carmilla herself was in a tizzy over almost kissing the younger girl. What the hell had she been thinking? Well, she hadn't been. Clearly. Carmilla kept picking up her phone and then putting it back down again, torn between messaging Laura back, and calling Elsie over for some much needed stress relief.

Carm(22.19): Sure. I've got class until 6 though. I'll be home around 7

Cupcake(22.19): Great! 7 is fine! See you then!
Cupcake(22.20): Goodnight! :)

Carm(22.23): 'Night, Cupcake x.