"Netflix keeps suggesting I watch Buffy, Doctor Who, and films based on books by Nicholos Sparks… You have officially taken over my feed,Creampuff." Carmilla huffed, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face.
"Come on! You loved The Notebook!" Laura objected. She was busy standing over by the stove, popping corn. Because, according to Laura, the microwave stuff was a cheap imitation.
Carmilla thought that was rich, coming from a girl who seemed to exist solely on processed junk food. "I believe I actually said it was mass produced drivel, with absolutely no literary value." Carmilla pointed out, while hanging over the back of her couch and watching for Laura's reaction.
They'd hung out a lot in the month since Carmilla had moved in to the building, and the older girl relished in provoking her every chance she got. "Excuse me, Miss I-only-read-books-by-guys-who've-been-dead-for-over-a-hundred-years, but you cried at Dear John!"
"I was crying because you made me watch it!" Carmilla argued, earning a scornful look from Laura. The teenager threw a piece of popcorn at her as she was emptying it in to a bowl. "Hey! Watch it Hollis, that's hot!"
"I'm sure it won't hurt you, what with you being so thick skinned and all." Laughed Laura. She finished pouring out the popcorn and joined Carmilla over on the couch.
The other girl waited until Laura was settled before she lay her legs over her. Laura didn't bat an eyelid at the familiar action. She just placed the bowl on Carmilla's lap, so they could both share it. "If I remember correctly, it's my turn to pick the movie anyway." Laura snatched the remote from her hands as Carmilla started flicking through her play list.
"No! Laura, I swear to god, I am not watching another soppy romantic comedy, or a musical, or anything with with Channing Tatum in it!"
"Well, what would you like to watch, Grumpy-Cat?" Laura asked - as she usually did - which often led to Carmilla picking the movie. It had been Laura's 'turn' for the last three times.
"I thought you'd never ask." Carmilla grinned, taking the remote back from Laura. "Nothing too scary though, or gory! And no subtitles! I'd like to watch a movie tonight, not read it." Carmilla rolled her eyes at that. "You're still whining about Versus?" She shook her head, though her tone was playful. "Just be grateful I haven't made you watch Lady Vengeance. Yet."
"Okay, I'm taking charge of the clicker! Gimme!" Laura reached out to take the remote back, but Carmilla held it up over her head in protest.
"No way, you said I could choose, I'm choosing!"
"Give it! Carm!"
"No can do, Short-stack!" Carmilla laughed, holding the remote just out of Laura's grasp.
"Carm, I'm like an inch shorter than you!" She huffed indignantly, still clambering to reach her prize.
"Yeah, well, size matters, Cutie." Carmilla started to laugh, but it quickly turned in to a full on giggle as Laura clambered in to her lap, grasping for the remote.
It dropped out of her hand and clattered to the floor as Laura's knee slipped, dropping between her parted legs. Carmilla's breath hitched, her laughter dying in her throat. Laura's expression turned to one of bewilderment for the second it took her to realise what was wrong. Carmilla didn't notice. She was too busy staring at the other girl's lips. They were so close, it wouldn't take much for her to just reach up and-
"Kitty!" A bang at the door broke whatever spell had settled over Carmilla. It kicked Laura in to action too,
with the younger girl scrambling back over to her side of the couch. Another round of pounding at the door followed. "Kitty! Open up!"
"Who the hell is Kitty?" Laura frowned as Carmilla headed for the door. She yanked it open, glaring daggers at the eighteen year old boy standing in front of her.
"Hey Sis."
"William. Ever heard of calling?" Carmilla snarled at her younger brother as he barged past her, inviting himself inside. Despite being adoptive siblings, the two looked quite similar, sharing the same dark hair and eyes, as wellas a sharp, angular jaw and high cheekbones.
Will was technically Carmilla's cousin - being the son of her father's brother - but his parents had been killed in a car accident when he was barely four months old. The Karnstein's had adopted and raised William as their own. Carmilla had been three at the time, and more than a little enamored by her new baby brother; though the attraction had soon worn off.
"Mother's off on one again. I packed a bag and took off." Will answered with a weary shrug. The implication was unspoken. Had anyone else turned up on her doorstep, unannounced, Carmilla would have sent them packing.
Will's gaze skirted over to Laura, who was still sitting sheepishly on the couch like a spare part. For a second, he looked like he was scared that Carmilla might actually send him away. "Go drop your stuff in the spare room. There's leftovers in the fridge if you're hungry."
"Thanks, Kitty!" Will had been over to the apartment a couple of times before. He didn't need Carmilla to tell him where the spare room was. "Hey." He greeted Laura with a confident smile, looking and sounding even more like his older sister.
"Hi." Laura held her hand up and waved at him, feeling rather awkward. For a brief moment, right before Will
arrived, Laura had been ready to go ahead and kiss her neighbor. The inclination was still there, as it had been since they'd first met, but Will hadn't been the only one to walk through the front door; Laura's commonsense had walked in right along side him.
Carmilla was older. She was a third year college student, with a paying job and her own place. She could get any girl she wanted. Laura had no hope of ever moving out of the friend zone. "Should I go?" She asked Carmilla, as the door to the spare room closed behind Will.
The other girl seemed distracted. It took her a second to answer. "What? No... No, you don't have to leave." Carmilla offered her a crooked grin as she bent down to retrieve the television remote from the floor. "We may need more popcorn though."
"I can't believe you made me watch that trash." Carmilla groaned as the end credits of the romcom, which Laura had picked, started to roll.
"Come on, you loved it really! Back me up here, Will!" Laura objected, looking to the younger Karnstein for support.
"It was funny." Will agreed with a careless shrug. Carmilla glared at her younger brother like he'd just committed high treason.
"You two have no taste." She shook her head at the two teenagers.
"Kitty only likes art house films, and gory slasher flicks." Will pointed out with a smirk. He and Laura had instantly clicked. Will was confident and outgoing, he would speak to just about anyone; unlike his antisocial older sister.
"Why do you call her Kitty?" Laura asked, though she already had a good clue. She watched as Carmilla stood up and stretched out, like a house cat laying out in the sun.
"I couldn't say 'Carmilla' when I was younger. So I always just called her Kitty. It stuck." Will explained. "Plus she's moody, lazy, wants everything on her terms… Need I go on?"
"Bite me, William." Carmilla stuck her middle finger up at him. She glanced down at her watch and caught sight of the time. "Looks like it's your bedtime, Cutie."
"I don't have a bedtime!" Laura huffed, while Will bit back a snicker. Carmilla would beg to differ. If Laura was home later than ten o'clock on a school night, then Mr Hollis would soon come knocking.
"It is late though, and I do have some homework to finish off before tomorrow…" Laura started making her excuses to leave; mostly to keep from losing face in front of Carmilla's brother. "It was nice meeting you Will."
"You too laura."
Carmilla walked the younger girl to the door, closing it over slightly so that Will wouldn't see the inevitable hug that Laura would give her before crossing the hall to her own apartment. "'Night Carm." True to form, Laura wrapped her arms around Carmilla's neck as she said goodnight. Safe in the knowledge that Will couldn't see, Carmilla hugged her back.
"Goodnight, Cupcake." Carmilla murmured in her ear, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek before they pulled apart. The gesture had become something of an unspoken ritual between them. She watched Laura across the hall, making sure she was safely inside, before she ventured back in to her own apartment. Will was waiting for her, like a shark circling a sinking ship. "Since when did you start cradle snatching?"
"Screw you." Carmilla rolled her eyes at him as she climbed over the back of the couch and flopped down next to him. "Laura's a friend, drag your mind out of the gutter, asshole."
"She's cute." Will shrugged. The offhand comment left a queasy feeling in the pit of Carmilla's stomach. She refused to put a name to it.
"Yeah, I have eyes Will, thanks. So, what's going on with you? Got any cute girls of your own hanging around? Or cute boys?"
"I was dating this guy, Chris. Total jock. Not much going on upstairs, but gorgeous. Things were going great… until I screwed his brother." Will was unapologetic in his answer. He was a Karnstein through and through; and if there was one thing a Karnstein was good at, it was using people.
The two siblings carried on catching up, skirting around the real reason that Will was there. Carmilla fetched a couple of cold beers from the fridge. Their French mother had raised them up in a very European way, with wine at dinner acceptable from an early age. Being brought up this way had given them a different kind of respect for alcohol than their American peers.
"Stiegl. Nice." Will nodded at the Austrian beer. "I was at a house party last week and all they had was Miller Light." The teenager twisted his face, and Carmilla mirrored the expression. She let him drink half the bottle in peace, before she started probing.
"What's Mother's problem this time?" She asked, already expecting the answer. Will shrugged back at her, picking at the label on his beer.
"The usual. Her children are all ungrateful and they hate her. You and Mattie never come visit, blah, blah, blah. I just needed to get out of there."
"It's fine. You're welcome over whenever… and I'll tell Mattie we need to have dinner with Mom tomorrow night."
"Thanks Kitty."
"Laura! Hey!" Will caught up with his sister's neighbor while she was reaching for the building's front door.
"Hi, Will!" Laura beamed at him as he opened the door for her. He was wearing the uniform for Styria Academy, the elitist prep-school uptown.
The beige slacks, blue shirt and navy blazer made him look like he was about to head off somewhere on a yacht. Growing up, Laura, Danny and Kirsch had always scoffed at the Styria kids and their fancy uniforms. Laura had never actually met someone who went there before.
"Are you heading off to school? Can I offer you a ride?" Asked Will, holding the keys to his BMW in his hand. As similar as he was to his sister, they were worlds apart at the same time. Laura knew the Karnstein's came from money, but Carmilla didn't flash it around like Will seemed to.
"That's nice of you to offer, but I'm actually heading the other way." Kirsch usually drove Laura to school in his truck, but he and Danny had track and lacrosse practice early on Wednesday mornings.
"I don't mind. Honestly." Will insisted, pointing out his car sitting across the street.
"Okay. Sure." Laura didn't want to seem ungrateful, so she followed Will over to the sleek, black, BMW that had been given to him the day he'd passed his driving test. The second he turned the key in the ignition, the stereo roared in to life.
"This is the band I was telling you about last night… They're playing at the Alchemy Club on Saturday."
"They're good." Laura nodded along in time to the music, oblivious to the fact that her neighbor's brother was asking her out.
"I, uh, I was thinking about going. You could come with me. If you wanted?" Will gave up trying to be subtle and went for the direct approach instead.
"Oh. Yeah. That'd be cool." Laura agreed, thinking that Carmilla would either be working that night, or joining them.
"Great." Will broke out in a wide grin. "I'll swing by and pick you up around seven thirty. The show doesn't start until nine, but we could grab a bite to eat?"
"Yeah, sounds good." Laura agreed. She had no idea she was actually agreeing to a date.