"Well, this is cozy." Carmilla let out a huff of air, tickling the hairs at the back of Laura's neck. They were lying so close together that they were sharing the same pillow. Carmilla had somehow found herself lying in the middle of Danny and Laura. She'd expected Laura to take the middle, but she'd taken her usual side of the bed.
"Hmmph." Laura replied with a huff of her own. Her shoulders were set and she was lying rigid on her side. She'd had the hump since Carmilla had suggested Danny share the bed with them. Not that the other girl had been much use as a buffer. Her head had barely hit the pillow before she'd been snoring lightly.
"Don't be mad at me." Carmilla sighed. Wrapping her arms around the smaller girl's waist, she tugged her back, pulling Laura flush against her. Her mouth found the side of Laura's neck, her lips trailing soft kisses up the length of it.
"Hmmm..." Laura relented, arching back in to her. She rolled over to face Carmilla, leaning in to kiss her properly. "I'm not mad."
"Tell that to your face." Carmilla laughed against the side of Laura's mouth. "I thought you'd be happy I was making an effort with Clifford."
"I am - and don't call her that - I just… It would have been nice to get more than five minutes alone with you tonight. Not counting the four trips to the bathroom."
"You weren't complaining about the trips to the bathroom earlier." Carmilla teased. She was skating on thin ice as she rolled on to her back, tugging Laura on top of her. The teenager let out a giggle as she put her hands either side of Carmilla's head to steady herself. She dipped her head, claiming another kiss.
Things started off slow, but the pace quickly picked up between them as Carmilla's hand found the back of Laura's head. Laura's tongue darted out against Carmilla's lips, asking for them to part. She was rewarded with a playful bite to her bottom lip.
Laura let out another moan as Carmilla ran her hands up her sides; and under her shirt. "Carm…" She breathed in to her open mouth, involuntarily grinding down against her.
"Laura…" Carmilla's own voice came out as little more than a whimper. This was exactly what she'd been hoping to avoid. Carmilla was almost tempted to give Danny a kick for the hell of it.
"Cupcake, this is a bad idea." She turned her head away, kissing the corner of Laura's mouth instead.
"Mhhmm." Laura agreed, though she was still lying on top of her. "Terrible."
"I'm serious." Carmilla chuckled, rolling them both over so they were lying back on their sides. "You're drunk. We'll pick this up in the morning."
Carmilla stirred some time in the early hours of the morning. Her head was pounding. Laura's hair was in her mouth. She was too hot. Carmilla let out a groan, spitting out russet colored hair and rolling on to her back. "What the…" It wasn't Laura lying beside her after all. It was Danny. "Oh god."
Carmilla sat up gingerly, holding a hand to her head. She glanced around the room, expecting to find Laura lying curled up on the floor. She was nowhere in sight. The empty side of the bed beside her was ice cold. Laura had been gone for a while.
Carmilla rolled over to check her phone for messages. She came up blank. Letting out another sigh, she combed her fingers through her hair, and decided to get up and go look for her. Stumbling barefoot out of her room, Carmilla padded in to the living room.
She found Will spread out on the sofa, while Kirsch was curled up in the armchair. She left the two of them to it, checking the kitchen and the bathroom. Laura was nowhere in the apartment. Carmilla had a feeling where she might find her. Grabbing her keys off the kitchen counter, she slipped out of her own place and crossed the landing to knock on Laura's door.
The other girl took her time in answering. She was bleary eyed as the door finally opened. "Get lost on your way to the bathroom, Creampuff?" Carmilla cracked. She wasn't sure why Laura had taken off. As usual, Carmilla was trying to make light of things rather than face up to them.
"Your bed felt a little cramped." Laura answered dryly. She rubbed at her eyes, leaning against the opening door. "Why don't we pick it up in the morning?"
"Seriously, Princess?" Carmilla rolled her eyes at her. "You're in a strop because I invited Bigfoot to share the bed? We went over this-"
"Yeah. We did. I'm just a stupid, drunk, kid." Laura answered sourly. "It's fine to flirt with me, and kiss me and stuff, but god forbid you should share a bed with me-" The teenager's rant was cut off as Carmilla stepped forward, crushing her mouth against Laura's.
"That's not it all." She chided, running the pad of her thumb along Laura's clenched jaw. "You're not a little kid, and you're not stupid. Plus, we've shared a bed a million times."
"We've never kissed before. Not like that, at least." Laura was actually blushing as she ducked her head.
"No. We haven't." Carmilla grinned, closing the distance between them again. She cupped Laura's face in her hands, giving her a dopey kind of smile as she stared down at her. "I don't trust myself. Okay? It wasn't about you. It was me. I don't trust me."
"What are you-"
"I was drunk. We were kissing, and… I didn't trust myself around you." Carmilla finally admitted. "I don't want to screw this up. Whatever this is."
"I like you." Laura cringed at how stupid that sounded once it had left her mouth. It wasn't like she could take it back, so she just kept on rambling. "I actually like you a lot."
"Well, that's a good start." Carmilla gave her a wry smile. She laced the fingers of one hand through Laura's, looking down at the ground almost bashfully. "Are you coming back to bed, or just staying here tonight?"
"I think I'll just stay here… You could stay too? If you want." They were both more sober than they had been a few hours ago.
"Okay. Sure."
Laura nodded. Keeping hold of her hand, she closed the door behind Carmilla, then led her to her bedroom. It was the first time Carmilla had been in there. The four walls were painted a pale lilac color, and covered with posters of bands and women from TV shows. Her bedspread was covered in little Hogwarts crests, and her bookcase was crammed to capacity with an eclectic mix, ranging from Dickens to Pratchett. Everything about the room screamed Laura Hollis.
Carmilla would have teased her about the Pokemon figures she had lined up on a shelf above her bed, had Laura not chosen that moment to pull her down on to her bed. Their mouths found each other again once they were both settled under the covers. Their kisses were slow and tender. Carmilla did her best to keep her hands to herself. She might have been relatively more sober, but that didn't mean she wasn't still worried about pushing the younger girl too far.
"Laura?" Carmilla sighed later on, once they were lying side by side, with Carmilla's arm draped over Laura's stomach.
"Hmm?"
"I like you a lot, too."
"Phone…" Carmilla grumbled, as the annoyingly chirpy sound of Laura's ring-tone went off right beside her ear. "Laura…" She groaned, nudging at the younger girl with her chin. The sharp, shrill, sound of the phone was like a siren going off. It was doing nothing to help with the raging headache that Carmilla was suffering with.
As bad as Carmilla felt, Laura looked ten times worse. She had her head buried under her pillow. She didn't even bother to lift her head as she blindly groped the bedside table for her phone. "Hullo?" Came the gruff greeting as Laura eventually found the phone and brought it up to her ear.
"You and Karnstein better be out getting coffee." Danny grumbled. She sounded only marginally more awake than Laura.
"I'd kill for some coffee right now…" Laura replied. She cracked her eyes open, and instantly regretted it. "Ugh, or anything wet."
"I wasn't offering, Hollis." Danny sighed from the other end of the line. "Where the hell are you?" Before Laura could answer, she felt Carmilla shift behind her. The bed dipped as she pushed herself up. Laura might have called after her, if Danny hadn't still been practically shouting in her ear.
"My place. I wanted to sleep in my own bed." Laura answered. She heard the pregnant pause on the other end of the line, and could almost imagine the expression Danny was pulling.
"With Carmilla."
"Yes." Laura bit out the answer, refusing to feel guilty about it. Her toes curled just from thinking about how Carmilla had kissed her the previous night. Whatever guilt-trip Danny was about to lay on her would be totally worth it.
"Perry's making pancakes if the two of you feel like joining us." There was an edge to Danny's tone, but she didn't say anything more about Laura and Carmilla having spent the night together.
"Sure. We'll be over in sec."
Laura felt a smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she felt Carmilla slide back in to bed beside her. The other girl pressed right up against Laura's back, and peppered the side of her neck with attentive kisses. "Okay, bye Danny. See you in a few!" Laura hastily said her goodbyes before hanging up and tossing the phone aside. It landed on the comforter with a soft thud.
"Something wet." Carmilla smirked as she handed over a bottle of mineral water. She'd found it in the fridge. Carmilla might not have spent much time in Laura's room before, but she'd been over for dinner enough times to be comfortable raiding her refrigerator.
"Uh, you are a god-send" Laura took the offered water like it was a lifeline. She couldn't remember her throat ever having felt so dry before.
"I know." Carmilla purred from behind her, content to stay curled up beside Laura for as long as possible. "And I don't care what you said to Clifford, we are not moving from this bed."
"It might be considered rude to leave our friends in your apartment all day." Laura teased. She screwed the cap back on the bottle of water, though she'd already drained it dry. "Besides, Perry's making pancakes."
"Ask her if she delivers." Carmilla mumbled. She snaked her arms around Laura's waist and pulled her in even closer, making it abundantly clear that neither of them were going anywhere.
"They know where we are. They'll come looking for us." Laura argued, though her objections were halfhearted at best.
"Let them." Carmilla shrugged, with her face buried in the crook of Laura's shoulder.
"Kirsch has the spare key."
"Ugh, why does god hate me?" Carmilla let out a groan. Ten minutes later they were walking through Carmilla's front door, both still wearing their pajamas and sharing weary expressions.
"Look what dragged the cat in." Will smirked, from over where he was still spread out on the couch. He was tucked under the old blanket Carmilla had given him, with a plate stacked full of pancakes in one hand, and a steaming mug of coffee in the other.
"Bite me." Carmilla glowered at him, while swiping his coffee cup.
"Hey! That's mine!"
"My cup. My coffee." Carmilla shrugged. She took a seat on the end of the couch, helping herself to a pancake for good measure. Will was used to it. As the youngest of three siblings, he'd learned to eat fast; or at least lick everything on his plate for good measure.
Carmilla scowled at the smug look on his face as she took a bite out of the stolen pancake. Her own expression contorted in to one of disgust as she dropped it. "You licked this, didn't you?"
"Kirsch does that. It's gross." Carmilla was surprised when Danny piped up, making an effort to engage the older girl. She had a flashback to confessing to being in love with Laura to her the previous night, and tried not to cringe. Carmilla would need to have a quiet word with Big Foot later.
"Only because you and Laura always steal stuff off my plate!" Kirsch objected, his expression souring. "Seriously, you guys are like ninjas!"
"We're growing girls! We need to eat!" Laura argued, already devouring a stack of Perry's buttermilk pancakes.
"I guess Stretch was better at it than you, huh?" Carmilla teased, though there was hardly any vehemency to her tone. Danny gave her an eye roll, but they managed to avoid tearing chunks out of each other for once. Laura gave Carmilla a proud smile, happy to see the other girl making an effort with her friends. The look on the younger girl's face almost made playing nice with Bigfoot seem worth it.
"Eat up, losers." Carmilla stretched out, trying to work out the knot she still had in her shoulder. Laura had spent half the night lying on Carmilla's arm. "I'm kicking you all out so I can go back to bed." She gave Laura a pointed look, making sure she understood that she had an open invitation to stay.