Chapter Text
Two weeks into her first semester of Eastern European Lit, Laura heard her voice for the first time.
Laura just finished making what she considered to be a very convincing and praise worthy point on why the villain of the novel deserved to be punished when a laugh came from the other side of the room.
"I'm sorry but that's bullshit" drawled someone, and Laura and the rest of the class turned to look at the speaker.
The girl was lounged back in her desk, with her black combat boots resting on the seat in front of her and a look of disinterest on her face.
"Miss Karnstein," reprimanded the teacher from the front of the room.
"Sorry," the dark haired girl said, flashing a smirk that let everyone know she definitely wasn't sorry, "But you can't just let her say that they deserved to be punished. Yeah, what they did was bad, but they did it because they believed it was the right thing," the girl continued but Laura was tuning her out, her eyes taking in the leather jacket and leather pants and the distractingly beautiful face. She had two immediate thoughts:
"That girl is gorgeous," quickly followed by "I can’t believe she’s arguing with me! I didn’t even think she was awake."
"Did you even read the book?" Laura said doubtfully, cutting off what she was sure was just a rephrasing of the sparknotes summary. The girls’ dark eyes flashed at being interrupted.
"I sure did, cutie. Turns out you're not the only one allowed to have an opinion on something in this class." Even from across the room Laura could see the girl’s smirk grow wider.
Laura opened her mouth to fire a reply when the bell rang.
"Well! We'll continue this discussion tomorrow," she heard the professor say and Laura grabbed her books and quickly left, forgetting about the mystery girl as she met Danny and Kirsch outside her class.
The second time Laura saw her was at a party a week later, celebrating some event the Zetas had definitely just invented as an excuse to have a party. Danny and she were debating over how many drinks it would take before Betty tried to hook up with the Zeta boy who had been after her all night when a flash of dark hair caught Laura's eye.
"Who is Laf talking to?" Laura said quickly, directing Danny's attention to the fireplace across the crowded room where the dark haired girl from lit class leaned against the wall, casually chatting with an excited looking LaFontaine, who was gesturing wildly while Perry looked on, amused.
"Hm?" Danny said, focusing her gaze. "Oh, Carmilla Karnstein? Everyone knows her." Danny said, laughing a little as she took a sip from her drink. "She and Laf had to work on some bio project together last year and they hit it off. It's weird cause Carmilla mostly keeps to herself, I guess. To the disappoint of many girls on campus," said Danny, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
"What do you mean?" Laura asked, trying to be casual. She didn't know why she cared. It was just some annoying girl from class. But those eyes... She shook her head briefly to dispel the thought and turned to look at Danny again.
"She's pretty ‘cold’ apparently" Danny said, making quotation marks in the air. "Doesn't have a lot of friends, prefers to read alone, that sort of thing. Every time I’ve talked to her she’s been nothing but rude. But that doesn't stop girls from trying to get her 'out of her shell'" Danny gestured to a group of girls who stood nearby Carmilla, looking at her possessively and occasionally trying to get her attention.
"Who can blame them..." Laura mumbled before she could stop herself. "I mean, um" she was stopped from saying more as they watched Laf point to Danny and Laura across the room. Carmilla turned and looked. She grinned as she made eye contact with Laura and winked, before turning back to say something to Lafontaine and Perry and then sauntering off back into the crowd of drunken Zeta boys. Laura felt a flush of heat on her cheeks as Laf and Perry made their way over to Danny and Laura.
"Hey guys," Perry said and waved as LaFontaine raised an eyebrow at Laura.
"Carmilla Karnstein was telling me she has lit class with you?" They said in an odd tone.
"Um.. Yeah." Laura said quickly, trying to ignore the fact that her heart raced at the thought of Carmilla saying her name, talking about her.
"Something going on there?" Laf said, their grin widening on their face at Laura's flusteredness.
"Oh, no no no," Laura said quickly, "we just argued about a book once. It was nothing. I don't even know how she knew my name."
"Well-" Laf started and Perry stopped them.
"LaFontaine!" She said shrilly. LaFontaine laughed and shook their head.
"Um, anyway, you should talk to her sometime. You guys might be good friends," Laf said in a weird tone that Laura ignored, and she took the first opportunity to change the subject. Carmilla didn't come up in their conversation for the rest of the night, but Laura couldn't help her eyes wandering to the spot where Carmilla disappeared, hoping she might catch another glimpse of her.
The next Friday, Danny, Kirsch, LaFontaine, Perry, Will, and Betty were gathered at the coffee shop.
"So, what excuse did Laura give you?" LaFontaine asked immediately.
"Well, hello to you too," grumbled Betty. Danny rolled her eyes.
"She said she had a journalism project."
"Math homework."
"Tired."
"Reruns of Buffy."
The group turned to look at Will. He raised his hands defensively.
"She didn't say anything to me! We don't talk, I only know her because my sister is obsessed with her, okay?"
LaFontaine let out a sigh.
"Wait, why are we here?" Kirsch looked totally lost. Danny rolled her eyes again.
"Is it that hard for you to keep up, Zeta?" She spoke slowly like she it was taking all her effort to speak to him. "Carmilla is desperately in love with Laura and we know Laura will never notice and Karnstein doesn't have the balls to admit it so we've decided to do something about it."
Kirsch had a big smile on his face now.
"So we're gonna be like, matchmakers for them! Cool! Little-nerd-hottie deserves someone hot like Carmilla." Danny smacked him on the arm. "I mean, like, they deserve to be happy."
"Anyway!" Perry exclaimed, determined to keep this meeting on track. "We all know Laura lied to us tonight, and Laf managed to casually mention the bar Carmilla works at to Laura." LaFontaine had a wicked smile on their face.
"Oh perfect!" Betty exclaimed and laughed. "Drunk Laura is even more emotional and clingy. She won't be able to keep her hands off Carmilla."
"Now," Perry stated, clapping her hands together, "we need to come up with a step two."
Will was looking at the whole group with an incredulous look on his face.
"That's your plan? Get Hollis wasted and hope my sister makes a move? That's the worst plan I've ever heard."
The group ignored him.
Meanwhile, Laura made her way to a tiny bar 15 minutes from campus. It had been a long week and she didn't want to deal with Danny's questions and Perry's concerned looks.
"One straight vodka," Laura mumbled as she slumped down at the bar.
"Rough week, cupcake?" Carmilla said, turning from the other side of the bar to pour Laura's drink.
"Oh great. Hey, Carmilla.” Laura muttered, a little harsher than she meant to. She didn't even know Carmilla worked here and she'd been hoping to get away from people at school, not see more of them.
"Ooh, angry Hollis," Carmilla said, undeterred by Laura's mood, flashing her usual smirk as she pushed the drink across the bar top. "I guess I won't bother asking for your ID?"
Laura gave her a glare and downed the shot, wincing and trying not to cough.
4 hours later, the bar had cleared out and it was just Carmilla, Laura, and a few stragglers.
"Well, sweetheart," Carmilla drawled as she wiped the counter with a rag, “I have to close now. No exceptions, not even for pretty girls.”
Laura laughed loudly. She may have gotten a little drunker than she intended.
“Carmmmmm,” she grabbed at Carmilla’s arm. “Don’t make me leave… Do you not like me?” Laura pouted and then wondered if she was even drunker than she thought, because for a moment she thought she saw Carmilla shiver at Laura’s touch.
“Of course I don’t like you, creampuff,” Carmilla said with that infuriating smirk, “But don’t take it personally. Haven’t you heard? I don’t really like anyone.”
Laura snorted. “I’m sorry, but that’s bullshit.” she mocked, repeating what Carmilla had said that day in lit class. “I can tell, you’re a big softie. You just want everyone to think you’re mean.” and Laura grinned at Carmilla like she’d just figured everything out.
Carmilla just chuckled. “You must be really drunk,” she said, shaking her head as she flipped off the light switch and lead Laura out of the bar. “Now, are you gonna tell me why you felt the need to come get wasted by yourself tonight?”
Laura ignored her and stopped in her place even as Carmilla kept walking down the sidewalk. “Where are we going?” She asked, looking around as though she had forgotten where they were.
Carmilla raised an eyebrow at her. “Back to your dorm?” she said questioningly, facing Laura but continuing to walk backwards towards Silas.
“No!” Laura crossed her arms. “I mean… I don’t wanna go back there. Everyone will just want to know where I’ve been and why I’m drunk..” She looked down at her shoes and back up at Carmilla. “Please. I just don’t want to deal with them tonight.”
Carmilla looked at her with an expression that Laura might had been able to figure out if she was sober but was unable to read in her current state. Then she sighed. “Alright creampuff,” Carmilla said begrudgingly, “Let’s go.” She hooked her arm around Laura’s and began leading her the other way.
"Now where are we going?" Laura asked excitedly.
"Well, I can't just leave you in the street," Carmilla said as she grabbed Laura and steered her around a pole Laura almost walked into, "So I'm bringing you back to my place."
Laura paused her walking again.
"But we don't even like each other," she said, dazed. "Why would you even help me?"
"Like you said cupcake," Carmilla drawled as she stopped in front of an apartment complex, "I'm secretly a big softie."
"I knew it!!" Laura exclaimed loudly. "I knewwww it!"
"Shhhh," Carmilla hissed, but she had the tiniest smile on her face. "Come on," she whispered and pulled Laura towards the stairs.
"But the elevator is right thereee," Laura whined. She definitely didn't want to try to conquer the stairs when she could barely focus on walking in the right direction.
"Nope," Carmilla shook her head. "Sorry, cupcake, I don't do small spaces."
"Oh! Okay," Laura giggled.
Carmilla turned and raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm just happy," Laura explained. "You're being nice. We're bonding!"
Carmilla shook her head and pressed her lips together with a smile as they continued up the stairs.
"I hate to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but I'm only being honest because I'm pretty sure you're not gonna remember any of tonight when you wake up- woah there!"
They had reached Carmilla's floor and Laura had immediately tripped over the last step.
Carmilla swiftly grabbed Laura and pinned her against the door, holding her upright.
"Careful there, cream puff." Carmilla said in a whisper. Their faces were so close their noses were almost touching. Neither of them moved. Laura could feel the heat of Carmilla's breath on her cheek. For a second, Laura felt the urge to lean forward and kiss her.
Suddenly, Carmilla pulled back and looked away.
"So.. We're here." She muttered and pushed past Laura, opening the door and moving into her apartment. Laura followed dumbly, her heart still racing.
Carmilla lead her quickly into her bedroom. She planted Laura on the edge of the bed and moved over to the dresser, digging through a drawer until she found an old t shirt.
"Sorry I didn't have time to clean," she mumbled as she dug. "Here." She threw the shirt at Laura.
Laura looked down blankly.
"I... Love Doctor Who!!" She exclaimed, a huge smile on her face again.
Carmilla gave her a small, genuine smile.
"I know cutie," she winked at Laura and grabbed the edge of the comforter, patting the bed beneath it with her other hand. "Now, come on. Bedtime for drunk Hollis."
Laura looked down at the shirt again and then complied, too drunk to try to figure out why Carmilla knew what she liked.
"Wait!" She cried as Carmilla turned to leave. "Where are you going?" Laura peered at Carmilla from under the covers.
"Um.. To sleep on the couch?" Carmilla said with a raised eyebrow.
"Nooooo...." Laura whined. "It's your room. Just come sleep with me!" She cried, throwing a hand out from under the blankets, blindly grabbing around for Carmilla's hand.
Carmilla hesitated in the middle of the room, before turning off the light and nervously moving over to the other side of the bed. She chuckled under her breath.
"You are so wasted cream puff," she mumbled, but she pulled back the other side of the covers and crawled into the bed, leaving as much room between her and Laura as possible. Laura smiled and rolled over, wrapping her arm around Carmilla's middle and burrowing into her side.
"Goodnight Carm!" Laura whispered into Carmilla's shoulder. "Thanks for taking care of me. I won't tell anyone you're a big softie." Carmilla could feel her smile against her skin. She relaxed into Laura's arms.
Laura was already starting to drift off when she heard Carmilla whisper a reply:
"Goodnight Laura."
Laura's last thought as she fell asleep was that she liked the way her name sounded in Carmilla's mouth.