Set III
“I figured how this works”, Carmilla stated kind of proudly.
“How this works?”
“Yes cutie. This experiment”, she actually used air quotes, “it makes you go through a roller coaster of emotions with a stranger. It makes you connect faster and stronger”, the brunette explained.
“Well, yeah Carm, that’s the point isn’t it?”
“The thing that worries me is the expiration date”, Carmilla added, making Laura raise her eyebrow questionably. “Hear me out… bonds are formed based on shared good or bad experiences, and that affection we feel for another person is a product of a current high we are feelings, we feel like we are not alone, like we are not only ones with good or bad days, memories. But what happens when reality comes knocking on our doors? When we get to know those people without questions to guide us. Shall we feel the same? Shall we feel deep, undeniable attachment to them? That’s what I want to know.”
“I guess everything that comes after depends on people, how they choose to behave, are they open to try dating, talking, being friends. They should see where that current affection leads them”, the blonde replied, making Carmilla hum in response reaching for the card.
“It’s a last set cupcake, ready?”, she said looking at Laura and waiting for the reaction, blonde just nodded, “Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling ... “
Laura stared at Carmilla while thinking of her answer, noticing things like black nail polish the other girl had or a silver thumb ring on her left hand, “well, WE are both feeling chatty, we are both feeling like sharing personal things, and we are both feeling slightly philosophical”, happy with her answer journalist beamed.
“I didn’t know I could feel so many different things at the same time cutie”, the brunette teased. “Hmmm, we are both feeling pleased with our answers so far, we are both feeling happy because we got to spend some time with the other person”, Carmilla stopped for a moment, giving Laura a moment to deny the statement, but the blonde just nodded, with a huge grin on her face, “and we are both feeling kind of relieved that this went well”, she stopped again, and a smile appeared on her face, “wow cutie looks like I can feel a lot of things”, she joked, making Laura chuckle.
“Okay, next one”, Laura read it out loud, “Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share ... “
“My thoughts I guess, things I read bout, things I love… the usual”, the brunette shrugged, reaching for a cookie.
“I wish I had someone with whom I could share Sundays with”, Laura softly admitted.
“Sundays?”, Carmilla mumbled with a cookie in her mouth.
“Yeah, like chill day, my free time, and my life outside of work. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with things that I write about, with things I read about, all the bad in the world. Most of the time I can’t leave those things at work, they follow me home. So when the Sunday comes I don’t read the news, I enjoy one day of the week that makes me feel peaceful. And I would love to have somebody to share it with me. That carefree version of Laura Hollis”. She didn’t wait for Carmilla’s reaction, since the other girl was just intensely staring at her, not moving, like she is trying to establish if Laura is real or not. “So Carm if you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know.”
That pulled Carmilla out of her thoughts, “look cupcake what you need to know is that I’m not a person before my morning coffee, I don’t easily make friends, and I’m very possessive about my books”, she said without hesitation.
“I could work with that”, the blonde offered a smile, “You need to know that a good cookie could make my day, I talk about my work a lot, and when I’m near the deadline I’m not a person I’m a monster.”
“And I could work with that”, they both chuckled. “Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met”, Carmilla read the question out loud.
“The thing I would never say to a person I just met… hmmm”, she looked Carmilla right in the eyes, “you are exceptionally beautiful Carmilla”, feeling her face burn she kept on talking, “I would never say that to a person I just met, I’m never that forthcoming”.
Carmilla didn’t tease her this time, “I would like to get to know you better Laura, because I like talking to you. I would never say that to a person I just met, I’m never that friendly”, she admitted softly.
Laura already grabbed the next question, playing nervously with a card in her hands, still a little bit flustered with a last subject, “Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life”.
“I want to hear your story cutie”, Carmilla beamed.
“I fell on my ass after my first kiss”, the blonde admitted honestly, making Carmilla laugh so hard she could almost hear her snort. “Stop laughing!”
“I’m not laughing”, the brunette said still trying to catch her breath.
“I see you, you know”, that made Carmilla laugh even harder, she stretched out on the floor trying to take a breath.
“Do tell, I promise I’ll try my best not to laugh”, after a while the brunette said.
“Jerk”, Laura smacked her hand playfully, “well, we were standing in front of the cinema and she just leaned in and kissed me, I wanted to, I don’t know what I wanted but I tripped over my own feet and I fell on my ass”.
Carmilla couldn’t keep the amusement in so she laughed hysterically, “I can already see it, young, innocent Laura”, she laughed, “on her ass”.
“You really are a jerk”, the blonde pouted.
“Sorry, sorry”, Carmilla said when she finally stopped laughing and rolling around the carpet, “but mine is worse you’ll see”.
“How so? Did you fall face first?”
“No, no, not that kind of falling… but I fell asleep during sex.”
“You what? How does somebody fall asleep during sex lady-killer?” Laura tilted her head and waited for the response.
“I was working a night shift and I was finishing my exams it was a very stressful and exhausting time for me, so when my back hit the bed I just dozed off”.
“Was she mad?”
“You bet”, the brunette said.
“God Carm, you are the worst”.
“I know cutie, I know”, she just shrugged and they both smiled at each other.
“When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?”, Laura asked.
“I don’t remember when was the last time I cried in front of anyone… by myself, hmmm, I read a book that got to me, a few weeks ago, cried like a baby, and I was upset for a week or so”, Carmilla said, patting a space on the floor for Laura to lie down next to her, blonde abide.
“Softie, you are just a big softie that wears leather and a lot of heavy makeup. I watched Harry Potter and cried few days ago, and my friend saw me cry when I hit a dead end in a story I was writing, last Wednesday. I was so frustrated and I just snapped and cried” the blonde said from her new point of view.
Carmilla pulled the stack of questions between them and read the next one, “Tell your partner something that you like about them already. Geez cupcake this set seems to think you need a lot of compliments”.
“Me? How about you? I answer those questions as well if you hadn’t noticed”, Laura pointed out.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever creampuff… I like that somehow it doesn’t feel like a struggle talking to you, it’s easy, simple, like we did it every day, I like that I can tell you things that I don’t usually talk about”, Carmilla simply stated.
“I like that as well Carm, well that and your snarky comments entertain me”, the blonde teased. “Next one, what, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?”
“Everything can be a joke cupcake”.
“Even you?”, Laura asked curiously.
“Even me”, Carmilla offered a small smile at this.
“Good to know, I’ll have to make some jokes about you grumpy”.
“Do your worst Laura Hollis”, the brunette challenged with a smirk making the other girl scoff overdramatically.
“If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?”, read Laura, turning her body to the side, so she could be parallel with the brunette.
“I would tell mother that I never hated her. And why haven’t I told her that, well, I don’t think it would make a difference for her.”
“They why would you regret not telling her?” Laura was curious.
“Cause I owe it to myself to admit that after everything she has done she is still somebody who raised me and I’m a noble enough person to not hate her for the awful things she did”, the words flow easily of Carmilla’s mouth like she has already thought about them.
“You are a good person Carmilla”, Laura pointed out, reaching with a hand to squeeze the other girl’s shoulder.
“No, I’m not cutie, but I’m trying my best”.
The blonde nodded, “I would tell my dad that I love him, and why I didn’t tell him that, well, I did, I do all the time, I just would want to do it one more time before I die”.
“That’s sweet”, the brunette said and took Laura’s hand that was still on her shoulder, leaving a gentle kiss on her palm. Neither of them paid attention to the sudden gesture.
“Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?”, Laura was again the one reading the question.
“Easily my telescope”.
“You have a telescope”, the blonde was surprised.
“Yes cutie I have an Orion SkyQuest XT8i IntelliScope, although now when I think about it, I don’t know how would I manage to get it out of my house in such a short time”, Carmilla explained, looking at Laura who had her mouth open and a puzzled look on her face. “You okay there?”, philosophy professor asked.
“Yes!”, Laura said it a bit louder, “I’m fine… you just surprise me again and again… I would probably save my yellow pillow, because I can’t sleep without it”.
“That’s cute cupcake”.
“Oh, shut up”, Laura rolled her eyes.
Carmilla snatched next question and seeing what it said, she slowly sat up, looking seriously at it, “of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?”
“That’s an awful question Carm”, Laura sat up as well.
“It’s not mine cutie, I don’t ask this one until 3rd date”, the brunette smiled trying to lighten up the mood.
Laura was quiet for a while, she picked her nails and played with her fingers. “I would find my dad’s death most disturbing”, her eyes were getting watery, “you see I can’t even think about it without tears”, she sniffed trying to contain her emotions.
Carmilla clumsily sat by her side and hugged her tightly, “shhh hey, hey Laura, hey look at me”, she gently touched the blonde’s cheek, “that won’t happen anytime soon”.
Laura hugged her back and leaned her head on Carmilla’s shoulder, “thanks Carm, I’m sorry”.
“Don’t worry about it cutie”. They sat like that for a while, Laura clutching on Carmilla’s waist while the brunette played with long blonde hair.
“So you didn’t answer”, Laura finally said.
“Mattie, my person would be my sister”, Carmilla didn’t let her emotions get the best of her.
When Laura finally calmed herself down completely she noticed that there was only one card left. “I think we are at the end of this rocky road grumpy”.
“I see cupcake, we survived. Shall we see what the last question holds?” Carmilla reached, taking the card and reading it out loud, “Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.”
Since they were still kind of hugging Laura had to untangle her hands from Carmilla’s body and look at her while answering this one. “Sometimes I feel like my dad was right, like the world is big, bad and evil, there are people that one to take advantage of you, want to use you, hurt you. Sometimes I wonder if I’m up to challenge, sometimes I think that I might need somebody, to be there for me, to protect me, and that makes me wonder if I’m weak. I don’t know how to get away from that feeling”.
“Cupcake needing people doesn’t make you weak. And yeah the world is big, bad, almost evil sometimes, but you made it, you are doing it every day. You are writing, creating, changing lives of others with the things you do. Needing somebody doesn’t make you weak, it makes you human. I bet that your dad is so proud of you, that he loves the fact that you can take care of yourself, but cutie, there’s nothing wrong with letting somebody else take charge for a while”, Carmilla spoke slowly, trying to make Laura believe her words. Laura nodded, a smile showing on her face. “My current problem is, well, it’s kind of a tricky problem, and I bet my life that you can give me the best advice about it. So there’s this cute little journalist that caught my eye”, Carmilla smirked, pointedly looking at the blonde, “And I was wondering should I ask her out, would she find that too direct or would she be okay with it. And since you are giving me advice where should I take her on our first date if she says yes?”
Laura cleared her throat for some reason before speaking “If I know this girl, and I think I do, she would be really happy with your question. So I say go for it. As for the activities on your date, well you should take her someplace casual, where they serve cookies or cupcakes, the place where she can ogle you”, the blonde finished with a wink.
Carmilla smiled and suddenly stood up, reaching for her jacket, when she found her phone, she turned around and faced, still sitting Laura, “cupcake, would you like to go on a date with me?”
Laura just nodded, trying to contain a blush on her cheeks.
“Since you picked a perfect time to stop talking I’m going to assume that was a yes, here you can type your number and I’ll text you with details”, the brunette said as she handed her the phone.
“I’m looking forward to our date Carm, and I hope you won’t take my advice for granted”, Laura joked.
“Don’t worry cutie, I remembered everything you said…”, they were now both standing, looking at each other. “We should call LaF and tell them we are done”.
Before Carmilla could put her jacket on Laura surprised her with a hug, “I had a great time today Carm, thanks”, she put a soft kiss on Carmilla’s cheek and bounced through the door.