Chapter 3
Nicole Haught was wearing her famous dark skinny jeans with a dark green flannel. It was a thursday afternoon, and everyone had left the building. Currently, she was grading papers from a quiz her students took. They never did very well on these tests, so Nicole graded them with mercy. She sat grading papers, while her student Carmilla Karnstein came in for detention. Nicole always got stuck with detention, because she was a new teacher and the other teachers loved to punish her. She was going to have no one in detention, until Ms. Karnstein decided to be late to class. Nicole wondered if it was really the student's fault for being late, but it was policy to give detentions to late students. Nicole sighed as she set her papers down.
“Ms. Karnstein, please take a seat,” Ms. Haught eyed her student as Carmilla sat down in the seat closest to the door. “It’s policy to give detentions to late students, and I understand it may have not been your fault. But certain policies demand me to take action, and punish those who are tardy, you understand?” Nicole tried to reason with the girl. Every single time she saw her student she was silent, gloomy, almost sad.
Carmilla just nodded her head, and continued to pull out her book.
“Actually Ms. Karnstein, I need you to help me with some things for tomorrow’s class,” Nicole quickly came up with an idea. “I would like you to help file some of my student’s classwork, so that we can be more organized in class,” Nicole smiled as she thought about her brilliant plan. Her fiance Waverly loved files, organization, and Nicole’s dimples. So she decided to become more organized in the classroom, for the sake of her true love and her students. And Carmilla could never say no, to dimples like those.
They spent over two hours organizing files, homework, and grading papers for Ms. Haught’s calculus classes. Carmilla learned that Ms. Haught was engaged to a lovely lady named Waverly (Carmilla almost died when she said she was gay), she had a dog named Baker, and a cat named Bagheera. She came from a small town called ‘hell’?... ‘No’ Carmilla thought. ‘Purgatory’. Carmilla learned that Ms. Haught went to Silas University for her masters in mathematics, and her fiance was a journalist. Her life seemed perfect.
Carmilla shared things with her teacher as well. Things about her best friend Laura, and things about her mother the principal. These things were way more personal than teacher/student should have been discussing. But Ms.Haught was respectful, kind, and she listened to Carmilla. Believe it or not, she cared for her student. Obviously Carmilla had been through alot in her eighteen years. Ms. Haught did not pity her though, Carmilla didn’t need pity. She needed someone to listen to her, and it felt nice for Nicole to have someone to talk to. Her co-workers were nice, but they didn’t care enough about her to ask how her day was. Or even share conversation over a coffee break.
Carmilla admired her teacher, but she knew Ms. Haught was happy with her fiance. That was evident in the way her eyes lit up whenever she talked about her.
Ms. Haught appreciated Carmilla, but she knew Carmilla would be way happier if she was dating Laura. It was inappropriate for her to talk about student relationships, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t become a secret matchmaker. Nicole could tell Carmilla cared for Laura in the way her eyes lit up whenever she talked about her.
“She was my best friend, and we fell in love,” Nicole was trying to comfort Carmilla, be more of an advice giver.
“Laura and I will never be on the same page, I’m sure she loves me, but just as a friend,” Carmilla shrugged like it was the easiest thing in the world.
“I know Ms. Hollis, she is a very bright student, and you very bright too. Great minds tend to think alike,” Ms. Haught smiled while Carmilla blushed furiously.
“She has a boyfriend anyway,” Carmilla shrugged it off, and started playing with her nails.
“When I first saw Waverly, she had a boyfriend named Champ. He was a huge tool, excuse my language, and never treated Waverly the way she was supposed to be treated,” Nicole shook her head from the memory. “Although she didn’t need my help to see how bad Champ was, Waverly eventually broke up with him,” Nicole smiled remembering her fiance's break up. “But Carmilla you have to remember, you can’t make them break up, and if Laura is happy, let her be happy,” Nicole sighed. “It sucks, but the only thing you should be concerned with is your best friends happiness, and also your own,” Nicole filtered through some of the files while Carmilla chewed on the thought.
After they were done talking, Carmilla packed up her backpack and headed for the door. Nicole gathered her stuff, and walked down the hallway with her.
“Thank you for helping organize my things, I really appreciate it,” Nicole smiled at Carmilla.
“Sure teach,” Carmilla shrugged and kept her eyes on the door. When they walked outside, Carmilla went to the parked black motorcycle, while Nicole went to her gray minivan.
“Have a good night Ms. Karnstein,” Nicole waved. Carmilla waved back and nodded towards her. They drove off separately, thinking about their true loves on the way home.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Laura was waiting at her locker like usual. Tonight was Friday, so her and Carmilla were going to hang out and watch a movie together. They didn’t spend last Friday night together, so tonight was their night. Kirsch had a football game tonight, but he wanted to hang out with Laura before the game. So Laura told Carmilla to show up a few hours than she would normally. Carmilla, of course, never listened anyway. Carmilla showed up just on time, and Laura smiled as she saw her best friend.
“Hey Carm,” Laura smiled and winked flirtatiously. Carmilla grew nervous and fidgeted with her backpack. Laura closed her locker to walk and they started walking towards Calculus.
“What are we going to be doing tonight?” Carmilla was cautious on how to talk to Laura. She respected her relationship with Kirsch, she didn’t want to take advantage of her best friend. Carmilla knew that Laura could never like her like that though. Still Carmilla could dream.
“Maybe just a movie, and you can sleep over,” Laura smiled as she bumped into Carmilla. Laura was flirting, and Carmilla was avoiding eye contact. She wanted to look anywhere, but at Laura. Which made Laura very sad, so she poked Carmilla. She was super ticklish, but the only person who knew that was Laura. Laura poked her best friend, and she wiggled furiously. They both were backed up against the wall, and Carmilla was laughing and crying.
“Stop, wait stop, noooo” Carmilla couldn’t contain her laughter anymore. Laura smiled, and stop tickling her. Instead she wrapped her arms around Carmilla and hugged her. Carmilla immediately wrapped her arms around the smaller girl. And they hugged for a very long time, until the bell rang.
“Oh shoot Carm!” Laura pulled her into the calculus room. Luckily Ms. Haught wasn’t in the room yet, so they took their seats in the back row.
~~~~
Laura set up her living room for their movie night, she placed blankets on the floor, pillows around the couch, and she put snacks on the table. She loved movie nights with Carmilla, it was different from when she was with Kirsch. Carmilla listened to Laura, watched the movie, and tried to be considerate of things Laura was passionate about. Carmilla was sweet, nice, and perfect for Laura. But there was Kirsch, and he was safe. She kept telling herself that.
Carmilla was unpredictable, adorable, sexy, and new. Why couldn’t she choose? Laura was a coward, who hid from her feelings. She felt awful when she played Carmilla. A knock was heard from her front door. She totally forgot about Kirsch!
“Hey babe,” Kirsch was talking through the door. “Can you let me in?” Laura quickly ran to the door.
“Hey Kirsch,” Laura bit her lip and let him in. He walked past her and flopped on her couch. Immediately he started eating the snacks on the table, and he turned on the t.v.
“Aren’t you going to the game soon?” Laura crossed her arms, she didn’t want to deal with this right now. Kirsch shrugged, and pulled Laura onto him.
“Maybe I just want to spend some time with you,” Kirsch smiled and tried to kiss her. Laura let him, but pulled away.
“Tonight I’m going to watch a movie with Carmilla,” Laura stood up and sighed. “You have to go, or else Carmilla won’t stay,” Laura urged Kirsch to get up.
“You’re going to pick her over me?” Kirsch looked hurt. “You always pick her over me Laura,” Kirsch stood up and shook his head.
“Kirsch, I spend every week night with you,” Laura rubbed her forehead to relieve her stress. “Carmilla and I always spend Friday nights together,” Kirsch shook his head.
“You didn’t spend last Friday together,” Kirsch shrugged. “Maybe you can ditch her for your boyfriend,” Kirsch stepped towards Laura, and leaned down to kiss her. Their lips touched, but Laura put a hand on his chest to stop him.
“It’s Carmilla’s turn tonight,” Laura sighed. “I’ll text you later,” Laura pulled him to the front door.
“You’re always doing this Laura, you keep ditching me for a fucking lesbian!” Kirsch’s voice rose, and he got angrier at Laura.
“Why does that matter?” Laura stopped and looked at Kirsch. “There’s nothing wrong with Carmilla, she’s my best friend and I love her more than you,” Laura crossed her arms. “I think we need to take a break, you need to leave,” Laura pushed Kirsch out.
“Wait Laura, I know she’s your best friend, I’m sorry” Kirsch tried to get words out. He couldn’t lose Laura, because she was the hottest girl in the school. “I’m sorry ba---” The door was slammed in his face. He pounded on the door, and huffed with anger. When Kirsch walked off to his car, Carmilla pulled up into Laura’s driveway. Kirsch glared at Carmilla, while she got off of her motorcycle. Kirsch got into his car and slammed the door, then drove off.
Carmilla walked up to Laura’s door, and before she even knocked the door opened. A pair of arms were thrown around her and hugged her. Carmilla staggered backwards, and held onto the smaller body.
“Carm, I think Kirsch and I broke up,” Laura cried into Carmilla’s neck. She rolled her eyes, and held the crying girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Carmilla was surprised to say the least. She didn’t think Laura would ever dump someone, so it surprised and scared Carmilla. Laura had continued to cry for a good two hours onto Carmilla’s neck, which meant they were both laying on the couch intertwined together. Carmilla would try to sit up, but Laura was heavy on her chest. When the crying stopped, she could feel Laura’s breathing becoming more even. Laura had just cried herself asleep on Carmilla’s chest. And Carmilla really needed to go to the bathroom. It was past midnight, and her best friend spent their movie night crying over Kirsch.
Carmilla wasn’t even mad though. She was just confused, she had no clue what had happened between the couple. Obviously it wasn’t good, because Laura just cried and cried. All of this breakup seemed very sudden, and Carmilla knew Laura must have had a good reason for dumping Kirsch.
Well… she thinks Laura dumped him. Because if that bastard dumped her laura, he would be holding his crotch for days. No one ever hurt Laura without Carmilla being there to end their lives.
Movie night was a complete waste, but Laura was so warm. Her body fit nicely along Carmilla’s, and everything felt right. It was a bit weird Carmilla memorizing the outline of Laura’s body against her own. The whole room was spinning, but Carmilla felt trapped. Was she going into panic mode? Over Laura’s body??? The pressure increased as Carmilla’s breathing became short and heavy. Laura could feel the tense motion of Carmilla’s chest, and she lifted her head.
“Carm…” Laura’s eyes were half shut. “What’s going on? Why is your heartbeat going so fast?”
“I...uh...don’t know cupcake,” Carmilla couldn’t breathe, she needed to sit up. Laura quickly sat up, and Carmilla also shot up like a rocket. She bolted from the couch and headed to the kitchen, she leaned over the counter. She chugged a few glasses of water down to cool herself, while Laura watched from the couch.
“What happened? Did you panic again?” Laura asked quietly. Carmilla knew she didn’t have a panic attack, she couldn’t breathe because she realized how much she loved Laura.
“No cupcake, I was just dizzy,” Carmilla shrugged it off. “Maybe we should call it a night or something,” Carmilla started walking towards Laura’s room.
“Carm… are we okay?” Laura’s words were almost a whisper. Carmilla looked back at the small girl. Laura was hugging herself, her knees to her chest. Carmilla wished she could pick her up and carry her to the room. But she had a responsibility to be honest with her friend.
“Laura,” Carmilla walked over to the couch and kneeled in front of her. “Of course we’re okay, I’m okay, you’re okay,” Carmilla leaned over to hug Laura. They wrapped their arms around each other, and Laura snuck her legs around Carmilla’s back.
“Can you carry me?” Laura whined, but Carmilla thought it was absolutely adorable. She picked her up, and together they went into Laura’s room. But neither of them fell asleep that night.