Your Friendly Neighbourhood Natash—I mean Carmilla
Carmilla cautiously drove her black Toyota Corolla in-between two extremely expensive looking cars. She only did this job to speed up the process of paying off the people on her extensive list of “debts” and she sure as hell didn’t need a ding in some rich asshole’s car quadrupling that number.
Carmilla looked at her phone on the holder that was connected to her front window. The person who had requested the Uber didn’t have a picture but their name was Theodore.
“Who names their kid Theodore?” Carmilla scoffed.
Suddenly three individuals began to approach her car. It was too dark outside to see their faces, but she could see the cans of beer in their hands.
Great.
The passenger door opened and the car lit up, allowing Carmilla to see the faces of the people entering her car.
The one up front had a faded red and gray beanie covering his hair and follicles that looked like they belonged to that Harry Potter character. He looked to be of Chinese decent, his features differing completely from the Eurocentric features the ones in the back possessed. The friends in the back were equally as frowzy as the one up front. They looked like a handful of college kids ready to go fuck some shit up.
Well, it was only eleven. Plenty of time to do damage.
“Whoa, dude…she’s a girl!” The blonde boy in the back loudly exclaimed.
She glared at him through the front mirror and he immediately sunk into the seat.
“What, never seen a girl drive a car or something?” Carmilla rolled her eyes.
“No it’s not that…It’s just—Uber’s are usually men.” The blonde stammered.
“Oh yeah, says who?” She turned to him slowly, raising an eyebrow.
“Ignore Trevor, he doesn’t mean any trouble. He’s just a little—faded.” Harry Potter intervened, a slight accent presenting itself.
Carmilla rolled her eyes and turned back towards the wheel.
“Whatever. Where am I heading?” Her voice remained smooth, despite the fact that she was irritated.
The raven haired girl had been driving people all around Los Angeles since eight o’clock and was probably going to continue until sometime around two in the morning. Although it was tedious and she absolutely hated speaking to people and having to deal with the usual lot of drunk college students, it was extra cash and she needed anything she could get.
“Downtown. I plugged the address into the app.” Potter replied pulling his phone out of his pocket.
She checked her phone and for a second, no route pulled up. After a minute, the route presented itself.
Carmilla said nothing as she pulled out just as cautiously as she had entered, checking for cars before speeding off.
The ride was quiet for the most part, the scent of marijuana stinking up her car.
Carm usually had the AC blasting but tonight she had all four of the windows down in an attempt to drown out the smell.
“So… what made you want to be an Uber driver?” Trevor spoke slowly from the backseat.
Out of all the imbecilic questions… to make cash you fucking moron.
“I don’t want to be an Uber driver.” Is what escaped Carmilla’s lips instead of what she really wanted to say.
“O—Ok—but why are you an Uber driver?” The one behind Carmilla who she couldn’t see added.
“Why are any of these halfwits behind a wheel Uber drivers? To make some extra cash.” She responded dryly as she switched lanes.
“Let me guess, paying off student loans?” Potter cut in.
Carmilla flashed a quick look at him before returning it to the road, “And then some.”
“That’s going to be us pretty soon. Theo keeps bringing that up.” The boy behind the passenger seat with the snapback on sighed.
“Better enjoy college while you can.” Carmilla sardonically chimed.
“That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re going to some rager at a nightclub downtown. We’ve never been before, but it’s supposed to be one of the biggest events this month.” Trevor responded happily.
“You party much when you were in college?” Theo…Potter…wondered out loud.
Carmilla hated when customers asked her about her life, but it was a necessary evil she couldn’t really do much about.
“Occasionally. After the first quarter I got a little tired of the traditional party scene.” She made a face just thinking about them.
“Where’d you go?” Snapback pried.
“AMDA.” She wasn’t really fond of telling people where she went to college just because she knew she was sure to get judged. A performing arts college wasn’t necessarily seen as the most respectable or highly-esteemed. As if there actually was a problem with them. I still got my goddamn degree! Carmilla would occasionally think to herself. But even with a degree in this lifetime, I’m a lot more broke than I used to be...
“Sweet, that’s where my girlfriend goes.” Potter shared.
Carm didn’t say anything and the car faded off into silence.
Just five more miles.
“You from LA?” blondey continued to ask questions and Carmilla was getting irritated.
Carmilla got off at the first exit and they came to a stop behind a few cars that were waiting for the light.
“Austria.”
“Whoa, you’re a long way from home.” The boy behind her mused. “Where in Austria?”
“Is this interrogate your driver day or what?” Carmilla spat, her eyes not leaving the car in front of her.
The car was silent again. Carm sighed.
“If you must know, I’m from Styria. My mother thought it best we gain dual-citizenship for the US & the UK. Since then I've done a lot of...traveling...” Carm kept her voice low so it was rattling in her throat. "Are your curiosities satisfied?"
She wanted them to sense her anger.
Maybe I should mention that I’m also a blood sucking vampire. That’ll shut them up. Carmilla grinned at the thought but kept her mouth shut.
The remaining four miles were silent aside from side conversations they were having with each other that Carmilla didn’t mind.
Once they turned onto the street of the club, the only thing the occupants of the car could hear was the loud hip-hop music flooding the streets. Carm could have sworn the music was so loud it was shaking the vehicle.
They made a smooth stop directly in front of the club and the four boys began to hop out.
“Thank you, Carmilla.” Potter smiled at her before stepping out of the car.
“Have a good night. Good luck with your loans!” Trevor laughed as he struggled to get out.
“Thanks.” Carmilla softly replied and the doors of her car shut.
She eyed the club for a minute. There was a line that stretched around the block and four beefy security guards dressed in black, one of which was eyeing her.
It didn’t look like anything special, and it sure as hell didn’t look like her type of party.
Carmilla ignored the sudden honk of a horn behind her as she clicked through her phone, giving the Theo boy a four rating and accepting her payment of twenty-five dollars before searching for another customer.
A few people popped up close by and Carmilla clicked on the closest one and sighed.
It was going to be a long night.