Chapter 8
“Jenny, you’re off when Booker comes in. About ten minutes. Finn, stay on prep until close tonight, alright? We’ll move you around next shift.” Perry pushed through the swinging door to the front counter where Enzo was ringing people out and Hailey was cleaning up the front room. The holiday rush had slowed but they were still doing very good business, so much so, that their employee shortage problem had been easily remedied. All of the hires were young, college kids. None of them were Silas students, the city too far for a commute. Perry missed the spirit of the Silas community but these were great people. Jenny had been working there the longest and Perry had given her a small promotion. She trained the new hires so Perry could spend more time on the business side of the shop.
They had also developed regulars most of whom came in, when the shop opened, for breakfast pastries. Large orders had also spiked and they were getting requests to cater parties. Perry had had to turn those down with the promise that they would be expanding into catering in the future so to keep them in mind. It was not plausible at the moment to expend so much energy on that front when they did not have enough manpower to work at such a large scale.
“Lola?” Enzo was the only one who called her by her first name. She had told him many times that Perry was fine but he seemed to have trouble being on that level of closeness with his boss. She acceded to his begging to stick with Lola but made sure no one else developed the habit. “That registers broken.”
He nodded to his left as he typed in the order of the man on the opposite side of the counter. Perry sighed and went over to it; trying the little tricks she knew to get it back up and running but to no avail. She had to call the register company and it would cost them a maintenance fee; it had to be done so she dialed the number. The call went through the usual automatic questions and she pressed the buttons in sequence until a woman answered the phone. “Hello, how may we help you?”
“Hi, can I speak with Chris? I need to schedule a maintenance appointment for “The Cookie Jar.”
“One moment while I direct your call.” Perry never understood how after all the robot questions, she was never directly sent to whomever she needed to talk to. “Perry! Long time no talk.”
He was making a joke at the fact that he had just been out to the shop a few weeks before to do a scheduled update. “Hi, Chris. Register one’s down. We can’t do anything with it.”
“Did you try everything I told you?” She had asked Chris for troubleshooting just so she did not call him out if not necessary. “Yes, nothing worked. The screens entirely blank.”
“Okay, we’re pretty swamped. I think something happened with our servers that’s causing a bunch of chaos with the machines. I’ll try to get there by the end of the week, alright?”
“It’d be a lot better if you could get here tomorrow.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but its not looking good. Schedules pretty full right now and I would rather be the guy to come to your store.”
“If you have to send someone else though, please do. We can’t go through a Friday with only one register open.”
There was silence on the other end and then a few clicks of computer keys, “I moved you up the list. Sssh. Don’t tell anyone.”
Perry could hear him smile, “Thanks, Chris. It means a lot.”
“I’ll be around tomorrow afternoon.”
“You’re a lifesaver.” Perry ended the call and rearranged the pastries behind the glass when the bell above the door rang out, signaling someone had entered. Perry straightened out to say hello. “Hello, Carmilla, I wasn’t expecting you today.”
The girl was solemn, walking slowly to the counter, “Are you ever expecting me? Lafontaine here?”
“Still at work. You’re welcome to wait.”
Carmilla looked around and grimaced, “This place is a little too lace infested for my liking.”
Perry huffed, “There’s no need to be rude. You can wait in the apartment.”
Carmilla gave her a sarcastic, two fingered salute and sauntered through the back door. What Carmilla needed Lafontaine for was a mystery to Perry but she had more important things to worry about. “Are you doing okay out here, Enzo?”
“Yeah, we’ve slowed a bit in the last half hour. It feels like it might stay that way.”
“I wouldn’t sound so hopeful.” Perry patted his back and went back into the kitchen.
“Finn, that’s too much!” Jenny ran over and grabbed the bag of flour out of Finn’s hands, “You have to follow the recipe otherwise you’re just wasting it.”
The bag was set down on the wooden table with such force that a puff of flour blew from the top of the bag. “I’m sorry.”
Jenny wiped her forehead, “Don’t be sorry just do it right.”
Finn was fairly new but he was not new to prep and Perry was concerned that maybe he was not doing his job as well as she thought he was. “Are you doing alright, Finn?”
“If by alright you mean making cookies that will just crumble as you touch them -”
“Jenny,” Perry chastised. Jenny said nothing and went back to slapping balls of dough on a tray.
“Just a rough day. I didn’t mean to mess it up.” Perry went to stand next to him and look in the bowl.
“How much did you add?”
“I don’t know, a cup extra probably.” Perry picked up a few different ingredients and added them to the mix, “That should even it out. We’ll just have more than intended. Just be careful next time.”
“Sorry, Perry.”
“Don’t bring life into work, alright? But if you need to talk, come see me after your shift.”
He nodded and Perry was sure he would not find her to talk about whatever it was that was bothering him. Booker walked in right after, relieving Jenny who shot Finn an annoyed look that only Perry saw. “You’re on baking duty, Booker.”
“You got it, boss.”
The stair at the stop of the staircase creaked, “Did I hear a Booker enter the building?”
Carmilla’s head peaked around the railing and Booker bowed, “Countess.”
Carmilla looked at Perry, “Look at this, kid. What a kiss-ass.”
Booker laughed and straightened up. Perry had been surprised by the camaraderie that had built up between Carmilla and Booker. It had come out of nowhere, especially since Carmilla was not often at the bakery and Carmilla wasn’t one to make easy friends. Carmilla made her way down the rest of the stairs. “How’s your girl?”
“Which one?” Booker smiled.
“You’re gonna get yourself in trouble.”
“Felicity is A+ and Anna is no longer in the picture.”
Perry was learning a lot about Booker that she had not known and did not particularly want to know.
“But, how’s your girl?” Booker asked in return, pulling a pan out of the oven as the timer went off.
“Darling as always.” Carmilla was leaning against the table, her hair dangling over the wood.
Perry bustled over and moved her, “That’s unsanitary and if you don’t mind, stop distracting my workforce.”
Carmilla rolled her eyes, “Talk to you later, Booker.”
“Bye, hot stuff.”
“Want me to kick your ass?” Carmilla threatened.
“I would be honored.” Booker set the tray on the cooling rack as Carmilla hopped back up the stairs and Perry heard the door shut to the apartment. “Finish up what Finn’s started on. That’s all we’re gonna make tonight. Finn, dishes when you finish?”
“Sure thing.”
Perry had secluded herself in her office for the past couple hours but no one had come to her with problems so she was secure in the knowledge that everything was going smoothly. The front cameras showed a lack of customers as Enzo had predicted. Lafontaine was later than usual and their visitor had not shown her face since Booker had arrived. Perry could imagine at least one bottle of liquor would be greatly diminished when she went upstairs later.
Perry ducked her head outside her office to where Finn and Booker were messing around, kicking around a cup like a soccer ball. “Hey, Finn?”
He looked up, afraid to be caught in the act but if Perry had cared, she would have said something much earlier. “Since we’re slow you can head out now.”
He grasped Booker’s hand to shake and removed his apron, “See you on Thursday then.”
He went out the back to where Perry let him park his car. Lafontaine appeared in the doorway opposite. “What’s going on Booker?”
“You’re wifey took away my only friend.”
Lafontaine looked at Perry, confused. “I just sent Finn home. He’ll live.”
She received a cheek kiss from Lafontaine and there was an “awwww” because he apparently “couldn’t help it.” “Oh, Lafontaine, Carmilla’s waiting for you upstairs.”
“What for?”
“She didn’t say. She’s been here for hours though so please pry whatever bottle from her hand please.”
“We should start a tab for her,” Lafontaine joked. Carmilla wasn’t always drunk but it seemed whenever she came over to the bakery, she assumed Lafontaine and Perry’s alcohol was free. And it was. For friends. To a point.
Lafontaine climbed the stairs and it wasn’t twenty minutes later that Carmilla came into the office to say goodbye. “Are you okay getting home?”
“I was gonna catch the train but I’m sure the last one has already left. I’ll grab a bus.”
Carmilla seemed stable enough to find her own way home. “Well, call us if something changes. You can stay the night if you need to.”
“Laura.” That was explanation enough when it came to Carmilla so Perry waved goodbye and once she was out the front door, Perry instructed Hailey to lock up. It took about another half hour for cleanup, which would have been worse if they had been busy up until close.
“What did Carmilla want?” Perry questioned Lafontaine once she retired to the apartment. Lafontaine was sitting in their striped pajamas on the couch, reading through a science magazine that they had a subscription to. They looked up and set the magazine aside. “She needed help with understanding something about pesticides for a client. I told her I wasn’t a chemist but she said it could be basic stuff so I helped with what I could.”
“What client? I didn’t know Carmilla had a job?”
Lafontaine shrugged, “She didn’t specify but its Carmilla, she might, she might not. Who knows?”
Perry went over to them and leaned down, kissing their forehead, “I’m going to bed. Are you staying up?”
Perry knew they had work in the morning and was hoping they would sleep; they definitely needed it. “At least a little bit longer. I want to finish this article.”
Lafontaine set their hand on top of Perry’s, which was on their shoulder, squeezed and let go. “If you aren’t in bed by midnight, I’m coming to get you.”
“I would expect nothing less.”
****************************************************************************************************************************************
Danny sat in her tiny cubicle surrounded by all the other readers, some unpaid interns, flipping through the stack of pages on the desk next to her. She rubbed at her eyes, tired from reading for the last three hours. Despite the fact that she was in charge of the young adult fiction submissions, it was not much of an exciting job. Mostly because many of the submissions were unedited trial runs by people who would never be authors because of their atrocious grammar skills and inability to construct proper sentences. Almost every single book was some supernatural love story that people were trying to make money off of until that trend died out. It was monotonous work.
“Lawrence.” She swiveled her chair around to see her boss standing there, a rare smile on her face. “Come with me.”
Danny stood up immediately; this was the most exciting thing that had happened the entire week. Her boss talked as they walked, “You know that manuscript you sent up a few weeks back.”
It was hard to remember. Danny had sent a few up, never hearing anything from them. Her job was to figure out if there was even the slightest bit of potential and then send it on to be read by another who would deal with intricacies other than general concept and ability to understand the writing. She replied honestly, “Possibly.”
“It was written by that really young teenage kid. You attached a sticky note and wrote in all caps ‘MUST READ.’”
“Yeah, sorry, they all mush together sometimes. I just figured nothing had happened with it since -”
“No, they love it,” she pushed the button on the wall, opening the elevator, “And by they, I mean they sent it up to Mary Rubinchik who sent down for the person who originally read the manuscript. She wants to meet ‘the delight that sent it to her office’ is what she said.”
The doors shut enclosing only the two of them in the box and her boss leant over, “You’re looking at a possible promotion here, Lawrence. Look a bit happy.”
Danny hadn’t realized her weariness was visible on her face, “Sorry, this just came out of nowhere and I was falling asleep trying to get through today’s stack.”
“You probably shouldn’t tell your boss that but I’ll let it slide. Don’t let anyone else hear you say that.” Rebecca was a really nice woman. She was serious about the job but not incapable of holding a normal conversation and easily joking with her staff. It kept up morale.
The elevator smoothly slid up floor after floor until they arrived on ten. Danny was located on the third level of the building, she wasn’t sure what each other level held; there had never been a need for her anywhere else in the building. Rebecca was on the floor above them but Danny had never been called to her office. The doors opened and Rebecca beckoned her to follow out to the right and down a hallway. It seemed that everyone was typing and talking on the phone at the same time and the sound of clicking keys and mixing conversations distracted Danny until Rebecca had to call out to her, “Lawrence, this way.”
They took a sharp right at the end of the hall and Rebecca knocked before opening wooden double doors with inlaid glass. The office was large but it was only the reception desk and a few chairs. Mrs. Rubinchik’s assistant stood up when they entered and gestured to her right, “You can go in. They’re waiting for you.”
Rebecca knocked again at the office doors. “Come in.”
She held the door open for Danny who walked in feeling uncomfortable in new environment but Rebecca followed in right after her. She had an ally on her side. Not that they were going to fire her, it seemed to be the opposite. It was nice to know someone when all of a sudden you’re put in front of the bigwigs and have to hold your own.
“Ms. Lawrence?,” Mrs. Rubinchik held up the manuscript with Danny’s bright pink sticky note still intact, “This is your doing.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Danny answered, respectfully.
“Well, then I want to applaud you. I also want to introduce you to a few people. This,” she pointed to a man standing directly next to her desk, “is Philip Shore. He is the man whom the manuscript reached after it left your hands and helped push it along the right tracks.”
Danny leant forward to shake his hand. Mary next pointed to a woman seated, “This is Catherine Hills. She has been brought on this project as editor. Next up is Sophia Wilemsen. She is the publicist assigned to the team. And finally,” another man stood off to the side of the room, “Michael Westworth. He is director of marketing.”
Danny shook everyone’s hand as their names were rattled off, still not understanding what she was needed for. Mrs. Rubinchik apparently could read minds, “I’m guessing you are wondering why you are here.”
“Slightly, yes,” Danny admitted.
“Because this book has moved up the ranks so quickly and we all believe there is going to be huge success down the line, I have decided that the person who founded this lovely piece of writing, should be more involved. It was your doing so why shouldn’t you have a hand in its creation.”
Danny was awestruck and could hardly form word, “Wow, I am so grateful. I can’t – just thank you. Thank you.”<
“Its my pleasure. Catherine here needs an assistant editor. That’s officially your new title. And if this turns out as well as it could, who knows where you will land after its over.”
Danny rushed forward to reach across the desk and shake Mary’s hands with both of her own, “Mrs. Rubinchik, thank you again. This is so wonderful. I am so excited to get this book published and out to an audience.”
Mrs. Rubinchik chuckled, “Well, you start right away. Catherine will catch you up on everything you need to know,” she looked over at Catherine, “I believe you have a meeting to get to.”
“Right you are,” Catherine stood up, “Come on Ms. Lawrence. Its time to meet the rest of my team.”
Rebecca squeezed Danny’s arm and gave her a smile as she was steered from the room, “Good luck.”
The editing team was filled with absolutely wonderful people who welcomed Danny warmly. It could have been because she was technically in charge of them all but it seemed sincere enough. After the team meeting, Catherine pulled Danny into her office and showed her the ropes. By the time it was time for her to head out for the day, Danny was pretty much in charge of everything on Catherine’s to-do list. Catherine would be there to check off on her work but other than that, Danny was in charge.
She waited until she completely exited the building and was waiting on the street for the building’s valet to bring around her car, to pull out her phone and call Kirsch who should have been home. She hated interrupting him at practice and she knew it was annoying for him to. But when he picked up and said, ‘Hey D-Bear,’ she knew he could talk. “Kirsch, you won’t guess what happened today.
****************************************************************************************************************************************
“I can pick it up after work tomorrow,” Carmilla froze as soon as the words left her mouth, her gaze stuck on the counter. Her eyes widened at the mistake, knowing that she had just let her secret slip. She refused to look at Laura, instead staring at the counter, one arm extended to put a glass in the sink.
“Why would you drive all the way to Styria tomorrow even if you didn’t have a shift at The Nook?” Carmilla breathed. She hadn’t entirely blown her cover. Laura still wasn’t aware that she was no longer a student at Silas. Graduation was getting closer and closer and she couldn’t think of a way to tell Laura, now that she had kept it from her. Laura would see it as a lie and Carmilla couldn’t defend that it wasn’t after she worked so hard to build up the false story; a lie is exactly what it was. “Wait…you don’t have a shift tomorrow. Its Thursday.”
Shit. She wasn’t getting off that easy. Carmilla was about to dig herself a deeper hole, “Yeah, you’re right. I forgot.”
“No, you didn’t,” Laura found something extremely funny, “You never forget your days off. You hate dealing with people, Carm. Why are you gonna be in Styria tomorrow? And for work? I don’t think Claire sends her employees out on expeditions. I did work there, you know.”
“It was just a slip, Laura.” Carmilla responded, keeping it short and sweet. She turned on the water to rinse and wash her glass. Laura rounded the counter and turned off the water.
Carmilla shot her a look, “How am I supposed to wash it now?”
“Oh, no you don’t. You called me by name and since when have you washed a dish in your life? What aren’t you saying?”
Carmilla looked at her through her eyelashes. There were no new stories to make up. She placed the glass in the sink and steadied herself with her hands pressing into the counter. “I’ve already graduated, Laura. I’ve been working at a law firm in Styria, translating for them.”
It was better to rip off the bandaid but her fingers tensed against he countertop, waiting to hear Laura’s response. There was a chance that Laura would brush it off but that was the last possibility. She could explode which Carmilla was not expecting either. Or she would feel disappointed or upset that Carmilla had been waiting for her to finish school. I’d rather she yell. Carmilla was used to that; she hated quiet disappointment.
“Why the charade?” Laura directed, getting straight to the point.
“I know what you would have said. You would have pushed me to go do things. You would’ve felt that you were holding me back."
“Yeah, that’s exactly what’s happened though. Carm, you want to travel. You want to get out of Silas for so many good reasons. I can’t be the one making you stay here. You need to be living your life, not waiting around for me. I’d never want that for you.” Everything out of Laura’s mouth had been expected. Carmilla already knew her answer, she had been preparing for months.
“I never told you. My decision was not your doing; you didn’t even know. If I had wanted to leave, you’re right, I could have. But listen, I promised not to leave again. Do you think I really would’ve been happy moving away from you? Was I really in much of a state at the end of last year to do so? No. And I wasn’t about to leave before that, when we had just gotten together. There was no good time to go if I had wanted to, Laura,” Carmilla took her hands, “The only way I want to travel is if you come with me. And I wasn’t missing your graduation. I wasn’t go to miss falling asleep with you every night. Non, jamais.”
“So, I did affect your decision,” Laura said it quietly but it irritated Carmilla.
“It doesn’t matter! It was my decision!”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
Carmilla’s shoulders dropped, “Are you gonna make me repeat everything I just said. I didn’t want you to blame yourself, which you seem to be doing anyway.”
Laura started at her and then crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Carmilla rolled her eyes, which did not make Laura happy. “Hey! I’m mad at you. You’re keeping secrets again.”
“Oh? Am I not allowed to keep secrets if they’re for your own good?”
“No. Secrets.” Laura almost growled at her.
“Fine.” Carmilla was short. Laura glowered at her, ‘Say it.”
“No. Secrets,” Carmilla mocked, “Are you happy now?”
“I can’t believe you learned a fake schedule to trick me?”
Laura scoffed.
“Are you mad at me or not?” Carmilla inquired, frustrated. She couldn’t gather from Laura’s mood what she was feeling. Laura glanced out the kitchen window, just to stop looking at Carmilla in the eyes. Her eyes flickered back and forth between Carmilla and the treetop outside the apartment window. She sighed, “No. Yes. I don’t know.”
“Just pick one or just don’t be,” Carmilla suggested, “Life would be easier.”
“Life would be easier if you hadn’t lied about it.”
“Really? Okay? If that’s how you want this to go. I don’t just lie to you, Laura. Just so you know.”
Carmilla shook her head and walked away. She had a right to be annoyed about it. She wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t lie to Laura; this had been an extraneous situation and she was only trying to do what she thought was best. Even if she had told Laura from the start, nothing she would have done since would’ve changed. Carmilla would have stayed, she would have found a job, they would be in the exact same spot they were in now – minus the argument. There was no need to drag it out. “I’m sorry, alright?”
She threw the statement over her shoulder but heard Laura let out a puff of air, “Oh my god, thank you. Was that so hard?”
Carmilla stopped in her tracks, “Is that seriously what you were waiting for?”
“Uh yeah,” she said as if were obvious, “You lied. I get an apology.”
Carmilla was hesitant, “So, you’re not mad at me?”
“Aggravated. Annoyed. Not mad. You’re so ridiculous sometimes. What about this did you think, ‘I can’t tell Laura. She’ll freak out.’ You should be able to talk to me.”
“You and Will are like the same person.” Will had only been telling Carmilla to tell Laura about her early graduation from the beginning and his logic was that it was Laura, there was no need to hide anything.
“What?” Laura asked, striding over to her, “Logical?”
Laura wrapped her arms around Carmilla’s waist. Carmilla made a face, not having a comeback.
“That’s what I thought,” Laura reached up on her toes to kiss Carmilla who was making it difficult, not wanting to give in so easily. But, it was Laura and Laura was kissing her and she had no willpower against that force. But then there was fresh air and Laura’s lips were gone and Carmilla had to quickly drag herself out of a haze. “Wait, are you kidding me? So we could have made that unreasonably boring commute together and you let me complain about the boredom to you every day and said nothing.”
Carmilla’s lips pulled up in a mock smile that was not believable at all. Laura narrowed her eyes and stomped off into her room, “I can’t believe you.”
Carmilla let out a sigh when she was gone, happy to have avoided the utter destruction that she had created in her mind. Laura wasn’t really mad, she was pretty much off the hook, and now she could speak freely about her life with the woman she loved. She chuckled to herself. God, I do make things hard for no reason.
Carmilla opened the front door, hoping Will was home so she could apologize for missing Christmas and make everything go back to normal between them. He had never answered her calls, called her back, or even sent a text; she knew he was mad but she wanted the chance to apologize. He knew the why but sincerity was key. There were voices in the other room and her body automatically tensed up at the thought of her mother. Her instincts were to run, to flee from the house before anyone knew she was there but she fought against them. She needed to come face to face with her fears; Will had told her enough when he sent her off to get Laura back.
As she got closer, the voices seemed at ease which was not a word that ever characterized a conversation with her mother so her shoulders relaxed though she was still overly alert to the possibly Lilita was present. It wasn’t her mother. It was Will. And it was also Mattie. Sitting together. Laughing. Carmilla lost control of any ability to keep her true feelings inside and her hands flung out in front of her, “What the fuck is this?”
Will jumped from the floor, a hand over his heart; she had startled him, neither had heard her come in. Carmilla’s hand was gesturing between them, lost for words. How could he ever be sidled up next to Mattie? How could he be acting like they were the best of friends? It was disgusting after everything she had ignored and how they had been treated, for him to act like she is anything but an enemy. Once his breathing slowed his heart, he held a hand out for her; she instantly flinched away, feeling betrayed by her own brother, the one person she thought would always be on her side. He had gone and done the second worst thing to joining their mother and allowed Mattie into his life. “Carmilla, listen.”
“What could you possibly say that would explain this?” she spat.
“Millie, just listen to what she has to -” Will said softly, pointing at Mattie.
“I have no interest in what she has to say. I want to know what you have to say,” Carmilla was wild-eyed. Her mind could not process the situation fast enough for it to make sense to her and her words were threatening to come out all mixed up.
“She was here for Christmas,” Will responded and she knew it was just ti agitate her but she let it work her up into a rage. “Fick dich! You’re the one who told me to go. Das ist bescheuert.”
“I thought you’d be back!”
“I left on Christmas Eve, Will, how in the world would I have been back!?” They escalated to yelling at each other across the living room. Mattie was not interfering which was good because Carmilla was not sure she would leave uninjured if she had.
“Well, its what I thought.”
“Estás tan lleno de mierda.” It had always been the case when she became this angry, though usually she chose not to vocalize the anger so the occurrences were sparse, for her to lose track of which language she was speaking.
“I’m full of shit?” Will repeated, pointing at himself, “You’ve been in a downward spiral for months and think that nothing has changed once you decide to grace the world with your presence once again? Is that how this works? Because that’s shit. You can’t expect everyone to be the same as they were, unaffected by whatever you’ve done to them when you’ve been off in whatever world doing everything you possibly can to destroy yourself.”
“That’s not fair,” Carmilla lost all of her fury when her brother finally spoke his truth that she had known existed and that he was just too caring to tell her before. It hurt to hear from him especially.
“You weren’t here and she was and she asked me to listen to what she had to say and I did. It’s not like she’s replacing you, Millie. She knows that and I would never let that happen.”
Carmilla asked herself if that had really been what was bothering her but she was not certain that was the most important thing to her. “How can you forgive her?”
“She was a kid just like us…maybe you should hear her explain.”
Carmilla glanced toward Mattie and felt bile in her mouth just at the sight. Maybe Will had been too young to remember Mattie watching as Carmilla’s shoulder had been dislocated by her mother pulling her up the stairs. Maybe he had forgotten that she had stood by as Carmilla cleaned up Will’s gashed knee when his mother pushed him out the front door, threatening to kick him out of the house for good when he was only eight. Maybe he had forgotten that when she had moved away, she had not gone for help but joined forces with the tyrant. “I can’t believe you have anything to say that will change my mind.”
“Maybe not, but I want to try.” Carmilla noticed that Mattie was not dressed in her usual elegantly tight dresses and heels but instead, in fitted black jeans and a cashmere cream sweater. In the outfit she seemed farther removed from their mother than she had ever been before but Carmilla would not be fooled. She took Carmilla’s silence as permission to speak, “First off, I want you to know that as far as I know, Mother will not be returning. As I’ve told Will, I cannot promise anything because she is unpredictable, but I was able to persuade her to go to Brussels for now.”
“Thanks a lot,” Carmilla scoffed. Mattie knew it wasn’t sincere and did not react. “You of all people have no reason to accept my apology and I’m not sure Will has entirely either at this point but I offer it anyway. I’m going to say to you exactly what I told him.”
Carmilla listened to Mattie’s heartfelt tale of understanding with her arms crossed and her jaw set so taught her muscles started to cramp. When she was done, Carmilla simply stared at her and Mattie never broke the gaze. She had had fifteen minutes while Mattie spoke to figure out what she was going to say and none of it was what she had originally been going to tell Mattie which had been more along the lines of “get out and go to hell.” “You will get a few things straight. Mother may own this house but in no terms is it yours. This is where we live and you will respect that. You may stay here. Take one of the spare rooms. I have not accepted your apology and don’t know if I ever will. That will be seen with time. I don’t expect you to have contact with mother outside of your work relations, which is still a relationship I do not understand. We have lives. I will not speak for Will but don’t interrupt mine. I can be civil.”
Mattie nodded and Will released the tension he held in his shoulders, “See, was that so hard, Millie?”
“I’m not sure why you think I’m okay with anything I just said. I’m doing this because I’m not heartless and because I know you wanted me to. That’s it. This isn’t for her. This is for you even if I can’t understand your newfound family connection towards her. If you can’t live with that Will, then I’m sorry but that’s how it is going to be. T’as pigé?”
“Got it.”
“Good.” Carmilla sent one last glance Mattie’s way before leaving them to talk about her terms without her. She climbed the flights of stairs to her attic bedroom and slammed the door, hoping they would hear it on the ground floor.
Carmilla nudged her way past leg after leg much to the chagrin of the people already sitting. Pamphlet in one had, she used the seats in front of her as balance through the narrowest of aisles, until she found the one open seat.
“Cutting it kind of close, aren’t you?” Kirsch whispered as he looked at the time on his phone. It wasn’t her fault that what she had thought was going to be a quick good luck to Laura had ended up with Laura pushing her against the wall of an empty classroom and sticking her hands down Carmilla’s pants. Carmilla reached a hand up to smooth out her hair from Laura’s fingers, a motion that Kirsch missed as he strained his neck over the crowd to try to glimpse a sight of his best friend.
“How is she? Is she nervous?” Mr. Hollis was to Carmilla’s other side, asking questions about his daughter who he had yet to see that day. Carmilla swallowed hard, remembering Laura’s very confident tongue and tried to forget that as she spoke to the father of the girl who had just fucked her ten minutes before, “I wouldn’t say she was nervous.”
“Good, good,” he said, directing his attention back to the stage. Silas University graduation, something Carmilla had never attended before, was being held on the grass of the large field that enveloped the center of campus. A stage had been erected across from the large fountain that was behind the rows and rows of folding chairs that the attendees were forced to sit on; rather uncomfortable, half plastic, half metal seats that dug into Carmilla’s back and caused her to squirm uncomfortably. The band was set up to the right of the stage and their instruments glinted in the sun. It wasn’t quite summer yet so the weather was not unbearable for an outside ceremony. The sun warmed her skin and the wind chilled it right back down; spring was sticking around for a little while longer.
When the first chord was sounded by the plethora of brass instruments, Carmilla felt the bones in her chest vibrate with the noise. And endless stream of grads, in a single file line, filed across the field and up the stage to their risers in the back. Carmilla could not find Laura in the crowd of excited students no matter how hard she looked. The president of Silas stepped up to the podium to give a speech, which was full of boring words and faithless hopes for the graduating class that he did not know personally. Then came the dean of admissions and the valedictorian and the choir and a stream of important people whom Carmilla had never heard of before.
The list of names from A-G went on for an eternity but with the first ‘h,’ Carmilla sat up, alert in her chair. Hampton. Header. Holger. “Laura Hollis!”
The announcer’s voice rang out and Kirsch, Carmilla, and Mr. Hollis all stood up clapping as the tiny figure of Laura walked across the stage, looking out at the hooting and hollering in embarrassment before shaking hands with the president and accepting her diploma. It was over in ten seconds and they sat down, only to keep on sitting for another hour and a half as the rest of the grads got their chance to walk across the stage. Carmilla wanted to leave. She wanted to excuse herself, use needing the bathroom as an excuse, and just leave altogether and come back to greet Laura after but Kirsch saw her make the move to do so and held her back with a hand. He leaned over and whispered, “If I have to sit through this, so do you.”
After that, she sank in her seat, crossed her arms over her chest and looked at her feet, counting the blades of grass until, “I present you, this year’s graduating class of Silas University!”
The sky was blocked out by a cloud of graduation caps that flew up to fall down fast into the hand’s of the wrong people. There was a scramble to get the right hats to the right people but Carmilla saw Laura duck out of the throng, her cap still on her head. It took another eternity for their aisle to clear so they could exit the row and Laura ran into Carmilla’s outstretched arms. Carmilla lifted her up and twirled her around, kissing her as she set her back on the ground, “Congratulations, cupcake.”
Carmilla let her go to hug Kirsch and her dad respectively but Laura was back in her arms soon enough. She was so proud of everything Laura had accomplished this past year and the beaming smile on Laura’s face reflected her own sentiments. Laura had the right to be as proud of herself as she was. “I want to take you all out to dinner to celebrate.”
“Really, Mr. Hollis, that’s not necessary,” Kirsch spoke before Carmilla could say the same. Mr. Hollis waved his hands, “No, no, I insist. Where’s the best place to eat around here?”
A reminder that Mr. Hollis had never come to visit Laura while she was in school, dropping her off at the start of the year and not returning. He did not know the small town had almost nothing to offer aside from the university. Carmilla thought Laura deserved an upscale restaurant on this occasion but unless they drove the hour into Styria, their options were scarce.
“There’s not much here,” Kirsch thought, “but there is The Governor. It’s just a bar, but it’s a place of celebration. I’m sure they’re all ready for the graduation crowd.”
Mr. Hollis clapped his hands, “Then we better get going. Don’t want to have a wait.”
Carmilla really doubted that but she wasn’t going to argue. Laura seemed content with the choice so she slung her arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders and led them out of the campus. Laura shrugged off her cap and gown as they walked, giving them to Carmilla to hold. She was wearing a short green dress underneath with glitter that sparkled in the sun and silver heels to match. Laura had not been dressed when she had left the apartment, afraid in the five minute drive that she would ruin something and when she had accosted Carmilla in the classroom, she had already been in her gown so this was the first time Carmilla had seen her dress. She leaned over, close to Laura’s ear, “This is really unfair considering the company we’re with.”
“Then you’re just going to have to be good for the next couple hours,” Laura teased her. Carmilla growled under her breath making Laura laugh.
They got a seat almost as soon as they arrived at The Governor but people began filing in right after them, filling up the place until no one could be heard over the roar of all the talking. They were seated at a round table in the middle of the bar, Carmilla sitting in a chair that touched Laura’s, her arm resting on the back as she tried to keep her eyes off any part of Laura that was not her face though it was hard when Laura crossed her legs and her dress slipped up a little bit. She had thrown an innocent look Carmilla’s way that had been all but innocent and Carmilla had bitten her lip and stubbornly looked away.
The staff was working as fast-paced as they could go, each table manned by two or three wait staff just to make sure everyone was served. It was a whirlwind of motion that never ceased and the atmosphere was starting to give Carmilla a headache. It was not a place to talk either, so their conversation was lacking and when the food came, it stopped completely as they all used the excuse of eating to stop trying to shout over the commotion. Kirsch and Mr. Hollis both had beers in front of them, Carmilla had been swilling a rum soda and Laura was on her third drink that was too sugary for Carmilla to even sniff at. Carmilla noticed the tipsiness starting to take over Laura at the way the girl exaggerated each movement as if concentrating too hard on it. Mr. Hollis looked at his daughter with concern but said nothing. Kirsch laughed and Laura looked at them all, seemingly insulted, “I just graduated. I will drink if I want.”
“I said nothing, cupcake,” Carmilla kissed the side of her head.
“Good.”
“But this probably should be your last one if you know -”
Laura looked at her as the meaning of the sentence dawned on her, her eyes widened and she nodded, pushing her drink away, “I’m done.”
Laura’s father and Kirsch accompanied them back to the apartment so that Mr. Hollis could collect his suitcase. Kirsch was driving him to the airport and was helping Mr. Hollis carry his luggage downstairs to the car. Both Carmilla and Laura exchanged impatient glances at each other while Mr. Hollis and Kirsch took their time in the apartment; finally, Mr. Hollis went over to Laura for a hug. “Okay, by, dad. Thanks for coming.”
Carmilla only got a wave in before Laura was ushering him out the door, Kirsch after him, “See ya later, little L.”
The door shut and it took .2 seconds for Laura to rush at Carmilla, smashing their lips together uncomfortably but Carmilla didn’t care. She grabbed Laura’s ass and picked her up, sitting her on the counter. Her fingers found the hem of the skirt and pulled it up her legs and over her butt so it sat just above her hips. Laura opened her legs and Carmilla scooted between them, tangling her hands in Laura’s hair as her lips kissed down Laura’s neck. Laura’s hands were scratching her back, her fingernails catching in the lace of the shirt’s fabric and pulling it out but Carmilla did not care about losing a shirt; she’d get another if need be. Laura moaned as Carmilla sucked at her pulse point.
“Oh shit!” Carmilla’s head whipped around and Laura squeaked. She saw Kirsch in the doorway, a hand over his eyes, his head tilted up to the ceiling. “It hasn’t even been one minute. You better be glad it was me and not Mr. Hollis. Shit. Shit. Oh god. I’m so torn between congratulating a bro on getting it and trying to scratch my eyes out because, ugh, you’re like my sister, L.”
“Get out, meatstick.”
“Yeah, yeah, I just forgot my wallet. Mind handing it to me. I think you might be sitting on it.” Laura was not sitting on his wallet but Carmilla picked it up anyway and chucked it at his head. It hit the mark since he was covering his eyes. “Alright, just do your thing, I guess. Okay.”
He awkwardly waved, not knowing how to make an exit, and shut the door. Carmilla turned around to see Laura stifling a laugh but it didn’t last for long until it came bursting forth, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry but what if that had been my dad?”
“I would not be able to ever show my face again.”
“Did you see his face though?”
Carmilla grimaced and mimed throwing up, “He called me a bro.”
****************************************************************************************************************************************
A notification showed one voicemail. She clicked the play button to listen, “Hello, Laura. It’s Perry.”
“And Lafontaine!”
“Yes, and Lafontaine. We’re so sorry we missed your graduation but as you know there were only so many tickets available. Anyway, we wanted to congratulate you on the big day.”
“Yeah dude, you made it through hell.”
“Lafontaine I don’t think going to university can be considered hell.”
“Speak for yourself, Perr.”
“And let you know that you have something coming in the mail. I know you said you didn’t need a present for graduating but we couldn’t help ourselves.”
“Actually I could but –” A noise sounded as if Perry had smacked Lafontaine on the head, “Alright, alright. I was just kidding, frosh. Wow. Now I really can’t call you that. You’re not even in school anymore. That’s gonna be weird.”
“Sooooo, congratulations! We’ll see you soon.”
“Bye, Laura!”
The message cut off.
“Who was that?” came a weary voice.
“Perry and Lafontaine wishing me a nice graduation.”
“That was nice of them.”
“You know what would be even nicer,” Laura smiled down at Carmilla who was lying fully exposed with a sheet tangled between her legs. Carmilla smiled back, the weariness instantly gone from her voice, “I think I can guess.”
Laura was tugged down, giggling, on top of Carmilla who started kissing her everywhere that tickled, making her laugh even harder.
“Wait though. I have something else for you. It’s nothing physical yet. I wanted to wait until you got steady with work and maybe it was more of an option but I want you to know that you do have a graduation gift from me.”
“You mean this wasn’t it,” Laura gestured between them.
“This is a daily gift.”
“Oh wow, yeah, okay,” Laura said, teasingly.
“Anyway, I’ve planned a trip for us. It’s to France and Amsterdam and Italy and Ireland and pretty much anywhere in Europe you’d like to visit. But, I didn’t pick a specific date because I thought you’d want to figure out stuff with work first and see when you’d be able to request time off. It would be a couple weeks.”
Laura stared at her, “You want me to go traveling with you?”
“Laura, I don’t want to go traveling without you.”
“You are so cheesy sometimes.”
“You are so naïve sometimes.” Laura closed the gap between them with a kiss that deepened until Carmilla flipped them over and Laura almost all but forgot about Carmilla’s other gift.