A Secret Exposed
The air surrounding the quad left a bit of a bite, but not so much that Laura actually needed a jacket. Just wearing her favorite blue button up, some dark wash skinny jeans, and a pair of black ballet flats to her meet up (if that's what you can even call it) with Carmilla.
Her steps across the ancient stones are small yet confident. Laura’s back is straight and her strides are strong, however her appearance on the outside is completely different from inside her head
“What if she doesn’t like it? Will she make fun of me for it?”
Laura has never shown anyone her tattoo before, not even her father because if he knew about it, no doubt he’d have a heart-attack. There are only two people who have seen it, the guy who stabbed her repeatedly with the small needle and herself (with the help of a mirror of course).
…
It was an act of impulse when she walked into the tattoo parlor. She had just turned eighteen and desperately wanted to do something for herself. All the heavy inked employees and customers had turned to look at the bright girl who must have came in by mistake.
When Laura tip toed up to the front desk the man sitting behind it had enough gall to ask her if she was lost. She had replied with a comment stating that she knew exactly where she was and that she wanted a tattoo.
Several long painful hours later (totally worth it though), Laura emerged from the black store front with a wide grin spread across her cheeks. Until, that is, her sign of happiness had started to throb when she took a few steps forward.
She didn't think that getting a tattoo would hurt that bad...
…
As Laura's mind continued it's rambling freak out, her feet continued to carry her across the quad towards the Arts building and more importantly, towards Carmilla. She slowly walked up the steps of the massive entrance, getting more and more anxious about showing off her tattoo. Patting her messenger bag where she had stashed a key component for showing off a special effect of her tattoo, she sighed in relief when she felt it, happy that she had managed to remember to pack it in her frantic state.
"Gods, why did I ever agree to this? It’s always the ones with the pretty faces… " Laura grumbled to herself as she approached Room 1698 where Carmilla instructed her to go to for their first painting/modeling session.
Quickly navigating her way through the twisted hallways full of paintings and statues dedicated to dead board members- wait, were those eyes following her?- the honey blonde found herself in front a heavy oak door, the numbers screwed to it on a gold plate.
Breathing in deeply, Laura gathers together the small bit of her courage that she has left and pushes the wood. The hinges creak loudly and the waitress pokes her head in.
“Carmilla? Are you in here?” her voice echoed throughout the wide space, stepping in and closing the door behind her with a resonating thud, Laura took notice of the Victorian styled room. Arched windows surrounded the area, very nearly to the top of the ceilings and dark furniture spotted the floor. Raking her eyes around the sight, she caught the punk brunette standing in the back left hand corner.
An art easel is in front of Carmilla and a paint wheel in one of her hands while the other held a brush. Her eyes are closed, head bobbing to the music plugged into her ears, with her hips swaying slightly. Laura swore to herself that she had never seen a more beautiful sight.
Then the artists’ eyes were open and saw a nervous Laura standing there, watching her. Pulling the earbuds from her ears, Carmilla couldn’t help the teasing comment tumbling from her mouth.
“Are you just going to stand there and gawk all day, creampuff, or are we going to get down to business.”
Laura’s cheeks went up in flames at the accuracy but she defended herself anyway. “I was not gawking! I just- um, I didn’t want to disturb you… that’s all.” She ducked her head down low at the pitiful excuse but went with it anyway, taking small steps to meet Carmilla on the other side of the room.
“Sure, cutie. Whatever you say.” The punk said, throwing Laura a wink.
…
It was starting to get distracting, no, scratch that, it is distracting. Laura had been sitting on the stool strategically placed in front of Carmillas’ easel for over twenty minutes now, she had been expecting this. The long amounts of time having to sit still for so long, not daring to move a muscle. Except, she was actually expecting to be painted, not just watched.
“Um, not to be rude or anything, but what exactly are you doing?” The honey blonde asked cautiously. Carmilla is leaning against the wall behind her, arms crossed and a focused look in her eyes.
“Trying to memorize your shape, it makes it easier to paint.” She said it like it was the most common thing in the world to do.
“Oh, okay.”
“To be honest though, it is quite strange seeing you out of that waitressing uniform. I was growing quite accustomed to the black skirt and button up.” Carmilla smirked.
“Well, to be honest, I’m surprised you’re not wearing those famous leather pants of yours.” Laura retaliated. She did have to admit though, Carmilla looked nice, in a hipster/artsy way. Her dark hair is pulled up into a messy bun with escaping locks in places. She is wearing a cut off tank top of Pink Floyd, a gray scale flannel tied around her waist with ripped up black skinny jeans and of course, combat boots. Surprisingly, it looked very nice. Especially on the broody artist.
“Haha, I’ll have you know, I had them on earlier but spilled paint on them.” Carmilla snickered towards Laura.
“Of course you did.” The waitress said under her breath.
A few moments of silence passed before the brunette broke it.
“You can move now.”
“Thank gods.” Laura sighs, letting her perfect posture fall. “I thought you were going to have me stay like that forever.”
Smiling, Carmilla replied. “No, I wouldn’t do that to you… although, the fun part comes now.”
“And what is that?” The smaller girl asked, feeling like she already knows the answer.
“For you,” she pointed at Laura “to show me your tattoo.” The artists’ grin widened, almost looking devilish. “I hope you don’t disappoint, cupcake. One of my major grades is riding on this.”
“Right, right, of course.” Laura said, more to herself. “So um, I guess I’ll just… show it to you now.” Standing up from the stool, she turned around and began unbuttoning her shirt, a continuous line of ‘please don’t hate it’ running through her mind. When the final button popped, she reached around and also undid her bra. Taking a sharp breath in, Laura let both pieces slide off her shoulders and onto the floor, leaving her secret exposed to the other girl.
“Woah…” Carmilla gasped.