Laura's POV:
"Okay. When I said 'Adventuring' I didn't think we'd end up here, cupcake." Carmilla says pointing at the store before her. Her face looked very unamused with my choice.
"Not a fan of Halloween stores?" I laugh at her confused face.
"Halloween's my favorite holiday actually, just wasn't expecting you to care much for it." She shrugs her shoulders.
I wasn't sure whether to be offended or not. I was a quiet person after all, but who doesn't love Halloween?
"Well, I usually dress up for Halloween and hand out candy at my.." I pause. "...at my dad's house.. but with him being in the hospital and all, I just haven't found the time to get a costume so-"
"So you decided to bring our adventure here?" She says raising an eyebrow at me.
"Hey, what happend to the 'ladies first' attitude?" I say nudging her shoulder with mine. "Besides, you can help me pick one."
I see an amused smile start to form on her face.
"How enticing. Well," She opens the door to the Halloween store for me, "after you." She gestures for me to walk in. I nod and walk through the door with her close behind.
"Anything specific you might be looking for creampuff? OH! How about this?" She grabs a very revealing nurse costume. I scrunch my face.
"What? Too pure for it?" She teases as I roll my eyes.
"A-actually, I'm looking for something," I take the costume and put it back "a little less revealing."
"PG-13 huh? How incredibly dull." She says with a sigh walking around me to the next rack of costumes.
"I just don't think revealing myself for the enjoyment of others is ideal. Especially if the people looking at me begin to objectify me by it just because I'm a woman, or maybe even just see me as sex object. It's degrading to woman-"
"Slow down creampuff, I didn't realize I offended you." She interrupts me while trying on a Mad Hatter Hat.
"No I just.. it's complicated." I say sighing and continue looking through costumes until Carmilla places her hand over mine causing me to freeze. My gaze falls on hers and I can see the softness in her eyes but tension in her shoulders.
"Hey, I was only kidding. You're right, I shouldn't have joked like that, I'm sorry." I feel her hands warmth over mine. We stand there for a bit just looking at each other until I finally allow my mind to process her words.
"No no, you didn't offend me at all, it's okay, really." I send her a smile and I instantly see the tension in her shoulders release. It wasn't until I look at our hands that she realizes hers is still on mine. She let's go and places the hand on the back of her neck rubbing it.
Is she.. blushing? No.. she can't be.
"Well now that that's over with" she interrupts my thoughts, "How about a movie character costume?" Before I could speak she was walking into the Marvel costume isle. I followed behind looking through all of the costumes.
"Got a favorite Marvel movie?" She asks looking through the rack of costumes.
"Well.. there is one I kind of like." I smile and look at the other side of the isle. I pull the costume off the rack and show Carmilla. When she finally turns to look, her concentrated face is gone and the smile her face forms immediately sends a shock wave through me. Her lips were perfectly curved and her eyes were full of admiration.
"What do you think?"
"It's perfect, cupcake." She says touching the fabric. "You'll definetly do it justice."
I smile satisfied with her response.
"I suppose the kids will like it, not to mention they won't really know I'm a girl but that'll be the surprise!"
I can see Carmilla trying to hold in a laugh causing me to laugh. She's staring at me now, her eyes never really reaching mine and her smile never really falling. It made me wonder what she was thinking. She was so concentrated. Like she was trying to pick apart my every secret just by staring at me.
"Are you alrig-"
"Screw handing out candy" she interrupts me. Her sudden statement causing my smile to fade and my eyebrows to raise in curosity.
"What?"
"You heard me, screw giving out candy." She walks towards me and stops in front of me causing me to hold my breath in anticipation. "Come to a Halloween party with me?"
"A um.. a party? But my dad-"
"Is a little caught up in the hospital don't you think? You don't want to hand candy out alone I'm sure, so, why not?"
I bite my lip nervously causing Carmilla to smile.
"Trust me it'll be fun okay? Consider it My part of the adventure, since we got to do your part today."
She wasn't wrong. I felt I owed her for dragging her here. Calling my dad and explaining I was going to miss Halloween with him this year was going to be quite the conversation.. but.. he did mention I should get out more.
"Well?" Carmilla's voice pulls me from my thoughts yet again.
"I suppose.. my dad wouldn't mind his house being skipped this year." I say a little shyly.
Her smirk turns into a wide grin.
"Yeah?" She questions. I nod in response.
"Great! I'll send you the details later." She starts walking to the cash register.
"Aren't you gonna pick a costume out?" I ask her before reaching the counter. The cashier scans it.
"Actually I've already got mine"
I look at her with curiosity.
"I told you it was one of my favorite holidays" she winks and pulls out her wallet.
"No no, you don't have to pay I've got i-"
"Don't worry about it cupcake," she hands some cash to the cashier. "I wasted our work time by suggesting an adventure, at least let me play a part in it" she sends me a confident smile causing me to look down at my hands. I could feel my cheeks begin to heat up.
"You really didn't have to-"
"I wanted to" she objects grabbing the costume and handing it to me. I put the bag into my satchel.
"Thank you so much."
"Don't worry about it." She shrugs, "want to get something to eat?" She says opening the door for me. I considered it but look at the time. It was past 5 and I hadn't taken my medications so I was certain whatever I ate would only come right back up.
"A-actually I've gotta go" My smile turns into a small frowning smirk and she looks a little upset but her hard facial expression hides it well.
"Your dad I'm assuming?"
I couldn't think of anything better, so I nod.
"Well that's a buzzkill, I was just starting to get you out of your shy little shell." She nudges my shoulder as we walk down the sidewalks towards my apartment.
Was I really coming out of my shell?..
"We've still got Saturday" I say without thinking.
"I mean if you still want to figure out that project."
"Definitely should start figuring out what we're going to do with that project" she says smiling.
"Right."
The rest of the walk to my apartment was quiet with the occasional joke or two, but when it was quiet it was always a comfortable silence. We'd nudge each other every so often making jokes about the bad Halloween decorations. It was nice. Peaceful.
"Well thank you for walking me to my apartment." I say leaning against the building, "and for buying the costume, which you really didn't have to do by the way, but thank you." I begin to fidget with my hands in nervousness. I was never really one for talking and this situation wasn't really helping the churning in my stomach.
"It was my pleasure, although you know I could have driven you to the hospital myself-"
"I can manage," I smirk trying to speed up the conversation to hold in the contents of my stomach.
"Well I-"
"I've actually really got to pee." I interrupt her making her laugh. "Sorry if that was too much information, it was just, that coffee-"
"It wasn't too much," she laughs, "You're fine, cutie" she starts backing up and walking backwards on the sidewalk, "I'll text you later cupcake"
"Alright, I'll see you soon?" I smile crossing my arms across my chest.
"Not soon enough." she winks and turns around walking away.
I stand there for a bit smiling to myself until I feel the churning in my stomach grow stronger.
Uh oh.
I stumble through my keys unlocking the building door and running up the stairs to my apartment door. When I unlock it I run to my bathroom. Once I lean over the toilet I allow my stomach to release its usual clear substance. When I was done I could feel the usual burning in my throat. My head was pounding and my body felt weak. I sat beside my toilet leaning my head against the wall.
My heart was pounding in an irregular beat and my breathing was off. In times like these I had the urge to call my dad and let him know how much these sessions were effecting me. I should at least call to let him know about the side effects.
I grab my phone and start flipping through my contacts. Before I could reach my dad's messages I found myself on Carmilla's.
I don't understand why, and I probably never will.. but I begin typing.