You're welcome ;)
The gym was beautiful. The ceiling had stars dangling by nearly invisible strings. There was a fountain with gentle flowing water. Rose petals everywhere. It was lovely. Perry and Laf were standing against a wall near the punch bowl as Laura and Carmilla waited in the entryway with some of the other arriving students for their first prom picture.
"You look beautiful." Carmilla put an arm around Laura's waist, smiling down at her as the photographer let the camera flash.
Laura had given up counting how many times Carmilla had called her beautiful- not including the two times in the Hollis house. All she knew was that each time got the same reaction. Blushing. Carmilla enjoyed every moment of flushed Laura; but she was speaking in honesty. She always thought Laura was beautiful; She only just had the courage to say it out loud tonight. Everyone thought Carmilla didn't have a nervous bone in her body- even Laura. Nobody knew that only Laura gave her a reason to be nervous. Well, almost everyone.
"You two look amazing!" Perry squeezed them both as they approached their friends. The two matched in color, a light blue-dark blue contradicting combination that was nothing short of fancy- which was perfect with the A Night at the Ball theme.
"I love the Beauty and the Beast 21st Century upgrade guys," Laf squeezed Carm's shoulder, giving Laura a one-armed hug, "Although, I think it'd be better if Carmilla had paws to match."
Growling playfully, Carmilla mused their hair, "I have fangs Frankenstein. Don't make me use them."
Laf pulled their friend down to their level, a twinkle in their eye, "On me or Laura?"
A tiny shove, Carmilla rolled her eyes and slung an arm over Laura's shoulder. The smaller girl wrapped an arm around Carm's waist. The contact made her skin tingle, completely unprepared. She played it off, re-positioning herself.
"You look lovely Perry." She smiled at her friend, trying to ignore the feeling.
"Oh. Thank you Carmilla." Perry was astonished. Carmilla seldom gave her a verbal compliment, unless it was for her cooking.
Carm nodded, a slight grin accompanying it. Even if she was broody and a constant fear to Perry because of literally everything about her, she loved her friends.
"Yeah she does!" Laf spun Perry to the dance floor.
"Nice talk!" Laura called after them.
"Get your butts on the dance floor." They cackled at them, dipping Perry swiftly.
Blushing, Laura looked to Carmilla. She had hoped that she would get a returning nervous glance back. Boy was she wrong! That wasn't a scared look. That was a patented Carmilla Karnstein seductress look. That was the murder of Laura Hollis.
You're not making this any easier Carm. I'm confused and shaky and you decide to throw that at me?!
"What's the matter, Cupcake? Scared I'll upstage you?" Carm winked at her, eyebrows dancing with humor.
"Ha," Laura forced out a laugh, "In your dreams, Karnstein."
Carmilla, keeping that lust filled gaze on her tiny date, grabbed her free hand. Bowing, she kissed her knuckles. Peering over her eyelashes, she smiled devilishly, exposing her bright, sharpened teeth.
"Let me make yours come true tonight, Laura." Rising slowly, watching those doe eyes dilate, "May I?"
"Oh-Okay..." She could barely speak, the words coming out as more of a whisper.
That grin again. Carm gently tugged at Laura's hand. Her body dragged forward as Laura was too entrapped in Carmilla's eyes to walk. Once where she wanted to be, Carmilla pulled Laura in close, snapping her out of her trance. Moving one step with her left foot, Laura stopped her before she could make another.
"I know what you're doing," Her hand on Carmilla's arm, "You know I can't waltz."
Carmilla chuckled, "Which is why I'm leading."
"Nooooo Carm! This isn't one of those books you read! Nobody knows how to waltz anymore! This isn't 1698!"
"Really? Then why am I here? You're my date, you waltz," That shut Laura up, "Besides, waltzing was a bit of a scandal back then."
Laura scoffed, "How is waltzing scandalous?"
"Well," Carmilla offered Laura her hand, beckoning with her eyes for the smaller girl to take it. Reluctantly, she did, "Partners were face to face. Chest to chest."
She snuck a hand to the small of Laura's back, pulling her ever closer.
"All of that...whirling..."
Spinning her once, she brought her back again.
"In 1698 it may as well have been sex." She stopped, their fingers locking together as Carmilla kept her eyes on the tiny one. Chuckling at her inability to speak, she continued their dance.
Laura let her head rest on Carmilla's shoulder. She tried to focus more on the movements rather than what just happened, but she couldn't. It gave her shivers. Obvious shivers that she knew Carmilla noticed every time her fingers caressed Laura's back. After so many seconds, she could hear a sound near her ear. Feel a vibration against her chest. Trying to ignore it, she let her previous curiosity get the best of her.
"So, we're having sex right now?" She asked with as strong a voice as she could, but the shakiness betrayed her.
"Hm..." Carmilla's hand pressed deeper against the smooth skin, "Trying to keep with tradition Cupcake?"
"What do you mean?"
Lifting her head, letting her forehead rest against Laura's, their circle stopped. Carmilla's eyes were dark with lust. Her grip on Laura unwavering.
"The tradition where I take you to prom, show you a good time. All that you could want of this night."
"I like that idea." Laura had to lick her lips to answer. Her throat was completely dry.
Damn seduction eyes.
"Then I sweep you away to some place in secret and fuck you senseless." If eyes could glow, Carmilla's were doing it.
Knees quivering, eyes growing, her mouth agape, Laura felt a heat radiate throughout her body. The words were like bells ringing in her head. Continuous. Loud. Inviting. How could Carmilla affect her so badly?
"Still like the idea of tradition Cutie?" Carmilla used her index finger to close the smaller girl's mouth. Her finger grazed Laura's bottom lip. Her own mouth eliciting a shudder.
The dance began again. This time in complete silence. Laura was trying to calm the fire licking at her body. Along with fighting the confusion of her own feelings with Carm. The mentioning of sex didn't help at all. She doesn't know how long she was deep in her own thought process, but she realized mid-twirl that maybe she had loved Carmilla all along.
Loved?!
Their pasts were nothing short of a relationship. How had she not noticed? Why did they pass it off for a friendship for so long? How did it take her so long to feel this? Does Carm? Her thoughts were broken by Carmilla's voice. Speak of the devil.
"Cupcake, you want to get out of here? Music's changed." Pulse filled her ears as the crowd of Silas students started going wild, including Lafontaine.
"Please." Laura nodded in agreement. Aside from the ever-growing masses, she knew Carm had more on her mind that escape. Her curiosity was peaked.
Firmly, Carmilla took hold of Laura's hand, leading her through the growing crowd of sweating Silas students. A very energized Lafontaine was making Perry dizzy with all the jumping and spinning they were doing. How did Perry not have whiplash?
Finally out in the peace and quiet of the empty courtyard, Carmilla released Laura's hand. Face turned for the sky, she sighed in content. Be that from the silence of the grass covered space or something more, Laura was unsure.
"What are you doing?" She took a few short steps towards the taller girl, trying and failing not to bite her lip over those damn heels that seemed to be glowing in the moonlight.
"Looking at the stars. It's comforting...to think how small we are in comparison. All the lives we've led. People we've been. Nothing to that light."
Laura smirked, taking a glimpse up at the dozens of tiny glimmering stars looking back down at her. At them. She used to think that her mother was a star. But she realized that if that were the case that she'd never know which one was her and could be talking to the wrong person.
"You are definitely a philosophy major," She let her eyes wonder back to the figure turned away from her, "Is that why you wanted to come out here- I mean, aside from the hormone driven crowd of crazy teenagers of course- to look at the stars?"
Carmilla's shoulders visibly moved as she shook her head at the blonde, smiling, "Not exactly. But I'll take a bonus where I can get one."
"So... why exactly are we out here?" Laura's face contorted to confusion.
Carmilla finally ignored the stars above, eyes on her date. Face shaped in joking disbelief; she smiled that Carmilla smile.
"This whole night I've been-. You haven't caught on yet Cutie?" She scoffed.
Her eyes answered before she could even open her mouth to ask Carmilla what she was talking about. The smirk was gone. The joking evaporated. Carmilla stood there, actually shocked. She thought that she had been more obvious than ever tonight. The corsage the looks, the flirting, the touches was Laura really this oblivious.
"You really don't know, do you? You're not kidding," Her hands dropped to her sides, "You don't know what I've been trying to do all night?"
"No. Besides your continuing to try and tease me, I-"
"Wait," Carmilla sighed, taking one step forward, frowning, "You thought that was me trying to tease you?"
Nodding, Laura thought back to all the events of the night. All she remembered was Carm's constant teasing.
"Well, if you weren't teasing me, then what were you trying to-" Her mind began to race faster than it ever had. She looked back through her memories with more detail. Carmilla's nervousness when she made it to the Hollis house. Her quick attitude shift to flirting. The constant compliments. The dance, "Ohhh......."
Carmilla's hands pulled through her glossy black hair as she took a deep breath, instantly nervous. After so long, Laura was finally starting to figure it out. Carmilla had no idea that the realization would affect her so much. She felt like she was buzzing. All she could do was look at the girl with all her emotions on her sleeve.
You look beautiful.
That sentence ran through her mind on repeat as she recalled all the flirting tonight. There was something in the way Carmilla said it.
The pictures at the Hollis house. You look beautiful.
The ride to the school. You look beautiful.
Their prom picture. Carm's face. You look beautiful.
The seduction eyes. You look beautiful.
Her words. Her touch. The dance. You look beautiful.
You look beautiful.
You look beautiful.
Lifting her gaze from the grass underneath her feet, she looked at Carm. A tiny smile grew on her face. Carmilla's cheeks were starting to burn.
"So, when you were hitting on me, you were really hitting on me." Laura didn't need to shape into a question. She knew. She finally knew.
Rubbing at her face, Carmilla refused to let the blush spread to complete noticeability.
"Yes. And you were completely oblivious," It actually was pretty embarrassing. She was embarrassed. It almost physically hurt. Needing to breathe, she took a seat on the one bench in the courtyard, "Can you just stake me now? Because that would be less mortifying than this conversation."
Laura didn't answer right away. The wheels had started turning and they were dragging her on a journey through the past. Their first meeting. Their childhoods. When Carmilla came out. When Carmilla found out that Laura was gay. All those years, all that time. What had she missed?
'That's just it. She isn't mine. You are.'
Had she meant that?
'Danny says she loves me.'
'She doesn't.'
'How could you say that?'
'Love doesn't mean the same thing to everyone.'
Was she jealous?
She remembered her father's words at the dress shop.
'I've never seen Carmilla Karnstein express her feelings about anything.'
And his words again when she came out. When he'd said to find someone that deserved her.
'Yeah. Her.'
It was her. It had always been her. From the moment they met. It was Carm...
She'd meant it. Carmilla had meant every compliment. Every flirt...not just from tonight. She always meant it. Why couldn't she see it until now?
"You meant it." She gasped, those brown eyes growing.
"What?" Carmilla had let her hair cover her face, giving Laura time to process.
"You meant it. You were flirting with me. You were always flirting with me." Laura's body began to shake from the realization. Now she was buzzing.
Carmilla sighed again, moving her hair to reveal her features, "Cupcake..."
"Do you like me, Carm?" She needed the answer. Craved it.
Carmilla answered honestly, shaking her head with a frown, "No, Laura...Why don't you try again."
"Why didn't you just tell me? All this time, you knew how you felt! You let me think we were just best friends! You let me push my feelings away because I thought they were pointless! You let me date Danny! Why couldn't you just tell me you liked me?" The words spilled over like river water.
She hadn't tried to make them sound so harsh, but it was too late to take them back. And she couldn't back off. She needed. But the damage was already done. The hurt, the anger, in Carmilla's eyes was proof of that.
"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't remember you telling me either Laura! Did you ever think for one second that maybe I was scared? That maybe the thought of you know how much I cared made me want to throw up? I had no idea how to begin to tell you all those years! So, I didn't. I-"
"You're Carmilla fu-friggin' Karnstein! You're the strongest person I know! Why couldn't you just tell me?" Laura's hand motions were wild and extended as she stood firmly in place.
"Yeah. Yeah, Laura. I am. But, I'm also human," Carmilla stood from her perch on the cool metal, but not coming any further to Laura, "I'm not some knight in shining armor like Danny, okay? I'm not hero! I'm me! I'm human! I have nerves, okay? You can't just expect all of that to go away just because I love you."
As soon as she said it, Carmilla's eyes squeezed shut, matching her fists. Her chest felt like a weight was crushing her.
Fuck. I said that. I should not have said that. I can't believe I said that.
Opening her eyes, Laura's shocked face was the only thing in her view. They just stood there staring at one another. Carmilla's heavy breathing had eventually calmed. Laura however had not yet changed. She just stood there.
Great. I broke the Cupcake.
"Love me? L-like...y-you like me?" The tiny girl's body slowly began to come back to life.
Carmilla gave a silent, husky laugh, rolling her eyes playfully. She had to. Laura was being too adorable. The stutter. The question. The ever growing of her eyes.
"Yes, Cupcake. That's exactly what I meant." Sarcastically answering, she pulled fingers through her hair again. Laura really needed her to stop doing that.
"Like y-you like me like me?" Laura's thought process of unclear, but Carmilla was sure she could see smoke coming out of her cupcake's ears.
Don't blow the factory, Cutie.
"Well, that's a kind of Rom-Com way to look at it, but...yes, Cupcake. I like you like you."
"I'm serious."
"Yeah, and so am I. I have been for years Laura." Carm picked at the white dress shirt, not knowing what to expect anymore. She wasn't really expecting this conversation.
"Love."
"That's the word."
"You."
"Me."
"Me?"
"Well, don't you catch on fast! Yes. Laura. You," Carmilla finally took a step forward, "Please say something in a full sentence like a true Hollis. I can't take you back to your dad if you're broken. He'd kill me...and then Bob will kill me again for making Bob kill me."
Silence.
"I think...I might.... l-love you too."
Carmilla's head jerked like she'd been electrocuted. She wasn't quite sure she'd heard that correctly.
"What did you just say?" She let herself move a little closer, tilting an ear forward.
Laura closed her eyes. Her bottom lip was between her teeth and her shoulders squared.
Well, this is adorable.
"I... love you too."
Blood pounding in her ears, Carmilla didn't know if she should hug Laura or run around screaming at the top of her lungs. Either choice would've been better than what she'd done. She was frozen. Her brain function shot. Nothing besides the surprise in her eyes and the smile on her face moved.
"Laura-"
"Can I kiss you?"
"W-what?!"
I must be dreaming...
"Can I kiss you, Carm?" Laura's eyes screamed nervous, but her body didn't.
Hesitantly closing the gap between them, Carmilla cupped Laura's cheek in her hand. The skin there was so hot...either that or Carmilla's body temperature had skyrocketed. Laura tilted her head in the direction of the contact, eyes barely open anymore as she prepared for what was coming. Carmilla licked her lips, a long-fought temptation finally about to be hers to take. She took in the picture before her. Wanting to remember the moment. Their faces grew closer and closer, noses grazing one another. Carmilla moved forward to finally seize the opportunity.
Ever so gently, her lips captured Laura's. One hand caressing her face, the other tangled in honey blonde curls. Laura tasted better than Carmilla had ever expected. Sweet. A sweetness she could only blame on the vast amounts of cookies Laura had consumed through the years. Her lips were softer than anything she'd ever felt.
The kiss deepened, Carmilla removing her hand from Laura's hair, wanting her face in both hands. Laura's hands gripped Carmilla's waist, pulling her closer. The spark between both ignited into a blazing fire that neither wanted to extinguish. And they didn't. It was just them, the moon, and a flame.
Needing air, Carmilla pulled back, resting her forehead against Laura's. Gasping, the both smiled breathlessly, chuckling.
"Wow." Laura's fingers felt like they were pulsing.
Carmilla only grinned a response.
"That was so...I wasn't expecting- you were really good. I-we-wow-!"
Carmilla giggled, capturing Laura's lips in hers again. Laura would go on for hours if she let her.
"I know I wouldn't know what to expect from my first kiss but that was-"
"Sshh Sshh." Carmilla pulled her in yet again. Enjoying the taste of the younger girl's lips on her own. Also wanting to end the adorable rambling.
"And you were- You're a really good kisser Carm. I-"
"Laura. Stop. Talking." One more long brutal kiss, Carmilla held them there until she had to come up for more air.
Letting go yet again, Laura's ramble was no more. They just watched one another as their hearts calmed.
"I think everyone's going to wonder where we went." Laura quipped nervously, suddenly questioning how she was going to act normal after that.
Carmilla laughed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Cupcake, the others can bite me. I have better things to do."
"Trying to keep up with tradition?" Laura giggled.
Grabbing one of Laura's hands, Carmilla placed a soft kiss on its back, "Starting with escorting you back to the dance floor, Cutie."
"Really?" Laura blushed.
Pulling them towards the glass door, Carmilla placed another kiss to Laura's cheek, "Dreams coming true, Cutie. Dreams coming true."
They reentered the prom hand in hand, and they stayed that way as they danced the night away. Laf and Perry joined in soon after. But the night was Laura's and Carmilla's. Nobody took that away from them. Neither Danny nor Ell interrupted their happy night. Carmilla was glad for that. Laura had forgotten for a moment that anybody else was in the room as they waltzed for the umpteenth time that.
Maybe 1698 wasn't so bad after all.