Chapter Text
“Shit.”
Carmilla quickly paced the length of the IKEA store once more, eyes darting down every aisle. She’d only needed to pick up a couch for her new apartment. Carmilla had just moved to the town of Silas a week ago, and hadn’t realized how unprepared she had been for the move. Her plan had been to simply run to the nearest store and pick up a big reclining chair, but Mother had insisted that Carmilla invest in a couch because, “A Karnstein is always prepared for company!”, or some shit like that. Since her mother was staying in town until Carmilla was settled, she made a mad dash to the store. However, much to Carmilla’s dismay, her younger brother, Will, insisted on helping pick out the new furniture. At first Carmilla shot him down, his track record of getting her in trouble with their mother whenever they were together outweighed anything positive that could come from the experience. But he insisted, saying that he would “be good this time” and “he’s a teenager now, not a child”.
Pfft. Yeah “teenager”, that should’ve turned me off to this idiotic idea entirely. Carmilla thought.
Needless to say, despite his “mature teenager ways”, Will had managed to get himself separated from his sister.
I swear to God, if I have to go back to Mother and tell her I lost you…
Carmilla rounded a corner quickly and barreled into an employee who had, evidently, been holding way more than she could carry, which was unsurprising, given her size. The boxes of lightbulbs the blonde had been holding hit the floor with a crash.
“Dammit!” the blonde said, trying to stay on her feet.
Carmilla, having already gained her balance back, grabbed the blonde’s shoulders to steady her, before she could fall into the pile of shattered glass on the ground. Carmilla studied the girl quickly, she was cute, really cute. She was a few inches shorter than Carmilla, with blonde hair, pulled into a messy ponytail, a few stray pieces framing her face and she had really pretty light brown eyes that just...
Carmilla shook the thought from her head and let her eyes wander quickly, seeing that the girl was wearing an employee uniform, with a name tag that read, “Laura”.
--
Laura’s eyes darted up as she felt the strong grip on her shoulders and she looked at the girl it belonged to. She was beautiful.
No. Not beautiful, gorgeous. Laura thought.
The girl's dark black hair fell over her shoulders lightly and she had bangs that almost covered her eyes, which would have been a real shame, because wow, her eyes… deep brown eyes that had a spark of something in them, but Laura couldn’t quite place what it was, beautiful brown eyes, that Laura couldn’t help but notice, were staring directly back into hers. They stood like that a moment, before the dark-haired girl released her grip from Laura’s shoulders and started to walk by her.
“Geez, watch where you’re going, spaz,” Carmilla said under her breath. Laura spun around, grabbing the brunette’s wrist.
“Hey!” she said, “you’re just gonna walk away? I mean you ran into me! Can’t you at least give me a hand?” Laura gestured to the mess of broken glass on the floor. Carmilla looked down at the mess and cocked and eyebrow.
“I would, but I have... things to do,” she said. Carmilla looked back up to Laura, who had an incredulous look on her face. “Sorry, cutie, nothing personal,” she added with a shrug before she turned to walk away.
Laura sighed and bent down to clean up the mess. She wasn’t sure why she had even tried to get the girl to help her, she didn’t work there, Laura did. Maybe it was just the fact she had been rude, or the way she gave her stupid condescending nicknames, or because she had those beautiful brown eyes that- No.
Laura shook the thought from her head and concentrated on trying not to cut herself on the broken glass.
“Need some help there, Hollis?”
Laura looked up, way up, from her spot on the ground to make eye contact with the insanely tall, Danny Lawrence, her best friend. They had tried going out for a while in their Freshman year of college, but in the end they just made better friends, and decided that’s all they should be. She flashed Danny a smile.
“Yeah, actually,” she said, standing up. “Could you just stay here a second so I can run and get a broom from the back? I just don’t want anyone running into the mess and getting hurt and then I won’t have a job and I need this job, if I lose it I’ll end up living on the street and I don’t think I’d fair very well out th-”
Danny chuckled and cut Laura off. “Breathe, Laura! Breathe!”
Laura smiled at Danny. "Right, sorry. I'll be right back then!"
Danny nodded and Laura took off for the storage room.
--
Carmilla stopped walking and put her hands on her head with a deep exhale. She pursed her lips and nodded silently to herself before muttering under her breath.
"Yep. I'm dead." She sighed, pulled her phone out of her back pocket to check the time and nearly facepalmed at the realization that she hadn't even tried to call her brother. Scrolling quickly through her contacts, she found Will's number and hit dial. As she picked the phone up to her ear she held her breath, tapping her foot nervously on the ground as her free hand ran through her hair. It doesn't even ring once before she hears the words she was dreading.
"Hey, it's Will, leave a message!" BEEP.
"Ugh, dammit!" Carmilla groaned and hung up, not bothering to leave a message. As much as she hated to admit it she was actually starting to get worried about Will, he was a jackass, sure, but he was her jackass. She spun around and started to speed the other way, again, when a door flung open and whacked Carmilla back onto her ass. She landed with a hard "thud" on the title floor and raised a hand to her head where the door had smacked her.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there!"
Carmilla looked up to find a worried Laura standing in front of her, one hand still holding the door open while the other was gripping a broom. The worried look on Laura's face turned into one of horror at the realization of who she hit. It was so cute, Carmilla couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's reaction.
"Guess were even now, huh cutie?" Carmilla said with a smirk.
Laura seemed to relax a little and let the door shut, extending a hand to Carmilla, to help her up. Carmilla hesitated slightly but took Laura's hand, she tried to ignore the butterflies she felt at the contact.
"Oh. So, when it's actually my fault you aren't all mad and grumpy?" Laura asked.
Carmilla brushed herself off before answering. "I wasn't mad and grumpy."
Laura raised her eyebrows and Carmilla sighed.
"Look, I'm just a little stressed, alright?"
"Oh. Having trouble finding something? Maybe I could help you?"
Carmilla laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing," Carmilla said.
Laura sighed. "Look, do you need help finding something or not?"
Carmilla looked at Laura for a moment, she hated having to ask for help but she was starting to get desperate. Besides if she was going to get help from anyone it might as well be a cute girl.
"I can't find my brother," Carmilla mumbled it, slightly ashamed by the confession.
"What?" Laura asked.
Carmilla rolled her eyes and spoke up, "My brother, Will, he came with me today and the little bastard ran off. I can't find him anywhere, and evidently he's the only teenager in the world that doesn't bother to keep his phone charged."
"You want me to help you find your brother?"
Carmilla ran a hand through her hair, wincing a little as her hand grazed over the bump that was forming on her forehead from where the door had struck her earlier.
"Well," Carmilla said, "as much as I hate to admit it, I don't really have any other options and I can't just leave without him."
Laura nodded. "Okay, come with me, I have to run this," she said holding the broom up,"back to my friend Danny, then we can find your brother."
Carmilla groaned. "Fine, but make it quick."
"Hey! If someone hadn't ran into me earlier, there would be no mess to clean up!"
"Well, if someone didn't try to carry a stack of boxes taller than herself... oh, but that'd be pretty hard, wouldn't it, seeing how you're so... tiny." Carmilla smirked at the annoyed look growing on the girl's face. Carmilla made a mental note that Laura was absolutely adorable when irritated.
"You are only, like, an inch taller than me!"
"Mhmm." Carmilla chuckled and started to walk past Laura, towards the place of their earlier collision. "Whatever, you say, cupcake."
Carmilla's smirk widened as she heard Laura groan and move to catch up with her.