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“Well, if you were smart you’d take any advantage you can get. Speaking of which, where’s that bracelet I gave you?”
Laura gives Carmilla a sheepish look as she goes rooting under Carmilla’s mattress for the batwing charm and hands it to her.
“So what does it do, exactly?” Laura asks.
“It makes you feel off to vampires. Like you’re leaking radiation. Like if I touched you, I might feel off.”
Laura tries not to address the fact that not only is Carmilla touching Laura to put the charm on her, but she’s also touching the charm itself. Okay, so maybe Carmilla was really hitting on Laura. But it couldn’t still be a possibility after the whole starvation diet, right?
“Oh. Well, that’s good. That’s probably good,” Laura says nervously. Right?
Carmilla misconstrues Laura’s nervousness for something else. “Well, it might persuade them to move on to someone else.”
Laura decides to take the out. “Speaking of which, have you heard anything from the dean yet?”
“Radio silence. But the fact that we’re both not messily dead bodes well,” Carmilla answers.
Suddenly, their dorm door flies open, and LaFontaine and Perry enter.
“And I say, ‘Seriously, Nick? If you can’t even remember to keep the cage locked––’” LaF cuts themselves off when they see Carmilla not only out of the ropes, but sitting right next to Laura.
Carmilla looks positively offended at the intrusion. “Uhm, at what point in the last century did people give up on knocking?”
LaF’s eyes are wide. “Laura, the vampire’s loose. Why is the vampire loose?”
Before Laura can answer, Perry jumps into action. “I’ll get help!” she cries, dashing out of the room.
“No, Perry! Agh!” Laura growls.
When LaF starts interrogating Laura about why Carmilla is free, Laura wonders why neither of them bothered to lock the door.
Later on, Danny bursts in and threatens Carmilla, and once again Laura finds herself questioning why they didn’t use the lock on the door after knowing Perry was going to get help.
“There is just nothing like a good night’s sleep. Right, sleepyhead?” Laura beams back at Carmilla, still in bed.
She grumps out a, “No!” and makes a large act of being very irritated at Laura interrupting her sleep.
Laura smirks. “I mean, I did dream about that weird black cat thing again, but I think that’s just my subconscious being weird.”
Although, weird would be quite the norm at this point.
“This morning, after a long night of fruitless research, it is more fruitless research!”
Carmilla sighs and continues her show of rolling around on the bed.
Laura ignores her and continues. “This time for my final Lit paper, on which I am woefully behind. If anyone had told me before college that fighting evil required this much paperwork, I would not have believed them.”
Then Perry bursts in, demanding to know where LaFontaine is. Laura looks over to see that Carmilla is now definitely awake. If she wasn’t worried about where LaF was, Laura definitely would’ve teased Carmilla about locking the door since sleeping in was so important to her.
It’s become a bit of a running joke, actually. LaFontaine and Perry had walked in on Carmilla and Laura plenty of times during their hike through the mountains. But what could they do? There were no locks–– hell, there weren’t even doors for most of the trip.
Once they had made it into this fancy apartment that Carmilla had commandeered, Laura thought the days of interruptions were over. Except then LaFontaine walks in during a nice make-out and flirting session and Carmilla looks ready to throw them through the trap door they’re stomping on.
Laura makes a small mental note to make sure they’re never standing near that trap door ever again. And to see if the lock on the door works.
Then Perry wanders in, covered in the blood of the Voice of Silas students.
And then again a few days later when there’s a message in Latin carved into her stomach.
In fact, LaFontaine and Perry wind up spending so much time around the room that Carmilla suggests one night that they must be doing this on purpose and that she and Laura would be better off simply permanently relocating to the solarium for some peace and quiet.
Plus, there’s Mattie’s introduction to Laura, which was essentially barging into the apartment–– followed by threatening to dismember her.
“Why don’t we just lock the door?” Laura asks one night.
Carmilla shrugs. “You can do it, cutie. But with the amount of pandemonium going on, easy access to exits should be a priority.”
Laura doesn’t buy that reply for a second, but doesn’t press any further.
One day, Laura vows to at least start closing the door a little more so she and Carmilla can get some privacy to talk some things out. The next day, their entire relationship burns to the ground.
Carmilla breaks her heart, and the concept of locking their door becomes long forgotten.
And now, Laura and Carmilla are stuck in the library, having all the private time in the world. When they were dating, they would’ve loved being alone for this long, uninterrupted by Perry or LaFontaine and their antics.
But instead they’re broken up, in some weird relationship-limbo, watching old security footage of Carmilla.
Laura watches as Carmilla interrogates Perry and Mel.
“Well, the Zetas do make a convenient scapegoat.”
Perry gives her an expectant look.
“Alright! Alright, good enough for me. I’ll go tell the Dean.”
Carmilla rises and goes to the door, tugging on it once. When the door doesn’t open, she tries again. And again. Then she really tries, putting as much strength into it as she can. But it doesn’t budge.
“What the…”
The tape cuts out and Laura turns to look at Carmilla. Something clicks in her mind.
“Oh, my god,” Laura breathes out.
Carmilla quirks an eyebrow. “What?”
“Oh, my god!” Laura giggles. “That’s it!”
“What’s ‘it?’”
“That’s why…” Laura lets out a snort. “Th-that’s why you never lock doors!”
Carmilla swallows hard and her lip twitches. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Carmilla Karnstein, I’ve never seen you lock a door,” Laura says, laughing so hard she’s basically rolling around on the floor.
“Well… We haven’t known each other that long,” Carmilla grumbles as an explanation.
“Oh, gosh, you won’t lock doors because of this one time a door locked–– probably magically–– on you, and Ms. Big Scary Vampire couldn’t open it?”
“H-Have you seen this footage?” Carmilla stammers, her voice cracking as she gestures at the screen. “I look like an idiot. A human idiot.” She crosses her arms and honest-to-god pouts. “It’s embarrassing.”
Laura is still in hysterics on the floor and tries to sit up, takes one look at the sulking vampire, and cracks up again.
“This is not that funny,” Carmilla growls. “I think you’re losing it, cupcake.”
Laura wipes tears from her eyes. “The only thing being lost here is your dignity.”
Carmilla narrows her eyes and glares at her. “Ha. Ha. Laugh it up, buttercup.”
“Why, Dr. Seuss, is that you?” Laura teases. “Because at this point, your level of badassery as a feline is pretty much at the same level as The Cat In the Hat.”
Carmilla’s mouth drops open. “Hollis, I am as dark as night and as dangerous as the things that lurk in it. I am a harbinger of death.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re striking fear in the hearts of puppies and kittens everywhere,” Laura says lightly, rolling her eyes. “I think you’re terrifying that dust bunny in the corner.”
“Gimme some credit. It’s a huge dust bunny,” Carmilla snaps, a small grin returning as Laura continues giggling.
Laura stands up and holds out a hand for Carmilla to take.
Carmilla stares at it and raises an eyebrow quizzically. “Where are we going?”
“We’re out of snacks,” Laura replies. “Wanna come with me to get more?”
Carmilla sighs and takes Laura’s hand.
Laura grins. “Don’t worry, Carm. If we come across any closed doors, I’ll open them for you.”
Carmilla doesn’t hesitate before playfully shoving Laura into a wall and grumbling something about stealing the rest of the brain gummies in the vending machines.