Gossip Column (Carmilla Fanfic)

Chapter 25

The ride home was made in strained silence. Carmilla was fidgeting on the back seat beside Laura. The journalist could feel the tension coming from the singer's body and she didn't blame her for it. Ell wasn't supposed to be modeling again at all. Mattie had said it would be impossible for her to find another agency that would accept her and yet, she was making a career comeback. Carmilla started biting her nails, which showed how apprehensive she really was, that was the first time Laura had seen her do that. The honey blonde took her girlfriend's hands in hers to stop the nervous movement. She silently caressed her knuckles to show that she was there with Carmilla, no matter what happened next.

When they finally entered the apartment, Carmilla called Mattie and put it on speakerphone so that Laura could be a part of the conversation.

"Hello Kitty Cat."

"Mattie, can you please explain to me why the fuck I've just seen a billboard with Ell on it?"

"What? That's not possible."

"Then Laura and I are hallucinating, maybe Will's been selling beer past the expiration date at Silas." She said sarcastically.

"Just tell me what you saw." Mattie replied calmly.

"There's a huge billboard," Laura said, "in front of Will's bar. I think it's for a sports apparel brand? I'm not sure, but she was only wearing a sports bra and yoga pants."

"She wasn't supposed to be modeling here ever again, Mattie. You said she wouldn't be able to." Carmilla added, angrily.

"Calm down, Carmilla. I'll verify what happened and what agency has taken her in and take care of it. Until then, stay out of trouble. Don't go looking for her yourself, do you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Laura, I'm trusting you to keep an eye on Carmilla, okay?"

"What the actual fuck, Mattie? I don't need a babysitter."

"Laura?" Was all that Mattie said.

Laura looked from the phone to Carmilla and back again with a scared look on her face. She didn't dare saying no to Mattie, but she also didn't want Carmilla to think she didn't trust her to keep her word.

"I-I th-think that Carm knows better than to go looking for Ell, Mattie. I'm sure we'll stay out of trouble." She chose to say.

"Not really the answer I wanted, but it'll do. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Mattie replied and hung up.

Laura could see that Carmilla was still mad and tense and all sorts of messed up at the moment. She sat at sofa looking out the ceiling to floor glass window, but her eyes were clearly not seeing the beautiful view in front of her. The tiny girl approached her quietly and sat down beside her.

"Hey Carm." She said in a soft, whispery voice, taking the other girl's hands in between hers.

When Carmilla turned and focused her attention on Laura's face, she continued speaking.

"We'll get to the bottom of this and solve it together, okay? You don't have to worry. I'm here now and I'll take care of you. If Ell came back with the intention of hurting you, she'll be in for a surprise because I have no intention of letting her get near you ever again. And if your mom is somehow involved in this we'll take care of her too. Whatever they're planning, we'll deal with it together, okay?"

"Together." Carmilla said, swallowing hard and taking her hands away from Laura's in order to cup the other girl's face and kiss her as if her life depended on it.

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The next morning, Laura convinced Carmilla to go get breakfast out. Not that she had too much trouble getting the dark haired girl to agree. All she had to do was look at her girlfriend with her puppy eyes and a pout when she said she didn't want to go out and Carmilla caved in. They decided to go to the pancake place Laura had introduced the singer to. On their way there, on Carmilla's motorcycle, they saw another two billboards with Ell.